Last week was a banner week for my good friend Sandra Kasturi and ChiZine Publications.  Both the Aurora and Sunburst Awards were announced and the tally for CZP and friends was impressive. Sunburst Awards 2018 Best Novel:  The Bone Mother by David Demchuk (published by CZP) Best Short Story:  “The Beautiful Gears of Dying” by […]

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It may just be the throes of first love, but I’m definitely enjoying my writing dates with the amazing, astounding, and inspirational Gemma Files.  We meet up at Balzac’s on Market Street, stake out two small side-by-side tables, set up our laptops and go at it, with breaks to discuss movies, plot points, and more.  […]

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Back from two gorgeous weeks in Haliburton, Ontario.  The weather was almost perfect and even the cool days were considered a relief from this sweltering summer.  We were swimming right up until the last day. However, the glorious weather meant I did not accomplish as much as I might have hoped on the writing front (sure, blame […]

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Well, of course, there are many things one does at the cottage (by which I mean, that WE do at the cottage).  Cycling, hiking, kayaking, swimming, lounging, eating, drinking … the list goes on. Sometimes even writing is done at the cottage.  But the major thing we do at the cottage is read. We read inside […]

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Wednesday night’s Mortified Reading event for ChiSeries was a smashing success, with most of the audience wiping their eyes to keep from crying (with laughter! with laughter!) as Madeline Ashby, Don Bassingthwaite, Kari Maaren, Sandra Kasturi, Brett Savory, Elaine Chen, Stephen Michell, David Nickle, Gemma Files, Troy Harkin and I shared some of our best juvenile […]

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Last year, the good folks at the ChiSeries readings decided to banish the August doldrums by having local writers read from some of their earliest attempts at fiction.  The laughter was so loud that everyone promptly agreed that we needed another evening of writer humiliation in 2018 and it’s almost upon us. Mark your calendars […]

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Now that I’m officially sort of retired, and I’ve travelled, and I’ve caught up on X,Y and Z, it’s time to get back to writing, which I sadly neglected during my “hey, let’s work two jobs” period. In order to get back up to speed (and to procrastinate, let’s be honest), I’ve been going through all […]

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Just signed off on the proofs for the reprint of my story “Consent” for the new anthology Fright into Flight.  I’m very happy that this story will have a new life and share space with such incredible writers as Gemma Files and Nadia Bulkin.  You can preorder your copy at the link. Here’s my intro […]

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After reading Tracey Thorn’s memoir, Bedsit Disco Queen, I went in search of some of her new music and found her 2018 release, Record.  One listen to the song “Sister” and I was hooked. The rest of the album is just as good and includes songs about babies (Cos I didnt want my babies/until I […]

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By sheer coincidence, I’ve read three books by musicians in the last month. I can recommend all of them. First up, Clothes, Music, Boys by Viv Albertine of the seminal punk band The Slits. This is a wry, raw, funny, and honest look at clothes (she provides a list of what she wore), music (wanting […]

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