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!����