It's been a busy month, and I meant to post some more in September, but that's just how she goes sometimes. Why not begin with some writing-related stuff?

The authors for the issue my folk horror story is featured in haven't been announced yet, but it will be published this month. Really looking forward to sharing it once the magazine reveals it all! They only chose 6 pieces out of more than 500 submissions, so I feel quite honoured to be included. I hope everyone really enjoys the story. I'll be spamming it out on socials for sure :D

I've been busy submitting all summer and into the fall, but responses have been surprisingly slow. I hope this doesn't mean that more magazines and anthologies are ghosting writers instead of at least sending a basic form letter. I still have 5 stories out from July, and another 7 from August, and it's already October! Oh well, all I can do is wait and continue to obsessively check my inbox.

I also joined a community of horror writers on Discord. Why not? My last three publications have been horror stories, so I may as well keep pushing for more success in this genre. It's also a good genre for mixing with others, like sci-fi/spec-fic, fantasy, historical, folk, etc.

It's been a lot of fun so far; it's an active community that hosts plenty events every week, including a monthly writer's sprint where we are given a prompt at the last minute and are tasked with writing a complete story in a single hour. I've participated in two, and as a result, I've got two more 1000-word pieces that I can eventually flesh out into 1500-2000 words and start submitting. The best part of these sprints is that the host will narrate all of our stories after the hour is up. It's kind of blown my mind what these writers can come up with in just an hour with zero preparation.

Last writing thing that I should've posted last month - my spec horror piece Thalassophobia was featured on the AntipodeanSF radio show and podcast. It's my first shot at narration, and I think I did pretty well on only my third take. My intro, followed by the story, starts at the 17:40 mark here:
https://antisf.libsyn.com/brunonia

It's also HOCKEY SZN!
So glad to get back to my nightly watching of the ole skatey-skate. Lots of funny stuff happening already, with Edmonton giving up 13 goals in their first 2 games, bringing even more focus to their absurd, long-standing goaltending issues. Hellebuyck refusing to play for the Jets ever again and sitting at home, losing $40K every day while suspended. Dylan Larkin refusing to play for the Red Wings and being booed mercilessly by the home crowd on opening night. The Wings fans chanting, "sell the team!" So much drama, and I'm here for it.

Got to see a rare goalie goal last night, too:

Lastly I'll share that somehow Old Queen Mittens is still among us and seems to be doing okay. After a rough week in August, I was a day or two away from going through with the unthinkable. But since then, she's been eating and drinking fine, and using the litterbox regularly (I had to get a new, more accessible box). There's no telling how long this might last, but I'm grateful for every extra day I get with my old friend.

It's already been a year! Where does the time go? Back on September 1st, 2025, I sent my spec-fic/satire adventure novel out into the world. It's been an interesting journey, and I've learned so much along the way!

Initially I went wide, however that was not a keen strategy - non-Amazon sales made up only about 4-5% of the total for the whole year. Almost every purchase came through Amazon!

And so, it only makes sense to make it an Amazon exclusive. Starting today, Chester and the Sex Robot vs the Woke Mind Virus is available on Kindle Unlimited. If you have a subscription, you can read it for no additional cost!

It's been a heck of a year. Thanks for everyone who followed my adventures in novel and short story publication, and a special thanks to everyone who snapped up a copy and left a rating or review!

After a largely positive post in July, well, things haven't been all that great, so you'll have to forgive me as I've got to whinge about a few things to start off the new journal entry.

About three weeks ago, I began to notice the early signs of kidney stones over the weekend. I've dealt with them three times over the past 7-8 years, so I've got an idea of what it feels like. I immediately began chugging liquids to try and flush it/them out. I only made it halfway through my shift that Monday, as sitting at the desk in my home office was rather excruciating.

The thing with stones is that you can find a comfortable position while lying down and stay that way for a long time pain-free. But if you have to get up (say, to the bathroom, frequently), and move anywhere beyond your bed, the agony can be quite the experience. It's hard to describe.

I had to take the rest of the week off, which is not a good look for me with the new job. Bad! And after all the unnatural hobbling around, making my way through my apartment by grabbing onto doorframes and leaning against walls, I got to experience extreme muscle cramps for more than a week after the stone(s) had passed.

Enough whinging yet? This past Sunday I began to experience significant throat pain. Rough, burning, painful to swallow. I had already missed a lot of work, so I powered through as best I could on Monday, but that probably made things worse since I had to talk a lot. I didn't eat all day, and by the evening the pain was quite intense. I developed a mild fever, and also could not sleep. At 4am I puked my (largely empty) guts out.

Had to miss work again, not really a choice. Just had to rest and hope to get better. I worked today, but I asked that I not have to do any speaking. The end is now in sight - whatever this is, flu, COVID, random summer cold, it's transitioned into more of a congestion/sneezing/fatigue kind of sickness, and my throat feels much better. I'll give a normal shift a go tomorrow, and I think it will be okay.

So that's what's been going on with me. Fun times.

The next bad thing is that after a great July, and overall a solid summer, Old Queen Mittens has not been doing well over the past week or so. Not eating or drinking enough, and it's undeniable from the light use of the litterbox. She's not doing so great and might not have too much longer. But then again, after some short bad stretches, she's bounced back just fine. Really not sure this time. She doesn't seem too comfortable, which is my main concern; there's no reason for her to suffer on account of my not wanting to lose her. I'll be keeping a close eye on things. Here she is snoozing last night:

Well, this has turned into a long and depressing post. I mentioned "successes" in the headline, so I guess I should lighten things up a little - but only briefly. I won't get into the details as I've written enough here tonight as it is.

One very nice thing that happened is that I got an acceptance for a folk horror story I'd only just started shopping around. It will be published in a magazine at some point in October before Halloween, and I'll be sure to post about it when the time comes.

Another cool thing is that I received an email from the editor of AntipodeanSF to let me know that my narration of my flash piece they published will indeed be aired on their radio show and podcast on August 23. The story came out in April, and I thought the narration would come shortly afterwards. I didn't want to bother them about it and just let it go, but now I'll be happy to post the link to the recording in a couple of weeks.

I guess one last positive thing I can talk about right now is that I finally received my Blu-Ray of the Star Trek: Voyager documentary that I backed on Indiegogo something like 5 years ago. There was COVID and a writer's strike, so I get it, but damn. Looong time. I'm looking forward to checking it out this weekend.

My name, and my sweet kitty's, will be included in the end credits (as a couple of the many thousands of producers named for the project).

While life can throw you some negative stuff, and sometimes a whole bunch of it at the same time, well, at least there's still some good to look forward to, and some nice things to think back on. I'll be posting again before the month's out.
Until then.
Hoping I'll only have good things to talk about ​🙏

Well, we're in the middle of July now. Forest fires are raging in northern Ontario (though the smoke has passed by Ottawa for the most part) and we've had some nasty heatwaves with some mid-30s highs. Fortunately, it's looking like we'll be seeing 25C and below for the rest of the month. We had a crazy Canada Day here, with a brutal storm dropping 5 inches of rain and causing major flooding, and naturally a cancellation of celebration events and fireworks. Here's a fun sample of the storm from the safety of my apartment:

For writing stuff, I've banged out a new fantasy story, my longest yet at 6200 words. The plan is to include this one in a "Fellowship of the Indie Author" anthology, which will likely be published this fall. No release date established yet; the contributors are still in the sharing and editing process.

I wrote another flash piece for a monthly forum contest, and was pleased to have the judges award me first place. They also gave me some useful feedback that I'll use to expand the piece before I try selling it. I'd recently placed second and third a couple of times in this contest, but it was nice to get a gold medal after more than a year since the last one.

I've been submitting my newer stories to magazines this month, though I haven't sold anything just yet. I did get a long, personalized rejection, which is always a nice boost to a writer's confidence. Speaking of which, I received a very solid review last week for Chester and the Sex Robot vs the Woke Mind Virus:

You simply love to see it. Plenty of folks are enjoying this book and the commentary is resonating with them! It's a great feeling knowing that readers are being entertained and are appreciating the satire and messaging.

As for personal stuff, the new job is still going great as I finish my 6th week. It's always a little scary getting into something new, and some of the more complex cases I've been assigned had me feeling a bit anxious, but I'm still confident that I'll be successful in this position and will have plenty of opportunities to grow.

Old Queen Mittens has had an excellent July, eating and drinking plenty, and seems quite content despite her hips limiting her mobility. She's been active and engaged, and always starts purring when I pick her up. Hoping she'll be around for a good long while yet.

​Thanks for reading, pals. See you next month !

Holy moly, what a sports weekend we just had! NBA Championship on Saturday, and then a Stanley Cup presentation on Sunday. I didn't really have any skin in the game, but my preferred teams ended up winning, which is nice.

I haven't been watching basketball outside of the Raptors run back in 2019, and before that, it was back when I was a kid with three channels on rabbit ears, 'cause there wasn't anything else to watch, heh.

But on Wednesday, there was no hockey, so I threw on game 4 for background noise as I did my evening internet stuff. Knicks were down by 26 when I tuned in, so I wasn't paying a lot of attention. But my eyes kept going back to the TV as they continued closing the gap, and soon I was all-in on the game. They won 107-106, completing the best comeback win in NBA Finals history.

And on Sunday, after trailing pretty well the entire game, they once again came back and got the points they needed right at the end to secure their first championship in 53 years, with MVP Jalen Brunson scoring 45 points. Not too shabby !

And on to the hockey. As I'd feared, Carolina absolutely dominated the Canadiens and cruised to an easy 4-1 series win. Still, pretty impressive for the youngest team in the league to make it to the Conference Final. They have a bright future ahead.

The dastardly Vegas team swept Colorado in the West, mostly due to injuries to their star players, and the Stanley Cup Final matchup was set. I thought it might be the most boring series in recent memory, but it was extremely entertaining.

Game 6, where they clinched the championship, was the least entertaining game, but it was just a Carolina clinic of shutdown hockey after they established a lead. It sure helped that Brandon Bussi played the game of his life, securing the shutout win. What a great story - this dude (who will be turning 28 in a couple weeks) made his NHL debut this season and had one of the best rookie starts you can get. He's too old to be considered for Rookie of the Year, though.

​Happy for the Hurricanes. Well-deserved win !

Well, that was a lot of sports, but like I said, it was quite the sports weekend !

I've been up to a few things writing-wise of late. I'm up to 2800 words for the Fellowship anthology, which is roughly at the halfway mark, I think. It's probably going to be the longest short story I've written. The theme for the anthology is "sentient weapons," and I'm having a fun time with it. My story is about an enchanted arrow that strikes a fleeing infantryman in the leg, which sets the stage for a fun buddy comedy adventure. I've got a few weeks to finish it up, and I'll be working on it again this weekend.

I also wrote a new flash piece, and I've been putting out some more magazine submissions. Consequently, I've received more rejections, bringing my yearly total to 51. I should be good to hit my goal of 100 rejections by the end of the year, though I wouldn't mind another acceptance or two before then.

Chester and the Sex Robot vs the Woke Mind Virus sold fairly well in May, so I leveraged some new Amazon ad campaigns for June, and I've already hit May's numbers just halfway through the month. It's my first summer after putting a book out on offer, so maybe this is normal? Summer reading boost, perhaps? Hope June closes out strong and the momentum carries into July and beyond !

To finish up the Me Stuff, I started my third week of work today. It's been a little tricky adjusting to a day shift after working 11-7 for so many years, but I'm gradually getting more used to it. I still need to have a nap most days after I finish, but usually it's not longer than an hour and a bit. I'm feeling pretty confident and I think I'll do well here. I'll get my first paycheck later this week!

Anyway, that's about it for now. Thanks for checking in and hope to see you again for the next update !

I accepted an offer with a new employer this afternoon! Let's go !

​It'd been a long time since I'd been out of work, over 15 years, and things sure have changed since then. Back in the day, it was most common to have everything decided from a single (and long) interview in person. Now it's routine for there to be multiple interviews with several different team leads and managers; in my case there were three.

But I performed very well for each, projected confidence, and demonstrated higher-level knowledge of the kind of work I'll be doing, which led to my receiving a generous offer this afternoon. I'm excited to start this new chapter of my working life and I believe I'll find plenty of opportunities for advancement with this company. I'll just have to work on getting back to a normal sleep schedule before I start on June 1.

For writing stuff, I expanded a short after workshopping it a bit, going from 1200 words to over 2200. I think I've got a better chance at selling it now. I also got 1000 words into a new fantasy story that I'm writing for the second anthology from Fellowship of the Indie Author. This is a community of writers on Twitter, but since they're getting rid of communities soon, we've moved over to Discord.

I'm also up to 44 rejections for the year now, and The Souled is still out on the full request. It's been about 2.5 months now, and they said it'll take 4-6 months to get back to me. Still hoping for the best on that one.

Okay, it's playoffs hockey time !

I'll post this short clip first to represent how I feel about landing a great new job and how the Habs (and their fans) feel about their winning game 7 in overtime against the Buffalo Sabres:

It was a great series, and hats off to the Sabres for making it this far after a staggering 14-season playoff drought. The game-winning goal was a little weak, but hey, Montreal fans will happily take it, especially after that wacky dump-in goal against them that went off a stanchion.

I'm very happy for this young, talented team (youngest in the league!), but I fear they may get steamrolled by the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Final. Montreal advanced by beating Tampa Bay in 7, and now Buffalo in 7, which has got to result in some bumps and bruises, injuries, and significant fatigue. Carolina on the other hand, they swept both Ottawa and Philly, and will have rested for 12 days before the ECF begins. 14 tough games versus 8 relatively easy ones. It'll be an uphill battle, but I wish them luck.

​Lastly, I gotta post this clip of Mitch Marner scoring what might prove to be the goal of the 2026 playoffs. Never knew he had these kinda moves in him when he was still with the Maple Leafs. Amazing stuff.

The horror anthology edited by Robin Knabel is now available for purchase! The ARC reviews on Goodreads have been overwhelmingly positive thus far, and I hope it sells well!

My short story Thaw is included within these pages, a 2200-word spec-fic horror that I've love to tease, but I don't want to spoil anything. Let's just say that it explains the demise of the Neanderthals, and it's nothing one might expect !

I really hope readers of this anthology enjoy my contribution. I'm looking forward to receiving my author's copy soon and checking out all the other stories! Exciting times !

​https://www.amazon.com/Beasts-Bones-Robin-Knabel/dp/B0GX6LYC3T

The days are rapidly growing longer and warmer. It won't be long before the red-winged blackbirds are screaming outside my windows all morning. Overnight, I like to leave them open and enjoy the cool, fresh air, but these fellers are relentless, let me tell you.

It's been a pretty solid spring for sales of Chester and the Sex Robot vs the Woke Mind Virus. Readers in the US, UK, and Canada scooped up several copies during the last week of March and the first week of April, including a handful of paperbacks. You simply love to see it. I hope they all really enjoy it and leave good reviews 🙏

I've been doing my regular submitting (up to 38 rejections now) and research, and I've been doing some short story editing recently. Most importantly, I've gotten back to actively working on a novel - the hard sci-fi one. I've added about 4000 words over the past week and a bit, bringing the total to just over 15,000. The progress is a bit slow, but hopefully it picks up a bit more as I grow more familiar with the characters, setting, and story.

One of my horror flash pieces has been published by AntipodeanSF, but I'll hold off on sharing that one til I can include the radio/podcast narration as well. They air on Sundays, so it might even be tomorrow, not sure yet.

In sporting news, my beloved Pittsburgh Penguins have miraculously clinched a playoff spot. The consensus was that they'd likely be a bottom-5 team this year and there were rumors that they might even trade Sidney Crosby (who's still setting new records at age 38). But nope - he, along with fellow old-timers Malkin and Letang are going to get another kick at the can. How about that. I don't like their odds, but anything can happen if you've got a chip and a chair, so to speak.

The Ottawa Senators also clinched a spot tonight, which is nice to see. Not like I could afford playoff tickets anyway, being unemployed and all, but I'll cheer them on from home. It's a fun time of year for hockey; there's still a few spots up for grabs, and there's only 2 or 3 games left for most teams to make their move.

It's kind of blowing my mind that it'll be April next week. Time sure can fly when you're wasting a lot of it. I guess it'll be nice to have more consistent temperatures soon; most of the month has been a snow/freeze/thaw cycle, which would be fine if the building staff adjusted the heat level accordingly. Alas.

On to the writing stuff !
I've been decently productive lately. The other day I finished judging 12 flash stories for a forum contest, which was a lot of fun. Great prompt. There were several top-notch entries, including a few that I feel are ready to be published, along with a couple which are close to that point. You simply love to see it. It makes me want to write better stories.

I also wrote a couple of brief articles for another writing forum about the submission process and self-publishing. They only need a little bit of editing before they're good to go. At this point, I consider myself a bit of an expert on these subjects! Might as well share what I've learned, and who knows, maybe some writers will find the information helpful.

A lot of magazines open up in the spring, so I've been sending off a few submissions to SFFH publications. I'll go through my lists again this week as a lot of places are closing on March 31. It'd be nice to get another acceptance or two, as I love to have upcoming publications. I have two coming up, and both are in April, but I don't have anything else going on after that (other than waiting to hear back from the full manuscript request).

I feel like I'm nearing a decision regarding my novel-writing (in)activities. Logically, I should be getting a sequel out there by the fall, one that works as a standalone and satirizes the other side of those satirized in the first book. I'm all set for self-publishing now, and I think I'd do a much better job with the second launch. It makes the most sense and I've been trying to convince myself to go this route.

But on the other hand, I'm still just not in a comedy-writing mood. If I try to be funny now, I bet it'll come off as way more cynical than intended. I want it to be more fun and positive. I'm leaning towards the opinion that now is simply not the time to write this book, and I should work on another project instead.

Yeah, I think I just had to talk it out. I'm going to get back to working on this hard sci-fi book I started last year. It's about 15% done and I left it at a place where it should be easy to pick up. In my head I know where the next big plot points are hitting. I just gotta fill in the pages between them. It's a good time for me to write some serious space drama.

Finally, Old Queen Mittens has had a good March. She's put on a little weight and seems to be doing quite well after a slight change in diet. Long live the Queen!
Til next time !

Still no new job, or even an interview, despite sending out a few dozen applications. I've got some runway with the ole employment insurance, so I'm not panicking just yet. Although, with the accursed gen AI replacing hundreds of thousands of human tech workers...I do need to find something sooner than later.

In the meantime, I've tried to be at least moderately productive when it comes to the writing stuff. I'm still submitting stories regularly, and as a result, I'm up to 32 rejections for the year so far. I should easily hit 100, or even 150 again by the end of the year. These were pretty much all form rejections, though. Would be nice to get a couple more personalized ones with some feedback.

I wrote a new flash piece for an annual writing forum championship contest (invite only), and placed 3rd out of 17, landing me a $20 USD prize. I'll take it! I wasn't sure how this story would be received by the judges, but since they enjoyed it, I'm comfortable with expanding this into a 2000-2500 word short story at some point in the future. The limit for this contest was 1000 words, and I kinda had to rush the ending a little.

The other bit of good news is that I received a full request from an indie publisher. I hope their editorial board decides to move ahead with the project, but I won't know their decision for 4-6 months. Publishing is such a waiting game, lemme tell ya.

Lastly, I completed an audio recording of a flash horror piece that will be published by AntipodeanSF next month, and also feature on their radio show and podcast. I already had a decent mic with a pop filter, so the sound was actually pretty good. After the editor added some studio magic, well, frankly it sounds close to a professional reading. Nice! I'm looking forward to sharing the links in April.

To close this entry, I wanted to shout out my lovely Old Queen Mittens for her graceful acceptance of her rapidly aging body. Her mobility is now limited to jumping up on my bed, despite the pain medication for her hips and other joints, and she's only comfortable in two of her favorite sleeping spots now - her electric blanket and her pillow on my bed. She has good days and not so good days, but she is comfortable and happy. I just wish she could tell me which can of food she fancies on any given day 😅

She's always been there for me, and I'll always be there for her for whatever comes next.