Thursday, January 19, 2017
My Second Novel Almost Complete
So close to finishing my second horror manuscript that my soul aches. The characters haunt me, from my AIDs survivor Jean-Francois to ex-Jehovah's Witness Brittany Cruikshank, to agonizing Carleton U. student Bruck Blackadder, to tormented hero John Newman weathering a bad break up and unemployment, to reclusive and masterful guitiarist Drake to Sara Jasmine, who doesn't like dealing in the supernatural anymore
Thursday, December 22, 2016
2016 The Year of Coming Out
2016, for all its faults, is looking like the Year of Coming Out, at least from where I see things.
I say this because more friends than ever came out of the closet to me this year.
One woman came out as bisexual. An affable and beautiful artist, she bravely came out to her parents as well. My partner, Anita Dolman and I, supported her wholeheartedly.
A close friend, but still a very valued one, came out at as bi as well to my partner and I. She has been divorced from a man for several years and we didn't know she was bi because she wasn't very vocal about her sexuality. To paraphrase Woody Allen, being bi does double your chances of meeting someone (He actually said "Bisexuality immediately doubles your chances for a date on Saturday night."). Joking aside, we feel that we have found another ally somehow.
A co-worker of mine, with his gelled-up hair dyed a different colour - or mix of colours - on a monthly basis, also came out to me as pansexual. I came out to him as being bi. Then I went home and asked my wife what pansexual was.
"It's what the younger generation is calling bi, only they don't make distinctions about who they love, whether another person is a man or woman, trans or queer."
"I'm already that, but we don't call it that."
"It's because we're old," she replied with more than a dollop of irony.
"If that's the case, then this means that in my twenties, I was pansexual before pansexual was pan!" I answered with a modicum of satisfaction. "I was sleeping with everybody, from drag queens to men to women."
"Yes, you did have a fondness for drag queens," she replied.
"Still do."
It should be noted that the adjective pansexual is defined as "not limited in sexual choice with regard to biological sex, gender, or gender identity."
As well, a transexual friend is realzing who they are. They have been out to one parent since they were a teenager and out to their longtime partner for decades. Still, they have discovered that, like declaring one's queer identity, you sometimes have to come out of the closet again and again. And often the closet is mistaken for just wanting your privace. As my friend puts it, there are "all sorts of closets of all sorts of shapes and sizes."
I'm there for them in any way I can be because they have been there for me.
They are, as of yet, still staying quietly closeted, unsure of what friends will expect if they do come out. As well,this friend is still working through coming out to their parents. They're also working out how they want to express themselves as trans.
So that's why I'm calling 2016 the Year of Coming Out.
In fall 2014, a close friend of mine came out and told myself and my partner that he had been secretly seeing a man for about a year. Things were looking not so much serious as permanent, so he wanted to come out to everyone around him, one at a time. I admired his courage and his deliberatenss in doing so. He came out to me at Irene's Pub, a local drinking hole with cozy booths. I found out that he came out to my best friend in the same environs.
I had worried that he was lonely. So, after years of my worrying that he wasn't seeing anyone or doing any dating at all, it turned out that he had met someone online and that someone had turned into his boyfriend. At the same time, my friend had also been dating a woman - the rogue! - and made a decision about whether he would date the woman or the man.
This news, and this secret, overjoyed me. It meant to me that he had a chance at happiness, and has taken it, instead of being the romantic recluse that I had though he was this past decade.
A few months back, I sat across from the aforementioned best friend at the pub, drinking and pontificating about how many people we know - or at least that my partner and I know - who came out of the closet this year.
Ten years ago, my partner and I thought that everyone was queer until proven otherwise. Since then, our friends close and distant have slowly but steadily revealed who they truly are or have realized who they are, at least partially.
My pal, with whom I have been through nearly three decades of everything, sitting there with his pint of stout, mistook my comments for a prompt for him to come out. He looked up at the T.V. bolted to the wall of the bar. Two men were doing a competition whereby they took an axe to a tree and compete to see who could fell the trunk first. This event was followed by an archery competition.
"I'm as straight as that," my friend said, pointing at the archer letting loose an arrow at a target.
"Really?" I replied. "As straight as an arrow?" I rolled my eyes. "You couldn't have said it another way? Or some such statement.
Nevertheless, the realization that so many people I know are coming to grips with their own self-realization gives me great hope in a year that has been bereft of hope at times.
I refer to the passing of artistic talent at the genius level. The passing of David Bowie. The passing of Prince, And, of course, the passing of Montreal's man, poet and singer Leonard Cohen. The prognosis of Tragically Hip leadsinger Gord Downie has also added to the terribleness of 2016.
This has been a rough year, ending on a particularly dark political note.
But I digress.
But hope is a rare and good and beautiful thing. It's a gift. And with each friend who told me who they are this year, I felt that much better about humanity. I'm not that kid in his twenties trying to figure it out, and feelng alone. Now I'm here for them. I also feel like I have bet on the right horses* and am lucky to have these friends still.
*= Blogger's Note: Please note that this expression was borrowed from Anita Dolman.
I say this because more friends than ever came out of the closet to me this year.
One woman came out as bisexual. An affable and beautiful artist, she bravely came out to her parents as well. My partner, Anita Dolman and I, supported her wholeheartedly.
A close friend, but still a very valued one, came out at as bi as well to my partner and I. She has been divorced from a man for several years and we didn't know she was bi because she wasn't very vocal about her sexuality. To paraphrase Woody Allen, being bi does double your chances of meeting someone (He actually said "Bisexuality immediately doubles your chances for a date on Saturday night."). Joking aside, we feel that we have found another ally somehow.
A co-worker of mine, with his gelled-up hair dyed a different colour - or mix of colours - on a monthly basis, also came out to me as pansexual. I came out to him as being bi. Then I went home and asked my wife what pansexual was.
"It's what the younger generation is calling bi, only they don't make distinctions about who they love, whether another person is a man or woman, trans or queer."
"I'm already that, but we don't call it that."
"It's because we're old," she replied with more than a dollop of irony.
"If that's the case, then this means that in my twenties, I was pansexual before pansexual was pan!" I answered with a modicum of satisfaction. "I was sleeping with everybody, from drag queens to men to women."
"Yes, you did have a fondness for drag queens," she replied.
"Still do."
It should be noted that the adjective pansexual is defined as "not limited in sexual choice with regard to biological sex, gender, or gender identity."
As well, a transexual friend is realzing who they are. They have been out to one parent since they were a teenager and out to their longtime partner for decades. Still, they have discovered that, like declaring one's queer identity, you sometimes have to come out of the closet again and again. And often the closet is mistaken for just wanting your privace. As my friend puts it, there are "all sorts of closets of all sorts of shapes and sizes."
I'm there for them in any way I can be because they have been there for me.
They are, as of yet, still staying quietly closeted, unsure of what friends will expect if they do come out. As well,this friend is still working through coming out to their parents. They're also working out how they want to express themselves as trans.
So that's why I'm calling 2016 the Year of Coming Out.
In fall 2014, a close friend of mine came out and told myself and my partner that he had been secretly seeing a man for about a year. Things were looking not so much serious as permanent, so he wanted to come out to everyone around him, one at a time. I admired his courage and his deliberatenss in doing so. He came out to me at Irene's Pub, a local drinking hole with cozy booths. I found out that he came out to my best friend in the same environs.
I had worried that he was lonely. So, after years of my worrying that he wasn't seeing anyone or doing any dating at all, it turned out that he had met someone online and that someone had turned into his boyfriend. At the same time, my friend had also been dating a woman - the rogue! - and made a decision about whether he would date the woman or the man.
This news, and this secret, overjoyed me. It meant to me that he had a chance at happiness, and has taken it, instead of being the romantic recluse that I had though he was this past decade.
A few months back, I sat across from the aforementioned best friend at the pub, drinking and pontificating about how many people we know - or at least that my partner and I know - who came out of the closet this year.
Ten years ago, my partner and I thought that everyone was queer until proven otherwise. Since then, our friends close and distant have slowly but steadily revealed who they truly are or have realized who they are, at least partially.
My pal, with whom I have been through nearly three decades of everything, sitting there with his pint of stout, mistook my comments for a prompt for him to come out. He looked up at the T.V. bolted to the wall of the bar. Two men were doing a competition whereby they took an axe to a tree and compete to see who could fell the trunk first. This event was followed by an archery competition.
"I'm as straight as that," my friend said, pointing at the archer letting loose an arrow at a target.
"Really?" I replied. "As straight as an arrow?" I rolled my eyes. "You couldn't have said it another way? Or some such statement.
Nevertheless, the realization that so many people I know are coming to grips with their own self-realization gives me great hope in a year that has been bereft of hope at times.
I refer to the passing of artistic talent at the genius level. The passing of David Bowie. The passing of Prince, And, of course, the passing of Montreal's man, poet and singer Leonard Cohen. The prognosis of Tragically Hip leadsinger Gord Downie has also added to the terribleness of 2016.
This has been a rough year, ending on a particularly dark political note.
But I digress.
But hope is a rare and good and beautiful thing. It's a gift. And with each friend who told me who they are this year, I felt that much better about humanity. I'm not that kid in his twenties trying to figure it out, and feelng alone. Now I'm here for them. I also feel like I have bet on the right horses* and am lucky to have these friends still.
*= Blogger's Note: Please note that this expression was borrowed from Anita Dolman.
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
Year's Best Begins - Best Comeback goes to H. P. Lovecraft, Alan Moore's Providence
As 2016 hurtles to a close, I am starting my year's Best-Of-List. This will be piecemeal. This list will be sporadic, in both postings and lengths of posts. But, dammit, this list will be worthwhile and full of hypnotizing rabbit holes that one can explore. And I'm starting with H.P. Lovecraft.
Best Comeback for a Writer of Questionable World View:
H. P. Lovecraft
The amount of proliferating tributes to and controversy surrounding Howard Phillips Lovecraft is seemingly infinite.
There are Lovecraft E-zine podcasts, for starters. Films about the author include the 2016 animated children's film, Howard Lovecraft and the Frozen Kingdom and various documentaries. Comic books from 2016 about the penner of cosmic horror fiction include Alan Moore’s reexamination, Providence and John Reilly's and Tom Rogers' upstart, Herald: Lovecraft and Tesla:History in the Making, not to mention the Cthulhu-themed issue of Afterlife with Archie (I kid you not). Scooby Doo’s Mystery Incorporated, which ran from 2010-2013 and was yet another episodic iteration of the Mystery Gang, includes mythos references. One episode features a monster who is clearly identifiable as Cthulhu. Heated debates about Lovecraft's xenophobia and racism are regular occurrences at writers' conferences and awards juries. Enthusiasts, academics and aficionados attempt to reconcile the problematic author with his hugely influential opus. As well, plentiful other pop culture references abound across the board.
However, if there was any doubt about the controversy and importance surrounding the author, in 2015, the World Fantasy Convention decided to stop using a bust of the author as its awards trophy, amid debate about Lovecraft's beliefs.
All of these factors point to an obvious fact.
H.P. Lovecraft is back, and everywhere, and more in vogue than ever. Granted, the resurgence of interest in Lovecraft has been building for well near a decade now, and has had high and lows. This year, though, interest is clearly higher than ever. I detected the first rumblings while I was working in comic-book retail around 1999. At least, I first started noticing plush Cthulhu dolls appearing on retailers' shelves then.
Speculative fiction tributes to Lovecraft are so prevalent that Mike Davies of Lovecraft E-zine podcast runs an independent press of the same name that publishes weird fiction and cosmic horror. Publisher and editor Davies keeps up with the deluge of Lovecraft-related works on-air and in print. And thank gods, he does. Otherwise, I don't know how one would keep up with Lovecraftian works.
That said, I found two particularly notable speculative fiction works in 2016, Alan Moore’s and Jacen Burrows' Providence comic-book series and Victor LaValle’s novella The Ballad of Black Tom. Two documentaries, while not from 2016 but still relevant, are Frank H. Woodward's illuminating Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown and Shawn R. Owens' The Eldritch Influence: The Life, Vision, and Phenomenon of H.P. Lovecraft. First up is Alan Moore's mind-bendingly good 12-issue series Providence (Avatar Press).
I hit Alan Moore’s Providence pretty hard. Each issue features two-thirds comic book and one-third prose. In a lesser writer's hands, the prose wouldn't soar. But with Mr. Moore, he demonstrates the subtle differences between graphic novels and the written word, fortifying the journal entries of a Commonplace Book with the protagonist's observations and emotional state that may not have been readily apparent in the comic-book panels. Between Jacen Burrows' intricately (and beautifully) detailed artwork and Moore’s thoroughly and lovingly performed research and the infusion of a queer hero into the mythos, I was wooed. I'm on the home stretch of Avatar Press' 12-issue series - issue 10 - and still quite in love with it.
The last literary contribution in for 2016 appears to be Victor LaValle’s much-praised novella The Ballad of Black Tom from Tor. It's a response to Lovecraft's most overtly racist story "The Horror at Red Hook" and features a black protagonist hustling in Harlem in 1924. Ballad is at the top of my reading list for 2017.
(Editor's note of April 17, 2018: Read it in early 2017 and was swept away. The Ballad of Black Tom is an admirable piece of work. It's weird fiction steeped in literary conceits, and a tribute yet a rejoinder to H.P. Lovecraft that is still, at times, minimalist.)
Director Shawn R. Owens' 2003 documentary, The Eldritch Influence: The Life, Vision, and Phenomenon of H.P. Lovecraft, while featuring amateurish camera work and bridging segments with actors portraying Lovecraft's characters in awkward-at-best portrayals, did cement this renewal of interest. The film also included articulate bits from Brian Lumley and Neil Gaiman, among others. But the piece felt part biography, part fanboy highlights, and part loose ride through the author's works with no real linear or logical course.
Frank H. Woodward's 2008 doc, Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown, while clearly borrowing the motif of portentous quotations from the author and discomfiting music, was superior. Fear offered insights in a slicker, prettier package, a clearer, lucid arc covering Lovecraft's life and influences, with glorious and frequent artwork, a more coherent focus, and an examination of Lovecraft's less-than-admirable qualities that is now all the rage. Illuminating interview subjects included the likes of the descendent master of weird fiction, Caitlin R. Kiernan, as well as Peter Straub, Ramsey Campbell (again), and directors John Carpenter and Guillermo del Toro, Neil Gaiman (again) and director Stuart Goron (again).
There are Lovecraft E-zine podcasts, for starters. Films about the author include the 2016 animated children's film, Howard Lovecraft and the Frozen Kingdom and various documentaries. Comic books from 2016 about the penner of cosmic horror fiction include Alan Moore’s reexamination, Providence and John Reilly's and Tom Rogers' upstart, Herald: Lovecraft and Tesla:History in the Making, not to mention the Cthulhu-themed issue of Afterlife with Archie (I kid you not). Scooby Doo’s Mystery Incorporated, which ran from 2010-2013 and was yet another episodic iteration of the Mystery Gang, includes mythos references. One episode features a monster who is clearly identifiable as Cthulhu. Heated debates about Lovecraft's xenophobia and racism are regular occurrences at writers' conferences and awards juries. Enthusiasts, academics and aficionados attempt to reconcile the problematic author with his hugely influential opus. As well, plentiful other pop culture references abound across the board.
However, if there was any doubt about the controversy and importance surrounding the author, in 2015, the World Fantasy Convention decided to stop using a bust of the author as its awards trophy, amid debate about Lovecraft's beliefs.
All of these factors point to an obvious fact.
H.P. Lovecraft is back, and everywhere, and more in vogue than ever. Granted, the resurgence of interest in Lovecraft has been building for well near a decade now, and has had high and lows. This year, though, interest is clearly higher than ever. I detected the first rumblings while I was working in comic-book retail around 1999. At least, I first started noticing plush Cthulhu dolls appearing on retailers' shelves then.
Speculative fiction tributes to Lovecraft are so prevalent that Mike Davies of Lovecraft E-zine podcast runs an independent press of the same name that publishes weird fiction and cosmic horror. Publisher and editor Davies keeps up with the deluge of Lovecraft-related works on-air and in print. And thank gods, he does. Otherwise, I don't know how one would keep up with Lovecraftian works.
That said, I found two particularly notable speculative fiction works in 2016, Alan Moore’s and Jacen Burrows' Providence comic-book series and Victor LaValle’s novella The Ballad of Black Tom. Two documentaries, while not from 2016 but still relevant, are Frank H. Woodward's illuminating Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown and Shawn R. Owens' The Eldritch Influence: The Life, Vision, and Phenomenon of H.P. Lovecraft. First up is Alan Moore's mind-bendingly good 12-issue series Providence (Avatar Press).
 |
| Cover of issue five. Art by Jacen Burrows. |
I hit Alan Moore’s Providence pretty hard. Each issue features two-thirds comic book and one-third prose. In a lesser writer's hands, the prose wouldn't soar. But with Mr. Moore, he demonstrates the subtle differences between graphic novels and the written word, fortifying the journal entries of a Commonplace Book with the protagonist's observations and emotional state that may not have been readily apparent in the comic-book panels. Between Jacen Burrows' intricately (and beautifully) detailed artwork and Moore’s thoroughly and lovingly performed research and the infusion of a queer hero into the mythos, I was wooed. I'm on the home stretch of Avatar Press' 12-issue series - issue 10 - and still quite in love with it.
The last literary contribution in for 2016 appears to be Victor LaValle’s much-praised novella The Ballad of Black Tom from Tor. It's a response to Lovecraft's most overtly racist story "The Horror at Red Hook" and features a black protagonist hustling in Harlem in 1924. Ballad is at the top of my reading list for 2017.
(Editor's note of April 17, 2018: Read it in early 2017 and was swept away. The Ballad of Black Tom is an admirable piece of work. It's weird fiction steeped in literary conceits, and a tribute yet a rejoinder to H.P. Lovecraft that is still, at times, minimalist.)
Director Shawn R. Owens' 2003 documentary, The Eldritch Influence: The Life, Vision, and Phenomenon of H.P. Lovecraft, while featuring amateurish camera work and bridging segments with actors portraying Lovecraft's characters in awkward-at-best portrayals, did cement this renewal of interest. The film also included articulate bits from Brian Lumley and Neil Gaiman, among others. But the piece felt part biography, part fanboy highlights, and part loose ride through the author's works with no real linear or logical course.
Frank H. Woodward's 2008 doc, Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown, while clearly borrowing the motif of portentous quotations from the author and discomfiting music, was superior. Fear offered insights in a slicker, prettier package, a clearer, lucid arc covering Lovecraft's life and influences, with glorious and frequent artwork, a more coherent focus, and an examination of Lovecraft's less-than-admirable qualities that is now all the rage. Illuminating interview subjects included the likes of the descendent master of weird fiction, Caitlin R. Kiernan, as well as Peter Straub, Ramsey Campbell (again), and directors John Carpenter and Guillermo del Toro, Neil Gaiman (again) and director Stuart Goron (again).
Monday, November 21, 2016
Town & Train: A Manly Book!
Had some hot
sales at the recent Hintonburg Community Craft Sale. Sold some copies of Town
& Train. Me fair wife sold some of her books too and
our son stole the show selling out all of his handmade rainbow loom jewelry. I
also donated a copy of Train to the silent auction. There was
some debate among the organizers about the interesting-looking book, so they
upgraded it and included the novel in a men's basket, which also included
locally made men's health products and craft beer. So Town & Train is
officially a men's gift that can accompany other manly things. So one can
safely say—scrub up and moisturize
yourself afterward, grab a craft brewsky and crack open yer copy of Town & Train. And feel
very manly about it.
Thursday, November 10, 2016
Naked Heart Festival: An LGBTQ Festival of Words
Friday, Nov 11 thru Saturday, Nov 13, 2016
Toronto, Various Venues
I'm proud to be part of Glad Day Bookshop's and Glad Day Lit's second annual NAKED HEART – An LGBTQ Festival of Words. .
Over 90 authors have confirmed for the stellar lineup, which includes Felice Picano
Hasan Namir, Farzana Doctor, Jeffrey Round, Liz Bugg, Francisco Ibanez-Carrasco and Rae Spoon.
This festival in the Church and Wellesley neighbourhood of Toronto includes workshops, panels, performances & discussions for writers and lovers of words.
The venues are Glad Day Bookshop (499 Church Street), Buddies In Bad Time Theatre (12 Alexander Street), the Xtra Lounge (2 Carlton) and The 519 (519 Church Street). All spaces are wheelchair accessible and ASL will be provided all day Saturday and Sunday in one venue.
Launched in 2015, Naked Heart is already the largest and most diverse LGBTQ literary festival in the world with over 2,000 attendees. In 2015, the festival had over 120 writers present at 47 events.
Speculative Brunch at Naked Heart Festival this Sat
Speculative Brunch reading at
Naked Heart Festival: An LGBTQ Festival of Words
Wanna' hear some fine speculative fiction? I tell ya, we've got horror, fantasy, sci-fi and romance. I'll be reading from my new novel Monster Mansion (working title) at the Speculative Brunch on Sat, Nov12 at this year's Naked Heart Festival. We'll be at Glad Day Books' new digs at 499 Church St. Where are you gonna be? However, don't come just to hear me. I'm the company of Steven Bereznai, 'Nathan Burgoine, J. m. Frey, Michael Lyons, Stephen Graham King (the other Stephen King, as I call him) and the gracious David Demchuk.
All author photos courtesy of the authors' websites.
The link to this fine Speculative Brunch is here. And if you're wondering about what to eat, I'd venture a guess that this rag-tag crew is so adorable you could just eat them up.
The full schedule is here.
And check out these bios of these fine authors.
J. M. Frey
'Nathan Burgoine
Steven Bereznai
Naked Heart Festival: An LGBTQ Festival of Words
Wanna' hear some fine speculative fiction? I tell ya, we've got horror, fantasy, sci-fi and romance. I'll be reading from my new novel Monster Mansion (working title) at the Speculative Brunch on Sat, Nov12 at this year's Naked Heart Festival. We'll be at Glad Day Books' new digs at 499 Church St. Where are you gonna be? However, don't come just to hear me. I'm the company of Steven Bereznai, 'Nathan Burgoine, J. m. Frey, Michael Lyons, Stephen Graham King (the other Stephen King, as I call him) and the gracious David Demchuk.
All author photos courtesy of the authors' websites.
The link to this fine Speculative Brunch is here. And if you're wondering about what to eat, I'd venture a guess that this rag-tag crew is so adorable you could just eat them up.
The full schedule is here.
 |
| As the little girl almost said in the film Poltergeist, "We're back!" From left to right: J. M. Frey, Yours Truly, Michael "Mikey" Lyons snapping the group selfie,'Nathan Burgoine and Stephen Graham King. Photo from the 2015 Naked Heart courtesy of Mikey. |
And check out these bios of these fine authors.
J. M. Frey
J. M. Frey’s debut novel Triptych was nominated for
two Lambda Literary Awards, won the San Francisco Book Festival award
for SF/F, was nominated for a 2011 CBC Bookie, was named one of The Advocate’s Best
Overlooked Books of 2011 , and garnered both a starred review and a place among
the Best Books of 2011 from Publishers Weekly. Her sophomore
novel, an epic-length feminist meta-fantasy titled The Untold Tale, (book
one of the Accidental Turn Series), debuted December 2015. The Skylark’s
Song, book one of The Skylark’s Saga, a steampunk action novel about
a girl vigilante and her mysterious rocketpack, soars into book stores in
2017.
Yours Truly: James K. Moran
James K. Moran’s fiction and poetry have appeared in various Canadian, American and British
publications, including Bywords, Glitterwolf: Halloween, Empty Mirror Magazine, Icarus, On Spec,
Postscripts to Darkness 3, and The Rolling Darkness Revue. A longtime
contributor to Daily Xtra, Moran’s
articles and reviews have also appeared in a wide variety of media, including Arc Poetry Magazine, Daily Xtra, Matrix
Magazine, the Ottawa Citizen and Rue Morgue. He lives and dreams in
Ottawa, Canada, blogging
at jameskmoran.blogspot.ca. His debut horror novel, Town & Train, is
available from Lethe Press.
Michael Lyons
Michael Lyons is a queer-identified, chaotic
neutral writer, activist, misanthrope, sapiosexual, and feline enthusiast. He
is a columnist, blogger and regular contributor with Xtra and has contributed
to Plenitude Magazine, KAPSULA Magazine, Crew Magazine, Memory Insufficient
e-zine, The Ryersonian, Buddies Theatre blog, Toronto Is Awesome blog and Fab
Magazine and more.
'Nathan Burgoine
'Nathan Burgoine grew up a reader and studied literature
Stephen Graham King
Born on the prairies,
Stephen Graham King has since traded the big sky for the big city and now lives
in Toronto. His first book, Just Breathe, tells the blunt, funny, and
uncompromising story of his three-year battle with metastatic synovial sarcoma.
Since then, his short fiction has appeared in the anthologies North of Infinity
II (“Pas de Deux”), Desolate Places (“Nor Winter’s Cold”) and Ruins Metropolis
(“Burning Stone”). His first novel, Chasing Cold, was released in 2012. He is
also an artist, working primarily in acrylics, but also dabbling in
photography. He also loves to cook, so if you ask very, very nicely, he might
make you dinner. More about his writing and art, as well as some of his
favorite recipes, can be found on his website.
Steven Bereznai
Steven Bereznai's newest book is I Want Superpowers, a dystopian YA novel, available for pre-order on Amazon (Kindle) and other online stores. Print orders available later in November, 2016. Bereznai's first book, Gay and Single...Forever, was released in 2006, followed by his novels Queeroes and Queeroes 2. His writing is also featured in the anthologies Second Person Queer, I Like It Like That, Singleism, The Lavender Menace, and Best Gay Romance 2010. Bereznai is a former editor-in-chief of fab magazine and FAB STYLE QUARTERLY. His articles have appeared in PAX, Passport, Instinct, The Toronto Star, VIA Destinations, Now, Xtra!, Icon, and of course, fab. Bereznai, a recreational water polo player and fan of science fiction, also loves travel
writing and watches way too much T.V.
David Demchuk
A playwright, independent filmmaker, screenwriter, essayist, critic and journalist, and radio dramatist, David Demchuk has been writing for theatre, film, television, radio and other media for more than 30 years. In 2011, Pinknews.co.uk named him one of the top 25 most influential LGBT people on twitter worldwide.His debut horror novel, The Bone Mother, will be published by ChiZine Publications in Spring 2017. A staged version titled The Thimble Factory was presented at Videofag in Toronto in October 2015. Known primarily for his work in Canadian theatre, David’s plays have been produced in Toronto, New York, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Vancouver, Chicago, San Francisco, at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and in London, England. His publications include the short-fiction cycle Seven Dreams and the collected Alice in Cyberspace episodes in book form, appearances in anthologies Making Out! (Touch), Outspoken (Rosalie Sings Alone) and Canadian Brash (If Betty Should Rise and Rosalie Sings Alone). His reviews, essays, interviews and columns in such magazines as Toronto Life, The Body Politic, Xtra!, What! Magazine,Cinema Canada and Prairie Fire, as well as the Toronto Star. Most recently, he has been a contributing writer at Torontoist. Demchuk was born and raised in Winnipeg and now lives in Toronto.
A playwright, independent filmmaker, screenwriter, essayist, critic and journalist, and radio dramatist, David Demchuk has been writing for theatre, film, television, radio and other media for more than 30 years. In 2011, Pinknews.co.uk named him one of the top 25 most influential LGBT people on twitter worldwide.His debut horror novel, The Bone Mother, will be published by ChiZine Publications in Spring 2017. A staged version titled The Thimble Factory was presented at Videofag in Toronto in October 2015. Known primarily for his work in Canadian theatre, David’s plays have been produced in Toronto, New York, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Vancouver, Chicago, San Francisco, at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and in London, England. His publications include the short-fiction cycle Seven Dreams and the collected Alice in Cyberspace episodes in book form, appearances in anthologies Making Out! (Touch), Outspoken (Rosalie Sings Alone) and Canadian Brash (If Betty Should Rise and Rosalie Sings Alone). His reviews, essays, interviews and columns in such magazines as Toronto Life, The Body Politic, Xtra!, What! Magazine,Cinema Canada and Prairie Fire, as well as the Toronto Star. Most recently, he has been a contributing writer at Torontoist. Demchuk was born and raised in Winnipeg and now lives in Toronto.
Friday, November 4, 2016
Had a Great OIW Panel with Robin Riopelle on Building Tension
 |
| Promo shot for our Building Tension panel. I like how Robin and myself have our backs to each other. To build tension. |
Thanky you, Con Cú and Benoit Chartier, for arranging
the thoroughly enjoyable panel that Robin Riopelle and
I sat on for Ottawa
Independent Writers last
Thursday, Oct27. Despite the snowy and rainy weather, a fierce turnout of at least
40 attendees showed up at the Good Companions Seniors' Centre to hear Robin and
I talk about building tension and suspense in our books. She read from her
fabulous supernatural suspense novel Deadroads (that I kept gushing about)
and I read from Town & Train. The room was great, and brought up great questions.
Robin is always so gracious. All in all, we had a fantastic evening. And,
because I don't have pics from the event, I will have to share this great promo
shot again of Robin and myself and the railroad tracks. Trains and railroad
tracks are the common elements in our first novels.
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