Detour on the Eight-Fold Path Reprinted

My short story, "Detour on the Eight-Fold Path" has been reprinted in JayHenge's anthology, AI, ROBOT.

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The story originally appeared in Neo-Opsis Magazine #31.

Review of State of the Arc

This review originally appeared in The Ottawa Review of Books, Nov 2023.

State of the Ark: Canadian Future Fiction Edited and Introduction by Lesley Choyce
Reviewed by Robert Runté

As soon as I heard about this anthology, I knew I had to have it for my collection, because I already have Lesley Choyce’s and John Bell’s pioneering 1981 Visions from the Edge, the first anthology of speculative fiction from Atlantic Canada; and Choyce’s 1992 Ark of Ice, a now classic anthology of Canadian speculative fiction (Canada being the ark in question). State of the Ark represents the current state and range of speculative fiction in Canada 2023, including checking in with some of the same authors from the 1992 volume. It is, like its predecessors, an excellent cross-section of the Canadian speculative genre at one moment in time.

At one end of the spectrum, we have traditional space fiction: Robert Sawyer’s “Star Light, Star Bright”, is an approachable story of Dyson spheres, interstellar colonies, and good parenting. Sawyer’s stories are always about exploring the less-than-obvious implications of big scientific concepts and bringing those down to the human level. This short is an example of why Sawyer is arguably Canada’s most successful science fiction writer.

Julie E. Czerneda’s “Foster Earth” is similarly a classic first-contact story: humans trying to figure out how to communicate with The Silent with absolutely nothing to go on . . . and coincidentally, another story about great parenting. I love it!

My favourite SF story, though, is Julian Mortimer Smith’s “Read-Only Memory”, which explores near-future tech to absolutely nail contemporary attitudes and relationships. I’m definitely going to have to hunt down more of Smith’s work.

Jeremy Hull’s “Bright Future” covers the similar ground of virtual technology and relationships, but this time from a parenting angle (hmm, starting to see a trend here). C.J. Lavigne’s “Side Effects May Include” is a sharply Canadian take on medical tech’s relationship with late-stage capitalism.

Other more or less traditional SF entries included Spider Robinson’s story of slow interstellar travel; John Park’s “Hammerhead” other-world colonization; Terri Favro’s “Winter Pilgrimage of the Storytellers”, a multi-world portal novel; and Hugh A.D. Spencer’s “Shoebox or The End of Civilization in Five Objects or Less”, a delightful satire of pompous museum staff, the ill-treatment of freelances, and the comeuppance Spencer (himself, a museum consultant) would wish upon them. Greg Bechtel’s “2115: Notes Toward Nine Stories of the Future” examines recent articles to project nine mutually exclusive punchlines for future fiction.

At the other end of the spectrum, we have the stories that lean heavily into CanLit, like Katherine Govier’s “VIXEN, SWAN, EMU, BEAR”. I really enjoyed her writing which connected each totem to moments in the narrator’s relationships. This story could comfortably have found a home in any Canadian literary journal. If anything, I questioned whether the speculative element was a bit thin, really only appearing in the last page—it felt a little tacked on. I was, therefore, not entirely surprised to read in her bio that the story had indeed originally appeared in Exile Literary Quarterly and the ending was added for this volume. I am not complaining though! It’s a marvelous piece of writing, and I am always appreciative that our best literary writers are open to stepping across genre lines, which elsewhere are often considered impenetrable. The number and influence of Canadian literary writers crossing over into speculative fiction is one reason our version of the genre is distinct from the mass market American version.

Between these two poles are stories that blur the line between literary and speculative genres.

Élisabeth Vonarburg’s “Terminus” is a parallel world story, but mostly about relationships, identity and self-worth. Casey June Wolf’s “Substance. Light” works some of the same themes, but with an even more poetic bent. Both allude to suicide (so: trigger warning).

Candas Jane Dorsey’s “The Card is the World” a dark--or maybe darkly funny--story plays with literary structure to deliver a commentary on science, suits, and--inevitably--relationships. (And almost as an aside, the invisibility of older women.) Tim Wynne-Jones’ “Eternity Leave” has flying saucers, but it is really a story about imagination, the literary life, and a beautiful day. The story nicely balances literal narrative and Wynne-Jones’ whimsical style.

Lesley Choyce’s own “Tantramar: A Love Story in a Time of Crisis” is either speculative fiction if we believe the characters, Canlit if they are delusional. It could go either way, but it works as a love story, so is categorization important?

I judge The State of the Ark an accurate presentation of current trends in the genre. Old writers and new are both represented, the new bringing a hopefully growing diversity of voices. There is an underlying optimism running through all these stories, even the dystopian ones, which is perhaps new. The collection as a whole is more literary than idea-driven, more about the writing than story-telling, which I would argue reflects the growing maturity of the speculative genre overall, even beyond Canada. Better yet, the majority of the stories here straddle these divides to combine the best of both CanLit and SF. There is room for both space ships and poetic language in Canadian speculative fiction, and even the straight-forward SF all has an identifiable Canadian slant to it.

The State of the Ark is a ‘must-have’ for anyone wondering what Canadian future fiction fares these days.

The State of the Ark is published by Pottersfield Press, 2023.

Ransom and the Open Window Reprinted

My short story, "Ransom and the Open Window" has been reprinted in Neo-Opsis Magazine #35. It is the third story in my Ransom and Friends urban fantasy series, but was the first to be published, back in 2019, in First Line Literary Journal.

Fami's Watch Reprinted

Australia's Antipodean SF #301 (Nov 1, 2023) has reprinted my flash story "Fami's Watch", which originally appeared in Polar Borealis #20, Dec 2021.

"Misdial" Published in Flash Fiction Online

My flash story, "Misdial",is up today at Manawaka Studios, Flash Fiction Podcast.

The story originally appeared in Active Voice/Voix active, the Editors Canada newsletter, Spring/Summer, 2019, and reprinted in Metastellar March 8, 2021.

Three Drabbles Published

Issue #63 of Sirens Call is out today and contains three of my drabbles (p.334): "The Family Home" (original to this issue) and two reprints: "Staked to the Stars" originally published by Microfiction Monday and "Spellcheck" originally published by ScribesMicro. Siren's Call is free to download:http://www.sirenscallpublications.com/pdfs/SirensCallEZine_Halloween2023.pdf #63 is the Halloween issue.

Guest of Honour Speech Re-Podcast

I've just noticed that When Words Collide republished an excerpt from my 2016 Keynote on their August "Collision Reconstructed" podcast. https://whenwordscollide.libsyn.com/2023-006-collision-reconstruction-life-hacks

I'm not entirely sure how my curmudgeonly opening qualifies as a "Life-hack" but still happy to be included along with Jack Whyte and Leanne Shirtliffle. (The rest of my speech was hopefully more positive than this excerpt...my concluding prognosis was that things were actually pretty good for the long term. Original, complete speech here: https://whenwordscollide.libsyn.com/2016-004-goh-robert-runte )

New Drabble Published

My drabble, "Cabin Fever" was published in Fairfield ScribesMicro #34. This was their contest issue, and my story received an honourable mention. You have to scroll down to find my story, but the winners are well worth reading. (I particularly related to the 1st-place winner. A nice summation of what I was trying to do in my short story, "Time in the Garden" in Lamp Lit Underground Vol. 6, (2021) pp. 8-12.)

The Bad Day Book Published

The Bad Day Book (Vol.1) is up on Amazon.ca today. I have two (hopefully humorous) flash memoir pieces in this volume: "The Lecture" and "Of Mice and Cannibals". The ebook version is on sale this week for $6.73 CND ($4.00 US) but will be double that next week.

My writer friends might want to note that there are many more volumes planned for the future (assuming always this one sells, but it's the sort of book one could see being sold at Costco or Walmart, so I'm assuming they will be a go.) The contract is very similar to the rights Chicken Soup of the Soul asks for, so that may disqualify the market for some writers, but they do accept old blog posts, which gives these pieces a significantly larger audience than the 7 people subscribed to my blog. The editor, Amilee Weaver Selfridge, is a delight to work with.

Fami's Dissertation Defense Republished

My flash fiction, "Fami's Dissertation Defense", has been reprinted in Polar Borealis #26, out this week. Polar Borealis is available free for download as a PDF, the story starts on page 42.

[The story originally appeared in Ripples in Space Magazine (which appears to have been inactive since 2020)].

My review of Matthew Hughes' Cascor

My review of Matthew Hughes' lastest short story collection, Cascor, is up at The Ottawa Review of Books (now in its 10th year!"

https://www.ottawareviewofbooks.com/single-post/cascor-by-matthew-hughes

New Short Story in Occult Detective Magazine

My short story, "An Isolated Case" has been published in Occult Detective Magazine

My Itinerary for When Words Collide, August 4-6, Delta South, Calgary

I'm looking forward to attending When Words Collide in Calgary August 4-6. I'm currently slotted on the following events:

Friday 1 PM - Practice Pitch: People hoping to pitch to acquisiton editors/agents later in the conference get to practice and get feedback from me first.

Friday 3 PM Working with an Editor panel
Fireside

Friday 4 PM -Writer/Editor Speed Mingle: like speed dating, editors/writers meet each other for 5 minutes each
Atrium commons

Saturday 2 PM - Why Are Zombies Essential to a Writer’s Group? panel session
Waterton

Saturday 4 PM - What are SFF Editors Looking For? panel
A-Waterton

Sunday 10 AM - Blue Pencil Cafe: quick feedback on opening pages -requires sign up
Jasper

Sunday 4 PM B- - Multiculturalism in 2023
Canmore

I will also be hanging out the rest of the con to meet people etc.

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