Pumpkins, book 1 in the Uncanny Icons Series, is now available in paperback and hardcover, and the ebook will be available on Monday, June 28. The book has already received half a dozen great reviews. You can read them here. If you'd like to experience it for yourself, you can buy the book here.

Pumpkins, book 1 in the Uncanny Icons Series, is now available in hardcover and paperback, but the Kindle version is also available at a discount until it's release on June 28. Reviews are already beginning to roll in, and so far the reaction to the book has been fantastic. Buy your digital copy now! 

You have quite an impressive resume as a storyboard artist, prop artist, and concept artist. How did you get into that line of work? 
I was originally going to be a comic book artist until I saw Bram Stoker’s Dracula. I was about 19 or 20, and the art design really clicked something in my mind that film might be a more interesting career choice for me. I didn’t really see myself drawing men in tights forever, and film was something which I’d always loved. I moved to LA, got a job as a runner for Joel Silver’s production company, until someone there noticed my art.  My first film was House on Haunted Hill around ’98, I think.
 
What role does a storyboard artist play in the filmmaking process? 
I help the director design all the shots, usually for special effects and stunts through the film. Basically, I create a “comic” for the crew so that everyone knows what the shots or effects will look like, long before they shoot them. 
 
How closely do you work with the director?
Very close. I’m there to work with them one on one to clarify their vision so that they can present a clear, shot-for-shot vision to the crew. On most films we usually meet three times a week, and most meetings go about 1.5 hrs.
 
What are some of the favorite film projects you've worked on? 
JJ Abrams' Star Trek reboot. Iron Man. Thor. Looper. Planet of the Apes. MIB: International. There’s been a lot, but those all hold very fond memories. And of course, my own series, Forbidden Science, for which I was creator and head writer.  That was the best creative experience I’ve ever had. The show had more "T and A" than I’d originally envisioned, but it was an incredible experience seeing my own ideas being filmed and then shown on Cinemax each week. It’s now on Amazon Prime. I’ve been surprised how long of a life one little sexy sci-fi series can have. Even though it only ran one season, it’s been watched all over the world and is still going.
 
What prompted you to transition into writing? 
I always had an interest in storytelling.  Sequential art, like comics and storyboards, are storytelling, but they’re someone else’s story usually. With writing it’s 100% your vision, your voice.  I left screenwriting because even if someone buys or options your script, it doesn’t mean it will get made. Most of the time it won’t. And I got tired of having a pile of scripts lying around.  With a novel, it’s out there for the world to read – which is why I wrote my debut novel, The Ship. I’d had the idea and the twist ending for over ten years.  I was saving it for when I was ready to finally write a book.
 
Tell us about The Ship. What's the premise of the novel? 
A young woman awakens within a crashed alien vessel 35 years after being abducted. Basically, I took some of the tropes from the 80’s and 90’s sci-fi horror films and shows and gave them a modern scientific facelift.  I loved the X-Files back in the day, along with The Thing and Aliens, and wanted a book with that kind of mystery and excitement. 
 
Do you plan to continue the story in subsequent books? 
While The Ship is a stand alone novel, I do have a plan for two sequels.
 
What attracts you to the sci-fi genre? 
Concepts and ideas. I like to play around with some of the old sci-fi tropes I grew up with and give them a modern twist for the 21st century.  Today’s sci-fi often seems to be taking real world situations and turn them into a futuristic story. I have no interest in that. Give me big ideas; big concepts and an exciting story with a fast pace, and I’m hooked. That’s what I did with The Ship, so hopefully others are looking for that kind of sci-fi as well. 
 
How does your background in film affect your writing process? 
Film and TV taught me to write with a tight structure and keep things contained in both the POV (point of view) and scope, so that the focus is always on the characters. The closer you stick to the characters, the more tense and thrilling the story will be.
 
What book or film projects are you working on right now? 
I’m working on the sequel to The Ship now.
 
What do you do for fun outside of work? 
I collect video games and vinyl records. Call of Duty with a Prince record playing is my nirvana.

As mentioned in a previous post, I'm in the process of having the first three books i the Milligan Creek Series converted to audio, narrated by Tanner De Bruyne. He's doing a great job. I just listened to chapter 1 of Unlimited and thought I'd share it here. It was one of my favorite chapters to write, and it's one that I've read aloud hundreds of times at writing workshops, so I was interested Tanner's take. It's so much fun. You can listen to it here. If you want to buy the audiobook for Up the Creek, it's available here.

And so far they're great! Here are a couple of quotes. ​

You can read the full reviews and grab a copy here if you're in Canada and here if you're in the US. 

That book is Up the Creek. This reviews comes from Briar's Reviews. A brief excerpt.

You can read the full review here. 

When the lockdown started in March 2020, I had just arrived home from a week of doing writing workshops across Saskatchewan. Like most people, I had no idea how things were going to go from there, but this past January I decided to make myself available to do virtual writing workshops.

I was pretty skeptical at first, thinking it would be a sub-par experience that would be more of a one-way interaction rather than the back-and-forth brainstorming sessions that I'm used to. However, after a few initialy hiccups, things started to groove. 

The cool thing was, rather than have to drive halfway across the country and then travel from town to town, focusing on one region at a time, I could do a workshop in Abbotsford, BC, in the morning and another one in Alberta an hour later. All told, I did workshops at 21 schools in BC, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. Some of those were one-offs, and others were multi-day, multi-workshop affairs.

I hope to be able to do them in person next season, but I'm happy things turned out as well as they did. If you're interested in booking a writing workshop--in person or virtually--for your school or classroom next year, just let me know. 

To celebrate the release of the Up the Creek audiobook, I'm giving away ten free copies in exchange for a review on Amazon. If interested, contact me for a code.