Counting down the days until the Writers’ Guild of Alberta’s annual conference, taking place in Calgary (yay!) this year. Refining Our Narratives runs June 1 – 3, with sessions at Memorial Park Library, as well as Literary Trivia with Shaun Hunter at The Beltliner Diner and the Alberta Literary Awards Gala at the Hyatt Regency *Imperial Ballroom*! I’ll be moderating a panel on Creative Writing Pedagogy on Saturday morning featuring John Vigna, Angie Abdou, Patrick Finn and Suzette Mayr. Check the schedule for all the fine programming and fun on offer here.

Another highlight will be the Silent Auction in support of WGA’s programs and services. We’ve had many fine donations from our sponsors this year, including a lovely basket of goodies from our dear friends at Owl’s Nest Books. Thank you, Owl’s Nest, for your ongoing support of Alberta writers!

This all sounds great, you say. Absolutely! And the best part is, there’s still time to register. Hope to see you there!

Hey, how cool is this? All Lit Up has put together a list of Badass Women Protagonists which includes the dual protagonists Lita and Elsa from my novel After You’ve Gone. Plus they even gave it this cool gif:

I see fellow Alberta authors Pam Clark and Caterina Edwards have written some badassery as well. Time to add more titles to my reading list!

Last fall, Historical Feathers, a historical fiction journal out of the UK, invited me to submit a story for their December issue. I didn’t have anything suitable on hand at the time, but I was inspired to finally write about something that I’ve wanted to explore for a long time: the life of jazz cornetist Bix Beiderbecke. My story “In a Mist” starts on page 42 of the January 2018 issue.

Unfortunately, Historical Feathers has now had to go on hiatus for the time being. Many thanks to editors Amy Ford and Peter Turner, and hopefully we’ll see new issues again at some time.

The Alexandra Writers’ Centre Society offers programming for all levels and ages of writers, including youth. And until this Friday, December 8th, you can bid on some great fundraising items at their Youth Programs Silent Auction. All proceeds will support AWCS’ youth programs, and you will get a start on the dreaded Xmas shopping — win – win!

Steve Passey’s Forty-Five Minutes of Unstoppable Rock releases today and launches Monday, Nov. 6 at Owl’s Nest Books!

November is approaching, and with it comes the launch of comrade Steve Passey‘s first book of short fiction, Forty-Five Minutes of Unstoppable Rock, new this fall from Tortoise Books. That’s at 7 PM on Monday, November 6th at Owl’s Nest Books, 49th Avenue and Elbow Drive SW, in the Brittania Shopping Plaza. I understand there will be refreshments and live music as well as a reading from Forty-Five Minutes. Looking forward to this very much!

My flash story “Del” has been recorded as part of Season Two of the Manawaker Studios Flash Fiction Podcast. It comes it at under five minutes, and you can listen to it on the Manawaker blog, on YouTube or on iTunes .

Many thanks to C.B. Droege for producing this. Enjoy!

Steve Passey’s hilarious guide to the hillbilly stars made me howl!

Full text of the review is now available at Thistledown’s website, here.

Thanks to FreeFall Magazine and particularly to writer Jamal Ali for the review of my novel After You’ve Gone which appears in their current issue. The review itself isn’t online, but I encourage you to track a copy of the magazine down at a bookstore or through their website. Or Calgary Public Library.

Also included are reviews of new work by Lynette Loeppky, Beth Everest and Rea Tarvydas, as well as this year’s contest winning prose and poetry. Yay, FreeFall!