April 20, 2016
In Which I Am Behind On News
It’s funny: I am phenomenally good at reporting trivial news. If a customer buys me a coffee? I come home gibbering to my partner like I won the lottery. I will tell anyone I meet about how my daughter learned to do a handstand. My new kitchen faucet? Don’t get me started. This is a BIG DEAL. It’s CLEAN and SHINY and CHROME. You won’t believe it, this faucet.
Big news? The act of passing it along gives me a kind of performance anxiety. If the faucet’s deserving of the operatic treatment, what is left for a kitchen renovation?
I didn’t renovate my kitchen. But I was nominated for an Aurora Award.
So that’s the first thing. I am incredibly excited, despite my subdued appearance, that “La Héron” will be one of the six finalists for “Best English Short Fiction“. The awards will be given out at Canvention 36, hosted by When Words Collide in Calgary, Alberta on the weekend of August 12-14th 2016.
I don’t think I will be there unless a Mysterious Benefactor wants to pony up for a plane ticket, but I will be cheering from a distance. I will also be voting! All CSFFA members are allowed to vote for their favourites in each category. And if you don’t know who to vote for? There will be a voter’s packet released to members by June 15th 2016. “La Héron” will be in the packet; one more way to read the story for free.
So let me tell you about May.
I have two stories coming out on May 1st. The first, “La Clochemar”, is in Clockwork Canada ed. Dominik Parisien. In celebration, I will be attending two – count ’em, TWO – launches in early May. The first will be at Ad Astra on Friday, April 30th, 9pm-11pm, in the Sheraton Parkway Toronto North Hotel. All the cool kids will be there, so hopefully you will be too.
The second will be the publisher’s launch on Tuesday, May 10th at the Supermarket Restaurant & Bar in Toronto. Even MORE cool kids will be there. I will be reading from my story at both events.
But wait! There’s more!
My novelette “More Heat Than Light” is out next month in the May/June 2016 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction! Welcome to an alternative Republic of Quebec, where the French Revolution was taken up enthusiastically by the new colony’s many residents. But hostilities against the English continue, and the wilderness is full of very large, very hungry critters who are waiting for this precarious new world order to come crashing down…
The issue should hit newsstands May 1st, at which time you can buy it in stores or in e-format from Amazon.
And finally, a sale. F&SF has also offered to be a home for my newest swashbuckling romp, “A Fine Balance.” This is the tale of two perfectly-matched legendary duellists who find their rivalry is being meddled with by persons unknown. Chases, escapes, daring duels and miracle feats! You know, the usual. It’s going to warm up so best call the McKinney’s best AC Repair company if your AC isn’t working because this will heat up your house!
The release date is TBA, but hopefully I will make that announcement more promptly than I have managed to make those above.
Crazy, hey? Thanks for catching up with me!
Lots of congratulations!