Arthurian legends are reborn in this upbeat queer urban fantasy with a mystery at its heart

SF Canada member Jes Battis is excited to announce their new urban fantasy novel!

The knights of the round table are alive in Vancouver, but when one winds up dead, it’s clear the familiar stories have taken a left turn. Hildie, a Valkyrie and the investigator assigned to the case, wants to find the killer — and maybe figure her life out while she’s at it. On her short list of suspects is Wayne, an autistic college student and the reincarnation of Sir Gawain, who these days is just trying to survive in a world that wasn’t made for him. After finding himself at the scene of the crime, Wayne is pulled deeper into his medieval family history while trying to navigate a new relationship with the dean’s charming assistant, Bert — who also happens to be a prime murder suspect. To figure out the truth, Wayne and Hildie have to connect with dangerous forces: fallen knights, tricky runesmiths, the Wyrd Sisters of Gastown. And a hungry beast that stalks Wayne’s dreams.

The Winter Knight is a propulsive urban fairy tale and detective story with queer and trans heroes that asks what it means to be a myth, who gets to star in these tales, and ultimately, how we make our stories our own.

All of the buy links and more information can be found at: https://ecwpress.com/products/the-winter-knight

 

About Jes Battis

Jes Battis (they/them) is a queer autistic writer and teacher and the author of the Occult Special Investigator series and Parallel Parks series (as Bailey Cunningham) with Ace. Their first novel, Night Child, was shortlisted for the Sunburst Award. Jes teaches queer and trans studies, medieval literature, and representations of disability/neurodiversity in pop culture at the University of Regina. They split time between the prairies and the west coast.

New poems by Jean-Louis Trudel!

SF Canada member Jean-Louis Trudel has news  on the English-language SF poetry front. First, his poem, “Offerings to a Voiceless Star”, appears in the Summer 2022 of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association’s magazine, Star*Line.

Two more poems were accepted recently by online publications. “The Name of Last Things” is slated to appear in a future issue of Canada’s Polar Starlight. And “Dark Is Your Loneliness in a Crowd” will appear in the second issue of Australia’s I Become the Beast.

Find out more about Jean-Louis at culturedesfuturs.blogspot.com

 

More accolades for Nina Munteanu’s A Diary in the Age of Water!

SFC member Nina Munteanu’s novel A Diary in the Age of Water (Inanna Publications, 2020) is listed along with seven other water-related eco-fiction novels worth reading in Mary Woodbury’s article “Where Waters and Fictions Meet” in Climate Culture.

About “A Diary in the Age of Water“, Woodbury writes, “This is the definitive novel about all things water.”

Also on the list are “Water Knife” by Paolo Bacigalupi, “Memory of Water” by Emmi Itäranta, “Bangkok Wakes to Rain” by Pitchaya Sudbanthad, “Oil on Water” by Helon Habila, “Fever Dream” by Samanta Schweblin, “Lagoon,” by Nnedi Okorafor, and “Land-Water-Sky” (Ndè-Tı-Yat’a) by Katłıà.

Find Nina at The Alien Next Door as well as on Twitter and LinkedIn and find Nina’s books on Amazon.ca.

Food of My People Book Launch Parties, December 12th and December 20th, 2021

Food of My People Launch Flyer

Congratulations to SF Canada members Ursula Pflug and Candas Jane Dorsey!

 

Their new anthology, “Food of My People”, will launch with two live in-person events in December!

The first party is sponsored by Exile Editions and will be held on December 12th, in Toronto’s Supermarket Restaurant. Six authors from the anthology will join editor Ursula Pflug and publisher Michael Callaghan for a launch party that will include readings and a special launch day discount for the anthology.

Come and enjoy readings from Geoffrey W. Cole, Sally McBride, Gord Grisenthwaite, Chris Kuriata, Lynn Hutchinson Lee, and Sang Kim.

Date: December 12th

Time: 3:30 – 5:30 EST

Location: The Supermarket Restaurant,

268 Augusta Street

Toronto, ON M5T 2L9

Special launch sale price: Books $25 (regular $34.95) – cash only.

 

Proof of full vaccination required for all attendees. See the Exile Editions website for more details: https://www.exileeditions.com/launching-a-savoury-collection-that-serves-up-all-new-speculative-storytelling/

 

The second party will be held at The Theatre On King in Peterborough, Ontario, on December 20th, from 7:00-9:00 pm EST.

 

Date: December 20th

Time: 7:00 – 9:900 EST

Location: The Theatre On King (TTOK),

171 King Street

Peterborough, ON K9J 2R8

All attendees must show proof of vaccination and ID at the door. Mask to be worn at all times, no exemptions.

 

Register for the second event here: eventbrite.ca/e/food-of-my-p

URGENT: New Zealand National Library

TO ALL MEMBERS:

 

A possible issue has come to our attention, and we wanted to pass it on quickly so that our members can spread the word to their agents and friends as soon as possible.

 

 Michael Swanwick’s blog has pointed out that the government of New Zealand is planning to upload the entirety of their Overseas Published Collection to the Internet Archive. While this collection contains many volumes which are in the public domain and are excellent candidates for digital preservation, it also includes  hundreds of books which are still under copyright, including several by recently deceased and still-living Canadian authors. Among them are many names that we can all recognize: Margaret Atwood, Guy Gavriel Kay, William Gibson, etc..

 
SF Canada Member Cory Doctorow has assured us that this donation will not be harmful to the authors whose books are included in the Archive. Modern books still under copyright are loaned with DRM attached, which makes them available to a single borrower at a time. The primary users of these scanned digital copies will likely be researchers and academics.

 

To learn more about how Controlled Digital Lending works through the Open Library, see this link:

https://openlibrary.org/help/faq/borrow

 

Authors and their representatives do have the right to opt out of this donation to the Archive. The Executive Board have already written quick notes to the agents and estate agents of Margaret Atwood, Guy Gavriel Kay and A.E. Van Vogt. If any of our members in Ontario have contact with The Bella Pomer Agency, who represent the great historical novelist Pauline Gedge, one of her books is about to be uploaded to the Archive as well.

This issue goes far beyond the Canadian border. Many American and U.K. writers are affected as well, including C.J. Cherryh and the estate of Brian Aldiss.

 

Many agents and authors may already be aware of this situation, and have already taken steps to opt out. But given that the government of New Zealand has not widely publicized its intentions, we believe it’s better to be safe than sorry, and to allow authors and their representatives to make their own choices in this matter.

 

Please take a look at the list yourself, and spread the link to download the database information widely.

 

Authors and their representatives have very little time to opt out–the deadline is December 1, 2021.

 

 

Thanks very much for your time.

 

The SF Canada Executive Board
President: Arinn Dembo (British Columbia)
Vice President: Matthew Bin (Ontario)
Secretary Treasurer: Jane Glatt (Ontario)
Director-at-Large: Robert Runté (British Columbia)
Web Administrator: Adam Israel (Ontario)