Launch: Identities, my debut poetry chapbook on Friday the 13th!

Excited that above/ground press is publishing my first poetry chapbook, Identity, which examines the idea of comic-book superheroes and self-identity. Next Friday, Nov. 13, I will launch Identities as part of the Factory Reading Series at Anina's Café in Ottawa with fine writers, Kimberly Quiogue Andrews, Lisa Fishman, Matthew Stepanic & Rob Thomas.

span-o (the small press action network - ottawa) presents:

The Factory Reading Series
the pre-small press book fair reading
featuring:

Kimberly Quiogue Andrews (Ottawa ON)
Lisa Fishman (Canada/US)
James K. Moran (Ottawa ON)
Matthew Stepanic (Edmonton AB)
+
Rob Thomas (Ottawa ON)

lovingly hosted by rob mclennan
Friday, November 13, 2026
doors 7pm; reading 7:30pm
Anina’s Café, 280 Joffre-Bélanger Way

Kimberly Quiogue Andrews, American poet and literary critic, is the author of A Brief History of Fruit, winner of the Akron Poetry Prize, and two chapbooks, most recently Animals I Never Saw, winner of the Flume Press Prize. She teaches creative writing and English literature at the University of Ottawa. 

Lisa Fishman’s newest books are the novel, Write Back Now! (1366 Books, Guernica Editions, 2026) and the chapbook What! (above/ground press, 2026). She’s also the author of the fiction collection, World Naked Bike Ride (Gaspereau Press, 2022) and eight books of poetry, most recently One Big Time (Wave Books, 2025). Several earlier chapbooks include Deer 1 (Oxeye Press, 2015, 2017).

James K. Moran’s poetry and speculative fiction have appeared in many places. Moran’s spec-fic collection Fear Itself and horror novel Town & Train were published by Lethe Press. His reviews appear in Arc Poetry Magazine, Plenitude and Strange Horizons. Moran's debut chapbook is Identities (above/ground press, 2026).

Queer writer Matthew Stepanic lives and works on Treaty 6 territory in Edmonton. They are a co-author of the collaborative novel Project Compass (Monto Books, 2017) and the author of Relying on that Body (Glass Buffalo, 2018), a poetry chapbook about the queens of season 10 of RuPaul's Drag Race. They edit and design chapbooks for Agatha Press, and they host and co-organize VERS/E, a monthly queer poetry open mic. 

Rob Thomas used to do a decent impression of Stuart McLean. He won the John Newlove Poetry Award in 2013 and lives, works, and writes in Ottawa. 

https://smallpressalmanac.blogspot.com/2026/10/the-factory-reading-series-pre-small.html

The Factory Reading Series pre-small press book fair reading, November 13, 2026: Andrews, Fishman, Moran, Stepanic + Thomas,

New story "Bucyrus, Ohio, 1985" in Cryptids, Kaiju & Corn Vol. II

Can you see it? My new story, "Bucyrus, Ohio, 1985", appears in “Cryptids, Kaiju & Corn” Vol. II, out today from Middle West Press. My piece combines cross-country running and an eerie sighting in the cornfields.

Thanks go to indie publisher/editor/poet/journalist/cryptid believer Randy "Sherpa" Brown. 

More than 50 emerging and established spec-fic voices join to deliver fresh visions and explorations regarding the “forgotten” terrain and deep, dark recesses of the American Midwest.

More info. here.

Kindle: amzn.to/45VGcFh
Print: amzn.to/4xDw1Bv

Mark Waid's terrific Action Comics Vol. 1: Boy of Steel

Just wanna say how much I adore Mark Waid's Superboy: Action Comics Vol. 1: Boy of Steel, a brim with solid characterization and development, heartfelt stories, and great stakes as an uncertain Clark is just getting his feet.

Waid Waid coyly hits classical beats of The New Adventures of Superboy of the early eighties, penned by Paul Kupperberg and mainly penciled by Kurt Schaffenberger, which got me through much of my bullied early teens. Bestie Pete Ross discovers Clark's secret while camping! Clark wrestles with a cloud of locusts!



Ryan Sook's covers are jaw dropping and frameable.



Did encounter my pet peeve of the interior art changing, from Skylar Partridge to Patricio Delpeche to Cian Tormey. So, mileage varies. All are fine artists, with different strengths, but changing up your pitcher mid-game is jarring and doesn't always work.

That said, each issue is packed, self-contained storytelling. It feels like Kupperberg, yet modern. An astonishing feat from master neoclassical and character scribe, Waid. The icing on this cake? The vintage Superboy logo pops at opportune moments.

His remains a nostalgic treatment, certainly a more innocent read than the nihilism of current pop cultural portrayals of comic characters. The story stands on its own two feet because of Waid's invested, caring writing, with no need for the superhero deconstructionism of, say, The Boys.

Absolutely dig it. Thank you, all. It's terrific.

Marvel's Wonder Man is...Wonderful

Marvel's Wonder Man wows. A startling, touching, underdog hit. It's terrific, even Wonderful. Yahya Abdul-Mateen and Ben Kingsley, always superb, bromance their way through this metafictional look at the acting craft, struggling to break into Hollywood, and being yourself.

So much digging into the character Simon Williams that I discovered in the often-clunky 1980's West Coast Avengers comic.

Director Rebecca Russell's Toto Too Fun Home a triumph

Director Rebecca Russell’s Toto Too Theatre stage production of Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home, based on genius comic creator Alison Bechdel’s graphic novel of the same name, a bildungsroman about a queer kid growing up in a dysfunctional family whose father has a secret life,  is startlingly moving. It’s  a rousing success that I am so happy I caught at the Gladstone Theatre in Ottawa last weekend.

Steph Goodwin plays 43-year-old Alison. Jason Swan portrays father Bruce Bechdel. Together, they anchor the whole works much like Sir Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian McKellen anchored the Bryan Singer X-Men films. Swan’s Bruce carries the discomfited, particular mannerisms of a young Giannetti, in the most flattering and adept ways. Goodwin, as the chorus, grown cartoonist Alison, flaunts the acting acumen and gravitas that becomes the line-through of all the different time periods which the play portrays. Goodwin’s admirable intensity, physicality and amazing pipes are a fascinating contrast to the almost minimal physical stature of cartoonist Alison Bechdel herself. And Goodwin knocks this one out of the park.

However, without a robust supporting cast, the whole enchilada wouldn’t work, and the supporters more than work. They sing, in all senses of the phrase. The fam’ is Jean-Luc Arun Mullin as Christian Bechdel, Luna Oancea as John Bechdel, Frances Winchester and Emilia Castro as Small Allison, and charming stand-out Kaylee Ross as Medium Alison finding herself at college. The kids do a great job of acting like kids, a fine trick to pull. That said, there’s no weakness in this bolstering chain of players. Naomi Miller beguiles as love interest Joan, while Howard Yung is the picture of discomfort in multiple roles, most notably as handyman Roy. Nicole Tishler also brings her A-game as long-suffering wife Helen Bechel.

Having read and admired Bechdel’s Fun Home, my only qualm was the lack of ambiguity surrounding Bruce Bechdel’s decisions. However, this is an adaptation issue, not that of cast and crew. Ultimately, I recognized much from Bechdel’s graphic novel. The players wooed me. Their rendering of Bechdel’s discovery of her queerness and OCD and cartoonist calling and the tragic story of her father is heart-wrenching. The musical numbers are bangers, the kids are surprisingly funny, and college-age Alison will steal your heart before you know it’s gone, then sing a naughty observation like a classical musical number. 

Anyways, if you see it,  have tissues close at hand. Toto Too has a triumphant show on their hands. I would see it again.

Poetry in the Pontiac, with AJ Dolman this Wednesday!

 Poetry in the Pontiac, with AJ Dolman ! This is a poetry thing happening this Wednesday!

Because Shawville demanded it! Or you demanded it. But certainly organizer fellow Tree Reading Series organizer alumni Jennifer Mulligan asked us.

Thanks, Jenn! Been a minute. Wait! Do I owe you money? No, I'm sure I don't....

Virtual Reading Brockton Writers Series on Wednesday, May 13

Woot! I have a virtual reading with Toronto's Brockton Writers Series on Wednesday, May 13, 2026, at 6:30 p.m. at Glad Day's new space at 32 Lisgar St.

I'm reading alongside some fab company—Justin Ancheta, Allister Thompson & Matthew J. Stafford.

Guest speaker Xio Axelrod will discuss the topic "From Pen to Platform: Author Branding in the Age of Noise."

Do I know anybody in Toronto—or anywhere—who would dig this?

They will also livestream the event on the series' YouTube channel.

Link in comments.

The Brockton Writers Series (#BWS) is a bi-monthly literary reading series. The reading is PWYC (suggested $3-$5) and features a Q&A with the writers afterward. Books are available for sale.

#writersseries #writersevent #readingevent #bookevent #gladdaybookshop #torontoevents #bwsevent #brocktonwritersseries #brocktonwriters #canlit #torontolit #queerauthors #queerwriters

Public Lending Rights Chuff

Been struggling lately to feel like a writer, and to work on my stuff.  But last week, I received my annual payment from the Public Lending Rights Program from the Canada Council for the Arts, as my books Town & Train and Fear Itself (both Lethe Press) are available in Canadian libraries. It's a reminder that I'm still a writer.

Thank you, casual library users, avid bibliophiles, the Canada Council, The Writers' Union of Canada, all you readers out there and, of course, other writers carving out their craft. 

Work-in-progress: reviews, poetry, fiction

Currently reviewing Soundtrack, a Book*hug Press poetry collection by my pal Michael V. Smith. Each poem is titled after a popular 1970's, 1980's or 1990's pop song, his personal experience with that song, and growing up queer in our hometown of Cornwall, Ontario. 

Also trying to place a review of San Francisco-area writer Scott Terry's 2025 literary novel, The Gift (Torchwood Books), the story of both a single mother, Pansy, and her son William (aka Butch), a queer kid who embraces the cowboy lifestyle, growing up in a strict Jehovah's Witness household in the Siskiyou Mountains in the late 1950's to the late 1970's.

Then also continually organizing my poetry and editing my second short-story collection, which fab editor-writer Andrew Wilmot edited last year.

Catherine O'Hara, March 4, 1954 – January 30, 2026

 Oh, damn it to hell, to hear the news of Catherine O'Hara passing yesterday. Discovered her as a kid watching Toronto's SCTV at sleepovers, growing up  in the 'burbs. The film Beetlejuice cemented my enduring crush for her doing Harry Belafonte's "Day-O". Adored her pretentious Moira Rose (depicted) in Schitt's Creek. Last saw her as an alcoholic pothead shrink in the second season of The Last of Us. A delightfully irascible broken character.

You were terrific, Catherine O'Hara. Rest in humour & power. And please say "Hi" for me to your fellow SCTV alum John Candy.

Sal Buscema, Comic Book Artist, 1936-2026

This week has had noteable losses. 

Sal Buacema passed away January 24 at the age of 89. Buscema is the legendary comic-book artist who, among other many credentials, drew The Incredible Hulk monthly comic for a record ten years, defining Ol' Greenskin's iconic comic look of the time. Notable additions to the Green Goliath mythos include the treacherous fellow irradiated U-Foes and the Cold-War-era Soviet Super Soldiers. 

The slobbering mouth is all Buscema's touch, like the famous Kirby Cosmic Crackle. I grew up with that comic. For eight years, Buscema also penciled The Spectacular Spider-Man. 

I have a poem, '"Nomad", about Sal Buscema and the Jade Giant, that I am seeking a home for. 

Thank you for the high adventure, Sal. You were brilliant. 

Here is the Frank Miller cover, opening splash page, a Hulk-out splash page and a claustrophic sequence from The Incredible Hulk # 261, "Encounter on Easter Island". Hulk meets up with sociopath Crusher Creel, the Absorbing Man. Fellow comic legend, mainstay Hulk writer Bill Mantlo, scripted the issue, during Old Jade Jaw's worldwide drifter years. This outre imagery, the entire Easter Island motif, captured my impressionable imagination. 

I allude to this outlandish issue # 267 in "Nomad".

https://www.marvel.com/articles/comics/sal-buscema-tribute

Interviewed Queer Canuck poet Amber Dawn about Buzzkill Clamshell collection for Plenitude Magazine

This just in! Interviewed Canadian novelist, poet, editor and fire-starter Amber Dawn about Buzzkill Clamshell, her new Arsenal Pulp Press poetry collection, for Plenitude Magazine. 

It's here.

Very satisfying to talk shop, having followed fab Amber Dawn since finding her superb story “Here Lies the Last Lesbian Rental” in Arsenal Pulp Press’s 2009 anthology Fist of the Spider-Woman (which she edited), reviewing it for Xtra Magazine (née Capital Xtra) and Rue Morgue Magazine: Horror in Culture and Entertainment.

Strange Horizons review of Ottawa expat Matthew James Jones' novel Predators, Reapers and Deadlier Creatures

Recently filed a Strange Horizons Magazine review of Ottawa expat Matthew James Jones's rather stunning genre-defying war novel Predators, Reapers and Deadlier Creatures (Double Dagger Books, 2025). My editor let me (perhaps foolishly so?) include pertinent endnotes about the revered 1970’s and 1980’s TV show M*A*S*H and literary and cinematic depictions of ... Bigfoot?

Many thanks, Reviews Editor, Dan Hartland. This was a fun one, where fun could be had.

(Spoiler alert: what a fine novel.)