The Cupid War - First Love!

I am tremendously grateful to my editors at Flux for helping me make my books the best they could be. A perfect example of their help came during the revisions of The Cupid War, when they suggested I flesh out the details regarding the first couple Fallon had created. Originally, I had simply mentioned at the beginning of Chapter 9 that Fallon had successfully brought two people together. Flux thought I could do better, and I did; I came up with the idea that Fallon had united two writer/performers at a spoken word event. Thanks to those extra details, I not only had a stronger scene in the novel, I also had the seeds for a short story!

The Cupid War: Fallon's First Couple is an even-more-fleshed-out version of that scene. It features both Fallon and his mentor Caleb, and includes a certain naughty song that I wrote during my own spoken word days. I plan to release this story here, on this blog, in just under a month's time. If you liked The Cupid War, don't miss this sequel... no, it's not a sequel. Or a prequel. It's more of an... inthemiddleofquel. You'll see what I mean when you read the story. And you can do so on November 1st.

Mark your calendars, cancel your appointments and practice your call-in-sick voices! You won't be sorry.

Don't forget to check out this blog's other short story, Walk of Evil. And please post some comments - I love feedback!

Can*Con 2012 - Sunday

Sunday was my busiest day, with two panels and a reading. I started the day off right with a Tim Horton's breakfast, and I surprised Violet with said breakfast in bed! Best hubby ever? Uh huh!

I was nearly late for my reading with Eric Choi and Melissa Yuan Innes! We each read for twenty minutes: Eric read his essay Making Mars A Nicer Place, Melissa read the first chapter from her book High School Hit List, and I read from The Cupid War. All of us received our due from the audience, but Melissa's reading generated the best reaction, and deservedly so. I can't wait to read her book now!

There was no rest for the author of Evil (ha ha, see what I did there?); I had to run all the way next door for my next panel. That is one tremendous benefit of having a smaller con - no time lost running across hotels (or even highways[looking at you, Anime North!]) to get to your next event. This panel was GLBTQ Reader, looking at the issue of gender identity in speculative fiction. Brett Savory, Liz Strange and I were lucky to have a very involved audience, and it became more of a room discussion.

Another hour of dealer’s room time, followed by my final panel: Humour in Science Fiction, with Ira Nayman(Alternate Reality Ain’t What It Used To Be) and Cenk Gokce. Here's a picture I took of our terrific audience:

We talked about different types of comedy, and comedy in sci/fi we enjoyed, but the consensus of the panel was that humour in sci/fi equals an automatic rejection from publishers at the current time. Of course, that will change overnight if somebody writes a fantasy/comedy that sells a million copies!

Also, my high school friend Kevin Booth dropped by the panel to wish me all the best – everyone should have a friend like that.

As the convention wound down, I made a final tally of my sales: 23 books in all, including 8 copies of Evil; 5 copies of Epoch; 6 copies of The Cupid War; and 4 Section Ks. Not bad at all! Seems a shame Flux has given up on Epoch and Evil when there is clearly still an audience waiting to be found. I also sold eight Transformers toys, netting me some fine pocket change!

Goodbyes came next, to friends new and old. As always, it was sad. My thanks to Farrell McGovern, Caycee Price, Derek Kunsken, Elizabeth Buchan, Tim Sellmer, and everyone else who worked so hard to put this convention together. I had a fantastic time, and next year I must return for more!

Will you stay with us till d of July? PLLLLLEEEASE?

That's the message my manager sent me on Monday, so apparently my job's not over just yet! Huzzah. They want me to stay until the end of July - five more weeks of work. Sometimes things just work out! What happened was, a full-timer landed a better job at a rival company and left. This took everyone by surprise, and management quickly tumbled to the fact that they'd need more help. Thus, my contract was extended - to the time I was originally told it would end! A lot can happen in a month, so who knows? Maybe they'll want me to stay indefinitely... Sadly, I have had no such reversal from Flux. You win some...

Two Wrongs... Make A Write?

This is what the end of a job looks like: Drop by when you have a min? Thanks That was the subject line of an email from my manager Friday morning. As soon as I read it, I knew my days at the new job were numbered. My manager confirmed it; they were hiring on some full-time people, and would not need me any more. I shouldn't have been surprised - it was a temp position, with no long-term guarantees. Nevertheless it was a blow; I liked the place and the people I worked with, and the pay was pretty good too. My last day will be June 29, so they actually gave me a week's notice. That's more than most temps get. And there is every possibility I will have a new assignment lined up before this week is out. Sadly, this bit of bad news came directly on the heels of another bit of bad news. I finally received an email from Flux regarding my future with them, and it wasn't good. Sales of The Cupid War and Evil have not been great, so they are no longer interested in publishing my next novel. My time as a Flux author has come to an end. A year ago, either one of those dark tidings would have devastated me. Now, however, I know there are other jobs and other publishers out there. My writing certainly hasn't stopped - I'm on to Chapter 23 of my current project, with many more stories waiting to follow it. I'm certainly not giving up (though the thought did occur to me once or twice), and I'm still going ahead with releasing Walk of Evil one week from today right here in this blog! These are a couple of setbacks, nothing more. Stay tuned.