STORYWORLD

I've spent the last month or so immersed in writing The Parasites, the second instalment in my YA science fiction series, The Iduna Project. The first book The Forever Ones is still proving popular with teens and I've had a lot of impatient reminders that the next one is well overdue. Margaret Atwood and her entomologist father Writing dystopian novels poses a very specific challenge, and  Margaret Atwood helped me understand why. Her interview with the Daily Telegraph prior to the release of MaddAddam , clearly explains her perception of the divide between science fiction and speculative fiction. : The lineage of speculative fiction traces back to Jules Verne, who wrote about things that he could see coming to pass that were possible on the Earth—this wasn’t about outer space or space invasions—but things that we could actually do. So for Atwood the difference is "Could happen here on earth" as opposed to "unlikely or couldn't happen" as in ali...

It's a welcome break in a writer's life to get away from the computer and go out to meet the people who are actually reading your books. Last week I had the pleasure of doing that three times. It was exhausting but exhilarating. EVENT #1: MONDAY - THE Y NEIGHBOURS ALUMNI GROUP The YMCA/YWCA Y Neighbours Program is aimed at Moms and offers the following opportunity: Meetings take place one morning a week in nine community facilities across Winnipeg and give women an opportunity to meet socially, schedule workshops and hear guest speakers on a range of topics.  There are also group outings, as well as exciting social evenings. I gave a presentation on "The Writer's Life" to an interested group of women, some of whom had read my books. It was a fun, informal evening and I really enjoyed responding to all the questions and comments, as well as learning more about some of the members who had ties with the Winnipeg literary scene or who had done some writin...