It’s the time of year when people suddenly get charitable. I’m not sure if it’s seasonal Stockholm Syndrome or something more genuine. I know my charitable impulses often take the form of book purchases (no, not for myself). This year I was able to combine that with helping kids, thanks to A Good Book Drive, a book-donation program in Vancouver and Brooklyn. I wrote a piece about it for The Province and then donated a copy of The Gruffalo, a book that really helped me bond with my son through reading. That grimace on his face is a Gruffalo growl….

It’s November and you know what that means! Christmas displays in the malls and holiday-themed drinks at Starbucks. Christmas trees in your neighbours’ windows. And a growing sense of panic at your annual failure to finish your Christmas shopping by July. Now you’re going to have to fight the holiday mobs! It’s like The Walking Dead out there — what were you thinking?

Or you could just order some books online. I’ve even put together a handy list for you over at Corey Redekop’s site. Merry Bookmas to all, and to all a good lit!

My head is so full of words….

It’s Thanksgiving weekend in Canada, and I have much to be thankful for this year. Baby Ronan was born on Friday and is resting well. As for his mother and me, we are not getting quite as much rest.

I used to love playing video games. Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Call of Duty, Killzone, Starcraft — I spent many a night lost in these virtual worlds. Sometimes I just wanted an action fix — hello, CoD and Killzone — while other times I wanted a mental workout akin to solving a puzzle — Starcraft for me was always about figuring out the correct approach to a problem. The tanks and zerg rushes and so forth were just pieces of the puzzle.

Sometimes I played games for social reasons — my wife would join me for sessions of Resident Evil and Silent Hill, which were the equivalent of scary movies for us. I still have memories of being creeped out by those Silent Hill games. We played Diablo together, although that was usually an exercise in frustration — she spent time in town looking for the perfect item to equip when I wanted to be out in the wastelands killing demented birds and their kin with my rusting sword.

Then World of Warcraft changed everything. Not only for me but for the entire gaming industry. And that’s what eventually drove me away from games.

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I tweaked the look of the site a little. I liked the minimalist theme from before, but a few people thought my newer work was sort of buried. I added the sidebar and some widgets to try to make my different projects more visible. And that’s probably the end of that for now. Until the next time I run out of things to do.

I’ve mostly finished the edits for my new Cross book, The Dead Hamlets. Just waiting for the proofreader’s edit now, and then that will be it.

In other news, I’m reading the books that have come in for my two panels at this year’s Vancouver Writers Festival. Great books so far by Jacqueline Baker, A.M. Dellamonica and Russell Wangersky. It’s going to be a fun weekend.

I’m at that stage where I don’t know what to do with myself because I feel I should be working on something, but I’ve done all the work I can do and I’m not ready to move on to the next project yet. I just don’t know what to — wait! Halloween decorations!

Just posting a reminder that I’ll be hosting a couple of reading events this Sunday at Word Vancouver, in the Canada Writes tent.

From 2-3 I’ll be introducing

• Grant Buday
• Margaret Thompson
• Brian Payton
• C.C. Humphreys

Then from 4-5 I’ll be hosting

• Kim Fu
• Caroline Adderson
• Geoff Berner
• Nathaniel G. Moore

It’s going to be a fun day – even if it rains. Hope to see you there!

If I hike to the top of a mountain, I’m going to post a selfie of that. Here I am on top of the Chief in Squamish.

Also, it turns out I have a mild case of vertigo.