author of The Mermaid’s Tale, and other works
Den Valdron 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSFz0Phbi44
New Youtube video – Axis of Andes – an alternate history of a World War II in South America.
In 1937 a delegation from a small South American nation travels to Berlin to see Hitler, looking for assistance to defend themselves from a larger neighbor. Four years later, an entire continent is in flames.
Back from the 2024 TORONTO WRITING WORKSHOP it was a bit of a whirlwind. Flyout Friday evening, do the workshop, and fly back literally immediately.
Literally immediately: The workshop ended at 5:00, took the cab to the airport, went through security and back home a few hours later.
So … the experience?
This was a bit different from other Conventions I’ve attended. There were two tracks of programming, a couple of morning sessions, a couple of afternoon sessions, but that was peripheral. What really drove this Convention was the opportunity to make pitches to Agents and Editors.
I did attend a couple of programming sessions. Marketing yourself and Ten Keys to Writing Succes – they were okay, mostly inspirational. There were some practical sessions I didn’t make because I was doing pitches that would have been useful. I’m sorry I missed those.
There programming sessions I couldn’t care less about. Twelve ways to start a story, crafting satisfying endings, that kind of thing. I’ve been writing thirty years; I’ve got multiple short story and book credits. Don’t teach grandma how to suck eggs.
The Pitches: It was like speed dating. Or what I’ve read speed dating is like.
THE MUSEUM OF IRONY
That’s what we Winnipeggers call the Museum of Human Rights, that giant monument to the vanity of the Aspers. Some people call it the Museum of Tolerance, after the old South Park episode.
It might be a little cruel, but Manitobans are cynical people. It’s the winters, I think. Survive a Manitoba winter, the slush, the snow, the fifty degrees below zero freezes, the endless promise of warmer weather just around the corner, to be replaced by the next big freeze or snowfall… well, after that, you just stop believing in anyone or anything.
Still, I am a Maritimer by birth, and for all the innate ferocity, cruelty and enthusiastic brutality beneath our welcoming smiles, there is a tiny shred of moral decency beneath it all. So I feel just a little bit bad about what I’m about to write.
But not that bad.
I visited the Museum of Human Rights today. I was very impressed by their inclusion of Buffy St. Marie’s picture in their gallery of indigenous people, the inclusion of her music in the same gallery. It gladdens my heart to see that the Museum affirms the importance of that much overlooked indigenous group, the Pretendians, to the cause of human rights. Apparently there is no greater testament to cultural integrity than the theft of it.
Oh well, that’s the Museum of Human Rights for you. Honestly, it’s none of my business. The status of Buffy St. Marie to the indigenous community is a matter for the indigenous community to decide, not for me. I just accept their consensus. If the Museum has its own views on the matter, that’s a conversation between them and the indigenous community.
And I’ll say no more about it.
I might buy some popcorn though.
I’ve been to the Museum of Human Rights a few times though. My honest impression?
I think that most Artists and Writers think a lot about three things: Sex, Death and God. Personally, God can take care of themself, and I’m not getting any sex. So let’s talk about Death, specifically, Death and the Artist… or Writer in my case.
Once in a while, quite erratically, someone says something, and it triggers some random synapses in my brain, and for no discernible reason, I say something sensible. It’s always disturbing when it happens, and often quite frightening for anyone nearby. It’s like discovering that a Bengal Tiger has hacked your GPS and passwords. But anyway, since I had one of those moments, I thought I’d share, for people in the arts field.
Suppose you’re a writer or an artist, someone in the creative field. A poet, a playwright, a short story writer or a novelist, a composer, a lyricist, a film maker, etc. Maybe you are, in which case my sympathies.
Maybe you aren’t, in which case, just pretend.
Now, suppose you’re going to die.
Well, there’s no supposing that is there? You’re going to die, in relative terms sooner than later, and in geological terms, any minute now.
But never mind that – as an artist or a writer, what happens when you die?
THE POST MORTEM LIFE
Hi, I was interviewed on a podcast by Joe Mahoney and Mark Rayner. Re-Creatives.
It was about my Doctor Who books. Honestly, I don’t remember too much. Mainly, I started talking when they said go, and shut up when they told me to.
Someone passed this on to me. My book The Mermaid’s Tale, got a review on youtube.
I had no idea. I thought this might have been a person I met at CanCon. As it was, it turned out to be a complete stranger.
Spoiler Alert – She liked it!
I went and thanked her for the review, a week or so ago. She seemed thrilled.
Anyway, feel free to look it up.
And if you like the review, hit ‘like and subscribe’ – she seems like an interesting thoughtful person and she’s got lots of other interesting things to say about writers, culture and life.
If you listen to youtube, you’ll discover that Kathleen Kennedy is the worst person who ever lived.
Seriously, it’s between her and Hitler, and Hitler is old news.
She’s the woman who ruined Star Wars, and Indiana Jones, and Willow maybe, and possibly all of Disney including, the Marvel universe, Pixar, Bob Iger. She may well have single handedly destroyed Hollywood with WOKENESS and may be on the verge of taking down all of Western Civilization and turning us all into race swapping, transgender, feminist, gay, disabled communists.
Probably not, but the way people have been ranting for years on end, you have to wonder.
Well, let me step up and take a run at this hysteria. I give you: The Defense of Kathleen Kennedy.
The story is that Kennedy was an assistant to Steven Spielberg and George Lucas who treacherously flattered her way into power at Disney. George Lucas sold Star Wars to Disney and he arranged for Kenney to run things, confident that she’d carry out his vision.
Then she stabbed him in the back, stuck women in everything, made them gay and lame. For no good reason, she raped all your childhoods in her quest to bring Wokeness and Feminism to an innocent world. And totally destroyed … Everything, everywhere, and all at once.
Give me a break,
This whole ‘anti-woke’ stuff is getting tiresome, and it’s been a long time since it’s been useful.
Look, she’s not a monster. She’s not Hitler, she’s not Harvey Weinstein. She’s just a person.
So let’s take another look.
Kathleen Kennedy has actually been around for an incredibly long time. You look at IMDB, and she’s got a lot of credits, and a lot of very good movie credits. Well over a hundred producer credits, going back 40 years – Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Schindlers List, Bridges of Madison County, Back to the Future. You name it. Protégé of Lucas and Spielberg.
Good movies – if you’ve seen a movie in the last half century probably it was one of hers.
So what went wrong?
I’m going to commit sacrilege – when she took over Lucasfilm, she inherited a dog.
Well, here’s the year end writer’s status report. There’s nothing much to say, really. You don’t have to read this. Every year, around New Years, out of some masochistic impulse, I do a review of my writing activities and accomplishments for the year, and my plans for the next year. Sometimes I’ll go back after writing one of these things, and measure myself against previous years activities and plans. So in the spirit of talking to my future self, here’s the roundup for 2023.
Early in February, I re-released the Mermaid’s Tale. This novel was originally published in 2017 through Five Rivers out in Ontario. They did print, ebook and audiobook editions. Five Rivers closed down in 2020, and rights reverted back to me.
I sat on it for a few years. I had hopes of finding another publisher, or an agent for it. No luck. So, basically, I decided that if I couldn’t take it anywhere, I might as well get it back into the world, so I re-released it under my own banner.
Apart from that, very little of my work got out in the world. I did do a lot of writing as always. I think probably a couple of hundred thousand words worth.
* Two Novellas, 27,000 and 40,000 words;
* Several short stories and a script, probably collectively another 50,000 words;
* Some work in progress stuff for upcoming collections, 40,000 words;
* Alt-History fanfic stuff (don’t judge me) maybe 60,000 to 70,000;
* A lot of short essays, mostly posted on medium or facebook or on my blog, no clear idea – anywhere from 50,000 to 100,000.
A lot of writing, and almost nothing to show for it. Rather disappointing.
There were actually a lot of books that I was going to complete and release this year that just didn’t get off the ground:
* An adult/erotic novel;
* A couple of erotic short story collections (it was going to be one, but I had enough material for two);
* A vampire novel;
* A slasher collection/novel;
* A nonfiction book about Starlost;
* A Cthulhu/Atlantis style spec essay book;
And I was hoping At Bay Press would be releasing Twilight of Echelon this year.
THE WORLD FANTASY CONVENTION in Kansas City is coming up. Kansas City is actually in Missouri, a fact which provides me with no end of bemusement. I’m looking forward to it. I’ve been to several World Fantasy Conventions over the years, but too irregularly to do much good. I’m trying to make it a steady thing. This should be a good Conference, good people, and maybe I’ll make a mark. I’m actually part of the programming, I have three items:
* Mythology & Fantasy of the Fox; 4PM Friday – with Alyc Helms, Kij Johnson, Rena Mason and Gillian Pollack. Hopefully this has nothing to do with what the Fox says. The Fox in literature and myth is one of the classic tricksters – a powerless, marginalized underdog who manages to triumph and overcome, not through power or strength or even courage, but through sheer cleverness. For the powers that be, for the establishment and social order, the Fox is a subversive, a deceiver, a persecutor and a thief. For the marginalized and underdogs, the fox is a hero. Everyone admits the fox is a clever beast, anti-social, revolutionary, and damned sexy. In my writing, many of my characters are ‘foxes’ – tricksters who survive by being smart. I’m really looking forward to this panel, and a discussion about ‘trickster’ characters in folklore, modern culture and writing. Oh, and I’ll give away a book to an audience member as part of the panel.
* Reading; 5PM Saturday – I have half an hour to do a reading. I’m going to regale the audience with tales from Twilight of Echelon, short stories and vignettes based on the retro hallucinogenic works of artist Robert Pastern. Echelon is a world, or perhaps a reality, or perhaps something completely different, right next to our own, where everything familiar is recast and distorted as surreal and mysterious, and where the lost members of a human colony struggle to maintain their identity, unsure if the Earth they remember still exists, or if it ever existed. Again, I’ll give away a book.
* Autographs – I’m also doing the Autograph session, along with everyone else. Honestly, in terms of fame, I’m a Z-list kind of guy, but I’m always startled to discover someone out there has heard of me and actually brings a book to sign. Typically, what I do, is just set up a display of a dozen of my books, relax and chat with anyone who stops by. If someone wants to buy something, I’ll sell it to them. If I like them, it’s free. I usually bring up a handful of books and make sure they find good homes before the convention starts.
This is actually my fourth major Writers Conference/Convention this year, and honestly, I’m glad I’m coming to the end. I’m starting to get worn out. For the record, this is what I’ve been up to.