My short story, “For A Rich Man To Enter” (Intergalactic Medicine Show, May, 2018) is eligible for the Nebula Awards in 2019. I have posted my story in various places; now let’s see if anyone is interested in nominating it! I can’t nominate my own work, but I have been perusing the work of other writers and have a list of nominations in various categories ready to go.

Tracking down the Dieppe Yellow Pages from 1939 was tricky. I arrived too late on Friday to go to the town hall, but it was open Saturday morning—unfortunately, not the Archives. I had a bike trip planned for Monday, so I went on Tuesday, but was told they did not have…either this document, or the Archives (my French was not that good and their English, about the same). They recommended I go to the Tourist Office for a map.

Hmm. I explained I was researching HISTORICAL addresses, but could get no more out of them. So I went to the Tourist Office, where the girl (whose English was excellent) agreed that their suggestion was nuts. But, maybe not so nuts, because she was able to tell me to go to the Library, which opened at 1:30. I went.

The Archives are only open Wednesdays and Saturdays, but I explained I was on the 6PM ferry and headed back to Canada, and the librarian made an exception for me! She found me the book! No flash photography and no pens were allowed, but I poured through it for about an hour. What a find!

Had a great interview with Bletchley Park chief historian, David Kenyon for about an hour and a half. I had seen much of the park before talking to him, and he pointed me to some other places in the park as must-see. In addition to answering my questions, he had cool anecdotes to relate, such as the fact that the gardeners for the Commonwealth War Graves caring for the cemeteries after WWI were British. Some let their garden sheds be used as safe houses on the route to ferrying downed allied air men back to Britain. Cool, eh?

I also picked up some replicas of WWI literature issued to soldiers at the time, as well as a newspaper about the Dam Busters. Really interesting detail about life at the time.

Almost finished my two-week residency at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre at Annaghmakerrig, Ireland. It has been glorious. I’ve met tons of new people, talked about art and writing, had a couple of readings and one tour of the artists’ studios, and even went to a local rural pub—one of the oldest in Ireland. I’ve amalgamated most of my research, finished my outline and written a few scenes, and I love the way the book is progressing. I’ve learned a lot about my characters and how to bring out their stories. Highly recommended!

“The Beautiful Gears of Dying,” by Sandra Kasturi, one of the stories in Aurora-winning The Sum of Us, won the Sunburst for Best Short Story. The jury commented: “In a strong field with many outstanding stories, Sandra Kasturi’s “The Beautiful Gears of Dying” did for the jury what speculative writing does best, by using a fantastic/technological trope to explore the complexity of human relations and the texture of human life. Kasturi’s story is linguistically complex, economical, emotionally intense, and yet accessible, and it provokes recurring thoughts about our human predicaments.”

Spent last weekend at V-Con to attend the Aurora Awards, and The Sum of Us won for Best Related Work! Two years in a row! AND, one of our short stories, “Gone Flying” by Liz Westbrook-Trenholm, won in the short fiction category! YAY! Finally the wins are sweeter because the fields were very strong.

Got in touch with author, David O’Keefe about his research into conditions underlying Canada’s raid on Dieppe. His book was a gold mine of information and inspiring for my novel, but what I wanted more on was the living conditions for the French in Occupied France—again, the tips he gave me were amazing. Little things like looking up the 1939 Yellow Pages from the archive at the hotel de ville in Dieppe to find out the addresses of all the local businesses. Even if the businesses aren’t there now, I can walk the streets where my characters would have visited the baker, the butcher, and so forth. Wonderful!

So I thought I’d interview my sister and brother-in-law for their memories and past research (both are non-fiction writers) about early Alberta, and came up with another gold mine. I was interested in RCMP investigative procedures for a missing person in 1942, and of course, both having been National Park Wardens their entire careers, my sister and her husband had worked a lot with the RCMP. I’ll want to do further follow up (just learned through another source that the RCMP were also Canada’ spy agency in those years, and so infiltrated Communist and fascist groups), but its amazing where you can get information!

Bursts of Fire has been sent for layout. Last conversations about cover, maps, dedications and so forth. Publicity ideas flowing. This is super exciting!

This week I interviewed Dr. David Bercuson, professor of history at the University of Calgary. Wow. What a ton of knowledge he has, and he was able to quickly grasp the intent of my questions and narrow his vast understandings to a comprehensive background and clear answers. AND he gave me some perfect resources to follow up, and invited me to come back for a longer interview. Wow. Just, wow.