Can-Con, October 17 to 19, 2025
A post-con report This year, Can-Con moved to a new venue, the Brookstreet Hotel. It was a beautiful event space and the hotel had all the amenities and then some. But I’m getting ahead of myself. I...
View ArticleWordstock 2024 post-festival wrap-up
My first official literary festival appearance and all the other goodies. Day 1 – November 1, 2024 Poetry Primer – The Bistro 5:30 to 6:30 pm I showed up a bit early and was seen to the hospitality...
View ArticleThe Stillwater Writing Retreat
June 7-9, 2024 This event required its own post. While I attended the Writing Excuses Retreat (WXR) in 2017, that was on a cruise ship and involved a lot of people. The Stillwater Writing Retreat, on...
View ArticlePulp Literature Issue 38 Launch
I’m just dropping by to remind everyone that Pulp Literature issue 38 is launching tomorrow at the Port Coquitlam Readers & Writers Festival! If you’re in the area, I encourage you to visit the...
View ArticleBook Launch: Enlightened by Defilement by Vera Constantineau
Yesterday, On Saturday, April 15, 2023, I attended the launch of Vera’s collection of haibun, Enlightened by Defilement, at the Hilton Garden Inn, in Sudbury. It was a lovely afternoon and I saw many...
View ArticleBook review: K.M. Weiland’s Writing Archetypal Character Arcs
What Amazon says: The Six Transformational Character Arcs of the Human Life Ready to take your story’s character arcs and themes to the next level? This latest book from veteran writing teacher and...
View ArticleBook review: Writing Your Story’s Theme, by K.M. Weiland
K.M. Weiland has helped you to outline your novel, structure your novel, and create your character arcs. Now, she completes the “holy trinity” of craft with Writing Your Story’s Theme. What is theme...
View ArticleReview of A Time and a Place by Joe Mahoney
I promised Joe I’d get the review out before the end of the year. I know, I’m cutting it close. What the publisher says: Barnabus’ nephew is behaving oddly. Calling upon Doctor Humphrey for assistance...
View ArticleBook review of The Fated Sky by Mary Robinette Kowal
What the publisher says: Mary Robinette Kowal continues the grand sweep of alternate history begun in The Calculating Stars, The Fated Sky looks forward to 1961, when mankind is well-established on the...
View ArticleBook review of River of Teeth and Taste of Marrow by Sarah Gailey
I decided to review both of Sarah Gailey’s novellas—currently collected in the volume American Hippo—in one post. What the publisher says: River of Teeth: In the early 20th Century, the United States...
View ArticleBook review of What the Wind Brings by Matthew Hughes
What the publisher says: In the mid 1500s shipwrecked African slaves melded with the indigenous peoples of coastal Ecuador and together they fought the Spanish colonial power to a standstill, to remain...
View ArticleBook review of The Calculating Stars
What Amazon says: On a cold spring night in 1952, a huge meteorite fell to earth and obliterated much of the east coast of the United States, including Washington D.C. The ensuing climate cataclysm...
View ArticleBook review of Putting the Science in Fiction
Another overdue review. What Amazon says: Science and technology have starring roles in a wide range of genres–science fiction, fantasy, thriller, mystery, and more. Unfortunately, many depictions of...
View ArticleReview of The Sorrow Stone by J.A. McLachlan
I’ve been a fan of Jane Ann’s for some time and when I saw that she was launching her latest historical fiction novel at 2018’s Ad Astra, I had to pick up a copy. Jane Ann is an excellent storyteller...
View ArticleWorldCon 75 summary post
It seems we’ve exchanged hurricanes and mass shootings for wildfires and floods. Wherever you are, whatever has come your way, please find safety. Welcome back to the ongoing tale of my European...
View ArticleThe Writing Excuses Retreat, part 4
Part four of the Writing Excuses Retreat (WXR) begins on the morning of Thursday, August 4, 2017, day six of the cruise. This was our day in St. Petersburg, Russia, and our third port day in a row. In...
View ArticleThe Writing Excuses Retreat, part 3
We resume the tale of the WXR Baltic cruise on Tuesday, August 1st, day four. I woke up at ridiculous o’clock and couldn’t get back to sleep. So I dealt with the morning’s email, social media, and blog...
View ArticleThe Writing Excuses Retreat, part 2
Copenhagen and day at sea In this instalment, I’m covering days two and three of the Writing Excuses Retreat (WXR) Baltic cruise. On day two, I was up fairly early, mostly because I hadn’t yet fully...
View ArticleThe Writing Excuses Baltic Cruise, part 1
I’m baaa-aaack! Did you miss me? As you might be able to tell from the title of this post, I’ve decided to break up my Writing Excuses Retreat (WXR) experience into parts. There was just too much...
View ArticleWhy you should enrol in Writing the Other
Disclaimer: I’m a total newb at trying to express my thoughts and feelings on diversity and cultural appropriation. If I inadvertently write anything offensive or harmful, I invite you to let me know....
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