a sample of my convention work... writing ....

Hello Everyone!

We are really excited about the OCC's first ever FROSTCON, and we would like to remind you that small beginnings lead to much bigger things! We hope you will join us in welcoming the guests that we have booked for our first Event, and that you are as excited about them as we are.

It is our hope that in the future we will be able to add to our guest lists, providing guests from around the world while still supporting Toronto's extensive local talents. That is definitely a goal we will work towards.

In conclusion we would like to remind you that this is a fan-run event in it's first year, which means that all the financial support comes from only what we are capable of raising BEFORE the event takes place. We hope to attract sponsors and bigger advertisers in future years, but we promise you that we are working hard to bring you the best event we possibly can, and we thank you for all your support and excitement!

We are really looking forward to seeing you in just over a week

your FROSTCON staff!

New Publishing House in Canada!!!!  -- from Press release

Bundoran Press Publishing House is pleased to announce it has signed book deals with Edward Willett of Regina, Saskatchewan and Neil Godbout of Prince George, British Columbia.

Edward Willett’s novel, Right To Know (working title), is a fast-paced space opera about the power of information – and disinformation in closed societies and whether the public has a ‘right to know’ the plans and strategies of their governments in times of conflict. Edward Willett is prolific author of nearly fifty fiction and non-fiction books, whose previous works include the Aurora winning novel , Marseguro, from DAW Books. For more information about Edward, visit his web-site at www.edwardwillett.com. 

Neil Godbout’s Resolve, is the third volume of his young adult vampire trilogy from Bundoran Press. Previous books include Disintegrate and Dissolve and return to the struggles of Sam and Lily in their struggle to reconcile love and eternal life. Neil Godbout is a journalist and managing editor of the Prince George Citizen. 
Watch the book trailer for Disintegrate here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0SykuL8dRM

Both books are tentatively scheduled for release in August 2013.

For more information, contact: 

Hayden Trenholm
Managing Editor
hayden@bundoranpress.com

i was fortunate enough to be a parent on a recent school trip to the Royal Ontario Museum. My son and his grade 7 class are studying Early Canadians. The guide we had was fantastic, and the kids were given an opportunity to get hands on with some of the artifacts.

What i found great about this classroom experience was that each table had artifacts from different aspects of the life of early Canadians. Agriculture, cooking, housekeeping, defense... Of course John Callum liked the armory stuff the best, he was thrilled to play with musket balls.

The children were asked to look the items over and guess what each object was used for. They did fantastic, and were so enthusiastic. Their history teacher Monsieur Philippe was so excited to see his students throwing themselves into learning.

To any teachers reading this, i recommend a field trip to the museum. It was brilliant.

i took this photo when we turned the students loose on the museum after the lessons.

Welcome!

It's not like what they say on tv. My teapot never talks to me, i don't have voices telling me to hurt others, no whispers, no taunts. Not in the way that you think i hear voices. If i stopped taking my medication, the only person that would be in danger is me. 

Depression is a voice, a voice of anguish and despair, a cold cruel voice. Deceptive and compelling, full of lies. It admonishes you for your actions, or rather the inability to act. A desperate pain filled voice screaming that you are worth nothing. You deserve nothing. A certainty that you are not worthy of love.

Sometimes i think i am lucky, because being bipolar, there is another voice, a voice that encourages me to greatness- pushing me to be MORE. And then i remember that the voice of mania is a relentless voice. A voice without mercy that will drive you right to the edge. Vulnerable to the other darker voice that waits to pull you back into despair. 

There are drugs made to silence both voices. Seductive drugs that claim to ease the suffering, to quell the two voices of my disease. To make us 'normal'. But those drugs blur my reality and steal my intensity.  Colours become muted. It becomes harder to know God. To know me.

Somewhere inside the pain and elation i know there is still me. My being, Who i am does not change. Those medications can mute who i am. They bring numbness and apathy, worse than ever the depression could bring. Anti-depressants take some of the pain away. A blessing. But the mood stabilizers take me away, and that is worse than anything this disease can do to me.

Don't believe the lies when the media tells you that people with bipolar are 'crazy' or dangerous. Try to remember that the danger is to ourselves. It is true. There are horrible things going on inside my head. But there is also beauty, inspiration and so much empathy.

We are intense. We are often self-loathing. But above all else we are the first to reach out to someone in pain. Remember this when you hear people using 'manic', 'bipolar' or just plain crazy as a dismissive insult. Remember i am not my disease.