Matt Moore's Blog, page 2

I attended the Ontario Library Association’s Super Conference last Friday

Last Friday, February 1, 2019, I had the privilege and honour to attend the Ontario Library Association‘s Super Conference—a multi-day conference of librarians from across Ontario. I was there as one of several authors from ChiZine Publications.

For half an hour, I talked to librarians from across Ontario about my book, It’s Not The End And Other Lies, which I signed and gave away so that it could be included in libraries across Ontario. We talked about the importance of horror as a genre and its literary merits. A few had even heard of my book and were eager to meet me!

Overall, a wonderful experience to immerse myself fully in my role as author, and leave my doubts and impostor syndrome behind.

Book signing November 16 in Ottawa, ON at Chapters Barrhaven

I’ll be signing copies of my book It’s Not the End and Other Lies at the Barrhaven Indigo in Ottawa, ON on November 16. (I was originally supposed to do this back in August.) Please come by and say “hi”. Better yet, come by and buy a book!

You can let me know you’re planning on coming by responding to the Facebook event.

WHEN:

Friday, November 16

5 – 8 pm

WHERE:

Indigo – Barrhaven

RioCan Marketplace

125 RioCan Avenue, Unit #N1

Nepean, Ontario

K2J 5G4

(613) 843-0045

My poem “Heaven is the Hell of No Choices” won the Aurora Award!

I am very, very late with this.

My poem “Heaven is the Hell of No Choices” was announced as the winner last month of the Aurora Awards in the Best Poem/Song category! It appeared in Issue #4 of Polar Borealis Magazine, edited by R. Graeme Cameron. Thanks to everyone who nominated and voted for this poem.

If you haven’t heard of the Aurora Awards, they are Canada’s premier fan-voted awards for speculative fiction. Past winners in this category include Carolyn Clink, Helen Marshall, David Clink and Tony Pi.

My acceptance speech is below. It was recorded by my friend Tonya Liburd at CAN*CON 2018 in Ottawa. While the award was presented earlier in the month in October, I wasn’t there to accept. My friend Hayden Trenholm, himself a multiple-Aurora winner, accepted the award on my behalf and brought it to Ottawa where he ran a mock-award announcement to be experienced by my friends and me in my home city.

The poem itself is below.

Heaven is

the Hell

of No Choices

Heaven and Hell are smeared across this city.

Like God and the Devil shat stinking wads of perfect order and imperfect chaos,

ebbing and flowing through hallways and up stairwells,

surging across the sidewalks,

gushing along the boulevards.

Each morning

—safe in the far distant ’burbs—

I double-count the 52-card deck, shuffle it,

and stick it deep in a pocket of my long coat.

Passing under the cavernous Fuller Street Extension overpass,

the unofficial barrier between The City and Not The City,

I take out the deck.

Where there is heaven, the first card off the top is the Ace of Spades.

Below is the rest of the suit—deuce to King—and this order repeats

for Diamonds, Clubs and Hearts.

No matter how long I shuffle, how dexterous my fingers to scramble the order,

when I stop and pull the top card

it’s always the Death Card.

But where there is Hell, the cards vibrate against my fingertips

like they want to flee.

I pull the top card

—Seven of Hearts—

put it back on top,

count up to five and pull it again

—Queen of Diamonds.

Like the deck forgets its arrangement, can’t remember its order.

I count the deck—51 cards—and recount—53—and recount—49.

Where Hell is strongest, I’ll pull the Sixteen of Spades,

which becomes the Eleven of Cats,

which becomes the Queen of Rapists.

Or, while shuffling, cards will disappear one between the others,

collapsing into nothing, forcing me to bring a new deck the next day.

In coffee shops where the cards resist any new order

servers never collide, never get the order wrong, never need to wipe up a spill.

Patrons sip coffee, fork up their eggs and wipe their chins

in perfect, synchronized motions.

In clothing stores where I feel the cards pulse in my back pocket,

the variety on the racks doubles and triples as I browse.

A sweater is too tight,

then with a slight pull at the collar too large

and with another pull it is not the same size or colour or style

or even a sweater.

Patrons appear and disappear, a kaleidoscope of shoppers.

The age of the shop girl/woman/crone helping me won’t remain fixed.

On the sidewalks, saints queue up for the bus in geometrically perfect lines

while sinners cannot agree on a destination

(or even if they need to be going there).

In offices, angels collate while demons scatter.

Heaven is the Hell of no choices:

It is the perfect order of an unchanging deity,

who has trapped entropy in an infinite loop.

Hell is the Heaven of choices’ impossible number:

A too-many Schrödinger’s cats that are alive and dead

and not even in the box.

And as long as I can avoid these smears, these ruptures in Free Will,

I can choose to board the bus that will take me home when the sun finally sets,

shuffling the deck until I emerge in Not The City

and settle into uncertainty’s wavering comfort.

Learn about “The Machinery of Government” from It’s Not the End and Other Lies

I’m posting summaries, background and other tidbits about some of the stories from my collection It’s Not the End and Other Lies. Minor spoilers follow, but nothing you won’t find out in the first few pages.

“The Machinery of Government”

I like apocalypse stories. But so many of them follow either the very powerful or the average, everyday person. What about someone in between?

When Ottawa (Canada’s capital) is suddenly attacked, Paul—a newly appointed junior cabinet minister—finds himself one of the few surviving members of the government and is ordered to evacuate the city. Except his wife Laura is out in the city somewhere, trying to get home to Paul. As the attack intensifies and the enemy closes in, Paul must decide if he’ll wait for the most important person in his life, or fulfill the obligations of national security suddenly thrust upon him.

All the while, technology feeding him information on the attack threatens to overwhelm his will, his physical health, his sanity.

“The Machinery of Government” is both a fast-paced sci-fi thriller and an examination of the dehumanizing effects bureaucracy can force on. How much of our own humanity must we surrender in order to serve humanity? What personal sacrifices are we prepared to make for the greater good?

“The Machinery of Government” is one of 21 stories of the bizarre, the terrifying, the all-too-near future you’ll find in It’s Not the End and Other Lies. Order now in e-book or trade paperback.

Learn about “The Thing That Killed Her” from It’s Not the End and Other Lies

I’m posting summaries, background and other tidbits about some of the stories from my collection It’s Not the End and Other Lies. Minor spoilers follow, but nothing you won’t find out in the first few pages.

“The Thing That Killed Her”

Just as the zombie apocalypse threatens to destroy civilization, the zombies begin to speak. Not just a few words, but their personalities re-emerge. They’re who they always were, just in a re-animated corpse. As the senseless violence wanes, they deliver a message of hope—humanity is on the verge of evolving into something miraculous.

But the world is divided.

Some call them “Second Chancers”, eager to hear more of their message and believing they should be able to return to their families, their jobs, their lives.

For others, they are “The Infected” and should be segregated, interred or exterminated.

Alejandro Gutiérrez is a state senator in Connecticut who believes his wife is a Second Chancer being held in a camp and will do anything—even incite civil unrest—to free her. Yet there are plenty who oppose him. And Tomas’s actions could trigger a new, unstoppable zombie uprising.

“The Thing That Killed Her” mixes elements of horror, politics and science fiction in examining the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse. How would (or could) society integrate sapient undead corpses into everyday life? How would politicians balance the rights of those who appear to be people with the trauma-fueled fear and hatred of the mob? And could discovering how zombies are animate without consuming fuel reveal the secrets of reality itself?

“The Thing That Killed Her” is also set in Middletown, Connecticut, a city where I lived for a year. Thought Connecticut has the image of being wealthy and white, it’s a diverse state, especially politically and I wanted to show that in the varying conservative and liberal elements within the political angle of this story.

“The Thing That Killed Her” is one of 21 stories of the bizarre, the terrifying, the all-too-near future you’ll find in It’s Not the End and Other Lies. Order now in e-book or trade paperback.

I’m a Contributing Editor with AE: The Canadian Science Fiction Review

I can now announce it: I’ve accepted an offer to start as a Contributing Editor with AE: The Canadian Science Fiction Review. If you don’t know AE, it’s a free Canadian online magazine of science fiction that pays pro rates.

I’ll be helping with story selection, editing, and contributing content as AE gets back on its feet.

AE went offline some time back after the site was hacked. For the better part of the year, the team behind AE has been working to get the site back online as well as reorganize the magazine’s operations.

During this relaunch, AE head honcho Duff McCourt asked if I would help out by bringing my writing and editorial sense, plus my experience with ChiZine Publications, to the workings of the magazine. With three stories (one of them an Aurora finalist) and one non-fiction piece published in AE, it felt like a good fit.

And so, not that long ago, the site officially and quietly relaunched. It is now taking submissions and the archives of the previously published stories are back online.

In the meantime, if you have a SF story you’d like us to consider, AE is open for submissions. We’re looking for 500 – 3,000 words somewhere in the neighbourhood of where science fiction lives, but that definition is very broad. (Check out the Editor’s Choice section to see what we like.) We pay $0.10 (CDN) per word, and will be applying to be a SFWA eligible market. We will remain open until September 15, 2018.

If you’re interested in the stories I have on AE, check them out:

Touch the Sky, They Say
Ascension
The Pack

All three of these stories appear in my collection It’s Not the End and Other Lies, so if you enjoy them please consider picking up a copy.

[image error]

Aurora Awards voting is open & I’m a finalist!

Voting in the 2018 Aurora Awards is now open!

My poem “Heaven Is The Hell Of No Choices” is one of the finalists in the Best Poem/Song. I’ve posted information on the Aurora Awards how you can vote for “Heaven Is The Hell Of No Choices”.

I am also on the finalists list for my work with the Ottawa Chiaroscuro Reading Series along with my 2017 co-chairs Marie Bilodeau, Nicole Lavigne and Brandon Crilly.

There are a number of other great works of fiction, poetry, fan work, art and more on the ballot. Head over to the Aurora Awards website to learn more about what works made the final ballot and how you can vote.

Voting closes Saturday, September 8th, 2018 at 11:59PM

Aurora Awards voting is open & I’m is a finalist!

Voting in the 2018 Aurora Awards is now open!

My poem “Heaven Is The Hell Of No Choices” is one of the finalists in the Best Poem/Song. I’ve posted information on the Aurora Awards how you can vote for “Heaven Is The Hell Of No Choices”.

I am also on the finalists list for my work with the Ottawa Chiaroscuro Reading Series along with my 2017 co-chairs Marie Bilodeau, Nicole Lavigne and Brandon Crilly.

There are a number of other great works of fiction, poetry, fan work, art and more on the ballot. Head over to the Aurora Awards website to learn more about what works made the final ballot and how you can vote.

Voting closes Saturday, September 8th, 2018 at 11:59PM

POSTPONED: Book signing (NOT HAPPENING) August 19 in Ottawa, ON

Unfortunately, I’ve come down with something nasty and have to postpone this book signing. Thanks to everyone who said they’d come out.

I’m hoping to reschedule and will let you know when I have a new date.

I’ll be signing copies of my book It’s Not the End and Other Lies at the Barrhaven Indigo in Ottawa, ON on August 19. Please come by and say “hi”. Better yet, come by and buy a book!

You can let me know you’re planning on coming by responding to the Facebook event.

WHEN:

Sunday, August 19

11 am – 3 pm

WHERE:

Indigo – Barrhaven

RioCan Marketplace

125 RioCan Avenue, Unit #N1

Nepean, Ontario

K2J 5G4

(613) 843-0045

Book signing August 19 in Ottawa, ON

I’ll be signing copies of my book It’s Not the End and Other Lies at the Barrhaven Indigo in Ottawa, ON on August 19. Please come by and say “hi”.

Better yet, come by and buy a book!

WHEN:

Sunday, August 19

11 am – 3 pm

WHERE:

Indigo – Barrhaven

RioCan Marketplace

125 RioCan Avenue, Unit #N1

Nepean, Ontario

K2J 5G4

(613) 843-0045