K.A. Wiggins's Blog

I���m delighted that The Daily Tomorrow picked up my sentient geology eco-apocalypse weird/soft SF short Geosapiology: a brief history of geogenesis, the Stones, and the Theory of Appeasement (releasing as a seven-part serial from Jul. 6-12).

There will be an exclusive authors��� note for subscribers following the final day of the story. But, as is often the case, there are limits to what and how much it���s possible to say about a story on a third party site.

And I have more to say.

I wrote this story in late November of 2023. It was a little over a month after October 7.

In Canada, in my memory and communities, shock, outrage, and mourning over the deaths and hostages lasted a couple of weeks before news started to filter through from Gaza. I remember feeling crazy for months. The cognitive dissonance between what national media and ���nice, normal��� people said and thought, and what I was seeing happening in real time, was beyond belief.

But October 7 happened only a week after the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation/Journ��e nationale de la v��rit�� et de la r��conciliation. (Earlier, and popularly, ���Orange Shirt Day���.)

Canada has a horrifying (ongoing) track record with First Nations/Indigenous people. While I had dug into local history and learned more about the ongoing harms over the past few years, including the persistent crises of murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls (MMIWG), wildly disproportionate rates of Indigenous children in foster care (even after residential schools were closed), and Indigenous people disproportionately incarcerated and killed by police, because of the memorial holiday, I had the opportunity to engage in a focused day of learning hosted by the school district I was working for at the time.

Indigenous educators, authors, and activists, both at that memorial day of learning, and speaking out in the wake of October 7 and Israel���s increasingly genocidal response, really did amazing work in making the connections between historic and contemporary colonial violence at home and abroad explicit and in highlighting that none of us are free until all of us are free���a lesson we are still learning (with increasing intensity).

I���ve lost track of many of those earliest voices (blame the downfall of Twitter), but some sources I recommend today include award winning Cree/Iroquois/French Human Rights Journalist Brandi Morin, Palestinian journalist, activist, and filmmaker Bisan Owda, social justice journalist professor Steven W. Thrasher, L���nu���skw (Mi���kmaw) writer Tiffany Morris, trans Jewish lawyer Sheryl Weikal, Jewish Voice for Peace, and Canadian doctor Yipeng Ge.

Geosapiology was not written ���about Palestine������not exactly. It was written because I had a story prompt (���growth���) and a deadline.

But I think it took the shape it did because I needed to process the pain and horror of the moment, the awfulness of capitalist-colonial-white-supremacist violence across oceans and time, the madness of leaders who refuse to listen to science or people, scientists who operate under the pretense of detachment from historical and socio-political context, and nature crying out for healing.

I very rarely outline or plan short fiction in advance, aside from pieces that come out of creative workshop exercises, and this was 100% a ���writing into the dark��� (discovery/pantsing) creation.

The Stones came about organically and were not intended as a description of any one tradition, legend, myth, or known quantity.

But the story as a whole was inspired, in premise and setting, by the early days of Israel���s attempted and currently ongoing genocide against Palestinians.

The lack of specificity is deliberate. As we���ve already seen, with the violence spreading to Yemen and Iran, the dynamics of aggressor and victim changes over time. I wanted readers not to get hung up on the who/where/when, but to connect the struggle for peace to the conflict of their own moment, whatever that moment might be.

When the setting shifts ���an ocean away,��� I am referencing the west coast of Canada, where I live and set most of my work, and particularly thinking of the Metro Vancouver and Fraser Valley regions. (Though, again, with deliberate lack of specificity, to allow for broad readings.)

These are unceded Coast Salish territories of Turtle Island, home to a diverse and overlapping array of tribes, peoples, and language groups. The Coast Salish peoples actually do have a fascinating tradition of living stone. You can read about one example, Man Turned to Stone: T���xwel��tse from St��:l�� territory.

The link connects to the records of a multi-media exhibit, which was presented at a gallery-museum in Abbotsford, BC. A book was also produced. Some ideas that inspired me were the Stone in a protective/guardian, moral or educational role, the passing along of knowledge/understanding/ways of knowing, and transformation.

I also became familar with just a bit of the Halq���em��ylem language due to living and working on St��:l�� territory, and Xwelitem (hungry people) in particular is such a wonderfully powerful and evocative word/concept. It���s referenced explicitly in the MMIWG section of Geosapiology, but I feel it���s also a thread that runs through any good anticapitalist/anticolonial work. Darcie Little Badger���s YA Novel Elatsoe does this beautifully, as does Ryan Coogler���s film Sinners.

To learn more about the MMIWG crisis (and get involved in advocacy, petitions, protests, fundraising) visit APTN News��� dedicated section The list of people in need of rescue (or investigation into their deaths) unfortunately shifts constantly, but for a broad overview of the issues, you can Read The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and Calls for Justice.

For more a more diverse and culturally authentic lens on some of the topics and settings referenced in this story, I recommend (the excellent!) work of Indigenous and Palestinian(-Canadian) authors such as Tiffany Morris, Sonia Sulaiman, Eden Robinson, Nadia Shammas, and Cherie Dimaline.

While I write from a specific perspective (white settler, in this context) and with specific hopes for readers (treat each other well & stop destroying the earth!), I also recognize and accept stories take on a life of their own.

I wrote about the idea in (Non)Fiction roughly a year ago, when I pulled the first sale of this story from a lit/foreign policy journal due to hinky (and apparently non-negotiable���) contract clauses and a difference of editorial vision.

The world���particularly the view of it from here in North America���feels like it���s only gotten worse. The death toll is mounting in Palestine (and spreading, as Israel is emboldened and funded to wage terror campaigns against its neighbours), Sudan, Congo, and increasingly freedoms are being stripped, reverted, inverted in colonial nations as well���incarceration in the US, anti-protest actions, racist and sexist hate, and the triumph of anti-science forces in the UK, US, and Canada, rising climate deaths and the drastic toll on nature as UK/US/Canada fold to oil/gas lobbyists���

But I feel the concept I was trying to get across in my original post is still important.

Books (art in general) may educate, motivate, enlighten, persuade. They certainly can be (strongly) political. Fiction can be deeply historical or fact-inspired (or wildly the opposite), and people can be deeply influenced by it either way.

Art (artists) can change the world, but it cannot be accountable for the responses or actions of those who engage with it.

Fascism hates artists, writers, academics. It hates our creativity, our freedom, our ability to inspire, to motivate.

But we���re seeing a whole lot of the worst people on the planet taking inspiration from art (and SFF in particular) right now in building their nightmare futures. They don���t hate stories and imagination when they���re stealing ideas from them! (Just when they���re asked to pay creators or respect literally anyone or anything.)

That���s in no way a failure of the creative works they got those ideas from, to be clear. The artist is not at fault if you mourn when your favourite character died, no more than they are when an evil billionaire is inspired by a fictional villain���s macguffin to build a deportation-facilitating panopticon.

Where am I going with all this? Readers gonna read and you can���t control what they read into fiction or what they do with that after.

Which is why I try to point toward nonfiction sources for timely, fact-based education (and motivation), and to other sources when relevant (historical, cultural, etc.)

The Tyee. Al Jazeera. Haaretz. South China Morning Post. Haymarket Books periodically offers free download ebook bundles on various social justice topics, as well as sales, and their site is a great anytime source for reading lists.

I love fiction. I love speculative fiction. I love the imagination, the ability to play with reality���exploring better and worse trajectories to dramatic effect���and yes, the escapism. I love that for you. You should be free to indulge in fiction with as many or as few brain cells engaged as you wish! Want to ignore or misinterpret what the text is saying, indulge in surface-level escape instead of textual analysis, or just choose popcorn reads over layered lit? That���s your prerogative as a reader!

But please, please, also read well-edited and fact-checked international news and nonfiction on occasion, too!

And then, if I can push the ask one step further, do something with what you learn. Talk about it in real life to the people around you. Build connections and community. Give money and share resources if you can. March, protest, engage in direct action as appropriate. Write letters and emails, call representatives, get involved in local/regional/national politics. Advocate for yourself and others.

Not all of the things, and not all at once. But something, sometimes.

I was raised to believe that good deeds should be done quietly, essentially in secret. But, in the interests of integrity and transparency, I will share that I have been donating in excess of a tenth of my gross income since 2023 to Gazan mutual aid, Islamic Relief, Crips for eSims for Gaza, and M��decins Sans Fronti��res, along with in-kind donations to Kidlit4Ceasefire and local campaigns. (Given the scope of my overall employment, this equates to well over 100% of funds earned by publishing.)

I recommend all of the listed organizations. Writer Molly Shah���s list of vetted Palestinian mutual aid fundraisers is also a fantastic resource.

I���ve gone to rallies/marches/memorial walks. I���ve worn kuffiyeh and tatreez and CeasefireNow! buttons and Peace4Palestine! stickers to teach (along with MMIWG and Every Child Matters wearables and a mask, because disability justice also matters, none of us are free until we���re all free!) I���ve written emails and postcards and signed letters and petitions. I���ve had IRL conversations and been the awkward buzzkill who reminds everyone about difficult realities, and used my platforms on and offline to signal-boost, organize, affirm, and motivate.

Was it enough? Never. There is more need. There are more causes. But it was all I could do���and I���ll keep doing all I can do.

I know the need is overwhelming. You can���t save the world. I can���t either. We can���t engage with everything all at once, all the time���at least not individually. But together, bit by bit, based on our individual abilities and capacities, we can make a difference. You���re not alone. Be brave. Don���t give up. Pick one thing. Start small.

Just start.

Finally: Free Palestine. Free all occupied and oppressed peoples. Freedom, dignity, safety for all peoples, everywhere. Land back, from Turtle Island to Palestine.

Whirlwind news drop for you! I���ll start with the time-sensitive items:

Underworld Summer Camp, Yangpyeong, South Korea (Jul. 20-26)

I���m teaching a week-long ���Underworld���-themed creative writing sleepaway camp for kids and teens (grades 3-12) with Lee Edward F��di and Greg Brown next week! (OBVIOUSLY, we���re gonna find a way to shoehorn K-Pop Demon Hunters references in, but also check out our assigned reading, Misadventures In Ghosthunting by Melissa Yue, which draws on a Cantonese-Chinese written talisman magic and traditions for a different take on heritage, hauntings, and underworlds.)

We���ve come up with this super fun Haunted Hotel Tour activity to structure the week around. The idea is each team will design their own ���tour company���, make flags, costume their guide, and map out the hotel and conference centre, dreaming up stories of monsters and magic for various locations over the course of the week. The ���tour stops��� may not necessarily be scary (could be alternate reality, cozy, spooky, historic, cryptid, haunting, funny, etc. based on their interests). They���ll write and practice presenting the stories, and then take turns taking each other (and whatever grownups are around) on the tours on the final night!

I���m really excited (and a little nervous) to see how it all turns out! I believe registrations are still open, for anyone interested.

After, I���ll be doing some author visits around Seoul), including a Canada-themed presentation and activity at Songpa Children���s English Library for ages 10-13 at 11 am on July 29 (register here) and a joint ���Summer Night Readings��� presentation with Lee Edward F��di at Songpa Wirye Library.

And then the next event in the calendar is the BC Teacher-Librarians��� Association Fall Conference on October 25 in Vancouver, where I���ll be moderating CWILL BC���s presentation of ���Read Local, Teach Local: Resources for Incorporating BC Books Into the Classroom���

Kids/Teen Writing Contest

Also (potentially) of interest, I���m one of the judges for this youth writing contest organized by the Korea Herald, the Canadian Embassy in South Korea, and the Creative Writing for Children Society.

The contest page is in Korean, but stories should be in English. Good luck to all the kids and teens competing this summer! The submission deadline is August 7.

First Serial Fiction Release

I���m delighted that The Daily Tomorrow picked up my sentient geology eco-apocalypse weird/soft SF short Geosapiology: a brief history of geogenesis, the Stones, and the Theory of Appeasement (releasing as a seven-part serial from Jul. 6-12).

Local-Famous!

I made not only the local paper but every paper across Vancouver Island (that���s like twenty of them, including Victoria & Nanaimo!)

(Wish I���d known in advance; I would���ve arranged to name-drop more shops! Retailers, feel free to reach out directly about consignment; I can (probably) offer more favourable terms than distributors and I���ve got a restock coming by the end of the week!)

Local Author Day

Local author day at Bellflower Bookshop was a ton of fun! I think they���ve still got a couple of copies in stock if you missed out (and watch their events calendar for more events coming later in the year!)

Coming Soon

The fall publishing calendar is already looking busy!

Keep an eye out for:

The Kindread Coast (Black Cat Books, October) Year���s Best Canadian Fantasy & Science Fiction: Volume 3 (Ansible Press, November) and ���The Mistletoe Matchmaker Is Wilting���, a stunningly bizarre winter horror fable based on a creative writing brainstorming exercise from my teen creative writing workshop last fall, reserved for an unpcoming but yet-to-be-announced issue of Pulphouse Fiction Magazine this winter!(Reviewers, contact me directly for copies of anything not free to read online.)

Stay tuned for further announcements and thanks for reading West Coast Weird!����

I���ve been chatting with and presenting to educators and librarians across BC (& beyond) for several years now, as well as teaching kids and teens in extracurricular programs and in classrooms as a TOC.

Reading and writing levels are, to say the least, not where most teachers would like them to be. It���s often a struggle to get through book (novel) studies in class. Time and resources are thin on the ground in many districts and holding students��� attention is a constant battle.

Over the same period, I���ve gotten more and more involved in the speculative (Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror) short fiction scene, and I had the idea that bringing the two together might present at least a partial solution to some of the challenges teachers are facing.

Current short SFF/H is fantastic���timely, sharp, diverse, written by, about, and to a range of identities and backgrounds, written to a high standard with plenty of fodder for literary as well as social discussion and writing inspiration.

While there can be a place for teaching the classics (especially in conversation with reimaginings) and there���s certainly value in reading and teaching novels, I���d like to encourage educators to incorporate short fiction over passages/extracts wherever possible (so as to preserve narrative arc.)

And, given my context of practice and current world events, I���ve focused most of my efforts on the Canadian school system and voices. I���m also leaning into Speculative (SFF/H) because it���s my community/most of what I���m familiar with and I think it holds more appeal to teens (give them fiction they���ll feel like they���re ���getting away with��� reading not that they ���have to read���), but there is certainly high quality general/non-genre short fiction coming out of Canada these days as well!

I recently field tested this idea in a workshop titled ���Teaching Current Canadian Short Fiction to Today���s (& Tomorrow���s) Teens��� at the Surrey Teachers��� Association Convention (please reach out if your organization would like a similar talk!)

Here���s a quick-ref list of all the resources referenced during the workshop:

Recommended Short Speculative CanLit for Teens Chart: see ���readme��� tab for selection criteria & search tips. I���ve added some discussion questions, suggested extension activities and links to some creative writing prompt worksheets in the ���Resources��� column since the workshop.

Workshop Slides

Canadian Science Fiction & Fantasy Association: Home of the annual Aurora Awards program that collects eligible, shortlisted, and winning Canadian SFF in a variety of categories (short fiction, YA & adult novels, comics, etc.) This is the most prestigious genre-specific writing award in Canada and one way to stay current (will collect stories from the past year only.) NOTE: If you ever have hyper-engaged SFF-fan students, they actually can join the CSFFA for $10 to get a free reading/voting packet of the shortlisted works in that year (about 5 books/stories/comics etc./category) and vote on their favourites; membership is not just for professionals.)

Year���s Best Canadian Fantasy & Science Fiction Anthology Series: Annual Ansible Press anthology of the previous year���s best Canadian SFF edited (selected) by Stephen Kotowych. This is another way to keep up with current fiction that has a ~approx. 1 year delay, as it���s a reprint anthology. E.g., Vol. 3 will publish in November 2025 and have stories originally printed in 2024. NOTE: you could go with class sets if there are multiple stories in any given edition that you���re excited to teach, but if just one or two stories stand out to you, try checking the original publication venue. Sometimes they���re free to read online (this is common in many SFF magazines these days���) I���ll always link all known venues/sources for stories on the recommendation chart to make it easy to check.

Black Cat Books Anthologies: Annual dark SFF/H anthologies by 100% Canadian authors from a Victoria-based small press. Short fiction set in the Pacific Northwest/BC (mostly Vancouver Island/Coastal BC) by authors from BC, Yukon & the Prairie Provinces, with a strong bent toward local history, social justice, and local interest stories. Target audience is teens through early 20s (includes profanities & violence). Some comics included in past short fiction anthologies, and their website claims a graphic novel anthology is underway.

Augur Society: Canadian publishers of two 95% Canadian SFF/H publications, Augur Magazine (darker/higher stakes) & Tails & Feathers (cozy/low-stakes).

Please feel free to pass along any and all of these resources to colleagues who many be interested in the topic!

Delighted to announce ���The Tangle (Did Not Kill Kitsault)��� just got shortlisted in Tenebrous Press���s Brave New Weird: The Best New Weird Horror Volume 3!!

I love this weird homage to Brenna Yovanoff���s structural refrains, Canada���s most bizarre ghost town, and the forest���s revenge.

Special thanks to Strange Horizons for picking it up last July���you can read it on their site for free now!

And whether or not it makes the final print, you���ll want to grab your copy of 2024���s finest weird horror over on Tenebrous���s site come June. Check out the full shortlist here for a peek at the contenders!

After a rough start to the year, I have some unexpectedly awesome news to share: I���m one of just six ���anchor��� authors selected for Ansible Press���s Year���s Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction: Volume 3!

It���s a huge honour just to be included, much less as a featured author, and based on the past editions, the 2024 collection is sure to be overflowing with stunning speculative fiction spanning a range of sci-fi, fantasy, and horror subgenres by the best Canadian talent writing today.

A Kickstarter is running in April (already funded in the first hour!) with some cool stretch goals including custom illustrations, translations, and speculative poetry, and backers get early copies in Aug.-Sep. (Public launch is at CanCon in October and it���ll hit stores in November.)

Fun coincidence: I was reviewing the previous years��� collections for my upcoming talk at STA Convention when I got the news! Speaking of, here���s a quick-ref list of upcoming events:

Meet Me At: April 28: UFV Young Writers��� Conference, Chilliwack Author AMA + Interactive Storytelling for Middle Schoolers (by invitation/public school program) May 2: Surrey Teachers��� Association Convention Teaching Current Canadian Short Fiction to Today���s (& Tomorrow���s) Teens (STA members) May 28: BC Library Association Youth and Children���s Services Section (Remote) Local Author Collabs: Working with BC Kid-Lit Creators (BCLA/YAACS members) July 20-26: Creative Writing Camp, Seoul Week-long ���Underworld/Otherworlds��� theme intensive creative writing camp and anthology project for kids and teens led with two other professional authors in South Korea. Enquire about registration with CWC. July 28-31: Library Visits, Seoul Author visits in South Korea, TBA. Enquire to schedule one with CWC. List of locations to come. October 25: BC Teacher-Librarians��� Association Fall Conference, Vancouver Read Local, Teach Local: Resources for Incorporating BC Books Into the Classroom (BCTLA members)

(I���ll be on the mainland April 27-May 3 and possibly again for that week in October, so for anyone in the Metro Vancouver & Fraser Valley region in need of author visits/school/library etc. bookings, it���s a good time to nab one with no additional travel fees!)

Last Call for Auroras!

If you���re reading for any of the speculative short fiction awards (& especially the Auroras, closing soon!), I���d love for you to consider my work from last year. I had a record year in short fiction publishing with SEVEN publications (5 new + 2 reprint).

My awards-eligible new speculative fiction for 2024:

5,300-word Canadian ghost town/cryptid/ecopunk horror ���The Tangle (Did Not Kill Kitsault)��� in STRANGE HORIZONS July 1 edition 550-word slipstream/fantasy-meets-neurodivergence flash ���Mud Maidens Rise��� in LIGHTSPEED MAGAZINE Issue 171 (incl. ���audiobook��� version!) 3,600-word ���Year���s Best Canadian���, Commonwealth Short Story Prize longlisted & Writers of the Future Awards Semi-Finalist ghost story about fentanyl, faith & family abandonment, ���The Patron Saint of Flatliners��� in MYSTERION 3,100-word humorous SF-lite adventure about humidfier scum escaping cleaning and the inevitable downfall of all colonial ambitions, ���The Pink Slime���s Appointment With Destiny��� in PULPHOUSE FICTION MAGAZINE Issue 31 1,600-word eerie, anti-capitalist, Twilight Zone-esque horror podcast/audio-adaptation (only) ���Hollow��� on THE NOSLEEP PODCAST Season 20 Episode 17

Time for just one? I get the most love for The Tangle (Did Not Kill Kitsault) & The Patron Saint of Flatliners but Hollow & Mud Maidens Rise are nice and short if you���re rushing!

���If I���m honest, all the love for The Patron Saint of Flatliners feels a little weird. I���ve written about it at length in the author���s note blog, but that story came out of a place of such anger and helplessness, and also too much truth.

I very nearly didn���t publish it. I worried���I still worry���about doing justice, bearing witness to the real, whole, human life that was lived and lost. Now, more than ever, as adult literacy rates plummet and Trump fabricates lies about fentanyl trafficking from (instead of into?!!) Canada to justify his colonial ambitions, I fear the weight of eliding complex realities under a sheen of SFF allure. Does it make a difference? Does it capture any truth? Does it push back against the march of fascism? Does it shine a light, open a window, unchain a mind? All questions for any fiction, certainly, but writing so heavily inspired by real life feels particularly fraught.

It���s probably the moment, too. The stakes feel higher than ever. Not just ���feel������we���re in, if not unprecedent times, at least genuinely fraught ones. Hate is strong, organized, well-capitalized, and has shiny, savvy publicity, for all its ugliness. Intersecting threats in environment, health, politics, global security, race, gender, and sex-based-violence are all escalating. This is the opposite of what we need for human thriving. This is the wrong direction, the opposite of where we need to be headed to change the trajectory of lives like the one The Patron Saint of Flatliners was based on. We will see more self-harming, addiction, overdosing and contamination/poisoning of both illegal and legal food and drug (and environmental) supply chains as we continue along this path.

But hate is also weak. It is pathetic and malformed weird in the worst way. It can be defeated. Even now, in all ways, in all places, at all levels, we are rising to defeat it, hearts and minds, hands and feet, voices uniting to call for a world better than this one.

As I write this, US Senator Cory Booker passed the 24 hour mark and soon after broke the (horrifying racist���s) record for longest speech, standing up against tyranny. His feat is remarkable on several counts, but there are thousands upon thousands of us who have been, are, and will continue to work for love and stand against hate, each as we are able, as much as we are able, in whichever and as many ways as we are able.

Choose life and love over hate and death, and keep choosing it. That���s really what I have to say, if you take away all the fun, shiny, speculative stuff. Sorry to be cringe on main, I guess. But we���ve got only so much time here, and I want it to be better for all of us. Hope you do too.

BC Teacher-Librarians��� Association Fall Conference

Date: Friday, October 25, 2025

Time: TBC���afternoon session

Location: Vancouver, BC

Type: Presentation

Read Local, Teach Local: Resources for Incorporating BC Books Into the Classroom

Presentation description: We���re excited to bring a select line-up of BC-based children���s publishing professionals (authors & illustrators) together for a fun and fast-paced series of pop-up demos highlighting the free resources they offer to help make curriculm connections with their books and get local stories in the hands of local kids.

Full list of presenters TBA. Be sure to visit us in the exhibition hall before and after and get your name in for the book prize draws as well!

Learn more & register via BCTLA (coming soon).

Surrey Teachers��� Association Convention

Date: Friday, May 3, 2024

Time: TBA + exhibitor���s hall

Location: Sullivan Heights Secondary, 6248 144 St. Surrey, BC & Johnston Heights Secondary School, 15350 99 Ave Surrey, BC, V3R 0R9

Type: Workshop & Presentation

Teaching Current Canadian Short Fiction to Today���s (& Tomorrow���s) Teens (Johnston Heights, time TBA)

Workshop description: Struggling to haul classes through novel studies? Classics getting stale? Tap into the power of short fiction to engage, surprise, and amaze with a fresh Canadian twist.

New Canadian short fiction explores current events and concerns, provides ample (award-winning!) material for literary analysis and inspiration, and does it all in a bite-sized package (usually with some fun thrown in!)

Learn how to stay up to date and where to look for new material, pick up a recommended reading list of recent faves, and get a multi-awarded BC writer���s insight into teaching short fiction to inspire the next generation of literature!

Read Local, Teach Local: Connecting with BC Children���s Authors & Illustrators (Sullivan Heights, time TBA)

Presentation description: BC children���s publishing is growing increasingly diverse, relevant, and socially conscious. We���re excited to highlight established award-winners and emerging voices with a broad range of teachable, impactful, and fun titles.

We���ll start with an overview of the power of creative education and local storyteller engagement and highlight the growing range of free tools and resources offered by CWILL BC. Then a lightning-speed showcase of new releases will feature a sprinkling of mini book-talk pop-ups by local authors highlighting diverse creators and place-based, sustainability, and social justice-oriented titles.

Meet local authors, refresh your shelves, and get inspired for the year ahead (& maybe even win a new book or two)!

Presented in collaboration with Sara Leach & Nikki Bergstresser. Additional pop-up book talk guests (local/BC authors/illustrators) to be announced.

Be sure to visit our tables in the exhibition halls and get your name in for the book prize draws!

Learn more/Register here!

It���s been a rough stretch for many, on many levels. I kind of have so much to say about that that it circles right back around to paralyzed silence. Something I���ve appreciated in voices I follow is the way they emphasize highlighting and celebrating joyful and peaceful moments amidst the horrors.

On the subject of horrors, it���s objectively a small thing amidst the greater burning of so much of the world, but being closest to home, this one has hurt the most:

Bliss. 2011-2025����

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— K.A. Wiggins (Kaie) (@kaiewrites.bsky.social) February 2, 2025 at 8:54 AM

On a brighter note, I had a record year in short fiction publishing with SEVEN publications (5 new + 2 reprint). My awards-eligible new speculative fiction for 2024 was:

5,300-word Canadian ghost town/cryptid/ecopunk horror ���The Tangle (Did Not Kill Kitsault)��� in STRANGE HORIZONS July 1 edition & SF fungal humour ���The Pink Slime���s Appointment With Destiny��� in PULPHOUSE FICTION MAGAZINE Issue 31

550-word slipstream/fantasy-meets-neurodivergence flash ���Mud Maidens Rise��� in LIGHTSPEED MAGAZINE Issue 171 (incl. ���audiobook��� version!) and a reprint of Canadian eco-anxiety body horror rom-com ���Children of Earth��� in PULPHOUSE FICTION MAGAZINE Issue 32

3,600-word Commonwealth Short Story Prize longlisted Vancouver opioid poisoning crisis literary ghost story ���The Patron Saint of Flatliners��� in MYSTERION

3,100-word humorous SF-lite adventure about humidfier scum escaping cleaning and the inevitable downfall of all colonial ambitions, ���The Pink Slime���s Appointment With Destiny��� in PULPHOUSE FICTION MAGAZINE Issue 31

1,600-word eerie, anti-capitalist, Twilight Zone-esque horror podcast/audio-adaptation (only) ���Hollow��� on THE NOSLEEP PODCAST Season 20 Episode 17

Thanks for reading! (Eligible for Auroras, Nebulas, Stokers etc.) On the subject of short fiction, I���m adding a talk on new/current Canadian (mostly speculative) short fiction for high school classrooms to my speaking circuit, so reach out if you���re interested in a booking (or to flag a story you think I should consider). Will probably make my resources open-source once I���ve polished them up a bit, too, so keep an eye out for that.

Books are still behind schedule���every time I get close to catching up, a new disaster drops. But I still hope to get back to the Songstress WIP and launch that as my next series later this year, assuming more things don���t catch fire (fingers crossed!!!)

In the speaking roster (already!)

I���m starting to make local/regional connections but mostly busy with international remote/webinar classes at the moment. Fall anthologies with the teens and the new extra-long spring term (novel-writing intensive, elementary/junior cohort) are both packed to capacity! (Reach out to Creative Writing for Children Society for more info/to register kids/teens for future terms.) And if there���s interest from adults or institutions, get in touch���might be able to get something for you in the calendar in the future.

Conference season is already locking in, though so much is on the mainland and travel costs being what they are, I may need to tap other team members to take over. That said, anyone wanting a school visit in the vicinity of a conference location within a day or two might find themself in luck���

I���ve been remarkably lazy about book promotions lately, given waves hands at various dumpster fires���but I should start leaning back in soonish. In the meantime, please support your local independent bookstores (some I love in BC: Western Sky Books, Kinderbooks, Laughing Oyster Books, Massey Books, The Bookman, Iron Dog Books���), buy local (and Canadian!), and if you���re looking for an online ebookstore, I do offer direct sales on my series page, but Kobo is also fantastic and way less horrifying than the usual suspects! :)

University of the Fraser Valley Young Writers��� Conference

Date: Monday, April 28, 2025

Time: 9am

Location: UFV Chilliwack

Type: Workshop & Presentation

Author AMA + Interactive Storytelling (��cole Salish Secondary, time TBA)

So excited to kick off this growing program for middle school-aged writers with a combined author talk and mini-workshop on story structure featuring my interactive whiteboard storytelling. Can���t wait to see what we come up with together!

Closed registration (arranged through SD33 middle schools).

Art Is Love Is Resistance: A Winter Market for Refugee Children

Date: Saturday, December 7, 2024

Time: 12-5 pm

Location: Buchanan Hall, Cumberland, BC

Type: Vendor Market

I���ve just relocated and will have very limited stock of the Threads of Dreams series in paperback available for sale���but I���m also pulling together a table full of other local kidlit authors and illustrators for all your holiday shopping needs!

Look forward to an art auction, community art projects, craft stations, and live music, as well as the vendor market in support of a great cause. (No gate tickets/entry fee!)

Hosted by Comox Valley for Palestine, this event will be raising money for refugee children to receive art therapy at Meera Centre, an art therapy centre in Cairo, Egypt.

Learn more.

Art by Roz MacLean