The date was October 23rd and our house on Lake Louise Boulevard in Waterloo, Ontario was empty, the only sign of our life there a forgotten black Umbra over-the-door hanger that a real estate agent would find later. The oversized Atlas Van Lines truck had set off mid-afternoon, likely a relief for our neighbours. Three […]
I don’t get embarrassed about baby pictures. I don’t understand why anyone would –– there’s no shame in looking like a child when you happen to be one. I do, however, get very embarrassed about my earliest writing. No matter how old you are when you start, it’s a safe bet that your first stories won’t be […]
If I’m honest, I remember very little about my first book launch. It was a hugely significant night for me –– The Human Equation was released on Thursday, October 9th, 2003, turning me from a nineteen-year-old geek into a nineteen-year-old geek who had also written a book. Whoa. Media coverage stemming from that event moved […]
The pun was so bad. Sitting in the passenger seat of Matt LeDrew’s car as we pulled away from St. John’s Airport, I was immediately reminded of just what sort of nemesis Engen’s founder really is: the kind who invents shockingly bad puns. And apparently this particular pun had been put into service at Sci-Fi […]
I am no musician. The only instrument I ever learned to play was the recorder (in elementary school) and that was terrible. I can’t sing worth a damn — as Jacqui once reported, I failed even to belt out “Old Man River” with Boba Fett when we were both guests at a convention. Music is […]
We’re back online. After roughly seven months of disruption — getting a company moved 3,500 kilometres across the second-largest country in the world takes a fair amount of work — we’re finally able to resume author notes with some regularity… and that’s good, because while we were in transit, plenty happened that warrants discussion. First […]
When you study history, one thing you quickly realize is that there are as many stories about our past as there were people. Granted, most of us get the same highlights from our textbooks (if we read them), and from popular culture (if we care), but the reality is that history includes just about everything […]
Well, it’s official: starting this summer, some warships of the United States Navy will be equipped with directed-energy weapons. That means that in some ocean around the world, a USN Captain may be confronted by a real-world combat situation which will require the words: “Lock laser on target.” And all of us sci-fi types will […]
Earlier this week, I saw a confusing tweet from my good friend Mik; a battle had occurred in the massively multilayer online game EVE Online, which had resulted in an estimated $300,000 in damages. Now, I haven’t really played mulitplayer online games since Starcraft, so I wasn’t sure how such a battle could have a […]
May of 2005 was the single busiest month I’ve ever had when it comes to book events. Coming off two Chapters tours the previous year, and sitting on invitations to travel for book events and to hold writing workshops, we stacked up a schedule that crossed four provinces in as many weeks –– not much […]
How about a story idea? A team of climate scientists charter a Russian ice-strengthened research ship and cruise to the mysterious continent of Antarctica. Their goal is simple: repeat a battery of tests first carried out by explorers 100 years prior, to determine the true environmental impacts of a century of human industrialization. But when […]
Last Friday was a big day for Iceberg author and longtime graphic artist Wes Prewer; he had the privilege of welcoming his first daughter, Elizabeth. Clearly, this is the most important creative project Wes has ever been a part of, and all of us here at Iceberg would like to take a moment to congratulate […]
You’d think someone as militant as me about history, and with a penchant for marking significant anniversaries, would have been paying attention two weeks ago when an anniversary of my own came and went. If you happened to be passing St. David’s Catholic Secondary School in early October, 2003, you would have seen on the […]
Yesterday, Stephanie Shylock wandered into the ‘Breakout Books under $5′ category on Apple’s U.S. iBookstore. It’s always good to see a title take on that sort of position –– this year we’ve been very kindly featured by the folks over at Kobo, and now it’s Firebox‘s turn to represent the Champions of 1941 for our […]
One year ago tomorrow, Iceberg Publishing hosted its Tenth Anniversary Gala at the Tannery in Kitchener. The evening was beyond memorable –– an opportunity to take a step back and reflect on all the work we’ve done at Iceberg, and all the adventures still to come. It was a fine evening, with excellent company… And […]
When it comes to author notes, I’ve been silent for the past couple of weeks. I caught a cold coming back from the awards ceremony in New York, which took me off my feet for a while, and have since been focused on editing and drafting –– two duties which, this year, have been particularly […]
Christine Schaeffer was in over her head. Plucked randomly from the retail job that was paying her way through the academy, she’d been made the adjutant to a war hero. Her two qualifications: she was the daughter of well-remembered cruiser skipper, and she was an outsider –– safe from political corruption. As the threat of […]
When writing science fiction, some of the best inspiration you can find comes from history. Whether you’re looking for personalities, cultures, broad societal themes, or ideas about the relations between alien cultures, the history books are full of good ideas (and bad ones) that can help shape your story. And if you happen to be […]
Whether the cosmos is gripped by war, a new world is being settled, or Champions are shifting the balance of politics in 1940, the way a story is written depends entirely on the characters you choose to follow. I know that’s probably the most obvious observation I could make, but I think it’s important for […]
This week in Waterloo, Ontario, we’re in the midst of a cold snap, with wind chills dropping to –26 degrees Celsius (that’s around –8 Fahrenheit to our non-metric friends). It’s pretty brisk, reminding me of the weather from my years in Lethbridge, Alberta… a very dry and sharp cold can cut through to your bones, […]