Oh I have a few of these.

Huh. My whole life, from my dad's curling bonspiels in the 80s to my partner's current D&D group and my kid's MtG group, finding regular low-barrier group activities with buddies has been one thing that all the men I have known have consistently excelled at. (Also I had no idea mahjong was back.)

Canada’s premier speculative fiction magazine calls it a day after 35 years www.cbc.ca/arts/on-spec...

Today's AI generated scam email was from someone ostensibly offering to be a beta reader (for cash, presumably) so that's a new twist.

One of my favourite novels of the last few years. Pick it up.

I am at my mechanic getting my tires changed over (made the appointment a couple of weeks ago) and they have taken 5 calls, in the 15 minutes since they opened, from people asking whether they can get squeezed in today (they cannot).

The clock just ticked over to Edmund Fitzgerald day. Here are the Rheostatics.

congress could eliminate them at any time by passing a bill that instituted an automatic continuing resolution at the last approved funding level whenever the term of the last budget bill was exceeded. It would not be hard, on a technical level. It would just take a normal bill. It is a choice.

Shutdowns weren't a thing in the US either, until they were invented by the Carter administration. It's not some natural, immutable characteristic of the US system of government, although people (not the OP) talk about it that way.

We got the furniture/books cleared out and the old carpet pulled up yesterday. Today's measuring and cutting has mostly reminded me of my pure white mutual hatred for numbers and three dimenisional space, but we trudge onward.

Sometimes I wonder if our many years of jokes about writers hating writing and doing anything but writing, etc, have convinced people that the writing part is the hurdle and the goal is just to have a thing in hand. But I am here to tell you: the writing is the best part. The act is the thing.

I have found the perfect Bluesky account. bsky.app/profile/hwae...

Happy birthday, Jacob and Evie! They show up occasionally in my two 19th c AC books. They're getting hard to find in print, but you can find the ebooks easily, and the audiobooks read by Moira Quirk. 50% on the first one here:

Family movie night was In the Name of the Father, which my kid hadn't seen before. Still excellent, still funny, still enraging. Daniel Day-Lewis and Pete Postlethwaite both in top form.

When we moved into our house we said "too bad there's carpet in the bedrooms, but we can replace that." I don't want to tell you how many years ago that was. But today's the day!

I swear I've had so many visitors ask me about various things in this city "but why would someone put that ... there?" or "why is that like that?" and the answer is always "oh don't get me started on that mess." Someone should do a walking tour: 75 years of Ottawa planning decisions.

This is a crappy plan for the city but it'll make some people some money, so, par for the course for Ottawa. Disappointed but not surprised.

Today's newsletter is about getting stuff done.

Hi Bluesky 👋 Small life update: I’m at the centre of a multimillion dollar lawsuit in Alberta launched by a failed candidate for Jason Kenney’s UCP It may be the longest and most expensive media trial in Canadian history I’m ready to go public about it and I want to share more details with you 🧵

if you're Jewish (and even if you're not) and you like Shakespeare and you're in NYC, consider going to see PLAYING SHYLOCK, a solo show starring Saul Rubinek. I was very curious about this show since I have complicated feelings about "Merchant."

Ottawa folks! Please come see my smash-hit show about an historic all-woman gang. Playing next week (Nov 13-16) @gctclive.bsky.social for 5 shows only! 🐘👯‍♀️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Today's newsletter is about getting stuff done.

huzzah

People are reading seismic changes into floor-crossing but meh, it's common in Canadian politics. First thing I thought when we ended up with a slim minority was "there'll be floor-crossing." A party making a floor-crosser so terrified/miserable they quit would be unusual, though, if that happened.

My main contract gig is being cut, and my family responsibilities are less demanding than a few years ago. So please get in touch if you know of writing/editing/research/workshop positions, any hours, ideally remote or Ottawa. Extra points for good causes. I know it's rough out there for everyone.

This sent me back to 2013, when the SFWA Bulletin published a string of bad choices including a column by Mike Reznick and Barry Malzberg about "lady editors" and the people who complained were all nasty RUINERS. Anyway, it led to the milestone Lightspeed edition Women Destroy Science Fiction.

1/ Breaking News: The Supreme Court of Canada has agreed to hear the appeal of UR Pride v. Government of Saskatchewan - a landmark case challenging the province’s law that prevents students under 16 from changing their names or pronouns at school without parental consent.

Breaking News: Late last night Conde Nast illegally fired 4 union organizers who asked company execs to explain the downsizing of Teen Vogue and continued layoffs. We’ve filed a grievance.

Thinking about social safety nets in Canada vs the US and the FDR line: "if American democracy ceases to move forward as a living force, seeking day and night by peaceful means to better the lot of our citizens, fascism will grow in strength in our land" and you know, Canada is not taking the lesson

Also worth noting Canada has double the unionization rate of the US, so it's not just the government policy that affects a lot of people's experiences. A top-up benefit in your contract makes a huge difference (although knowing you'll keep your job and get some $ from the gvt is the foundation).

Canada's actually not even very good on this from a global standpoint, but we're a lot better than the US so we feel smug anyway (applies to many things). Worth pointing out it's parental leave, not (entirely) mat leave -- I took six months, my male partner took six.

Nice to see something new at least

Pre-order link before I forget!! www.barnesandnoble.com/w/mercutio-k...

Hahahhahaha

Oh no I updated my Samsung phone without thinking, and now it's like a little Times Square billboard for Gemini AI which is now glitching and going blank randomly and looping and slow and losing power at an alarming rate, this is fine

Writing my first straight protagonist (in a non-work-for-hire book) since, hmm, 4 books ago. Looking forward to people asking me why I made her straight and whether shoehorning that in serves the plot.

Breaking the social media avoidance to signal boost Sienna Tristen's Kickstarter for an *orchestrated audiobook* of the first Heretic's Guide to Homecoming novel! I've heard a sample (you can too, below) and trust me, if you like audiobooks, you need this. www.kickstarter.com/projects/sie...

Two signed and personalized paperbacks from me (I will ship) currently going for a song in the Pulp Literature auction, which goes until the end of November. They would make nice gifts. app.galabid.com/kpr2025/item...

OK, in honour of their hall of fame induction, my personal favourite 10 White Stripes songs. Ask me tomorrow and you'd get a different 10 -- I had to make some painful cuts to pare it down. +

I lost the framed original of this while I was going through St Pancras on Sunday Nov 2nd around 3pm. Would love if it had been found by anyone?

Head on over to add your own work or others' to the eligibility lists! (I have nothing eligible myself this year, unless I'm forgetting something)

On a small personal level, I spent a significant chunk of my years as a columnist learning about Canada's intl spending priorities and writing about it in major newspapers, won an award for it. 10 years after leaving that job, hard not to feel I wasted my time and others' (see also climate policy).

Please read the thread. It's enraging watching this happen.

I knew it would take less than a day for a tiktok dj to make something.

Been humming Ain't That News since last night, like the ancient folkie I am.

Read the responses and you will understand why the campaign is successful.

It is incredibly joyful to open this feed and watch my US peeps posting good news after good news. I hope this keeps on going for y'all

Good job New York

Electoral fusion is one of the elements of (some) US politics I find it hardest to understand as a Canadian. Intellectually I understand it, but it is just a very different way of thinking.

Curator of Birds would be a beautiful name for God, for those inclined that way