On the Fifteenth Day of Tesseracts: An interview with Suzanne Church

On the Fifteenth Day of Tesseracts:
An Interview with Suzanne Church

 TT: What is your name?
SC:Suzanne Church

TT: What is your current location?
SC:Kitchener, Ontario

TT: What is the name of your story in Tesseracts Fourteen Strange
Canadian Stories?
SC:Destiny Lives in the Tattoo's Needle

TT: What inspired you to write your story?
SC:A writer friend of mine challenged me to use the words "sage grass" in a
story. At the same time, Steampunk as a genre was just beginning to gain
attention and I wanted to write a story that had an airship in it. The two
prompts morphed into this story.

TT: Since this collection is about Strange Canadian Stories, what is one
of the strangest things that has ever happened to you personally?
SC:Years ago, I was out running on a hot and muggy summer's day in Muskoka.
Near the end of the run, I caught sight of someone walking in the other
direction on the other side of the road. Her skin was so grey, she looked
like either (a) she was about to die of some nasty disease that should have
taken her long before, (b) she had caked herself with makeup, or (c) she was
a ghost. I remember being totally creeped out. Luckily, she was on the other
side of the street, so I didn't have to interact with her directly. She
smiled at me, though, and it was one of those eerie smiles that makes you
feel like you need a shower after. Maybe it was the heat and the
over-exertion of the run? M
Maybe she was a ghost, because at the end of that road is an abandoned
hospital, which at the turn of the century was a sanatorium, and for decades
after, was a mental institution?
=========================================================================
When Suzanne Church isn't chasing characters through other realms, she's
hanging with her two sons. She has been writing Science Fiction, Fantasy,
and Horror since 2002, and grows more enamoured of the process every year.
When cornered she becomes fiercely Canadian. Her short stories have appeared
in Cicada and On Spec, and in several anthologies including Tesseracts 13
and 14, and the forthcoming Chilling Tales. Read more at
www.suzannechurch.com.
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On the Fifteenth Day of Tesseracts: An Interview with Catherine MacLeod

TT:What is your current location:
CM:Nova Scotia

TT:What inspired you to write this story?  
CM: It started with a typo. I'd emailed a friend, saying I was looking for "Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde" on DVD, and noticed I'd written "Hydes." An image of dark-furred creatures standing in a field popped into my head, a chickadee started singing outside my window, and everthing else sort of tumbled into place.

TT: What is one of the strangest things that has ever happened to you personally? 
CM: Seeing my grandmother walk through our dining room two years after she'd died.

TT:A strange question you'd like to ask other authors?
CM: What's the very *first* strange thing you can ever remember happening to you?
===============================
Catherine MacLeod was recently a guest blogger on Tor.com, which may or may not be a sign of the apocalypse. This fall, after 20 years of trying, she finally made it all the way through "Night of the Living Dead."
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On the Fifteenth Day of Tesseracts: An Interview with John Park

TT:What is your current location?
JP:Ottawa

TT:What is the name of your story:(name of the anthology)
JP:Nightward (Tesseracts Fourteen)

TT:What inspired you to write your story?

JP:Reference to life on a slowly rotating planet in something I was reading a
 dozen or more years ago, plus a lot of trial and error.

TT:Since this collection is about Strange Canadian Stories, what is one
  of the strangest things that has ever happened to you personally?
JP:Walking home from a party with a friend early one morning and being
spontaneously offered free pizza by a delivery man, about thirty seconds
after we'd mused aloud about much we'd like a pizza right then. (We tried
the same thing with a Brink's truck, but it didn't work.)
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On the Fifteenth Day of Tesseracts:
An Interview with Brett Alexander Savory

Brett Alexander Savory co editor of Tesseracts Fourteen.
TT: Your current location: BAS:Toronto

TT: What inspired you to theme the anthology in this way and select the authors for this anthology etc)
BAS: "Strange Canadian Stories" was pretty broad and invited a lot of variance without going too broad and getting stuff that wasn't strange enough. If that makes any sense.

TT: Since this collection is about Strange Canadian Stories, what is one of the strangest things that has ever happened to you personally?
BAS: One of the strangest things that has ever happened to me was seeing and hearing ghosts for hours at a time when I was young. Scared the living hell out of me when it was happening, but now just seems like a faraway memory, as if it happened to someone else.

============================================================================
Brett Alexander Savory is the Bram Stoker Award-winning Editor-in-Chief of ChiZine: Treatments of Light and Shade in Words (which has been in operation since 1997), Co-publisher of ChiZine Publications, has had nearly 50 short stories published, and has written two novels. In 2006, Necro Publications released his horror-comedy novel, The Distance Travelled. September 2007 saw the release of his dark literary novel, In and Down, through Brindle & Glass. His first short story collection, No Further Messages, was released in November 2007 through Delirium Books. He is now at work on his third novel, Lake of Spaces, Wood of Nothing. Savory is represented by The Carolyn Swayze Literary Agency. He lives in Toronto with his wife, writer/editor Sandra Kasturi.

On the Fourteenth Day of Tesseracts: Strange Questions Day on Bitten by Books

We welcome you to join us for the craziest interview ever, at Bitten by Books.  Strange questions by authors and viewers alike have been posted for the authors of Tesseracts Fourteen to answer. Plus, enter one of the questions yourself and you will be entered into a draw for prizes.  Details can be found on:

http://bittenbybooks.com/?p=33791

On the Thirteenth Day of Tesseracts: An Interview with Tony Burgess

TT:What is your name?
TB: Tony Burgess

TT:Where are you located?
TB:Stayner, Ontario

TT:What is the name of your story in "Tesseracts 14: Strange Canadian Stories"?
TB:Giant Scorpians Attack

TT:What inspired you to write this story?
TB:I asked my 7 year old son what I should call a story and he said `Giant Scorpians Attack' and so I turned to the keyboard and began.

TT:Since this anthology is about strange Canadian stories, what are one of the strangest things that has ever happened to you?
TB:Catching a shark in Lake Huron.

TT: Do you have a strange question to ask other authors?
TB:What is the most shocking place on your body that a leech has attached itself to?

This will be used as part of the "Doing it Strange" Tesseracts 14: Strange Canadian Stories multi - author interview December 3rd on http://www.bittenbybooks.com./
Here is the link to RSVP to the event http://bittenbybooks.com/?p=33772
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BIO:
TONY BURGESS WRITES FICTION AND FOR FILM. HE LIVES IN STAYNER WITH HIS WIFE, RACHEL AND THEIR TWO CHILDREN, GRIFFIN AND CAMILLE

The Fifteen Days of Tesseracts - On the Twelfth day of Tesseracts , an interview with Michelle Barker

TT: What is your name?
MB: Michelle Barker
 
TT: What is your current location?
MB: Naramata, BC (The Okanagan)

TT: What is the name of your story in "Tesseracts Fourteen: Strange Canadian Stories"?
MB: Three Poems, "Near the Ends of Things"

TT: What inspired you to write your story? Each of these poems was written at a separate time but all came out of a workshop I used to be involved in (both in leading and participating) when I lived in Quebec. These workshops are a hands-on writing experience in the spirit of Natalie Goldberg - you keep the hand moving regardless of what comes out. We would do sessions based on different sorts of inspiration - from photographs to poetry to random objects. My prompts tended to be bizarre, so three poems about death were not all that surprising. Unfortunately I don't remember the specific prompts that inspired these particular poems.

TT: Since this collection is about Strange Canadian Stories, what is one of the strangest things that has ever happened to you personally?
MB: Well, once we almost bought a very old house in which - we discovered just in time - a young boy was buried in the basement. He had died of tuberculosis in the 1800s in the middle of a very cold winter and they could not bury him outside because the ground was too frozen, so they buried him in the basement. I believe to this day that house was haunted.

TT: Could you please send me a strange question you would like to ask other authors?  This question will be held at the 15 Days of Tesseracts: Bitten by Books event, Friday December 3rd. www.bittenbybooks.com

MB: "If your writing were an animal, which one would it be and why?"

TT: We look forward to seeing your answer to your own question as well.  Just a reminder to all, the event will start at 12 pm central, and will feature a variety of the authors from Tesseracts 14 dropping in to answer the strange questions posed to them by both other authors, and viewers posting questions.  We look forward to seeing you there at www.bittenbybooks.com
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Michelle Barker lives and writes in the Okanagan region of BC. Her poetry has been published in literary reviews across North America, and a chapbook of her work will be published next year by Leaf Press. She has also published short fiction and last year one of her fantasy stories won honours at the Surrey International Writers' Festival. Her non-fiction work won a gold National Magazine Award and has appeared in newspapers, magazines and literary reviews. She is presently writing a series of fantasy novels for teens. You can find out more about Michelle at www.michellebarker.ca

On the Eleventh Day of Tesseracts: An Interview With Susan Forest

TT: What is your name?
SF: Susan Forest

TT: What is your current location?
SF: Calgary, Alberta

TT: What is the name of your story in Tesseracts Fourteen: Strange Canadian Stories?
SF: The Director's Cut
   
TT: What inspired you to write your story?
SF: I woke up in the middle of the night and came down stairs to my computer and wrote the entire first draft within a few hours.

TT: Since this collection is about Strange Canadian Stories, what is one
    of the strangest things that has ever happened to you personally?
SF: Three months after my father passed away, I was cross-country skiing, as I had often done with him in the past, and being out of shape, was somewhat behind the rest of my group, struggling to climb a hill with wax on my skis that didn't work. Clear as day, I knew my father was just behind me down the trail, smiling and encouraging me on to rejoin my group.

TT: Could you please send me a strange question you would like to ask
    other authors? We will use this as part of the Bitten by Books event, on Thursday December 2nd.
SF: Describe a time when your muse appeared to you in physical form.

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SUSAN FOREST                                                                                            

Finalist for the 2009 the Prix Aurora Award in the Short Fiction category (for "Back," Analog Science Fiction and Fact, June, 2008) Susan Forest is a writer of science fiction, fantasy and horror and a member of SFWA. Her recent sales include short stories, "The Right Chemistry" (Summer 2010 issue of ONSPEC Magazine) and "The Director's Cut" (Tesseracts Fourteen), both eligible for the 2010 Prix Aurora Award. Her short story, "Orange," will appear in AE Science Fiction Review in the near future, and other stories have appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction, ONSPEC, Tesseracts Ten, Tesseracts Eleven, and Legacy Magazine. She has appeared as a panelist at Denvention, Anticipation, World Fantasy (Calgary and Columbus) and other conventions. Her YA novel, The Dragon Prince, was awarded the Children's Circle Book Choice Award. You can check out her website at www.speculative-fiction.ca.

On the Tenth Day of Tesseracts: An Interview With Margaret Curelas

TT:  What is your name?
MC: Margaret Curelas

TT: What is your current location?
MC: Calgary, AB

TT: What is the name of your story?
MC: Harvest Moon

TT: What inspired you to write your story?
MC: I had a very clear image of a pack of wolves chasing down a battered pick-up truck. After a few false starts, I decided to write it from the little girl's perspective. I thought it would be creepier from her limited viewpoint, so the reader is restricted to what she can hear and see.

TT: Since this collection is about Strange Canadian Stories, what is one of the strangest things that has ever happened to you personally?
MC: Nothing much out of the ordinary happens to me, which may be strange in and of itself.

TT: Thanks Margaret! We look forward to having you join us for the http://www.bittenbybooks.com/ event which will be happening on Thursday, December 2, on the Twelfth Day of Tesseracts...
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Margaret Curelas grew up on a diet of Agatha Christie and Stephen King. After bouncing around the continent for a few years, she has landed in Calgary, where she lives with two humans, a dog, and three guinea pigs.

On the Nineth Day of Tesseracts: An Interview With Brent Hayward

TT: What is your name?

BH: Brent Hayward

TT:Your current location?
Toronto, ON

TT: What is the name of your story in T14?
The Brief Medical Career of Fine Sam Fine, Tesseracts 14

TT: What inspired you to write your story?
Much as I would like to give some profound response, maybe about co-joined twins physically representing a dichotomy we all surely feel inside, as humans sharing the strange journey called life, it was an episode of Jerry Springer that got this story cooking.

TT: Since this collection is about Strange Canadian Stories, what is one
of the strangest things that has ever happened to you personally?

Being raised in the suburbs.

TT: What is a strange question you would like to ask other authors?
A shout out to my buddy Dennis, who has been asking me pertinent questions like this almost daily, for the past decade: Would you rather fight a toothless, de-clawed grizzly, or ten rabid squirrels?

TT: Thanks!

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Brent is the author of Filaria. His short fiction has appeared in several publications, including OnSpec, ChiZine and Horizons SF. He lives in Toronto, where he is completing his second novel, The Fecund's Melancholy Daughter, which will be published in the Spring of 2011.

On the Eighth Day of Tesseracts: An Interview with Jon Watts and Leah Silverman

Jon Martin Watts

Welcome to the Eighth Day of Tesseracts... 

The Fifteen Days of Tesseracts series, features different authors and editors from "Tesseracts Fourteen: Strange Canadian Stories"each day between November 20th and December 4th. 

Our interviews today are with authors Jon Watts and Leah Silverman.

TT: What is your name?

Name: Jon Martin Watts

TT: Where are you located?

About seven kilometres South of Langham, SK. That’s about twenty-five minutes drive from Saskatoon.

TT: What is the name of your story in Tesseracts 14: Strange Canadian Stories?

JW: “Flight of Passage.”

TT: What inspired you to write this story?

JW: That’s a great question, and thinking about it really made me reflect on how I write. There wasn’t just one inspirational moment or thought. Writing doesn’t usually work like that for me. Usually I find that a few ideas grow together and then, maybe, I’ve got a story. In this case the first premise was that there’s a group of people with essentially a Stone Age technology and they’re able to build flying machines. How? Because someone taught them. Why? To help them to survive. That isn’t a story, but it’s a start. Then you have to consider who taught them, and why, and for whom all this matters, and what if they’re all descended from one pregnant woman carrying boy and girl twins. Pretty soon, you see, the story emerges from the original premise. And I used to fly gliders. That helped too.

Since this anthology is about strange Canadian stories, what are one of the strangest things that has ever happened to you?

JW: Within a couple of days, the guy in the liquor store and a woman at Tim Horton’s both told me I’m the spit of Ron James. I think he’s better looking. Check the picture and judge for yourselves.

Do you have a strange question to ask other authors?  This will be used as part of the "Doing it Strange" Tesseracts 14: Strange Canadian Stories multi - author interview December 2nd on www.bittenbybooks.com.

JW: What the heck is literary fiction?

Thanks for joining us!

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Jon Watts lives on a very small farm near Saskatoon, with a wife and son, some dogs and cats, a small flock of sheep, and a llama.

Next joining us is author Leah Silverman...

 

Leah Silverman

Hi Leah, thanks for joining us... our first question is: 

TT: Where are you currently located? 

Texas, unfortunately.

TT: What is the name of your story in Tesseracts 14: Strange Canadian Stories? 

LS: "The Pickup" 

TT: What inspired you to write this story? 

LS: In Texas, it doesn't rain so much as drizzle or monsoon. I took part in a writing challenge with the prompt of 'Mud', and the first thing I thought of was a Texas-level downpour. There is something particularly miserable about being lost at night in a heavy rain.

TT: Since the theme of Tesseracts 14 is Strange Canadian Stories, what is the strangest thing that has ever happened to you?

LS: Possibly moving to Texas. Otherwise, I had a vision of my husband and our son at least ten years before I met the former and fourteen before I gave birth to the latter. I distinctly remember at the time wondering how I could possibly imagine having a blond child when my whole family is brunet, but nearly fifteen years later that's exactly what happened.

TT: Do you have a strange question to ask other authors?  This will be used as part of the "Doing it Strange" Tesseracts 14: Strange Canadian Stories multi - author interview, running from noon central on December 2nd to noon on December 3rd on www.bittenbybooks.com.

LS: Do you think Canadians are culturally unable to write happy stories?

TT: Leah, EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing will be in Texas for WHC in April of 2011.  We look forward to seeing you there!

Thanks for joining us!

On the Seventh Day of Tesseracts: An Interview with Jerome Stueart

Your name: Jerome Stueart

Your current location:  Whitehorse, Yukon Territory

Name of your story: "One Nation Under Gods"

TT: What inspired you to write your story? 

Four things, only slightly related.

1) I was substitute teaching one day and a student asked me why we needed to know history at all. 

2) In my home country, the US, patriotism when linked with religion often wants to rewrite history, and make that "new" history sacrosanct. The idea of God, the faith of people, had a huge impact on the making of the US, that I wondered what might change if God had been visible and walking around...and so I gave America the gods she deserved: Freedom, Patriot, Liberty, etc., the ideals we revere.

Since these gods would be so active in History, it seemed logical that History would become religion.  And if so, I thought that this History would be required in all schools--for survival--but be taught like the Bible.  

3) Standardized testing in schools, like the TAKS in Texas, are controversial, forcing every student in a grade to pass that test or not pass that grade. 

and

4) My sister. We are very close.   

TT: Since this collection is about Strange Canadian Stories, what is one of the strangest things that has ever happened to you personally?

I was fourteen or fifteen, a pencil portrait artist in front of a Piggly Wiggly grocery store. I often struck up conversations with strangers, to get them to sit for a portrait, or just to talk.  It was nice when someone stayed and talked.  I remember a girl my age and her mother stayed one day to talk and talk to me; they said the strangest things. I would ask them questions about their lives, and their answers just didn't make sense.  But I believed them anyway, because I was friendly, and you do that.  They said they were waiting on the woman's husband to come pick them up. I must have spoken to them for close to an hour, and then my parents picked me up.  Later that day, apparently, a man in a truck did come for them, and together, they robbed the store at gunpoint.  

TT: A strange question you would like to ask other authors? It will be used in the Bitten by Books event on December 2nd.

If suddenly, all the world's leaders were shuffled around, whose world leader would make the most interesting person to lead Canada?  
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BIO:  Jerome Stueart was always fascinated by the north.  He ran from Texas to the Yukon to experience it firsthand, loved it, and moved there. Since then, he's been a janitor, a trolley conductor, a communications officer for the Arctic Institute of North America, a vaudevillian, a deacon, a stats surveyor, a cartoonist, a teacher, and, sometimes, a writer.  His work has been published in Fantasy, Strange Horizons, Geist, Joyland, Icarus, three Tesseracts anthologies, and he's a frequent contributor to Yukon, North of Ordinary, the Air North in-flight magazine.     

PS.  Photo is by Ian Stewart/Yukon News

______________________________

On the Sixth Day of Tesseracts: An Interview With Sandra Kasturi

TT:What is your name:
Sandra Kasturi

TT:What is your current location:
Toronto

TT:Name of your story:
I have written nine poems in the Tesseracts 14 anthology, entitled collectively "Beautiful with Want" and individually:

Rampion
Invisible Train
Moon & Muchness
Big Bee Story
The Medusa Quintet
A Curse for Alice
Talking with the Dead
Wild Boars in Berlin
Bluebeard's Grandmother


TT:What inspired you to write your story? (theme the anthology in this
way, select the authors for this anthology etc)

Lots of different things, as follows!

Rampion - This one is about Rapunzel. I wondered about what the life of someone literally locked in a tower since babyhood would be like. The only face Rapunzel has ever seen is of course the face of the old witch--that's her entire world. She wouldn't have any comprehension that other humans existed or looked different. So how strange and frightening it must have been when the prince showed up. And exciting too. But at it's heart, Rapunzel is about obsession and mother love gone wrong.

Invisible Train - I wrote this for one round of the Whittaker Prize competition last year. They hated it. I love the idea of a ghostly train carrying, well, ghosts all over the world, all on whatever strange business ghosts are about.

Moon & Muchness - This one was written for this "Sonnet a Week" project I did back in... 2006/2007, I think. It actually averaged out being about a sonnet every two weeks by the time I got done, but still--not bad, especially since I generally am very impatient with formal verse. But I really loved writing sonnets. I think
the rigid structure actually frees up other things. And of course I'm sort of giving a small nod toward Alice in Wonderland here.

Big Bee Story - Another sonnet, pure whimsy this time. And also considering the smallness of our place in the universe.

The Medusa Quintet - I write a lot of things reworking mythologies and fairy tales. Here, I wanted to consider things from Medusa's point of view, poor thing. Eddie Izzard, in one of his comedy bits on mythology talked about how Medusa's sisters are immortal while she is mortal. What a horrifying family dynamic that would make!

A Curse for Alice - Another sonnet, this one very firmly alluding to Alice in Wonderland which I deeply love for its cleverness and lunacy. Er, Alice, that is, not my sonnet. Heh.

Talking with the Dead - Yet another sonnet from that project. More of an atmospheric one than one with a plot. My favourite moment in this poem is this: "But hush/ Yourself to bed—lay down between the sheets/ Of your thready sorrow . . ." I love using language/words/images in ways that they weren't originally intended for. Fun!

Wild Boars in Berlin - This poem is based on an actual newspaper article about how wild pigs are running...er...wild in Berlin. Little stripey piglets running amok in flower markets and at the post office. It's adorable, though of course boars are quite dangerous, so it was causing a lot of controversy there, between those who wanted the animals contained or even killed because they were a danger to humans, and the environmentalists who wanted to save them. To me, these boars running around in the city felt mythic.

Bluebeard's Grandmother - I often think about the unknown relatives and secret lives of fairy tale characters. I wonder about what's going on behind the scenes of the stories we know so well. I'm betting Bluebeard probably had some nasty grannies.

TT:Since this collection is about Strange Canadian Stories, what is one of the strangest things that has ever happened to you personally?
In our old apartment, a kitchen sponge levitated itself off the counter and flew horizontally across the room before dropping to the ground. There was no wind. It was VERY odd.

TT: Do you have a strange question you would like to ask other authors?
What other Tesseracts author would you like to secretly be? And why?

Bio: Sandra Kasturi is a writer, publisher and editor. In 2005 she won ARC magazine’s annual Poem of the Year award. She is the poetry editor of ChiZine and the co-publisher of ChiZine Publications. Sandra’s poetry and fiction has appeared in various magazines and anthologies, most recently Shadows & Tall Trees, Tesseracts 14, and the upcoming Chilling Tales. She managed to snag an introduction from Neil Gaiman for her poetry collection, The Animal Bridegroom (Tightrope Books). She is currently working on another poetry collection, two novels and a YA fantasy. Sandra recently won the 2010 Whittaker Prize for poetry.
(Sandra has asked us to please give photo credit to Weston Ochse, who took it in Brighton this past April at WHC. It's for his Elvis series.(

The Fifth Day of Tesseracts: An Interview With Patrick Johanneson

Happy Fifth Day of Tesseracts! The Fifteen Days of Tesseracts event runs from November 20th until December 4th, 2010 and features an interview with one or more of the Tesseracts Fourteen: Strange Canadian Stories authors every day on the Totally Tesseracts blog (http://totallytesseracts.blogspot.com).  Our interview today is with Patrick Johanneson.
------------------------------------------------
TT:What is your name?
PJ: Patrick Johanneson

TT: What is our current location:
PJ: Brandon, MB

TT: What is the name of your contribution to Tesseracts Fourteen: Strange Canadian Stories?

PJ: "Heat Death" (Tesseracts 14)

TT: What inspired you to write your story?

PJ: I've always been fascinated with end states, entropy, eschatology,
life after death, things like that.  I wondered what would happen if
the gods persisted past the end of the human race -- would they
outlast Time itself?  What would they talk about, at the cold dead end
of the Universe?  And where would the malcontents fit in?

I wrote the story, and edited it quite a lot.  I didn't tailor it to
Tesseracts, specifically, but when I saw the call for entries for T14
-- "Strange Canadian Stories" -- I thought I'd give it a shot.

TT: Since this collection is about Strange Canadian Stories, what is one
of the strangest things that has ever happened to you personally?

PJ: When I was eight, we went to the Yukon for a summer trip.  I
personally found it very odd, having the sun stay up till midnight,
and rise again about 2 in the morning.  (Yeah, my life has been fairly
normal.)

TT: Do you have a strange question you would like to ask other authors? This question will be part of the Bitten by Books interview on December 2nd/3rd at www.bittenbybooks.com  Many of the authors have contributed questions and they will be posted and answered throughout the day during the event.

PJ: What's the oddest dream you've ever had?  Why?

TT: Thanks for joining us...
=============================================================

Patrick Johanneson grew up in small-town Canada, and now lives in
small-city Canada. He's an amateur writer, a professional  webmonkey,
and a judo instructor. He's been published online in InterText, and on
paper in OnSpec and, now, Tesseracts. Currently he's working on a
handful of projects: one novel about a young man's coming of age on a
backwater colony, one about a time-travel war spanning millions of
years, and one about sailors and the undead -- though, it must be
said, there are no zombies and few pirates in it.  He may be found on
the web at  http://patrickjohanneson.com/.

The Fourth Day of Tesseracts: An Interview with Michael Colangelo and Michael Lorenson

We are pleased to celebrate The Fourth Day of Tesseracts with two interviews - one with Michael Colangelo and one with Michael Lorenson from Tesseracts Fourteen: Strange Canadian Stories edited by John Robert Colombo and Brett Alexander Savory.

Interview One: Michael Colangelo

TT: What is your name?
MC: Michael Colangelo

TT: Where are you located?
MC: Toronto

TT: What is the name of your story in Tesseracts Fourteen: Strange Canadian Stories?
MC: Rocketship Red

TT: What inspired you to write your story?
MC: I was fooling around with old pulp concepts and I was interested at the time in writing science fiction stories where the science was out of date. Sort of false, retro-future future stuff, I suppose. Anyway, I’m always interested in the architecture/collapse of systems and I’m pretty sure the bottom of the American economy had just dropped out too, coupled with all sorts of weird outdated 1950s patriotism/denial attitude stuff in the media. The supernatural element was a natural fit, since, well, all of that is about ghosts really, at its core.

TT: What is one of the strangest things that has ever happened to you?
MC: I used to drive back and forth between Toronto and… Eastern GTA Toronto quite a lot at really early morning hours when hardly any other cars are around.
So once it was something like four o’ clock in the morning and I was coming back on some forsaken back road highway with a kind of hill dividing the eastbound and westbound lanes.
There was something on the road that looked like a bowling ball, so I stopped to get it, because who doesn’t need a new bowling ball, right?
Well, wrong. Because there had been a car accident on the other side of the road and, well, yeah, I slowly came to realize that the bowling ball was actually a human head. It’s sort of like coming across something on the Internet you weren’t looking for, didn’t really want to see, and never want to see again. But, yeah – I found a human head once.
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Bio:
Michael Colangelo is a writer from Toronto.
==========================================================

Interview Two: Michael Lorenson


TT: Welcome Michael.  Where are you currently located?
ML: Montreal, Quebec (visiting Toronto for SFContario)


TT: What is the name of your story in Tesseracts Fourteen: Strange Canadian Stories?
ML: Random Access Memory from Tesseracts 14

TT: What inspired you to write your story?
ML: I had the idea for the technology first - of people recording their memories and experiences and making them available for others - and the idea of a character in trouble, but it wasn't much to go on so I filed it for a while. One day, while driving home from work, a song from my lengthy heavy metal playlist came on - a song about people sitting around playing Russian Roulette. The two ideas came together and I had to pull over so that I could record a voice memo for myself. The story grew from there.

TT: Since this collection is about Strange Canadian Stories, what is one of the strangest things that has ever happened to you personally?
ML: Does having a coyote leap over the median on the 401 in Whitby in front of my car count? It was funny in a $3000 worth of repairs sort of way. Honestly, I'm envious of people who have strange things happen to them all the time. I lead a fairly pedestrian life, which might explain why I like reading and writing about the unusual.

TT: A strange question you would like to ask other authors? (This question will be used at the 15 Days of Tesseracts event on BittenbyBooks.com on December 2/3.)
ML: If you were wallpaper, what pattern would you be and what sort of room would you like to be put into?
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Michael Lorenson was born and raised in Montreal where he still resides with his wife, two sons, and cat. He recently rediscovered a love for writing after a long hiatus. "Random Access Memory" is his first publication but he is looking forward to many more years of letting his imagination carry him where it will.

The Third Day of Tesseracts - An interview with Matt Moore!

Our featured author for the Third Day of Tesseracts is Matt Moore.

TT: What is your name?
MM:  Matt Moore

TT: Where are you located?
MM: My current location is Ottawa, Ontario

TT: What is the name of your story?
MM:"The Machinery of Government"

TT:What inspired you to write your story?
MM:  In disaster stories, usually we follow the "everyman" or "everywoman" since they are people we can relate to. From their POV, the people in charge are strong, decisive and getting the job done. I wanted to tell a disaster story using someone who would be in charge as a main character, but showing they are flawed, anxious and as scared as everyone else.

TT: Since this collection is about Strange Canadian Stories, what is one of the strangest things that has ever happened to you personally?

MM:After my mother passed away, I discovered short stories she had written buried in the backs of drawers and files while cleaning out her room. I had no idea she had written creatively.

TT: A strange question you would like to ask other authors?
MM:You must drop a dozen zombies into any time and place in Canadian history. Where, when and why?

TT: Thanks Matt!
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Bio: Matt Moore is an Ottawa writer with work in On Spec, AE Science Fiction Review, the anthologies Tesseracts Thirteen, Tesseracts Fourteen and Night Terrors, and the eBook "Silverman's Game" (Damnation Books). He is also the Marketing Director for ChiZine Publications, a small, independent publisher. You can find more about him at mattmoorewrites.com.

The Second Day of Tesseracts - An Interview with Lisa L.Hannett

Welcome to our Second Day of Tesseracts. Our feature author is Lisa L. Hannett, who we are speaking to in Southern Australia.

TT: Where are you writing to us from Lisa?
LH: My current location is Adelaide, South Australia

TT: What is the name of your story in Tesseracts Fourteen: Strange Canadian Stories?
LH: 'Soil From My Fingers'

TT:What inspired you to write your story?
LH: I wanted to write a piece that resonated with fairy tales, but which wouldn't be a fairy tale itself. I had a vague notion of telling "the third stepmother's" story – not the first wife, not the seventh daughter of a seventh son, nothing like that. Instead, I was thinking about how the fairy tale dynamic would change if the third stepmother was younger than her daughters. How would they react to her? What would she be like? Then I abandoned most of that plan, but kept the young girl, and wrote a tale about yearning, superstition, plans going haywire and a green-eyed homunculus instead.

TT:Since this collection is about Strange Canadian Stories, what is one of the strangest things that has ever happened to you personally?

LH: About ten or twelve years ago, when I still lived in Ottawa, I was driving to work for an early morning shift. It was the crack of dawn. That, and the fact that I had to travel several kilometres along farmer's fields and sparse tracts of forest before I reached work, meant that nobody else was around. The sky was late winter grey; the long grass that sprouted in ditches along the highway was vibrant by comparison. Gorgeous ochre blades poked out of the snow and caught my eye as I drove. Beautiful, but mundane — grass, snow, sleepy farmhouses, sleepier me. Until a black dog, possibly a Labrador but more realistically a ghost hound, appeared out of nowhere. His fur was too dark against the white and grey to be natural. And as he bounded the length of the ditch, he looked so pleased with himself for being big and strong enough to carry a spine, ribcage and skull (human, I swear) straight out in front of him, using nothing but his smiling jaw.

TT: Could you please give us a strange question you would like to ask other authors?
LH: On average, how many times a week do you write in your pyjamas? Bonus question: do you coordinate your writing pyjamas with the subject matter of your stories?
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Lisa L Hannett has sold stories to venues including Clarkesworld, Fantasy, Weird Tales, ChiZine, Electric Velocipede, Midnight Echo and Steampunk II: Steampunk Reloaded. She is a graduate of the Clarion South Writers Workshop. Nine years ago, Lisa moved from Ottawa to Adelaide, South Australia — city of churches, bizarre murders, and pie floaters. Her first collection, Bluegrass Symphony, is being published by Ticonderoga Publications in August 2011 .You can visit her at http://lisahannett.com.

The First Day of Tesseracts - an interview with John Robert Colombo, and Claude Lalumière

The First Day of Tesseracts

Welcome to the First Day of Tessseracts.  Today we are featuring two mini-interviews, one with Toronto author/Tesseracts Fourteen: Strange Canadian Stories co-editor John Robert Colombo, and one with Claude Lalumière.

TT(Totally Tesseracts): Hi John. Thanks for joining us for the First Day of Tesseracts?  Could you tell us a bit about your contribution to Tesseracts Fourteen: Strange Canadian Stories.

JRC: My contribution to "Tesseracts 14" is the Introduction, just as my co-editor Brett Savory's contribution is the Afterword. Not to be overlooked is the contribution of Brian Hades, who shouldered the publisher's responsibilities.

What are some of your favorite things about the anthology?
JRC: I like the anthology's subtitle "Strange Canadian Stories." Every word of the subtitle is true!  I enjoy the feel of the book, its cover, its heft, its binding, its typeface. The stories too!

The theme of the book is Strange Canadian stories.  Can you tell our readers one of the strangest experiences that you have ever had?

JRC:  The strangest experience that I ever had took place in the border town of Petrich, Bulgaria, where my wife Ruth and I were introduced to Vanga Dimitrova, the most famous psychic in Eastern Europe. The old blind woman proceeded to tell us details about our lives that nobody at the time (including ourselves) knew to be true. Truth is indeed stranger than fiction, not that the 20-odd stories and poems in "Tesseracts 14" are not strange!

TT: Thanks John for joining us! We look forward to speaking to you again through the Fifteen Days of Tesseracts. Incidentally the Fifteen Days of Tesseracts is so named, as Tesseracts Fourteen is the fifteenth edition of the Canadian literary legacy.

Tesseracts Fourteen: Strange Canadian Stories Feature Author: Claude Lalumière

TT: Also with us today is Claude Lalumière, who lives in Montreal.  Thanks Claude for joining us.  Can you tell us the name of your story in Tesseracts Fourteen?

CL: The name of my story is Vermilion Dreams: The Complete Works of Bram Jameson

TT: What inspired you to write your story?

CL: There are two answers to that question.
First, it's part of a series of stories I'm writing on the fictional insular city-state of Venera. The series started to take shape in my mind during a 2006 trip to Europe. The kernel of the concept for the series was conceived in Venice, and Venera itself is very much inspired by Venice, but elements of both Rome and Barcelona also contributed to the makeup of the city-state. It's been slow work, much slower than I'd anticipated, finishing the stories. "Vermilion Dreams" is one of only two completed and published stories in the set (I have at least a half dozen others in various stages of production).

But "Vermilion Dreams" itself was written very quickly. I conceived of that story in spring 2008, after reading J.G. Ballard's memoir, MIRACLES OF LIFE, in which I learned that he was dying of cancer (he has since died). Ballard is one of my heroes, and my favourite writer. I was profoundly affected by the tragic news, and deeply moved by his autobiography. Within an hour of finishing the book, I had begun writing "Vermilion Dreams" as an homage to Ballard. Readers will certainly notice parallels between the works of my mysterious author Bram Jameson and those of Ballard. When other parallels and concordances presented themselves, I also threw in nods to other aspects of twentieth-century pop culture, as my journey through the oeuvre of "Bram Jameson" is also a circuitous journey through a strange secret history of the twentieth century.

TT: We recently had a Wildcard question contest, where our readers were to submit some strange questions to ask the authors.  The first Wildcard question came from Clare Wall who asked:

Clare: You are throwing a party with fictional characters as guests, who would you invite?
CL: Off the cuff... Selina Kyle (the Darwyn Cooke version), John Drake, Emma Peel, Bugs Bunny, Pippi Longstocking, Alan Shore, Maggie Chascarrillo, Hopey Glass, Penny Century, Gordon Kirby, Faith the Vampire Slayer, Zot, Peculia, Barbara Gordon, Earl & Mooch, Zatanna, Cherry Poptart, Angela Chase, Lindsay Weir, Joey Potter, Jen Lindley, Pacey Witter, Xander Harris, Hannah Dundee, Paula (from The Larry Sanders Show), Tesla Strong
TT: Do you have a question, wildcard or other that you would like to ask an author still to be interviewed during the Fifteen Days of Tesseracts?

CL: If you were editing a Tesseracts anthology, what theme would you choose, and who would you want as co-editor?
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Claude Lalumière (lostmyths.net/claude) is the author of OBJECTS OF WORSHIP (2009) and THE DOOR TO LOST PAGES (forthcoming, spring 2011). He has edited eight anthologies, including TESSERACTS TWELVE: NEW NOVELLAS OF CANADIAN FANTASTIC FICTION. With Rupert Bottenberg, Claude is the co-creator of Lost Myths (lostmyths.net).
 
John Robert Colombo is the Toronto-based author and anthologist whose byline appears on over 200 books of quality.

Happy All Tesseracts Eve

We hope you will join us tomorrow for the First Day of Tesseracts. 

In Calgary, we will be featuring "Tesseracts Fourteen: Strange Canadian Stories" as part of our Steam & Steel Social celebrating EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing's 10th Anniversary.  Also on our Totally Tesseracts blog tomorrow, we will be featuring mini - interviews with Tesseracts Fourteen co-editor John Robert Colombo, and author Claude Lalumière. 

If you enjoy the 15 Days of Tesseracts, we thank you for sharing the blog, and passing the word along about the event. Please consider following the blog.

EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing

Barnes and Noble Bookclub Features "Tesseracts Fourteen: Strange Canadian Stories"

"That’s why I love anthologies like Tesseracts 14 – there are stories from authors that I know and love (like Robert J. Sawyer and Claude Lalumiere), as well as stories from authors that are new to me, like the aforementioned Hayward and Curelas, to name just a few. Fantasy, horror and science fiction fans who are looking for something, well, weird should check out this anthology of delectable literary morsels of Canadian speculative fiction." -- Paul Goat Allen, Barnes and Noble Bookclub

Happy November 14th! Only 5 days till "All Tesseracts Eve" at SF Contario, 6 days until the "15 Days of Tesseracts" event), and the Steam & Steel Social, celebrating EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing's 10th Anniversary. 

Our goal between November 20th, and December 4th is to have something featuring Tesseracts Fourteen everyday - from interviews on our Totally Tesseracts blog, online and offline events, and general Tesseracts merriment - each day brings its own little gifts...

It seems that the festivities have already begun... 

We received an email this morning from Paul Goat Allen informing us that Tesseracts Fourteen: Strange Canadian Stories is being featured on the Barnes and Noble Bookclub blog! Paul reviews with Barnes and Noble and also recently reviewed EVOLVE: Vampire Stories of the New Undead. 

Allen says that "this anthology does contain some impressive speculative gems, namely Claude Lalumiere’s “Vermilion Dreams,” Brent Hayward’s “The Brief Medical Career of Fine Sam Fine,” and “Harvest Moon” by M.L.D. Curelas... the standout selection is Lalumiere’s insanely brilliant “Vermilion Dreams"."

To view the complete review visit http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/t5/Unabashedly-Bookish-The-BN/Weirdness-From-North-of-the-Border-An-Anthology-of-Strange/ba-p/716293

Send Us Your "Wild Card" Questions and You Could Win a Double Weekend Memberships to SF Contario

In preparation for the Fifteen Days of Tesseracts* event happening between November 20 and December 4th., we are looking for "Wild Card" questions to ask our "Tesseracts Fourteen: Strange Canadian Stories"  authors.

 

Each day one or more author/editors will be interviewed by Totally Tesseracts.  That is where you come in...

 

What is a "Wild Card" question?

 

Since Tesseracts Fourteen is a book of Strange Canadian Stories - we welcome you to submit a unique and, well, downright strange question to ask one of our authors/editors as part of the interview.  Each day a new question will be selected, and featured, acknowledging the creator of the question. 

 

What's this about a contest?

 

As EDGE is a sponsor of SF Contario, we have some lovely double weekend memberships available to share.  These are non-refundable, and can be transferred to someone else if you win them but cannot actually come to the event itself...

 

Two entries will be randomly selected THIS Wednesday, November 17th to win Double Memberships for SF Contario happening in Toronto next weekend. This contest is open to anyone, including the authors of Tess 14.

 

Here is how the contest works:

1. Make up a "wild card" question.
2. Questions must be submitted by noon - 12:00 pm PST, on Wednesday, November 17th to events@hadespublications.com.
3. Help us build up this blog - click the "follow" button on our blog (not mandatory but appreciated)
4. 2 winners will be selected randomly from the submissions received.
5. Winners will be notified via email, and will have their names posted on this blog and the EDGE Facebook page.
6. Winners must provide name, address, and email address to EDGE which will be passed along to SF Contario for prize confirmation.
7. Winners of the contest will be notified via email, with a coupon that must be presented to the front desk of SF Contario. - SF Contario will confirm the name, address and email address with the winner.
8. Contest is open to everyone everywhere, unless prohibited in the province/state where you live.
9. The winner must provide their own transportation to SF Contario, and the prize cannot be exchanged for any other items.

What ARE the Fifteen Days of Tesseracts?

 

"The Fifteen Days of Tesseracts" is an online/offline event which runs between November 20th and December 4th, with interviews, and celebrations that include Tesseracts Fourteen: Strange Canadian Stories.  The event starts with "All Tesseracts Eve"...

 

The "All Tesseracts Eve" event, which happens on November 19th from 7- 9 pm at SF Contario, will be the official launch of "The Fifteen Days of Tesseracts". All those who either are in Tesseracts Fourteen, other editions of Tesseracts, or simply enjoy Tesseracts, and other works of EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing are invited to attend.  You will hear readings from Tesseracts Fourteen, and if you are a Tesseracts author/editor from one of the other editions, are welcome to bring something to read from your anthology.  If time allows, there will be an opportunity for you to read.  Hosted by Tesseracts Fourteen author, David Nickle, the short, informal event will showcase both Tesseracts Fourteen, and the new releases from EDGE.

 

Each day during November 20th and December 4th, 1 or more author or editor will be featured on this "Totally Tesseracts" blog.  For the most part, the same questions will be asked of each author, however a daily Wild Card question will be selected from questions submitted by all of you.

 

"Fifteen Days of Tesseracts" is so named because Tesseracts Fourteen: Strange Canadian Stories, edited by John Robert Colombo and Brett Alexander Savory, is the Fifteenth edition of the all-Canadian speculative anthology which includes Tesseracts One through Fourteen and Tesseracts Q, (featuring English translations of Franco-Canadian authors).  This was a great excuse to celebrate the anthology, the entire Tesseracts anthology, and works of our authors for 15 days through online events, contests, interviews and some whopper offline events, like EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing's 10th Anniversary Steam & Steel Social, happening on the First Day of Tesseracts, November 20th, at the Aerospace Museum.  For details visit our website at http://www.edgewebsite.com/

 

Please watch this blog for the announcement of the 15 Days of Tesseracts Schedule...

EDGE announces "All Tesseracts Eve" and the "15 Days of Tesseracts"

Join us at SF Contario for "All Tesseracts Eve", Friday, November 19th, from 7 - 9 pm.  Hosted by "Tesseracts Fourteen: Strange Canadian Stories" author David Nickle, this event is an opportunity to see the latest edition in the Tesseracts anthologies.  "Tesseracts Fourteen: Strange Canadian Stories" edited by John Robert Colombo and Brett Alexander Savory features works by:

Robert J. Sawyer
Michelle Barker
Tony Burgess
Suzanne Church
David Clink
Michael Colangelo
Margaret Curelas
Susan Forest
L. L. Hannett
Brent Hayward
Patrick Johanneson
Sandra Kasturi
Claude Lalumière
Michael Lorenson
Catherine MacLeod
Matthew Moore
David Nickle
John Park
Jonathan Saville
Daniel Sernine (translated by Sheryl Curtis)
Leah Silverman
Jerome Stueart
Jon Martin Watts

Plus: Authors from past Tesseracts are welcome to come and read on the open stage (time permitting).  We welcome you to come and join us in this informal author event on the eve of "15 Days of Tesseracts", where each day one or more T14 authors will be featured on our new Totally Tesseracts blog...

The evening will also introduce the new Fall releases by EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing.  For location details, refer to the SF Contario program book.

"Tesseracts Fifteen: A Case of Quite Curious Tales" Submissions Open September 1 to November 30th, 2010

For Immediate Release

(Calgary, Alberta) EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing is delighted to announce that "Tesseracts Fifteen: A Case of Quite Curious Tales", is now open for submissions.

Submissions open September 1, 2010 thru November 30, 2010 ONLY.

This edition of the award winning series of original Canadian Speculative Fiction comes with a twist and touch of whimsy.

"We've decided to do something different with Tesseracts Fifteen." said Brian Hades, owner of the EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing imprint. "This volume will focus on Young Adult Speculative Fiction - which can include science fiction, fantasy, and horror. However submissions must appeal to the YA audience and be PG-14 in content. As usual, Tesseracts Fifteen is open to both short fiction and poetry submissions."

Each Tesseracts anthology since volume one (1985) has featured editors hand picked for each particular volume. For this volume, Julie Czerneda and Susan MacGregor have agreed to co-edit.

"We seek wonder and astonishment." said the editors. "Stories that engage the imagination, inspire dreams, and leave hope in their wake." Both Czerneda and MacGregor want all Canadian speculative fiction writers to "write what will become the classics for a new generation of readers, to be remembered, fondly, for years to come."

SUBMISSION DETAILS:

The Tesseracts anthology series is open to submissions in either English or French: from Canadians, landed immigrants, long time residents, and expatriates. French stories must have been translated into English prior to submission.
The theme for Tesseracts Fifteen is Young Adult Speculative Fiction (includes science fiction, fantasy, and horror). Submissions must appeal to the YA audience and be PG-14 in content. Tesseracts Fifteen is open to both short fiction and poetry.
The maximum length for stories is 5,500 words, with shorter works preferred.
Submissions deadline is November 30, 2010.
Inquiries and submissions can be sent to tesseracts15@edgewebsite.com
Detailed guidelines are available at
http://www.edgewebsite.com/books/tess15/t15-catalog.html

ABOUT THE TESSERACTS SERIES

The first Tesseracts anthology was edited by Judith Merril. Since its publication in 1985, 240 authors/editors/translators and guests have written 483 pieces of Canadian speculative fiction, fantasy and horror for this series. Some of Canada's best known speculative fiction writers have been published within the pages of these volumes - including Margaret Atwood, William Gibson , Robert J. Sawyer, and Elisabeth Vonarburg (to name a few). Tesseracts Fifteen is the sixteenth volume in the series. The entire series includes Tesseracts One through Fifteen, and Tesseracts Q, which features translations of works by some of Canada's top francophone writers of science fiction and fantasy. "Tesseracts Fourteen: Strange Canadian Stories", edited by John Robert Colombo and Brett Alexander Savory will be released in October, 2010. Tesseracts Fourteen features innovative short stories and poetry by 23 of Canada’s finest speculative fiction writers.

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