Bloopers from Pumpkin Sally TV with host, Laura Hesse. Horses can be unpredictable at the best of times, no matter how quiet, as are neighbour’s dogs. Never shoot alone. I had lots of help standing by during these video shoots. Pumpkin Sally TV is a series of webisodes for kids and city slicker interested in horses, hobby farming, and ranching. Visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mR2SGbTt90
Month: April 2013
25% off all ebooks by Laura Hesse at Smashwords.com
Get 25% off on all of my e-books at www.smashwords.com. Use the following coupon codes: One Frosty Christmas: ZD86K – The Great Pumpkin Ride: ZX68P – A Filly Called Easter: WZ24S – Two Independents: GK78M – Gumboots & Gumshoes: DL78L – The Thin Line of Reason: BJ44L (Coupons good until September 15, 2013)
Want a signed printed copy, contact publisher at info@RunningLProductions.com Limited quantities available. Standard retail price, plus shipping and handling.
Off to do a video shoot on blacksmithing today
Looking forward to shooting the second episode for Pumpin Sally TV today. We will be interviewing Lynn Brochu on shoeing a horse as well as discussing what it’s like to be a woman in a field usually dominated by guys.
Pumpkin Sally Productions: Episode 1 – The Write Track with Laura Hesse
Welcome to what we have comically dubbed Pumpkin Sally TV. We will be featuring a new series of web-episodes for all those city slickers out there who have dreamed of owning a horse, hobby farm or ranch. Stay tuned for more interviews.
Episode One: The Write Track with Laura Hesse
An interview at the farm with Laura Hesse and her four-legged pals Pumpkin Sally, Shilo, Piper, Willow and Cloud. Meet the horse affectionately known as Pumpkin Sally and learn where Laura got her ideas for The Holiday Series of Young Adult and Teen novels. Click on this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHahI2VAU8Y
Review A Filly Called Easter
It was late when I finished A Filly Called Easter. Memories of man pre-teen nights under the bed covers with a flashlight and a book from the black-stallion series enveloped me as I turned out the lamp.
Hesse continues to demonstrate the strength and abilities of pre-teens/teenagers. From cleaning barns to driving tractors, these ranch kids are capable and are needed. The result is responsible, resourceful and confident kids – characters that I admired.
I found the first chapter a bit difficult as I had not read the previous tow books in the series: One Frosty Christmas and The Great Pumpkin Ride. I had to absorb the names and relationships and at some points I found the a little sweet. Ultimately though, I was surprized to find I had kept turning he pages until I finished – out of interest and curiosity, not out of obligation.
This book is written for pre- and early teens. Buy it for any dreamy-eyed animal-loving child. Anyone who has ever dreamed of that perfect horse, or felt that connection and pleasure of enjoying the world from the back of a horse, should give it a try.
Janet Peto VIP Pets
Review Two Independents
eview by Laura Neufeld, The Canadian Horse Journals
Two Independents, the fourth installment in Canadian author, Laura Hesse’s popular Holiday Series, is an exciting, heartwarming tale set in British Columbia’s interior.
The novel introduces June, the matriarch of the Stetler family. She is a kind, insightful woman, and though suffering from debilitating arthritis, possesses a physical and emotional strength which gives the novel its heart.
June lives with her husband, Bill, their dog named Horse, and an old Norwegian Fjord, CD. She travels up to their cabin in the mountains each summer, and this year she will be accompanied by her grandchildren: Billy, a horse-crazy eight-year-old who longs to be a “real” cowboy, and Susie, a surly fifteen-year-old from California who would much rather be spending her summer on a surf board than one horseback. The story follows the family as they head up the mountain and settle in for a quiet vacation. The summer, however, brings much more than they expected.
Two Independents has all the makings of a great story – for you and old alike. Hesse has created nuanced characters who come alive on the page, and tells a story filled with twist and turns. There is even a bit of a romance thrown into the mix.
Hesse owns a Norwegian Fjord and her love for the breed is obvious: CD and his new companion Independence are as strongly developed as the human characters. Hesse also puts her years of experience with the Alberta Forest Service to good use, depicting the dangerous conditions which arise when the summer is too hot and dry. Her detailed observations place the reader right in the thick of things.
Two Independents is a great choice for the horse lover looking to add a little excitement to their reading list.
Review The Thin Line of Reason by Alli Vail
If you want something thrilling, but not pee your pants, sleep with all the lights on scary, Laura Hesse’s The Thin Line of Reason may be for you.
The main characters are a brother and sister duo, Bill and Sarah Lancaster, each fighting their own demons. Bill, an RCMP officer in Nanaimo, has spent years searching for the man who killed his partner.
Gun runner and murderer Josef Stein eludes him. When if finally seems Bill gets his man, events go wrong and Stein is presume dead – but Bill isn’t buying it. He soon turns to alcoholism to quell the voice of his dead partner.
In the meantime, Sarah, who has a high stress job in Vancouver, is haunted, literally, by a childhood ghost who seems to have taken on a corporeal form.
But in this book, characters wear faces that hide who they really are.
Many thrillers novels seem to follow a formula in which the reader can guess within a few chapters how the story will end. However, The Thin Line of Reason holds several surprises that alter the plot line and shouldn’t be called formulaic.
Although the book’s main conflict centers on that between Josef Stein and Bill, there are several other interesting plots and social issues that arise in the book – inherited insanity, dealing with alcoholism and employer/employee relationships.
Hesse also uses an interesting literary tool to tell the story. Some events are told through two different characters eyes, allowing the reader to first witness one’s view, and then another.
The novel actually improves the further in the reader gets, as the beginning has to introduces inconsequential and main characters in short order, while setting up the rest of the story’s conflicts.
Review by Alli Vail, PQB News, Black Press
The making of Gumboots!
I so thoroughly enjoyed writing this book that I had to make it a series. The idea of a crime fighting duo including a pot-bellied pig and a cop were just too fun and delicious to ignore.
I had the joy of meeting and getting to know a pot-bellied pig named Alfie who would do anything for a dog biscuit. He was highly intelligent and devoted to his owner. Sadly, both have passed now. I hope I did his memory justice in creating the “Gertrude” character.
And I don’t, by the way, have anything against cops. I have family members who serve in law enforcement and am proud of them. What can I say…I’m not politically correct. What writer is?
Seal Island is loosely based on Lasqueti Island. It’s a great place. No electricity. No running water. Loads of self-expression and creative living. It’s a step back in time, filled with millionaires, artists, eccentrics, and just plain nice people. Lasqueti, thanks for the inspiration, you rock!
NEW RELEASE on April 10, 2013!
Running L Productions and Laura Hesse are pleased to announce the release of the Magical Manga Fairy Coloring Book on Wednesday, April 10th, 2013. Print copies will be available worldwide on Amazon.
This fun and creative 30 page coloring book, by Canadian emerging artist, Shatisha Mararie, is devoted to the Manga style of art work including Kawaii, Chibi and Shoujo. Anyone who enjoys the magical and whimsical world of fairies will enjoy these wonderful pictures.
The artist known as Shatisha Mararie makes her home on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. She has found her own unique way of dealing with her autism through art. She is currently enrolled in a University Arts Program.
Visit the New Release and Book Store section of: https://runninglproductions.wordpress.com for full details.
Running L Productions 