Wednesday 3 May 2017

Ad Astra 2017

I will be at Ad Astra from May 5 to May 7th.

I'll be a panelist this year, for the first time. I'm scheduled for two:

Starting Them Young: Sci-Fi and Fantasy Picture Books: Nearly everyone who is a fan of genre will look to things like Narnia, the Hobbit, Redwall, or Ender’s Game as their introduction to SF/F, but how much earlier could one be introduced to such things? How do you define what makes a picture book scif-fi or fantasy? What are some examples, classic or new, that illustrate this?
Saturday 2:00 PM – Newmarket: with Brandon Draga, Charlotte Ashley, Deanna Laver, Alisse Lee Goldenberg, Carolyn Charron

Disrupting the Narrative: Science fiction and fantasy has the potential to transform our worldview. The inclusion of alternate perspectives and diverse characters help us to re-examine the past, present or future, in our universe or beyond. Inserting new experiences into old narratives shows the limitless potential of stories to inspire us. This panel will look at stories that shake up our perspective, from Steampunk and alternate history to dystopian fantasy.
Sunday 11:00 AM – Richmond CD: with Rebecca Diem, Charlotte Ashley, Eli K.P. William, Cathy Hird, Vanessa Ricci-Thode, Carolyn Charron


I'll also be doing my first reading (nothing like throwing myself into the deep end my first time out!)
I'll be reading a favourite story of mine, Crossroads. Written for Genius Loci it was turned down a few times and the feedback I received from various venues taught me a lot about how to structure a story for an anthology and still have a vivid piece. It will be appearing in an anthology later this year.

Reading: Markham B Sat. 8:30pm

Hope to see you there!

Wednesday 8 March 2017

John W. Campbell Award

So this is kind of cool, I'm eligible for a John W. Campbell Award this year. This is given to the best new science fiction or fantasy writer whose first work of science fiction or fantasy was published in a professional publication in the previous two years.


I don't actually expect anything, my name is on this list with a bunch of people whose work is much more well known than mine but it's nice to be included.


Good luck to my friends Charlotte Ashley, Kelly Robson and Nemma Wollenfang who are on the 2 year list and to everyone else, congrats on going professional!

http://www.writertopia.com/awards/campbell

The short story appears here:
http://www.flametreepublishing.com/Dystopia-Utopia-Short-Stories.html




Sunday 1 January 2017

2016 Wrap Up

Happy New Year!

I'm not going to talk about 2016, suffice to say it wasn't pleasant for much of the world. Closer to home, my own year hasn't been bad. Professionally I'm doing pretty well for a writer who's still emerging.

I didn't submit as many short stories this year as I did last year, only hit 41 but I got a higher percentage of acceptances (2) and personalized rejections (8). I was a finalist in the Friends of the Merril contest and short-listed 3 different stories in various venues. On the grants front, I was a finalist once, long-listed once and received my first Ontario Arts Council grant for the 93k word novel I finished writing this year. I'm pretty sure this one will not be my 3rd trunk novel--I've had 2 editors now express interest in reading the finished work. Yeah!

I feel like I'm on my way. Slowly but surely those numbers keep getting better. I am nothing if not persistent. I hope 2017 is as good!