Happy Friday friends!!!!

I’m gonna go in reverse here with my normal blog order and jump into what we’ve been doing over here.  Three weeks ago we were mired in a prolonged cold snap.  I might be slightly off on the dates but from approx December 15th to Feb 15th, the warmest temperature we had was -18 C.  We get sun pretty much every day (we average 310 days of sun a year here in Edmonton) but the cold and the wind chill starts to bring you down.  We had three weeks in a row where our warmest day was -27 C.

Today – supposed to by +7!!!!!  In two weeks – it’s supposed to be +20.  And while I don’t let the weather get me down, it can be awfully rough on my wife and son.  (You think it’d be rough on our dog OJ but he could care less if he goes outside haha!)  So here’s a few pics Amanda took the other day on one of their walks.  Of course Auryn found a stick!  One of the best parts right now for him is the puddles along the walks!

 

What I’m Reading:

I’m knee deep in 5 books right now;

30 Minutes or Less – Matthew Vaughn

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44021195-30-minutes-or-less

The Gordon Place – Isaac Thorne

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44324246-the-gordon-place

Toroa – Erik Hoffstatter

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39928917-toroa

Train Thoughts – Jay Sigler

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39723498-train-thoughts

I’m also currently beta-reading Remains by Andrew Cull (author of the stellar collection Bones – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40497019-bones) and its stunning!

What I’m Working On:

I’ve now finished Ritual my crazy novella, The Stranger is off to a sensitive reader, Piece of Me will begin my third go-through which will finish off prepping all of my final 2019 releases.

I’ve begun working on my planned 2020 and 2021 releases already!  Two collaborations are under way, and while I won’t steal any thunder from the other authors, I am so excited for this.

What I’m Jamming:

This week saw me all over the place with my music (which it usually is!).

Moby – Raining Again

I recently finished reading Moby’s second autobiography installment “Then It Fell Apart.”

I’m a pretty big Moby fan and ‘Raining Again’ would probably be my fav song from him.

Paradise Lost – No Hope in Sight

Finishing up the brutal ending for ‘Ritual’ I was listening to a lot of gloomier stuff.  I’m not a big Paradise Lost fan, but really dig this song.

 

Sworn Enemy – Prepare for Payback

I am a massive, massive hardcore fan.  Seen Sworn Enemy twice (hopefully more in the future!) and they always deliver.  There new album is looking like it’s gonna be a rager and this is the first single off of it.

After the Burial – Behold the Crown

I couldn’t tell you if I’ve ever heard this band before.  There’s a chance I may have seen them, but I can’t remember.  But lately Sirius radio channel Liquid Metal has been playing this a ton and my god I’m digging it.

 

Misery Index – New Salem

Lastly – I’ve shared this video before, but on Friday, March 8th Misery Index unleashed their latest ‘Rituals of Power’ and holy hell, it may very well be my fav 2019 album.  Just brutal and heavy filled with some fantastic grooves and breakdowns.  Love it and had to share this again, I’ve been listening to the album everyday.

 

Last two things here before I wrap it up!

Reviews:

Usually I feature one of my releases here and talk about why you should get it blah, blah, blah.  One of the neat things about social media is connecting with folks.  I’m a very, very small fish in a big pond in two different areas – as an author and as a book reviewer.

I recently had the pleasure of connecting with a reviewer and not only has she been awesome to chat with and see what she’s reading, but she’s been kind enough to check out some of my stuff.  So I wanted to feature Kim Napolitano and some of her recent reviews she’s left over on Goodreads of my work!  Give her a follow on Twitter if you’re there – @kimnappi

Jane: The 816 Chronicles (5 stars)

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2750584342?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

Invisible (5 stars)

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2604015837?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

YURI (5 stars)

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2738468014?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

Wagon Buddy (4 stars)

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2741026880?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

The Girl Who Hid in the Trees (4 stars)

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2737139921?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

I love when people read my stuff, but it’s even more amazing when they leave a review!! Thank you so much Kim!

Lastly;

Contests!!

I’ll be having two contests coming up shortly!  Next week I’ll be giving away a signed paperback of The Girl Who Hid in the Trees over on my Facebook author page

facebook.com/stevestredauthor

So watch for those details!

And recently I announced that Dim the Sun was now in physical form.  I have received my copies finally and will meet up with my buddy Rob Derman (who I released the book for to help him raise funds).

We’ll be signing them and I’ll be giving one copy away and he’ll be using the others to try and raise some more funds towards his 2022 Winter Olympic goals!

These will be the only double signed copies of Dim the Sun in existence, so keep an eye out for that!

Cheers folks and enjoy your weekend!!

Steve