Have you ever wanted to write your own strange and dark tale?

If you are in Montreal on July 14th, I would like to invite you to Beyond Lovecraft: A Weird Fiction Writing Workshop. I’ll be hosting this beginner-friendly creative writing workshop at Librairie Phoenix Bookstore in NDG (5928 Sherbrooke West) from 5pm to 7pm.

It’s the first creative writing workshop I’ve led in years, and my first at Phoenix.

Inspired by Sarah Wolfson’s poetry workshops this year, also held at Phoenix, I set up this event to give participants a chance to write weird tales of their own.

Having completed my #WeirdFictionChallenge last year, I have some unique expertise and experience in the genre.

Here’s the official workshop description:

Have you always wanted to write a strange and dark tale of your own?

Whether you’re new to weird fiction or a passionate acolyte, this two-hour creative writing workshop will give you the tools you need to write in this horror-adjacent mode. Looking beyond the cosmic horror genre Lovecraft spawned, we will seek inspiration from a range of classic and contemporary writers of the weird, such as Algernon Blackwood, China Miéville, Leena Kohn, and Kelly Link, among others.

These authors’ fiction ranges from the Gothic to the surreal and their prose varies from florid and ornate to deceptively simple. While learning how to create a sense of the uncanny, the sublime, and the unknowable, you will leave the workshop with pages of new writing and a seed for your own weird tale.

If interested, please sign up using the Google Form: https://forms.gle/8Quw539TQV6Ptnb88. Registration is $25. Payment details are on the form.

Phoenix Bookstore is community spot, a secondhand bookstore that hosts lively literary events, including the Phoenix Open Mic, workshops, and book launches.

What have I been up to?

It’s been four months since I last sent out a newsletter, so I figured a quick update is in order.

My first big news is that I will be starting to teach English literature full time at John Abbott College this Fall. It’s not a permanent position, but it is full time, with three course sections on my schedule. It’ll mean a long morning commute for me, but this feels like the fruition of everything I’ve been working towards since graduating from my MA in 2016. I’m definitely nervous but it goes well, it could be the beginning of a career that matches my expertise.

In writing news, at this moment, I’m proud to say I have not one but three forthcoming short stories in different publications! First, my short story about cyberpunk pirates on the Montreal metro system, “The Métro Pirates,” is coming out with Unréal, an anthology of science fiction stories set in Montreal. It’s a collaboration between AE: The Canadian Science Fiction Review and Flame Arrow Publications. I can’t wait for the world to read this one. People who love cyberpunk and the post-apocalyptic Montreal aesthetic found in grindhouse films such as Sleazy Pete or Punk Fu Zombie will love this story.

Second, my contemporary-world treatment of the legend of Atlantis, “The Risen City,” is forthcoming with NewMyths.com (where I also recently published an interview with Odyssey classmate Pablo Valcárcel Castro for his debut epic fantasy, Dream of the Jet-Black City). “The Risen City” owes a lot to Steve Toase’s collection Dirt Under My Skin and will be one of my first published weird tales, due in September.

Third, my weird tale “Place de la Cathédrale, Saturday Night,” will be appearing in The Stygian Zine, a local horror zine made by Stygian Media, very soon, on July 3rd, Franz Kafka’s birthday. The theme of the collection is “End of Days.”

In a five-year-plan, I gave myself the goal of publishing two stories that represent me by the end of 2026. I’m proud to say I’ve exceeded that amount. I’ve been trying to be more deliberate about finding time in the morning to write, and my one-on-one workshops with my friend, Jerome Ramcharitar, has been encouraging me to maintain my progress.

I’m trying to get as much as I can done by the time my new contract starts, since it will be harder to find the time to write during the semester. But I do hope to keep writing as I start teaching, even if my output slows down.

If you’re still thinking of taking Beyond Lovecraft: A Weird Fiction Writing Workshop, here’s a link to the Google Form to register: https://forms.gle/ME2fXtDgxWMUBwPn7.