Photo by Damian Baranowski.
I've been away longer than I intended from this blog, and I remember back in the days of blogging when "longer than I intended" was about two or three days. In the years since, this blog has gone silent for months. But I was away longer than I intended and I felt increasingly bad about that. So perhaps that's a hopeful sign for the health of this blog.
We talked a bit about blogging over at Benjamin Gorman's Tilting at Windmills podcast (formerly Writers Not Writing). We talked about how social media has slurped up a lot of our audience, and uses the algorithm to keep them locked in, but that blogs can still be important as something that stands permanently (as permanently as electrons can be) without the social media algorithms shushing things in the echo chamber. In these days as polarization increases, it's important to keep saying what it is you stand for. In my case, it's that all people should have access to healthcare. They should all have enough to be able to eat and put a roof over their heads. They should have a chance at a good education, and they should be allowed to live as they are, regardless of race, gender, pronouns, or neurodiversity. Severe income inequality would appear to thwart all of this, so we must end severe income inequality.
Anyway, thanks to Benjamin and Chrys for having me back to their podcast! As always, we had a great and thought-provoking conversation. You can see the whole episode here.
Similarly, thanks to Alex Lewczuk from Southside Broadcasting in the UK for having myself and my Shadowpaw Press editor Ed Willett for a discussion of our recently released fantasy novels (in my case, re-released) as well as the process of publishing. This was my third time on Alex's podcast and as always, he was welcoming and enthusiastic. I hope I can be back again so we can share our thoughts about classic Doctor Who.
Finally, I would like to thank the good folks at Bakka-Phoenix who hosted an evening mingle for The Night Girl on Thursday, September 18. Sorry it took so long to properly thank you. As always, Canada's premiere science-fiction and fantasy bookstore was wonderfully supportive and accommodating, and it was a joy to talk to everyone who came out and share another wonderful cake from The Cake Box. Special thanks to Victor from my planning class, who shocked me by turning up. I think it must have been eleven years since we last met, and that's assuming he came out to the reunion evening. If not, then it was thirty years. But we still got back to talking just like old times.
I'd also like to thank my friend Damian Baranowski, who was on hand with his camera to shoot some great photos. He's been a tireless supporter of The Night Girl, and has even put together some wonderful reels, which you should view. The first one is the opening of the conversation about what The Night Girl is, and the second one talks about my interesting choice for the fictional mayor of Toronto in the story.
Looking ahead, I have further podcasts to attend, and I'll be at Can*Con to help Stephen Kotowych celebrate the launch the 2025 edition of his Year's Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction. I am super chuffed that my Tales from the Silence short story "After the Apocalypse in Moosonee" was chosen to be among those honoured. I'm also looking forward to being in Ottawa, as if anybody needs an excuse to visit this fair city.
After that, winter is coming. The leaves are already changing, and while I appreciate the colours and the cooler temperatures (especially once the first frost puts away the wasps and the ragweed), I'm feeling the loss of light more acutely than in the past. It's been a difficult year finding joy with all that's gone on around us in the world and at home, but I am blessed to have been able to find that joy with my family and with my friends, and with the work that I do. Thanks to all for the good days we've had so far this year, and here's to good days tomorrow.