Here is another favourite to add to my Summer Memories collection.
This post takes us back to an overnight stay on Gander River in June of 2023.
Whenever my husband Paul has to travel for work in our beautiful province, I often accompany him. Particularly enjoyable are the trips that take us somewhere we haven’t visited before. And when we can combine business and pleasure, the trips are all the more fun.
This time Paul’s work took him to a business associate’s cabin on the Gander River, to design an extension and renovation for the client. The long boat in the photo above took us there, the only way to access the site.
In spite of the high winds, and getting splashed by spray over the side of the boat, the temps were warm and the views were lovely.
Here below is a shot of the little guest cabin we stayed in on the property. So cozy!
The Gander River is well-known for its salmon pools and outfitting business. To learn more, check out this site.
Below: blue flag iris growing along the shoreline.
Time to eat, sit back and relax.
Our gracious hosts provided a delicious grilled steak supper and refreshments at the main cabin.
I’m delighted to welcome fellow author Jacqui Murray to my blog today.
Balance of Nature is the third book in Jacqui’s Savage Land prehistoric fiction trilogy. I have read and enjoyed previous instalments of the author’s Man vs. Nature series, so it was no surprise that this one also quickly drew me in. Jacqui’s prose and research masterfully portrays the many struggles our earliest ancestors endured, while at the same time revealing the courage, tenacity, and shrewdness at the core of human existence since time immemorial.
Summary:A tribe haunted by the past. Lies that threaten the future. A reason to find the truth.
Savage Landis the third trilogy about prehistoric man in the series, Man. Vs. Nature. 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. Viral tribes of Neanderthals and early man considered themselves apex predators, but that crown belonged to Nature and she was intent on washing the two-legged blight from her lands.
In Balance of Nature, Book Three of the trilogy, Yu’ung’s Neanderthal tribe hopes to settle at Gibraltar but instead find unexpected threats and lethal challenges.
Follow the courageous Yu’ung, the determined Kazeb, the mystical Shanadar, and the pawed-and-clawed Canis as they navigate a perilous world of tribal conflict, unexplained visions, and shifting loyalties. Their journey is a testament to the resilience and strength of true leadership in a sweeping saga that ultimately leads to who we are today.
Jacqui is sharing with us today an article she has written about writer’s block. Take it away, Jacqui!
When asked, my answer to writer’s block always is, “I don’t get it”, but in writing this article, I paused to think about what that meant. Right now, I’m pretty burnt out over writing my current book. I don’t want to start the next in the series so I’m reading and researching. Is that what some consider “writer’s block”? To me, it’s necessary time to redirect. invigorate my mind.
What is writer’s block?
So which is it? Is writer’s block a temporary mental fatigue from overwriting or the burn out people often suffer from overworking on their jobs? I decided to ask some experts:
In his book Writer’s Block, educational psychologist Mike Rose defines it as: “a breakdown in the writer’s ability to generate text due to rigid or inappropriate rules about writing.”
Keith Hjortshoj in Understanding Writing Blocks describes it as: “a temporary inability to produce new work, often accompanied by anxiety, frustration, or self-doubt.”
Jerry Seinfeld simply says:
“Writer’s block is a phony, made-up BS excuse for not doing your work.”
Seth Godin is equally dismissive:
“I write like I talk and I don’t get talker’s block.”
How to cure writer’s block?
Now that we know what the experts consider writer’s block to be, how do you cure it? Most solutions require you give up perfectionism and ditch a schedule, ultimately freeing your creativity. Here are a few concrete ideas:
1. Take a break from writing and do one of the other many tasks required of writers. Market your last book. Update older books. Mix it up on social media to find new friends (especially if your old ones are becoming less responsive). Research a new book. Travel to an area that inspires you. People watch. Most of the time one of these will inspire you.
2. If you’re writing in a vacuum, seek out online or in-person groups. You don’t have to share your work, just talk writing with like-minded individuals.
3. Forget deadlines. Give yourself permission to finish when you’re done, not on some deadline that probably no one cares about. If you have a boss who enforces that deadline, test his/her limits. Creativity rarely works well with rules, deadlines, and pedantic orders.
4. If you feel like you’ve run out of ideas, ignore the adage “write what you know”. Who can do that? I guarantee I can’t write about my experiences living with Neanderthals. Read on a topic that interests you until you feel you know it.
Author bio: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 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. Her non-fiction includes 100+ books on tech into education, and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics.
As I have mentioned on my blog before, spring takes its own sweet time to show its face on the island of Newfoundland. The arrival is gradual, just as it is on most northern coastlines, with cold temperatures accompanied by the odd snowfall or sleet storm.
I love the anticipation of warmer days ahead. And there are still some lovely moments, particularly when the wind is light, the water is calm, and the sun begins to set. These photos were taken on the peaceful evening of April 2nd, and since then most of the snow and ice has disappeared.
Another reason I love spring here on Perry’s Point: the pleasure to witness the renewal of nature by observing our seabirds. Two weeks ago, it started—the sudden appearance of seagulls and other salt water birds pairing off to mate. Everyday, we now see them huddled—and even cuddled!—together on rocks and small islets off the point, or gliding through the water side by side: herring gulls, saddlebacks, black ducks, and pintails.
Seagulls squeal a spring duet
swim in pairs around ice and rock
glide as swans in graceful tandem
hush broken by caw and squawk *
*excerpt from Seagull Spring by J. Kelland Perry, April 2015
“April is the gateway to the joys of summer.” ― Fennel Hudson
“Oh, the lovely fickleness of an April day!” – W. H. Gibson
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A new 5-Star review was published today for The Women of Wild Cove on Amazon & Goodreads, by Luanne Castle, Author. That makes 21 ratings and 12 reviews on Goodreads with an average of 4.24 out of 5, and 10 global ratings and 6 reviews on Amazon.com with an average of 4.4 out of 5.
The Women of Wild Cove by Jennifer Kelland Perry
“Jennifer Kelland Perry’s latest novel, The Women of Wild Cove, imagines a utopian community set within a dystopian world. This matriarchal village, one of several in the region, is self-sustaining (with bartering between villages) and peaceful. The book is engaging and suspenseful and hard to put down.
What fascinated me even more than the action of the plot and the characterization is to see how the community functions. These villages are a response to a world ruined by the greed and violence of a male-dominated society. As long as the community is not disturbed by the outside world, the peace holds-and the male peons and consorts seem content with their positions. But what happens when there is an outside threat? And the storyline begs other questions as well. For instance, is the tradeoff to get peace at the expense of the autonomy of the men? As a retired English lecturer, I predict that this novel would generate thoughtful and spirited class discussions.
Perry’s novel is in the best traditions of dystopian and utopian novels; however, she has interjected a thread woven throughout. The community collects the stories of women who have written down what happened to them, both in the “old” world and in their new world. Much of the stories are about the violence and abuse men perpetuated on women, making a strong case for this matriarchal society.”
Read from: Mar 25, 2026 – Mar 28, 2026
Shelved as: read, sci-fi, fiction
The e-book is 99¢ but only until the end of March! *Available on Kindle, Indigo Kobo, Barnes & Noble Nook, Apple Books, and others.
Happy Monday, friends, followers and fellow bookworms! It’s March now as well, so after a particularly snowy winter here in Atlantic Canada, we are getting closer to our long-awaited Spring. Yes!
I have e-book news. My publisher, Running Wild Press, has designated March as Words of Women Month. You guessed it—my novel, The Women of Wild Cove, is featured, and is now on sale in ebook form for 99¢ for the entire month. *
*Available on Kindle, Indigo Kobo, Barnes & Noble Nook, Apple Books, and others.
Hello, Friends & Followers! I’m sharing with you my favourite reviews for my latest novel today. These critiques come from Amazon and Goodreads.
D. W. Peach – 5 stars
Can women rule better than men?
The future looks bleak for most of humankind. Almost 200 years from now, climate change has devastated the world—destroying food sources, breaking down societal norms, and allowing disease to spread. One part of the world is managing better than most – the island of Newfoundland in Canada.
There, a matriarchal society dominates, relegating men (called peons) to manual labor or to roles as consorts for breeding purposes. Once a day, they’re fed a serum that tempers their masculine natures. Women are fully in charge, allowing men few rights, chemically controlling them, and expecting full compliance.
Katrina (Kat) is eighteen and grew up believing that men are reckless, violent, and the cause of the world’s collapse. Then she meets a “rogue,” a man who slipped onto the island, seeking a cure for his three-year-old son’s disease. She must decide whether to turn him in or defy her community and help him. Kat and Marc (the rogue) are the most nuanced characters with the richest personalities and emotional backstories. They share the POV.
The plot is straightforward, and the story moves at a clip with some slower moments to get to know the characters and the island society, which includes a complete dismantling of the family unit. What I found most interesting was the author’s attention to gender-based power structures, including the obvious role reversals. Women, for so long treated as second class citizens and victimized by men, are now the oppressors.
Perhaps out of necessity, the elders of Wild Cove also exercise rigid control over the community’s girls and women, including Kat, who are assigned tasks and career placements with little or no input. To address a rise in infant mortality, teens are coerced into breeding. The female elders seem to think this is all for the good of humankind’s survival, and I’m curious to see how this plays out as the series continues.
Highly recommended to readers who enjoy post-apocalyptic and dystopian thrillers that raise some interesting questions about human nature, power, and control.
Atlanta Reader – 4 stars
A timely book – a dystopian future triggered by runaway global warming
This take on how global warming could wipe out civilizations around the world is a bleak one that should make us try harder to save our precious planet. The novel focuses on a community in Newfoundland, in northern Canada, where there’s a ray of hope far from the equator. That’s where a matriarchal society is struggling to survive with the “help” of men who are kept as well-treated slaves for their labor and breeding services. It’s an interesting depiction of how even well-intentioned leaders can set up a government that tramples the rights of the many. Besides the oppressed male population, this also includes all the communally-raised girls who are told what they can and cannot do, with precious little room for personal choice. It’s a system ripe for revolution.
18-year-old Kat is something of a rebel who secretly helps Marcus, a “rogue” who arrives from farther inland, even though she’s been taught that men are evil. Will Kat risk her community’s welfare and go against lifelong anti-male indoctrination to help him? Will Marcus succeed in his urgent mission to find medicine to take back to his dying family? The story is told in an unhurried fashion so it takes a while to learn the answers. And the ending leaves open the possibility that the story could continue.
A novel for readers who enjoy dystopian fiction and the “what ifs” that hang like storm clouds over the increasing threat of runaway climate change.
Carrie – 5 stars Great read
This dystopian novel is an ambitious book that delivers on all fronts. I easily got lost in its pages. Great world-building, vivid descriptions, and dimensional characters who are easy to root for. I loved the feminist bent as well, along with the Eastern Canadian setting. All in all a great read!
Bruce – 5 stars Great read start to finish!
This author, J. Kelland Perry, has a style that makes you keep the pages turning and want to find out more of this world in the future. A story of a “What if” scenario that is filled with rich details of survival and growth by a matriarchal society on an isolated island. I would love to see this book turned into a movie.
Amelia – 5 stars
The Women of Wild Cove by Jennifer Kelland Perry is a striking and imaginative post collapse novel that redefines the dynamics of survival and power. Set on a matriarchal island off Newfoundland’s coast, the story fuses speculative world building with intimate emotional depth. Perry crafts a society led by women, sustained by cooperation and communal caregiving then boldly explores what happens when that balance begins to falter.
Through Kat’s journey, readers are drawn into a moral crossroads where compassion and conformity collide.
Her secret encounter with Marcus, a wounded outsider, forces her to question the ethics of her people’s rule and the boundaries of love, freedom, and sacrifice. The novel’s tension between idealism and control between nurturing and domination gives it rare philosophical resonance.
Perry’s prose captures both the serenity and volatility of her world, reflecting the beauty and fragility of a civilization rebuilt on principles of equality. The Women of Wild Cove is both a compelling survival tale and a reflective social allegory one that lingers as a meditation on what humanity must protect to endure.
Happy October, Friends and Followers! It’s been a busy few weeks for me lately, but I didn’t want the date of September 27 to go unnoticed here on my blog, as it marked the first anniversary of our adoption of Louie and Gordie.
Gord and Lou in the first months
In some ways, their Gotcha Day seems like only yesterday. But then I think of how much these two little darlings have flourished in the space of a year. Remembering how Gordie was so skittish and food insecure, and how at first he didn’t know how to use the little flap door to his litter box, it seems like eons ago.
And then there was Louie’s behaviour when we first brought him home, hiding under my treadmill or the spare bed until he felt more comfortable with us.
Nowadays, they are both well adapted to life here with us on Perry’s Point. And we can’t imagine a single day or night without them!
They are still young cats at ages two and four, so we look forward to many more years—and anniversaries—together.
Hey there, friends and felines! Lou and Gordon Purry here, delighted to be back on WordPress to spend a part of International Cat Day with you all.
To commemorate the occasion, Jennifer asked us to share some of her favourite cat quotes on her blog today, as well as some of her much-loved photos of us.
So here goes!
“One cat just leads to another.” – Ernest Hemingway
“I have lived with several Zen masters—all of them cats.” –Eckhart Tolle
“Perhaps one reason we are fascinated by cats is because such a small animal can contain so much independence, dignity, and freedom of spirit.” – Lloyd Alexander
“I’m not spoiled, my human is just well trained.” – Unknown
“Cats: the original supermodels.” – Unknown
“There’s no need for a piece of sculpture in a home that has a cat.” – Wesley Bates
“Heaven will never be Paradise unless my cats are there waiting for me.” – Unknown
🩷 🐾 💙 🐾. 🩷 🐾. 💙 🐾. 🩷 🐾. 💙 🐾. 🩷
If you are spending part of today with a fellow feline, please give him or her some love!
Jennifer's Journal 