Hello friends! You might notice a few things have changed on my website.  Actually, all the decor has changed, but the content really hasn’t.  It still has all the articles I’ve written before.

As I got closer to the release of my first collection, I thought my website could use a makeover, so I chose a new easier to read design.  The former white text on a slate blue background hurt my eyes—and was too small to read, so I’ve enlarged the font a bit (perhaps that a sign I’m getting old) and streamlined it, and put it on white.

It has a new title too, which I think you’ll notice first.  It used to say Yukon Science Fiction Writer and now it says Bearing Witness.  Quite simply I wanted to give the blog its own title, and not just reflect myself.  I’m a Yukon Science Fiction Writer, but the blog is not.

I lived in the Yukon for nearly 10 years and a part of me is still there and I will return many times and hopefully even stay one day soon.  I will always be a Yukoner.  I became a Canadian citizen there.  I climbed those hills and mountains and swam naked in those lakes (okay, in one lake–but it was very very cold).  I went on Moose hunts and sheep hunts and I laid on the dirt and collected low bush cranberries with friends.  I sang on cold cold nights with people who love the north, sometimes while sitting in a hot tub, watching our hair freeze, and I still have their songs in my heart.  But I needed a title for the page that said something about my whole work, not just about me, and I felt, too, like Science Fiction was only part of it.  My interest in faith and spirituality in both fiction and nonfiction should be in there too.

The former title of the page never really captured all that I was doing.  It didn’t tell you I’m gay, or that I write about faith sometimes, or that I’m an American transplant in the Yukon who went over the mountain back to Ohio.  It doesn’t tell you I’m a Navy brat, a Texas Tech grad, or adopted.  So I thought–instead of saying all the stuff I am, why not give the blog an identity?

So I did.  Bearing Witness is something you do for those who need to be seen.  It’s also a term used in faith, to bear witness to the things God has done, or to bear witness to each other through hard times.  It is about keeping our eyes open.  It’s also got “bear” in it, which winks to my love of the gay bear subculture, and the colours are pretty… cheerful, if you think about it.  The glass from the Chihuly exhibit feels like a nebula in space—and so it has a science fiction feel to it too.

Now the blog becomes it’s own collection of work, bearing witness to what I’m trying to do and what others are trying to do too.

So get ready, I’m about to start writing much more on this blog and the Wrestling with Gods blog too.  There are good things happening out there! We need to see them.

 

 

 

My first collection of short fiction comes out in October 2016 (from ChiZine) and will debut at World Fantasy in Columbus, Ohio.  Very excited because WF is next door this time.  (I think in 2017 it’s in DC.)

That cover!  Another amazing cover by Erik Mohr.

This collection of 13 stories and two poems is “beast” themed (many with actual beasts, but some with metaphorical beasts or monsters) with the idea that we have the power to influence others, and be influenced by them.

Below is the Table of Contents.  Many of these have been published in Canadian anthologies, a few in American magazines, and several have their first publishing here in this collection.  For example, the first, a poem, was never published but only read aloud at Arts in the Park, a daily summer performance by musicians and artists in a beautiful corner of a block with a stage, some microphones and dedicated people running it five days a week.  This poem was part of a “Heritage Day” themed performance where writers and musicians were asked to take a Yukon Historical Society walking tour around the city and develop a piece of music or writing from that tour.

Anyway, I’ll tell more stories as we go about the different pieces, if you’re interested in reading, in further posts.  But here’s the whole shebang–the first time they’ve all been in one place.

 

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Check out some of the events happening at the 18 Days of Tesseracts:

Join us as we celebrate the Tesseracts anthologies of the past, present and the future.

The Wrestling With Gods (Tesseracts 18) blog will be hosting 18 different guestblogs by the authors of stories that deal with faith that have appeared in the Tesseracts series.  Come every day to read a new post in a discussion of Faith in Scifi and Fantasy, with leanings towards how you might incorporate faith and religious elements in your science fiction and fantasy writing. You might be reading craft-leaning blogposts on how an author tackled faith elements in their writing, or how their story reflects other stories/ novels that have had a similar faith element and how they all tackled that element–tying their story into the larger longer conversation scifi and fantasy is having about spiritual issues.  You might also find tips on how YOU might better incorporate spiritual elements into your writing using a story from Tesseracts–or several– as an example(s).

Each blogpost will tie a Tesseracts story in with the larger conversation that scifi and fantasy has been having with faith, and hopefully will give you, our readers, an insight on craft, and, of course, a way to celebrate the stories and poems in the Wrestling with Gods: Tesseracts 18 anthology.

We will also be tying each of our author’s guest blogposts in with their interview on Corey Redekop‘s blog where he interviews the different authors about their stories–making our blogs complement the ones on his site, we hope, in a cool way.

On the 18 Days of Tesseracts Event Page:

Tesseracts of the Past – on this event page, and on the EDGE Facebook Page, they will be featuring Tesseracts one through 17 and Tesseracts Q over the various days. Learn who the editors were, and the contributing authors. If you are an author of one of these anthologies, feel free to tell them about your contribution.  If you are a fan—you’ll learn about ALL the Tesseracts anthologies appearing above in that splendid montage of Tesseractses.

Tesseracts of the Present – For the 18 Days of Tesseracts we will hosting offline and online events, and doing various blog posts and interviews. This page will be the source of all information, so join up and keep up to date as to what is happening on this page. We will post updates as we go along. Watch the top pinned post for the schedule.

Tesseracts of the Future – we will get further updates from Superhero Universe. Learn what is new and happening in their Superhero world…AND we will be announcing the editors for Tesseracts 20.

And finally.. October 7th join us for an online Tesseracts Meet and Greet party for all who have loved this series, or who have contributed as an editor or author. This event will happen here on October 7 throughout the day and evening. No matter what the time, drop by and introduce yourself, and post a question for people to answer.

So….if you are an author, an editor or a fan of the Tesseracts anthologies, please join the event, and invite everyone you know. Lets see how far we can spread this invitation.  Share the FACEBOOK event with everyone!  Then come back and see what we have for you here, and elsewhere on the web!

Thanks for joining us for the 18 Days of Tesseracts…

Source: 18 Days of Tesseracts: The ALL-OVER the Net Event

Writing Faith (Spiritual Memoir and Fiction):

12 week course

First Baptist Church, Dayton, OH.

Tuesdays, 5:30-8:30pm,  Sept 1-Nov 17, 2015. (Shared Potluck)

How do you write about your spiritual journey–about how you have changed, the difficulties of living a spiritual life, the joys?  Are there things that need to be said to our children, family or friends or the world?  This course will explore writing spiritual autobiography, biography and memoir as well as writing fiction.  No previous writing experience needed, but those who like writing and reading and would like to deepen what they know should feel very welcome.  All faiths and seekers welcome.  Readings provided.  Weekly shared potluck dinner.  You’ll deepen friendships over food and writing.  Whether you are writing for yourself, your family, or for others who might find inspiration or understanding in your story, come join this 12 week journey and learn how to write memoir and fiction and explore how we wrestle with faith.  Learn to help other writers find their voice and become better writers.  Create this writers workshop with us–a workshop that could stay stable, and offer a great resource, for many years to come. Writing Faith is taught by Dr. Jerome Stueart, author, editor and writing teacher with 20 years teaching experience in writing. Sept 1- Nov 17, Tuesday evenings.  There is a $120 fee for this course, or $10 per session, and scholarships available. See Rev. Jason Alspaugh at FBC Dayton for more information or call the office at 937-222-4691. Limit 20 participants.

Readings provided include Anne Lamott, Kathleen Norris, Mark Doty, John Updike, Faith Adiele, Annie Dillard, Virginia Stem Owens, Andre Dubus, and many others.

(For more of these Explorations of Faith in Science Fiction and Fantasy, see Wrestling with Gods blog where this was first published)

[SPOILERS if you have not yet seen last Sunday’s Game of Thrones episode “Dance of Dragons”]

Sunday’s Game of Thrones shocked many with its depiction of a father who decides to sacrifice his only daughter and heir to his name in order to Win the Throne.  George RR Martin may not have put it in his books yet—but he did tell the showrunners, DB Weiss and Dan Benioff, that this was definitely coming.  I don’t want to address the level of violence in the show.  I think its characters are appropriate to their world.  We have seen beheadings, slayings, burnings, stabbings, as well as rape, mutilation, etc. from good and bad characters.  This is the world Martin has written, so by those rules this is how our characters react to crisis and achieve goals.  It is profound then that level, compassionate heads are in short supply these days (and being mounted on spikes every season).  I count Tyrion, Doran, Jon, Samwell, Varys, Margeary, Olenna, and a handful of others as being the people I would listen to if I lived in Game of Thrones.  The Hound and Dario might have the most practical means of getting through this world alive, but I wouldn’t want to become them, so I wouldn’t want them as advisors.

Who one listens to—having good advisors—is a form of power, no different than a Valyrian sword, I will say.  We all cheered when Dany and Tyrion met because, frankly, Dany could use some good advisors. Her decisions have been erratic–as she seeks to maintain power in a desperately sinking cultural situation.

I want to highlight three “gods” or specifically, three “speakers” for their gods who have become either advisors or powerful people themselves, and ask questions about the ideas that Martin brings out (or the showrunners highlight).  I want to look at how an author might use religion or faith in his or her work to mirror, echo, or highlight something in our own culture.

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