I’m pleased to have a new story freshly published in this season’s Fiddlehead.

The Fiddlehead is one of Canada’s oldest litmags, established in 1945. It’s published quarterly, in print, out of the University of New Brunswick. And it’s always a beautiful read.

I’ve had a couple of stories its pages, including “Mr. Boots” in 2017 and “The Squabbit” in 2019.

My new story, “Everything Hangs by a Thread,” is a speculative piece about art and aging and one woman’s unorthodox method of embracing the former and avoiding the latter. Here’s an excerpt:

(I love that artist character — it doesn’t feel like I made her up; it feels like she lives in the Pontiac woods somewhere north of me, revelling in life. You’ll have to read the story to learn just how much revelling she does. The suburban visitors don’t stand a chance against her.)

I hope to publish a collection about aging one day. (I’m not yet 60. I have a bit of time.) That’s the theme of many of my recent stories: how the inevitable comes as a shock.

In the meantime, it’s a treat to have my stories published individually in journals like this, among dozens of contemporary pieces by diverse writers. Poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction — I do love a good litmag.

If you also write short fiction, check out my Canadian LitMag List and submit something today.

If you write poetry, now’s the time to submit to The Fiddlehead’s annual Poetry Contest.

And if you read fiction or poetry, why not subscribe to The Fiddlehead?

I hope you have a chance to read this issue. Join the editors and contributors at the virtual launch on November 21st. See you there!