My Review of Starship Librarians

My review of Starship Librarians, edited by Shannon Allen and JR Campbell, from Tyche Books is now up at Ottawa Review of Books.

https://www.ottawareviewofbooks.com/single-post/starship-librarians-edited-by-shannon-allen-and-jr-campbell

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

.

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.

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.)

"First Day on Nightshift" Reprinted

My short story, "First Day on Nightshift" was reprinted in The Appraratus Almanacfrom Jayhenge publishing.

Heavens to Murgatroyd

I have two stories, "Murgatroyd and the Clerk" and "Murgatroyd and the AI" in the Lintusen Press anthology, Heavens to Murgatroyd. My entries are "Murgatroyd and the Clerk" and "Murgatroyd and the AI".

I also reviewed the collection (not including my own stories, of course) for the Ottawa Review of Books.

The Ghost in the Casement

My short story The Ghost in the Casement"is up at Horrid Scriblings.

As an added bonus, the illustration is by my daughter, Kasia.

Review of Noah Chinn's Lost Lives

My review of Noah Chinn's lost Lives (and the rest of the triology) is up at Ottawa Review of Books. https://www.ottawareviewofbooks.com/single-post/lost-lives-by-noah-chinn

Writer Beware's Annual Round-Up of Scams

I highly recommend subscribing to Writer Beware's free email newsletter and to make a habit of following their discussion of trending scams if one is at all interested in publishing. I frequently see people in writers' groups announcing they have just signed with this or that publisher or that this movie studio just reached out to themm and so on, and wonder how many thousands of dollars these particular scammers will get out of their victims before they clue in they've been had. It's painful to watch but people don't listen. So, as a bare minimum, read this annual round-up of 2024 scams that cost authors hundreds of millions of dollars.

https://writerbeware.blog/2025/01/10/best-of-writer-beware-2024-in-review/

"Ransom and the Giant" Published

My short story, "Ransom and the Giant" has been published in Big Smoke Pulp from Pesto Comics. The anthology is an all genre all action adventure collection. As the title implies, another in my Ransom and Friends urban fantasy series.

"Ransom in the Woods" Published

My short story, "Ransom in the Woods," is out today in Neo-Opsis #36. As the title suggests, this is another in the Ransom and Friends series. And this is the first time I've shared a table of contents with Canadian national treasure, Matt Hughes, so that made my day. http://www.neo-opsis.ca/Thirty-Six.htm