Saving Tiberius to Be Judged in the Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence

Today I was delighted to see my novel, Saving Tiberius, has been selected to be judged in the Best Crime New Novel, category in the Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence. The short list will be announced on April 22, 2021. 

My fingers are crossed!

Recent Reviews of "Saving Tiberius" and "Defending the Inland Shores"

In the past month there have been two new reviews of Saving Tiberius on Amazon. The review in November said: This book will appeal to readers of crime fiction and cat lovers (like me!). It is written in third person perspective with the focus on wherever the action. I liked the writing style and it moved along at a fast pace. It's got a bit of everything ... suspense, romance, action and a cat! What more could you want?! As a head's up, there is violence and adult activity.

Here's the newest one from a couple of days ago: Saving Tiberius is a suspenseful, action-packed crime thriller, with a terrific romantic arc. The two main characters, Morgan and Paula, are a dynamic duo, and Tiberius is the feline star of the show! If you like cop dramas and cats, you'll love Saving Tiberius!

Wow! Thanks.

This week I also found a new review in the online magazine, Canadian Military History. It's a thorough, two page review. The full review is in the above link. Here are some highlights: What stands out most in Jones’s book is the author’s passion for his subject. His enthusiasm is evident on every page, as is his esteem for the regiment and the officers and men who served in it. 

His book is a true labour of love, one that seeks to honor the men who served loyally and fought bravely in the war. 

They saw combat in many of the key battles across the region … Jones concludes his coverage of each of these clashes by listing the names of each member of the regiment recorded as falling in combat, which stands as the ultimate testament of the service they performed.

It's great reading such positive reviews. 

Note: Saving Tiberius currently is listed incorrectly on Amazon. It shows incorrect pricing and it ships from the UK. They are, in fact in a Canadian warehouse. My publisher and I are working on having this corrected.

Saving Tiberius is available in print and as an e-book from Chapters/Indigo and as an e-book on the Apple App.

Defending the Inland Shores is available in print from Chapters/Indigo.

Canadian History Magazine Book Review for "Defending the Inland Shores"

In this month's (Feb-Mar 2018) edition of Canada's History Magazine, there is a review of my book, Defending the Inland Shores.

Here is the review in it's entirety:

Defending Inland Shores: Newfoundland in the War of 1812
by Gordon K. Jones
BookLand Press
163 pages, $19.95

A key conflict in Canadian history, the War of 1812 was fought largely on the border between Canada and the United States and was far removed from the island of Newfoundland. However, in his book Defending the Inland Shores: Newfoundland in the War of 1812, Gordon K. Jones examines the unique role the Royal Newfoundland Regiment of Fencible Infantry played in this conflict.

Although many Newfoundland soldiers volunteered to fight against the Americans when the war began, they did not fight as a united regiment and were instead split up amongst the British units. As such, their experience has largely been overlooked and gone untold.

Despite their role in many key victories of the war, it wasn’t until two hundred years later that the Newfoundlanders earned any battle honours. Their regiment was disbanded following the conclusion of hostilities in 1816 and before most honours were granted. This was remedied in 2012, when the regiment’s successor, the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, received three battle honours dating back to the War of 1812: “Detroit,” “Maumee,” and “For the Defence of Canada 1812–1815.”

Written in engaging and accessible prose, Defending the Inland Shores provides a long-overdue focus on the Newfoundland soldiers who were present at some of the war’s most famous battles and who played an important role in defending the British colonies from American attacks.

My Interview with Canadian Military Family Magazine for "Defending the Inland Shores"

This week Canadian Military Family Magazine published an interview they did with me just after Christmas. Here it is:

Armed with his passion for the War of 1812 and desire to uncover Newfoundland’s role in the war, first-time author, Gordon Jones’ s book: Defending the Inland Shores: Newfoundland in the War of 1812 was released this past December.

It all started when Jones and his wife were on vacation in Newfoundland several years ago. During their visit, the couple attended a Battle of Signal Hill reenactment. While Jones tried to capture the action with his camera, Jones’ wife struck up a conversation about the War of 1812 with others at the reenactment.

“They basically had no idea about what went on, and once she told me I thought it was a great shame because they played such a significant role, a big of a role in the War of 1812 as they did in World War One percentage basis,” explained Jones, who’s grandfather served with the Newfoundland Regiment in the First World War and father served in the Canadian Army during the Second World War.

Upon returning home, Jones looked for a book to learn more but couldn’t find any and decided to write one himself.

It’s taken him three years of researching, pouring over books and letters, anything he could get a hold of at the reference library in Toronto, to finish writing the book. During the research process, Jones came across a nine-volume set of letters written by generals and other participants of the war that helped pave the way to finding unique information.

Through his writing of this book, Jones has learned a great deal about the War of 1812, little tidbits of information that perhaps now one else knows of.

“To really get down in the nitty-gritty of stuff, it was thrilling and exciting. I’ve been studying this war for 30 years, and I was finding information that I never knew happened before. I’d just come out of the backroom with a big smile on my face sometimes because I just found this nugget of gold,” said Jones.

The writing process was something that came with time for the first-time author, who works in the financial world, but he ended up finding an exciting action sequence to open the book with, and the rest just fell into place.

“Once I had the framework of how I wanted to do it, I’d just go out research the heck out of a chapter and I’d sit down with all my notes, books and bookmarks and just go at it,” recalled Jones.

Now that the book had finally been published Jones feels a sense of accomplishment and is looking forward to finally sharing his work with others.

“Hopefully when they read this book they’ll see that yes Newfoundland was a great contributor and Newfoundland suffered a lot in the war. I hope that people that have researched the war read it and get some information they never knew before,” said Jones.

Defending the Inland Shores: Newfoundland in the War of 1812 is now available for purchase on Amazon, Indigo, all major online retailers and independent bookstores.