2023 Wrap Up!

The customary annual wrap-up has a definite theme this year: lots of Canadian content!

This year, I have two stories eligible for the 2023 Aurora, Hugo, and Nebula awards:
   –> “The Robot Whisperer” in Android Press’ Fighting for the Future cyberpunk/solarpunk anthology
   –> “The Grammar of Jespersen-b” in On Spec magazine, issue #126

I was honored to have “Maximum Efficiency”, originally published in Analog, appear in two Year’s Bests:
Infinivox’s The Year’s Top Robot and AI Stories Fourth Annual Collection and
The Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction Volume One, edited by Stephen Kotowych

And ” The Centre Cannot Hold” appeared in Android Press’ The Best of Utopian Speculative Fiction!

And there’s more!
“Grin and Bear It” came out in Autonomous Press’ Spoon Knife 7. And a much-revamped version of a previously published story, “Thinking Inside the Box” appeared in Renaissance’s Mighty superhero anthology!

And reprints continue to expand readership of my older stories:
“The Boggart of Campsite C47” in Little Blue Marble
“Uphill All the Way” in Charles Barouch’s Conspiracies and Cryptids anthology
“Heart Proof” Wolfsinger’s Ring of Fire anthology
“The Knells of Agassiz” in Luna Station Quarterly (Issue 53)
“I Love Lupi” in Deadfish Books’ Yay! They’re Here anthology
“Halps’ Promise” in Other Worlds Ink’s Transform the World anthology
“Hard Passage” in Manawaker Studios’ Briar Rose anthology
“Bear #178” in Space Cat Press’ Bark and Bone anthology

Happy New Year! I wish you and yours an excellent 2024!

The Grammar of Jespersen-b

 

On Spec is one of Canada’s top speculative fiction magazines and has been for 35 years, so having a story in the December, 2023 issue (#126) certainly fills in a square in my writerly bingo card.

“The Grammar of Jespersen-b” is about finding a path forward when your world is constantly being turned upsidedown. It’s about real world struggles to adapt to new situations and new realities. I hope that, after you read it, it will resonate for a while in your mind, like the lingering note of a meditation gong.

You can find On Spec at local bookstores or purchase single issues and subscriptions at onspec.ca.

Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction!

“Maximum Efficiency” continues to garner attention. As one of the first stories solicited for Stephen Kotowych’s Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction: Volume One, this story, originally in Analog magazine in Nov/Dec 2022, is getting increased readership (every writer’s dream) through this inaugural Year’s Best. Canada has not had a Year’s Best series for several years (I had a story in a different publisher’s final iteration in 2016) and it was wonderful to see the Kickstarter for this new series blow up the internet.

You can get the ebook here:

• Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/ebook/year-s-best-canadian-fantasy-and-science-fiction-volume-one
• Amazon Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/Years-Canadian-Fantasy-Science-Fiction-ebook/dp/B0CP88Q46M/
• Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Years-Canadian-Fantasy-Science-Fiction-ebook/dp/B0CP88Q46M/
• Other retailers including B&N, Apple Books, Smashwords, overseas retailers, etc.: https://books2read.com/u/m06V50

And the print book is available here:

• Amazon Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/Years-Canadian-Fantasy-Science-Fiction/dp/0993937594
• Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Years-Canadian-Fantasy-Science-Fiction/dp/0993937594

The ebook, the print book, and a subscription to Analog magazine all make great holiday gifts!

The Year’s Top Robot and AI Stories!

My story, “Maximum Efficiency”, which appeared in the Nov/Dec 2022 issue of Analog magazine was solicited for Infinivox’s The Year’s Top Robot and AI Stories: Fourth Annual Collection. With a surname starting with “S”, I’m unfamiliar with being front and centre in alphabetized lists, but this time it worked out quite well. And, of course, I’m chuffed to be in the company of Michael Swanwick, Ray Naley, Marie Vibbert, Lavie Tidvar, and others.

Here are links to the US print and ebook, and the Canadian print and ebook. Enjoy!

Get Mighty!

Mighty: An Anthology of Disabled Superheroes is set to soar like a comic book hero—it officially launches November 15th!

In these 15 stories, you’ll meet winged wheelchair users, supernatural spoonies, guardians with glaucoma, and many more. These disabled superheroes fight villains as well as outdated ableist stereotypes, and show that anyone can be Mighty. My story, “Thinking *Inside* the Box”, while full of Canadian humour and flavour,  is a look at the difficulties and opportunities a person with autism can have in today’s culture. It highlights that “if you’ve met one person with autism, you’ve met one person with autism”.

You can purchase Mighty: An Anthology of Disabled Superheroes today in print or as an e-book.

Yay! They’re Here!

 

The aliens are coming!
The aliens are coming!

Of course, First Contact is not going to run smoothly.

Yay, They’re Here contains 20 stories of first contact that start optimistically but then, well, things happen.

I really like participating in themed anthologies and this one is no exception. My story, “I Love Lupi”, is a simple little story that pokes fun at our media transmissions that head off into space. Think Gunsmoke, Leave it to Beaver, and of course, I Love Lucy — where are they now and who’s viewing them? Would aliens have equivalent cheesy entertainment? And, going deeper, how do such shows affect our culture and our ambitions?

Yay, They’re Here is available at Amazon in print and e-book, and on Smashwords. Get it now, before little flying saucers suddenly appear overhead…

A photo of a purported UFO over Passaic, New Jersey in 1952. (Photo by: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

 

Fighting for the Future, Cyberpunk Solarpunk Antho now out!

Thanks to hefty Kickstarter support, this anthology came to fruition and is now out in the world.

My story, “The Robot Whisperer”, is smack in the middle of the book in the “transition” section, migrating from cyber- to solar-punk. Do people ever change? Can they change, given the right environment? Will the coolest person ever manage to retain her mojo over decades? Find out by getting the ebook or the paperback today!

Rational Hope

A hope is deemed “rational” if, overall, it allows for increased agency, for a belief that it is possible to affect the situation. In this world that lately seems full of bad news , it may well be that humanity steps forward into the challenge — there are glimmers of hope everywhere. I challenge you to spot one each day!

In a smaller microcosm, the world of science fiction, publication of short stories has been hit hard lately, both from Amazon basically ending its print and digital magazine subscription business as of September, and from AI spam flooding submission slush piles, increasing the difficulty of being a publisher. The former situation doesn’t give much room for hope, but the AI situation may eventually find a path forward.

In an even smaller universe, that of my own writing, I had enough successes in the first half of this year to give me hope in my own endeavours:

• “Maximum Efficiency”, about a post-apocalyptic robot who learns to reinvent itself, appeared in Analog in November and has since been solicited to be reprinted in both The Year’s Top Robot and AI Stories: Fourth Annual Collection (find the 3rd one here) and also the inaugural Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction! You can listen to “Maximum Efficiency” on audio here but I do hope you’ll buy one of the anthologies when they come out.
• “The Boggart of Campsite C47” was reprinted at Little Blue Marble early in the year. Read it today!
• “Grin and Bear It”, a Cheshire-cat inspired story of VR, appeared in Autonomous Press’ Spoon Knife 7: Transitions anthology a couple of months ago. Please consider getting it along with 18 other mind-bending stories here.
• “Heart Proof” was reprinted in the Ring of Fire anthology in May. It’s on sale here!
• “Knells of Agassiz” was reprinted at Luna Station Quarterly a little while ago and can be read for free. If you like it, please buy the print or e-copy!
• “Thinking Inside the Box” will appear in the Mighty superhero anthology later this year, along with other stories that celebrate characters who are disabled and still save the day. Watch for it at Renaissance Press!
• “I Love Lupi” was accepted as a reprint for the zany Yay! They’re Here anthology of comedic alien invasion. Support the Kickstarter today!
• “The Robot Whisperer” will be in Android Press’ Fighting for the Future solarpunk-cyberpunk anthology. It’s coming out in a couple of weeks or so — preorder it here!
• “Heart on Your Sleeve” was published in Nothing Without Us Too in 2022 (available in print and ebook). That anthology is now up for the Canadian SFF awards, the Aurora, in Best Related Work. For $10, you can become a member of the CSFFA and download all the nominated works (yup, in ALL categories! What a deal!) so that you can then vote in the Auroras. If you are a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, please vote for all your favorites before July 29th! Full details are at CSFFA.
  
  I’ve got a few more upcoming publications in the works, but I’ll leave those for next time. Enjoy the summer, keep rational hope, and keep reading SFF!
  
  

Fighting for the Future: Cyberpunk and Solarpunk Tales! Kickstarter now on!

Cyberpunk and Solarpunk are, in many ways, two parts of the same story. Cyberpunk is all about people surviving in high-tech, low-life dystopias. Solarpunk is about people thriving in post-dystopic worlds. The foundation of both is people and communities fighting for a better future.

Fighting for the Future is an exciting new upcoming anthology, edited by Phoebe Wagner (of Sunvault fame!) and published by Android Press, that brings the two genres together. I’m thrilled to have a story in it!

The kickstarter is garnering lots of attention! Now is your chance to back this anthology, get a copy in print or ebook as soon as it’s off the presses. And get amazing perks like a TTRPG! Check it out here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/androidpress/fighting-for-the-future by May 4th! 

 

2022 in review

Another non-routine year for us all. Here’s what I had published in 2022 (mostly written in 2020 and onwards):

“What You Sow” came out in the Navigating Ruins anthology in Feb 2022.

“Was it Something I Said?”, a solarpunk story with witches and castles, appeared on Solarpunk Magazine’s Patreon in April 2022. And another flash piece about anarchist chess pieces was on the same Patreon in August: “The Centre Cannot Hold”.

“Conflict Resolution”found a home at Nature’s Futures in Oct 2022.

“Heart on Your Sleeve” appears in Nothing Without Us Too, released Sept 2022. A very personal story for me and a departure from my usual style. I was also very honored to be sharing the TOC with the last story ever written by Melissa Mead (the anthology is dedicated to her memory).

“Maximum Efficiency” appeared in the Nov/Dec 2022 Analog with a wonderful illustration, a Biolog on me, and Analog also had me record it! You can listen to it for free here: Analog Science Fiction & Fact | Free Podcasts | Podomatic” 1

I also placed 13 reprints this year plus I did a post for the SFWA Blog “Optimism is the New Bleak”.

So not a bad year, all things considered…

Best of the season and Happy New Year!