Life in a Nut's Shell

Random Act of Publicity

2011-09-06T15:18:00.001-07:00

Not sure how it can be "random", when it's planned in advance, but here goes...

I'm Not Her by Janet Gurtler. Read it!

2010-11-20T12:02:00.001-08:00

I will be at the Calgary Children's Book Fair and Conference on November 27. I'll be selling books, doing a reading, and presenting a talk on critiques.

http://www.calgarybookfair.com/

Come on down!

2010-11-15T11:47:00.000-08:00

Around the interwebs:

http://thebookshelfmuse.blogspot.com/2010/11/critter-is-famous.html
http://holdyourhorsepg.blogspot.com/2010/11/banff-centre-for-arts.html

Friends, colleagues and recent photos.

Guest Blogging at Teens Read Too

2010-09-24T15:09:00.000-07:00

I'll be guest blogging at the Teens Read Too Book Club blog on October 3rd, 2010. Stop by for a visit! http://trtbookclub.blogspot.com/
TRT Book Club

Writing With Style

2010-09-19T14:09:00.000-07:00

Ah, Banff, I miss you already. Having just spent a week with Tim Wynne-Jones and seven other students in the Writing for Children session, workshopping, critiquing and absorbing information, I am exhausted, but focussed. We were all working on novels, none of them even remotely similar. Three historicals (set in entirely different times and places), an sf adventure, a fantasy, a pirate book, a road trip, and a story of being lost in a strange land made for a fascinating mix.

Personally, I feel like I might have been better off if I had been making more advanced mistakes, but then I realized that since I don't have a lot of time to work on my current novel, I'm having to relearn how to write them every time I get back to it. I've been working on it for 3 years, but subjectively, it's more like 6 months, if that.

Tim is a wonderful instructor, and I only hope I can retain all of this knowledge!

Guest blogging

2010-05-29T08:18:00.000-07:00

I'm guest blogging at The Bookshelf Muse today. http://thebookshelfmuse.blogspot.com/ This is a great blog, useful to writers for the setting thesaurus and lots of other writing advice.

Prix Aurora Awards, part two

2010-05-24T13:42:00.000-07:00

The winner for Best Novel in English went to Robert J Sawyer, for Wake. (which means I didn't get the award, darn). But I'm certainly not annoyed by that -- Rob's book is terrific; and all the other books were strong contenders, too.

I didn't have any appearances on panels -- though, to be fair, when I looked at the programming grid, I felt I didn't have anything useful to contribute to the talks, except maybe Worldbuilding. The panellists that were already on it had more than enough competence to speak about that topic, so I didn't want to intrude. Since the theme of the convention was Egyptian, that would have been a nice tie-in to The Amulet of Amon-Ra.

Hayden Trenholm invited Ed Willett and me to join him in a couple of his panels, both about science. Since I'm primarily a fantasy writer, I elected to moderate (I later ducked out of the second one, because it was up against something I wanted to attend).

Things I enjoyed: meeting other writers; the Friday night Aurora Novel Nominee party; the Masquerade (lotsa energy!); listening to Sheila Gilbert's stories about being an editor for DAW Books; spending time with my room-mate, Susan Forest; being happy for friends who won awards; seeing Brian Hades in a tux; attending Michelle Cook's talk on her recreation costume of Queen Elizabeth I.

Finding Water

2010-04-09T10:13:00.000-07:00

In amongst other projects, I've been working on a YA novel for a couple of years. I've been a fan of Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way for at least a decade, when I first used it while I was coming out of my motherhood cocoon to start my writing career. So, when I was buying a copy for a friend, I also bought Finding Water for myself. I'm continually amazed (though I shouldn't be) at how accurate it is regarding my current state of mind. I'm in week 3 right now, Finding a Sense of Support. Writers tend to regard themselves as loners, because our work is usually done in solitude. But so are lots of other professions, and those practitioners don't regard themselves as loners. I've made sure that I don't write in complete isolation, and I have a remarkable number of good friends, ones that I can rely on for support. Some of them are writers; the rest are not -- we can't isolate our profession, either. I go to conferences and retreats to meet other writers (because it's really nice to be able to have someone else instantly understand what you mean by a "good" rejection, and to hear writerly small talk), and I have lunch with a group of local children's literature writers on a semi-regular basis. But I also keep in touch with friends involved in other organizations and who have other interests. I'm not one who insists that just because I enjoy something that they ought to enjoy it, too.

Writers can write in solitude, but they shouldn't live in solitude. After all, what are stories about? People. If you don't know what others' lives are like, you're going to have difficulty make ficitional characters seem real.

Auroras!

2010-02-18T17:45:00.000-08:00

I am THRILLED to say that my second children's novel, The Amulet of Amon-Ra, will be on the voting ballot for this year's Prix Aurora Awards for best long-form work in English. These are Canadian awards for speculative fiction (science fiction, fantasy, horror, etc). I am in good company, with Robert J Sawyer (Wake), Edward Willett (Terra Insegura), Barb Galler-Smith and Josh Langston (Druids), and Hayden Trenholm (Steel Whispers). Competition will be fierce! I think it's really cool just to be nominated.

The rest of the short-lists will be available as soon as possible. Information can be found here:
http://www.prix-aurora-awards.ca/

Cliff Samuels, who is on the committee this year, called last night while I was out. I could not figure out why, until about two hours later, when I went, "OH!" Then I wondered if he might be calling, as a friend, to commiserate with bad news (i.e., that I hadn't quite made it). It seemed unlikely, but possible. I had a nightmare, in which the "bad news" arrived with my morning oatmeal. Literally. It was in my oatmeal. But then I woke up and realized I had been dreaming. So I guess I was more concerned about it than I had thought!

But he called again this morning, asking if I would accept the nomination, to which I said, "Of course!" So. There we have it. I've been smiling all day.

February

2010-02-03T22:44:00.000-08:00

For the past few years, I have been taking February "off." That means I don't write plays for 28 days, and the theory is that I use the time for writing other pieces. Currently, I'm working on a third kids' book, a YA novel this time. I've already had one false start with it. It's complete -- but I'm starting over. Not sure I like the new beginning, but I'm going to keep going. I'm sure it will work itself out.

I'll be working on it over the long (loooong -- it includes Teachers' Convention and the Monday) weekend, and will hopefully get a lot done then. How far will I get in 28 days?

I'm also reading lots of YA books, for inspiration. Just finished The Hunger Games and Catching Fire, and am impatiently waiting for the third book. I've also read the Governor General's Award winners (text) from the past ten years -- they are all excellent books.

On Feb 6 and 7, the Calgary Public Library is hosting a Writers' Weekend. Saturday will be a time to meet and talk with members of genre writing groups (I and others will be representing IFWA), and Sunday will feature a Blue Pencil Cafe. All of us volunteers will spend 20 minutes with several participants, giving them critiques. I am looking forward to this, but with a little trepidation, since although I've done hundreds of critiques, I've never done this type. Wish me -- and the writers -- luck!

The Amulet of Amon-Ra

2009-12-11T09:12:00.000-08:00

It's out! It's available! The Amulet of Amon-Ra is officially published. I know, because I have a box of copies in my living room. They're quite lovely, really . . .

I'll be holding a book launch this Sunday, December 13, from 1 - 3 p.m., at Owl's Nest Books/Owlets in Calgary. They are located at 815A 49th Ave SW.

Whee!

More excuses

2009-11-17T22:38:00.000-08:00

Yes, I know. Promises, promises . . . In my defense, I have been busy. I just finished my 78th comic interactive play; I was at a book fair and conference; I was one of two author guests at an elementary school during their author week, and spoke for two days; I went to a playwriting conference . . . and that doesn't even mention the chauffering of three teenagers to their various events.

But good news: The Amulet of Amon-Ra, my second book, looks to be published Very Soon. I'll let you know when the book launch will be.

Books that I have been reading: Looking for X by Deborah Ellis, The Hunchback Assignments by Arthur Slade, The Landing by John Ibbotson; Dead Frog on the Porch by Jan Markley. I'm about to read The Nexus Ring by Maureen Bush, with whom I took a children's lit writing course, several years ago. Guess it worked!

Book Review

2009-02-22T20:24:00.001-08:00

I promised -- some time ago -- to read and review some of the writing books I have in my personal library. Honest, I have been reading them, or at least one or two so far. For this first review, I thought I'd start with an easy one.

Snoopy's Guide to the Writing Life, edited by Barnaby Conrad and Monte Schulz, Writers' Digest Books, 2002.

Well, of course this is a great book. How could it not be?

Snoopy is determined to be a writer. Nothing fazes him; not rejection after rejection, not critics and certainly not his lack of talent. His perpetual opening mutates through dozens of drafts and yet still retains its basic absurdity. He expresses the thoughts that we all have when we first start writing ("Dear Editor, why do you keep sending my stories back? You're supposed to print them and make me rich and famous. What is it with you?") Schulz's classic cartoons make us laugh, but it's because they reflect the painful truth. It's fun to follow along with the famous beagle author as he ... well, doesn't exactly grow as a writer ... but at least he learns a lot about himself and the process of writing.

The book also includes short pieces from famous and/or successful authors, giving advice, pep talks, insights and sometimes rueful observations. Useful stuff!

But even if you only get it for the brilliant cartoons, this book is worth reading and re-reading. My personal favourites, naturally, are the terrible puns. No, I'm not going to reveal them. They are best when encountered unexpectedly.

Unfortunately, it looks like you can only buy the book from resellers, so if you're lucky enough to find one, go for it (as long as it's available for a reasonable price, of course).

Book Reviews (by me)

2008-12-23T15:57:00.000-08:00

After shifting some books around (I built a new bookcase for all our stray books), I realized that I had about 20 books about writing and how to write in our collection. So I pulled them all off the shelves, and am going to read them all throughout 2009. Then I will review them, here. You're welcome.

I'm currently writing my 3rd Robert Burns murder mystery for a group that has had Pegasus perform a mystery during their Burns dinner for 5 years running. Since I ran out of kilt jokes, I bought a book of Scottish jokes from the Scottish Shoppe in Calgary. I also bought a copy of The Canna Sutra: The Scottish 'Joy of Sex', but Rupert Besley. It's hilarious. The drawing of Sir Sean Connery, "Shupreme Shex God of Shcotland" is priceless.

Along with working on the play, I'm also doing a wee bit of baking, getting ready for a Christmas pageant, and trying to figure out how to order my son's graduation photos (yikes!).

It's been a while

2008-06-23T12:21:00.000-07:00

Yes, okay, it has been a while since I posted. It's a time thing. Lack of it, that is.

Currently, I'm prejudging a short story contest, and it is giving me more of an appreciation for what editors have to go through.

There are some good ones and not so good ones. The ones that I find frustrating are the ones that might be good, but are marred by incorrect spelling, punctuation and/or grammar; that have several typos; that are in a non-standard font; or that have not been photocopied properly.

I'm distracted by these silly little mistakes and that makes my job harder. Send out your best quality, no matter where it's going, folks; anything that makes fewer headaches for a reader or editor is going to get a better review. The mistakes, especially the ones that could so easily have been corrected, mean that I can't give the story my full attention.

In other news, I had a marrrrvelous time at the Strawberry Creek Retreat this year, where I worked on a young adult novel. Brenda and Eleanor are fabulous cooks and the place was a writer's dream. Maybe I shouldn't sing loud the praises; it's a very popular retreat. Maybe if I said it was rotten, fewer people would try to get in, and that would leave it open for me next year . . . but I can't do that. It was just too wonderful.

The novel? It's a mystery/science fiction/adventure/boy book. That's all I can say for now.

Oh -- a plug: I went to my friend Mary Resek's CD launch on Saturday night. Terrific time, and a great CD! Mary sings country and western, and has a truly beautiful voice. You can check it out at http://www.maryresek.com/

Library Talk

2007-07-11T09:42:00.000-07:00

I was invited to speak at the Airdrie Public Library yesterday, for their Summer Reading program. Airdrie is a small city north of Calgary, and their new library is only a few months old. What a busy, busy place! It was so nice to see a library being so popular (so much for the idea that libraries are being replaced by the internet). Their program theme was "Lost Worlds," and this week was ancient Egypt. The program director asked me to come because I'd posted on my YABS webpage that I'd been inside the Great Pyramid at Giza. She asked me to come talk about Egypt, which I was happy to do, especially since my second, as yet unpublished book, The Amulet of Amon-Ra, is set in ancient Egypt.
There were 3 one hour sessions; the first for 5-8 year olds, the second for 8-12 yos, and the third for 5-8 again. Over 100 kids had signed up for the event today. At each session, I spoke a bit about Egypt, then read from my manuscript (kids are always fascinated to see what a book looks like before it's a book, I've found). (Did some on-the-fly rewriting, too). After that, my 15 yo son, whom I had volunteered to help me, translated the kids' names into hieroglyphs. He was covered in ink by the end of the day, having done about 115 names. Lastly, I showed pictures of my trip to Egypt to the kids on an LCD projector. One of these days, I've got to get ALL the pictures transferred to digital.... they've been very useful so far. They enjoyed those and asked lots of questions.
The library gave me an honorarium, some of which I'm sharing with my son, since he did so much of the work.
All in all, a good day, I think. Certainly a lot of fun.

Another busy weekend

2007-05-29T11:02:00.000-07:00

On Friday, we went to see "Shear Madness" at Calgary's Vertigo Theatre. It was a wonderful show, extremely funny. Marc Bellamy, Vertigo's artistic director, starred as Tony Whitcomb, and he looked like he was having the time of his life. The show has been extended twice and is now open until June 9. If you have a chance to go, do! You'll enjoy it.

On Saturday, I went to the Young Alberta Book Society's AGM and workshops in Lacombe, AB. The AGM was nice and short and the workshops were great. We learned how to make the best of our voices (writers are aerobic speakers, so we need to warm up the muscles just as in any activity), how to tie our presentations in to the school curricula, and what teachers woul like to see during a writing workshop. A short digression during that led to a discussion of some of the problems writers and illustrators had encountered -- in one case, a school had tried to get away with having twice the number of agreed-upon students in a workshop (the speaker had agreed to 30; the school tried to get away with 60). Happily, these experiences are rare, and most speaking engagements and schools are terrific. The AGM was followed by a BBQ, and although the mosquitoes were out in force, the weather was lovely (this after snow the previous week). I even got in some shopping, buying some books and a print from Georgia Graham, a local artist and illustrator.

Being a member of YABS has already been beneficial -- not only was I able to go to the workshops, but I was also contacted by the Airdrie Public Library for a speaking engagement during their summer reading program. They found my info via YABS.

School Talk

2007-05-24T17:28:00.000-07:00

I had my very first paid school talk last month. It was awesome! The kids (grade three) were terrific -- good listeners and lots of interaction. I showed them some photos that I had chosen as "triggers" and told them to take notes about the details, and what they thought had happened before the photo was taken or would happen after. They jotted down lots of notes, and I hope they ended up with plenty of fodder for stories. The were studying "stuck stories" at the time -- for example, being "stuck" somewhere, like at the airport, so I was able to work that into my presentations. There were four classes in total; I talked to two at a time. I was nervous, but I absolutely loved it. Amazing thing, networking.
I've been asked to come speak at the Airdrie public library for their summer reading program, on the topic of Ancient Egypt. Since my next book is set in ancient Egypt, I allowed as I could probably speak a little bit about that. Don't know the details yet, but that will probably be two talks to kids of different ages, on the same day.

And in other news, it snowed again today. Sheesh.

April is a crazy month

2007-04-10T16:51:00.000-07:00

Not only do I have several optometrist and dental appointments for all family members, but there are also a Talent Night for my church, a belly dance performance (both on the same weekend, but not the same night, whew), a couple of meetings (both on the same night, darn), my very first school talk, my daughter's badminton tournament, rehearsals, a casino, and oh, yeah, all the usual stuff, like music lessons, meals, etc. We also renovated the kitchen a bit . . .

It snowed alllll during spring break -- so much for the sunny predictions -- so we didn't do our planned trip to the Royal Tyrrell Museum. Didn't do much of anything. Which was kind of nice, actually.

It's not the heavy playwriting season right now, but I did get two more written and have a couple on deck. On average, I write 15 of them per year, most of them from September to January.

Snow and more

2007-03-13T12:55:00.000-07:00

After a week of lovely warm weather, it has snowed again. March in Calgary, typical. Maybe it will all melt soon (ha).

Regarding my most recent acceptance, I now have a short story published in Crossroads, an anthology. It's available from Lulu.com here: http://www.lulu.com/content/709667 There are stories in it from all over the world, and the editor is from Australia. This global economy is just way too cool. I don't have my copy yet, but from what I've seen, the stories look terrific.

Haven't heard about the other submissions yet, but I'm now back writing plays -- currently, The Maltease Rabbit, a spoof of The Maltese Falcon, starring hard-boiled detective Hump Dumpetty and a host of other characters all scrambling to solve a murder. Yes, lots of egg yolks, er, jokes.

My family and I went to Radium Hot Springs last weekend. It hasn't changed much in twenty years, which is the last time I was there. I swear the same dead tree is still lodged sideways on the canyon wall above the springs. We saw lots of bighorn sheep on the side of the road, resting and foraging. Windermere has grown up some since my parents had a cabin there. There are several new lakeside Estates (not yer average log cabins) and condos. Our cabin only had running water in the summer. Not so these places, I'm sure. Coldstream Campground is gone, probably to make space for more condos, but Shadybrook is still there. As our cabin was just across the creek from them, we often had problems with their guests' loud parties. And beer bottles. Still, I miss it. It was a large part of my childhood.

Change is good

2007-02-14T16:38:00.000-08:00

I'm in the middle of a month away from playwriting. As of January, I had written 9 interactive plays for the holiday season (and that's not counting the couple of plays that I altered to suit some requests). My last one was for a group in Fort McMurray, AB. My penultimate one was for a Robbie Burns dinner in High River. Such variety! Always keeps it interesting. Both plays went over quite well, it seems.

Now I'm trying to clean up some old short stories, and to get started on a third novel. I also sent out three submissions and a proposal. One of the submissions was accepted, but I'll write about that here when I have more to share about it.

A review of my book

2007-01-05T21:19:00.000-08:00

A very nice review of my children's book, Lyranel's Song, has been posted on-line at:

http://www.umanitoba.ca/outreach/cm/vol13/no10/lyranelssong.html

I'm pleased. The CM Review is a respected resource among Canadian schools and libraries, and my book comes with a "recommended" tag.

The Saga of The Book

2006-12-30T17:59:00.000-08:00

In November, I asked my husband what he wanted for Christmas. He came up with one thing -- a book called "Techniques of Medieval Armour Reproduction." Yes, I know -- it's a good book.

The first place I looked was Amazon.ca, which listed a couple of copies, at $180. "That much for a paperback?" I asked, incredulous. It's not a rare book, but it isn't easy to find, either. And it's very popular. But by the time I got around to ordering it, Amazon didn't have any copies left for sale. I did check local stores, but they were unable to order from the publisher. I checked a few online stores, but I didn't want the hassle of getting the book across the border at such a late date. I even checked with the publisher of the book, but they had a caveat that they were not responsible for their books being stopped at the border. I didn't want to take the chance.

So I asked him what else he'd like, and he gave me another list. After I'd purchased the books on that list, I checked Amazon again. They still didn't have any copies, but alibris had some. These started at $120. Figuring that was a better deal, I ordered and paid for a copy. They sent a confirmation. About an hour later, they sent a cancellation notice -- sorry, but someone else had gotten to it first. Since the other, used, copies started at $200, I didn't want to order any of them.

Later on, I was googling the book, and found it listed on eBay, but not under its official title. But it was the same book, definitely. At $65! And from a Canadian source! I dithered. I'd already had an eBay account set up, but it meant getting a paypal account or sending a money order. I checked out the seller's feedback -- 99% positive. It was a Buy Now, so I didn't have to bid. Finally, I committed to buying it. Panic set in when I got the "You've won!" notice. Now what?

I emailed militarybooksdirect and asked for a total in Canadian funds, which he sent me right away. This was a Saturday, and I had to wait until Monday to get the M.O. But I was thrilled. On Monday, I sent the M.O., but in my pre-Christmas hurry, I didn't think to send it express. He got the M.O. on the Monday before Christmas and mailed the book expedited. Expedited takes 2-7 days to arrive at the destination. By Friday, when it still hadn't arrived, I asked if he could send me the tracking number, which he did. By 3:00 p.m. Friday, the parcel was in Edmonton, so I gave up hope of it arriving in time.

Saturday morning, my husband's curiosity was piqued by the parcel laying outside our front door. But I couldn't open it in front of him, and was only able to peek at it, then wrap it when he went to the garage for a few minutes. Under the tree it went. Whew! I thought I was going to have to give him an IOU.

Kudos to Canada Post for coming through in the crunch!

December Solstice

2006-12-23T14:03:00.000-08:00

December 20th-21st has come and gone, and we in North Am tip back towards the sun. I feel light-starved in winter's short days and can't wait for them to get longer again.

I always liked the night, and now that I have kids, I understand why my mother stayed up so late -- No noisy children, no tv, no phones. It's quiet.

But now I appreciate the all-too brief glimpses of our primary star in winter; even a silver sun in a pewter sky is fine. Which doesn't happen too often, though -- I feel I'm fortunate to live in a city that isn't always clouded over.

Light and life-giving heat from a violent explosion of gases. Who'd've thunk it?

Playworks

2006-11-05T22:07:00.001-08:00

I just spent the weekend in the company of playwrights, actors, directors and other theatre people. Theatre Alberta and the Alberta Playwrights Network collaborated to present a series of workshops and presentations, collectively called Playworks Ink.

On Friday, I attended a workshop with Clem Martini, who has written plays for both kids and adults, and just published a textbook on writing plays, called The Blunt Playwright. It is unique in its field in that it cites Canadian plays -- and the book is great. Clem writes the same way he talks, which is both humorous and plain-spoken. The workshop was about what makes a play producible. These days, a small cast is a real bonus, simply for economic reasons. Naturally, a good, well-written story will always help. Later in the evening, we were treated to an excerpt from Wendy Lill's new play, Chimera, which is about the politics of emerging medical technology. Since Wendy was the Member of Parliament for Dartmouth and the Culture Communications critic for the federal New Democratic Party (NDP), for seven years, she knows whereof she speaks. This was followed by a readers' theatre of "Slumberland Motel".

Saturday was taken up first by "Writing the Real Story" led by Wendy Lill, in which we took an article topic and tried to see what kind of a play might arise out of it. At lunch, we had a discussion on the trials and taboos of Canadian Theatre (one of which turned out to be hay -- the posters for one of the plays mentioned had to have an allergy alert on them). After lunch, we analyzed a script by Aaron Sorkin. It was interesting to see what happens to a script when it comes into the hands of a director -- in this case, Kevin McKendrick of Lunchbox Theatre.

On Sunday morning, I decided to step out of my comfort zone and take a workshop on how to make my voice louder. This turned out to be exercises on relaxing and breathing, the basis for nice, strong voices. We didn't even use our voices until the last hour. So it was a lot less stressful than I expected it to be. I learned a lot from Jane MacFarlane, an acting and voice instructor at Mount Royal College.

Sunday afternoon was graced with a readers' theatre production of "Where the Blood Mixes" by Kevin Loring, a brilliant new play about a father meeting his daughter again, many years after she had been adopted out.

I don't know whether I'll do it again next year, but if I do, I know it will be great.

How much for the planet?

2006-10-22T21:30:00.000-07:00

Somebody is trying to sell a planet on eBay. It's listed under "slightly unusual" -- not even really weird, or even totally bizarre. I don't know which I should be more incensed about: that someone has the gall to sell it, or that some people are gullible enough to bid.

Still, I guess there's some precedent. The European governments sold chunks of the western hemisphere to settlers, with no more claim to ownership than an agent claiming the land as theirs. For some of it, they didn't even know what they were selling. Never mind that it was previously owned. Settlers often ended up with some pretty odd lots of land.

So what does a planet-seller hope to gain? Other than money, of course. The planet is supposedly habitable. What if it's already inhabited? (therein, the plotline of many a science fiction novel) If/when we finally do develop intergalactic travel and get there (transportation is not provided in the auction offering, alas), will somebody's great-great x whatever descendant try to claim it as their own? Bought and paid for! No doubt they'd find an unscrupulous attorney to support that claim.

People are weird.

I've come to realize that people believe what they want to believe. It doesn't matter how flimsy the explanation, how truly unlikely the story or much physical proof there is against that belief, they will still stand behind it. And anyone who says anything negative is accused of a coverup, or part of a conspiracy. Hard to prove that, and so they claim that any negative comment simply supports their belief.

Yup, people are weird. But entertaining.

V-Con

2006-10-11T00:50:00.000-07:00

For those who don't know, V-Con is Vancouver's local science fiction and fantasy convention. Probably because of my membership in SFCanada, I was invited to attend as a guest speaker -- that's the first time that's ever happened to me, so it was pretty exciting.

The con (short for convention) was good, and I learned some interesting things. I was also a panellist on several topics, including Harry Potter, playwriting, and Hall Costumes. I flew in on Friday morning, getting there just before registration opened. I had taken some copies of my book, Lyranel's Song, to sell, and Brian and Anita Hades of Edge Publishing were kind enough to add them to their table. Anita is also planning to take some to a convention in Montreal this weekend. Wonderful people (and not just because they sold my book!)

Some of the panels I listened to were about SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), worldbuilding from the microbes up, and whether or not time travel is possible. And just because I wanted to, I also attended a two-hour panel on Replicating Costumes on a Budget. I think it was misnamed -- it should have been something like Tips and Tricks from the Pros. The two presenters were very knowledgeable experts in their field and had some fascinating stuff for show and tell. It wasn't what I'd call inexpensive, though.

I attended the SFCanada party on Saturday night, and also met some of the other members during the con. It was nice to put faces to some names. A highlight of the convention was watching my friend Randy McCharles (the Fan Guest of Honour) being m.c. for the Masquerade. He even wore a costume! (It looked rather like the runner from the back of a couch, but hey)

Sunday evening, I had Thanksgiving dinner with my sister and her family and friends. Got to see her newly renovated kitchen and bathroom.

Anyway, thanks and Well Done All to the organizers of V-Con! I had a good time.

Calgary history

2006-09-16T20:27:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the plays I've been writing this year, I've been happily immersed in my city's history. I'm neither a professional nor an expert historian, but I'm finding it fascinating. The city isn't very old, only a hundred and thirty years or so, but still has a lot of interesting history packed into it. A building is just a building, but when I find myself going past a vintage house or commercial building, I wonder if any of the people whom I've read about ever went in it or past it. And of course, there are so many other people who led ordinary lives and never made it into any of the books. I wonder about them, too.
Most of this research is in aid of finding out as much as possible about the Deane House, which is one hundred years old this year. This is the place where most of the Pegasus Performances murder mystery plays are staged, so we are celebrating the House's creation (and its survival from the mania that led Calgary to destroy so many of its historical buildings during the seventies). It's not the oldest place in Calgary, nor the largest or most elaborate, but it has a simple elegance and a reassuring solidity.
Superintendent Richard Burton Deane of the NWMP ordered it built as his personal residence on the grounds of Fort Calgary and was quite pleased with it when it was finished in 1906. Unfortunately, his first wife Martha never got to live in it -- she died just a few days before it was completed. This summer, we staged a play called Building Suspense, set in 1906, with characters like Dirty Dirk Dagnabbit and Daffodil (Daffy) Budd. An article about it appeared in the Calgary Herald in August, and I was thrilled to see myself quoted. Not quite what I said, but at least I didn't sound like an idiot.
When the Fort Calgary grounds were sold to the short-lived Grand Trunk Pacific Railway in 1914, the house was moved from its original setting and became the residence for the station agent. Right now we are staging a play called On Track for Murder, which mostly centers around a controversy between corsets and the newly-patented brassiere. Doing research for these plays is always absorbing and I find I learn so much more than I expected.
After the GTPR was absorbed into the CPRail, the house was sold, and became a boarding house. It was also moved across the Elbow River on log piles in 1929, a spectacular engineering feat for its time, so much so that it was written up in an issue of Popular Mechanics. We already did the play for that incarnation of the house, set in 1949. One of those performances was filmed by City TV earlier this year.
Up next are a play set in the seventies, when the house was an artists' co-operative, one set when it was being renovated, and another when it became what it is today, a restaurant.
You're probably wondering about the ghosts. According to some, the Deane House is one of the most haunted places in Calgary. However, there was an exorcism in the eighties, so theoretically, if there were any ghosts, they should be gone by now. Personally, no, I've not seen any.
Dunno what we're going to do next year. This delving into history has been an inspirational goldmine, even though getting the right costumes can sometimes be tricky. Not to worry, though, I'm sure we'll think of something.

First Post -- a review

2006-09-15T22:39:00.000-07:00

A restaurant review, that is.
Calgary has three Moroccan restaurants (although one of them is on hiatus right now). Tonight we went to the Casbah, located on what used to be known as Electric Avenue. The avenue (11th) seems to have gone upscale, with more restaurants than bars now. The Casbah is below street level, and kind of looks like a hole-in-the-wall, but it's quite spacious inside. It's decorated with plenty of brass and ceramic items and painted in pleasing reds.
We opted for the "Diffa", a feast of 5 courses, and mint tea. Pampering comes first -- by having one's hands washed with rosewater. Tradition says that you should eat with your fingers: one finger is bad manners, two fingers is arrogant, three fingers is just right, and four or five fingers is a sign of gluttony (or possibly just klutziness).
First came the tomato Harira soup, which we drank out of the bowls. Moroccan food doesn't just have an aroma; it has a perfume. It's a beautiful blend of foods and spices. Salads were next, an arrangement of three marinades: beets, carrots and corn (interesting how corn has slipped into some non-North American cultures' cuisines). Then we had the Bastella, a phyllo-wrapped mixture of chicken and fruit; more fruit in it than at other restaurants, which made it quite juicy. A fluffy couscous with meats and vegetables and a chicken tagine were served together. We actually managed to eat all of that with our fingers too, with a minimum of couscous ending up on the table (I must be getting better at it). We were pleasantly full by then, but a just-right serving of baklava and ice cream finished off the meal. The whole thing took 2 1/2 hours, which is a lovely, relaxing way to spend an evening.
Oh and I should mention that the service was great, too.