WHAT’S NEW

I should do a better job keeping the site current. I should… I spend most of my free updating/SM time on The Seventh Terrace and Twitter and such though, so that’s where you’ll typically find me.

WRITING

Had a few short stories published. Wrote a bunch, subbed a bunch, hoping 2022 will be a good year.

• Finished many drafts of A Queen in Amber, my Lovecraftian/Zelaznian novel.
• “The Last Wave” – my surfing short story was published in the AWCS 40th Anniversary book WonderShift.
• “Corn Dogs” – a co-write with Sarah L. Johnson was published in Home for the Howlidays by Tyche Books.
• “Cheeseburger Philosophy” – another weird and wild story for Terrace VI: Forbidden Fruit.
• “Gravesend” – a fun Trace & Solomon novella co-write with Sarah L. Johnson in Terrace VI: Forbidden Fruit.

EDITING/PUBLISHING

Sarah L. Johnson and I edited and published three books through The Seventh Terrace in 2021.

• Edited/Published Terrace VI: Forbidden Fruit – with Sarah. L. Johnson and a bunch of fabulous authors (The Seventh Terrace)
• Published The Walking Son by Eddie Generous (The Seventh Terrace)
• Published Unfortunate Elements of My Anatomy by Hailey Piper (The Seventh Terrace)

More great work is in the pipe, including Hell Hast No Sorrow Like a Woman Haunted by R.J. Joseph and the next Purgatorio book Terrace V: Penitent’s Gold, for 2022 – stay tuned!

RUNNING

Lots of running in 2021. Too much really, as I damaged both Achilles, didn’t recover, got tendonitis, ignored that, then got wretched bursitis. And tried to run/race through that… until I couldn’t even walk anymore. Anyhows, once I realized how much of an idiot I was, I started a recovery program, stopped running, got Shockwave therapy (or as I like to say, expensive voluntary torture), and have been resting up. I should be able to run again soon!

2021 Races:

• WAM (Whistler Alpine Meadows) 60 km (September)
• Lost Soul Ultra 50 km (September)
• Black Spur Ultra 108 km (August)

2022 Races:

• Calgary Marathon 50 km (May)
• Squamish 50 miler (August)
• WAM – Triple Wammy (Whistler Alpine Meadows) Vert, 25 km, 50km (September)

The News

Survived 2017 and another holiday season, so Merry Christmas and Happy New Years, an all that. 2017 was insane, getting Fishing with the Devil completed and published, joining Coffin Hop Press, editing and publishing some fantastic work including Con Morte, Manchester Vice, and It’s a Weird Winter Wonderland. I made a pile of great new friends, learned a crap ton about the publishing industry, ran some brutal ultra-marathon trail races, and had a blast doing all of it.

Now it’s 2018 and I’m pretty stoked with what’s in the pipe. We have at least seven great books coming out and I’ve signed up for even nastier trail races. It won’t be dull, I can guarantee that!

Writing

The last couple months were about coming up with crazy shit. Polished off Well Hung, the first Winston and Wu story for my Tales from the Double-W Pawn Shop book, and plotted out the rest of the book. Wrote a couple of fun stories for personal audiences including another episode of my yearly Christmas homage for the folks at work and a messed up piece, about a nasty little critter, for a dear friend.

Once I complete some editing projects and a possible sci-fi story for Enigma Front: Onward, I’ll get back to chipping away at No Joy (a full length Tagger Boone novel) and more Winston and Wu shorts.

Editing

Lots of editing work for Coffin Hop Press including turning the gears on Rocket Ryder and Little Putt-Putt Go Down Swinging and Killing Mr. Edwards.

I’m also happy to be assisting on the 2018 IFWA anthology entitled Enigma Front: Onward. This year Chris Carolan has stepped up to publish it and he’s set up an Indiegogo campaign, with one of the tiers a critique from yours truly. If you can, toss a few bucks towards this great project.

Upcoming Events

Look for these fantastic events over the next few months.

Bloody Offensive 2018
Wednesday, February 14th, 2018 (7pm-9pm)
Coffin Hop Press will be sponsoring this year’s Bloody Offensive event at The Owl’s Nest. Will it live up to last years? Only time will tell.

♦♦♦

Infractus/Rocket Ryder and Little Putt Putt Go Down Swinging/Killing Mr. Edwards Launch
Thursday, April 19th, 2018 (7pm-9pm)
Coffin Hop Press will be officially launching our Spring titles at cSPACE King Edward this year. It’s going to be a fantastic party with drinks, food, readings, and lots of mischief. Not to be missed!

Running

Winter’s always been my off-season where I laze around the house, eat my weight in butter tarts, and generally turn into a fat slob. Not this year! With the demanding race schedule I’m planning for 2018, I figured I’d better my shit into high gear. In order to facilitate high gear shit, I joined the Strides Run Streak, a fun event that challenges you to run a mile every day during the month of December. Of course, being me and, uh, insane, my minimum target was 10 kilometers a day. I ran through the bloody snow and cold and ended grinding 367 kilometers with only minor injuries to body and spirit. I’ll definitely be doing that again next year!

Upcoming Running Events

My 2018 race schedule is starting to shape up and it’s going to be both challenging and rewarding. Must… lose… weight…

• Frozen Ass 50 (February)
• Blackfoot 100 (May)
• Canadian Death Race (August)
• Lost Soul 50 (September)
• Whistler Alpine Meadows 55 (September)

♥ ♥ ♥

Cheers!
Rob

Another fantastic year pretty much in the can. Ran a lot, wrote a lot, cried when the universe snatched away some inspirational creative folks like David Bowie and Leonard Cohen.

The big news is that I’ll be editing a holiday crime anthology for Coffin Hop Press in 2017. We’ve got a great line up of cool cat authors and I can’t wait to unleash this soon to be classic on the world.

♦♦♦♦

Writing
Lots and lots of writing focused on getting my short story collection (Fishing with the Devil) into appropriate shape to release in 2017. I never thought it would take months upon months to clean up and complete the short stories, but yeah…

Upcoming Writing/Literature Events
Some great stuff coming up. So far on tap:

• Writers in the House – January 14th/15th, 2017
• Bloody Offensive: Getting Nasty at the Nest – February 14th, 2017
• An Evening with Michael Chabon – February 16th, 2017
• A Taste of Local Authors – March 9th, 2017

♦♦♦♦

Running
Now that I’m sliding into winter hibernation, I can relax and ponder my last three races of 2016. Finlayson Arm was a beautiful brute. Technical. Steep. Endless. I’d thought Squamish was tough, but this was tougher. Eleven hours of pain, but we pushed through it. The Harvest Half and First Responder’s Half in October and November were fun, flat, and simple. Not challenging, but considering I’d damaged both body and soul on Finlayson, that’s okay.

Upcoming Races
Next year is shaping up to be a killer race year. Since I’m turning fifty I’ll be pushing a pile of 50 km+ races! So far on tap:

• Frozen Ass 50 – February 20th, 2017
• Diez Vista 50 – April 8th, 2017
• Calgary Marathon 50 – May 28th, 2017
• Squamish 50 – August 19th, 2017
• Lost Soul 100 – September 8th, 2017

♦♦♦♦

Book of the Week/Month/Variable Time Period
Shadow’s Fall: New White Sands City Cyberpunk Book 1 by Ron Bender
In a future where corporations govern, eCash rules, and technology is everything, Raven steals, kills, and shops while looking damn good at it. When she acquires some explosive data, and the scrutiny of powerful adversaries who know more about her than she does, she discovers that having the right friends, the right family, is the most valuable prize of all.

A fast paced cyberpunk action adventure that twists and turns, taking you down dark, dirty underworld paths and up to lofty, bright corporate corridors. The vast cast of characters pop, springing alive to populate a fully realized New White Sands City and one crazy world. A fantastic beginning to an ambitious series, highly recommended!