Archive for December 28, 2022


Giving away my Kindle e-books

It’s been a while since I’ve done that, so why not, eh? I’m giving away most of my Kindle e-books until December 30th and/or 31st. (Amazon’s delightful KDP menu glitched halfway through the process. Heh.)

If you like what you see, please feel free to leave a 5-star review! Tell your friends, download some fun non-fiction goodness, and I hope you’ll enjoy your new reading material.

The full list can be found over here. Or, for posterity’s sake, here’s the list of what’s up for grabs:

  1. Plague Diaries: a Covid Chronicle. As the title suggests, this is the 406-day-long chronicle of my covid lockdown, from the first emergency declaration in Canada right until I got my vaccines in the States. A whole lot more happened in between… Occasionally funny, mostly terrifying, and an honest look at what that was like.
  2. 50 shades of yay: great thinkers on happiness. Hands down my favourite creation – but, ironically, the least popular one among my readers. This is a collection of 50 ancient (and overall old-timey) thinkers who pontificated on the nature of happiness. It’s quite interesting (as well as useful!) to see the perspectives from centuries and even millennia ago. My favourite? Christina, Queen of Sweden.
  3. Legends & Lore from Around the World. I’ll be the first to admit that the formatting in this 15,000-page monster of an e-book is pretty bad. If you’re willing to look past that, though, you’ll find the largest collection of myths and legends ever assembled under one cover. Native Americans, Aboriginal Australians, African myths – this book has them all.
  4. Roommate Survival Guide: 33 ways to stay sane and have fun. I’ve had well over 100 roommates over the course of my life. Learn from my mistakes and fun experiences!
  5. Taoism-101: Answers and Explanations. This is a short and sweet guide to Taoism, presented in the FAQ format. Learn what it is, find out what it isn’t, and dazzle all your friends with your newfound esoteric knowledge!
  6. Go to college without going broke: 33 ways to save your time, money and sanity. Released over a decade ago, this was once one of my most popular e-books. (I like to think that the advice is still quite applicable!) As an immigrant, I had to learn the intricacies of the US college system all on my own. This book has the sum total of my knowledge: how to travel almost for free, how to save a fortune on textbooks, where to find free food and wine on campus, etc. It’s only 37 pages long, but it should save you and yours thousands of dollars.

That’s about it: go forth and download! (And, as always, don’t forget those 5-star reviews, eh!)

Another year is almost over.

Thinking back, it’s rather impressive how much has happened. A year ago, there was no war in Ukraine. There was no Wordle. I hadn’t even known about the PCT. (That came about after a rapid succession of really bad news, followed by the desire to get away from it all.)

It’s impossible to predict with any degree of accuracy what will happen in 2023. Will the stock market recover? Will the recent covid surge in China produce a particularly dangerous variant? Will there be another bizarre and very precisely phrased Pentagon report on UFOs? At the very least, I hope Ukraine will fight off its invader and get some semblance of peace.

On a personal note, I’ll be spending most of the year in the francization school here in Quebec: it’ll run until October-ish. Learning a whole new language is a fine intellectual challenge, and the fact that the local government pays a $200 CAD weekly stipend is a fun cherry on top. 🙂 Also, might get a bit more serious about my writing… And though there’ll be no epic hikes in 2023, I’ll have a 6-week summer break: if everything goes according to plan, I should be able to join FEMA’s reservist program and spend that time helping out in some natural disaster area. (The reservist program is a new development: a logical yet horrifying reaction to the global warming. There are so many disasters now that the best bad option is to enlist average people’s help. That should be interesting…)

A year ago today, I couldn’t have imagined how 2022 would’ve changed me – or the world. Here is to a less eventful new year, eh?