writing

Thinking of a new way to write

You know I have a lot more ideas for stories than I’ll ever have time to write. So I’ve been thinking, during idle times like going to the grocery store or walking the dog: maybe I need a new way to write long fiction. One that acknowledges that we’re distracted all the time, that our […]

Ukrainian woman in front of crowd with Ukrainian flags, holding yellow sign reading "Stop Putin."

As winter teases us here in Ottawa, snowing and freezing and then treating us to warm sunshine, followed by freezing rain, I think of the looming winter in Ukraine. People there facing sub-zero temperatures without electricity, gas, or even running water. Yet the Ukrainian people continue to defy the Russian invasion. They’re committed to resisting, […]

Why Hallowe’en? Because we love to see fear in the mirror

COVID. War. Totalitarianism. Pandemic. Climate change. Terrorism. Nuclear war. Judging from hyperbole in social media, we are out-and-out terrified of these things. Just consider the rhetoric around the use of “tactical” nuclear weapons in Ukraine. Will he? Won’t he? Should we? The job of writers of fantasy and speculative fiction is to reflect our audience’s fears back […]

Army of Worn Soles cover

It’s the first of the month, and today you can download Book One of the Eastern Front Trilogy free, along with 50 more books as I’m participating in Authors XP’s First Day promo. Get them here: https://authorsxp.com/first-day-free-books AuthorsXP.com’s FIRST DAY FREE EVENT Free books on the first day of every month! 60+ FREE BOOKS – […]

Re-launch tour: Sunset Rising

This week, I’m participating in the blog tour for the trilogy by fellow Canadian fantasy writer, S.M. McEachern. I read this book a number of years ago, and liked it. And now, S.M. is promoting the whole trilogy with a blog tour. First, enjoy this excerpt from Book One in her series, which presents a […]

I’m launching a podcast on June 22, 2022. And I invite you to join me. Beyond Barbarossa will explore the largest side of the Second World War in Europe, the clash between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. It’s a subject that I learned a lot about researching The Eastern Front Trilogy (Army […]

crowd on protest against war on ukraine

Last month, I wrote that things couldn’t get much worse after I developed shingles and my father passed away from COVID-19. They did. February brought savage weather and the crybaby convoy that shut down my city for three weeks.  Then things got even worse, again. As the last of the detritus of the crybaby convoy […]