Nature / Writing

Monday November 11, 2013 In school, we always paid special attention to Remembrance Day. There were crafts and poems and assemblies to attend and, in later years, assemblies to put on. One of my most distinct Remembrance Day memories from my youth actually comes from high school, and the pride I felt the first time I was a techie at the student-run assembly. What I don't remember is ever having a veteran come and speak to us. When I was a kid, the two minutes of silence was spent imagining what the World Wars had been like; imagining the crack of bullets and the flash of explosions and the cold trenches slick with mud... I don't think I'm alone when I confess that for several years after I finished going to school, I also stopped going to Remembrance Day ceremonies. I still wore a poppy each November and, if I could, paused for two minutes of silence on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. But Ontario doesn't officially shut down for Remem...

Sunday November 10, 2013 Yesterday was the launch party for Inaccurate Realities #1: Fear , a YA speculative fiction collection which includes my short story " Model Citizen ." This was particularly neat for me, because it was a soft-landing entry into the world of book events - I didn't have to do any of the work, but I still got to show up and sign things. :) It was a really great event, and kudos to editor Christa Seeley and assistant editors Andrea Modolo and Sara Eagleson for putting it all together. I learned a few to-do things from them, and a few not-to-dos from myself. Here are some of the notes-to-self I've made for next time. First, from the things I could have done better: Practice signing your name beforehand. (Seriously. That chicken scratch was just ridiculous.) Bring a pen. (How did I not think of this? Luckily Steve had some at the ready.) Be on time. (Although I was mostly delayed by the arrival of a stray cat I'd been waiting to fe...

By Marilyn Anne Campbell Short Story: Young Adult, Speculative Fiction "The Invasion changed many things: the way people thought about themselves and each other, the landscape of the Earth, the very dynamics of the universe. But there were some things it did not change—things like the upper level food court of the Maddison Bay Mall." Scotty goes looking for his first retail job, and ends up leading the fight against alien invaders. Publication History Model Citizen  was first published in the YA speculative fiction magazine Inaccurate Realities . It appears in Volume One: Fear, which was published on October 22nd, 2013. As of March 2016, you can read  Model Citizen  on Wattpad . Story Notes The first draft of this story was written way back in the summer of 2002. I submitted it to one magazine, got a rejection, and pretty much forgot about it for a decade.  The main character was named after one of my roommates from 2002, although they are abso...