Skyway Books – Short Stories – Poems – Books

The First One

Welcome to Skywaybooks.com! My name is Marc Loranger and I am the founder and owner of Skywaybooks and this website. This my first official blog for the site so I hope you all enjoy it.
During the next few months, there will be lots of exciting events happening here at Skywaybooks. Not only will I be busy promoting my two books, “Diamond In The Rough” and my latest one “You’re it” I will also be busy writing a third sequel to the series. For any of you unfamiliar with my work, I have developed a fictional adventure series for young readers called “The James Adventure Series.”
Follow the links on the website for more information on each book and by all means, order one and check it out for yourself. For the younger visitors to my site, just ask your parents permission first before ordering anything online. I think you might need their credit card too. Seriously though, all the info is there for you to enjoy.
In the future be sure to watch for upcoming events such as contests and surveys where some of you, if you are lucky, do you feel lucky? Well good. You could win some great prizes. Keep checking back to the site to see updates in the future.
I am very excited to be launching this new site. If it’s your first time here then welcome! If you are a repeat visitor, I’m glad you came back.
That’s it for now. Have a great day and happy reading to everyone!

Marc Loranger

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Welcome back to the weekly Skywaybooks.com blog. There is an annual holiday fast approaching and we all know what it is. The trouble is most people are forgetting what it really stands for.

December 25^th is Christmas Day. In all the commercialism of the holiday, we seem to have forgotten about the true meaning of Christmas. I was listening to the radio the other day and heard a very popular Christmas carol called “Here Comes Santa Claus.” It’s a catchy little tune that everyone knows the words to and we all learned it when we were kids. I had never thought about it until this year, but a couple of lines in particular seemed to make me look at it differently.

“Bells are ringing, children singing

All is merry and bright

Hang your stockings and say your prayers

Cause Santa Claus comes tonight!”

They got the say your prayers line right. However they missed the point on who is coming tonight. Are we celebrating Christmas or Santamas?

Those of you who are regular visitors to my blog or even those who are new to the site may be saying right now, “Oh no Marc is going religious on me and he’s going to get kinda preachy. I may need to cut out here.”

That would be a shame because the middle of my blog is where I really start to get my groove on. So if you have to leave I respect that. For those of you who stayed, thanks and enjoy.

I drove by a mall the other day and saw a sign that said Santa was coming on December 20^th. Funny though, I didn’t see too many signs that said Jesus Christ was coming on December 25^th. In these hard economic times, many families are worried about losing their jobs, their homes, not having enough food on the table. When times are tough, many people, Christians and sometimes even non believers often turn to prayer in desperate times. Who are you praying to? Are you praying to the fat guy in the red suit? How’s that working for you? When you walk through the store to buy your Christmas cards, do you pass over the ones with the scripture message inside or uplifting biblical verse, lest we offend anybody? I couldn’t possibly send those to the neighbours or hand them out at work.

Don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against the time honoured traditions of Christmas trees and egg nog and gift giving. When I was little and still was in the believing stage, I enjoyed the anticipation of you know who coming down the chimney. The spirit of the jolly fat guy has lived on for hundreds of years. This year though let’s just take a time out and remember the true spirit of the holiday and who was here first.

Have a Merry Christmas, peace to you all and a very prosperous New Year!

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Welcome back to the weekly Skywaybooks.com blog. For the last couple of weeks I had been talking about travelling. At the end of last week’s instalment, I promised to tell about how Las Vegas was unkind to me. I will have to put that off for just one more week. I did some more travelling last week, last Thursday December 4^th to be exact. I travelled back in time when I visited a local private school to educate some young minds about publishing, writing and to promote my two books.

Glenburnie School of Oakville graciously opened their doors to yours truly for the afternoon. I arrived a half hour ahead of the scheduled program start to set up and get organized for the upcoming events. Tickets were given out and I was soon minutes away from facing 335 enthusiastic, energetic, and intelligent young minds. I went into the event confident, which was very bold of me considering this was the most people I had ever spoken in front of before.

Thanks to the advice of my niece Nicole, an elementary supply teacher, I made some flash cards with big pictures for the Kindergarten through grade three students. It made for a very visual presentation that they thoroughly enjoyed. At one point I knew I would be really reaching I asked if anyone knew how books were written before computers and they actually knew what a typewriter was. I was delighted of course and feeling the vibe again. I was feeling a new sense of youth until one student informed me that her grandmother owns a typewriter. Feeling the old vibe now, the one that reminded me I used a typewriter to write my term papers in college.

The second session with the older kids was next. Kids. Some of them were bigger than me. What are they feeding these kids nowadays? So now the gym was full and I was being introduced by Joan Berberian, the school librarian. After a rather gracious and flattering introduction I was on. No turning back now. All eyes were on me. It was now or never. Well you get the point.

I asked if they wanted to have some fun. A small cheer. I asked how everyone was doing. A little bigger cheer. Now for the slam dunk. I asked who wanted to win some prizes. Now they were getting excited. Their participation was more than I could have asked for or imagined. I was extremely impressed by their knowledge and enthusiasm. Then I started asking questions and handing out signed business card magnets and bookmarks. All of a sudden every hand was in the air ready to contribute an answer. Maybe not the right answer, but I gotta give them credit for trying. All in all it was a great afternoon. I even did some draws and gave away some tee shirts and signed books. After it was all over, I was really touched when some of the kids lined up for some autographs.

Thank you Glenburnie for inviting me into your world, if even for just a couple of hours.

Until next time, have a great day and happy reading to everyone!

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Welcome back to the weekly blog. Over the last couple of blogs I had discussed some travel related issues because I was, well, travelling. I have just returned from Las Vegas where I spent 4 days over the US Thanksgiving weekend.

Flying out I splurged a little and flew up front in first class. It’s not the first time I have flown on the other side of the curtain, so I kind of had an idea of what to expect. When I arrived to check in at the Buffalo airport, my flight was so early that the check in counter wasn’t even open. I was however standing on the carpeted “Elite Status” carpeted mat so I was already feeling a special vibe. The check in counter finally opened as did the self serve kiosk where you can check in, print your boarding passes and tell them how many bags you are checking. I had already checked in online at home so I just needed check my bag. It was seconds after I finished that I was called over, before some people that I knew were there before me, and promptly processed. Feeling more of that vibe again.

Once onboard, I found my seat on the plane and settled in for the hour flight to Newark. No jet service here, I was on what some friends of mine have nicknamed a “Salad Chopper”. Translates to the propellers are not spinning fast enough to even chop salad. The flight was surprisingly smooth. After an hour or so in New Jersey, I boarded a real jet this time for my nearly five hour flight west to Vegas. I found my seat by the window and was immediately asked if I needed anything to drink. Well, well. I wondered if they were quenching their thirst back in steerage. I’m thinking no. I was served an orange juice with plenty of ice and settled in for the experience. The seats were comfortable and very wide, but I noticed that there was not a lot of room between my knees and the seat in front of me. There was another seat next to me on the aisle which was occupied. In fact the whole first class section was sold out. Across the aisle I heard a gentleman ordering vodka and soda and continued to so throughout the flight. I wondered if this gentleman knew or even cared that alcohol absorbs into your system twice as fast when you’re at 35,000 feet than on the ground. Being an ex flight attendant I have seen my share of passengers who have bent the elbow a little too much. Not a pretty site.

I almost forgot, time for breakfast. I was served an omelette with a sausage patty, two slices of ham, a generous serving of cold, fresh fruit and strawberry yogurt. Everything was very tasty, even something underneath the omelette that I never figured out what is was, but ate it anyway. Also cinnamon buns were served and later on freshly baked macadamia nut cookies. My tummy was now full and the vibe was still good. Unfortunately nature was now calling. The slug next to me however was sleeping so I would need to wake him to get by. After thinking about it for about thirty seconds, I decided to make my request. He was very cordial about the whole thing. Unlike my seatmate on the way home while I was with the rest of the cattle who was noticeably annoyed at my request for her to move. She looked at me like, “how dare you wake me so you can relieve your busting bladder.” This time I was feeling a different kind of vibe.

All in all it was a decent trip. The slot machines were not nice to me, but I will save that for next time. Until then have a great day and happy reading to everyone!

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Welcome back to the Skywaybooks.com blog.

Next week I am heading west to enjoy a five day holiday. My destination is Las Vegas. Sin City baby! From where I live it is over 2700 miles so of course I will be flying. I used to enjoy flying and had an overwhelming anticipation of the experience. Nowadays though, I kind of almost regret having to go through the experience.

The industry has changed dramatically since it’s inception about 60 years ago. Actually let’s go back further than that. Airlines actually started out as mail carriers and decided since they were carrying mail, let’s put in some seats, make the planes a little bigger and take on some passengers. You could hop on a plane in the east and be whisked away to a destination all the way across the country in a little over… 4 days. Back then planes could only fly during the day. The air traffic control system didn’t exist and airplanes had little or no navigation equipment. Once the technology improved, planes added beds where customers could sleep once night fell, if you could sleep without getting sick. Pilots had very limited resources for navigating around stormy weather so often planes were forced to fly through the weather, making for some bumpy flights.

In the 1950’s, Boeing introduced the 707, a four engine jet that could take you across the country or over to Europe in hours and not days. At first it was mostly reserved for the elite because it was very expensive and still considered risky by many. If you were fortunate enough to afford it, the service was usually top of the line, with gourmet food, the finest wines and all the extras. I can remember watching an airline documentary that actually showed someone being served a slice of roast beef that was being cut from a full roast right there in the aisle. I had to laugh out loud because I haven’t even been alive long enough to experience that.

Let’s fast forward to today. Due to the rising fuel costs and other economic woes, airlines are cutting out everything. And I mean everything. First they took away free meals. Now you have to pay for snacks. Then they took away blankets and pillows. Now some airlines are charging for not just alcohol, but for soda which used to be free in coach class. You want to check that bag because it’s too big to carry on? Well it’s gonna cost you at least $25. Better hope it’s not overweight too. I saw a commercial in the US once for Southwest airlines where they were poking fun at airlines who charge you for everything. The showed a passenger boarding the plane, arriving at his seat to stow his bag in the overhead bin only to see you need to put in 50 cents in a coin slot to use it. This turned out to be the same for the arm rest, tray table, and window shade. It was a funny commercial, but hopefully not foreshadowing of what is to come. Some airlines are even cutting out movies on some flights because all of a sudden the VCR’s weigh too much. My advice to you is bring a good book, your own snacks, and fasten your seatbelt. It’s gonna be a bumpy flight.

Have a great day and happy reading to everyone!

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Welcome back to the Skywaybooks.com weekly blog. They say inspiration comes when you least expect it. This week’s blog was inspired from an email I received from my nephew Eric. Thanks Eric. I was sent an email with a link to a newspaper article from the Denver Post. It concerns the delay in releasing one of my favourite TV shows to DVD.

The “Wonder Years” which aired from 1988-1993 won critical acclaim including numerous Emmy nominations and a Golden Globe award for best comedy series after only six episodes. It chronicled the life of character Kevin Arnold played by Fred Savage from preteen years through high school. What made the shows so memorable was not only the superior writing and acting, but the music that set the tone for the episodes. This is the snag in releasing the shows to DVD. Copyright complications are making it difficult for the original songs from the episodes to be used on the DVD versions.

This made me think about music and how much of an influence it has on our every day lives. Not only is it on the radio and in our I-Pods and MP3 Players, but also in commercials and in episodic television. I can recall songs I didn’t know existed before I had heard them on TV. Most recently the catchy tune “1-2-3-4” by new singer Feist who performed it on the Apple I-Pod Nano commercial. When Seinfeld aired its final episode with a musical montage tribute of some candid out takes and photos, Greenday’s “Time of Your Life” was the song chosen. I actually thought it was written for this episode. I was then informed that it had been out for years. Now I hear it all the time on the radio, but not once before that night.

Music can lift our spirits when we are down and make us think of places from days gone by. Any song with the word sunshine always puts me in a good mood like “Walking on Sunshine” by Katrina and The Waves or “Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows” by Leslie Gore. However I am not a fan of Sheryl Crow’s “Gonna Soak Up The Sun”. Go figure that one.  I can hear a specific tune and recall a time in my life when it affected me the most or even where I was when I first heard it. I can honestly say I can tolerate all types of music however there are three particular songs that I cannot listen to past the first note. Those close to me know what these are so I don’t the need to say them here. All I can say is I am not having the time of my life, trying to be a hero while dressed as a knight in white satin.

Have a great day and happy reading to everyone!

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Welcome back to the Skywaybooks.com blog. The last blog I dedicated to the recent Halloween holiday. I hope you all enjoyed the poem and the holiday. I myself never really got into Halloween. The thought of dressing up and begging for candy seems to rub me the wrong way for some reason. Speaking of something that doesn’t sit well with me, I have a little matter that I would like to vent about. After all this my blog so I can choose to write about whatever I choose.

I find it a sad state of affairs here in Oakville where I happen to live, that a fine law abiding citizen such as myself, can’t visit someone for more than three hours without receiving a parking infraction from the town’s parking enforcement patrol. This is exactly what happened to me though around two weeks ago. After enjoying a pleasant evening of TV and visiting, I come out to find a nice little $35 ticket on my windshield. The town’s way of saying you have overstayed your welcome on this particular street so move it along. I have two words for this, cash grab. Oh wait one more, quota!

I find it very difficult to comprehend how I am somehow impeding traffic on the street I was on or threatening public safety by parking in front of a house for more than three hours. If I were to walk up to ten people and tell them my story their reaction will most likely be, “What street were you parked on? Never heard of it.” Which is exactly my point. My car was parked on a residential crescent in the White Oaks area of Oakville. If the town wants to really clean up and are that hard up for revenue, then they should patrol the street during the day when cars are parked there for eight hours at a time. I would also like to see more people who park in fire lanes and over cross walks at department stores such as Wal-Mart or grocery stores get nabbed once in a while.

I know this is a by law that is on the books and there is a sign as you enter this street, but I find it has it’s place such as main thorough fares where traffic could be impeded or during winter months when snow ploughs need to get through. To blanket and entire town however with this stupid law, yes I said stupid is ridiculous. Before I sign off I will leave you with one question. I wonder where the parking enforcement officer who ticketed me parks when he visits his relatives.

Have a great day, watch where you park, and happy reading to everyone!

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Welcome back to the weekly Skywaybooks.com blog. I was very close to not writing one this week. I literally had no subject in mind when I woke up Tuesday morning and decided I would perhaps take a break. Then I remembered how disappointed my loyal readers would be and I thought that I couldn’t disappoint all two of you. So I decided I could write about something that is off the publishing beaten path for once.

I would like to talk about the season we are in now. Yes we are in fall. Although for us here in Ontario for the Canadian Thanksgiving, we were blessed with such a beautiful day that it seemed more like July than the second week of a typical October. The sun was shining, not a cloud in the sky and a very pleasant 23 degrees Celsius. That’s 73 for all you American folk.

I truly believe that fall is my favourite season. There is that nip in the air. The sky seems to be bluer and the leaves are a show in themselves with all of their vibrant hues. I can distinctly remember flying in from Las Vegas one year and as we were landing in Toronto, the plane broke through the low clouds at about two thousand feet. Although it was an overcast, dreary day for those of you on the ground, from above it was just beautiful. Colour. I actually saw green grass and oranges and yellows and reds… oh my. Now c’mon you knew that was coming. For anyone who has been to Las Vegas, they can attest to the fact that is so lacking in colour. There are the dirt front lawns and the rock gardens and the mountains and the scenery is so blah. It was refreshing to be home, even though I was just visiting on this trip and to see nature at it’s finest.

As a kid growing up here, I can remember that fall meant the leaves were falling and piles of them were soon made to jump in to. It was chilly, but not enough to be uncomfortable or to need boots and seven layers of clothing.

I wrote a poem called “The Change of Season”. Feel free to check it out on this website under the poems link. Although never intended to be written that way, it does have a Robert Frost quality to it.

On Sunday October 26^th, myself and several family members will be participating in the annual Casino Niagara Marathon in one race or another. I will try to remember and reflect on why I love fall when I am running into a 40km cross wind and a wind chill of 3 degrees Celsius biting a my face. In a way wishing I could just get this over with and on the other hand missing it when it is.

Until next time, have a great day and happy reading to everyone!

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Welcome back to the Skywaybooks.com blog. In previous blogs I talked about writing books and touched briefly on marketing your newly published work. I would like to dive in a little deeper about the options you have when it comes to advertising your finished product.

Getting your book on an online website book store such as Amazon or Borders is a must. The internet and its ability to be seen all over the world, gives authors today a huge advantage over authors and publishers as little as twenty years ago. When books were first published, writers would peddle their works to general stores hoping somebody might buy a copy or two. Back then they had vanity publishing and traditional publishing of course. With vanity publishing, you were forced to buy fifty or a hundred copies of your own book and it was up to you to sell them. Vanity houses unfortunately still exist today and the costs can be rather excessive.

Many people confuse vanity publishing with self publishing and the now popular POD or Print On Demand publishing. With POD, you are not forced to buy fifty copies of your own book. You can, but you don’t have to buy any if you don’t want to. Books are only printed when a sale is made.

Personalized bookmarks are an excellent marketing tool. I started with a hundred and have already gone through them. I tuck them into every book I sell on my own or send to a reviewer. Letterhead with your book title and mailing address on top is a good tool. Use the letterhead when mailing out books to reviewers or when soliciting the local book stores to see if they’d be willing to carry your book in their inventory. As for your address, rent a PO Box at the local post office if possible. The rent is cheap and it looks more professional than your home address when conducting correspondence about your literary work. Marketing vehicles for publishing are only limited to your own creativity. You can have pencils, pens, coffee mugs or shirts printed with your book title. This of course all depends on what type of book you have written and the audience you are trying to attract.

With a lot of persistence and a little luck, you can market or advertise your book and gives your sagging sales a boost!

That’s it for this week. Have a great day and happy reading to everyone!

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Welcome back Skywaybooks.com members and visitors. I recently wrapped up my series on writing books and last week I talked about writing poetry. Today, as you probably guessed from the title of this blog, let’s talk about writing the short story.

What is it about writing a short story that delights some writers with glee and sends others running for the hills? The short story is a very challenging craft to master. I think because it is usually limited to a certain number of words to qualify. If it’s too short, than it’s nothing more than a few paragraphs that don’t have enough time to tell the tale. Make it too long and you’ve just written a chapter of an incomplete book. Be sure to check out my story titled “Next Stop Nowhere” on the home page of the Skywaybooks.com website. An interesting fact about this short story that I am betting nobody knows. It was originally called “Next Stop Home.” I used that title when I submitted it to a short story contest for a local paper in Colorado Springs, CO when I was living there. When I entered it into a local contest here in the Toronto area, I revamped the ending and changed the title hoping a facelift would suddenly make it a contender. Unfortunately it didn’t place in either contest. Some people have no taste.

Not that I am bitter or anything. What I remember about the Colorado contest in particular was the story needed to have certain parameters aside from a set amount of words, to be a genuine, qualified entrant. There had to be a train, a mountain and a Christmas theme. I can remember reading the winning entrant when it was published in the local paper. In the first paragraph the main character disembarked a train, had a tearful reunion with her long lost dog and then they walked to her house perched on the side of a mountain on Christmas Day. Hmmmmmm….. There was more to this story, pretty much filler, but you get the point. You can just imagine my disappointment when I read that this was indeed the winning entrant. Granted my submission was no Hemmingway, but I did have the main character spend more than one sentence on the train.

Now you are probably saying, “What is your point besides using your blog to whine about a contest you didn’t win four years ago?” My point is just because you over exceed the rules of a short story contest, doesn’t guarantee you to be a winner. In fact by just meeting the minimums can score you a top prize as I illustrated above. I still enter contests and you should too. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t win just keep trying and don’t whine about it four years later when you don’t win. I know I personally would be more mature than that.

Until next time have a great day and happy reading to everyone!

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