Citywide Blackout
Wednesday, April 2, 2025
Play It Loud! Receives 2025 Golden Sheaf Award nomination
The Yorkton Film Festival has announced the first round of nominees for the 2025 Golden Sheaf Awards, with Ultramagnetic Productions’ new documentary Play it Loud! How Toronto Got Soul earning a nomination for Best Arts/Culture Film.
The TVO Original doc reveals the vibrant but largely ignored Toronto Jamaican music scene from the 1960’s to the ‘90’s, through the life and music of the legendary Jay Douglas. The teenaged Douglas moved to Toronto to join his mother in 1963 and was quickly initiated into a thriving, underground Black music scene. As the lead singer of The Cougars, a group that included local legends Jackie Richardson, Jo Jo Bennett and Everton “Pablo” Paul, Douglas broke into the competitive Yonge Street music scene as one of only two bands to play at the storied Le Coq d’Or. The other group was Ronnie Hawkins’ Hawks, precursor to The Band.
Directed by Graeme Mathieson, produced by Andrew Munger with Clement Virgo as EP, Play it Loud! has been enjoying a surprisingly successful theatrical run with sold out screenings in Toronto (re-opening the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Theatre), Vancouver, Hamilton, Waterloo and Whitehorse.
Producer Andrew Munger attributes the success in engaging audiences, especially in the dead of the coldest winter in decades, to the strategy of making every screening an “event” featuring lively post screening conversations with the filmmakers and cast, often concluding with a Bob Marley singalong led by the film’s star Jay Douglas.
To promote the film, Munger used his learnings from producing the music docs Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and the Band and Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry it On. A music documentary, especially one celebrating a great artist or culture, presents many opportunities for cross promotion. He partnered with Exclaim Magazine and Austin’s Light in the Attic Records for record and ticket giveaways, created an in-store event featuring Jay Douglas live at Sonic Boom Records (Toronto’s leading independent record store), and presented Jay live in performance at the Drake Hotel with Lula World Promotions and Jeff Rogers’ Handsome Boy Records. The producers also worked with Jamaican Canadian personality and influencer Danae Peart (CBC Commotion and Vibe105 FM) to engage with Jamaican and Caribbean communities. Play it Loud!’s theatrical release was supported by Ontario Creates and Telefilm Canada’s Marketing and Distribution funds, in concert with domestic distributer White Pine Pictures.
Play it Loud! was developed in collaboration with TVO Docs and further supported by the CMF, Telefilm Canada, Ontario Creates, Rogers Documentary Fund, Slaight Hot Docs Music Fund and federal and provincial tax credits. Play It Loud! is currently streaming on TVO (TVO Docs YouTube channel, TVO.org and Smart TV app) and Knowledge Network.
Tuesday, April 1, 2025
Five by Five: Debut author kicks off four-book fantasy series
By Max Bowen
Take a walk through the Wythic Woods with Tilly, Jess, and Zach as they journey to find Tilly’s missing cousin, Michael, who disappeared in the woods a year ago. In Vanishings: The Wythic Wood Mystery Series (Sparkpress, May 20), debut author Catharina Steel encourages young readers to step off their phones and step out into the world.
In this interview, Catharina talks about the creation of this new series and what we can expect in future books, as well as how her own life helped inform the story. We also learn about her main characters and the process of bringing them to life.
This book is the beginning of a new series. What can we expect in subsequent books?
There are four books in The Wythic Wood Mysteries Series as follows:
Book Two Working Title: Weredog Curse. Tilly wants to reverse the curse the Witch of Wythic Wood has placed on the weredogs in her territory, so they search for the cure.
Book Three Working Title: Ancient Magic. They search for the elves Clayton eventually tells them about, and the truth about the Witch’s goal is revealed.
Book Four Working Title: Elven Battle. Tilly and friends team up with a group of good elves to battle the Wythic Wood elves at the fortress within this forest.
I read that your own battles with anxiety are incorporated in this book. How so?
Like myself, Jess was being bullied at school, but I allowed her personality to show me how she would be impacted by this. I love being outside because I enjoy exploring, but it felt truer to Jess’s personality that she initially struggles with anxiety in the outdoors.
I draw from my experience with anxiety symptoms, and how spending time outdoors allowed my body and mind to relax. You can see the impact on Jess, while at Opa’s property, with how she becomes enthusiastic about her surroundings as the anxiousness dissipates—at least until they head into Wythic Wood.
How did you develop your main characters?
I allowed Tilly, Jess, and Zach to develop as I wrote the story. Early on, I decided to create a profile of each of them, which I added to during the initial stages of writing and editing. This gave me a snapshot that I could refer to if I felt unsure about their reaction as I edited the story and enabled me to draw out their personalities more each time.
The more time I spent on the story the better I knew them. My experience with this is similar to meeting someone and getting to know them better.
What is the Wythic Wood?
The Wythic Wood is a forest situated on the south side of Opa’s property. It’s a wild place which used to be inhabited by many ancient mythical creatures—before the evil witch made it her home. An elf of old named it by mixing the two words wild and mythical together to create the name Wythic for this ancient homeland of their people.
In this forest lives the witch, weredogs, black bears, ravens, green snakes and a group of elves ruled by Timitus. There are abandoned fairy tree cities, smokestacks, underground tunnels, a spelled cave and the witch’s castle.
How did you create the “Gobight” martial art?
I needed a character skilled in martial arts to train the children, so Mort, a good goblin, became their teacher. But how could children go up against goblins who have greater reach with their long arms and weapons at the ready with their sharp fingernails and toenails? These attributes made it necessary to modify fight stances, strikes, and blocks.
It made sense to come up with a name to describe this new style of martial arts. I replaced the “f” in fight with “gob” from goblin to get the name gobight—a goblin style of martial arts.
Monday, March 31, 2025
Four Chord Music Festival unveils lineup for 11th edition
This year's festival showcases an exceptional lineup, featuring some of punk music's most iconic bands, including Blink 182, AFI, Jawbreaker, Jimmy Eat World, Alkaline Trio, Say Anything, and Hot Mulligan. Also performing are Bowling for Soup, State Champs, Set Your Goals, The Wonder Years, Punchline, Face to Face, and many more. With a dynamic mix of legendary acts and emerging talent, this two-day event promises an unforgettable, high-octane experience for punk fans of all kinds.
Confirmed Artists for Four Chord Music Festival 2025:
Day 1 – Saturday, Sept. 13
Jimmy Eat World
Hot Mulligan
Bowling for Soup
State Champs
Set Your Goals
Knuckle Puck
Homegrown
Eternal Boy
Driveways
Charly Bliss
Patent Pending
Keep Flying
Boy in Blue Stripes
Day 2 – Sunday, Feb. 14
Jawbreaker
Alkaline Trio
Say Anything
Face to Face
The Wonder Years
Drug Church
Punchline
Koyo
Deathbyromy
Sincere Engineer
Like Roses
Runt
Mallory Run
With this powerhouse of talent, Four Chord promises to deliver an unforgettable weekend filled with some of the best live performances in punk rock. Whether you’re reliving the classics with Blink 182 and Jawbreaker or discovering new favorites like Hot Mulligan and Koyo, there’s no shortage of talent across both days.
Festival Details:
Location: EQT Park, Washington, PA
Tickets: General Admission, VIP, Deluxe VIP, and new layaway options available
Four Chord is also introducing a new ticketing system, including the option for fans to purchase tickets through a convenient layaway plan. This update makes it easier than ever to secure your spot at the festival, giving you the flexibility to pay in installments.
Founder Rishi Bahl shared his excitement: “We’ve worked hard to make this year’s festival something special, not only with this incredible lineup, but by making it more accessible for our fans than ever before. We can't wait to celebrate with everyone at EQT Park!”
For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.FourChordMusicFestival.com.
Ink and Riffs: Sharing some new stories
“Influencer” (Audiobook)
An Audible Original, “Influencer” is a thriller following Aaron Fortin and Crystal Giordano.
“Aaron is new in town. He drives a brand-new Acura—a gift from his parents for uprooting him in the middle of senior year. Showing up on his first day at the local public school in that nice of a car? He knows he’ll never blend in, and he doesn’t care to try. The car, the new kid mystique, he can use all that....
This story was one I picked up from the intriguing cover and the story has really drawn me in. Aaron is a Jim Jones, Charles Manson-style personality, using his influence as The Speaker to draw people in and brainwash them to serve his ends. He’s smart, devious and cares nothing for who he might hurt. A truly insidious villain. Crystal, by contrast, is the opposite—she wants to be invisible, and seems helpless to stop Aaron. But like Aaron, Crystal is more than she seems.
The voice talent Isabela Merced (Alien, Superman Legacy) and Christopher Briney (The Summer I Turned Pretty) really dive into their characters. Briney brilliantly portrays the manipulative Aaron Fortin and I gotta say, it’s pretty unnerving how well he voices this character. Merced is equally perfect for the role of Crystal and shows the character’s hidden strength. They use a light touch with the other characters, and I liked this approach and had no issues following the story.
All told, this is a really addictive story and I can’t wait to see what happens next.
It’s Storytime with Wil Wheaton (podcast)
I checked out the debut episode of this new podcast, in which Wil Wheaton, who’s an award-winning audiobook narrator, takes up the mantle of Levar Burton’s “Levar Burton Reads” podcast. And I must say, he does an amazing job doing so.
In Wheaton’s first episode, he reads “Rock, Paper, Scissors, Love, Death” by Caroline M. Yoachim. It’s story about love, time travel, and the lengths we go to to save those dearest to us. It’s a great story, heartfelt, creative and it keeps you hooked.
Wheaton’s reading, well, it’s really engaging. He’s done a ton of audiobooks, but I am embarrassed to say that I’ve never heard them. That’ll change soon, I promise. He’s an excellent narrator and you can tell he loves the story he’s sharing. He has a lot of heart, and his reading is well-articulated, full of emotion and he takes care with each word.
So yeah, I’ll be keeping my ears open for the next episode.
“Ghost Box” (comic)
I’ve just begun reading “Ghost Box,” but I am already hooked on it. Written by Mike Carey and art by Pablo Raimondi, this new Comixology series is witty, sharp and has a really engaging story.
Chloe and Jan come into an unexpected inheritance when their uncle passes away, and it couldn’t come at a better time for Chloe, who’s just lost her job and is desperate for cash. She advertises her late uncle’s possessions online, and gets a very motivated buyer. But what is the ghost box, and just what does it do?
The first issue is a great combination of giving us enough without giving us everything. We’re introduced to Chloe and Jan and given enough of a look into their lives to show who they are, and shown what the ghost box is, but still leaving a lot of questions. It’s a great storytelling pace and I’ve heard to much about what an excellent writer Mike Carey is, I’ll be looking for more of his work.
The art is really great, and Pablo paints a really detailed scene on each page, giving added depth to the story and giving us a lot to see. I can’t wait to see what comes next.
Wednesday, March 19, 2025
Five By Five: Years of research informs book on walking away from a strained relationship
In her new book, “Estranged: How Strained Female Friendships Can Be Mended or Ended,” Susan Shapiro Barash dives into the complexity of female relationships. The book, which took years to research, came about after Susan heard several stories about the difficulties in ending a relationship with a close friend or sister.
In this Five by Five, Susan talks about the inspiration behind the book and the lengthy research she did. She talks about her experience with difficult relationships and what she hopes readers take from the book.
What inspired you to write this book?
I wanted to write this book for a long while and began the research several years ago. I kept hearing stories of women 'breaking up' with a close female friend or a sister and how distraught there were. I was also hearing about a shift in attitude and rather than be ashamed and/or devastated, many reported they felt free and as if they had some agency.
What kind of research was done?
I interviewed 150 women for this project and did a questionnaire with another 111 women. This was comprised of a diverse group of women from across the country. I researched studies, read articles and books about relationships, friendships and looked at pop culture, fiction and history in terms of female bonds.
In writing this book, what reasons did you learn as to why it can be difficult to walk away from a broken friendship?
It is difficult for women of all ages to leave an unhealthy friendship. The reasons include: secrets shared, the years of being close now disintegrating, the societal message that our female friends are our support system, losing ground socially — especially if two friends are in the same group, being judged, being alone, no longer being included.
I was intrigued by the different examples of unhealthy friendships. What’s your experience been with these types?
The types of friendships I established for this book are the result of the 150 interviews. After listening I realized that the interviewees fell into these 'categories.' The scenarios and issues that emerged were familiar and happened frequently. Each 'type' of friend resonates on some level—Like most of you, I have encountered a few along the way. What matters is that we 'wake up' and see the friendship for what it is and consider the value or lack of value.
What do you hope readers take from this book?
My hope is that women identify with the interviewees' narratives and realize they can estrange from an unhealthy friendship, regardless of the history and attachment. That there is power and positivity in doing so. It is liberating and gives women more voice and confidence in themselves. There is no reason to stay in an emotionally abusive, negative friendship, no matter than our culture tells us we are bffs forever. It isn't always so and my findings show that females are beginning to own this, happily.
Friday, March 7, 2025
Five by Five: New book explores 1970s sexual freedom, feminism
Award-winning author Jessica Levine’s new book “Three Cousins,” follows three young women on the cusp of adulthood as they explore their sexual freedom and adapt to 1970s new ideas of feminism.
In this Five by Five article, Jessica talks about her three protagonists and their different personalities, the era of the 70s and its influence on the story, and the modern elements in prorated into the story.
How did your own life help shape the story?
In “Three Cousins,” three young women come of age while in school at Yale. While I never attended Yale, my best friend did, and later on my husband taught there, which is to say that I got to know Yale by proxy. As for the three protagonists, they were inspired by both my family and the friends I had in college. They are also personality types who embrace the new opportunities presented by second wave feminism in different, archetypal ways. Lastly, they are reflections of different aspects of my own character and experience. I describe Julia, the most conventional of the three cousins, as “being too in love to have feminist preoccupations.” Her romantic, choosy nature reflects the cautious, virginal teenager I was growing up in a sheltered environment. Robin, on the other hand, is reading feminist texts and exploring her bisexuality. I became Robin attending a women’s college and having relationships with both sexes. Finally, Anna wishes to travel solo and explore the world. Anna’s journey is based on the adventures I had after graduation when I lived abroad, teaching English first in Paris, then in Rome.
Your book explores themes such as sexual freedom and second-wave feminism. How are these woven into the story?
Because I attended a women’s college (Wellesley) and had a couple of lesbian relationships at the time, I was steeped in the women’s movement of the 1970s, and “Three Cousins” reflects not only my personal experiences, but also the rich feminist literature, both fiction and non-fiction, that came out of that period. For example, chapter two of my novel mentions Adrienne Rich’s “Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution.” Rich argues that motherhood is not “natural” but shaped by the (patriarchal) social and historical structures in which it takes place. Her book had a huge impact. Coming of age in the 1970s, we very much wanted to be different from our mothers, and that process began with understanding the obstacles and limitations our mothers had faced so that we could move beyond them. And one thing we definitely wanted was more sexual choice and more professional freedom than they’d had. My novel stages these themes through a depiction of the conflicts surrounding sexual partners, relationships with mothers and career paths.
I read that the book came out of “the disappointments of modern-day feminism.” What are these?
Those of us who believe in gender equality, LGBTQ+ rights, access to contraception and abortion, and support for working mothers, those of us who still hope to see the passage of the ERA and the end of homophobia and violence against women, we are all utterly dismayed at the current direction of public policy in the United States. A therapy client of mine, survivor of sexual abuse, said to me after the election, “Great. We’re going to have a government run by rapists.” The sense of needless cruelty and going backwards in history is palpable. And all these issues affect women and the LGBTQ+ community where it hits home: in their bodies, their romantic partnerships, their family lives, and their ability to earn a living. Never more than now has the personal been political.
The book is set in the 1970s. Why this time period and how does that factor into the story?
In my previous novels, “The Geometry of Love” and “Nothing Forgotten,” I fleshed out the stories of Julia and Anna in the decades after college. After my last novel, I returned to a long section I’d cut from an earlier version of “Geometry,” consisting of 200 pages about Julia and her cousins in college in the late 1970s. When I stumbled on that unused story many years later, it called to me, perhaps because my daughters had just entered their early 20s and I was processing the difference between my youth and theirs. Or because the period after the end of the Vietnam War now seems like a more hopeful time. Yes, the war and Watergate marked the decade with cynicism and anger, and historians like David Frum have argued that the seeds of the recent conservative takeover were planted then. But everything is relative, and compared to the normalization of misogyny, homophobia, and racism that we are currently witnessing, that time seems to have been a one in which at least we were able to imagine a positive, more inclusive future for our democracy. I was happy to spend time in that decade as I wrote the book.
Given recent events, such as the overturning of Roe V Wade, do you feel this book is timely?
I do think it’s timely. I hope this novel can remind young women today of the fighting spirit their mothers and grandmothers had. If we give in or give up, then there truly is no way forward. Feminist mothers need to hand the torch on to their daughters and remind them that we have agency so long as we protest, remembering the gains and victories of more hopeful times.
Tuesday, March 4, 2025
Five by Five—From fantasy to family story
When author Mima Tipper began her writing career, the plan was to pen a young adult fantasy.
Instead, an advisor recommend she write something with a personal connection—leading to her new book, “Kat’s Greek Summer.”
In this Five by Five, Mima talks about the switch from fantasy to a memoir, her main character Kat and how writer and protagonist reflect one another and the theme of going back to your roots.
How did your own background help shape the story?
A year before I began writing the manuscript that would become “Kat’s Greek Summer,” I started an MFA program at Vermont College of Fine Arts. I went into that MFA ready to dive into a YA fantasy I’d been dreaming of writing for years. At the end of the semester, my advisor—though super kind about my dark faerie story—asked me if I’d consider writing something more personal.
At first, I was taken aback. I mean, I love fantasy, and those stories are the ones that got me writing. Something about her words stuck with me, and I began thinking of the Greek side of my family—my mother is Greek—and the many summers I spent in Greece during the first 16 or so years of my life. I didn’t want to write a memoir, and instead created a fictional main character—a girl as opposite to me at the age of 14 as possible—and began writing what I thought would be a fun, gripping, romantic, sun and sand-filled story.
As I wrote, a lot of my feelings about my family and heritage bubbled up, and soon my protagonist Kat Baker started saying and doing and asking things that I never had the courage to say or do or ask. These memories and feelings informed Kat’s story more and more, and the result of all that self-reflecting and imagining turned into “Kat’s Greek Summer.”
Does the story reflect much of your own youth?
Yes, like my main character Kat, I grew up between my two cultures, and never fully connected to my Greek half. When my Greek mother became an American, she wanted to be all American, so she didn’t speak Greek to me or my brother. That made spending summers in Greece fairly surreal. Though we loved my Greek grandparents, especially my yiayiá, my brother and I were expected simply to fit in with our Greek family without much help.
The real fishing village where we stayed is called Alepahori, though the place has changed quite a bit since my childhood. I loved capturing my memories of that place with the physical setting as well as the rustic cottage and relatives in “Kat’s Greek Summer.” Regarding the Greek characters and Kat’s relatives, most are compilations of my true family members and of Greeks I met during my Greek summers, especially my Yiayiá Sofia character. My own Yiayiá Kalomira passed away a bunch of years ago, and it was amazingly fun and personal to bring pieces of her back through my fiction. My character Kat’s story is fiction, but to be honest many, many aspects of her story hold the emotional truth I discovered exploring my own heritage growing up half Greek/half American.
Who is Theofilus and what makes him “off-limits”?
Theofilus is the young Greek fisherman my main character Kat falls for. There was a real Theofilus for me during one of my teen year Greek summers, and my Theofilus also did not speak English. We did have fun trying to communicate, and there were a lot of hand signals. The reason my character Theofilus is “off-limits” is because of his grandfather’s attitudes about how young girls should behave, and his very specific fear of all things American. No spoilers!
What is Kat’s experience going back to her roots?
Born and bred in New England, Kat hasn’t had much contact with her Greek family, so the foreignness of the language and culture is very alien to her. Also, the summer place is a tiny cottage located in a very rustic fishing village, and she finds herself cut off from her sport, her friends, her technology, and everything she knows. The food, the climate, the language are all foreign to her, making her question her Greek heritage, and feel more and more that she doesn’t belong.
What do you hope readers take away from this book?
When my readers turn the last page of “Kat’s Greek Summer,” I want them to take a big satisfied breath because they feel like they’ve gone along with Kat on her daring, swoony adventure in gorgeous Greece, and were rooting for her all the way. I want my readers to feel powerful and hopeful about their own possible choices and future. I want their takeaway from this reading experience to be the message that to belong anywhere or to anyone or anything, they must first belong to themselves.
Tuesday, February 25, 2025
Ink and Riffs: Dark dreams and chainsaw music
“Seeing Evil” (book)
This thriller by Jason Parent is centered on Michael Turcotte, a teenager who gains the ability to see the dark futures of others following a violent assault. The visions continue and eventually come to include Fall River Detective Samantha Reilly, who rescued Michael as a child following the deaths of his parents.
Eventually, Michael’s visions get him tangled up in the investigation of a suspected serial killer—one with a chilling connection to Michael and Sam.
Through the chapters, we really come to know Michael, Sam, and even the more minor characters and see what makes them tick. It serves to keep the reader hooked as they become more invested in their fates.
Another strong element of the book is the grisly, graphic details that Jason includes. Nothing is left out and this makes for powerfully impactful scenes that leave fans of the thriller and horror genres hungry for more.
“Angels” (music)
I’ve been a fan of the band RinRin since I heard their single “Shadows,” and this album is everything that makes this band my musical addiction.
The music is a great array of rock and metal, with some cool additional sounds layered on. “Angels” is a great opener, a solid musical punch to the face that’s followed up by “ChainsawGirl,” a really intense tune for a lot of reasons. The six-track EP has a lot more to offer, though, with all kinds of different sounds and stories.
“Angels” is a solid offering from a band that’s really hit their stride, and I’ll definitely be checking out the other releases that I’ve missed.
“Deep State” (comic)
Written by Justin Jordan with art by Ariela Kristantina and published by BOOM! Studios, “Deep State”follows John Harrow and his partner Agent Branch, as they investigate weird science, unexplained phenomena and all sorts of X-Files-esque oddities. Just the sort of comic I like to read.
I grew up watching “The X-Files” and “Men in Black,” so this story really got me. I finished the entire collection in a few days, and though it ends on a cliffhanger, I didn’t feel like a lot is left unexplained. I really liked all the different cases Harrow and Branch went on, from a Russian Cosmonaut infected with an alien tech virus to a gun that can fire bullets through time. Really cool stuff.
The overarching storyline of The Control, which runs the agency Harrow and Branch work for, was a cool element that smoothly develops alongside the shorter case files and really comes to a head in the later issues.
The art is really good, with sharp colors and a wide array of designs for the weird science and alien beings. You can tell Kristantina really dove into this and had some fun creating the world of “Deep State.” This comic has been a blast to read and I’m hoping we’ll see a return someday.
Wednesday, February 19, 2025
Five by Five—“Lifers” explores a world where age really is just a number
By Max Bowen
Let’s face it—getting older can suck.
But what if you could change all that?
In Keith G. McWalter’s new book “Lifers,” we’re introduced to a new technology that can a prolong a person’s lifespan. This creates a new world where the young find themselves in the shadow of their elders and the older are resented for not shuffling off their mortal coil.
In this Five by Five interview, McWalter talks about the world created through this new technology and the societal impacts. He shares the real-life science behind his fictional (for now) tech and whether he’d take advantage of it.
I know I would.
What are some of the consequences of a prolonged lifespan that you explore in your book?
When the aged all over the world stop dying, there’s a brief period of confused euphoria. But then society’s attitudes quickly change.
First comes resentment, when it becomes clear that the wealth controlled by the aged is not going to be inherited by their children and grandchildren anytime soon – perhaps never – and that younger generations will continue to live in the older generations’ shadow.
Then comes fear, as it becomes clear that the “young” (called “doublers” in the book, for double-digits, or those under 100) face untold decades more life in a world where youth itself has lost its distinction – that is, its relative immunity to death.
Then, finally, anger, as the failure of the aged to die in the accustomed timeframe puts enormous strains on housing, social services, and national economies, and new political movements arise in an effort to impose “normative lifespans” and “common-good mortality.”
“Lifers” follows a group of age activists as they navigate violent ageism, the politics of scarcity, love rivalries, and dreams of a centenarian utopia in a trans-generational struggle to redefine what it means to be mortal.
How is this prolonged lifespan achieved in your story?
By manipulating the human genome with an artificial virus-like molecule that improves cellular mitochondrial function, rebuilds shortened telomeres, increase sirtuin production, and crafts abnormally high volumes of Daf-2 and Nrf-2 proteins, tricking the cell into behaving as though it’s in a food-scarce environment and slamming on the metabolic brakes.
Just how realistic is this technology? Do you think it’s something we could see in the near future?
All of the background of the longevity breakthrough described in the book is based on actual science, and refers to real people, such as the maverick gerontologist Aubrey de Grey, who was an early trailblazer in conceptualizing aging as a disease that can and should be cured. So it's only science fiction in the sense that the science hasn't quite gotten there yet, but it's coming fast.
While a lot of researchers have recently become more modest in their expectations of when a longevity breakthrough will occur, the futurist entrepreneur Ray Kurzweil, who is 76, believes that if he can live another 10 years, longevity science will extend lifespans for at least a year for every year he lives, thus allowing him and others to achieve longevity “escape velocity.”
Does the book touch on any current issues?
I very much hope that “Lifers” is seen as an anti-ageist screed and a satire on the absurdities of our age-stratified society. I think all of us in western culture are so steeped in ageism, like fish in water, that we’re not even aware of it, though when you grow older, as we all must and I have, you can’t avoid feeling its effects – which are, to be specific, ostracism, condescension, progressive invisibility, forced irrelevance and isolation, to name a few.
The “sequestration camps” that in the book are set up to house the increasing masses of the old are only a short step from the retirement homes and extended care facilities we accept as normal today. The systematic curtailment of the constitutional rights of the aged depicted in the book are not far different from the curtailment of rights that some political figures would like to enact on all of us today, and that are informally but forcibly imposed on the very old. The overt antagonism exhibited by the “doublers” in the book toward the “triplers” is foreshadowed in the dismissal of the old as useless and irrelevant that our current society routinely visits on its elders.
The book also touches on climate change and our current political divisiveness.
Is this kind of technology something you’d want to take advantage of?
Yes, I’m glad to be able to say that I’d want to be a “Lifer.” I’ve had a wonderfully fortunate life and don’t think I’d ever give it up willingly, no matter how long I lived. I also hope I’d be so outraged by some of the backlash against the super-aged that’s depicted in the book that I’d be a Lifer in political terms, too—that I’d ally myself with Marion’s “Lifer Liberation Front” and agitate for change. If they’d have me.
Monday, February 10, 2025
Five by Five: Robert Steven Goldstein explores hidden lives in new book
Author and past guest Robert Steven Goldstein tackles the theme of what we hide in his new book, “Golda’s Hutch.” In the book, were introduced to Craig Schumacher and his wife Shoshana and the secret life they would do anything to keep hidden.
In this interview, Robert talks about the creation of Schumacher and how he incorporates a bit of himself into his characters. He shares how psychologist Carl Jung’s concept of the “shadow” and how this shaped the story.
I like the theme of ‘what we hide from the world versus what we reveal.’ How do you explore it in your book?
“Golda’s Hutch” is an emphatically psychological novel. How the characters interact with each other vs. what they agonize over in their own private thoughts is how the book splits its time. Although Craig Schumacher is ostensibly the protagonist, there’s really an ensemble cast of seven characters at play (three couples and a single woman) all of whom are professionally accomplished but also flawed, and in various ways dysfunctional. Readers will come to know each of these people well. They’ll also come to know an intriguing rabbit named Golda, who practices yoga with Craig, and joins him in his spiritual journey.
How did you create the character of Craig Schumacher?
There are bits of me in Craig, as well as bits of other people I came to know during my 35-year corporate career. When I first started out, in 1974, as a mail-boy earning $500 a month (yes, a month!) I naively believed that as I moved up the corporate ladder, at each new rung I’d encounter people with greater intelligence and more integrity. I was sorely mistaken.
With each promotion I mostly met people who were more scheming, cunning and Machiavellian. But there were exceptions—and the leaders I encountered who modeled values of honesty, integrity, and compassion were not just better people to be around—they also tended to build the most hardworking, loyal. and successful teams. And most of these leaders had a solid spiritual core—and for a select few of them, that spiritual core was shaped more by experiential Eastern mysticism than by faith-based Western traditions. Craig Schumacher is one of these fascinating folks.
Can we get some insight into the secret he’s hiding?
Here’s where the novel gets controversial, and where some readers will really latch on, whereas a few others may shy away. Craig and his wife Shoshana are members of the San Francisco Bay Area’s clandestine BDSM community. Shoshana, in fact, makes her living as a professional dominatrix, although both she and Craig go to great lengths to hide all this from Craig’s work associates.
There have certainly been novels that explore BDSM—some have even been bestsellers—but those novels tended to eroticize BDSM and employ it as a vehicle for titillation. “Golda’s Hutch” is very different. “Golda’s Hutch” gets deep inside the minds of people who are otherwise ordinary, but whose innate sexual orientation demands power exchange and dominant/submissive play. The novel reveals the furtive machinations these people are forced to engage in to keep their propensities secret. And it questions why, despite societal acceptance of many other sexual orientations, this one remains taboo.
Byron Dorn sounds like Craig’s opposite, but how do the two interact?
Byron, an ambitious, and bitterly envious man, reports to Craig in the corporate hierarchy. Quite by chance, he stumbles upon the secret Craig and Shoshana have worked so hard to keep hidden. After his initial discovery, Byron proceeds to uncover still more evidence through purposeful and meticulous spying. Byron and his wife Adelle ostensibly remain friends with Shoshana and Craig, even as they secretly plot to use the potentially damaging information for self-gain.
When I develop characters for a story, I always like to put a little bit of myself into each one, whether that character is male or female, likeable or unlikeable, old or young. When creating Byron Dorn, I was reminded of the famous psychologist Carl Jung, and his concept of the “shadow”—the part of us we’re not particularly fond of, and which we keep hidden away in the deep subconscious recesses of our psyche. The aspects of me that went into Byron were mined from my shadow.
Reading about your past works, you really span different ideas and genres. How do you develop your stories?
I start with characters. I try to recall people I’ve known, combine the interesting traits of two or three of them, toss in a sliver of myself and a huge chunk of imagination, and after a bit of cerebral kneading and manipulating, I have a character. That character often suggests to me what sorts of other characters would make for intriguing compatriots. And a week or so later, when what feels like the right number of characters have materialized, they as a group pretty much take over—they make it quite clear where the novel needs to be set—and then the plot starts oozing slowly from their collective fictional pores.
This process doesn’t lend itself to producing works of a consistent and predictable genre or brand. Some of my novels are light and humorous—some are probing and philosophical—whereas my latest, “Golda’s Hutch,” is a bit of both while also being gritty, and suspenseful. And that, I guess, is a reflection of me as a person. Sometimes I’m serious, sometimes I’m silly, and all sorts of places in between. My novels reflect this sort of variety. And as a novelist, it’s really the only way I feel comfortable working.
Thursday, January 30, 2025
Five by Five: Tim Piper reflects on the growing world of Jubilee Walker
When Tim Piper wrote “The Powell Expeditions,” a series wasn’t quite on his mind. But as he progressed through the book that introduced us to Jubilee Walker, things took off, and now we’re seeing the third book in the series, “The Northern Pacific Railroad.”
In this interview, Tim talks about how the series grew from his first novel, plotting out the stories and where we’re going from here.
Was it always your plan to write a series?
When I began writing my first novel, “The Powell Expeditions,” I had given no thought to writing a series. It was my first attempt at writing a novel, so it was enough of a challenge just to complete the book. But as I neared the end of writing it, I was enjoying the process so much that I wanted to keep writing. I thought my Jubilee Walker character could be woven into other historical explorations and adventures, so I researched America’s western expansion during the post-civil war years. I found events that I could envision getting Jubil involved in—and the series was born.
The second book, “The Yellowstone Campaign,” revolves around the expeditions and events leading up to the creation of America’s first national park. Book three, just released, “The Northern Pacific Railroad,” is based on Jay Cooke’s efforts to build a second transcontinental railroad. I am currently working on a fourth and final book in this era of the series. I have some other literary ideas that I would like to pursue next, but I’m not ruling out the possibility that I may someday return to the Jubilee Walker series.
Now that we are three books in, do you need to re-read the other two in order to keep the details straight?
Yes, I re-read the earlier books. It helps to refresh my memory of the timeline, and review the arc and portrayal of characters. However, my memory is not up to the job of recalling the finer details, so I rely on another source for that. I create a summary document for each book that lists every scene and the pages it begins and ends on.
As I’m writing a book, the scene summary is very useful for referring back to find some detail, and invaluable for finding details that occurred in previous books. Keeping this scene summary updated during the revision stage is a bit tedious, but I find it worth the effort. I make one final review of the scene summary before freezing a book for publishing. Another method of keeping details straight is to find a good editor. Mine seems to be able to remember everything that anyone ever said or did at any point in any of my novels. I don’t know how she does that. I use my scene summaries in an effort to avoid over-reliance on her to point out my inconsistencies.
What are some of the real-life events that you incorporate into the book?
In 1864 a company was chartered to build a second American transcontinental railroad, the Northern Pacific, to connect the Great Lakes at Duluth, Minnesota, with the Pacific Ocean at Puget Sound. The project got off to a weak start due to difficulties in obtaining funding, but that changed in 1870 when famed financier Jay Cooke took control. Public bond sales soared, largely on the strength of Cooke’s reputation, and the project was finally underway. But many people questioned the need for the railroad and also doubted it could ever be made safe.
By 1872, six hundred miles between Bismarck and Bozeman remained to be surveyed, but the route would pass through the traditional hunting grounds of the Sioux. Sitting Bull was gathering strength to resist this incursion into their hunting grounds. My novel, The Northern Pacific Railroad, portrays the events of the railroad surveys that took place in 1872 and 1873 to determine the route the railroad would follow through this territory. Two surveys set off in 1872, one starting in Bismarck going west, the other from Bozeman heading east to meet the westbound crew. The westbound survey made it to the planned meeting point, but the eastbound survey failed to reach the goal. In 1873, another survey set out to complete the job. The events of these surveys are portrayed accurately in the novel, with my protagonist, Jubilee Walker, participating in them as Jay Cooke’s representative. The impact that these events had on Cooke’s financial empire are also portrayed true to the historical record.
When it comes to picking these historical settings, do you look at different options?
I wasn’t really a writer looking for a historical setting when I got the idea for my first novel. I was a hiker who dreamed of writing. During one of my early trips to Rocky Mountain National Park, I hiked the Longs Peak Trail. After the hike, I purchased a book on the history of the mountain and learned the first person to summit it was Major John Wesley Powell.
Researching Powell, I was surprised to learn he had close connections to my hometown, Bloomington, Illinois. Much of Powell’s life struck me as something out of an adventure novel, but I did not find any fiction that had dramatized it. I carried the idea with me for years until I finally wrote my novel. With its completion, I had established my protagonist, Jubilee Walker, as a young man with dreams of becoming an adventurer and explorer in the post-civil war west. So, I only looked at historical settings that fit my characters. Fortunately, that era of American history had some dramatic events that gave Jubil more opportunities for adventure.
I’ve read that the series has won a number of awards. As a writer, does this make you want to “up your game?”
I would not know how to do that. I don’t believe anyone writes in an effort to win awards, or if they do, they must very often be disappointed. Awards are a wonderful affirmation that you are doing something right, but I don’t think they should be a goal. All you can do is make your best effort, and hope that it resonates with people.
Monday, January 27, 2025
Ink and Riffs: Vampires, ghosts and debut albums, oh my!
“Impact Winter” (Audiobook)
I came across this audiobook series one day and thought “Why the hell not?” And damn, am I glad I did.
From executive producers of The Walking Dead and Travis Beacham, the writer of Pacific Rim, this Audible Original is set in the near future and seven years since a comet hit the earth and blotted out the sun. The world is a dark, frozen landscape. And then, beastly creatures emerge and take over. Can they really be vampires?
This series includes an absolutely amazing cast, plus great music and sound effects. The voice cast is really good, and clearly experienced. They really dive into their roles and owned them right from the beginning. The music, which includes full songs from different bands, sets the scenes perfectly and the sound effects paint a very complete picture.
The story is very well-written and the twists and turns keep you hooked. I’ve finished the first two volumes and am currently on the third one now, and really looking forward to how the story ends.
“Say Something” by Ashley Elle (Music)
Ashley Elle’s first EP, released last December, came to my attention through my Blackout Collection playlist. “Conditions” was on the playlist and I decided to check out the rest of the album.
Ashley has such a great voice and it really flows through songs like “They Always Come Back” and the title track. This folk/pop artist has released a number of singles since 2021 and “Say Something” is her first album release, so I suppose it’s fair to say she’s still in the early stages of her music career. If this album is any indication, she’s got a bright future ahead of her.
This seven-track album showcases a lot of Ashley’s versatility within the genres. “Falling” has a pretty upbeat sound while “Save Us” is more mellow. “October” is one of my favorites. This has a very layered folk sound that drew me right in. That’s something I really like about this album—the music really varies song to song, and we see the range that Ashley works with.
Overall, this album has a lot to offer, and I hope there’s a lot more to come.
“Grammaton Punch” (Comic)
I’ve talked about this comic before in a previous Citywide Blackout episode, back when it was first released. Written by Miles Gunter, with art by Briane Andan, colors by Lee Loughridge and letters by Taylor Esposito, this limited series is available on ComiXology and definitely worth reading. Here’s a look at the story.
“Born on an eclipse, Van Nguyen has the ability to see ghosts that feed off the energy of unsuspecting adults. Unfortunately being "extra" makes him a target for these evil spirits but what he soon realizes is- Van can fight back.”
This series is sharp, witty and very human in its delivery. Van is a great hero, not because he’s always winning, but because he has plenty of challenges that he has difficulty overcoming. You feel a lot for the guy, especially in one part that you need to see for yourself.
The art is just brilliant, with a wide range of colors, varied and unique designs for all the characters and detailed scenes that are worth a second look. I loved all the designs for the ghosts and each one stood well on its own.
“Grammaton Punch” is a great—and often dark—ride into a world where punching ghosts in the face is just plain awesome.
Monday, January 20, 2025
Citywide Bytes: LJ Cohen’s new book seeks to heal a broken world
In this episode, LJ talks about her characters and the reality-spanning conflict they must face. We go into the development of the protagonists and how they face this challenge.