Hallowe'en 2025: Assorted Random Shots

Alas, last Friday night we saw the worst All Hallows' Eve turnout in years last Friday night, due to a combination of rainy and clammy weather for the trick-or-treaters and the Blue Jays' World Series game six airing at eight. Only 19 kids rang our gnarly-eyeball doorbell. 

Alleyway, downtown Ottawa. Approx. 5:10pm, Hallowe'en, 2025.

Last year, we had about 80 kids, finally recovering from the pandemic and the early canceled lockdown Halloween and seeing an upswing of young families on our block. 

I like a cteepy face in the tree of of our frontyard to greet trick-or treaters. We coninue, though, to be one of only a handful of houses that observes with a lit jack-o'-lantern.

The Tubular Bells vinyl I just scored from a goodhearted DJ colleague.

Some of my handiwork.

What I viddied later after some episodes of Mike Flanagan's The Haunting of Bly Manor.

Fab seasonal pic of Ottawa writer AJ Dolman.

That's our 17 year old carving his first pumpkin. It's the jack-o'-lantern on the right. Tradition passed along! Pretty proud of him.

Captain James, or...Captain Moran.

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.

Queer Indie Authors at T's Pub

Queer Indie Authors at T's Pub
Featuring:
AJ Dolman
Natalie Hanna
Chris Johnson
Stevie Mikayne
James K. Moran
 
T's Pub or tspub.ca
Ottawa, Ontario.
Thurs., Aug. 21. 
Doors "open", 5:30. 
6:00pm start.
Free event.
Y'all are invited.

That's how the pros do it, true believers. We've got it all—poetry, horror and other speculative fiction, mystery and fab host Eden Moore, to boot! 

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.

Chris Johnson (he/him) was born in Scarborough, ON, and currently lives on unceded, unsurrendered territory of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation. He is the Managing Editor for Arc Poetry Magazine and Editorial Assistant at Nightwood Editions. Chris' latest chapbook is 320 lines of poetry (counting blank lines) (Anstruther Press, 2023).

natalie hanna is a queer Ottawa lawyer of Middle-Eastern descent, working with low income populations. She runs battleaxe press, and her poem “light conversation” received Honourable Mention for the 2019 Diana Brebner Prize. She is the author of thirteen poetry chapbooks, including titles with above/ground press and Baseline Press. Her 2021 chapbook, machine dreams (Collusion Books), co-authored with Liam Burke, was nominated for the 2022 bpNichol Chapbook Award. Her first full-length collection, lisan al'asfour (ARP Books, 2022), was a finalist for the 2023 Ottawa Book Awards.

Stevie Mikayne is a queer writer of romantic mysteries. Her work is inspired by that time she was allowed to crash a Private Investigator School, coupled with her natural resistance to being told that she can't blend genres. She is a two-time Lambda Literary Award Finalist as well as a Golden Crown Literary Award Finalist. In her real life, she is a professor of creative writing at the University of Ottawa and a mum to a fabulous almost-teenager.

James K. Moran, a writer of many bi lines, has published speculative fiction and poetry in Burly Tales: Finally Fairy Tales for the Hirsute and Hefty Gay Man, Bywords, Glitterwolf, On Spec, and elsewhere. Moran’s collection Fear Itself and small-town Canada horror novel Town & Train were published by Lethe Press. For over 15 years, he was a freelance contributor for Xtra Magazine (née Capital Xtra!). He reviews for Arc Poetry Magazine, Plenitude: your queer literary magazine and Strange Horizons. Findable at jamestheballadeer.

Review of Lee Demarbre's very fun Enter the Drag Dragon

Quite enjoyed Enter the Drag Dragon, a fine bad-good flick by local filmmaker luminary director Lee Demarbre. It's a raunchy, over-the-top exploitation film shot in and around my stomping ground of Ottawa, Canada with drag queens galore. Some gorgeous aerial shots figure, including recognizable landmarks such as the local legendary second-run venue, the Mayfair Theatre and the Brian Nolanesque shots of downtown's ByWard Market. As other reviewers have noted, Demarbe's is a rich, colourful Ottawa (or world) a brim with kitsch, costumes and off-the-wall humour.

The flick features an array of quirky, sexy, entertaining local actors including Demarbre favourite Phil Caracas. Caracas starred as pulpy tough guy send-up in Demarbre's 2004 Harry Knuckles and the Pearl Necklace, and the 1999 Harry Knuckles and the Treasure of the Aztec Mummy. Likely, his riotous portrayal of Jesus in Demarbre's  2001 Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter is Caracas' best-known role, and Demarbre's most well-known and notorious film.

And, oh, yes, three—count 'em, three—leads play the drag queen protagonist, Crunch, an underestimated private detective. In Enter the Drag Dragon, the three actors and the slinky sexy rollerblader Jaws (Beatrice Beres) get centre screen, and rightly so. They're sort of a mystery-solving/no-job-is-too-odd duo. Matt Miwa, Sam Kellerman and Jade London all portray Crunch, and bring great sass to the role in diffetent ways. And brandish a staple weapon—dildo nunchucks, giving a wonderfully twisted statement of intent every single time. As well, I haven't seen this many protaganist costume changes since Jane Fonda's 1968 Barbarella.

Enter the Drag Dragon also serves up plenty of fun fighting (how Irish of me to say), but be warned—there's much Drag Fu and bare-breast tussling and even gratuitous singing. All in all, it's ridiculous fun. Ottawa is lucky to have cinematic talent Lee Demarbre. Besides, our red-brick storefronts on Bank Street are cinematic as hell. Even the Gatineau Hills, a tourist and local draw for even casual hikers, beg to be filmed. There's a skydiving scene with the heroes that is a barn burner. Besides, the cast, in the outtakes and film proper, is clearly having a blast with dirty sight gags and snappy patter and includes viewers in the naughty jokes. In short—entertaining as all get-out, thanks to Lee Demarbe's uncompromisingly naughty, twisted vision.