At last, some real news can be revealed. In the first big news, the talented team at ChiZine Publications is bringing out my first three novels as e-books, complete with stunning new covers.  A special thanks to Gillian Holmes for The Night Inside and Blood and Chrysanthemums.  They’ll be released in a few weeks. Secondly, […]

[Read more →]

No question at all. Patricia McKillip. If I could figure out a way to magically steal every scrap of poetry, plot, inspiration, craft and beauty out of her soul, I’d do it. (Ok, maybe I wouldn’t do exactly that but I’d    certainly be tempted…) I read The Riddlemaster of Hed in high school, while I […]

[Read more →]

The next writer I discovered (around the same time as Tanith Lee) was C. J. Cherryh, with her first novel Gate of Ivrel.  With a cover like this, how could I NOT buy it?*  The worlds created for this book, and the 3 sequels, operate at the intersection of fantasy and science fiction.  The main […]

[Read more →]

      I’m a rotten traveller.  I get horribly stressed about missing flights and trains, I agonize over picking places to stay or eat, and I generally spend a good portion of any trip in a state of subdued anxiety.   As a result, I was inordinately proud of myself for taking two trips to France, one in […]

[Read more →]

If Andre Norton’s Witch World series opened my eyes to the idea of fantasy fiction that was not aimed at young adults, Tanith Lee’s The Birthgrave blasted apart everything I had thought a narrating hero had to be.   This is one of the few books I can actually remember buying.  My family was on vacation […]

[Read more →]

I’m talking about Andre Norton and the fact that I might not be the writer I am without her influence.  Probably any number of writers would say the same thing, especially female ones, especially female ones of my generation. Oddly enough, I read none of her YA fiction growing up.  The first book of hers […]

[Read more →]

Stocking up on horror and dark fantasy books, of course. The good people at ChiZine are having a sale, so now’s your chance to get books by Michael Rowe, David Nickle and more at 40% off. What are you waiting for?  Buy something!    

[Read more →]

                                                The team at the magical House of Pomegranates will be hosting “An Evening of Magical Things” on May 9th at the Augusta House in Toronto. The evening will feature readings by […]

[Read more →]

My friends at The House of Pomegranates and Gloometh have launched a fabulous contest to celebrate the launch of “Carmilla”, published by the House and illustrated by Gloometh designer Taeden Hall. This is your chance to win one of Taeden’s Carmilla-inspired dresses, tailored for you, plus a copy of the book and more. Just submit […]

[Read more →]

Ok, I admit it. I did not keep a record of what I read and my memory is … um…. not what it used to be, so this is more a note about the best things I think I read in 2012 (or perhaps late 2011). Deathless Catherynne Valente I’d previously read The Girl Who […]

[Read more →]