News and Notes from the Field

Cold and flu season is nearly upon us. For most people, viruses are uncomfortable, but not dangerous. For kids with SCID, they’re deadly. SCID (severe combined immunodeficiency syndrome) is a genetic condition that predominately affects boys. It’s often called “bubble ... Read More  

One of the things I love about Netflix (and DVDs for that matter), is that you don’t have to wait for the next episode of your favourite TV show. For those of us who hate cliffhangers and schedules, it’s ... Read More  

If you’ve been anywhere near me on social media this week, of course, you already know this. By the time I made it back to my hotel room after the dinner where the announcement was made, author friends had already ... Read More  

I am on my way to Toronto today to attend the Lane Anderson Award dinner. Fuzzy Forensics is one of three books on the shortlist in the Young Reader Category, and the winner will be announced tonight! It’s my ... Read More  

No, really. Shockingly good. Which was a surprise, considering that literally the only ingredients I did NOT substitute were the salt and baking soda. Try them. You’ll never believe they’re allergen-free. Ingredients 1 1/3 cups Spectrum 100% palm oil ... Read More  

Somehow I convinced myself I could write three manuscripts while simultaneously ramping up for a new semester at SMU. I am really not the smartest sometimes… The blog may suffer a bit of neglect while I dig myself out ... Read More  

Tech Support: How’d you sleep? Me: Not good. Dreamed that I was horribly late for work because a breaker flipped and it was pitch black and no one would go re-flip it. Tech Support: Huh. Me: Plus I couldn’t ... Read More  

I don’t talk much about politics on the internet, because it often results in a non-stop ticket to Crazytown. But Canada is having a federal election this fall, and we need to talk about the politics of science. There ... Read More  

So you know how I’m binge-reading The Wheel of Time series now that all the books are finally out? I’m on book six of 14 (technically 7 of 15, since I started with the prequel) and I have noticed some ... Read More  

…because Google’s ad department knows that I was looking up my own books on B&N, which is more than I really want the faceless internet to know about me. I’m a writer, after all. Some of the things I google ... Read More  

Brier Island is one of the best places in Canada for whale watching, and after four years in Nova Scotia, Tech Support and I finally made it up there. A number of species of whales and dolphins summer off ... Read More  

Maleficent was awesome. It was a creative and compelling reimagining of Sleeping Beauty, with humour and conflict and deep characterizations, and it was just plain beautiful to watch. I’d always loved the animated Sleeping Beauty, but hated the animated ... Read More  

If you’ve been following for a while, you’ll know that I’ve given up sugar for health reasons.∗ Finding sugar in table salt was the biggest shock, but easy to work around. Then I found out that there’s sugar in bacon. ... Read More  

When I’m working on a book project, I always do more research than I actually have space to include in the text itself. In general, this is a great strategy, because it helps me be confident that I’ve found and ... Read More  

Do you ever do a thing that causes you to seriously question your own intelligence? Last year I bought a 5-download subscription to Shutterstock, the stock photo site where I’d previously found many of the photos appearing in Fox Talk and ... Read More  

There’s a distinct whiff of fall in the air today, and a more-than-distinct whiff of wet. What is it about waking up on a grey and rainy day that makes it so hard to get stuff done? Then again, the ... Read More  

As anyone who’s seen The Imitation Game will know, the first modern computer was designed with a single purpose – to crack an unbreakable code. Alan Turing’s invention outwitted the Enigma machine, allowing the Allies to read the Nazis’ encoded messages ... Read More  

I live in the forest. There’s a lake in my backyard, with a protected wilderness area on the other side, and it’s not unusual for deer, raccoons, porcupines, beavers, bobcats, and coyotes to wander through the yard. But last ... Read More