Tag: short stories

Emptiness: A One-Shot Anthology. Plus, Indigo Event and Aurora Award Nominations

March 13, 2026

I started the year dabbling as a publisher. As you may or may not know, it’s a semi-annual tradition for the Toronto Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers to produce a one-shot anthology. This means stories written in a single day, centred around a common theme and gathered together in one book.

This was my first year leading the project, and the first time a one-shot anthology was published under my imprint, Myriad Flames. Emptiness, the ninth and latest one-shot anthology, was released on February 10, 2026 and has already celebrated many successes:

  • Reaching #1 on the Amazon bestseller lists in three categories: Genre Fiction Anthologies, Science Fiction Short Stories, and Fantasy Anthologies.
  • Largest one-shot anthology to date, totalling almost 120,000 words.
  • Phenomenal cover art from Helvetica Blanc (thank you to R.H. Wesley for securing the rights and doing the cover design).

I contributed a story of my own to Emptiness: “The Rejuvenation Machine” follows a figure skater who will do anything for Olympic gold, including sacrificing his future years to the titular technology. And coincidentally, it was released right in time for the Winter Olympics.

Emptiness is available on Amazon in all territories, as an ebook and a paperback. It is also available on Kindle Unlimited. Find your local Amazon site here: https://books2read.com/emptiness

Indigo the Well: Event & Book Signing

This Saturday, March 14, 2026, I will be signing books and handing out free merch at Indigo the Well (486 Front Street West, Toronto ON). With me will be eight other authors from Toronto SFF Writers: J.P. Babb, Brandon Butler, K.M. McKenzie, Jesse McMinn, Don Miasek, Peter G. Reynolds, Danny F. Santos, and Colin Searle. See below for the book line-up:

Aurora Award Nominations Open

Time flies! Aurora Award nominations are open again. On my end, All the Broken Blades is eligible for Best Related Work. See the full eligibility list.

If you are a Canadian citizen or resident, be sure to nominate your favourite works before the April 5, 2026 deadline. Membership is a modest $10, and gets you access to all the works on the final ballot, including ebooks of the nominated novels.

2025 Award Eligibility + 2026 Writer Bingo

January 17, 2026

2025 was a year of two halves. I devoted the first half to producing All the Broken Blades and promoting it. In the second half, I focused on completing the second draft of my novel. As a result, new short stories and poems took a back seat. But I do have a few things to present for award consideration.

All the Broken Blades – Best Related Work/Collection/Anthology

All the Broken Blades sits in an awkward spot of being a single-author short story/poetry collection featuring mostly previously published works. But it is eligible for award categories related to collections, anthologies, and related works of speculative fiction, such as:

Aurora Awards – Best Related Work

Locus Awards – Best Collection

Ignyte Awards – Outstanding Anthology/Collected Works

World Fantasy Awards – Best Collection

“The Laughing Knight and the King of Ink: A Tragicomedy in 2.5 Acts” – Best Short Story

This short story appeared for the first time in All the Broken Blades in 2025. Therefore, it is eligible for Best Short Story categories in all the above-listed awards, plus the Hugo Awards and the Nebula Awards.

 

2026 Writer Bingo

In hopes of keeping myself focused and productive, I have created a Bingo sheet for 2026 goals. I’ve tried many things over the years to fix my (very poor) ability to focus, from daily schedules to productivity planners, and I must report: they all failed. Maybe this will be the one that works?

One key feature of the Bingo is, I’ve only included items within my control. These things are centred around my own output: the words I write, the queries/submissions I send, the events I attend. I have not included things like “publish X number of stories” or “sign with an agent” because these are things outside my direct control. As a poster hanging over a lunchroom sink once told me, “Today I will not stress over things I can’t control.”

Aurora Awards 2025 – Voting Opens! (+ All the Broken Blades Book Launch)

June 10, 2025

Voting for the Aurora Awards for Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy opened June 7, 2025. As you may (or may not) have heard, I have not one but two works on the shortlist:

Both these pieces are available to read online for free (just follow the links above).

If you are a Canadian citizen or landed immigrant: it’s not too late to grab your membership. Cost is just $10, and grants you access to a voters’ package containing all the nominated works—including five novels in the Best Novel category (don’t miss out this chance to read Pale Grey Dot by my colleague and friend Don Miasek—a truly excellent science fiction novel that blends classic starship fights with surprising character complexity).

Full Aurora Award dates:

  • June 7 – Aurora Awards voting opens
  • July 12 – Membership payments close, voters’ package download closes
  • July 19 – Aurora Awards voting closes
  • August 9 – Aurora Awards ceremony (online)

It’s a huge honour to be able to call myself a four-time Aurora Award finalist. Whether I win or not, I’m glad that these awards exist to bring awareness to Canadian science fiction and fantasy. And hey, four-time Aurora Award loser at least sounds hilarious, and I don’t let anything get in the way of a good laugh.

All the Broken Blades – Book Launch

The book launch for All the Broken Blades occurred on June 8, 2025 at the Imperial Pub. I had a full house (yay!), a wonderful host in Peter G. Reynolds, give-aways, a special oral storytelling version of “Glass Gardens,” and a trivia session where people fought over broken and unbroken swords.

If you’ve had a chance to read All the Broken Blades: an honest review on Goodreads, Amazon, Indigo, and/or your platform of choice would be appreciated!