biography

MURDER CHICKENS ON MARS is out!

It’s official!  And available in Ebook and Print at Amazon, Apple, Smashwords, Google, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Vivlio, Biblioteca, Baker & Talyor, Draft2Digital, etc. I think some 18 platforms in all.  Or it will be.  It’s out there, it’s just taking time.
SO WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?

Let me try to explain the existence of Murder-Chickens on Mars, and help people understand, if not appreciate, what this book is.
I am the son of a Mechanic. I grew up around cars, fixing flat tires, pumping gas, taking things apart and trying to put them back together. I was an okay mechanic, but not gifted. My father and brother were both very gifted. But I could do breaks and exhaust pipes, replace whatever needed replacing, taking breaks and engines apart and put them together. I’m also the grandson of a Carpenter, and along the way I learned to hammer a nail, lay a beam, bevel, mortice, measure and cut. And along the way, I had other experiences.
I have always been driven to examine, to understand, to try to figure out how things work. There’s an elegance to the way a machine or a body works, to the precision gears of a clock or a social system, the intricacies and harmonies. My world is one of blood and chaos. And perhaps because of that, I’m desperate to understand to make sense of things.
I’m fascinated by the overlooked, by the hidden corners, all the stuff we take for granted. I think I was a journalist once, because of that. And a teacher. And a historian. This world of randomness and horror, I want to unravel it, perhaps to find a way to to make it less random and less horrific.

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SQUAD THIRTEEN – THE BOOK LAUNCH

I’m announcing a book launch for SQUAD THIRTEEN, a scary slasher horror novel, for Sunday, November 2, from 2 to 4 pm at the Artspace building, 100 Arthur Street, Winnipeg.
This is a kick ass horror/dark comedy featuring slashers recruited into the army and asks the bold question: “What would happen if Francis Ford Cuppola’s Apocalypse Now met Hungry Hungry Hippos from Mattel.”
I won’t tell you, but a Ferris Wheel is involved.
Recently got a kick ass review in Amazing Stories Online, here’s a quote:
“I’d like to tell (warn?) you that this book is a slasher-splatterpunk-bloody horror book that makes Skipp & Spector look like wussies, and leaves Clive Barker and Steve King in the dust. I loved it! So if you’re not too scared read on!”
In the meantime, here is the draft Agenda, we’ll have a refreshments, a short stage play, a video, some really interesting talks, a question and answer session, and we’ll be bringing copies of Squad Thirteen and my other books.
***
2pm – call to order, MWG introduces DGV

2:10pm – DGV opening statement – The secret history of Slasher movies

2: 15pm – DGV introduces video, Video (5 min). (the video covers the Slashers, so DGV can talk more about other characters)

2:20pm – 2:36 pm DGV discusses book, where it came from, how it got written.

2:35pm – DGV introduces play, Play (10 min)

2:50pm – DGV introduces cast, presents signed copies of books.

2:55pm – DGV wraps up book talk.

3pm – Q & A with DGV

3:15pm – Book signing, mingling.

…and here’s another quote from Amazing Stories online.
“Den has managed a tour-de-force in this genre, and I think it’s a good thing; along the way he’s examined the kinds of brutality humans are capable of, and given a lot of thought to whether there is much good in the world, and what our reactions should be to various evils. In a weird way, it’s a philosophical book, and the gore and inhumanity recede into the background of what the protagonists are feeling throughout the story. But for fans of horror and slasher-type films, you won’t be able to find a book or film to top this one!”
I just might have these quotes tattooed on my body, I love them so much.
And here’s a link, which proves I’m not delusional:
I’ve had my shots and I’m no longer contagious, which means if I bite anyone, they’ll be fine, as long as they get prompt medical attention and/or amputation. It’s all perfectly safe, the Thunder Bay outbreak is officially under control, or will be any day now.
Anyway, if you’re in or near Winnipeg, or have friends or family, or enemies in Winnipeg, consider sending them to my book launch..

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: A PASSIONATE PERSPECTIVE

There are actually quite a lot of troubling issues around AI which really don’t seem to be discussed, or get discussed in the shallowest way.

The thing that everyone, and I mean everyone overlooks, is that AI is not a public resource. It is private property. It’s owned. And the owners are pouring money into it, with the intention of getting a profit out of it.

In pursuit of their profit, they are literally stealing everyone’s information. The works of artists, the works of writers of books and novels. We’ve seen language inserted everywhere to try and allow AI to take your zoom conversations, your phone calls, your social media posts, all taken without permission or compensation, for the ultimate purpose of the owners of AI and their investors to make a lot of money.

It was recently revealed that one of these AI companies early on considered paying for peoples work, they decided it was too expensive, and they’d just steal it instead. Wow. Well, that’s a completely ethical stance. Decide to steal, and then argue a self serving justification, and throw a bunch of lawyers at it, maybe buy a few judges.

I have to say, I find that viscerally offensive. Let me explain where I’m coming from.

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WRITER’S YEAR, 2024 WRAP UP

Well, here’s my writer’s year in review. What have we got? Another year of nothing much, unfortunately. Another year of spinning the wheels. Six books in all, though I didn’t write one of them, and only partial for another. I’ve been doing this the last few year, trying to keep track of what I’ve been up to and how far along I’ve gotten.  I went back and reviewed the last few roundups. It’s rather distressing – basically, plugging away hard, the same projects slowly advancing or not advancing year by year. Word counts piling up, but an uncertain sense of accomplishment.  Anyway, let’s jump in.

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CONVENTIONS UPDATE

CONVENTION SCHEDULE
Well, even though I’m not able to attend the World Fantasy Convention in Niagara Falls, October 17 – 20, 2024, in person, I will be participating as an online member.
I’m confirmed for two panels:
STOLEN VALOR
World Fantasy Convention – Friday, October 18, 2024 – 10:00 a.m.
* Fiction is about creating believable and/or identifiable characters. But can an author write the “other” successfully without offending those they hope to portray? How has cultural appropriation impacted the genres? Do sensitivity readers help ensure real representation? How do we make sure that actual disenfranchised people get to the table?
Panelists
Maurice Broaddus
P Djeli Clark
Pat Murphy
Vanessa Phin
D.G. Valdron
CROSSING BOUNDARIES: BLENDED GENRES
Saturday, October 19, 2024 – 12:00 p.m.
* Blended genres such as romantasy have extended the boundaries of fantasy and horror. What boundaries are being crossed in today’s genre fiction? What new boundaries loom on the horizon?
Panelists
Casella Brookins, Moderator
Heather Graham, Guest of Honour
A. T. Greenblat
Mica Scotti Kole
D.G. Valdron
Assuming my eyes hold up and travel is permitted, I hope to be attending Can-Con Literary Festival in Ottawa, November 1-3, 2024.
I’m scheduled for one panel there:
TWISTING THE TROPES – OVERDONE?
Sunday, November 3, 2024 at 2:30
For a long time, one frequent piece of writing advice has been to take a common trope and turn it upside down: the chosen one is weak and useless, and their followers are the heroes; the surprise villain; the monster is just misunderstood. Is reversing or twisting a trope still solid advice, or is it rarer now to see a trope played straight? How are writers still using this strategy and standing out? How do we ensure there is still space to play, without excluding authors who haven’t had a chance to do so yet?
Panelists:
Claudie Arsenault
Aysha U Farah
Kari Maaren
D.G. Valdron.
In addition, I’ll be participating in a book launch at McNally Robinson:
TWILIGHT OF ECHELON BOOK LAUNCH
McNally Robinson, Winnipeg,
November 26, 2024, at 7:00 pm
At Bay Press hosts the Launch of the collaborative work based around the Twilight of Echelon painting series by famed artist Robert Pasternak, with collaborating writers Den Valdron, Loverne Kindzierski, Alex Passey and Blaize Moritz.
That should keep me busy. I did drop the ball a little bit, the Winnipeg Comic Con, October 25 to 27 was apparently looking for people to do panels. Sadly, I was distracted by vision problems in September, and a full work schedule, so I let that go by.
Still, I’ve already done 24 panels and workshops so far. This will bring me up to 28. And I have or will have attended six conventions and about eight other professional events. So I think I’m working it pretty hard.

NASFIC, DAYS 3 & 4, July 20 & 21

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[photo from File 770, the Doctor Who Panel]
NASFIC DAY 3 AND 4
I AM A LOVECRAFTIAN HORROR… that was my throwaway intro on my first panel. But I liked it, it felt right, so I used it for the rest of my programming. I think I’ll make it my catch prhase. Sometimes I’d follow up with, ‘…. a lawyer’ or sometimes ‘…. and also a lawyer.’
The humans would laugh, I’d smile at them, and we’d just get on with things.
     But I’ll tell you, there’s something really satisfying about beginning with this moment of honesty. It starts things off on the right foot.

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NASFIC AND MARKETING

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     My last panel for NASFIC was on Marketing. I shared it with J.F. Holmes, former military guy, small press guy – Canon Publishing, a military SF publisher ; and Michael Green Jr., a well traveled data scientist.
    Marketing is a tough subject. It doesn’t come instinctively to writers – the skills and mindset necessary to write a novel, are not necessarily the skills and mindset to go out into the marketplace. But appallingly, it’s being dumped on writers more and more.
    Unless you’re a runaway best seller, or they sniff that about you, major publishers leave marketing to writers. So much so, that Amazon has a special program where traditionally published authors can buy advertising – imagine that, pouring your advance into advertising your own book, so that the publisher can make enough money to give you another book, and an advance that you can pour into advertising for them.
    Small Presses, also mostly leave marketing to the writer, although some of them make efforts for you. I’m sympathetic mostly – running a small press is incredibly hard, requires all kinds of time, more skills than any one person has, and is typically a labour of love. They offload marketing to the writer because they have no time, no money and not the first clue about marketing in many cases.
    Of course that makes me less interested in small presses. If they’re not doing anything that I can’t already do for myself, and the area that I’m weak in is the area that they’re weak in… what’s the point. A small press that partners and helps teach or educate you on marketing is great, I’ll sign up. If not, then why bother?

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NASFIC DAY TWO, JULY 19, 2024

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Picture – Electric Tower, Buffalo downtown. Steel frame art deco building built by the local utility company in the early era of electrification.
NASFIC – Day Two
     No walking around exploring the City. Just no time. Went to a convenience store and stocked up on bottled water, that’s about it. Not much in the way of attending Panels. I sat in on a reading. Attended a panel on Anthologies, and another on Small Press. Mainly, activities were preparing for panels, re-reading, psyching up. There were a lot of them – I had six programming items, five panels and a reading, and I was moderating three panels. It took a lot of my focus.
    * 11:00 am – Public Domain with Leigh Grossman and Vaughne Hansen. This went really well. We filled half the room on a friday morning, which was incredible to me. I moderated, we through a lot of information at the audience, people asked questions, everyone was engaged. Got along really well. I felt we were scattershot, but everyone seemed thrilled and happy to have learned stuff.
    * 3:00 pm – Current SF on TV – Chuck Rothman, again Cameron Calkins, Fingers and Maria. I thought this would be my toughest one – there’s just so much SF on TV, it’s impossible to keep up. But it went well. We all just kept on talking.
    * 5:00 pm – Impact of AI on SF Writing and Art – my second AI panel, this one I’m moderating. Neil Clarke again Ira Nayman, and Alex Shvartzman. The big one – we got the Grand Ballroom to work in. I moderated again. Went extremely well. Wide ranging discussion, at points we verged on conspiracy theory, but the reality is that the corps that are pushing this have an extralegal strategy. The message – keep watching, talking pushing back.

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KICKSTARTER! WELL, THAT’S DONE.

THE KICKSTARTER EXPERIENCE

Well, the Starlost Unauthorized Kickstarter is over. Frankly, I’m a bit relieved.  It’s been a trip, but honestly, I felt a little bad about bothering people with my promotional efforts.

It worked though – I reached 230% of goal, or almost $2300.00 which is more than I’ve made for any other single book I’ve written… for a book I haven’t written.  I’m not sure whether to laugh or cry.

First, I should express my thanks: To Stephen Kotowych, who provided an incredibly clear, straightforward and useful presentation on Kickstarters at the Indy Writer’s Conference in Toronto, back in April, and who was kind enough to review my draft Kickstarter.  Tao Wong, who organized the Indy Writer’s Conference, which ended up a cornucopia of useful ideas, advice and opportunities. Alex McGillivary, who also inspired with his Kickstarter for Bigfoot Country, and offered useful advice.  Dean Naday, cinematographer and video editor who saved me from going over a cliff, and Anna Valdron, for support. Without each of them, this Kickstarter wouldn’t exist, or it wouldn’t have been nearly as effective.

I also want to express my thanks to everyone who knew me and pledged.  I am touched.  Maybe it was just the project was kick ass and amazing, but I can’t help but narcisstically feel that it was a personal gesture of faith and friendship, and that means a lot.

And my thanks to all the people who had no clue who I was, but decided that this project was worthwhile and deserved support.  I think that was about 60% of my backers.  To you, I say: Brothers! Sisters! Indeterminate strangers! I love that you love this subject, I’m passionate about it too!

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STARLOST KICKSTARTER – FINAL WEEK

Starlost Unauthorized by D.G. Valdron — Kickstarter

Hello Boys and Girls and Other, Children of all ages, Sapient beings of any description!  Welcome to my Starlost Kickstarter!

I am thrilled to say, that we exceeded our initial goal in the first week!  We are now into our Stretch Goal of $2000 – $2500.

It’s been a great experience, I want to thank everyone for their support.  But now I want to do the final push. If you’ve pledged support, god bless you, and thank you so much.  I’m not asking you for money.  If you’d like to support, but don’t have money, that’s okay too.  But what I am asking for every single one of you, is to help spread the message, pass the word, email, post, repost this, send it to friends, send it to groups you think might get into it.

This is going to be a hell of a book, I am passionate about it. Help me make it great!