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I had dinner last night with Anita Windisman, a friend I met through the print on demand and social media worlds.  I wanted to learn more about the awesome work she is doing helping people properly leverage LinkedIn (she runs One of a Kind Marketing) as well as her book (and some forthcoming book projects). I, of course, had to show her Julie Wilson's Seen Reading and snap a picture of her

I am not only honoured to be the latest editor of the award-winning Tesseracts anthology series, but am absolutely delighted with the line-up of authors who will be featured. Selecting stories and poems for Tesseracts 16: Parnassus Unbound was not an easy process.  Just ask any of the contributors who patiently waited for me as I struggled to stay on track and on time with this one.  (Or ask the

Tomorrow (Saturday May 5th) I will be talking at the 2012 Ontario Writer's Conference which is taking place at the Deer Creek Golf and Banquet Facility. I will be doing a plenary session with Cynthia Good, Director of the Creative Book Publishing Program at Humber College. Our overall topic is called Storytelling 360°: Storytelling in a Digital Age and the description is here: Publishers

Lunches taste better when sandwiches are in the shape of the Millennium Falcon or a Tie-Fighter. This has been Fatherhood Fact #87 - a public service announcement.

Instead of being annoyed with telemarketers I try to have some fun with them. After all, they are real people doing a job. There's no point treating them with disrespect. Example - I just got off the phone with a telemarketer.  Here's how it went. TELEMARKETER: Hello, may I speak with Mr. Lefjlkaliufdkjlalkflj [indeterminable gibberish as he tries, desperately, to pronounce my last name. The

Rocky Raccoon checked in to his room only to find . . . Seen Reading! Seen Reading making friends with Gideon's Bible at St. Albert Inn, Alberta When I was in Edmonton a few weeks ago, I couldn't resist snapping this picture in my hotel room at the St. Albert Inn.  I tweeted it, but the photo came out with the wrong orientation. So I'm trying to fix that here, and then properly Pin it to my

Haven't blogged much lately because almost every free moment is being spent on one of three books I have coming out later this year. But every once in a while it's good to pause.  Like right now. The good folks at Dundurn Press sent me this flyer for Haunted Hamilton: The Ghosts of Dundurn Castle and Other Steeltown Shivers which comes out in August. I love how it says AVAILABLE FROM YOUR

I've quite enjoyed pinning pictures of people with Julie Wilson's new book Seen Reading, and thought I'd share a few more pictures I have gathered. First, a few more peeps, then the book in some interesting locations . . . Scott Marinaro, Senior Manager US Vendor Relations, Kobo, regularly comes to Toronto for a dose of buttertarts, Rush and Julie Wilson's Seen Reading. Cameron Drew,

Tonight after work I'm flying in to Edmonton where I will be participating in an exciting Book Publishers Association of Alberta (BPAA) publishing project. Jerome Martin of Spotted Cow Press is heading up the project and contacted me a few months ago asking if I would participate in the project with 5 other writers to create an intriguing new book. We have each written a chapter roughly based on

Yesterday, at the end of another book-loving work day, I was able to snap some fresh pictures of bookish folks holding Julie Wilson's Seen Reading.  All for the love of continuing to grow the Pinterest Seen Holding Seen Reading board. So without further ado, here are a few of my Kobo pals checking out the awesome book. No more "faking it" for Nathan - he's truly excited (halo effect & all)

This just in! I now have an actual physical copy of Seen Reading by Julie Wilson. Why am I so excited? Check out my blog post about this from last week called Seen Wanting. I'm going to start digging into it this weekend.  Okay, I'll admit it, I started to take a few peeks. I couldn't help myself. The book, by Freehand Books (an imprint of Broadview Press) is gorgeous, beautifully designed

I found out about this shared world mosaic anthology that a friend of mine (the awesome Julie E. Czerneda) is involved in, which reminds me of Robert Lynn Asprin's Thieves World. Funded by Kickstarter, this is a bold and exciting publishing project from R. Scott Taylor. Eight authors and 3 artists are bringing something together that is bold, original and beautiful. Set in Art of the Genre’s

I like to run, but my biggest tendency to get bored. For that reason, I have been combining running with listening to audio books and/or podcasts. But even still, sometimes running for more than just a few kilometres is a bit of a challenge. That's why I was excited to learn about a new app called Zombies, Run! from a friend of mine at work. (Just a few weeks ago, Nathan (an avid runner)

Nine years ago today my father died. I think about him often, but days like today, Father's Day, his birthday, I spend a bit more time reflecting. I was recently looking through some old photos I had of my buddy Steve and his father (who died not all that long ago), so I could scan them and email them to him.  I came across these two, taken in the same time period. These pictures were taken in

Julius Caesar was warned by a soothsayer to "beware the Ides of March" - at least, according to Shakespeare's version. I had always been fond of that soothsayer, wondering if Tom Stoppard might one day base an entire play on the character. My story "Ides of March" is a very subtle nod to that legendary warning.  It concerns a fateful day in the life of a man who witnesses two strange beings who

I was delighted to see a picture of my friend and fellow book lover Steph (of the awesome Bella's Bookshelves) holding an advance copy of Julie Wilson's forthcoming book Seen Reading, which is based on her wonderful website Seen Reading. (Seen Reading was the result of Julie seeing a person reading in public, making a note of the book as well as what page of the book the person is on, then

Yesterday I attended BookNet Canada Tech Forum 2010: Digging Deeper Into Digital. On a personal level, the day started off interestingly enough. On my way into my car, I dropped my iPhone. It only fell about 2 feet (the case slipped off my hip and onto the driveway) but when I checked it was showing the white screen of death.  Various reset tricks didn't work (although I could still take

Because it's "Read an eBook Week" I'm offering an eBook collection of 3 short stories for book lovers -- sort of a "Twilight Zone" style collection of short stories for book lovers, which normally sells for $1.50 for free. ACTIVE READER and other Cautionary Tales from the Book World includes the stories ACTIVE READER, BROWSERS & DISTRACTIONS ACTIVE READER is a cautionary tale about book

It's "Read an E-Book Week" (March 4 to 10, 2012) To celebrate, I've kept a "chapbook" sized collection of two of my short stories (snowman themed) free via as many places as possible. Snowman Shivers - Scary Snowmen Tales contains two "Twilight Zone" style stories involving snowmen. If you have ever cast an uncomfortable glance over your shoulder when passing the silent snowy

I have long been following a delightfully refreshing blog that is covering all of the trials, tribulations and gritty details that a Hamilton couple are experiencing renovating and building their downtown Hamilton bookstore: J. H. Gordon Books. Julie, the main blogger of Reno Challenge 2012, has been posting interesting tidbits about their experience. Her profile description which begins: "I