Surprise! My year end review is actually coming out as the year ends. Now that I’m 70, procrastination is not an option.
Speaking of 70, I happy to tell you that 70 is the new… 69.
Let’s start with books, since that seems to take up most of my time these days: either reading them or writing them.
As of today, I have read 86 books, ranging in length from 82 pages (poetry) to 592 (biography). The day is not done but the three books I’ve started are unlikely to be finished by midnight so we’ll call it at 86, which beats my declared goal of 80.
Nearly half (41) were mystery. Nonfiction came second at 16, science fiction at 14, mainstream fiction at 11 with poetry/writing providing the final 4.
Almost all of the stand-out books this year were in the non-fiction category with The Worlds I see by Fei-Fei Li topping the charts for me. Tied for second were Autocracy, Inc. by Anne Applebaum and The Light Eaters by Zoe Schlanger. Of the 16 books I read in this category, I gave seven of them five stars, so choosing the top three wasn’t easy.
While I read a lot of mysteries, the vast majority were just okay. The best of the bunch was Bardd by Sara Woodbury with A Most Efficient Murder by Anthony Slayton and The Return of the Pharaoh by Nicholas Meyer worth mentioning.
In science fiction, Lost Ark Dreaming by Suyi Davies Okungbowa was excellent and I enjoyed The Lightspeed Trilogy by Ken McLeod as well. The Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction, Volume 2 also was a top read if I only count the science fiction (sorry, still don’t much care for fantasy).
Among the 15 mainstream and literary books, there were eight that I rated 5 stars so again picking the top 3 is pretty hard but I will go with James by Percival Everett, Orbital by Samantha Harvey and Ragged Company by Richard Wagamese.
For 2026, I will probably read much the same mix of books, though I will be more selective in the mysteries I spend my time with and will try to up my game on science fiction. I also want to try to read more long books so the total number of books finished is likely to fall – say to 70?
On the writing side of things, I completed and published the fourth Max Anderson mystery (The Risen Sun) early in the year and began working on a fifth as the year came to an end. In between, I wrote a new science fiction novel, a kind of sequel (set 300 years later) to 2023’s The Passion of Ivan Rodriguez. It is currently with beta readers and I hope to have a final draft by the end of March. I don’t write particularly fast these days but I do write steadily.
I also wrote five short stories, most of them in October and December. All of those are still out to various magazines for consideration. However, 3 stories from 2024 were published: Mr. Palomar Goes to Space (Analog SF&F March/April 2025), Grey Scale (Shapers of Worlds, Vol. 5) and Artificial Cupidity (Analog January/February 2026). My first published poem, Life Abides, appeared in Polar Borealis last August and two more have been accepted for publication in 2026.
I expect 20026 will carry on in much the same way with Max Anderson #5 appearing sometime before summer. I hope to announce the sale of my new SF novel sometime this year for publication at some future date. I have ideas for a couple or three more books, so I guess I’ll keep at the keyboard for a while longer yet. I expect some of the stories I wrote last year will see the light of day and I have already plotted several others to work on between novels. And I’m sure a few more poems will magically appear as well.
I can’t leave writing without mentioning the upcoming On Spec anthology planned by Shadowpaw Press. As those who follow the genre know, On Spec was the leading Canadian speculative fiction magazine that ceased operations this year after 35 years in the business. Virtually every genre writer in the country was published in On Spec over that period. I was fortunate to have 6 stories published over the years and my spouse, Liz Westbrook-Trenholm, was a frequent contributor as well, with her latest story, Bag of Holding, appearing in the penultimate issue (her second story sale of the year). Both of us are honoured to have been chosen as anchor authors in the new anthology – provided it gets funded in a Kickstarter this February. You will certainly hear more about that in the next little while.
What did I do besides reading and writing? Travel of course.
The first trip of the year was a long weekend in Halifax to celebrate my 70th birthday at the end of April. We had a nice visit and several fine meals with my brother, Scott, and his wife, Shelley, and took in a play, a couple of museums and a night of music at an old haunt, The Split Crow. We also visited Trident bookstore and café, owned by writer friend, Charlotte Ashby. I couldn’t think of a better way to turn 70.
In May and June, Liz and I went to Great Britain for a month, with stops in London, Glasgow and the highlands, Edinburgh, Deal, Bristol, Cardiff and then London again. We reconnected with old friends Martin and Kirsty Page in Edinburgh and Carol and Geoff in Deal and, of course, spent two wonderful four-day visits with Liz’s daughter, Susan, and her partner, Hugh, bookending the trip. It was my first visit to Scotland (and Liz had never been to Glasgow) and our introduction to Bristol and Cardiff as well. We had a wonderful time which was recorded in pictures on Facebook if you are interested.
In August, we spent 12 days (it was supposed to be 11) on Vancouver Island and in Alberta, visiting friends and attending the When Words Collide festival. It was a wonderful time, so good that Air Canada thought we should stay a day longer! Actually, our flight was cancelled due to the labour disruption and we wound up flying home on Porter, so all was well that ended well (and Air Canada covered our costs for the extra day.)
A couple of weeks later we went to Moncton for a couple of days to attend the wedding of my niece, Veronica. It was a lovely affair and a great opportunity to see both my brothers and their partners. In October we attended gathering of writers in Mississauga hosted by Robert Sawyer and Carolyn Clink; it was great to see so many good friends and get so much writing done.
Later in the month, we attended our local SF convention, Can*Con, which counts as travel as it was in the far west end of Ottawa, too far away for a daily commute. The highlight of the weekend, among many, was a gathering of the East Block Irregulars, the writing group I’ve been part of for nearly 19 years. It was the first time we were all (mostly) in the same room for several years. Finally, we spent the weekend after Christmas visiting Liz’s son, Steve, his wife Diana and our 4 grandchildren in Hamilton.
And when we weren’t travelling ourselves, we were hosting visitors, including two visits from Stella and Alex, the older of the aforementioned grandchildren as well as friends from BC, Alberta and Montreal plus plenty of locals for lunch and dinner.
As for 2026, we have travel booked for Costa Rica in February and planned for Nova Scotia in May. A trip out west is almost certain but dates are still up in the air.
Finally, I did take up the art of doodling (it is a long way from actually drawing) though after the initial enthusiasm it has dropped off. Maybe 2026 will see a resurgence or even a renaissance?
While we had a generally happy year, it was not without sadness. While my health issues were minor, Liz had several bouts of illness which, though temporary, were difficult. We hope for better in the New Year.
As well, we lost several friends this year, including one of my oldest and dearest pals, Mike Whittington, who I had known since the mid-80s. He died suddenly in June; it was a big loss to both his family and his many friends. I still think of him every day. Also gone were writing colleague, Jean-Louis Trudel, who I first met in the late nineties, and blues musician, Tim Williams, who I got to know when I was working behind the bar at Kaos Café in Calgary, where he was a frequent performer; Tim also acted in one of my plays at Lunchbox Theatre and, while I only saw him a few times since leaving Calgary, his music remains a regular part of my playlist.
Well, that’s my year. I’m sure I’ll blog again for another year passes. Well, it’s not impossible!
Best wishes to you for 2026 and I hope to see many of you in person before very long.
Speaking of 70, I happy to tell you that 70 is the new… 69.
Let’s start with books, since that seems to take up most of my time these days: either reading them or writing them.
As of today, I have read 86 books, ranging in length from 82 pages (poetry) to 592 (biography). The day is not done but the three books I’ve started are unlikely to be finished by midnight so we’ll call it at 86, which beats my declared goal of 80.
Nearly half (41) were mystery. Nonfiction came second at 16, science fiction at 14, mainstream fiction at 11 with poetry/writing providing the final 4.
Almost all of the stand-out books this year were in the non-fiction category with The Worlds I see by Fei-Fei Li topping the charts for me. Tied for second were Autocracy, Inc. by Anne Applebaum and The Light Eaters by Zoe Schlanger. Of the 16 books I read in this category, I gave seven of them five stars, so choosing the top three wasn’t easy.
While I read a lot of mysteries, the vast majority were just okay. The best of the bunch was Bardd by Sara Woodbury with A Most Efficient Murder by Anthony Slayton and The Return of the Pharaoh by Nicholas Meyer worth mentioning.
In science fiction, Lost Ark Dreaming by Suyi Davies Okungbowa was excellent and I enjoyed The Lightspeed Trilogy by Ken McLeod as well. The Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction, Volume 2 also was a top read if I only count the science fiction (sorry, still don’t much care for fantasy).
Among the 15 mainstream and literary books, there were eight that I rated 5 stars so again picking the top 3 is pretty hard but I will go with James by Percival Everett, Orbital by Samantha Harvey and Ragged Company by Richard Wagamese.
For 2026, I will probably read much the same mix of books, though I will be more selective in the mysteries I spend my time with and will try to up my game on science fiction. I also want to try to read more long books so the total number of books finished is likely to fall – say to 70?
On the writing side of things, I completed and published the fourth Max Anderson mystery (The Risen Sun) early in the year and began working on a fifth as the year came to an end. In between, I wrote a new science fiction novel, a kind of sequel (set 300 years later) to 2023’s The Passion of Ivan Rodriguez. It is currently with beta readers and I hope to have a final draft by the end of March. I don’t write particularly fast these days but I do write steadily.
I also wrote five short stories, most of them in October and December. All of those are still out to various magazines for consideration. However, 3 stories from 2024 were published: Mr. Palomar Goes to Space (Analog SF&F March/April 2025), Grey Scale (Shapers of Worlds, Vol. 5) and Artificial Cupidity (Analog January/February 2026). My first published poem, Life Abides, appeared in Polar Borealis last August and two more have been accepted for publication in 2026.
I expect 20026 will carry on in much the same way with Max Anderson #5 appearing sometime before summer. I hope to announce the sale of my new SF novel sometime this year for publication at some future date. I have ideas for a couple or three more books, so I guess I’ll keep at the keyboard for a while longer yet. I expect some of the stories I wrote last year will see the light of day and I have already plotted several others to work on between novels. And I’m sure a few more poems will magically appear as well.
I can’t leave writing without mentioning the upcoming On Spec anthology planned by Shadowpaw Press. As those who follow the genre know, On Spec was the leading Canadian speculative fiction magazine that ceased operations this year after 35 years in the business. Virtually every genre writer in the country was published in On Spec over that period. I was fortunate to have 6 stories published over the years and my spouse, Liz Westbrook-Trenholm, was a frequent contributor as well, with her latest story, Bag of Holding, appearing in the penultimate issue (her second story sale of the year). Both of us are honoured to have been chosen as anchor authors in the new anthology – provided it gets funded in a Kickstarter this February. You will certainly hear more about that in the next little while.
What did I do besides reading and writing? Travel of course.
The first trip of the year was a long weekend in Halifax to celebrate my 70th birthday at the end of April. We had a nice visit and several fine meals with my brother, Scott, and his wife, Shelley, and took in a play, a couple of museums and a night of music at an old haunt, The Split Crow. We also visited Trident bookstore and café, owned by writer friend, Charlotte Ashby. I couldn’t think of a better way to turn 70.
In May and June, Liz and I went to Great Britain for a month, with stops in London, Glasgow and the highlands, Edinburgh, Deal, Bristol, Cardiff and then London again. We reconnected with old friends Martin and Kirsty Page in Edinburgh and Carol and Geoff in Deal and, of course, spent two wonderful four-day visits with Liz’s daughter, Susan, and her partner, Hugh, bookending the trip. It was my first visit to Scotland (and Liz had never been to Glasgow) and our introduction to Bristol and Cardiff as well. We had a wonderful time which was recorded in pictures on Facebook if you are interested.
In August, we spent 12 days (it was supposed to be 11) on Vancouver Island and in Alberta, visiting friends and attending the When Words Collide festival. It was a wonderful time, so good that Air Canada thought we should stay a day longer! Actually, our flight was cancelled due to the labour disruption and we wound up flying home on Porter, so all was well that ended well (and Air Canada covered our costs for the extra day.)
A couple of weeks later we went to Moncton for a couple of days to attend the wedding of my niece, Veronica. It was a lovely affair and a great opportunity to see both my brothers and their partners. In October we attended gathering of writers in Mississauga hosted by Robert Sawyer and Carolyn Clink; it was great to see so many good friends and get so much writing done.
Later in the month, we attended our local SF convention, Can*Con, which counts as travel as it was in the far west end of Ottawa, too far away for a daily commute. The highlight of the weekend, among many, was a gathering of the East Block Irregulars, the writing group I’ve been part of for nearly 19 years. It was the first time we were all (mostly) in the same room for several years. Finally, we spent the weekend after Christmas visiting Liz’s son, Steve, his wife Diana and our 4 grandchildren in Hamilton.
And when we weren’t travelling ourselves, we were hosting visitors, including two visits from Stella and Alex, the older of the aforementioned grandchildren as well as friends from BC, Alberta and Montreal plus plenty of locals for lunch and dinner.
As for 2026, we have travel booked for Costa Rica in February and planned for Nova Scotia in May. A trip out west is almost certain but dates are still up in the air.
Finally, I did take up the art of doodling (it is a long way from actually drawing) though after the initial enthusiasm it has dropped off. Maybe 2026 will see a resurgence or even a renaissance?
While we had a generally happy year, it was not without sadness. While my health issues were minor, Liz had several bouts of illness which, though temporary, were difficult. We hope for better in the New Year.
As well, we lost several friends this year, including one of my oldest and dearest pals, Mike Whittington, who I had known since the mid-80s. He died suddenly in June; it was a big loss to both his family and his many friends. I still think of him every day. Also gone were writing colleague, Jean-Louis Trudel, who I first met in the late nineties, and blues musician, Tim Williams, who I got to know when I was working behind the bar at Kaos Café in Calgary, where he was a frequent performer; Tim also acted in one of my plays at Lunchbox Theatre and, while I only saw him a few times since leaving Calgary, his music remains a regular part of my playlist.
Well, that’s my year. I’m sure I’ll blog again for another year passes. Well, it’s not impossible!
Best wishes to you for 2026 and I hope to see many of you in person before very long.
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