Deborah Jackson's Blog, page 2

Time for Action!

The past few weeks, I have watched in horror as prejudice and hate have risen like a geyser in the peaceful world I love. I’ve seen bans in my neighbouring country on a people simply for their religion and race, women’s rights and health care threatened to be abolished, the LGBTQ community terrified of being “more” persecuted than they already are, science suppressed and censored, land, water and wildlife imperiled by the greed of corporations, and temper tantrums that ripple through foreign...

What Happens Next

When Reality May Be Worse Than FictionMy job as a science fiction writer is to reflect the world around me at the same time as extrapolate from the events of that world into an unknowable future. For weeks, since the release ofThe Furies’ Bog, I’ve been trying to continue the story, researching, and hoping to add chapters to a first draft I started in the summer. But it’s been difficult. The problem is that I usually write an embellished story with worst case scenarios, confident that this en...

Lest We Forget - Have We Forgotten?

It’s time to remember our fallen soldiers, and what they fought for.Lest we forget.Freedom.Justice.Tolerance.Love.Respect.They died fighting tyranny. We have a responsibility to uphold these values, or their sacrifice was in vain.I hear all the chatter. I absorb all the emotions, as a writerdoes. I read the excuses.But I find no excuse is adequate. They’ve forgotten.“It’ll be okay,” I hear. “It was all showmanship.” “Give him a chance.” “We don’t know what he’ll do.”But we know what he stands...

Ottawa Tulip Festival

Last weekend I visited the Tulip Festival in Ottawa. It was near the end, so some blooms were less spectacular, but others still retained their vibrancy. This was the first opportunity to showcase the Canada 150 tulip, designed in Holland for Canada's 150th anniversarynext year.Here are a few samples.The crab apple trees were also in bloom. A lovely backdrop to the tulip beds.Lovely pearl.Incrediblyshowy, this bed. The colour combinations demanded to be photographed.I have to

SCBWI Summer Reading List

Looking for some great summer reads? SCBWI (the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators)has released its first ever summer reading list. And yes, Time Meddlersis on the list. Check it out!As you may have noticed, Canada has some fabulous authors and fascinating reads. I hope both kids and parents will take a book along on their summer vacation. Or snuggleup with it at home in a cozy hammock.For more lists in other regions in the US and worldwide, take a look at this

A Haunting - The Inspiration for The Furies' Bog

My first encounter with archaeology was when I fell in love with Egypt. Ancient, exotic, mysterious land of the pharaohs. A place where history was preserved in the crumpled faces of their mummies. It astonished me that people who had lived 5,000 years ago still clung to that life in the contrasting rich soil of the river and the fine sand of the desert. Their monuments and architectural masterpieces still towered over the land. They weren’t packaged corpses to me; somehow they still spoke.

The Logging Trail

On our way through Algonquin Park, we often stop and hike inthe woods on one of the many trails. Years ago the kids grew bored with the Logging Trail, but it always held a certain fascination for the grownups ;)I'm not anadvocate of logging, particularly in this day and age, but if it is done with consideration for the environment, with replacement and reforestation in mind, then I see no reason to rage against it either. And loggers in earlier ages had a difficult and dangerous job. This

The Furies' Bog - Mars Excerpt

Mars. Could there be any bleaker destination? Any vaster, emptier world where only the savage wind blows? Canyons and craters filled with dust. Pebbled, marbled lifeless terrain draped with dust. Rust-colored dust that peppers the horizon. Blazing dust. Boring dust. Soul-sucking dust. How does one alter this cold, lifeless planet into a habitable Eden? Hurl water at it? Bombard it? Release stored energy and greenhouse gas components to blanket the atmosphere and restart a dead engine? [image error]

A Woodland Adventure

Hiking in a wooded, often secluded, area always stimulates my photographic sensibilities. As I headed out on a glorious spring morning, the forestwas bustling with activity and adorned with vibrant blooms.

The Furies Bog - Excerpt 2

Continuing from the first excerpt, in Chapter 1.
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