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My generation from Verdun grew up With Fathers who worked in factories and Mothers who, if they worked were in retail or service low paying respectable jobs. To do better…
writing
Unretired (LOCKDOWN LOLITA writing challenge winner)
Congratulations to Elaine Hayden Booker! She won the LOCKDOWN LOLITA writing challenge with her postcard story, Unretired. I love how quirky it is. Follow Elaine at her blog or on…
LOLITA writing contest
This is it. I am hosting a writing contest. There is a prize. TWO prizes, to be honest. But ‘cept the two prizes are two individual things that are actually…
Machiavelli and the Elizabethans
In 1555, Bishop Stephen Gardiner wrote a treatise to King Phillip II of Spain, in which he borrowed (aka plagiarized) extensively from Machiavelli’s The Prince and The Discourses. Gardiner did…
100,000 thank yous
Last week, I passed 100,000 unique views on this blog – in slightly over two years since it was started. Not large by any means, given that some sites easily…
Bookish Butch
Proud to say my favorite former used bookstore owner has won best blog in the GLBT category! Way to go, Caroline!! Canadian Blog Awards 2014 results Bookish Butch
POV Magazine
When Marc Glassman, the editor of POV magazine, asked me to join the publication as the newest contributing editor last year I was honoured. As Canada’s only source of writing…
Milton: A Master of Run-On Sentences
MILTON: A MASTER OF RUN-ON SENTENCES: I'm about halfway through the collected works of John Milton. It's a project that's taking some time. Mercifully the poetry is at the front…
Milton: A Master of Run-On Sentences
MILTON: A MASTER OF RUN-ON SENTENCES: I'm about halfway through the collected works of John Milton. It's a project that's taking some time. Mercifully the poetry is at the front…
Milton: A Master of Run-On Sentences
MILTON: A MASTER OF RUN-ON SENTENCES: I’m about halfway through the collected works of John Milton. It’s a project that’s taking some time. Mercifully the poetry is at the front…
Milton: A Master of Run-On Sentences
MILTON: A MASTER OF RUN-ON SENTENCES: I’m about halfway through the collected works of John Milton. It’s a project that’s taking some time. Mercifully the poetry is at the front…
The Mac celebrates 30 years
A recent article on Gizmodo shows off some previously unseen (or perhaps just forgotten) footage of a young Steve Jobs unveiling the Macintosh computer, back on January 30, 1984. Thirty…
For want of a nail…
Bought a book at Loblaws (of all places) this week, one by Harry Turtledove: The Big Switch. It’s one of his many alternative history novels, about what might have happened…
Saving Fubsy from Lexicographical Caliginosity
Cousin Stephen, you will never be a saint. Isle of saints. You were awfully holy, weren’t you? You prayed to the Blessed Virgin that you might not have a red…
Brands, Buzz & Going Viral
My third book for Municipal World, Brands, Buzz & Going Viral, has just been published as part of the Municipal Information Series. I received my author’s copies yesterday. I am…
Archiving past posts
I spent a busy weekend copying posts from my previous blog (hundreds of posts, currently archived on another server awaiting my resolution) onto my hard drive. I plan to resurrect…
New story up at Jersey Devil Press
My latest flash fiction is now up for reading in the 50th edition of the Jersey Devil Press, in either their fancy full-magazine mode, or as a plain old web…
Looking back on 2103
It’s been quite a year, both personally and politically. The best of times, the worst of times, to paraphrase Dickens. Looking back on 2103, it was a busy, eventful, successful,…
Dictionaries: Concise, Compact, and dacoit
Dacoit: noun; one of a class of criminals in India and Burma who rob and murder in roving gangs. A member of a band of armed robbers in India or…
Canada Post writes its own obituary
Headline news this week: Canada Post moves to end home delivery. End home delivery? For me, both as a writer, a lay historian, and growing up in an era where…