This Saturday, I’m an Indigo Boy
Posted by Jeff on Feb 17th, 2026 in News | 0 commentsStill busy getting the word out about my new novel, Performance Reviews.
If you’re in the Toronto area, and you want to buy the book, but you don’t want to support Amazon… well, you’re in luck, you are.
This Saturday, I’m doing an event at Indigo (Bay/Bloor location, by the Manulife Centre).
Starting at noon, they’re letting me have a table where I can promote the book and sell it, and even sign it for folks after they buy it. Drop by anytime and say hey. I plan to be there until I either run out of copies or get bored.
If you want to go to the Indigo thing, but can’t…
I’ll be doing another one at Coles (Beach location) on March 7, starting around 10:30 in the morning. And here’s a little secret I’ll tell you about the Coles event: if I sell more than ten copies of Performance Reviews, they’ll let me stock a few copies in the store for a while, on consignment. So tell your book-loving friends. And if you already have the book, well, it also makes a great gift…
But that’s not all.
I’ve already told you Performance Reviews is available from Book City’s Beach location.
And now… you can also get it at two other Book City locations:
Book City in Greektown (Danforth near Chester station)
Book City in midtown (Yonge near St. Clair)
And Performance Reviews is also available at Queen Books (Queen East near Carlaw).
One more thing:
Remember back when I won the MoonLit Getaway short-fiction contest, and I mentioned that a second story, “CanLit Book Club”, was shortlisted in the same contest, and would be published on the website in February?
Well. Now it’s February. And here’s the story.
Feel free to forward it to any snobbish CanLit gatekeeper types you may know. Let’s see if they’re capable of laughing at themselves.
In the meantime, “The Madness East of St. George” (the contest winner) is going to be in MoonLit Getaway’s upcoming anthology, Harvest Moon, Volume Two. More info to come on that.
I think that’s it for now.
In the meantime, I miss Catherine O’Hara, don’t you? Here’s one of my all-time favourite SCTV bits, a brilliant Ingmar Bergman parody, with O’Hara prominently featured:
Take a tizzy. Also, leave a tizzy.
Everybody / Loves a winner / So you have to love me…
Posted by Jeff on Jan 26th, 2026 in News | 0 commentsI’ll get to Saturday’s book fair and a few other things in a moment, but first…
That’s right. I won the MoonLit Getaway short-fiction contest this year.
“The Madness East of St. George” beat all other contenders. They gave me money and everything.
You can read the story online here.
But wait! There’s more!
I submitted two short stories to the same contest, and the second one, “CanLit Book Club”, was shortlisted. That one’ll be published online on February 16, they tell me. No money for this one though.
I’ll keep you posted on that. Assuming anybody reads this bloody website.
*****
This Saturday, I’ll be back at the annual Sharp Words book fair in Hamilton.
Same times, same venue (Bridgeworks). But this year, I’ll have two novels for sale – my new one, Performance Reviews, and my 2022 debut, Hate Story. Hopefully we won’t get snowed in like last year. Maybe Mère Nature decided to get it all out of her system yesterday.
*****
Performance Reviews is still available at Book City in the Beach, and I’m in the process of arranging events and/or consignment at other Toronto bookstores. Stay tuned. And look out for my upcoming Echo Poetry feature at the Only Cafe in April.
Speaking of yesterday’s snowstorm… here’s some advice from Messrs. Parker and Stone.
Happy shovelling.
Dance with the devil in the pale MoonLit?
Posted by Jeff on Nov 30th, 2025 in News | 0 commentsIt’s here!
It’s TODAY!
That’s right. The launch party for my new novel, Performance Reviews, is happening tonight at Foy House, a lovely 19th Century mansion downtown.
More details on the poster:
There’s even a Facebook event page set up (for both the launch and an afternoon open mic), if you want to join it and make your friends feel envious.
But that’s not all!
If you can’t make the launch, you can still buy Performance Reviews online.
I’ve set up some snappy new links on BookLinker:
But that’s not all!
If you don’t want to support Amazon, and you also don’t want to interact with me personally for some reason, but you still want to buy the book… it’s now available at Book City’s Beach location! (Queen & Woodbine)
And I’m in the process of getting Performance Reviews on consignment at other brick-and-mortar stores in Toronto. Stay tuned.
But that’s not all!
To top it all off… I’m a finalist in this year’s MoonLit Getaway short-fiction contest!
The winners and runners-up will be announced on December 8.
My understanding is that my entry (maybe both of them?) will be published in Moonlit whether I win or not. Again, stay tuned.
Finally, I’ll leave you with Jack Paar walking off the Tonight Show following censorship. Still relevant today.
See you in the funny papers, Jimbo.
Performance Reviews is here! Now available online!
Posted by Jeff on Nov 12th, 2025 in News | 0 commentsIt’s here! It’s now!
The moment you probably haven’t been waiting for, but it’s here whether you want it or not!
Yes. My second novel, Performance Reviews, is now available for purchase on Amazon.com.
Buy it here. Buy it now.
Amazon link
Want a preview? Sure you do. Alien Buddha Press, the publisher, has posted this video of me reading the first part of Chapter Four:
And if you’re in Ottawa, you’re in luck:
I’m going to be back in Ottawa on November 22 to promote Performance Reviews (and my debut novel, Hate Story) at the Small Press Book Fair.
But wait. There’s more.
We’re having a big launch party on Sunday, November 30 at Foy House!
It’s a lovely nineteenth-century mansion downtown that puts on lots of literary events, sometimes with free snacks and drinks. We’re going to kick off with guest performances by authors Heather Babcock, Heather Wood and Timothy Carter and singer-songwriters Sean Peever and Neil Traynor. Georgia Wilder hosts. Free event, but donations to the venue are highly encouraged.
Foy House is located at 92 Isabella Street, near Yonge and Bloor.
Show starts at 6:00 p.m. I hear rumours there’ll be free snackies for those who arrive between 5:00 and 6:00.
Feeling nostalgic? The first time I had a book launch for a novel was way back in March 2022, when Hate Story was released. And it’s on video! Watch the Zoom launch here:
Happy day, Wavy Lay.
October, and the trees are striped bare…
Posted by Jeff on Oct 16th, 2025 in News | 0 commentsIs October supposed to be a busy month? I know it’s the scary one.
I spent most of the first half of the month in Greece, walking in the steps of Socrates and Sophocles and a lot of other ancient “es” people. Now I’m back, and I’ve got three (3) events coming in the second half of the month.
More on these events in a second, but first:
COMING IN NOVEMBER!
That’s right, my new novel Performance Reviews is officially out in less than a month, from Alien Buddha Press.
It’s a dark satire of workplace toxicity… if I may generalize. Just imagine Office Space meets Taxi Driver.
You should be able to buy it online starting November 12.
I’m also hoping to have copies to bring to the next Ottawa Small Press Fair and a possible event in Montreal (not yet confirmed). More info on launch events to come.
But before the book comes out:
1) MAGIC THEATRE POETRY ON ZOOM
October 26 will mark my third time featuring at the Magic Theatre Poetry series on Zoom, hosted by Valerie Parker. And this time, my reading is being funded by the Canada Council for the Arts through the Writers’ Union of Canada.
My feature will be followed by an open mic, and discussion is plentiful at these events.
Bring some of your own poetry to share with an international audience.
2) MINSTRELS & BARDS: HALLOWEEN EDITION
Brenda Clews is bringing back her Minstrels & Bards event on October 29 at the Tranzac. I’ll be one of the features. I think George Elliott Clarke is another one, and there’ll be a limited open mic too.
Costumes are highly encouraged.
3) AD LIB TALENT NIGHT
I’m performing with a bunch of other folks on October 31 at the Arts & Letters Club.
Kind of a quasi-private event, but you can come if you buy a drink or two.
For more specific info on these events, check the Events section of this website.
(They don’t appear on the right sidebar anymore, for some reason)
Also, I recently had pieces published in two anthologies:
“I Know You Must Hate Me”, in Indigo Dreams Publishing’s <i>Monstrous</i> (care of Leeds Trinity University in Leeds, England) and a shorter version of “Lazy Book Reports” in this year’s Brownstone Poets anthology (Brooklyn, New York). Both books are now available online.
Is that everything? I’m sure I missed something important.
For now, I’ll leave you with a Siouxsie.
Adios, Poindexter.