D.G. Valdron is a wayward Maritimer and denizen of the Canadian prairie. Growing up he spent his youth working at a Drive in Theatre and was raised on a steady diet of B-movies and pop culture. Valdron has had the usual assortment of quirky writers jobs, mechanic, carpenter, bricklayer, projectionist, cook, waiter, woodcutter ditch-digger, journalist, school teacher, and for many years now a lawyer specializing in the field of aboriginal rights. A lifelong and prolific writer, Valdron published his first short story at the age of thirteen. Since then, there have been numerous short story and nonfiction publications in markets all over the world – notably Interzone, Parsec, On-Spec, After Dark, Terminal Fright. Several stories have received honourable mentions in Year’s Best Science Fiction or Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror collections.Valdron is best known for the fantasy novel, The Mermaid’s Tale, published by Five Rivers Chapmanry, the alternate history novel, Axis of Andes, through Fossil Cove Publishing, and the upcoming Echelon a collaboration with artist Robert Pasternak upcoming from At Bay Press. Normally shy and reclusive, Valdron likes interesting people and boring food, and raises mutant cats.
Fossil Cove Publishing is D.G. Valdron’s personal imprint. Originally established as a means of emptying out the hard drive, Fossil Cove became the vehicle to release previously published short stories back into the world in collections – Giant Monsters Sing Sad Songs, Dawn of Cthulhu, Drunk Slutty Elf, There Are no Doors in Dark Places and others. Fossil Cove is also used to release projects that Valdron has a personal commitment to and belief in, but which lack commercial potential – these include the alternate history works Axis of Andes, New World War and Bear Cavalry, as well as non-fiction works including the LEXX Unauthorized and Pirate Histories of Doctor Who series. Recently, Valdron has expanded Fossil Cove to give a platform to overlooked and older writers, notably Scott Ellis with Crawling to the Moon and Benny the Antichrist, and R.J. Hore with We’re Not in Kansas and the Toltec Conquests trilogy.
ON BEING A WRITER – “My earliest memory is dragging my brother, in his high chair, over to a blackboard so I could draw Batman adventures for him. I couldn’t even write in those days, but even back then, I knew I wanted to tell stories. No matter where I’ve gone, what I’ve done, that storyteller has always been in me, struggling to get out. I published my first story when I was thirteen. But I don’t think I decided to get serious about writing until my grandfather passed away. After he died… I dunno. I think I had to ask who I was and what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to be a writer.”
ON FOSSIL COVE – “I never really thought of self publishing. Years ago, I did a lot of work on the LEXX series for Salter Street, the book went through ups and downs but publishing deals fell through and eventually I shelved it. Instead, I published a lot of short stories in a lot of places, many of them not around now. One day, I was organizing my hard drive, and I was struck by all this material, all these stories previously published with no market, this book I’d worked so hard on with no market. I decided that I wanted them out in the world. It would be tragic if they just continued to sit there gathering dust in the hard drive, until I died and a lifetime of work ended up in electronic waste. So I decided to do something about it.”