While officially being released at When Words Collide (WWC) August 12th, I’m happy to announce that Enigma Front: Burnt is out and and available via Amazon as of this moment! It’s a smoking anthology by a group of fellow IFWA authors and contains my contribution Hot Blooded, a sequel to Fishing with the Devil (a finalist in the WWC 2015 Robin Herrington Memorial Short Story Contest). So if you want to read more about Lil and her grandfather, pick it up.

Hmm, what else is new?

If you haven’t already, visit crime lord Axel Howerton’s website and sign up for the Got How? newsletter. Subscribers will receive his new Uno Moss e-book, a fun collection of Hot Sinatra related stories. Axel is also teaching a two fall workshops at the Alexandra Writers Center. A must attend if you are interested in writing genre or urban fantasy.

Also, in recent news, my friend and fellow Calgary criminal mind Jayne Barnard won the 2016 Unhanged Arthur for Best Unpublished First Crime Novel for her book When the Flood Falls. Congrats!

Writing
I’ve been concentrating on my supernatural detective novel with a little bit of Camelot on the side. Not super motivated at the moment, due to all the summer distractions, but everything is moving forward inch by inch.

Running
My next ultra trail race will be Finlayson Arm in September. It’s going to be a brute with a ton of technical trail and heaps of elevation. I ran the initial part of it, including the first big climb, during my last visit to Victoria. Fantastic views and beautiful terrain. I’m already in pain.

Upcoming Events

• When Words Collide – August 12th-14th
• Noir at the Bar YYC (WWC Edition) – August 12th
• Finlayson Arm 50km Trail Ultra – September 10th

Books of the Week/Month/Variable Time Period
Invisible Dead by Sam Weibe
Another excellent dark gritty detective tale from Sam Wiebe and the start of a new series. Loved the Vancouver setting and great cast of characters. Highly recommended!

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
Carolyn is a librarian, but not the kind you’d find at your typical neighborhood library. She is mixed up in a crazy mythos and crazier events that span space and time, but she has a plan. I love the fact that for the first few chapters you don’t have a bloody clue what’s actually going on, and when you think you are catching on, the twists keep throwing wrenches. Excellent and unique.

Just saw the proof copy of Enigma Front: Burnt containing my next published story Hot Blooded. It looks fantastic and I can’t wait until When Words Collide (WWC) for everyone to read it.

Writing
A few exciting events last month, the highlight being my inclusion in the tenth anniversary of Writing in the Works. I read from my novel in progress and hung out with some great folks.

Otherwise, I submitted a few stories to various markets, wrote a bunch, and generally went with the flow. Not the best way to get my novel finished, but it’s crawling along.

Running
I managed, with my buddy Steve’s support, to hobble my way through Diez Vista, a 50km mountain race with an ample amount of challenging elevation. Nasty and hard, but I survived. It made me realize I need to lose about twenty pounds before the main event in September.

For a bit of active recover I ran the 30km Eyeball the Wall race the Saturday morning of Calgary Expo. Probably not the brightest move, considering I needed to immediately head to the Expo, but a nice way to work the kinks out. Now I need to get my butt into gear, get lean, put my nose to the endurance grindstone.

Upcoming Events

• A Taste of Local Authors at the Owls Nest May 19th
• Open Mic at the Owls Nest – May 25th (Reading)
• Rocky Mountain Writers Retreat – June 2-5th
• When Words Collide – August 12th-14th

Book of the Week/Month/Variable Time Period
Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey
Why didn’t I read this sooner? I must have been living under a rock. This is exactly the sort of story I love the most – paranormal/supernatural mystery with all the right crazy.

Time. Where does it go? It flies by in a relentless rush of family, work, writing and running, that’s where. At least the precious little downtime I can carve out is total quality. Maui for Spring Break. You can’t beat the beach, sun, and beer for clearing the mind and healing the soul.

Writing
Lots and lots of writing, rewriting, and editing of late. The good news? I’ve sold two stories so far in 2016. I can’t discuss them yet, before the official announcements, but they are coming. In addition, I’ve submitted a few more that I haven’t heard back about. A tiny chance on those, but it doesn’t hurt to be optimistic. Many more in the pipe. Many. More.

That’s why my supernatural mystery/crime/thing novel is puttering along slower than expected. I need to hunker down and get that puppy ground out. But… time.

The highlight of the previous three months has been attending Axel Howerton’s Writing from the Shadows course at the Alexandra Writers’s Centre Society. A deep dive into noir and hardboiled with a fantastic group of folks. I’m not sure I’m cut out to write dark, but I learned a lot.

Running
Keeping a decent weekly running regime, with loads of hills, in preparation for upcoming races. Next up is Diez Vista in early April – a challenging 50km trail race in the mountains near Port Moody BC.

Upcoming Events
Noir at the Bar – March 30th [Reading]
Suicide Stitch Launch Party – April 14th
Writers in the House – April 16th/17th
2016 Arthur Ellis Shortlist Announcements – April 21st
Writing in the Works – April 28th [Reading]
Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo – April 29th-May 1st

Book of the Week/Month/Variable Time Period
Suicide Stitch by Sarah L. Johnson
Amazon Blurb (until I get a review up): Love is woven into the fabric of our lives. A force of nature that knits us together even as it tears us apart. Threads of hunger, passion, and pain run through this collection where the last Nephilim fights his gory cravings, a latchkey kid befriends a cage dancer, and a bizarre threat lurks in the shadows of a friendly neighbourhood. Siblings turn monstrous and gods are brought to their knees in a dark literary patchwork that will drive you into the knot of your lover’s arms, knowing how easily you could unravel. Suicide Stitch is sexy, transgressive, and intelligent; comprised of eleven tales that explore the sinister side of love.

Happy New Year!

Time to raise a toast to the great year that was 2015.

Writing
I got into the groove and kept a good cadence by writing at a coffee shop while taking the girl to her dance classes a few nights a week. The absolute highlight was getting more involved in the local writing community and making some tremendous new friends.

Some highlights:

• Write Club, Noir at the Bar, IFWA, AWCS, Calgary Crime Writers, Owls Nest Events
• A glorious spring weekend at a writing retreat at Baker Creek
• When Words Collide
• Stories published in the nEvermore! and AB Negative anthologies, Opal POV e-zine
• In Places Between short story contest honourable mention
• Thirteen short stories, eight pieces of flash fiction, two race reports, lots of blog entries, lots of book reviews, and significant progress on three different novels.

Running
Even with a chest infection that knocked me out for three months, I managed a lot of fantastic miles on the trails.

Some race highlights:

• Gord’s Frozen Ass 50 (ass still frozen)
• Eyeball the Wall
• Squamish 50 (my knees still hate Steve)
• Lost Soul Ultra (12 hours of heat and hills)
• Last Chance Half

Next
2016 is wide open and I need to make most of it. I’ll try and get a follow up post on some goals and plans, but the theme, as always, will be ‘Relentless Forward Progress.’

Book of the Week/Month/Variable Time Period
Maddie Hatter and the Deadly Diamond by Jayne Barnard
Madeleine Main-Bearing, aka Maddie Hatter, has fled a privileged upbringing to forge an unfettered destiny on her own wits and merits. In a world steeped in the grandest steampunk tradition, Maddie mingles with daring adventurers, stumbling detectives, secret societies, and high fashion socialites to investigate the mystery of a missing Baron and make a name for herself as a front page reporter with her very own byline.

Winter is missing in action. Oh, it will return, with a vengeance no doubt, but it is nice to wander around outside on a warm December day. I’ll take it.

And speaking of December, Opal Publishing’s December POV e-zine is out today. It has a fun interview with my friend Axel Howerton, some helpful writing articles from Sandra Fitzpatrick, Adam Dreece, and Catherine Saykaly-Stevens, and flash fiction from Shyla Fairfax-Owen and myself. Mine is called ‘Seven of Ten’ and sees my supernatural investigator Boone dealing with a job in a rather dark way.

Last year at Christmas I wrote a wacky Star Trek parody for everyone at my office. Folks seemed to enjoy it, so this year I dug a bit deeper and wrote what I’m calling A Mosaic Christmas Carol. Another parody, of course, and I think it turned out rather well. I’ll post it up on the site in a week or two.

My race season for next year is starting to shape up. With some prodding from my buddy Steve, I signed up for the Diez Vista 50 Trail Run in April, with many more on the radar.

Book of the Week: Check out the massive urban fantasy collection from Tyche known as Spells and Spirits. Some fantastic books in here including Much Ado about MacBeth by Randy McCharles, Seeing the Light by E.C. Bell, and Furr by Axel Howerton.

Write On!

Where does the time go? Life seems so rushed. An endless amount of work, a busy family, and a lot of writing. Too many projects on the go? Probably, but they are a lot of fun.

Happenings
A few weeks ago I attended Jayne Barnard’s launch of her new mystery – Maddie Hatter and the Deadly Diamond – at the Owls Nest. It’s a fun book.

Last week had a great time reading from my current work in progress at the Noir at the Bar YYC. It was great to see some writers (Randy, Dwayne, and Axel) that I’d collaborated with on the AB Negative anthology, and meet some other nice folks.

Next up – Spending November 7th at a AWCS workshop learning more about writing Noir. Should be a blast.

Book of the Week: The Screaming Staircase. A Lockwood & Co. novel by Jonathan Stroud. Think old London physic youth ghostbusters with cool turn of the century technology. An enjoyable start to the series – I’ll be grabbing the next two when I get a chance. I always enjoyed his dark and depressing Bartimaeus series, but this book was a lot more upbeat and pulpy.

Writing Progress

• Completed and posted the sixth instalment of the Deadlyflash Unfortunates, J is for Jayne, as a steam punk homage to Jayne Barnard’s new book ‘Mattie Hatter and the Deadly Diamond’.
• Completed and submitted a futuristic cycling story for an upcoming anthology.
• Completed a story about a Siren for an upcoming anthology. Now to edit, edit, edit.
• Started on a story for the upcoming Tesseracts 20 anthology.
• Started on a story for an upcoming IFWA anthology.
• Chipping away at my current novel.

Wow, it’s been a couple of months since I’ve kicked back and dumped my half-coherent thoughts into the digital ether. Miss me? Now that Fall has fallen I can get back into some semblance of a schedule, whatever that’s worth, and waste time better spent working on my novels.

The wild and crazy summer went by in a blink. Loads of writing, the spectacular When Words Collide (WWC) convention, a couple of tough but amazing trail ultras (Squamish and Lost Soul), and great days with family and friends. I’m a little sad it’s over, but the good times just keep coming.

There is a Noir at the Bar coming up in October, a workshop on writing Noir at the Alexandra Writers Centre in early November, and the Last Chance Half Marathon the week after that. Never a dull moment.

Book of the Week: Much Ado about Macbeth
Randy McCharles spins a great yarn, and this is no exception. He blends the familiar with the supernatural, family values with societal intolerance, and the funny with the more serious. I love that there are strong, yet subtle messages, underlying the book – you can’t please everyone, kids are smarter than you give them credit for, and it’s never too late to change your ways or make amends.

Writing

• The fifth instalment of the Deathlyflash Unfortunates – R is for Randy.
• My story ‘Fishing with the Devil’ was an honourable mention in ‘In Places Between’, the WWC short story contest.
• The Tagger Boone short story I was working on outgrew the confines of a ‘short story’ and has turned into a novel. Chipping away on that as time permits.
• Wrote up race reports for both Squamish and Lost Soul trail races.
• Lots of book reviews.
• Bits here, bits there.

AB Negative: An Anthology of Alberta Crime has a release date! August 6th. I hope everyone enjoys all the great stories. My entry is called ‘A Dead Reckoning’ and I’m proud to be part of this fantastic compilation.

Besides writing, I’ve been training for running the Squamish 50 mountain ultra-marathon in August, and then Lost Soul ultra down in Lethbridge in September. Also, Calgary Stampede.

Coming Up: Lots of online events for nEvermore! and a book launch for AB Negative.

Book of the Week: Hot Sinatra
This is a fantastic crime novel by Axel Howerton. His detective Moss Cole is an old time, classic character. I hope to see a sequel! This was an Arthur Ellis Award Nominee for Best First Novel.

Recent Writing

• One more episode of the Deathlyflash Unfortunates. L is for Laird. A fifth in the pipe.
• Writing another supernatural crime story ‘One for Sorrow’ staring my finder of lost things ‘Tagger Boone’.
• Working on outlining and chapter two of my archaeology tale.

Today is the day! nEvermore! Tales of Murder, Mayhem and the Macabre is out for the Kindle via Amazon (with the paper version coming out in September). It contains my story Atargatis. I hope everyone enjoys reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Last week I had the pleasure of reading from my story A Dead Reckoning as part of the NOIR at the BAR YYC. This story will be in the upcoming AB Negative anthology coming out in August. Good times!

Coming Up: Calgary Stampede. Hoping to live through another year of it.

Book of the Week: nEvermore! Tales of Murder, Mayhem and the Macabre
Excellent stories and more inspired by Edgar Allan Poe and edited by Nancy Kilpatrick and Caro Soles. Not to be missed.

Recent Writing

• Two more episodes of The Deathlyflash Unfortunates. C is for Corey and N is for Nancy.
• Outlined and started writing another supernatural crime story staring my finder of lost things Tagger Boone.
• Lots of editing work on some completed stories.

It has been a great couple of weeks. The official announcement for the nEvermore! Tales of Murder, Mystery and the Macabre anthology came out. I’m proud to have a story in it. I can’t wait till July 1st when it comes out as an eBook and then September when it’s out in paperback.

I spent the first weekend of June at a four day writing retreat, organized by Randy McCharles, up at Baker Creek near Lake Louise. It was wonderful. Met fantastic folks including Robert J. Sawyer, ate and drank, and even managed to get some excellent writing in.

Last night (Tuesday June 16th) I spent a fun evening at Owl’s Nest Books listening to Kate Lines talk about her life and career as a criminal profiler.

Coming Up: Noir at the Bar YYC next Tuesday (June 23rd) at Buffalo Bobs. Should be a hoot. I will reading an excerpt from my new noir story. Come on down!

Book of the Week: Shanghai Steam.
My old friend Calvin Jim was an editor on this anthology. Wuxia + Steampunk = Fantastic. I especially enjoyed the stories involving the Boxer Rebellion.

Recent Writing:

• Started a summer project I’m calling ‘The Deathlyflash Unfortunates.’ It’s a homage to The Gashlycrum Tinies where I will distill my writer friends down to their base elements, write a flash story about them, and then send them to an appropriate doom. First up was A is for Axel.
• Completed the final draft (I hope) of my noir story.
• Completed Episode 1 of my YA serial (while at the writing retreat). It is tentatively titled ‘Three Drunk Devils,’ and it turned out better than I hoped. Now I need to scrounge up some beta readers.
• Completed Chapter 11 in my opus. Slow and steady.