A short story I wrote entitled No Man’s Land placed third in Brucedale Press’ Thirteenth Annual Acrostic Story Contest.

Over the course of the last month, my novel has managed to stir, excite, challenge and disturb reviewers all over the world. I couldn’t be more delighted.

The impatient side of my personality wrote The Healer in messy, frantic bursts of creativity. Now, it’s time for the patient side to step up and get down to the business of cultivating an audience.

On September 11, The Healer reached #8 on Amazon Canada’s science fiction adventure list. To give you an idea of how momentous an accomplishment this was for yours truly, Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 was #9 on the list, and my favourite Philip K. Dick tome—Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?—sat at #12.

This past week I popped by CISL AM 650′s Richmond studio to resume my ongoing conversation with Steve Dotto about the self-publishing revolution—and to give away a copy of The Healer while I was at it.

I’m delighted to announce that my debut novel—a work in the genre of “sci-fi chick lit” entitled The Healer—is now available for purchase.

Given how long I’ve dreamt about launching my novel into the marketplace, why am I so nervous at the very moment this dream is about to come true? And given my nerves, why am I still counting the days until I can tweet out that first link to my Amazon listing?

My radio interview with Steve Dotto aired on CISL AM 650 last night. The show was pre-recorded so none of us knew it would be airing during game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals. However, we live in an on-demand world, and so now that the broken glass and burnt-out cars are being cleared out of Downtown Vancouver, I’m delighted to be able to share this interview with you in MP3 form.

In the traditional book-publishing paradigm, the publishing company stands between the writer and the reader. On the rare occasions that a publisher plucks a book out of its massive slush pile, the author loses complete control over the book. The publisher—the exalted gatekeeper—is in charge of everything. I have decided to skip the slush pile altogether, and appeal to my readers directly. I didn’t even try to find a publisher. Self-publishing is my first choice.

Today Amazon announced that, for the first time in history, they’re selling more e-books than printed books. Up until a few months ago, this headline would have caused me to gasp in horror.