Check out my new “Lost” article, “Memoirs of a Ghost Whisperer, or All My Friends Are Dead People,” over at BIFF BAM POP!

Also, it’s been awhile since I’ve posted any cat pictures, which I know is the main reason everyone comes here, so I thought I’d give you a double dose today.

Speaking of stories, I received my cheque from On Spec the other day for my story, “The Bottle.” I think this has to be the second or third largest amount I’ve ever been paid for a single piece of fiction, which is great, and even better that it’s from a Canadian market. Woo, Canada!

Not sure when the story will be out yet, but I’ll keep you informed.

For the past week or so, BIFF BAM POP! has been posting a series of Wolverine-related articles as part of a countdown to the upcoming movie starring Hugh Jackman. My entry was posted this morning: “Canada’s Secret Weapon… Weapon X, that is.”

Kat and I sat down to watch TRON tonight. A classic flick that I hadn’t seen in years and Kat, apparently, hadn’t seen at all.

KAT: Oh wait, is this the movie with all the grids and spheres and stuff?

IAN: Well, kind of. It’s like The Matrix as conceived by Disney. In 1982. With Jeff Bridges.

KAT: Yeah, I think I remember this movie. It gave me nightmares.

IAN: Because of Jeff Bridges?

KAT: No, I was being chased by these bouncing sphere thingies.

IAN: You sure it wasn’t Jeff Bridges?

KAT: Maybe it’s you that has dreams of Jeff Bridges.

IAN: Does this mean you’re not going to see TRON 2.0 with me in 2011?

KAT: Why don’t you ask Jeff Bridges to go with you?

Kat and I had a whirlwind day.

We got up early this morning to take the car to the dealership for its 97,000-km checkup. While there, we happened to ask one of the car dealers if they would mind running the numbers to see if it was worth riding our car out to the end of its five-year payment plan (we were currently in our third year), or if it was better to just trade it in on a new one. We told him we weren’t going to put down any more money, and we didn’t want to pay much more, if anything, over our current payments. Long story short, we ended up swapping our 2006 Toyota Corolla for a new 2010 model. We pick it up on Tuesday. Consequently the same day we head to Whitby to finish the final part of the process to get our passports.

Back to today: Since we ended up avoiding the car maintenance we had scheduled, we suddenly had three free hours we hadn’t planned on. So we headed over to the mall, got our photographs taken for said passports, did our groceries, I bought some t-shirts and a new pair of jeans, and then we came home. We filled out our passport applications online, Kathryn drove out to her sister’s place so she could sign as our guarantor, and then we waited out the first thunderstorm of the year so we could head out to dinner in Bridgenorth.

Now we’re home, stuffed, a little sleepy, and getting ready to finish watching Season 1 of Battlestar Galactica.

This is the exciting life of the writer, folks. I’ve actually got some writing-related posts coming over the next few days. A new article coming soon over at BIFF BAM POP! and some novel news (finally!).

Stay tuned!

It looks like Richard Gavin will be joining Simon Strantzas and me at this year’s Readercon.

I suppose I can properly call this a Canadian Invasion now. You really need three people to officially declare.

Andy Burns, my editor at BIFF BAM POP!, has posted a really excellent interview he did with award-winning author Jonathan Maberry about his first foray into comics, Wolverine: Ghosts. Check it out!

• Currently reading: The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove, by Christopher Moore

The rumours are true, folks. I will be attending this year’s Readercon in Burlington, Massachusetts.

Simon Strantzas gets all the credit for coming up with the idea of going. He’s the one who suggested it and got the ball rolling.

In the way of most good ideas, things are coming together very quickly. The hotel is being booked, time off is being arranged at work, and I’m about to deal with the fun of getting my very first passport. Despite all the preparation madness, I have to say I’m pretty freakin’ excited. Simon and I will be in the company of many great writers, and I can’t help but feel this will be a good experience, both personally and professionally.

I haven’t been to very many conventions, and never to one outside of Toronto. In fact, I’ve never really travelled that far outside of Canada. The furthest I’ve gone is a quick jaunt through the northern parts of New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine – and that was fifteen years ago. Massachusetts isn’t that much further south, but it’ll still be further than I’ve ever gone.

So if you were waiting for Readercon to draw its share of Canadian talent, you can stop worrying and hurry up and register for what is sure to be a great time.

Private dicks, that is. As in detectives. What did you think I meant?

Check out my reviews of two very different private-eye novels: The Little Sleep, by Paul Tremblay, and The Time Machine Did It, by John Swartzwelder.