This picture shows us making a voyage down Milligan Creek, which runs through my hometown of Foam Lake, Saskatchewan, twenty-nine (!) years ago during spring runoff season in April.

In the lead canoe is Nevin Halyk, now the principal of Foam Lake Composite High School, who first inspired the idea back when we were kids, suggesting we make the trip in a rubby dingy. That would have been treacherous considering all the hazards we faced (barbed wire, dead trees fallen across the water, sharp culvert edges, beaver dams, etc.). The aluminum canoes we borrowed from the school were perfect. Just off camera in the lead canoe is Victor Loeppky, one of my best friends growing up, whose farm bordered ours. In the front of the second canoe is my younger brother Al, and I'm bringing up the rear. Watching us from the bridge is my mom. I think my dad took the picture. We had just put in on the other side of the bridge. 

Like the boys in my novel Up the Creek, we went against my dad's advice and continued beyond the graveyard bridge, wanting to see how far Milligan Creek went. We ended up finally pulling out in the middle of a muddy farmer's field and having to portage the canoes quite a distance back to the highway.

I can't believe we haven't done another trip since then, but it's a tricky thing because there has to be enough snow, and it has to melt fast enough to create the right conditions. Even twenty-four hours can make a significant difference. For example, the year before, I made my first trip down Milligan Creek with my mom, and we kept getting hung up on beaver dams. I made a second attempt the following day with Victor, and those beaver dams had become rapids, and the water was moving so fast that we rounded one corner and were swept into a dead tree that had fallen across the creek, which caused us to capsize. Victor disappeared under the freezing water for a few seconds, losing his paddle, while I was stuck on the tree, the current holding me in place. 

Despite these hazards, hopefully Foam Lake gets a good dump of snow this coming winter, and I can hit these guys up for a thirtieth-anniversary trip next April. 

Here's a brief description: When Canada’s largest national fishing tournament makes a stop at Lark Lake, located just outside the small prairie of Milligan Creek, Saskatchewan, everyone gets in on the action. They’re all hoping to catch the big one—not to mention one of the many cash prizes up for grabs. But a long-simmering grudge threatens to derail everything, as does a protest of the tournament, led by local environmentalist Henrietta Blunt. Hilarity and chaos ensue as the anglers hit the lake. And it isn’t long before it all goes off the hook, as most things in Milligan Creek usually do!

Available now on Amazon as a paperback, hardcover, or ebook.

As of this moment, I am 29,711 words into Off the Hook, book 8 in the Milligan Creek Series. This story revolves around a fishing tournament, with a quest for fame, fortune, fish, and revenge driving the action. I'm having a blast writing it, and I can often be found laughing to myself in my office in response to my characters' crazy antics. The way things are going, I should have a solid first draft by the end of next week, and with any luck, the book will be available in the first a quarter of 2024.

In the meantime, I'm also very close to finishing the backstory for Teeth, book 3 in the Uncanny Icons Series, which is about some glow-in-the-dark vampire teeth that are far more than a mere novelty item.

Last month, I also completed The Stream Team, which is book 1 in a new six-book series called Game On that I'm writing for Bakken Books. It's about a group of unlikely gamers who are trying to become a championship Fortnite squad. The book will come out in the first quarter of next year. 

And don't forget Danica Panica! The first six books in that series are now available from Bakken as well, and if you order before Dec. 15, you can still get them in time for Christmas!

Here's a brief quote:

You can read the rest of it here.

Seeing as LARPers is about some geeky kids who are rather obsessive about tabletop RPGs (role-playing games), it seemed only natural that some of them had invented their own language to go along with their characters. To help me come up with that language, I turned to my oldest daughter, Gretchen, who just completed her third year of linguistics at UBC. She invented a language from scratch, and we had a lot of fun implementing it in the book. It comes complete with a glossary at the back, so you can put it to good use. 

Incidentally, this is actually the second Milligan Creek book to feature a made-up language. See Snowbound for the other language, although I can't take any credit for making that one up. 

At long last, LARPers, book 7 in the Milligan Creek Series is finally here! Here's a brief synopsis: 

Needless to say, after a five-month delay due to cancer treatment, I'm super excited to finally get this book out into the world. Like all the other Milligan Creek books, I had a blast writing it, and I can't wait to share it with fans of the series. Here's a look at the final version of the cover, illustrated by Hannah Doerksen. 

Now that this book is done, I'm already 75 pages into a new non-fiction book on writing called No G.U.T.S., No Story. It's an adaptation of a screenwriting workshop I've been teaching for the past 16 years or so. I'm hoping to have that out by June. Then it's on to another book in the Uncanny Icons series before returning to Milligan Creek for another installment. 

Getting the individual characters down.

Then adding a background.

More to come!

Here's the sketch I sent to Hannah Doersksen, my talented artist, along with some instructions.

Here is her initial sketch.

Followed by another sketch with color.

We're still in the very early stages, but I'm already excited by what I'm seeing. Meanwhile, I'm about 20% into my edit, and I like what I'm seeing there too. A relief after not reading that part of the book for several weeks. Stay tuned!

And it's a whopping 68,822 words! To put that in perspective, Up the Creek, book 1 in the Milligan Creek Series, is just shy of 32,000 words. I don't know what went wrong--or right--about this book, but the story just kept growing and growing. However, I will point out that J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter books kept getting longer and longer too, so maybe I'm on the right track.

At any rate, I love how things turned out. This is always an exciting moment, a time to celebrate. Then it's back to the grindstone as I go back through the manuscript and edit. In truth, I've already done that a couple of times for a good chunk of the book, so it's only the last third that needs a thorough going over. I already have the uber-talented Hannah Doerksen working on the cover, so with any luck, the book will be available in March.

I've also been simultaneously working on another book, a non-fiction one this time, which I plan to release later on in the first half of this year as well. Stay tuned for more updates!

If one Milligan Creek book isn't enough for you, I've just bundled books 4 and 5 into a second volume, now available on Amazon and everywhere else you buy books. You can also buy books 1-3 as a single volume as well.