Happy Birthday CZP

On Tuesday ChiZine Publications had their fifth anniversary bash, which was paired with a launch for Imaginarium 2013: The Best Canadian Speculative Writing.

I read the first scene of “The Sweet Spot,” one of the Imaginarium stories, at the launch. It’s the first time I’ve read a squid story in public, I think. It went down rather well.

I also got to hear and meet a number of the other contributors. Michael Kelly read part of “Blink,” and we got to hear part of “I was a Teenaged Minotaur” by A.G. Pasquella. David Clink read his Aurora-nominated poem, “A sea monster tells his story,” which made all the women at our table all edge-of-weepy.

And then Kari Maren sang her new song, “Fake Geek Guy.”

It was a boisterous, lively event and much fun was had.

“The Sweet Spot” reprint and a shot of Grandma

My short story “The Sweet Spot,” which appeared in Lightspeed Magazine last year, Imaginarium 2013: The Best Canadian Speculative Writing

Though I have only just started to recover from the blast out to Edmonton, I am headed with Kelly to Montreal this weekend. The last trip wasn’t a pleasure cruise, obviously, but this is–we’re going to see friends. I haven’t been to Montreal since, I think, the 2001 World Fantasy Con. I am looking forward to being there again, with savvy local guides no less!

And, in the spirit of three things make a post – a lot of pictures of Grandma Joan are coming my way and then getting uploaded to the Pham album on my Flickr account. Here’s one by Paul McNie that I think is especially nice.
Joan Ryks-Huffman

New Squid Story, My Favorite Bit, and a Buffy rewatch!

Today my story “The Sweet Spot” is live at Lightspeed Magazine. I hope you enjoy it, and the rest of the issue, too.

I am also the featured My Favorite Bit author at Mary Robinette Kowal‘s blog today. What does that mean? Basically, it means I talk a little about my love for the much-beleaguered Juanita Corazon of Blue Magic.

The Buffy rewatch this week covers “Bad Girls” and “Consequences.” It’s called: Want. Take. Have. Pay. Pay. Pay.