John Hartig

"Can You Imagine?" is a children's picture book targeting ages 4 to 104. It combines my poetry with my knack for photography, especially sunsets and flowers. I owe my sunsets and flowers to Fair Havens Ministries, a Christian camp ground, where I spend every August on my holidays with my camera. I hope that my photography is eye-catching enough for kids to take a delight in. The basic premise of this children's book is to get a child to imagine if he or she could be anything in nature. What would the child want to be? How would he or she like to be a flower or a bumblebee? What would it feel like to be the sky or a sunset? "Can You Imagine?"

Jean-Marie Leclair was an 18th century violinist and composer who founded the French school of violin. He was stabbed to death either on October 22nd late at night, or October 23rd early morning, in 1764, when it was still dark. His body was found in the vestibule of his home which was located on the seedy side of Paris. No one was ever accused or arrested in the case, despite strong suspicions. It could have been a nephew, Guillaume-Fran ois Vial, who was envious of Leclair's success with the violin, playing in King Louis XV's Orchestra. It could have been his ex-wife. Louise Roussel, who made money out of publishing and printing his manuscripts. This novella follows the clues in the list of suspects. It also follows the life of the man and describes the time in which he lived. It weaves a tale where nothing was proved and no arrests were ever made. An unsolved murder mystery of the Baroque Era Until perhaps, now

Joseph Cotulla immigrated from Poland in 1856 with his mother, as a 12 year old boy. He moved to Atascosa County, Texas, where he learned about horses, cattle and ranching. When he was 19, in 1863, he signed up on the Union side at Brownsville during the Civil War. Later, in 1868, he bought a parcel of government land in La Salle County and started his own ranch. He bought a herd of cattle cheap, sent them up The Chisholm Trail to Abilene where a new rail-head brought beef to the Eastern market. Joseph Cotulla grew rich. He bought more land around 1875 and donated some of it to the railroad. A town was named after him in Texas, Cotulla. Soon this former immigrant became a Texas legend. Joseph Cotulla, The Polish Cowboy.

Jean-Marie Leclair was an 18th century violinist and composer who founded the French school of violin. He was stabbed to death either on October 22nd late at night, or October 23rd early morning, in 1764, when it was still dark. His body was found in the vestibule of his home which was located on the seedy side of Paris. No one was ever accused or arrested in the case, despite strong suspicions. It could have been a nephew who was envious of Leclair's success with the violin, playing in King Louis XV's Orchestra. It could have been his ex-wife who made money out of publishing and printing his manuscripts. This novella follows the clues in the list of suspects. It also follows the life of the man and describes the time in which he lived. It weaves a tale where nothing was proved and no arrests were ever made. An unsolved murder mystery of the 18th century Except for now

This is a collection of 2 short stories by John Hartig. The first is Battle of the Violins about time travel. Fast forward to the year 2328, and the task which Captain James T. Kirk has been assigned to bring back to the future 6 of the best violinists of all time to have a fiddle contest at the Hollywood Bowl. The slight hitch is that the Captain with Montgomery Scott's help needs to go back to 1901 and borrow H. G. Wells' Time Machine. One of the contenders in the Battle of the Violins is, of course, Jean-Marie Leclair That leads into the second short story, actually a novella about a murder mystery of the 18th century. Jean-Marie Leclair was an excellent Baroque Era violinist and composer who was stabbed to death in 1764. He should be remembered for his music, not being murdered. He founded the French school of violin. But he was killed in the vestibule of his own home. He was a great violinist and composer for King Louis XV of France. No one was ever arrested, not Louise Roussel, his ex-wife, who did the engraving of his compositions for him, and not the envious nephew, Guillaume-Fran ois Vial, who wanted his uncle to promote him to the KIng. Nobody was ever brought to justice. These two short stories make for great reading with a cup of coffee and a cookie

This is a collection of 2 short stories by John Hartig. The first is Battle of the Violins which is science fiction, a time travel yarn about James T. Kirk of the Starship Enterprise. His mission? To bring 6 of the best violinists in history back to the future to have a fiddle contest at the Hollywood Bowl in the year 2328 to see who is the best of the best of all time. The second story is a novella about a 1764 murder mystery. Violinist and composer of the Baroque Era, Jean-Marie Leclair, was stabbed to death just outside of his own house. Who done it? It could have been the nephew who was envious and wanted his uncle to promote his name before King Louis XV. It could have been the ex-wife, Louise Roussel, who was engraver and made money out of publishing Leclair's musical manuscripts. This is great reading for a rainy day...or anytime

These two short stories involve a murder mystery of Jean-Marie Leclair, a violinist and a composer of the 18th century, who was stabbed to death in 1764, and the other story is about the Battle of the Violins in which Captain Kirk takes 6 of history's best violinists and brings them back to the future for a fiddle contest. This collection of two short stories is great for reading on a rainy day with a coffee and cookies. Jean-Marie Leclair founded the French school of violin and worked for King Louis XV. The Battle of the Violins in the author, John Hartig's imaginary flight from the future to the past and back again to the future.

This is an anthology of poems by Vineland author, John Hartig. Most of my poems do not rhyme; I prefer free verse. My definition of poetry is that the mood or theme has to involve deep emotion or a message of kindness or love or some kind of deep insight. The title, Poetry Like Raindrops, came from the title of Chopin's piano piece called, Raindrops. That music, like a poem, touches the soul and it is truly emotional.

This is a collection of two short stories by Canadian author, John Hartig. The first is a murder mystery about a Baroque violinist and composer, Jean-Marie Leclair, who was stabbed to death in front of his house in 1764. The crime was never solved and there were no arrests, though there were suspicions. It could have been the nephew, Guillaume-Francois Vial who was envious of Leclair's success in the King's orchestra. It could have been the ex-wife, Louise Roussel, who made money from publishing Leclair's manuscripts. The second short story is a science fiction involving Captain James T. Kirk of the Starship Enterprise who takes the ship back in time in order to retrieve 6 of the best violinists in history. Why? He was ordered to bring them back to the future to have a fiddle contest at the Hollywood Bowl in the year 2328 to see and hear who was the best of the best violinists of all time Both stories make for excellent and entertaining reading during a coffee and cookie break.

Coffee and Cookie Time is a collection of 3 short stories by John Hartig. The first story is a novella about the unfortunate murder of Jean-Marie Leclair, one of the best violinists and composers of the Baroque period in France. He was stabbed to death in 1764, right in front of his own house. The killer could have been his nephew, a mediocre violinist who wanted his uncle to promote him before the court of Louis XV. It could also have been the ex-wife, Louise Roussel, who was an engraver and published Leclair's musical manuscripts, thus making money off him. The second story is about the Battle of the Violins, which is a science fiction yarn about time travel, where Captain James Kirk is assigned to bring 6 of history's best violinists back to the future for a fiddle contest to see who is the best player of all time. Jean-Marie Leclair is, of course, one of the contestants, that is before he was killed. The last story is about the terrible time Saint Peter has in front of the Pearly Gates with crowd control. He really needs an administrative assistant as violinists and Pope Clement storm the Pearly Gates. Get a ticket, and get in line, says the keeper of the keys. These short stories make great reading for coffee and cookie time

Book Two of the Love and Faith Trilogy series sees Ahmad fully trained as an ISIS fighter after a year of living in Syria. His commander gives him a mission to go back to Canada to sabotage the Toronto subway. He is given a false passport with the name of Ossi. The plan to bomb the subway is foiled. Ossi goes to plan B which is to track down his sister, Fahm, and there in Hamilton, to carry out yet another honor killing. Detective Spencer saves Fahm. They fall in love, giving the novel a romantic twist. Meanwhile, Abbas, in Toronto can't wait for Ahmad's return, so he initiates his own plan to hijack an airplane which he wants to fly into the CN Tower. This plan also does not work and Abbas is killed, crashing into Lake Ontario with the plane. The pilot survives. However, Ahmad makes a successful get-away from Hamilton back to Toronto and miraculously gets a flight out of the country back to Turkey, so he can rejoin ISIL.Canada experiences tragedies as a nation. Patrice Vincent, a soldier, is killed by a vehicle driven by an ISIS terrorist in Quebec, and Corporal Nathan Cirillo is shot dead doing guard duty at the War Memorial on Parliament Hill without a loaded rifle Symon Schr der's health deteriorates from pancreatic cancer. He determines to take his camera and make one more photographic jaunt down Ball's Falls. He writes a stirring poem at the end of Book Two of the Love and Faith Trilogy.

From the Future to the Pearly Gates. That's quite a jump that only warp speed can make. Saint Peter is already outside of time and space, and as the guardian who keeps undesirables out of Heaven, he has to make sure he has a firm grip on who gets in...and who stays out While Saint Peter deals with the boundaries of the Pearly Gates, James T. Kirk of the star ship Enterprise is assigned the task of bringing 6 violinists back to the future for a fiddle contest in the year 2328 at the Hollywood Bowl. That's a formidable task, indeed, while the Enterprise Captain makes a deal with none other than H. G. Wells in a bid to borrow the man's Time Machine. In the meantime, Saint Peter is still dealing with crowd control at the Pearly Gates, this time with two argumentative painters, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, and a few Popes, who entertain the thought about crashing the Gate. This Trilogy of short stories is the perfect recipe for a coffee break, maybe with a doughnut thrown in. It's a light fare with some chuckles and some food for thought.

8 Short Stories by John Hartig. You can save them for a rainy day, and a coffee. We start out with Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo arguing in front of the Pearly Gates. What do you expect? Saint Peter is flustered. What's more, he has a couple of defunct violinists pop in on him with a few Popes, and he gets, understandably, extremely upset, especially since he has to keep track of who's who while the throng mills around at the Pearly Gates. While we leave Saint Peter dealing with whoever pops in at the Pearly Gates, the author of this collection of 8 short stories, John Hartig, remembers the week in which his mother, Rosa Hartig passed away back in 2012. John sat and read in the room, whiling away the time, immersed in a novel about time travel by Captain James T. Kirk. John's mother occasionally came to consciousness and he held her hand. And so it goes At least, there was time for a coffee break with Harry Rittenhouse when John got back to Vineland. Harry had a dry sense of humour. He lived to be103 years old, waiting for visitors like me to drop into the United Mennonite Home. Two years later, a neighbour across the street, Wilma de Jager, passed away, which is a clear message that time does not stand still for anybody. Not even winning a lottery ticket could cure the problem of time and death. In fact, winning the lottery could be a good motive for murder. Thank goodness, we had Sgt. Benton Wright of the RCMP catch the culprit. Captain James T. Kirk has an unfair advantage, however, with all that futuristic stuff from the 24th century, by using warp speed to sling the Enterprise back to 1901, where Kirk asks H. G. Wells to borrow his Time Machine. Kirk then slips from time period to time period, collecting a total of 6 of the world's best violinists to bring them to the year 2328 for a fiddle contest at the Hollywood Bowl. But let the story tell itself So if you have a cup of coffee at hand, and some time to kill, and it doesn't matter if it's a rainy day or not, sit back and relax and enjoy these little yarns that I've spun for your enjoyment. -- John Hartig 2019

Crooked Harbour is a quiet little town on the west coast of Newfoundland. It's basically made up of a bunch of little houses, two churches, "The Reserve" and an RCMP outpost. When the fishing and logging industries quit decades ago, a lot of people moved out. And then the Lucky Strike Mining Company found gold north of the town bringing a lot of people back in looking for work. Sergeant Brett Wilson thinks that an economic boom is not necessarily a good thing for a little town. The police department, with only three officers, already has its hands full, trying to keep up with the abuse in a seniors' home, poachers on The Reserve, teenage drunkenness, a car theft and the usual break and entry. What they don't need now is the town's first murder

Who killed Jean-Marie Leclair? This is the question for an18th century murder mystery not yet definitively solved. Jean-Marie Leclair was one of the greatest Baroque Era violinists and composers living in France, when in 1764, he was found in the vestibule of his own home in a seedy part of Paris, stabbed to death. The culprit could have been his envious 40 year old nephew, Guillaume-Fran ois Vial, who wanted his uncle to promote his career before King Louis XV's court. Vial was a second rate violinist compared to his uncle. It could have been the ex-wife, Louise Roussel, who owned an engraving business and who made money out of Leclair's music compositions. It could have been a conspiracy between the two, nephew and ex-wife. Who knows for sure? Lieutenant Antoine-Gabriel de Sartine was frustrated in the police investigation. There simply was not enough evidence to arrest anybody