Comm – Page 3 – Warpworld

On Loss – Thoughts on the Death of a Bird

If you’re wondering how a zoologist looks at the cycle of life and death, today’s guest may enlighten you. H. Leighton Dickson discovers that there is more to loss than despair. It is a sad thing to wake up and look to the nest outside your window, only to find it overturned and empty. I am surprised, actually, at how sad it is. Last summer, a pair of robins built a nest in the beams of our pergola. It was just above our deck table, and it was just high enough to avoid our two cats who sat eagerly below,…

On Loss – Memory Loss

Who owns our memories and what happens when we lose them? Our guest today, Aurora Award winner and fellow SF Canada member, Robert Runte, explores the loss of memory in some of its many forms. Increasingly, I’ve had to cope with memory loss. Well, yes, that, but not just that. Everyone has had the experience of forgetting where they left their keys…. As we age, we tend to blame our failing memories on aging, but the truth is I have always been absent minded: I just used to blame forgetting on being too busy or too tired from trying to…

On Loss – The Fear of Loss

Today’s guest has been an online friend of mine for several years. Charlie Hersman and his late partner Randy were two of our first Warpworld cheerleaders, and always a source of good cheer and inspiration. There really is no introduction I can pen that would capture Charlie’s journey, so I’ll step aside with much love and my humble thanks to my friend for sharing. It seems like we can never quite recapture the shameless abandon of childhood once we become adults. Somehow, between the expectations of those around us and the insistence of conformity thrust upon us by society, we…

On Loss – Giving Fear a Face

“You’ve got to meet this woman, you’ll love her.” Those were the words of my friend, author Griffin Barber, as he extolled the virtues of our first guest. I did meet her–online and then face-to-face at the Creative Ink Festival–and, what can I say? Griffin was right. Does writing have a role to play in coping with loss? Warrior poet Setsu Uzume thinks so. If anyone tells you not to use writing as therapy, kick them in the shin. Felt good to think about that, didn’t it? At BayCon 2016, I was asked to be on a panel about death,…

On Loss – How we go on

“You go on. You just go on. There’s nothing more to it, and there’s no trick to make it easier. You just go on.” ~ Lois McMaster Bujold, Memory When we think of loss, we usually think of death—“Sorry for your loss”. But loss can be the end of a friendship, moving away from home, divorce, illness, changing schools, growing older, losing a job, even something as simple as losing our innocence and naivety. Sometimes loss carves a hole in our lives and marks us with the absence of something we love but it can also create a space for…

Where to find Kristene at the Creative Ink Festival

Spring is here and the annual author migration from dark writing cave to fun-filled festival has begun! Yes, once again I will be making the trek to the big city to take part in the amazing Creative Ink Festival in beautiful Burnaby, BC, Canada. If you didn’t make it to the sneak preview last year, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?! There, there, you can still catch all the fun this year. Writers, readers, and artists, you do not want to miss this event. If nothing else, you will have the opportunity to watch me and a panel of lovable goofballs…

A New Warpworld Shadow Story!

You’ve been so patient, waiting for us to complete the fourth Warpworld novel, that Josh and I figured it’s time to release a new shadow story to say thanks. Have you read Ghost World? Ever wondered how Mother, Majed, Gelsh and the Others came to find their home in the wasteland? Well, Place of Others has all the juicy–and sometimes bloody–details! You can find our new story at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, and Scribd. Best of all? It’s only .99 cents USD, (sorry, Canuck readers, we have to shell out an extra .30 cents, stupid economy). And…

Please Stand By

I wish this was the post where I joyfully share the news that Warpworld Volume 4 is with an editor and we are hard at work on the next installment. This is not that post. Instead, this is the post where I thank all you readers for your patience as we continue to make Seg and Ama’s next adventure as perfect as possible. So…thank you. 2015 was a difficult year. As some of you may know, my sister and my father died within six weeks of each other. I spent a good portion of this year traveling back and forth…

The Official Warpworld WorldCon Report 2015

My second WorldCon has come and gone, leaving me excited for the next opportunity to hang out with my tribe. This con was a bit different from others I have attended as it was more about an escape from reality than any kind of networking or business opportunity. Because of the recent loss of my father and my sister, I had decided not to attend the 73rd World Science Fiction Convention but, thankfully, the Consortium of Ridiculously Kind Persons intervened and sent me on my way. I was a bit sad that some of my favourite people were not able…

Culture and Conflict: What That Means for a Half Caste

From 2007 to 2009, I lived on Aitutaki, in the Cook Islands, and had the pleasure and challenge of experiencing a culture very different from my own. Hannah Williams is the daughter of one of the dear friends I made during that time. She has her own unique perspective on the two cultures she has inherited and the struggles of living in both those worlds. My own experiences with clashes of cultures started before I was even born, when my New Zealand born father made a fateful trip to the Cook Islands in 1989, where he met my Cook Island…