Stephen W. Saint - Author

Today marks the 80th anniversary of D-Day.

It's interesting to note that the majority of the American assault force that landed on the shores of France was launched from Portland and Weymouth Harbours. Today we remember them.

Weymouth Harbour plays a role in 'Harvey Ranger: The Whale that Wasn't'. It's from this harbour that the dolphin spotting trip departs and at the end of the book the captured submarine is returned to the harbour.

The newspaper was passed down to me from my grandfather.

The AI fun continues:

Image 1: It was impossible to get the Ginger Santa Claus to descend the ramp to the boat. Copilot seems to only be able to handle ascending so here we have an image of a disguised Mr Ranger, leaving the fishing boat at the end of the dolphin spotting tour.

Image 2: It would have been nice if Jack was older, but this was the best I could get. If you make a request to make Jack look older it might end up with Jack also wearing drone goggles or the beds in some other arrangement.

Image 3: If you ever thought you could get Copilot to create an image of a parson in a submarine conning tower and shooting a machine gun at a drone then you would be wrong. I tried numerous times and this was the only image where the parson was in the right place. How, you might ask, did you get Copilot to put him there? Well the answer was simple - I simply told Copilot to put a bunch of spaghetti on the parsons head. In hindsight the solution seems obvious. I suppose you're also wondering about the gun. Sadly, Copilot doesn't allow you to use guns so I went with a metal rod at first (looks like a wand).

Image 4, 5 and 6: More parsons on submarines ... too good not to share. I might have told Copilot to make the parsons robe out of cheese, or I might not have. I also switched the wand to a 'water blaster' with impressive results.

Image 7: Harvey being led to the helicopter by a female member of the coast guard. The FPV goggles are on the back of Harvey's head, but Copilot did a great job of the helicopter (I told it to use Agustawestland 189 and it did)

More to come as I have time. Feel free to share your AI images of scenes from Harvey Ranger (just Google Copilot ... it's free).

Writing has been stalled on book two while we've been experimenting with Copilot AI. I thought it would be fun to have it create scenes from 'Harvey Ranger'.

And now for you viewing pleasure I present a scene from chapter two where Harvey places James into a playful headlock.

"Harvey used his fifteen-centimetre height advantage to put James in a playful headlock. “And my brother’s a wrestling champion, and he taught me to do this.” “Okay, okay,”.

This is the text used to create the image: A tall caucasian boy with wavy black hair placing a shorter boy with ginger hair into a playful headlock, both smiling. They are about to walk into a boarding school in Dorset, England, wearing school uniforms. Both boys are eleven years old.

As you can see the AI does a great job of creating images. It's just hard to get the AI to exactly what you want.

March 4 and its 20 c.

Book two in the Harvey Ranger series is coming together in record time (two years instead of six). The original working title was 'Secret Agent', but this has been changed to 'The Lelantus Protocol'. You'll have to read it to find out why.

The publication date for the e-book and paperback will be Dec 1, 2024.

Here's a book I'm going to be using for some research.

More pics from the Tower of London: Traitors Gate, The White Tower and a yours truly with a Yeoman Warder.

I don't recall Isaac Newton being mentioned during any of the three tours I have taken of the Tower of London. It wasn't until I started researching the Tower for the "Whale that Wasn't" that I learned about Newton being the master of the mint.

Since, by total coincidence, Newton had already been mentioned in the book and because I thought it was a very interesting historical tidbit, I decided to include this piece of history.

It's been more than six months since we visited England so I thought it was high time I shared some more photos.

I've visited The Tower of London a couple of times in the past. The first time I went there was on a school trip, just like Harvey (I lived in England from age three to eleven). The second was with a couple of friends in my early thirties. Not much changes in The Tower, but they have moved the crown jewels to a larger building and I don't recall there being flowers in the moat. I thought it was just grass.

The banter that Yeoman Nick engages in is typical of the Yeoman Warders.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czkjr34r2zzo

D-Day: Irish woman whose forecast helped save Normandy invasion dies At the age of 21 Maureen Sweeney forecast a storm over the Atlantic which led to the delay of D-Day.

This isn't Molly Pinker and the Toblerone wasn't won in a colouring contest, but it is very large, and we did share it on the way home from Creekside Church where someone won it as a door prize.

We just got back from a trip to England where a copy of Harvey Ranger was spotted in the wild (Weymouth Library). Thanks to Dorset Libraries for making Harvey Ranger available in Dorset County.

More pics to come.

"A children's story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children's story in the slightest.” - C.S Lewis.

"No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally – and often far more – worth reading at the age of fifty and beyond.” - C.S. Lewis.

A big thank you to all the adult readers of Harvey Ranger especially the over 60 crowd. I have been very pleasantly surprised by the feedback from this demographic.

I'm not going to admit it publicly, but the Harvey Ranger in me has a pet peeve involving people referring to anything that has four or more propellers as a drone. For the record the definition of a drone is any vehicle that can, at some level, operate autonomously. The quadcopter the kid next door bought at Walmart for $23.83 is probably not a drone, however some fairly inexpensive quadcopters do have the ability to fly home if they lose contact with the controller. I would consider that to be a drone since it can fly autonomously. Also note that a drone might fly in the air, operate on land or go underwater.

The next time the kid next door tells you they bought a drone and it has four propellers ask them if it can operate autonomously. If not then say "sorry, it's not a drone it's just a quadcopter," and explain to them the difference. If they say that you're being annoying, they're right, that is annoying, but it will give you a chance to tell them all about Harvey Ranger and maybe, just maybe they'll buy a copy of my book. If they enjoy it, they may actually end up thanking you and that will make us all happy, you, me and the kid next door.

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Here are some of my recent google searches: "how to launch a successful coup", "how to make biological weapons", "is there such a thing as a knock-out gas", "how many milliliters for a typical antidote". Hopefully neither CSIS, MI5 or CIA are paying attention, but just in case they are I want everyone to know that it's all research for my next book: "Harvey Ranger: Secret Agent".

And just in case you are interested, the most important thing to do to launch a successful coup is to convince as many people as possible that the coup will be successful. In other words you need to take over the TV and radio stations.

If you live in Dorset, England you will soon be able to borrow 'Harvey Ranger' from your local library.

Today we celebrate the birthday of Sir Isaac Newton. He was born a premature baby, 381 years ago, to a widowed mother in a small Hamlet of Lincolnshire, England. At the time of his birth his mother said his entire body would have fit inside a quart mug. Despite his fragile beginning and frequent exposure to toxic substances, he lived to the ripe old age of eighty two. His body was laid to rest in Westminster Abbey amongst kings and queens.

As you may have read in 'Harvey Ranger', Sir Isaac Newton was Master of the Royal Mint at The Tower of London for twenty seven years where he played a critical role in significant economic and financial events such as the Great Recoinage. Newton also became personally involved in the prosecution of coiners and would sometimes go into bars and taverns in disguise to gather evidence.

While not so famous for his theological writings, Newton wrote more about theology than anything else, producing more than 1.3 million words on biblical subjects. He was a member of the Anglican church and was involved in projects such as paying for bibles for the poor and raising money to build fifty new churches in the London area.

When he wasn't minting and theologizing, Newton dabbled with a little bit of sciencing and managed to came up with a few laws to explain the way things work in the universe. While he was figuring out the way things work he devised a method of math for calculating, called calculus. Calculus is still used in schools today as a form of torture.

Happy birthday Isaac.

“I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.” - Sir Isaac Newton.

I might be a few days late posting this (let’s blame the World Cup), but I wanted to post it anyway since November 20 was the birthday of Reginald Denny. But who was Reginald Denny and what, you might ask, does he have to do with Harvey Ranger?

The names ‘Reginald’ and ‘Denny’ will be familiar to you if you have read ‘Harvey Ranger: The Whale that Wasn’t’. Reginald is the first name of Harvey’s dad and Denny is the first name of his uncle. The two characters are named after Reginald Denny due to his contribution in the development of radio-controlled aeroplanes and drones.

But, Reginald Denny wasn’t just a techno-geek. He was an observer-gunner in the First World War and in 1911 he moved to the US to pursue a career in acting. While still in the states he formed the Radioplane Company that manufactured thousands of drones for the US Army. It was in Reginald Denny’s factory that Norma Jeane Mortenson was building drones when she was ‘discovered’ by a photographer. Norma went on to change her name to Marilyn Monroe and you probably know the rest of that story.

Sadly in 1967, Reginald Denny while visiting his sister back in Richmond, Surrey, England (also the place of his birth).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioplane_Company

On this day in 1605, Guy Fawkes, not happy that the Protestant King James 1st wasn't sympathetic enough to Catholics, attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament. He was caught, and to this day people celebrate across the UK with fireworks and burning effigies of Guy Fawkes on huge bonfires. It seems kind of barbaric now, but our family used to participate in the strange effigy burning tradition. The photo is an eight-year-old me holding a Guy Fawkes we made from old pajamas.

For those of you that have read 'Harvey Ranger: The Whale that Wasn't' you might remember that Guy Fawkes was mentioned during the visit to the Tower of London. An early draft of the book had more details about the fate of Guys Fawkes, but most of it was cut to make it more appropriate for younger readers and for the sake of brevity. I have provided the original unedited text below:
__________________________________________________________________

Chapter 12: Tales from the Towers

Nick Sparks (Yeoman at the Tower of London) is speaking:

"In the wee hours of November 5th, 1605 a man claiming to be John Johnson was brought through the passageway you just came through, and into Queen's House behind me. He was brought here because he'd been caught red-handed under Westminster Palace with 36 barrels of gunpowder. There's pretty much only one reason to store 36 barrels of gunpowder under the palace so Johnson was arrested for treason. Assuming he wasn't working alone, his captors brought him here for questioning.

At first John Johnson did not reveal who his co-conspirators were, but on November the 6th, King James authorised that the gentler forms of torture be used to extract the truth. Fortunately, we don't use torture these days. It has been replaced by homework." There were chuckles and nods of agreement from the group. Most of the class glanced back to make sure Miss Loveday was paying attention.

“Despite what you might think, torture is not about inflicting pain," said Yeoman Nick. "Torture is about communication. It's about starting a conversation. If you don't believe me try taking some thumb screws to the next party you are invited to, and you will see how quickly they start a conversation. Anyway, like homework, it's always a relief when torture ends.

“Even though John Johnson was 10 centimetres taller when the first round of torture ended, he still did not reveal who his co-conspirators were. But when he was told it would go on and on, day after day, becoming less and less gentle until he spilt the beans, only then did he start to have a conversation with his captors. In the conversation that followed he revealed the names of his co-conspirators and that his real name was actually ...?" Yeoman Nick stopped and gestured for the class to fill in the blank.
“Guy Fawkes!” most of the class called out in unison except for Connie Cheng and Alistair Wright. Connie and Alistair were both boarding students from overseas who had yet to experience a November 5th living in England. "That's correct, Guy Fawkes was John Johnson's real name.

It wasn't long before the co-conspirators were rounded up or killed in a shootout with the king's men. By the way, those were the lucky ones. The others were sentenced to gruesome deaths. On January 31st, 1606, the date set for Guy Fawkes ex*****on, he jumped from the gallows, breaking his own neck. In doing so, he was able to avoid the brutal and bloody agony of his full sentence. It didn't matter though that he was dead. His body was still quartered, and it's parts sent to the four corners of the kingdom as a warning to other potential rebels. And today, over 400 years later, we still celebrate Guy Fawkes day with huge bonfires and fireworks."

The fog in Waterloo Region created some great photo ops this morning. On the way home from dropping off the kids at school I stopped at the recently re-opened Conestogo Bridge to excercise my creative side.

This bridge was first built in 1886 and is one of the oldest metal truss bridges remaining in Canada.

Here's a new word I learned recently - verisimilitude. It means 'believable' or 'the appearance of being true' . A fiction story with verisimilitude is plausible and the reader is left with the feeling the events in the story could have actually happened.

Even though I don't recall ever hearing the word until recently, verisimiltude is something that I've tried to achieve in writing 'Harvey Ranger: The Whale that Wasn't'. My goal was to write a book that the reader could relate to, a story in which they feel it could have actually happened to them. While the Narnia Series is right up there near the top of my favourite books, it's Jennings (Anthony Buckeridge) William (Richmal Compton) and more recently Enola Holmes (Nancy Springer) that I feel I can most relate to.

Needless to say it was very encouraging when one of the first kids to read 'The Whale that Wasn't' told me that they enjoyed it because it felt real, and that it could have actually happened to them.

Are you familiar with the word 'verisimilitude' or is this your first time you have heard of it?

Send a message to learn more

I just started listening to 'Enola Holmes: The Case of the Left-Handed Lady (2007)' by Nancy Springer and really enjoying it. The story is about Sherlock Holmes' younger sister and there is a series!!

Book one is on Netflix and is one of our favourite movies. I believe we have watched it four times. The second movie is coming out on November 4th and we are all very excited. It's based on 'The Case of the Left Handed Lady' (which, not surprisingly, is book two).

Nancy Springer | Legendary Fantasy Writer Legendary Fantasy Writer on Nancy Springer…

CHOOSING A LOCATION:
https://www.dorsets.co.uk/weymouth

You might be interested in why I chose a real town for The Whale that Wasn’t. Having an actual location to base the story makes the writing a whole lot easier. Rather than having to create a town in your imagination, you just describe something that already exists.

I didn’t really have a specific location in mind when I first started to tell our daughters the stories of Harvey Ranger. It could have been anywhere in the world, but once the decision was made to take this project to the next level, an exact location was needed, and it had to fit the criteria for the rescue of Petty Officer Flopbottom referenced in chapter 23 and another story called 'The Regatta' (an unpublished short story), which comes before 'The Whale that Wasn’t' .

Choosing England was just a personal preference due to the fact I grew up there and that so many really fantastic stories have come from English authors that I have read over the years.

With England selected as the country I started to use Google Maps to search along the coast and Weymouth was by far the best fit. The fact I lived there as a three-year-old and that the Saint family have significant roots in the area was a huge added bonus.

Selecting the best location for Harvey’s house was the next step, and while I can’t say exactly where his house is located for legal reasons (the description of his house intentionally does not describe any particular houses in the area) I can say that the location is less than a few minutes walk from where our family lived when I was three.

Once the location was chosen it was amazing to see how much easier it became to come up with story ideas based on the local history, buildings and geography. You will especially see this coming true in the 'Secret Agent' (estimated publication date: May 2023) where local history and geography play an even greater role. Sometimes it feels to me that the stories just write themselves once you have all the characters and locations sorted out.

I can’t wait to share 'Secret Agent' with you. I am about half way through the first draft and I am having a great time writing it. If you’re interested in helping me by reading a preview then please let me know.

According to the e-book pirates 'Harvey Ranger' is significantly more popular in their world than in the legitimate world.

Based on 41,792 ratings 'Harvey Ranger' has a 4.59 rating and a 4.52 rating on the same site. All those ratings might explain why the book is one of the "most wanted Publisher author readers around the world."

Harvey Ranger is now available as an audiobook on Audible. I hired Tim Redman, an English voice actor, to do the narration and he did a fantastic job. The first chapter is available as a free sample on Audible, but if you commit to writing a review I would be happy to send you a free copy of the entire book (great for those long summer car rides with the kids). NOTE: If you click on the link below and choose the Canadian site you will still have to search for 'Harvey Ranger' to locate the book.

Harvey Ranger: The Whale That Wasn't Check out this great listen on Audible.com. Unable to sleep, 11-year-old Harvey Ranger sends his drone out the window to search for whales over Weymouth Bay. Whales are nowhere to be found, but what Harvey does find sends him on a journey that leaves him floating alone on a raft in the English Cha.....

Chapter 5 of 'The Whale that Wasn't' references a painting with four white ducks in front of a thatch-roof cottage. The reference is to a real piece of art that was painted by my mother on 'Moles Dash Farm' in Dorset, England. My original intention was to include the painting in the book. Complications related to printing meant that it was left out of the final edition. Mr. Ranger is going to be going on a further artistic excursions in the future where he will (with some posthumous help from my mum) create some more beautiful paintings.

On the left we have my initial mockup of the cover art that I submitted to Chris Macleod. On the right we have the finished product. This is a clear example of why some jobs simply need to be left to the experts.

Many people have commented on the cover of the 'The Whale that Wasn't'. The artwork was created by 19-year-old, university student Chris Macleod using chalk. Chris is a gifted artist and specializes in animal art. Creating the cover for 'The Whale that Wasn't' was a new experience for him and he did an amazing job. I hope to have Chris do the cover art for the sequel, 'Poison in Plaid' which will likely be released in the spring of 2023.

This Red Morph Eastern Screech Owl is one of my favourites.

You can see more of Chris' work here: https://chrismacleodart.wixsite.com/cmacart/pastel-studies

Kindle edition is free from Amazon from today (Mar 26) until Monday.

https://www.amazon.ca/Harvey-Ranger-Rangers-Adventures-Drones-ebook/dp/B09TFVWJCB/

Harvey Ranger: The Whale that Wasn't (Harvey Ranger's Adventures with Drones Book 1) Harvey Ranger: The Whale that Wasn't (Harvey Ranger's Adventures with Drones Book 1) eBook : Saint, Stephen: Amazon.ca: Kindle Store