A Very Short Update From Home
After a couple months away, I’m back home and re-adjusting to life outside of a fjord—the expansive views, the trees and swamps, the lack of an ocean. I had an incredible time in Ísafjörður—productive, maybe even profound. I got a lot of work done, reconnected with some friends, met some really wonderful people, and saw some beautiful things. What more could a guy ask for?
As I slowly get back to work over here, I thought I’d provide a little update on some upcoming work/projects. I feel like I’m often remiss when it comes to this sort of thing. So here we go.
My essay, “I’m Thinking Of a Place” will be coming out in Maisonneuve’s summer issue. This is a short essay about the complications of answering the question where are you from? It also tries to answer the question from whom are you from? I finished edits on this one shortly after I arrived in Ísafjörður this past April. It was an interesting experience to be writing about ‘home’ while I was so far from home.
The title story from my upcoming short story collection, Astrid, Aghast, will be coming out in the next issue of The Dalhousie Review. I’m excited for that one to find a home before the book comes out this winter.
Another story from Astrid will also be coming out this summer. “The Blameless Mountain” will appear as a video/story over at LongCon Magazine in July. I even composed (I use that word in the loosest sense) and recorded (ditto) some piano music for the video. I’ll post a link here when that one comes out.
I just got the first proofs for Astrid, Aghast yesterday, and I couldn’t be more excited for people to see it, read it, hold it in their hands.
In anticipation of the publication of Astrid, Aghast, Gaspereau Press/Hardscrabble Press will be putting out a couple chapbooks related to the book this summer and fall. The first will be an essay about writing and reading called How To Write One Story, and the other will be a collection of two or three stories from the book. Hardscrabble makes beautifully designed letterpress chapbooks. I can’t wait to see these.
Later this fall, my essay “Have A Good Life” will appear in the Best Canadian Essays 2026 anthology. I bought last year’s anthology and—this is embarrassing but—I kind of/sort of manifested having an essay appear in the next iteration of the anthology. And here we are! While I am thrilled about this, I’m also a little nervous—writing and sharing these personal essays is fraught, and leaves me feeling somewhat exposed. And yet, I continue to do it anyway, fool that I am!
Another essay, “The Cabin”, will be coming out in The New Quarterly this fall or winter. Not sure exactly when it’s coming out, but I’m excited for that one to appear. The New Quarterly has probably published more of my work than any other journal, including two stories that will appear in Astrid, Aghast (“Big Yellow Taxi” and “When Mother Loved The Bear”). I have really loved working with them over the years.
There are some other things in the works, but that’s mostly it for now I think. Since returning home, I’ve been spending time with my people, looking for turtles, and skateboarding almost everyday. After all that stretching I did while in Ísafjörður, I’m back to waking up bruised and sore every morning. But I don’t mind.
Okay, back to work!
xo