Monthly Archives: May 2015

New Canadian Noir Launch Hits Bestseller List!

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The Winnipeg launch for The Exile Book of New Canadian Noir was awesome. We had a great crowd, and I think all of the readings were well received. It was a pleasure to share the launch with fellow contributors, Keith Cadieux and Corey Redekop. Huge thanks to McNally Robinson for hosting us, and thanks to Bob Armstrong for giving us a boost in The Winnipeg Free Press.

Corey beat me to posting photos from the event, and I didn’t think to take any. So check out what he had to say about the launch here:

Coming in at #3 in paperback fiction for the Week of May 24th!

New Canadian Noir Bestseller

 

Thank you to everyone who came out to say hello, and to those who took home a book. Much appreciated!

Write on!

Music Monday: “Satori Part 1” By Flower Travelin’ Band

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I’ve been thinking about werewolves a lot lately (it happens), which inevitably brings me to this album: Satori, by Flower Travelin’ Band, and Part 1, in particular. Something about the song just makes me think I’m being chased through a moonlit forest by a wolf pack (probably not going to happen).

Under rough skies survey a day around
Charging through the smoke, on the end…

This was a song that came to my attention through a co-worker many moons ago, so thanks, Brian C., for always having something amazing and usually weird playing when I roamed by your desk.

Write on!

2015 Prix Aurora Award Nominees Announced

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I was attending a write off with friends over the weekend when the Prix Aurora nominees were announced, which was kind of cool. Even cooler that one of the nominees was there to share her excitement. I was very happy to see lots of friends made the short lists this year (seeing the novel list, I’m pretty happy that I don’t have a book up against those authors. That’s a pretty strong list). It was nice to see two ChiSeries nominations on the ballot (congrats, Toronto and Ottawa!). I am ecstatic that two of my Winnipeg creative friends received a nomination, so congratulations, GMB Chomichuk and Sherry Peters! And I am beyond thrilled that Kevin Madison’s amazing artwork from his Thunder Road Trip liveblog of reading my books was recognized in one of the fan categories. Good show!

Thunder Road Ted Parkade

(From Thunder Road Trip)

Here are the nominees in all categories:

Best Novel – English

Echopraxia by Peter Watts, Tor Books
The Future Falls by Tanya Huff, DAW Books
My Real Children by Jo Walton, Tor Books
The Peripheral by William Gibson, Penguin Canada
A Play of Shadow by Julie E. Czerneda, DAW Books

Best Young Adult Novel – English
Lockstep by Karl Schroeder, Tor Books
Mabel the Lovelorn Dwarf by Sherry Peters, Dwarvenamazon
Out of This World by Charles de Lint, Razorbill Canada
Rain by Amanda Sun, Harlequin TEEN
Sea of Shadows by Kelley Armstrong, Doubleday Canada
Twist of the Blade by Edward Willett, Coteau Books
The Voices in Between by Charlene Challenger, Tightrope Books

Best Short Fiction – English
“Crimson Sky” by Eric Choi, Analog, July/August
“Jelly and the D-Machine” by Suzanne Church, Elements: A Collection of Speculative Fiction, EDGE
“Mecha-Jesus” by Derwin Mak, Wrestling With Gods: Tesseracts Eighteen, EDGE
“No Sweeter Art” by Tony Pi, Beneath Ceaseless Skies #155, September 4, 2014
“Soul-Hungry” by Suzanne Church, Elements: A Collection of Speculative Fiction, EDGE

Best Poem/Song – English
“A Hex, With Bees” by Tony Pi, Wrestling With Gods: Tesseracts Eighteen, EDGE
“Aversions” by Helen Marshall, Goblin Fruit, October
“The Machine” by David Clink, Wrestling With Gods: Tesseracts Eighteen, EDGE
“The New Ways” by Amal El-Mohtar, Uncanny Magazine, November
“The Perfect Library” by David Clink, If the World were to Stop Spinning (Chapbook)

Best Graphic Novel – English
Cassie & Tonk by Justin Currie and GMB Chomichuk, Chasing Artwork
It Never Rains by Kari Maaren, Webcomic
Raygun Gothic Vol. 2 by GMB Chomichuk, Alchemical Press
Treadwell by Dominic Bercier, Mirror Comics
Trillium by Jeff Lemire, DC Comics-Vertigo

Best Related Work – English
Elements: A Collection of Speculative Fiction by Suzanne Church, EDGE
Gifts for the One Who Comes After by Helen Marshall, CZP
Lackington’s speculative prose edited by Ranylt Richildis
Strange Bedfellows edited by Hayden Trenholm, Bundoran Press

Best Artist
James Beveridge, cover for Tantamount and Out Dweller
Erik Mohr, cover for The Door in the Mountain and ChiZine Publications
Derek Newman-Stille, cover for Elephants and Omnibuses
Dan O’Driscoll, covers for Bundoran Press and On Spec magazine
Lynne Taylor Fahnestalk & Steve Fahnestalk, “Walking on the Moon”, cover for On Spec, No. 95 (Vol. 25 No. 4),

Best Fan Publication
Broken Toys edited by Taral Wayne
Ecdysis edited by Jonathan Crowe
Pubnites & Other Events edited by Yvonne Penney
Space Cadet edited by R. Graeme Cameron
Speculating Canada edited by Derek Newman-Stille

Best Fan Music
Brooke Abbey, Weirdness from 2014, Bandcamp
Copy Red Leader, Crossing the Streams CD, The Pond Studio
Debs & Errol (Deborah Linden and Errol Elumir), OVFF Concert (Ohio Valley Filk Fest)
Kari Maaren, YouTube Channel
Stone Dragons, Dream of Flying CD, Stone Dragon Studios

Best Fan Organizational
Sandra Kasturi, Chair, Chiaroscuro Reading Series: Toronto
Derek Künsken, Farrell McGovern, Caycee Price and Elizabeth Buchan–Kimmerly, Executive, Can*Con 2014, Ottawa
Randy McCharles, Chair, When Words Collide, Calgary
Matt Moore, Marie Bilodeau and Nicole Lavigne, Co-chairs, Chiaroscuro Reading Series: Ottawa
Alana Otis-Wood and Paul Roberts, Co-chairs, Ad Astra Convention, Toronto

Best Fan Related Work
R. Graeme Cameron, weekly column in Amazing Stories Magazine
Steve Fahnestalk, weekly column in Amazing Stories Magazine
Kevin B. Madison, Thunder Road Trip
Derek Newman-Stille, Speculating, Canada on Trent Radio 92.7 FM
Lloyd Penney, fan writing for fanzines and e-zines

The awards will be given out at Canvention 35, hosted by SFContario 6 in Toronto, Ontario on the weekend of November 20 – 22nd. Full details about CSFFA, the awards and voting can be found at www.prixaurorawards.ca.

Write on!

(I’m In) Tesseracts Nineteen: Superhero Universe!

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Very excited to finally be able to announce that my story “Midnight Man versus Doctor Death” will be appearing in Tesseracts Nineteen: Superhero Universe edited by Claude Lalumière & Mark Shainblum. This will be my second time dinging the Tesseracts bell, and my second time in one of Claude’s anthologies. I love selling to the same market again. It helps one feel like the first time wasn’t a fluke.

This sale also means a lot because superhero comics were my gateway to reading way back when. Between wishing I could draw better and playing various superhero roleplaying games, I have created more superheroes and supervillains than I can easily remember, so it’s a thrill to have one out there in the world officially.

I do hope readers will like Midnight Man (obviously), as the story ties into a couple of my other works-in-progress.

Here’s the complete list of contributors:

John Bell ~ P.E. Bolivar ~ Kevin Cockle ~ Evelyn Deshane ~ Marcelle Dubé ~ Chadwick Ginther ~ Patrick T. Goddard ~ Kim Goldberg ~ Geoff Hart ~ Sacha A. Howells ~ Arun Jiwa ~ D.K. Latta ~ Michael Matheson ~ Bernie Mireault ~ Luke Murphy ~ Brent Nichols ~ David Perlmutter ~ Mary Pletsch & Dylan Blacquiere ~ Jennifer Rahn ~ Corey Redekop ~ Alex C. Renwick ~ Jason Sharp ~ Bevan Thomas ~ Leigh Wallace ~ A.C. Wise

Write on!

Music Monday: “How Blue Can You Get” By B.B. King

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I was saddened to hear of B.B. King’s passing recently. Along with Muddy Waters’ “Mannish Boy” appearing in Better Off Dead, and The Blues Brothers on Saturday Night Live, King was one of my gateways to the blues. I first heard him play on “When Love Comes to Town” on U2’s Rattle and Hum back when I couldn’t stand U2 (I’ve since come around a little, but not much), and thinking, what the hell is that? Why do I like this song? It was all King. There was this growling bombast to his voice that completely drowned out Bono. I’d actually signed up for the Columbia House albatross again to order as much blues as I could, as cheaply as possible, and Best of B.B. King was one of the first blues albums I bought.

I’ve been down hearted baby
ever since the day we met
I said I’ve been down hearted baby
ever since the day we met
our love is nothing but the blues, woman
baby, how blue can you get?

Considering it’s the May long weekend, and we had snow in Winnipeg last night, I think the blues are entirely appropriate today. Rest in peace, sir.

Write on.

Music Monday: “No Loot, No Booze, No Fun” By The Tossers

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Monday kind of hit like a ton of bricks this morning after spending a weekend lost in writing comics, and I feel like it’s going to be a long week of head down, nose to the grindstone to get ahead on some things before Keycon on the weekend, and to do my prep for the con itself.

Dig up stupid

So, in the meantime, enjoy some Tossers.

Bonus points for a Ramones reference.

Oh, the sun does rise, the birds do sing.
They fly around and shit on me!
There’s nowhere to go,
No booze, no loot, no fun.

Write on!

May Goals

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How in the hell are we a third of the way through the year? I’m going to try not to think about that…

Instead, I’ll look back at how I did with April’s goals:

  • Work on my other WiP
  • Revise and submit one of my previously drafted short stories.
  • Get rolling on keeping the rest of my short fiction on submission again (FINALLY)
  • Finish my comic script

Progress on the WiP went very well (okay, there was a lot of swearing). Locked another five chapters, and made preliminary revisions on a few more. I’m at roughly the halfway point of this draft. It’s taking longer than I’d like, but it’s moving again for the first time in forever.

I organized my short fiction and found potential markets for my available short stories. Pretty much everything went out the door, including previously published short stories looking for reprint markets. I only had to hold one thing back, because I ran out of open reprint markets. I spaced the organizational tasks out over the month instead of devoting an entire day to submitting stories, which helped keep the job manageable, but it also highlighted why I need to stay on top of my short stories. Maybe I’ll set aside one day a week to ensure everything is up to date going forward. All told I think it was over ten hours to double check that stories weren’t in fact on submission elsewhere, build a list of available markets for each story, and then make sure those markets were accepting submissions. After that was done, came the tweaking of formatting and submitting. As I was in the middle of doing all that, a couple of rejections for previous submissions rolled in (for a while I thought I’d hit a new record, but 11 months was still a little shy of the longest it’s taken for me to get a response). So the hard part of keeping my short stories on submission is done. I just have to maintain the machine better for the rest of the year and that’s another big goal down.

I got sick again in April, or maybe more accurately, I never got entirely well, which cost me a weekend and lots of energy. I still feel like I’m fighting it. Blergh. That’s all I have to say to this bloody six week and counting cold. The cold definitely did me in on the revising a short story front. Another thing I’ve noticed is that once I hit a good deal of momentum on a novel, I am loathe to set it aside unless I am writing for a contracted deadline.

My comic script required three more drafts before I felt good about turning it in. I probably rewrote every word of that script, even if the bones of the story stayed the same. All of this was done without really imagining who might be drawing the story. But now the editor on this project showed me some sample art by the person they want me paired with, and HOLY SHIT. I really want this to work out. More news when I have news, obviously.

And what’s on the agenda for May:

  • Keycon is on the horizon (10 more days!), so I want to sort out what I’ll be reading during my reading slot. Chances are I will preview some of Too Far Gone, but I have an hour to fill, and will probably read at least one short story in completion (so let me know if there is anything you’ve a hankering to hear) in addition to a TFG teaser.
  • Polish up and practice my presentation for The Writers’ Union of Canada.
  • Keep plugging away at that WiP.

That’s it for May.

Write on!

Music Monday: “The Garden” By July Talk

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A friend recently pointed me to this article, the premise of which is that you stop listening to new music at age 33. My first thought was: bullshit. But with more consideration, there has been some truth to that observation for me. That time frame roughly coincides with when I started seriously pursuing publication, and a lot of the energy that went into finding and listening to new bands started going into seeking out avenues for short stories and novels, and writing. It was also around this time, or shortly before, that I started walking to work rather than driving, so that added to my time crunch.

I suppose I never stopped listening to new music, but I’ve definitely slowed down on seeking it out. I’m fortunate in that I have a lot of friends who are passionate about music and haven’t quite given up the ghost, so when they pass something my way, I do take it seriously. I’m also looking out for old music that I may have missed the first time around. Daft Punk, for instance, is a group that I’m enjoying more now than when I first heard them when they started recording.

Which brings me to this week’s Music Monday.

One of my music procurers brought July Talk to my attention relatively recently. I knew that he’d found me something special when I realized that we’d been listening to the same album on repeat for a couple hours without feeling the need to change it. So maybe there’s hope for me yet.

This ain’t johnny carson
I’ve got thoughts that ain’t my own
I’m talking black souls dressed in red
And things that I never shoulda known

Write on!

Free Comic Book Day and Authors for Indies Day!

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Today is two great days for readers! Authors for Indies and Free Comic Book Day.

I’ll be hanging my hat at McNally Robinson Booksellers from 1 pm until 2 pm recommending books, and maybe signing a couple of my own. I’m also set up virtually over at Valkyrie Books with a guest post.

Before I head to McNally, I’ll be trucking on down to my local comic shop, Mighty Comics, to get my Free Comic Book Day haul. One thing to remember about Free Comic Book Day, the comics are free for you, but not for the stores, and neither is staffing the shop, or keeping the lights on. So how about you buy something while you’re there to show some support. Cool? Cool.

Write on, read on.