Two Short Fiction Published

My short story, "Split Decision" appears in Twin Flame Literary. The story originally appeared in Tesseracts 15 in 2011, was reprinted in Imaginarium: The Year's Best Canadian SF, 2012, and twice since, but this is the first time it's been available for free online.

I also had my 50-word micro-fiction, "The Experimental Writer" published on Sudden Flash Sept 17, 2025. It is also available online for free.

Review of Dave Duncan's The Traitor's Son by Toby Welch

Happy for this positive review, even if Toby Welch is not a regular SF reader. https://reviews.skbooks.com/traitors-son-the/

Some Recent Publications

,"The Experimental Writer" on Sudden Flash Sept 14, 2025.

"Iceberg" in Polar Borealis #35, July 2025. Reprinted from Miramichi Flash Miramichi Reader Dec 24, 2021 and originally published in Karen Schauber, ed. The Group of Seven Reimagined: Contemporary Stories Inspired by Historic Canadian Paintings, pp. 22-23. Surrey, BC: Heritage Press, Oct. 2019.

"Third Shift", in Sorry, Not Sorry: An Unapologetic Celebration of Canadian Life Through Story, Shawn Bird, ed. Lintusen Press, June, 2025. (Originally published by First Line Literary Vol 22 #1, Spring, 2020.)

"Perfect Storm", Flash Flood National Flash Fiction Day, June 15, 2025. Originally published by Fatal Flaw, Nov 19, 2020 and reprinted ScribesMicro April, 2022.

Where Our Civilization Is Now

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The great John Linwood Grant recently posted this piece of nonsense:

which I reposted on Facebook. Karl Johanson responded to my post with the above video. That's Karl and I as we were 30 years ago.

So this is where we, as a civilization, are now. Either Karl travelled back in time 30 years to present me with a porcupine--to demonstrate that he has admired my work for a long time--or this is an AI fake.

One can no longer believe anything we see. I had to actually think for a moment, did Karl ever present me with a procupine? Pretty sure he did not.

"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.