Here I am with my old friend Lloyd Penney, who a few years ago landed the dream job of Editor-in-Chief of Amazing Stories. On April 29, Lloyd regaled a crowd of sci-fi fans and authors with stories about the magazine in celebration of its 100th year! The venue: The Merril Collection of Science Fiction, Speculation & Fantasy at the public library on College Street, Toronto. A place of some personal significance for me because, a few years before she passed, the founder of that collection, acclaimed sci-fi author and icon Judith Merril, came to the launch of Species Review, an indie magazine on science and culture I co-founded with a couple of friends. One of those was my closest friend, Andy Haynes, who was also at the Amazing Stories event. And that magazine turns out to have a special connection to the friendship Andy and I developed with Lloyd. After only a few issues of Species Review, Andy and I were offered a chance to found a new magazine. The backer of that new magazine was a well-funded tech company. A sticking point of the offer was we had to shut down Species Review. We loved our magazine, and didn’t want to stop creating it, but we also didn’t want to run any deeper in debt, so we took the offer. With a healthy budget for once, we were able to hire a proofreader–that proofreader was Lloyd Penney. So the night of April 29, 2026, was one of those magical, synchronous nights when different threads of our lives weave together.

I want to shout out to Lloyd for his outstanding work of breathing new life into the magazine and the annual Best Of anthologies (2023, 2024, 2025). Indeed some amazing stories in there!

Thank you, Lloyd, for your love of sci-fi and all you do for Amazing Stories and the broader sci-if community!

And Lloyd, as soon as I take a break from longform, I look forward to writing you a short story. 🙂

My wife’s debut novel, The Book Tour, launched today with Penguin Random House!!

Emily, I’m so proud of you! (A line that will bear more meaning for anyone who reads the book.)

It’s quite something to think back to the days when Emily first batted around the idea of writing her first novel, and to see it out in the world now – just wow! In the run-up to today, she’s been speaking at events, doing podcasts, and running around to bookstores signing copies, and has her first TV appearance coming up later this week!

You can grab her book at a bookstore, some airports and online.

To quote the blurb: Sparks fly between a lively debut author and her grumpy publicist on book tour in this sizzling rom-com from a fresh new voice in contemporary romance.

Hope you enjoy it!

Ten years ago, I became a father. Along with the profound love that fatherhood provoked came fears that were often paralyzing. My novel, Every Last Trace, is my exploration of a father’s experience of a particularly horrific “what if” within the soft sci-fi genre.

The story follows single father Finn Vey, who, on leave from work due to a careless accident, is glad for the opportunity to spend more time with his 5-year-old daughter, Evie. Not only because her beloved company is the best antidote for the recent trauma that plagues him, but because his love and attention are the best antidote for her recurring mutism. But when Evie goes missing from the playground one morning and a panicked Finn pleads for help from neighbors, friends and family, each person reacts with alarm. Not that Evie has disappeared—but that Finn believes he has a daughter at all.

Confused, desperate, and with the clock ticking down, Finn tries to prove her existence, but every trace of Evie is gone—his phone wiped clean of photos, the walls of the house devoid of her artwork, her bedroom filled with office furniture. His loved ones insist he’s having a delusional episode, but Finn knows the truth: Evie is real. And even if he has to do it alone, he will find her.

Following scant leads, Finn embarks on a search that will unravel a plot more shocking than he could have imagined. One involving other children who have vanished without a trace, and a sinister group with access to quantum technology and a twisted plan that threatens all of humankind. With the help of unlikely allies, Finn must race against time, stave off interdimensional threats, and battle his own inner demons to defeat the global threat, reunite with Evie, and unlock the most beautiful sound in the world: his daughter’s voice.

Congratulations to my partner Emily Ohanjanians on the cover reveal for her novel, The Book Tour, releasing with Penguin Random House in March 2026!

I remember the day a couple of years ago when Emily and I went for a walk through our neighborhood and she first mentioned a character that kept popping up in her head. A character that seemed to demand her story be told.

In the following months, this character, Ana, and her story became a staple topic of conversation of our strolls. She was as alive as anybody in our lives.

And now, or soon rather, her story will be shared with the world. I couldn’t be more proud of Emily.

My beautiful and brilliant cousin, Stephanie, sadly passed away recently… one of her life’s dreams was to have her three boys form a band that would tour the world. She made that dream come true. This is the song her sons wrote for her…

Yup, I had a pretty cool uncle! Here I am sharing some memories of working with my uncle John Candy on SCTV with the Toronto Star.

Here’s one of my SCTV sketches with me as the bedridden kid asking Babe Ruth, played by my uncle, for some pretty ridiculous favors.