Author Archives: Alyx Dellamonica

About Alyx Dellamonica

Alyx Dellamonica lives in Toronto, Ontario, with their wife, author Kelly Robson. They write fiction, poetry, and sometimes plays, both as A.M. Dellamonica and L.X. Beckett. A long-time creative writing teacher and coach, they now work at the UofT writing science articles and other content for the Department of Chemistry. They identify as queer, nonbinary, autistic, Nerdfighter, and BTS Army.

Vacation looms, and with it the reading of lighter fare…

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In my case, having finished Nicola Griffith’s excellent Hild
(here’s my review) and Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel, I think I will be going with a thriller, Gillian Flynn’s Dark Places. Here’s the cover.

Vacation is a relative term. I want to finish some substantial revision on Daughter of a Pirate by the end of the calendar year, and I have a couple one-on-one students I’m doing things for, or with. But my Novel 1 class is about to wind down, and there will be some loafing. And with loafing, for me, comes crime.

Edited to add: Having read the Gillian Flynn book, and having found it just okay, I am thinking of moving on to a book Barb recommended: Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America

Metabloggage (Toronto Day 203)

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imageI want to get back into a more regular habit of updating you all about things going on in my life, but Life has been thwarty. Much of what I might write here, if I could, would be storytelling about other people: “I did X with person Y, and they did this unusual thing, and I felt this way about it!”

I cannot help but think the answer is to get back into taking pictures. This all but stopped when I got into the busiest part of my teaching quarter, but I will take it up again as I move into the last weeks of Novel 1.

In the meantime, a few things you may or may not know:

Self-care: I took an Intro to Self Massage from David Bruni at Downward Dog Yoga Studio, and it was pretty damned glorious.

Entertainment: Kelly and I saw Eddie Izzard live at Massey Hall with a bunch of friends. It was our third time seeing him, and he was hysterically funny.

House Plants: Though we have in the past eschewed all holiday decorating, I bought a small Norfolk pine and hung some brass-colored holiday balls on it. It came with a red bird on a stick; I don’t know why. I then posted the photo on Instagram, as is my wont:

We also bought a string of LED lights for our deck.

I characterized this burst of seasonal activity to a friend, thusly: “For us, this is like normal people stepping up from the usual holiday decorating and going Full-on Martha.”

Anyway. A week or so after the sad little Chuckie Brown tree photo went out to the Intertubes, one of my favorite students sent our little red bird a mate. (The gold blob is the new bird.) You know who you are, and we thank you!

Slayers are so helpful on the #BuffyRewatch

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slayerThis week’s rewatch covers the episode “Help,” which is the one where a young teen predicts her death, and Buffy tries to stop it.

Today is the last really full week of work for my Novel One students at the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program. They’ll walk out with a first chapter, an outline, and a plan for moving forward with their projects. Starting next month, I’ll be teaching “Creating Universes, Building Worlds,” which is the speculative fiction course with a focus on short stories. There are still some slots for students in this one; if you have any questions, let me know.

In terms of one-on-one mentorships, I will not be taking new students for at least the first couple of months of 2014. I could be persuaded to run a waiting list, so if you are interesting in this and we haven’t talked before, reach out.

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving, if you happened to celebrate it last week.

Toronto, Day 199

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imageI spent this past weekend at SF Contario, a small and very writing-centered convention (as opposed to game-y or costume-y) at a hotel just on the edge of the Ryerson Campus. There was much hanging out with writers, and shop talk, and delightful analysis of the fiction we all love. And, of course, the conversation wandered into other kinds of stories: TV shows and films ranging from Battlestar Galactica to Veronica Mars to the little-known Eastwick with Paul Gross.

I also learned that GoH Seanan McGuire‘s favorite book is Stephen King’s IT, and we got to talk about why, and chew through some of the issues I raised with the book in my recent(ish) reread of the novel, “Grownups are the Enemy” for Tor.com.

Kelly and I also headed into Cabbagetown for what was really the first time, in search of an Italian restaurant we’d heard was the real deal. And Oh Emm Gee. If you’re ever in town and want to go to F’Amelia, I am so there. Two words: beet risotto. K, I think, got pictures. I was far too busy stuffing my face.

Willow heads homeward on the #BuffyRewatch on @tordotcom

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slayerThis week’s essay is Willow’s homecoming episode: “Same Time, Same Place.”

If you’re local and want a chance to connect, I’ll be appearing at SF Contario this weekend. My tentative panel schedule:

Gardenview Sun. 2:00 PM Writing as an Evolving Process

Writing as an Evolving Process: As with any other art, writing requires practice, and a writer’s skill can improve over time. Writers discuss the things they have learned as they have evolved and ways in which they have gained a new level of expertise. How can you tell when you’re improving? How can you judge your own progress as a writer?

Solarium Sat. 11:00 AM Great First Lines

Great First Lines: “Call me Ishmael”, “’It was the day my grandmother exploded”, “The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel”; There is nothing like an unforgettable first line for hooking a reader in. What are your favorites? Can you force a good first line, or do they just happen?

Courtyard Sun. 1:00 PM The Heroine`s Quest

The Heroine’s Quest: How do three letters change the way we view the sword-bearer? Should there be different rules, spells, or goals for the female adventurer?