Author Archives: Melissa

Fiction fights to the death

If you’ve never experienced Broken Pencil’s “Indie Writers’ Death Match,” today’s a pretty good day to take a look, as the grammar commentary and barnyard animal mentions in recent responses are delightful. At the time of writing, the two current stories are split in the polls about 50/50.
The IWDM exists in a space somewhere between [...]

Commas save lives

via @late2game

Circ School Diary

If I had to use one word to describe Magazines Canada Circulation School at Niagara-On-The-Lake, it would be epic.
Friday
My train arrives in Niagara Falls around 10:30am.  I take a walk around the station in the hopes of finding a way to kill time, but there’s something post-apocalyptic about the area.  I settle in [...]

The magic of language

Last weekend, I joined roughly 130 people who came out on a Friday night to listen to poetry.  I was at the London Poetry Slam, which gathers on the third Friday of every month, in the cellar lounge of the London Music Club.  Something you should know about the cellar lounge is that it’s not [...]

TNQ Winter issue launch at Manx Pub in Ottawa

Join The New Quarterly in celebrating our Winter Issue, Matters of the Heart on January 30.   Featuring readings by Heather Birrell, Elizabeth Harvor, and Elizabeth Hay.
January 3o,  Manx Pub, Ottawa (map).
Doors open at 4:30 p.m. with readings from 5-6.
About our readers:
Heather Birrell is the author of the story collection I know you are but [...]

a temporary madness

After a strange visit into the world of book banning, Transport Canada has announced that they’ve changed their security policy to allow books on airplanes.
If this is the first you’ve heard about it, the fellow with the boxer bomb this Christmas made airlines tighten up security against dangerous items.  You know, like literature.  While exceptions [...]