OPINIONS
AND SOMETIMES EVEN SOME FACTS
Yes, this is the editorial page where you are likely to discover yourself on the existential dial somewhere between reassurance, outrage and epiphany -- but hopefully never apathy.
The views expressed here are not necessarily my own, including some of those written by me. Mr. Wilde was not the only one to contain multitudes.
social justice from the twilight zone
I greatly admire the work of Rod Serling -- The Twilight Zone in particular. Here is an article I wrote on human rights themes in Serling's SF for the journal Dialogue.
The transcendental engineers
Sometime back in the last century, I received a grant from the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada to investigate the origins of religious movements in science fiction fandom. The project was part of my graduate studies in cultural anthropology and has something of a legacy.
SFTV: Demo Reel
When Allarcom Pay-Television was applying to the Canadian Radio & Television Commission for a licence for a science fiction channel, I was hired to be a content consultant. I also got to write most of the interview questions that Mr. Dan Aykroyd is responding to in our video presentation. The original videotape was damaged so it all looks like a distorted transmission from the Planet Neptune (maybe that's appropriate).
the merril collection of science fiction, fantasy & speculation
CBC Radio Interview about the Merril Collection back when I was Chair of their Friends Group and co-curator for the National Library of Canada's exhibition on Science Fiction and Fantasy. The Merril is a wondrous place -- and you must visit!
The Wonderful and Terrifying
Contradictions of Ray Bradbury
Or
How to Prevent the Future
By Celebrating It.
Back in 2013 I was one of several local science fiction writers invited by the Toronto Public Library to give a talk commemorating the work of Ray Bradbury. I never met the man but like everyone whose come to love a book, he was a a big influence.
A few months later, my story "Five Stories About Alan" was included in Ray Bradbury tribute anthology, The Dandelions of Mars published by Whortleberry Press. I printed up my lecture notes for the edification of those attending the book launch. In case you missed that, here they are again!
strange conversations
To celebrate the release of my second short story collection, The Progressive Apparatus & More Fantasticals, I thought it might be fun to get a taste of the seething creative caldron that served up the first collection: Why I Hunt Flying Saucers.
Give a listen to me and Canadian Media Guru, producer, actor and Cannibal Girls victim, Alan Gordon at the McLuhan Center; chatting up all that is strange and wonderful in the universe.
Recently the brilliant and profoundly original novelist, journalist, cartoonist, and famed foot-nudist Sierra Larson, AKA Sierra: The Barefoot Girl, interviewed me about writing and a bunch of other interesting stuff for her podcast.
Click on the button below and select Episode #29 to hear Sierra learn me about stuff real good.
Also, why not hop over to the Friends, Family and Aliens page and discover more about Sierra and her growing opus of work?
everything you need to know about everything*
*except for the things we don't mention.
Recently Brain Lag Publishing posted the Launch Party we held for The Progressive Apparatus collection where Candas Jane Dorsey (The Gifted, Wise, and Teller-of-Truths), Catherine Fitzsimmons (The Intrepid, Brave, and Sharer of Beauty), and me (The White-Haired Oldster in a Rocking Chair) got to talk about living, loving and creating in the worlds of speculative fiction. I don't think we gave away too many of SF's ritual secrets but we are pretty entertaining.
Check out all four segments on Youtube and why not look in on Canadas' website via the Friends Family and Aliens page?
