On May 5th, 2024, the Aurora Award nominated Pale Grey Dot was released into the wilds, so I thought we’d take a quick glance at the year of successes.
- May 5th, 2024: We have our launch party at Bakka-Phoenix, Canada’s oldest and operating science fiction & fantasy bookstore. It was a tremendous crowd, and I was so grateful to both see old friends and meet new people. PGD would eventually go on to hit the Top 4 bestseller at Bakka-Phoenix.
- May 20th, 2024: An excellent review in Amazing Stories. The author, Graeme Cameron, is a CSFFA Hall of Famer and a pillar of Canadian science fiction.
- June 15th, 2024: Pale Grey Dot is featured in the June issue of the Toronto Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers newsletter, whereupon I reveal a great secret shame about the book…
- July 1st, 2024: I was featured on Episode 498 the Seangeek and Fastfret Podcast! Podcasts are a remarkable bit of fun, and a great opportunity to share the Pale Grey Verse with new readers.
- July 14th, 2024: PGD gets a glowing 5+ minute review in Winnipeg Radio 680 CJOB. Getting to hear some complimentary on the radio was a big confidence booster: “What really grabbed me about this book was the characterization … each of them have their own unique voice. They’re really well constructed characters.”
- July 25th, 2024: As a part of promoting PGD, I got to write an article for the 49th Shelf about ships in fiction. Spaceships, sailing ships, airships… they all count!
- October 25th, 2024: I was asked to do an author signing at Can*Con, Canada’s yearly sci-fi & fantasy convention. It was fun, though authors selling to other authors doesn’t quite have the same ring to it.
- November 15th, 2024: Another article, this time by All Lit Up. It centres on dystopia in science fiction and features some remarkable novels.
- November 30th, 2024: Another book signing, this one at Indigo-Barrie, just in time for the Christmas shopping season. This was a huge success, with every copy selling out. My favourite event, as this involved actually reaching out to readers to talk about PGD and other speculative works. It was a success professionally and socially. A+, would visit Barrie again.
- March 7th, 2025: What would a year be without one of Peter G. Reynolds‘s famous writing retreats, this time to Blue Mountain. How much writing takes place at one of Peter G. Reynolds‘s famous writing retreats? Shhh.
- April 16th, 2025: Pale Grey Dot is announced as a finalist for the 2025 Aurora Awards for Best Novels! It shares that space with some other fantastic works. I must thank the Toronto Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers for all their feedback that made PGD as good as it could possibly be!
- The Future: The Pale Grey story does not end here. I’ve been asked about sequels, short stories, and other works. All I can say is: stay tuned…
