Category Archives: Appearances
Reading aftermath
I had a lovely time reading from my new book, The Wonder Lands War, alongside Katie Welch at Cross and Crows bookstore in Vancouver recently. It was the first event I’ve done in years but I managed to keep my stage fright at bay. Many thanks to all those who attended!
Reading at Cross and Crow Books in Vancouver
I’ll be reading from my new book, The Wonder Lands War, at Cross and Crow Books in Vancouver Nov. 20 at 7 p.m. I’ll be sharing the reading with Katie Welch, who is launching her new book, Ladder to Heaven. Hope to see some of you there!
Instagram Live with KJ Aiello
Update: You can view the Instagram Live I did with KJ Aiello here: https://www.instagram.com/p/DIzv5M7AotB/
I’m looking forward to doing an Instagram Live with KJ Aiello April 23 (7:30 ET / 4:30 PT). Aiello is the author of The Monster and the Mirror and a lively Instagram influencer, so this should be fun! Follow along on her Instagram channel.
The end of the world continues
I woke up this morning to Facebook reminding me of the Facebook Live I did a year ago to talk to the Vancouver Writers Festival about my new book, Has the World Ended Yet? A lot has happened since that time — the Great Bot Uprising, the alien ghost infestation, the angel viruses, and of course that whole Sunken City episode — but the Writers Fest FB Live still remains one of my favourite experiences in this dark timeline. So I’ve reproduced my original post here, to remind us of the time the sun still existed.
I had a great time at the Vancouver Writers Festival this year – it’s always such a treat to meet smart, creative readers and talk writing and books with gifted people like Lydia Kwa and Sean Cranbury.
I was also lucky enough to do a Facebook Live with the festival about my new book, Has the World Ended Yet? Check out the video – it’s only about 10 minutes but I had a great time doing it.
I’m not sure what I’m saying in this screen grab – I think maybe: “The road to salvation is that way, not with this tawdry, earthly book down here.”
This is going to be out of this world!
I’m thrilled to announce I’ll be taking part in the Trips to the Other World event at the 2017 Vancouver Writers Festival along with Lydia Kwa. Hosted by the always ethereal Sean Cranbury. I expect I’ll be talking about and reading from my new book, Has the World Ended Yet? Here’s the pitch:
Vancouver journalist Peter Darbyshire is also a blogger and author. His collection of 19 linked short stories, Has the World Ended Yet?, starts with retired superheroes living in a soulless suburbia where everyone gets lost trying to get home. Then the angels start to fall from the sky. Darbyshire weaves together superheroes, ghosts, the undead, a hired hitman, the Cold War, the rapture and avenging angels in a Twilight Zone-style collection that is riveting and human. Vancouver psychologist and author Lydia Kwa transports us to seventh-century China, which teems with magic, fox spirits and demons. Singapore-born Kwa updates traditional Chinese mythology to include female empowerment and a wickedly modern sensibility. Fantasy with a modern twist will be on full display this afternoon.
Saturday, Oct. 21
5 pm
Studio 1398
1398 Cartwright St.,
3rd Floor
Be there or be in some alternate dimension.
My VCON events
I’ll be attending VCON 41 in Surrey this year and appearing on a couple of panels that look like great fun:
Mary Shelley utilized the novel concept of “galvanism” to infuse her creature with life. What recent scientific findings could be used to craft modern monsters?
With Rob Boffard, Joe Fulgham, Catherine Girczyc, Kevin Harkness and Silvia Moreno-Garcia.
Sunday, Oct. 2, 12:00-12:50, Green Timbers 3
Lovecraft is synonymous with Weird Horror fiction, sometimes even with the whole field of horror fiction. But who are the contemporary writers making a splash in this field? And what of the other, older writers of the Weird that time has forgotten?
With Julie McGalliard, Rob Boffard, Graham J. Darling and Silvia Moreno-Garcia.
Sunday, Oct. 2, 4-4:50, Tynehead 2
Adventures in History
I’ll be appearing at Word Vancouver, Sunday, Sept. 25, at 2:30 in the Suspension Bridge venue, as part of the Adventures in History session. I’ll be reading from The Apocalypse Ark or my teenage journal or something like that. I’ll be followed by Ronald Wright at 2:50, who will be reading from his book The Gold Eaters. Unless, of course, the time travel experiment goes awry, and then all schedules are off.
Arrived home safely if not sanely
I was sorry to see the end of Ad-Astra. I had a great time on the panels and the ChiZine reading I took part in — pretty funny to see six authors try to read in an hour, but we pulled it off with time to spare! It was lovely to see some old friends and meet some new ones and just to generally soak in the amazing creativity that was everywhere — the events, the costumes, the questions and answers, the readings, the games, the dealer booths, etc. I’ve actually been trying to do less events as I focus on my writing and family, but damn, Ad-Astra kind of made me want to do more!
The airport part drained me, though. The pic above is from the underworld of Pearson airport, where I found myself wandering aimlessly for a time while searching for a flight. I felt like Sisyphus….
I could have been a contender, I mean, professor!
I just received some more photos from my time at the Surrey International Writers Conference. Thanks to photographer Sandra Vander Schaaf for the great shots! I didn’t even see her taking these pics, so they’re nice candid moments from the conference. Check her out if you need some photos of your own — looks like she takes a pretty good author shot.
I think this was from my dialogue class — that’s a little Ian Weir on the white board there.
“Bueller? Bueller?”
Doing the Blue Pencil stuff was a lot of fun. I think my advice here was “You can never have too many orcs!”
“Have you thought about more orcs?”
“I like what you’ve done with the orcs here. Now let’s talk about dragons.”
#swic15!
Thanks to everyone at the Surrey International Writers Conference for putting on such a great event! It was truly one of the best conferences I’ve attended. Great list of presenters and topics, excellent staff who took care of everything — and an absolutely amazing community. I was inspired by all of you!
If we chatted at all during the conference, do keep in touch. I had a great time hanging out with you!
Pic courtesy of @geekyscientist, who caught me explaining how putting the Gaudi church in your books makes everything better.
peter darbyshire 