News & Notables


“Paid in Full,” my story about strange ways of repaying debts, will be coming out in the next issue of Asimov’s. Watch for it in the October-November double issue, on news stands soon.

I was thrilled this summer to be asked to be a final judge for the Robyn Herrington Memorial Short Story Contest at Con-Version in Calgary. The pre-judges have narrowed the field to five speculative short stories, and the final judging will occur on the Sunday morning of the convention.

My fellow judges are Danita Maslan, author of Rogue Harvest, and Rebecca Bradley, author of the Gil Trilogy, including Lady in Gil, Scion’s Lady and Lady Pain. She also co-wrote Temutma with Stewart Sloan.

Another excitement for me, personally, was to direct the spoof, “Phantom of the Space Opera,” a ninety-minute musical written and performed by the IFWA Players. This is the story of Captain Quirk and the crew of the USS Insipid, who meet an omniscient and omnipotent being from beyond known time and space who is searching for talent aboard our heroes’ ship. We had so much fun producing the show that we made a DVD of it this fall, and hope soon to have it up on YouTube for others to view. It will be eligible for an Aurora Award this spring in the category of “Best Work in English – Other”.

Hope to see you all in Calgary for Conversion, August 17 – 19!