Month: October 2026

CAN*CON – Screw the Hero, let’s talk the Scribe’s Journey

CAN*CON 2026 – The Writing Life, Hanging with the Scribes

So, when I wasn’t ambushing and selling books to the unwary, I got interested in the other dealers. Who were all these strange people? Why were they here? What drove them? I wanted to know about them. I wanted to know about their books. I wanted to admire their tables and set ups. To hear their passion.
So, I started to go around, doing brief interviews here and there. I talked to anyone who would let me, and I loved it. And I think they loved it right back. We were all the same people. We were people who loved stories and who loved sharing stories.
This video includes:  Bruno Lombardi, Jen Desmarais (Desiree Dubois), Eric Desmarais, Stephanie Ann, M.K. Schultz, Kyle Bentley, Kelsey August da Silva, Danielle Harding Nevins (D.H. Nevins), Barret Nevins, Heather Chambers, Helga R. Paxton, Gail Morrow, Jesse Edwards, Alice Chase.

I’m not sure I can explain this

Okay, so…  I’ve been getting antsy. I like to write. It keeps me sane. I get twitchy if I’m not writing.  And I like to release books. Ideally, I’d like to make money off of it. But here’s the deal. I’m not going to live forever. I might not even live a long time.  My parents got cancer when they were only three years older than I am now. Yikes!

I feel this… tension. What do I leave behind? A hard drive containing a lifetime of work that just ends up in electronic waste. A smattering of electrons wiped by a magnetic field, and it’s all gone? Jesus, that’s chilling.

Okay, so if you know me, I was a big fan of LEXX, and cult television shows, Farscape, Starlost, Doctor Who, etc., and cult movies. I love the disrespected, the overlooked, the unappreciated and unloved, the critters around the margins. And I think there’s value in going off the beaten path. I’ve written nonfiction books about these things, and had something worthwhile to say.

Well, a long time ago, a lot longer than I care to remember, I was on Bulletin Boards for LEXX and Farscape.  And I started fooling around with this celebrity deathmatch thing. I conceived that God, or the Gods were a trio of cosmic southern rednecks, absolute moral degenerates with no taste, discrimination or impulse control, and they grabbed the crews of the ships and set them against each other.

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Can*Con Literary Festival, October 15-18, Ottawa, Ontario

Well, here we go again.  I’ll be heading to Ottawa, Ontario, for the Can*Con Literary Festival. It’s basically a literary and genre convention, emphasis on the literary side of genre.

The first time I went was back in 2016.  The Mermaid’s Tale had just been released through Five River’s Publishing. I had a real book. I had arrived… semi-arrived… achieved something. There had been a book launch at When Word’s Collide, but due to scheduling, I hadn’t made my own launch. Talk about Sad Sack. So the next convention coming up was Can*Con.

That was a mixed experience. On the positive side, I remember attending a panel where my Editor, Robert Runte was participating. I’d never met him face to face, so I was looking forward to it. I’m sitting there, and a tall distinguished gentleman walks by carrying my book – it’s Robert. He introduces himself on the panel, holds up the Mermaid’s Tale, and says something like “This book is so good it will make my reputation as an Editor, and I hardly had to do anything.”

Wow. He didn’t even know I was in the audience.

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