Reading with Amanda Earl & AJ Dolman at the Pump

Had a terrific reading with co-pilot AJ Dolman and Amanda Earl at the the Lieutenant's Pump in Ottawa this Sunday. Monsters abounded in our work—vampires, transphobic parents and shapeshifters, including my  longtime pal John Newman, whom I have had the pleasure to know since high school.

In "John Newman, you'll not catch me", he is pitted against a vile shapeshifter in a race through the forest to save the dreams of the residents of a sleepy small-town suburb. 

What an honour that Amanda made this happen.

Made possible by the Canada Council for the Arts and the Writers' Union of Canada.

September 28 Ottawa reading with AJ Dolman & Amanda Earl

Very excited to share this forthcoming Sunday, Sept. 28 event in Ottawa with the magnificent AJ Dolman and Amanda Earl at the Lieutenant's Pump, 361 Elgin. Doors 1:30pm. 2pm reading.

You can order drinks and food and be merry while taking in poetry and spec fic. The Pump carries three ambers, which I support. The Ashton Brewing Company's amber remains one of top five in Ottawa.

(The Pump also does a mean Sunday roast that I have enjoyed in the past.)

Amanda says it's going to be a beautiful event, the second in her Throuple tour, and I believe her. I owe her a thanks for organizing the whole enchilada.

Bios!

AJ Dolman’s (they/she) debut poetry collection is Crazy / Mad (Gordon Hill Press, 2024). They previously authored Lost Enough: A collection of short stories (MRP, 2017), and three poetry chapbooks, and co-edited Motherhood in Precarious Times (Demeter Press, 2018). Dolman’s poetry, fiction and essays have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies. A bi/pan+ rights advocate and founder of Bi+ Canada, they live on unceded, unsurrendered Anishinaabe Algonquin territory.

Amanda Earl (she/her) writes, reviews, edits, publishes, facilitates workshops, organizes literary events on the unceded lands of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg Peoples. Earl is managing editor of Bywords.ca, editor of Judith: Women Making Visual Poetry and your editor if you’ll have her. Her poetry books include Beast Body Epic, Genesis, Trouble, and Kiki. Her creative missions are whimsy, exploration and connection with kindred misfits. She writes so that fellow misfits don’t feel alone. More info: AmandaEarl.com.

James K. Moran’s fiction collection Fear Itself and horror novel Town & Train were published by Lethe Press. Moran’s poetry and speculative fiction have appeared in Another Dysfunctional Cancer Poem Anthology, Burly Tales: Fairy Tales for the Hirsute and Hefty Gay Man, Bywords, Glitterwolf, On Spec, and elsewhere. He writes across the genres about grief, love, nomadic superheroes and drag-queen warlocks. Moran’s reviews appear in Arc Poetry Magazine, Plenitude and Strange Horizons.

Tom King's Black Canary: Best of the Best is the Best of Comics

Should be laying off social media, but ... Tom King & Ryan Sook's six-issue Black Canary: Best of the Best series is so damn good. Masterful letterer Clayton Cowles Cowles is on the book, too.

Premise: Black Canary, aka Dinah Lance, has a widely publicized bout with undefeated and deadly Lady Shiva to determine who is the world's best fighter. The reader is treated to Dinah's humanizing backstory, her mother, the original BC, putting Dinah through gruelling trainng that would put Bruce Wayne to shame, Sook's gorgeous pencils, all the cameos King works in, King's punchy script, and the kick-ass choreography. My new favourite thing.

Summer of the Event wraps up

So, that's a wrap on a phenomenal  Ottawa Capital Pride, and on our Summer of the Event for AJ n' me.

We made the rounds. Im late June, I read at the pre-Ottawa Small Press Fair. And in good company! Mahaila Smith, Manahil Bandukwala, Jay Millar, Pearl Pirie, yours truly and MA|DE (Jade Wallace and Mark Laliberte). It was a Ottawa pre-small press fair reading on Friday to a packed Anina's Café, organized by pal rob mcLennan. The next day, with Christian Baines, we sold books at the Ottawa Small Press Fair. 

We also boothed at Pride Toronto with Christian Baines, me, organizer-writer Dorianne Emerton, AJ, and JM Freeman, and sold Stevie Mikayne's books in absentia. I read with the same fine bunch at Super Bargain Cocktail Bar.

And, lest this modicum of fame should go to my head, I grappled with insomnia at both events.

A few weeks later, I shared a fine July 24 reading at Winnipeg's fine Raven's End: The Horror Book Shop, a fine new business that opened last fall.

That's me, SM Beiko, Keith Cadieux, and fab thoughtful host Susie Moloney talking writing craft—new projects; pandemic fiction ideas, parental fear and having writin' ideas. I said some stuff, which was hopefully coherent and thought-provoking, being off my game at the outset from the uber dropping me at bookstore owner Chelsea's place instead of the readong venue and pulked away wotj my side bag.

SM's a terrifically prolific writer, Keith has a bunch of dishes on the stove and Susie treated us to.a scene from her horror novel-in-progress. Trigger warnings abounded (or should have?) regarding teeth and even moths.

Luckily, though, my co-pilot AJ Dolman lent me reading glasses, answered the returning uber driver's fall for me, and got the bag back. The full audience was terrific, also bought books. My colleagues are very talented and superb readers. As I said, I bet  on winning horses.

On August 21, we held our first Queer Indy Authors reading at T's All Welcoming Pub, hosted by Eden Moore. It featured AJ Dolman, Natalie Hanna, Chris Johnson, Stevie Mikayne and yours truly. 

For the Pride Street Festival, we had the first Bi+ Canada booth, Canada's national, not-for-profit first bi-rights organization, having incorporated a month ago. A stunning 110 folks signed up for the bi-monthly newsletter.

With Pride's end, we have reached the end of our summer road. 

Here are pics from Capital Pride. That's AJ Dolman talking to her first peep for the brand-new B Canada booth.

There I am with Pride pals Emilie and Wanda. 

Here are pics from Capital Pride, including before shots of Bank Street. 

The Queers for Palestine march forced the parade to cancel. Pride continues to be a feisty ground of protest and free expression, where its roots run deep.

Our first demonstrations were in 1971. Too many police raids on Toronto bathhouses in the early eighties also became the tipping point for many Canadian queers who had enough persecution.

Now that is September, I have dteams, and writing projects, to attend to and need time to reflect and set to work.