This Week's Free Sherlock Holmes Books for Adults and Kids, Author Interview with Elizabeth Varadan, and Kickstarter Projects from Belanger Books and MX Publishing
Dear Readers,
The Covid-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc on the world. We know most of you are confined to your homes, and some of you and/or your loved ones may be dealing with the virus firsthand. We hope you are all safe and our thoughts and prayers go out to you.
Belanger Books is committed to providing you with free eBooks and activities throughout March and April to help you in some small way through this difficult time.
Free Sherlock Holmes eBooks
This week's free eBooks have one Sherlock Holmes book for kids and one for adults. The books are available for free download from Amazon from March 30th- April 3rd.
Digby, a London street dog, hopes he can find a crumb of food and maybe a warm place to sleep around the next corner. Instead, he finds himself face-to-face with the Great Detective himself, Sherlock Holmes! Digby is thrilled. He decides to prove his worth to Holmes by helping him solve his latest case. However, Digby discovers that detectives have to follow certain rules. No scratching in public. No howling in concert halls. No ruining Mr. Holmes’ shoes. Who knew that solving crimes could be so hard? Can Digby help Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson solve the Adventure of the Red-Headed League, and finally find a home --- at 221B Baker Street?
“What a delightful, delectable cream bun of a book, perfect for budding Sherlock Holmes fans and young dog lovers alike. But readers beware: a dog that can steal the heart of Sherlock Holmes can very well steal yours.” - Claudia Mills, author of Cody Harmon, King of Pets
You can get this charming children's book by CLICKING HERE
The World's Greatest Detective in the Retro Futuristic Realms of Steampunk!
Imagine a slight change to our historical timeline where the Industrial Revolution heated up much quicker than expected. Technological marvels such as airships, trains, battleships, and submarines came into being much earlier. They were followed by steam-powered wonders such as mechanical men, flying ships, and even crafts capable of reaching the deepest fathoms of the sea or traveling to distant celestial orbs.
at is the world where Sherlock Holmes and his Boswell, Dr. Watson find themselves in Sherlock Holmes: Adventures in the Realms of Steampunk.
Mechanical Men and Otherworldly Endeavours features stories with a focus on robotic creatures and otherworldly adventures. See Holmes team up with intelligent animals from an alternate Earth, switch bodies with Dr. Watson, and travel to another dimension.
Get this fantastical collection of Sherlock Holmes adventures for free by CLICKING HERE
Writing Activity
Belanger Books is offering the chance for students to get published in the book In The Footsteps of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. This is a great writing opportunity for students and parents alike. Check out the details by Clicking HERE. Deadline for submissions is April 25th.Author Interview with Author Elizabeth Varadan
Elizabeth Varadan's work spans picture books (Dragonella), children's books (The Carnival of the Animals), Sherlock Holmes short stories for young adults (The Irregular Adventures of Sherlock Holmes) and adults (Sherlock Holmes: Adventures in the Realms of Edgar Allan Poe), cozy mysteries (Deadly Vintage), and poetry (Saudade, Thirty Poems of Longing).
The campaign has some bargain priced eBook rewards as well as limited autographed copies of her books. You can see the rewards and back the campaign by CLICKING HERE.
I took the opportunity to interview Ms. Varadan about her poetry collection Saudade, Thirty Poems of Longing.
With Saudade, your first collection of poetry, you have captured a sense of loss and longing over a book broken into several thematic sections. Most of your readers will know you as an author of children's books and mysteries. What compelled you to compose a book of poems so different from your other writings?
Elizabeth Varadan (EV): I’ve always scribbled poetry, but I hadn’t taken it as seriously as writing fiction. In fact, I started out writing short stories. It was only after I retired from years of teaching 6th grade that I discovered this eleven-twelve-year-old voice in my head that wanted to be a character or characters in my books. As for mysteries: I love to read them, so I had to write a couple.
But the chapbook came about a couple of years ago when a blog friend mentioned that for National Poetry Month (April) she was going to write a haiku a day for the entire month. I decided National Poetry Month was a good nudge for me to write a poem a day. You know, really buckle down, pick a theme, and commit myself to poetry for a whole month.
How did you decide on the structure of the book? Did you always intend to have thematic sections around Saudade?
EV: My husband and I were going to Portugal regularly, and we are both fans of Fado, a Portuguese form of song that is absolutely permeated in saudade. We had a trip coming up, and I thought, “Why not make saudade my theme?” Especially since I was going through much grief over the change in our culture in the past few years—hatred, divisiveness, and open displays of prejudice; anti-immigrant feeling, especially towards immigrants of color. (My husband is from India.) So, all of that was on my mind as I started writing my “poem a day.”
Setting is a strong element in Saudade. One can't help but hear the Fado music of Portugal or feel the darkness of America in the last few years. Do you consciously intend to make your life settings so vivid in your poetry or is that something that starts more at the subconscious level?
EV: I’m so happy to hear you say you hear the music of Portugal in the poems. Normally I don’t think of setting per se when I start a poem, I just write it as it comes to me, then take it to my poetry groups and get feedback for bringing out the true lines of the poem. Although, on reflection, I do write many poems in response to places where we’ve been, so, yes, I suppose life settings spark my poetry as well as subconscious mullings. Normally I’m responding to nature, to beauty, or even humor. In the case of this book, I was going through my own sense of loss at changes I was seeing. It just welled up in the poems.
Is there a particular poem or set of poems in the book that stand out to you? Here's the question authors hate, but I'll ask anyway: Do you have a favorite?
EV: Hmm. I suppose the latter poems of “Night,” “Dawn,” and “Saudade #4. Deep at heart, I’m an optimist, although I don’t think optimism can prevail unless we confront reality straight on. But I have a deep belief in the resilience and resurgence of “good.”
We currently find ourselves in unprecedented times. Have you considered writing more poetry about the Coronavirus epidemic?
EV: Not yet. Right now, I’ve been mostly contacting friends and relatives to make sure they are safe and well. (So far, so good.)
Any last words for our readers?
EV: Since you mentioned the Coronavirus, I hope everyone is taking precautions and wish them health and safety. I have one unfinished book that involves a family who lost a member to what was then called the Influenza “epidemic.” It was really a pandemic, and it killed more people worldwide than WWI. This pandemic is similarly lethal. I’m glad experts today recognize the danger, and I hope people are taking all the precautions.
A signed and personalized edition of this excellent collection of poems is available as part of the Kickstarter campaign.
Kickstarter Campaigns from MX Publishing
Our friends at MX publishing currently have two Kickstarter campaigns for fans of Sherlock holmes stories. The first one, Sherlock Holmes and The Case of The Perplexed Politician by Margaret Walsh find Holmes and Watson solving a perplexing murder involving a member of parliament. This Kickstarter needs just seven more backers to reach its stretch goal, and as a bonus MX Publishing will plant a tree in honor of every backer.
The second Kickstarter project is the sixth volume of The Redacted Sherlock Holmes series by Orlando Pearson. This volume contains five all new traditional Sherlock Holmes adventures. Pearson has a unique formula taking situations throughout history and replaying them involving Holmes and Watson.
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