The latest contribution in this year's Authors Showcase is from a newcomer to our writing features, Shane Joseph. A warm welcome to the blog Shane!

Shane's story is an extract from an unpublished memoir and it is an honour to be able to feature it today. You can read Early Rumblings by clicking here.

Shane Joseph is a graduate of the Humber School for Writers in Toronto and studied under the mentorship of Giller Prize and Canadian Governor General’s Award-winning author David Adams Richards. He is the author of six novels and three collections of short stories. Redemption in Paradise, his first novel, was published in 2004. Shane’s second novel, After the Flood, a dystopian novel of hope, was released in 2009 and won the Write Canada Award for best novel in the futuristic/fantasy category. This novel was released in 2020 in a Kindle version. His short fiction and non-fiction have appeared in literary journals and anthologies all over the world. His blog at www.shanejoseph.com is widely syndicated and he has a monthly column in The Sri Lankan Anchorman journal, and is the Book Reviews Editor for Devour Art & Lit Magazine. Shane’s fifth work of fiction, Paradise Revisited, a collection of short stories that continues to explore the immigrant experience, was short listed for the Re-Lit award in 2014. His latest novel, Circles in the Spiral, was released in October 2020.

Shane is the owner and publisher of Blue Denim Press (www.bluedenimpress.com), a literary press he founded in 2011.

More details on Shane’s work, blog and book reviews can be found on his website at www.shanejoseph.com. He maintains an active presence on social media via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Goodreads.
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For our latest story in the 2021 Authors Showcase, it is a privilege to feature writer and artist Syd Blackwell. He is a long-standing supporter of the writing ventures on this blog,

Enjoy Syd's though-provoking contribution SOME THOUGHTS AFTER READING A BOOK FROM A FRIEND by clicking here.

AUTHOR BIO

I was born and raised in Rossland, British Columbia, Canada, that burst into life in the 1890s as a gold mining town and evolved into a residential and ski town by the time I arrived in the mid-1940s.  The safe, delightful, natural mountainous setting rich with rotting history was important in my development and views of the world.   
 
I left at 18 for university, and after, the first phase of my life as a teacher. The second phase of my life was working for a college.  The last part of my working life was as an innkeeper.   

Throughout, I have been an observer and eventually a recorder of life through my eyes.
Since 2007, my wife and I have resided in retirement in Atlántida, on the Atlantic coast of Uruguay.  I am a writer and an artist.  We have five dogs.  We do not anticipate ever moving again.
 
I have had selections published in all the previous anthologies of Robert Fear.  (Thank you!)
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It is always a real pleasure to feature the writing of our most supportive contributor, Ronald Mackay. You can read his first contribution to this year's Authors Showcase, Stepping Up, by clicking here. 

Ronald Mackay began writing stories about his earlier life less than a decade ago. Since then, he has published two books about working in Tenerife in the early 1960s (one in English, the other in Spanish) and an account of the two years he spent behind the Iron Curtain in Ceauşescu’s Romania from 1967 to 1969. He is a member of the Spirit of the Hills Arts Association (Ontario, Canada) https://spiritofthehills.org/

He enjoys contributing short, autobiographical stories to Fred’s Blog on this Authors Showcase page.

Ronald appreciates that penning personal stories, long or short, allow him to discover the people he has loved and admired, the places he has cherished, and some of the salient experiences that have molded his life. These, he believes, are true treasures worthy of returning to and reflecting upon.
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The second submission in this year's Authors Showcase is from talented writer, Adrian Sturrock, 

Adrian explains that, "this entry explores how relationships - or in this case, failed relationships - force us to change/evolve in order to move on."

You can read his contribution Erase and Rewind by clicking here.

Adrian Sturrock is a writer, occasional musician, teacher, and ethnic minority (except when in Wales), specialising mostly in observation and unconsidered opinion. He currently lives in Buckinghamshire, UK, with wife, Natalie: his travel companion, best friend, and the person responsible for keeping him out of trouble on social media.
 
His first book, THE SAT NAV DIARIES was immediately well received on both sides of the Atlantic, gaining a string of 5-star reviews, and was nominated for the 2018 Kindle Book Awards. His follow up, THE SAT NAV DIARIES 2.0 (HEADING EAST…ISH) is also now available on Amazon. Adrian has also published two collections of essays in his RANDOM series. 
 
Beyond his own publications, Adrian has written for a variety of online journals, as well as having his poetry/lyrics displayed alongside those of Benjamin Zephaniah in Luton Town Hall (though it is very unlikely that Benjamin is aware of this).
 
Adrian contributed to the 2019 edition of Travel Stories & Highlights and to the 2020 anthology, 40 Memorable Life Experiences, both edited by Robert Fear (and currently available on Amazon).

His other claims to fame include being smiled at by Madonna, and having once spent an afternoon watching Ace Ventura, Pet Detective in Barry Gibb’s living room, where Bee Gee’s manager, David English, remarked on his shoes.
 
All of Adrian Sturrock’s books can be found on Amazon.

To launch this 7th year of writing features on Fred's Blog, it is a pleasure to include a contribution from well-known author Cherie Magnus.

You can read about her life-changing event, Mardi Gras in Paris, by clicking here.

Cherie Magnus, a California native, returned to Los Angeles in 2014 after teaching tango in Buenos Aires, Argentina, for 11 years. Before her life as an expatriate, she was a dance research librarian in the Los Angeles Central Library and a dance critic for local newspapers before moving to France, Mexico, and then to Argentina in 2003. 

Many of her articles on dance, books, travel and international culture have been published in magazines, professional journals, and several anthologies.
 
A Finalist in the Buenos Aires Tango Championships of 2006, she has appeared in several podcasts, as well in two video tango documentaries. She wrote a blog, tangocherie, on expat life, Buenos Aires culture, and the tango from 2008-2014. The prequel to The Church of Tango — Arabesque: Dancing on the Edge in Los Angeles — was published December 2014. Intoxicating Tango: My Years in Buenos Aires in 2019, the third in her memoir trilogy.
 
At each crossroad in her life, she made difficult choices of roads to take, resulting in three memoirs of “Death, Dance, Destiny,” sometimes with love along the way. With each problem that arose, she dances her way through it.

Today marks the launch of the seventh annual memoir-related writing feature on Fred’s Blog.

The six years to date have featured the work of many talented contributors and resulted in five published anthologies:
Travel Stories and Highlights: 2017, 2018, 2019 Editions
40 Memorable Life Experiences: 2020 Edition
40 Inspirational True Stories: 2021 Edition
These are all available to buy on my Amazon Author page: viewauthor.at/RobertFear

Following on from these, I can now announce that the 2021 Authors Showcase is open for entries.
SUBJECT: Life-Changing Events.
WORD COUNT:  1000 – 3000 words.
SUBMISSION TIME: April 1st until September 30th 2021.
GENRE: Non-Fiction - Memoir.

This is a fantastic opportunity for authors, writers, and poets to share their work with a wider audience. For entry guidelines, please click here.

Readers can follow this year’s showcase here.

Thanks for your support.

It is a pleasure to feature a guest blog from travel writer Julie Watson, whose book 'Travel Mementos: Personal Stories about Faraway Places' has been released today.

You can read her post 'In Search of Lost Travel Time' by clicking here.

Follow me on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/fredsdiary1981