"Fami's Dissertation Defense" in Audio

My flash fiction, "Fami's Dissertation Defense" is on AntiSF Radio Show, May 4, 2025 episode, starting at 21:56 minutes in.

This is the fourth release of this flash piece, previously published in Antipodean SF #315, January 2025, reprinted from Polar Borealis #26, Sept, 2023, pp. 42-44; originally appeared on Ripples in Space, Spring 2020.

This is also the thirteenth appearence of Fami and his Watch (though that includes one Fami story without Watch, and Watch one story without Fami).

Thanks to narrator Ed Errington and editor Ian Necolmb for this audio version.

Hacker Chess Republished

My short story, "Hacker Chess" has been reprinted by Metastellar April 18, 2025. You can read it for free here:

https://www.metastellar.com/fiction/hacker-chess/

The story originally appeared in The Playground of Lost Toys, Ursula Pflug and Colleen Anderson, eds. Toronto: Exile Editions, 2015, and was reprinted in ELQ (Exile Quarterly), 39(3) January, 2016, 47-53. It was subsequently published by Centropic Oracle Podcast, Nov 20, 2020, read by Larissa Thompson.

Reviews Shortlisted for an Aurora Award

My speculative fiction reviews in The Ottawa Review of Books in 2024 are on the Aurora Award ballot for 2025.

The Reviews were:

1. Review of The Year's Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction, Vol 1. Stephen Kotowych (Ed.), Ottawa Review of Books, January 15, 2024.
2. Review of The Lost Expedition by Douglas Smith, Ottawa Review of Books, March 15, 2024.
3. Review of The Downloaded by Robert Sawyer, Ottawa Review of Books, April 16, 2024.
4. Review of Shadow Matter by S. E. Mayse, Ottawa Review of Books, May 16, 2024.
5. Review of Super-Earth Mother by Guy Immega, Ottawa Review of Books, June 15, 2024.
6. Review of Kyber by Chadwick Ginther, and Shared World by Ball, Chomichuk, Gillespie and Ginter, Ottawa Review of Books, Sept 15, 2024.
7. Review of Zebra Meridian and Other Stories, by Geoffrey W. Cole, Ottawa Review of Books, Nov 18, 2024.
8. Review of Starlost Unauthorized and the Quest for Canadian Identity by D.G. Valdron, Ottawa Review of Books, Dec 15, 2024.

Tha Auroras are voted by he membership of the Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction Association. Memberships are a modest $10/year.

My thanks to Ian Shaw for publishing my reviews.

Review of Matthew Hughes "Muscle and Other Stories"

My review of Matthew Hughes' "Muscle and Other Stories" is up at the Ottawa Review of Books.

https://www.ottawareviewofbooks.com/single-post/muscle-and-other-stories-by-matthew-hughes

Excerpt from WIP Published by Embark Literary Journal

The first 4000 words from my novel, The Assurance has been published by Embark Literary Journal in issue #22:

https://embarkliteraryjournal.com/issues/issue-22-april-2025/the-assurance-robert-runte/

This is not to suggest the novel is near completion—I still have to cut another 24,000 words from the current draft—but I needed a little validation to re-motivate me to finish the damn thing. Thanks to editor Ursula DeYoung of Embark for providing that.

The original artwork is an excerpt from Fred Gambinos wrap-around cover for the novel—Yes, I commissioned a cover before the book was finished.

The Writer/Editor Relationship

Very pleased that my article "The Writer/Editor Relationship: What Should You Expect" is out today in Westword (April-May, 2025) pp.13-14 (the magazine of the Writers' Guild of Alberta).

"Memory Loss" Reprinted

My poem, "Memory Loss" is Poem of the Month for April, 2025 for the Worchester Public Library Poetry Place (Click "Poem of the Month" on the menu on the right--in April 2025-- to read it.)