Can-Con 2025 notes

In Mid-October, we tabled at Can-Con, Ottawa's Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Convention at the Brook Street Hotel in Kanata with fab co-pilot AJ Dolman and fab Christian Baines, writer of urban queer paranormal novels, down from Toronto. Attending, tabling and sometimes paneling this con has been our little tradition for several years. We compare notes afterwards ovet supper, perhaps commiserating over a drink. Or four, depending on how things went.

I was selling my novel Town & Train and collection Fear Itself. Or, rather, trying to. Read on.

On the upside, we had some great chats. Looking atchoo', Christopher Shorewick, K. M. Greyburn, Derek Newman-Stille, Dwayne MacKinnon, of the Out Of The Basement Podcast, and the other James by our booth. Our table also talked to other writers and vendors and attended some interesting panels. Heck, I even chatted with a friendly spectacled attendee with the elfin ears at the giveaway table. She read an entire chapbook by Renaissance author R. Haven instead of taking it because it was the last copy. 

However, on the downside, book sales hit a record low, perhaps because of the con's move to Kanata, in Ottawa's far-flung west end.  Also, a noticeable absence was staple Can-Con shutterbug James Coughlan, a professional who volunteers his time each fall. 

As someone who pens hotror, fantasy, sci fi, lit, poetry and book reviews,  I find that the SFF set doesn't quite know how to handle talking with me beyond the niceties of attending a conference or quite what panels to invite me on, save the usual horror-themed and writers''group-themed ones. 

My usual trusty tactic, to redeem myself of the oil-and-water mix vibe of the con, is to pitch a particular publisher a project idea. Three times in a row (and two years running), I have successfully pitched projects. Not so, this time out. The publisher I usually talk to canceled its pitch sessions without explanation, save for a note on the sign-up sheet. I tried to sign up at the last minute with another publisher. However, the list was full. Although I added my name to the sign-up sheet in case of a cancellation, nobody cancelled. 

So, with my mood thus affected, the abysmal sales didn't help.  The lack of takers crushed the morale at the table, and our spirits. The lengthy daily commute was often over 30 minutes in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the 417.

If the con returns to downtown, as has been the case for over a decade, we might reconsider attending. For now, though, our trio made the tough call afterwards. We will not be returning next fall. The cost of the booth, registering for the con (about $90 each for the weekend; panelists must, in fact, register), as well as gas and food expenses, all mean that attending this con, at least for us, has cons that far outweigh the pros. 

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.

Cornwall book launch a smash success: Fear Itself and Queers Like Me with Michael V. Smith

Photo: Francis Langevin

Had a brilliant October 29 Cornwall launch for my Lethe Press collection Fear Itself with Michael V. Smith launching his new Book*hug Press poetry book Queers Like Me. It was a double-threat book launch, two local queer boys who made good. 

This one was a milestone—

Photo: Francis Langevin

my first reading from one of my books in in my home-town. While I have promoted my books at CAPE (Cornwall & Area Pop Event) on and off for years, I have never done an event for my writing there. It was a doubly pleasant reading as Michael and me have never done an event together before. While we have supported each other throughout the years as our writing vocations have taken on unexpected trajectories (he is an Associate Professor of Creative Writing, Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies at UBC, for example), this was our first opportunity to perform together. 

But the timing was right. Fear Itself my first horror, sci-fi and fantasy collection, came out last year. In Queers Like Me, published October 24 this year, Smith examines growing up queer in Cornwall. Luckily, with the tight publication, Book*hug provided him with advance copies for the intercity tour he is doing while on sabbatical.  Michael was also in town October 28 to attend a gala to be inducted into the Cornwall and Area Hall of Fame for the Arts. In short, Michael was in town and I was not far away. Years back, we also attended Saint Lawrence High School and the original Central Public School together. While Michael is a few years ahead of me, our history and friendship run deep. Small-town roots deep.

Photo: AJ Dolman

I liked Smith's 2002 novel Cumberland from Cormorant Books so much that I asked him permission to use two of his characters in walk-on cameos in my first novel Town & Train. Cumberland features Earnest, a closeted mill worker navigating the small-town milieu as much as his own sexual identity and awakening. Like myself, Michael also used a fictionalized Cornwall in his novel (Cumberland), whereas I called it Brandon in my horror novel Town & Train. He touched on some of the same local landmarks as settings, the gay cruising area down by the waterfront, the international bridge and even an RCAF jet in Lamoureux Park. Michael graciously granted me permission to use two of his characters (one of whom I name), and continually encouraged me to get the book published instead of leaving it in a drawer, as he said (back when we kept manuscripts in drawers and not on hard drives or ethereal clouds).

On top of the significance of getting together to read from our books with our shared history, we had a strong crowd of about 25 attendees at the fine venue of Carrots N' Dates and sold a stack of books each. You can't really ask for more at any reading, much less one at 2pm on a Sunday in grey, leafy late October in the Seaway Valley. One of my friends, who I was in Beavers with as a kid, was there on a first date with a young woman who made the hour drive from Montreal. In signing a book for her, I thanked her for making my launch her hot date.

Often, at a well-attended reading, you  might only sell a few books. Alternatively, sometimes with only a few in the audience, you might just sell quite a lot. Here, we were lucky enough with seats filled and phenomenal sales. I'm grateful, but even more thankful with all the hometown connections such as Councillor Elaine MacDonald, who saw the baby second draft of my novel-to-be Town & Train in grade 13, and even my high-school drama teacher (now retired) Barb Mallette and several friendly faces I knew from grade school, and high school.

Thank you, everyone who showed up, friends of many years; high-school peers and best pals. Thank you, Carrots N' Dates, for the Hallloween-errific space.

Thanks, all!

To find more about Queers Like Me, or buy a copy, here's a link to publisher Book*hug press. 

For more about my new book Fear Itself, purchase it, go here, the Lethe Press site.  

Both books are available through the amazons and independent bookstores.

Photo: Francis Langevin

Fear Itself collection is spooky reading

Just another spooky-season PSA as we enter Ray Bradbury's October Country. Fear Itself, my new Lethe Press short story collection, is a blend of horror and SFF, which Publishers Weekly called "unsettling". 

Audible version narrated by the inimitable and talented Gavin J. Annette. 

Don't be afraid to snap it up. 

amzn.to/3PGsMEb

amzn.to/3v1wJtV

bit.ly/3WAi3O8