Good morning, Readers!

Yesterday, I posted this article on my Facebook page.  For those of you who don't want to click through, it's about a Star Wars boycott.  Why are people boycotting?  Because the protagonist is black.  Because there are kick-arse Latina X-Wing pilots.  Because it's not all white dudes all the damned time.  Excuse me a moment....

There aren't enough face palms in the world for this shit.

Come on, Humanity!

Congrats on all the supporters of this utter ridiculousness for showing yourselves to be complete idiots who learnt absolutely nothing from the Star Wars movies.  Nothing at all.

People supporting this hashtag, YOU ARE THE EMPIRE.

You are the clone army, trying to eradicate those who are different from you, claiming "order" is homogeneity, trying to use fear and control as tactics to maintain that homogeneity.

You're the guys Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Yoda, Obi Wan, and Hans Solo fought against. 

Now please ignore that your boss, Darth Vader, was voiced by a black man, and continue about your idiocy.  May you never breed.

Seriously.  I am disappointed in you today, Humanity.

We are better than this.  I know we are.

We have to be.

​Now to make myself feel better, here (linked because the site's embed function is all screwed up at present) is fantastic music from on of my favourite modern composing teams:

And now I'm off to forget about my disappointment in my species.

​Ciao.

Good morning, Readers!

HARPER IS GONE!

Canada breathes a sigh of relief, and I am cautiously optimistic.

Why cautiously?  Well, it's because the Liberals are now in power, and I am a supporter of the New Democrats.  I think Thomas Mulcair could have been an incredible prime minister.  I really liked his social policies.

I am also unimpressed with the number of Conservative initiatives the Liberals backed while Harper was in power.

In fact, the only thing the Liberals proposed that I liked was their fiscal policy.

Also, I'm a little sad today.  I feel like the NDP (New Democrat Party, for those not in the know) was robbed this election.  I feel like the Liberals were elected out of fear of Harper, rather than the strength of their campaign.  I feel like the NDP lost out because of the fear of Harper.

And that's a shame, because I really think they would have done well.

Now, our new Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, has his work cut out for him.  He must do a lot to repair Canada's international reputation; something Harper obliterated.  I hope for a Canada that is once again on the path to peacekeeping.

I'm hoping for a Canada to once again lead the way in successful multiculturalism.

I'm hoping for a Canada that finally respects its indigenous people.

I'm hoping for a Canada that restores its environmental protections, and seeks a greener economy.

I'm hoping for a Canada the restores its healthcare to be the envy of the world; a Canada that cares about the people living within its borders.

I'm not sure that Trudeau will deliver this.  I'm not sure he can.

But, for the first time in ten years, I'm hopeful.

I guess I won't be fleeing to somewhere in Scandinavia after all.  It was a serious consideration leading up to this election.  I was very unwilling to subject myself to another term of Harper's incredibly evil reign.

Thank you, Canada, for voting.  Thank you for finally getting rid of that man who so soiled everything I had loved about this beautiful country.

Now it's time to restore ourselves.  Let's do so in traditional Canadian fashion.

​Ciao.

Good morning, Readers.

As many of you know from Friday's post, I lost a member of my family last week.  I spent the rest of the week in hiding, barely touching social media and probably scaring all my friends with unreturned texts and phone calls.

Sorry everyone.  I needed time away from the world.

I'm happy to report that I'm feeling a bit better.  I should be returning to normal soon.

And so, this morning, I got myself all figured out, made my meals for work, fed and cuddled the kitties, and then I went out and I voted.

Today is election day in Canada, and it is the single most important day of the year.  In fact, it is so important, Google decided to remind Canadians to get out and vote.

And even John Oliver got in on it.

He did such a good job of it, I really can't add anything to it, except this.

Go vote, Canada.

It seems like such a simple act it's hard to remember that it is the best and easiest way to change the world.

It was heartening to see the queue this morning when I went to vote.  I hope it means that more people than ever are voting.

Please, please, please vote.

Your country needs you.

O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

Ciao.​

Dear Step-Mother,

You were supposed to be evil, you know.  All the stories talk about how step-mothers come into families and convince their new husbands to abandon their children in the wilds, or tries to kill and cook the children, or any number of terrible things.

You did none of these things.  In fact, evil is the furtherest thing that could possibly describe you.  You were open and kind, generous and loving, witty and joyous.  You had such a bright laugh and a sharp humour.  Coming to your house was always a delight.

You left us yesterday.

It was such a long fight.

And you fought so hard.

I'm so sorry you suffered.  I can't understand why you did.  I mean, I know why.  Cancer.  But why you?  Why now?

I owe you a great debt, you know.  I am so grateful to you.  I am grateful for your loving embrace of our family, of your acceptance of us.  I hold our dinners with great fondness, even now, when I'm crying.

Most of all, I'm grateful that you found my father.  You made him happy, even when he wasn't.  Really, that's all a daughter could ever ask for.  It was a delight to see how he opened up with you at his side.  I promise I'll do my best to keep an eye on him.

I wish I had more time with you, but I am so grateful for the time I did have.

Thank you for coming into my life.  Thank you.

I love you.

Good morning, Readers!

So, back to this month's speculative fiction convention, which I'm overly excited about...

They've announced their draft panel list.  Now, it is a draft, and is subject to change, but it's looking phenomenal.  If you want an idea of the fantastic programming on offer this year, click this and browse the awesomeness that will be this year's Can Con.

I'm on a couple of panels myself, so far.  These are:

Fantasy Novels - A Readers’ Panel:
Our panellists discuss what works of fantasy they’ve enjoyed and you may want to read. Panelists: Jonathan Crowe, Peter Halasz, S.M. Carrière, Nicole Lavigne, Linda Poitevin (m).

Backstories and the Development of Villains:
An evolution of the anti-hero has been the hero-izing of the villains, with backstories, deep motivations, and extensive inner worlds, as seen in Tim Burton’s Batman or TV’s Once Upon a Time. This opens up the possibility of more complex stories of hero vs villain, and the advent of the villain as the protagonist. Our panellists discuss the use of villains as the protagonist. Timothy Carter, Max Turner, Nicole Lavigne (m), S.M. Carrière.

Transport and Armament in the Ancient and Medieval World:
The ancients and medieval worlds had a range of fascinating tools for transport and protection (or offense). Our panellists are enthusiasts of the periods and discuss. Evan May, Ariel Bolton, S.M. Carrière (m).

Monsters:
Our monsters are our children. We create them from our imaginative realms and they reflect our fears, insecurities, anxieties, and even our desires. What do our monsters represent and why do we love them so much? How do we adapt our monsters to express new ideas, feelings, and thoughts? Sean Moreland, Sandra Kasturi, S.M. Carrière, Matt Moore (m).

Naming Exoworlds:
Why call a planet “Fomalhaut b” when you could name it “Leisurely Fish” instead? Authors have been naming their planets for decades, but now the IAU is taking online votes to rename some exoplanets. Is this a good way to get people more interested in astronomy, or is it just a sideline? Do you have any ideas for names that should have been considered, but weren’t? Should we really take the chance of naming a pulsar “Rock’n’Roll Star?” What is the best way to name a planet, anyway? S.M. Carrière, Christina Vasilevski, Andrew Barton (m).

I will also be doing a reading from Human and I will be attempting to pitch Skyalrk.  I say attempting because OH MY GOD I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M DOING SOMEONE SAVE ME!

Ahem.

Anyway, do peruse the rest of the programming.  It's really, really good.

Right, enough gushing.  I have a tonne of work to do.

​Ciao!

Good morning, Readers!

I am so far behind in everything at the moment, I kind of just want to curl up into a little ball and not move for a few days.  This, of course, will solve nothing.  Still, it's very, very tempting.

Since I have nothing of note to say, I'm going to point you in this direction.  I wrote a very short article about Skara Brae, a place that is on my Absolutely Must See list.  It's not a literary masterpiece by any definition, but it's better than the drivel I'm spouting here.

Incidentally, writing short articles is harder than it looks.  I tried very hard not flood the article with every cool thing I know about the site of Skara Brae, reducing it all down to the bare bones.  I could probably have written a paper on the subject, such is my nerd level with subjects like these.

There are so many places I would love to visit around the world.  It's a pity travel takes so much money.  I would happily travel to these places... and would love to film it.  I have dreams, y'all.

On that note, I'm going to stop wasting time.  I'm off to attempt to catch up.

​Ciao!

Good morning, Readers!

This weekend, as you know, was Canadian Thanksgiving.  It was one of the busiest weekends to date.  It was one of those weekends that required a weekend to recover from.  It was a weekend that made work look like the holiday.

This is not a complaint.  I'm actually really happy with this weekend.

Saturday was normal enough.  I awoke early-ish, fed the cats, got dressed, went to teach martial arts for two hours, returned home, did some writing work while listening to hilarious YouTubers.

Sunday, I awoke earlier than I have on a Sunday for a long time.  Ordinarily, I would remain in bed and relax for a good long while.  Not this time.  I had been lured from my bed by wonderful human being Marie Bilodeau with the promise of a turkey dinner and some writing.  It turned into a work session for the upcoming Can Con.

It was a productive session... though more so for the other members of the committee.  I was responsible for tweeting that day.  Guys, I think I might be on a committee or something.  I'm still not sure what happened... Or if I'll be invited again.  I mostly supplied the sarcasm.

That said, this year's convention is looking amazing.  I'm really excited about it.  It's going to be marvellous!  I'm on a few panels, and I will be moderating one... for the first time in my life.

It was decided at this stealth work session that I didn't have enough to freak out about at this convention - I mean, who cares about pitches, right? - and I needed to also moderate a panel.  I'm very worried that moderation is a little outside of my skill set, but it's a topic I'm fiercely interested in, so hopefully it'll be alright.  I feel a panic attack just thinking about it.

It's going to be okay.  It's going to be alright.

The point is, however, that you'll really want to be at Can Con this year.  I've had a look at the panels, and they look amazing.  Can Con's programming is second to none, and I mean it.  I'm so excited about this year.

Now, Can Con could use some volunteers to make sure the weekend runs as smoothly as possible.  If you feel like making yourself invaluable amongst geeky writerly types, click here to find out how.  I got my foot in the door by buying a table at Can Con.  I wish I had known about it before I embarked on my writing career.  I'd have been on much firmer footing had I volunteered first.

Well, I was side-tracked.

Monday was sort of a restful day, but there was a lot of family stuff going on and so, I awoke this morning feeling a little more tired than I would like.  One the bright side, I'm at work so I can rest.

That's how this weekend was!

Now I have to write an article on Skara Brae, which I meant write and have sent away yesterday.  I doubt I'll get to any actual writing today.

Wish me luck!

​Ciao!