246 ratings | 5 reviews | avg rating:4.26

John’s Year In Books

John’s 2025 Year in Books

Take a look at John’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.

Go to John’s 2025 Year in Books

John Mavin’s Followers (11)

John’s Bookshelves

to-read (0)
currently-reading (2)
read (1000)
books-about-writing (37)
childrens-literature (128)
comedy (2)
fantasy (138)
graphic-novels (54)
historical-fiction (35)
history (3)
See all bookshelves »

John’s Friends (42)

Lena

3,674 books | 374 friends

Jonas Saul

1,070 books | 2,739 friends

Nicole

1,537 books | 50 friends

Kristene Perron

263 books | 186 friends

Faye Arcand

541 books | 60 friends

Tony

48 books | 57 friends

Michele Amitrani

288 books | 28 friends

Mandy Eve-Barnett

562 books | 633 friends

More friends…

John Mavin

Goodreads Author

Born

Chatham, Ontario, Canada

Website

http://www.johnmavin.com/

Genre

Fiction

Member Since

March 2017

edit data

A past nominee for both the Aurora Award and the Journey Prize, John Mavin is the author of Rage. He's taught creative writing at Capilano University, Simon Fraser University, the University of British Columbia, with New Shoots, and at the Learning Exchange in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. ...more

Learn more
Ask the Author

To ask John Mavin questions, please sign up.

Popular Answered Questions

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

John Mavin When I'm asked how I come up with my stories, I often use "The High Alpinist's Survival Guide" (the last story in Rage) to describe my process (somet…more When I'm asked how I come up with my stories, I often use "The High Alpinist's Survival Guide" (the last story in Rage) to describe my process (something first sparks my imagination, I find a second idea to play off it, and then I look for a third idea to spin everything into a new direction). I was originally inspired / shocked / outraged while reading about the 1996 storm which killed eight people on Mount Everest--specifically the reports of people walking past a distressed climber and leaving him to die. I couldn't understand how anyone could callously ignore a person in distress. I realized I didn't fully understand the circumstances surrounding this event (I've never climbed Mount Everest myself), but surely, there had to be some explanation.

So I researched my ass off. I read and watched everything I could find about Everest. I spoke to climbers and people who've been there. While what I learned explained the situation, it didn't dissipate my disgust. I learned joining an expedition costs tens of thousands of dollars but typically doesn't require extensive high-altitude experience. I also learned that above 8,000 metres there isn't enough oxygen for humans to survive, so rescue attempts have little chance of success (and with inexperienced rescuers, the likely result will be their deaths as well). And finally, I learned there are dead bodies all over Everest (I've been told one in twenty climbers die during their summit attempt).

But I knew I didn't want to write a simple story about climbing Mount Everest or about people's seeming inhumanity (better, in my opinion, to read real-life accounts from people who've actually been there). I needed a second idea, and this is what I came up with: what if someone was climbing Everest specifically to bring down someone whom everyone else was walking past? While that seemed kind of cool to me, I knew it wasn't good enough. I needed a third idea to spin the story into a new direction. And the third idea which came to me was the climber's motivation. I won't share Brian's reasons for climbing Everest (it's a huge spoiler and is what the story is all about), but I will tell you it was enough for me to realize I had something worth developing and that I'd better get my butt in my writing chair and start typing. (less)

flag

like
Comment

See 1 answer from John Mavin…

Combine Editions
John Mavin’s books

Average rating: 3.97 · 64 ratings · 23 reviews · 3 distinct works

	Tesseracts Eleven: Amazing Canadian Speculative Fiction by Cory Doctorow (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Holly Phillips (Editor), Daniel Archambault (Contributor) 3.56 avg rating — 39 ratings — published 2007 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Rage 4.50 avg rating — 24 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Speculative North #2: Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror by David F. Shultz (Goodreads Author), Avra Margariti (Goodreads Author), Jeremiah Kleckner (Goodreads Author) 4.13 avg rating — 8 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

* Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. To add more, click here.

27 posts
John Mavin's Blog

Feeding Your (My) Darkest Fears

It's with a quiet feeling of dread (and excitement) that I invite you to tune in to the broadcast premiere of my story "Restraint" on Tales to Terrify (Episode 540), a weekly horror fiction podcast that gets under your skin, lays eggs, and hatches writhing baby horrors nursed on your darkest fears.

"Restraint" -- read by Amy Paonessa -- is a story about a werewolf navigating the drama o Read more of this blog post »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on June 03, 2022 03:18

View all 27 posts »

John is Currently Reading

John Mavin is currently reading

The Devils (The Devils, #1)

by Joe Abercrombie

bookshelves: currently-reading, fantasy

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Nov 21, 2025 03:42PM

John Mavin is currently reading

Great Expectations

by Charles Dickens

bookshelves: currently-reading, literary-fiction

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Oct 29, 2024 02:21AM

rss
John’s Recent Updates

John Mavin has read Swimming Upstream: A Fish Biologist's Journey by David Levy	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Dec 31, 2025 10:14AM · like
John Mavin is currently reading The Devils (The Devils, #1) by Joe Abercrombie Goodreads Choice Awards Nominee in Readers' Favorite Fantasy, Readers' Favorite Audiobook	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Nov 21, 2025 03:42PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Devils by Joe Abercrombie. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Devils by Joe Abercrombie <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
John Mavin finished reading The Last Exile: A Wakeland Novel by Sam Wiebe (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Nov 14, 2025 04:13PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Last Exile by Sam Wiebe. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Last Exile by Sam Wiebe <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
John Mavin has read The Almost Widow: A Novel by Gail Anderson-Dargatz (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Nov 10, 2025 03:34PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Almost Widow by Gail Anderson-Dargatz. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Almost Widow by Gail Anderson-Dargatz <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
John Mavin finished reading The Fair Fight by Anna Freeman	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 23, 2025 03:47PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Fair Fight by Anna Freeman. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Fair Fight by Anna Freeman <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
John Mavin has read Hazards of Time Travel by Joyce Carol Oates	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jul 22, 2025 08:08PM · like
John Mavin has read When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jul 10, 2025 01:45PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
John Mavin rated a book really liked it Written on the Dark by Guy Gavriel Kay (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jun 18, 2025 03:43PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Written on the Dark by Guy Gavriel Kay. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Written on the Dark by Guy Gavriel Kay <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
John Mavin has read Fools of Fortune by William Trevor	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jun 09, 2025 01:33PM · like
John Mavin has read Fleet of Worlds (Fleet of Worlds #1) by Larry Niven	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
May 30, 2025 09:27PM · like

More of John's books…

John’s Quotes

“A story is about a single moment in a character's life when a definitive choice is made, after which nothing is the same.”
― John L'Heureux

tags: short-story-writing

3 likes

“Try to write in a directly emotional way, instead of being too subtle or oblique. Don't be afraid of your material or your past. Be afraid of wasting any more time obsessing about how you look and how people see you. Be afraid of not getting your writing done.”
― Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird

45 likes

“The first draft of anything is shit.”
― Ernest Hemingway

tags: attributed-no-source, writing

4212 likes

“Writing a novel is a terrible experience, during which the hair often falls out and the teeth decay. I'm always irritated by people who imply that writing fiction is an escape from reality. It is a plunge into reality and it's very shocking to the system.”
― Flannery O'Connor, Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose

tags: creative-process, escape, novels, reality, writing

628 likes

“The purpose of a storyteller is not to tell you how to think, but to give you questions to think upon.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings

John’s Year In Books

John Mavin’s Followers (11)

Add New
Videos

John’s Bookshelves

John’s Friends (42)

John Mavin

Goodreads Author

Learn more
Ask the Author

Popular Answered Questions

Combine Editions
John Mavin’s books

27 posts
John Mavin's Blog

Feeding Your (My) Darkest Fears

John is Currently Reading

rss
John’s Recent Updates

See a Problem?

Preview — The Devils by Joe Abercrombie

See a Problem?

Preview — The Last Exile by Sam Wiebe

See a Problem?

Preview — The Almost Widow by Gail Anderson-Dargatz

See a Problem?

Preview — The Fair Fight by Anna Freeman

See a Problem?

Preview — When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro

See a Problem?

Preview — Written on the Dark by Guy Gavriel Kay

John’s Quotes

recent posts
John’s Groups

John’s Friend Comments

John Mavin’s Followers (11)

John Mavin

Goodreads Author

Popular Answered Questions

rssJohn’s Recent Updates

See a Problem?

Preview — The Devils by Joe Abercrombie

See a Problem?

Preview — The Last Exile by Sam Wiebe

See a Problem?

Preview — The Almost Widow by Gail Anderson-Dargatz

See a Problem?

Preview — The Fair Fight by Anna Freeman

See a Problem?

Preview — When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro

See a Problem?

Preview — Written on the Dark by Guy Gavriel Kay

rss
John’s Recent Updates