Doris – 2012 – 2026

Doris – 2012 – 2026

I have written three books where a dog, based on our own dog Doris, was a lead character. “What would Doris do?” That was the question I kept coming back to while writing this series. Our dog—who decided she’d packed enough fun into one lifetime—left us in May. She was one of a kind: smart, funny, and just the right kind of maniacal. So whenever my characters got into trouble, I pushed for the cleanest, most elegant solution I could…

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What a Creep is on the way!

What a Creep is on the way!

Book III of The Watcher series has been in development for a while, but I never had the time set aside to finish it until this year. I started in February with a pretty good idea of where it was going, and now that it is done, I can say my plans were one thing. The results another entirely. This book was supposed to take place entirely on a different planet. But considering how things are at home at the…

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Latest Example of “Everything Trump Touches Dies”: The US Men’s Olympic Hockey Team

Latest Example of “Everything Trump Touches Dies”: The US Men’s Olympic Hockey Team

Days after the U.S. men’s hockey team won Olympic Gold, they are still getting roasted by hockey fans, the punditry class and straight media alike after their locker-room hangout with FBI Director Kash Patel and that ill-timed chuckle at one of Trump’s tasteless jokes — the one about “having to invite the women’s team to the White House too.” Ever since, the internet’s been calling the players tone-deaf, disrespectful, and even sexist. Fans are online demanding that the Ottawa Senators…

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Here Comes the Algorithm: Protecting The Beatles in the Age of AI

Here Comes the Algorithm: Protecting The Beatles in the Age of AI

Do Beatle-Bots Cross the Line? The Beatles have been in the world’s spotlight for more than 60 years, and somehow they’re still finding new ways to inject themselves into the zeitgeist. Not by releasing new music, there isn’t anymore coming, we’re told, nor by becoming outdated or suddenly irrelevant for the first time since they appeared on Ed Sullivan’s stage. No, due to their seemingly indestructible longevity, they are in the middle of one of the biggest ethical questions in…

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Alberta Separatism: The Coward’s Way Out

Alberta Separatism: The Coward’s Way Out

Alberta’s separatists are back in the headlines – and this time, they’re not just venting on talk radio. They’re bragging about trips to Washington, D.C., and meetings with officials from the U.S. State Department as they chase political and financial backing for an independent Alberta. At the same time, Alberta’s premier is facilitating a referendum process while carefully avoiding a clear, simple sentence Canadians deserve to hear: “Alberta must remain in Canada.”​ This moment is bigger than one province’s frustration….

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Book III is on the way!

Book III is on the way!

Not this second, of course, but there are chapters that have been written, and that means Basil, Duncan and Doris will return to do what they do best. Screw up, and then try to fix it, where the stakes are just the survival of all humanity…. So stay tuned, and if you have a great idea on how this should all turn out, let me know!

What a Dragon – Book II of The Watcher Series

What a Dragon – Book II of The Watcher Series

The sequel to the smash hit The Long Watch is out and available online! All they want is some well-deserved “me time”, but no. The universe has other plans… It’s not every day that you get to save the world. Especially after you had to die several times along the way, but now that it is saved, that doesn’t mean everything is fine. It’s just the opposite as planet Earth is in worse trouble than before, but what’s even more…

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Joan Roland (nee Coyne) – My Mom – 1931 – 2023

Joan Roland (nee Coyne) – My Mom – 1931 – 2023

Joan Coyne was born on the 19th of April, 1931 in Heworth, a residential area in Gateshead, located around 3 miles from Newcastle upon Tyne, in England. Unlike most family members, she wasn’t named after anyone, signifying from her first day that she would be something different.  She grew up in a warm and loving home in Northern England; however, her father, a foreman for the steel erection company Wright-Anderson, was gone for long periods of time on construction projects….

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Jane’s Eulogy

Jane’s Eulogy

Thank you all the friends and family that have joined us here today to remember my sweet mom, Joan Roland.  When my kids asked how I was doing, I said that I was holding it together ….unless people were nice to me and then I would get quite teary so given where we are right now, buckle up for some emotion. Welcome to this beautiful facility that meant so much to my mom, who was instrumental in the conception, fundraising,…

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Mom’s Eulogy – Gavin McDougald

Mom’s Eulogy – Gavin McDougald

“Beautiful young people are accidents of nature, but beautiful old people are works of art. “ — Eleanor Roosevelt supposedly said that. My Mom, as you have seen in the slideshow,  was fortunate enough to be both.  Not just in the looks department, where she certainly ranked highly, but also in her spirit, her tenacity, her intellect and also in just how friking funny she was. In this she had always inspired me. Not in the beauty department, clearly. But…

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