It is time for another Dog Humor post. To see the previous ones see the list below. All the dog comics are Facebook pictures that are being passed around. The original creator is typically noted on the cartoon.
Today’s post has the them dogs taking over our beds and furniture. When Rollo wants to sit in a specific spot on the sofa, but someone happens to be sitting there, he scratches their legs with his paw so that they know that they need to move over.
This is another post with the “25 Leonberger photos” theme. This time the theme is Leonberger faces. The post feature close ups of Leonbergers looking into the camera. A lot of the photos are of our late Leonberger Bronco but there are many other Leonberger photos as well. Below is a list of the previous posts using the theme 25 Leonberger photos.
Also don’t forget to check out my new blog if you haven’t done so.
About half of the photos of Leonberger faces below are mine, mostly of our Leonberger Bronco. There are also several photos by Jen O’Keefe and Leonberger community friend. There is also a photo by Brenda Seito and one by Debbie Ireland, and the illustration of Bronco’s face was made by Naomi Rosenblatt.
I try to avoid politics on my blogs but considering the circumstances I think this is OK. The picture you see above and below is from Trine Helen Løken. Thank you for letting us use it, Trine. It was passed around in various Leonberger Facebook groups and other Leonberger places back in 2022 and now it is in vogue again. It is to show the Leonberger community’s support for Ukraine. I added a couple of somewhat less artistic photos using a couple of photos of our late Leonberger Bronco and a Ukrainian flag that I got from pexels.com Photo by Engin Akyurt.
Rollo, our mini–Australian Shepherd is not easy to walk. Sometimes he sits and refuses to walk and sometimes he barks his head off at other dogs. Therefore, we started bribing him, and this works. On several occasions, I asked Claudia, my wife, “should I bribe him?”. So, he ended up learning the word “bribe”. Now when you say the word “bribe” he comes running hoping for a handout. In other words, we accidentally taught him to be a politician. Below are a few photos of Rollo.
In this my Leonberger blog I sometimes post about topics other than Leonbergers, including non-Leonberger books that I like and want to promote, and this is one of those. With this post I would like to promote a very entertaining and thrilling book called Detour on the Eternal Road by John W Howell. He recently visited my blog on his book tour but I want to post about his book one more time. This time the focus is my review of the book. Below I am giving some information about the paperback and Kindle version of the book. I bought the paperback version of the book.
The third book in the Eternal Road series. Sam and James are dragged into another strange assignment when a couple of souls on The Eternal Road drop off the radar. Archangel Michael gives them specific orders to resolve the issue and get Billy Ray Chitwood, the national race car champion, and Dale Earnhardt, his guide, back on the task of finding Billy’s Eternal Home.
Finally, meeting up with Billy Ray and Dale, the foursome finds themselves in the future where World War III has devastated the country. The team discovers the cause of the start of the war and vows to mitigate that circumstance and save the world from devastation. They encounter their old nemesis, Lucifer, who has in mind trading preventing the war in exchange for Sam accepting his offer to be his queen.
Since Lucifer’s offer is a non-starter, Sam and James must overcome Lucifer’s interference and work to change the course of history, or humankind is doomed.
When you die there are guides helping you to find your way. When racecar driver Billy Ray Chitwood dies, he gets lost in time and space and his guide, the famous but dead racecar driver Dale Earnhardt, is missing. Upon the orders of Archangel Michael, Sam and James, the expert guides of this series, step in to save the situation. But what is causing this unusual situation? Well, Lucifer is. Lucifer has some nefarious plans that could mean the end for the whole world, a World War III. Can the team, Sam and James, Ray Chitwood, Dale Earnhardt, and the archangel Michael figure out what is going on and prevent doomsday?
This is a whimsical and amusing detective and mystery story. Lucifer appear as a cigar chomping man that reminded me of Loki in Avengers. He is an arrogant, reckless and a rude trickster but also entertaining and he has some charm. The angels appear human, and the team is traveling around the world and back and forth in time in an Oldsmobile 1956. Don’t worry about the time travel, they can’t change the past, just the future. As you can guess the setting isn’t particularly realistic but that is intentional. The important features are the humor, the clever plots, the fast-paced action, the surprising plot twists at the end, and above all the intelligent and entertaining dialogue featuring some interesting philosophical thoughts.
I have not read the first two books in the series yet, but I think this book stands on its own. It did not feel like I missed something important. I was intrigued and thrilled by the various mysteries that cropped up along the way. I wanted to find out who was responsible for the various mishaps and strange things that happened. Was it Lucifer or a greedy and power-hungry human, or both? And who is Lucifer really? I found the dialogue to be amusing and very entertaining. The character development was strong, with likeable main characters, though Lucifer was unkind and untrustworthy, as expected. I highly recommend this entertaining and unique thriller.
John is an award-winning author who after an extensive business career began writing full time in 2012. His specialty is thriller fiction novels, but John also writes poetry and short stories. He has written Seven other books that are on Amazon in paperback and Kindle editions.
John lives in Lakeway, Texas with his wife and their spoiled rescue pets.
I’m very pleased to have John W. Howell here today to celebrate his latest release, “Detour on the Eternal Road.” I bought the paperback version from Amazon. It is 297 pages and cost $14.95. I loved reading this very entertaining book. If you want to read my Amazon review for the book, click here.
I am now handing over the word to John.
It is so nice to be here with you today, Thomas. Your blog has had some amazing entries. I have enjoyed your warm memories of your Leonberger Bronco and Daisy your dear pug. I also enjoy the times when you discuss various kinds of beer. I am an IPA fan and do identify with those times. I want to thank you for offering to host me on this stop on the tour. My latest book Detour on the Eternal Road is book threein the Eternal Road Series. Here is the blurb.
Sam and James are dragged into another strange assignment when a couple of souls on The Eternal Road drop off the radar. Archangel Michael gives them specific orders to resolve the issue and get Billy Ray Chitwood, the national race car champion, and Dale Earnhardt, his guide, back on the task of finding Billy’s Eternal Home.
Finally, meeting up with Billy Ray and Dale, the foursome finds themselves in the future where World War III has devastated the country. The team discovers the cause of the start of the war and vows to mitigate that circumstance and save the world from devastation. They encounter their old nemesis, Lucifer, who has in mind trading preventing the war in exchange for Sam accepting his offer to be his queen.
Since Lucifer’s offer is a non-starter, Sam and James must overcome Lucifer’s interference and work to change the course of history, or humankind is doomed.
James and Sam give each other a nervous glance. Sam offers a subtle signal to James and says, “Okay. You remember we convinced you we were from a different time. Well, Billy Ray is from a different time too. We want to help him remember where he’s from and get him back on a road he needs to travel.”
Wyatt frowns. “Back on a road? What does that mean?”
Sam looks up to the sky in frustration when she realizes Wyatt won’t let it go until he gets the whole story. James shrugs, so Sam sighs and says, “James and I are like angels. Our job is to escort people’s souls along the Eternal Road until they find the place they want to spend eternity.”
“Dead people?”
“That’s right.”
With his thumb, Wyatt pushes back his hat. “Why’re you interested in Billy Ray? He’s very much alive.”
Billy Ray leans forward in the seat. “Yeah, I may be old, but I’m still kickin’.”
Sam glances at James, shakes her head, and looks back at Wyatt. Carefully, she drops her voice, “I don’t want to upset Billy Ray, but he is not who he thinks he is.”
Wyatt places his hands on his hips. “Okay, I’ll bite. Who is he?”
“He’s a young man who got in a serious accident and didn’t survive.”
“What’s he doing here?”
Sam brushes a strand of hair out of her eyes. “Someone we don’t want to name interrupted his trip. Billy Ray’s guide came up missing, too.”
“You don’t want to name? What kind of hocus pocus are you talking about?”
James steps forward. “Every time we name this person, they appear. I’ll tell you right out you don’t want that person here.”
Sam frowns. “Wyatt, you believed us when we showed you how we came from another time, right?”
“Sure, and I still believe you.”
“Well, forces of evil have taken our friend Billy Ray and placed him in the same time as you.”
John is an award-winning author who after an extensive business career began writing full time in 2012. His specialty is thriller fiction novels, but John also writes poetry and short stories. He has written Seven other books that are on Amazon in paperback and Kindle editions.
John lives in Lakeway, Texas with his wife and their spoiled rescue pets.
Trailer Link https://animoto.com/play/0Z6vyFwQqrAZjjVAlciipw
Blog Fiction Favorites, http://johnwhowell.com/
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/john.howell.98229241
Twitter –https://www.twitter.com/HowellWave
Goodreads –https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7751796.John_W_Howell
Amazon Author’s page –https://www.amazon.com/author/johnwhowell
BookBub – https://www.bookbub.com/profile/john-w-howell
BlueSky – @johnhowellauthor.bsky.social
Universal paper https://mybook.to/Detour-Paper
Universal ebook https://mybook.to/Detour-Eebook
In this my Leonberger blog I sometimes post about topics other than Leonbergers, including non-Leonberger books that I like and want to promote, and this is one of those. With this post I would like to promote a wonderful fantasy novel, called Tale of the Seasons’ Weaver by D. Wallace Peach. Below I am giving some information about the paperback and Kindle version of the book.
“Already the animals starve. Soon the bonemen will follow, the Moss Folk and woodlings, the watermaids and humans. Then the charmed will fade. And all who will roam a dead world are dead things. Until they too vanish for lack of remembering. Still, Weaver, it is not too late.”
In the frost-kissed cottage where the changing seasons are spun, Erith wears the Weaver’s mantle, a title that tests her mortal, halfling magic. As the equinox looms, her first tapestry nears completion—a breathtaking ode to spring. She journeys to the charmed isle of Innishold to release the beauty of nature’s awakening across the land.
But human hunters have defiled the enchanted forest and slaughtered winter’s white wolves. Enraged by the trespass, the Winter King seizes Erith’s tapestry and locks her within his ice-bound palace. Here, where comfort and warmth are mere glamours, she may weave only winter until every mortal village succumbs to starvation, ice, and the gray wraiths haunting the snow.
With humanity’s fate on a perilous edge, Erith must break free of the king’s grasp and unravel a legacy of secrets. In a charmed court where illusions hold sway, allies matter, foremost among them, the Autumn Prince. Immortal and beguiling, he offers a tantalizing future she has only imagined, one she will never possess—unless she claims her extraordinary power to weave life from the brink of death.
In the lyrical fantasy tradition of Margaret Rogerson and Holly Black, D. Wallace Peach spins a spellbinding tale of magic, resilience, and the transformative potency of tales—a tapestry woven with peril and hope set against the frigid backdrop of an eternal winter.
I don’t read a lot of books in the fantasy genre but when I was a teenager, I read C.S. Lewis Chronicles of Narnia and J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy novels (Hobbit, Lord of the Ring, etc.) I’ve never lost my fascination for fantasy, and I still frequently read science fiction novels. I am so happy I came across this delightful read. It is a great novel for older children, young adults and adults alike.
In Erith’s world there are humans and animals as well as magical beings said to be charmed. For the most part they stay on the Isle of Innishold in the lake of Dryftweel. There is an enchanted forest and four kingdoms, winter, spring, summer, and autumn. The charmed often have magical powers, and some of them look scary and some of them are dangerous. Erith, who is part human and part charmed, a halfling, has a unique skill and a unique job, and that is to weave the seasons. She is a Seasons Weaver. The entire world depends on her.
One winter day human hunters defile the land of the charmed and kills the Winter King’s white wolves. The enraged Winter King decides to take revenge on all humans. He sets out to cancel spring by preventing Erith from weaving. His objective is to let winter remain until all humans are dead. This also means the death of nature and all mortal creatures. What the Winter King does not seem to understand is that it could mean the end of the charmed beings as well. Can Erith prevail against the powerful Winter King? Luckily the brave and handsome Autumn King steps up and helps her.
This is an intense and fast paced adventure filled with intrigues, magic, fierce battles, and I think several dozen different kinds of magical beings. There are amusing creatures and funny creatures such as Nobbin, huge and powerful creatures, shape shifting creatures, witches, dangerous and scary creatures, evil frog like evil creatures, and kings, and queens. In addition, there are some obvious themes. Erith must learn to trust her abilities, to be confident and find her strength, and use her wonderful imagination. She is much more powerful than she thinks she is. Her story is an inspiration for all of us.
I loved the author’s imagination and the fantastic world she is skillfully forming in the reader’s mind. I loved the captivating storytelling and the lyrical and magical prose. The author is certainly a weaver herself, a weaver of tales and imagined worlds. In the book the charmed creatures come to realize that they were dependent on human minds and belief for their existence. Is it also the other way around? A manifestation of the mental nature of reality if you will. In any case, I highly recommend this fascinating book.
A long-time reader, best-selling author D. Wallace Peach started writing later in life when years of working in business surrendered to a full-time indulgence in the imaginative world of books. She was instantly hooked.
In addition to fantasy books, Peach’s publishing career includes participation in various anthologies featuring short stories, flash fiction, and poetry.
She’s an avid supporter of the arts in her local community, organizing and publishing annual anthologies of Oregon prose, poetry, and photography. Peach lives in a log cabin amongst the tall evergreens and emerald moss of Oregon’s rainforest with her husband, two owls, a horde of bats, and the occasional family of coyotes.
For book descriptions, excerpts, maps, and behind the scenes info, please visit D. Wallace Peach Books
For her blog on all things writing, please visit here
For her Amazon author’s page, please visit here
This post is another themed 25 Leonberger photos. This time the theme is Leonberger puppies. Below is a list of previous themed 25 Leonberger posts I’ve made.
Also don’t forget to check out my new blog if you haven’t done so.
This is a Leonberger blog, but I post about books that are not about Leonbergers but other types of books I love and want to promote. With this post I would like to promote a truly great novel featuring Neanderthals. The book is called Endangered Species by Jacqui Murray. I recently participated in a so-called virtual book blast for this book. It is a special promotion. This post is just about my review for this book. The virtual book blast is the important post and if you did not see it yet please click here. Below is a list of some additional book blast posts for this book. If you know of additional ones, please tell me in the comments.
To see the Neanderthal super fact post (given to me by Jacqui Murray) – Click here
Below is an overview of the three formats of Endangered Species
Savage Land is the third trilogy about prehistoric man in the series, Man. Vs. Nature.Written in the spirit of Jean Auel, Savage Land explores how two bands of humans survived one of the worst natural disasters in Earth’s history, when volcanic eruptions darkened the sky, massive tsunamis crossed the ocean in crushing waves, and raging fires burned the land. Each of the tribes considered themselves apex predators. Neither was. That crown belonged to Nature and she was intent on washing the blight of man from her face.
Endangered Species is Book One of the trilogy. Yu’ung and her Neanderthal tribe must align with Fierce and his Tall Ones—an advanced tribe of humans. Even then, survival is not ensured. The story starts in the Altai Mountains of Siberia as they prepare for a cross-continent journey to a new home away from the volcano’s devastation.
Join me in this three-book fictional exploration of Neanderthals. Be ready for a world nothing like what you thought it would be, filled with clever minds, brilliant acts, and innovative solutions to life-ending problems, all based on real events. At the end of this trilogy, you’ll be proud to call Neanderthals family.
When I was a teenager, I read a few of Jean M. Auels novels about pre-historic humans. I loved them and I saw the movie. Now I am reading Jacqui Murray’s novels about pre-historic humans. Jacqui Murray’s books are even more fascinating and very realistic and well researched. Her books also cover a larger time interval starting 1.8 million years ago. The story in this fairly new book takes place 75,000 years ago when our planet was home to several human species including Homo neanderthalensis or Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens. The focus of the story is on a tribe of Neanderthals calling themselves “the people”. Homo Sapiens (people like us) are referred to as “tall ones”. There were also other humanoid species alive at the time such as Homo erectus and Denisovans and they are referred to as “uprights” in this book. Well, all homo species are referred to as uprights in this book.
Something very bad is about to happen. Something that threatens the survival of all homo species. You can guess what from the front cover. There is a vision, or a spirit, of a Homo erectus woman called Xhosa who provide help and wisdom from the spiritual realm. Some central characters are Yu’ung, a female Neanderthal who is a healer and the leader of her tribe, Fierce the leader of a Homo sapiens tribe, Jun or Shanadar a young Neanderthal man and his canines Ump, White Streak (and a few more), who are sent by Xhosa on a special mission. I loved the canines (related to wolves). As a side note I can add that Neanderthals and Homo sapiens could interbreed despite being considered different species because the concept of species is complex.
The many adventures recounted in this book are fascinating, intense and captivating and there is something interesting and fun happening on every page. The character development is detailed and well done. Despite being so ancient and so different from us modern people, the humanoids in the book come alive in your imagination and you are transported into a different world from long ago. I found myself cheering for and caring for a Neanderthal woman and loving a wild dog. One passage that I found to be so intense that I was breathless was when Jun/Shanadar saved the life of a drowning canine pup called Blaze. What a job he had, saving a pup and saving the world. Did all this happen for real? I don’t know, but it could have. I loved this book. It is a page turner, and I highly recommend this book as well as her previous books.
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular prehistoric fiction saga, Man vs. Nature which explores seminal events in man’s evolution one trilogy at a time. She is also the author of the Rowe-Delamagente thrillers and Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy.
When not writing, she is grad school teacher, author of over a hundred tech ed resources including K-12 technology curricula, and an Amazon Vine Voice. You can find her resources at her publisher, Structured Learning LLC. She lives in So. California with her husband of forty years, Labrador Casey, and lots of contact with her adult children, one a Cdr in the Navy, the other a SFC in the Army. Feel free to reach out to Jacqui at her blog, WordDreams, or her social media platforms.
This is a Leonberger blog but sometimes I post about books that are not about Leonbergers but that are other types of books I love and want to promote. This book is an intriguing thriller about a beautiful female psychopathic killer by the name Marie, and it is told from her perspective. It is both creepy and amusing at the same time as well as unique and definitely a page turner. I guess you can say it is lighthearted horror but above all a good story. The author, Sara Flower Kjeldsen, has expertise in psychology, which makes the story more realistic.
Marie has always been a violent girl. She has no remorse for those she kills. Once she takes out her husband, she will have everything she has ever wanted. That is until the pool boy gets in her way. After she kills him, something strange happens. Psychopaths aren’t supposed to feel guilt. She doesn’t care about anyone. So why is her latest victim haunting her dreams? Marie is the story of a stunning young woman who is forced to face her own heartlessness.
Marie is a psychopath. Her range of emotions is limited. She feels no compassion, no love, she has no conscience, she is fearless, selfish and greedy, and she feels superior to people with normal feelings, which she considers to be stupid, weak and irritating. In addition, she has a sadistic streak. She is a proud beautiful trophy wife with a boring normal but rich husband. He is in love, but she is using him, the great manipulator that she is. She hides her inner craziness very skillfully and fools everyone. One day Brad, the pool boy catches her drowning a bunny rabbit in the pool for her own amusement after finding a paper with her plot to murder her husband. He realizes she is mentally sick and offers to find her a psychiatrist at the college where he studies. Well, what do you think will happen to Brad?
The author has expertise in psychology, so this is a realistic depiction of a female psychopath, but what makes it even more interesting is that the story is told from the perspective of Marie. Usually, you don’t get to be inside the head of the psychopath, the focus is on the victims, for example, as in the movie No Country for Old Men (Anton Chigurh). The story is both creepy and amusing at the same time. Marie is undoubtedly evil, but she is funny and clever. Can a psychopath be cured? Perhaps not in a conventional sense but strange things can happen. I loved this story. It was very engaging, fast-paced, entertaining and full of surprises. I highly recommend this page turner.
Sara is a Canadian multi-genre author who loves tea and adventures. This is a list of her published books. This is her blog.
This is my 300th blog post for this blog and today I am reviewing and promoting a very good book on poetry, Sun Haiku: 365 Days of Sunshine by Dawn Pisturino. I bought the paperback version from US Amazon. I should mention that the focus of my blog is Leonberger dogs, but I also blog about other things.
This collection of traditional and non-traditional haiku is dedicated to the sun and its effects on people, animals, and the environment. Many ancient cultures worshipped the sun as the giver and sustainer of life. As the center of our solar system, life on Earth depends on the sun to grow and thrive. Of course, like anything else, too much of a good thing can have negative consequences: skin cancer, drought, cataracts, shriveled up crops, and more. That’s why we do what we can to protect ourselves while taking advantage of the sun’s positive energy. Come join me in honoring the most important body in our solar system!
Sun Haiku is a delightful poetry book featuring 365 Haiku poems about the sun, followed by a few leap year poems, two short stories, and two longer bonus poems. The poems cover a lot of sun related topics. The poems tell us that the sun gives us warmth, light, colors, beauty, sustenance, birds and flowers, uplifting freedom, it heals the mind and spirit, but it can also burn us, give us cancer, and cause draught. Be careful. The poems elaborate on the midnight sun, the solar system, and the death of the sun and the white dwarf star that it will become.
The poems are imaginative, original, clever, captivating, and a lot of fun to read. The stories were also imaginative, original and intriguing. I think my favorite poem was the bonus poem at the end called summer heat. I think it was the longest poem in the book stretching one and half pages. The words and the verses were full of life and evoked beautiful, dreamy visions of nature and sunshine. The author dedicated her book to her brother, a man who loved the outdoors but died from skin cancer. This background added an emotive aspect to her sun poems. I highly recommend this beautiful book of poems.
I’ve posted about a few of Dawn Pisturino’s books.
Dawn Pisturino’s international publishing credits include poems, short stories, and articles. Her debut poetry book, Ariel’s Song: Published Poems, 1987 – 2023, earned five-star reviews and ranked #60 on the Amazon Best Seller list for Haiku & Japanese Poetry. Her short chapbook, Lunar Gazing Haiku, became a #1 Amazon New Release in six categories.
Haiku for the Midnight Hour, her third book, achieved #1 Amazon New Release status in three categories. Her fourth book, Sun Haiku: 365 Days of Sunshine, climbed to #1 Amazon New Release in Japanese Poetry & Haiku. She is a member of several author organizations.
