Now

This is the page where you find out what I’m up to!

An Eggciting new project?

Brown background to remind us of the colour of BBQ sauce. A tall man with silver hair, wearing a grey and orange uniform with wings on the shoulders is trying not to laugh while staring at a woman with short silver hair who is wearing a brown and beige chicken costume. She’s leaning her cheek on her hand while staring unimpressed at something above her.

In the “what the heck am I doing” files, I decided to follow through with a “threat” I’d been making for years about writing a Romance novel. I told people it would be awkward and nobody should ever read one if I write it, yet folks encouraged me anyway. THIS IS ALL ON YOU!

For Camp NaNoWriMo (April 2023), I began my short novel, Hot Wings and Sauciness. It stars Colleen O’Donnell, and autistic, disabled, and 50something technician who works for the We’re Greater Than corporation. She’s been living on a network of hospitality industry space stations for the past six years, tending to whatever needs fixing.

Her closest friend ’Brina is marrying Sharon, and they want to hold a hen party at the Coq of the Walk exotic dance club and rotisserie that boasts the best wing sauce in the solar system. That’s a bit strange but Colleen nearly molts when she discovers they all have to dress up as actual hens!

Meanwhile, everyone is in an uproar over Captain Josh Speers, renowned war hero, returning to the stations. Messages of “Captain Hot Wings” is back are everywhere. Squeals abound!

This means absolutely nothing to Colleen. She’s single and fine that way. Hot Wings can dip into someone else’s sauce, right? What are the chances she and her rollator Fiona would even bump into him? And if they did, would it amount to anything?

Tearing through space with the cool kids!

Book cover description: Four crew members of the SS SpoonZ and a robot stand on a planetary surface. The image of them is superimposed over a sky with swirling stars that features a ship whose hull looks like it’s shaped from spoons. The crew members from the right are Lieutenant Iris, who’s holding her white cane with the red stripe and has her other hand on the head of her aqua guidebot, Clarence; Security Chief Leanna Lartha is aiming a grey tubular weapon at something while smirking. She has two leg prostheses and one is glowing; Commander Davan waves a blue arm at Iris. He has a prominent trunk, which he also uses to communicate in his own language; And Mr. Herbert, Chief of Engineering, has his back to us while pointing to the sky.

It’s a really exciting time for me because my new Iris and the Crew disability-hopepunk space opera series has been acquired by Renaissance, so Season One: Iris and the Crew Tear Through Space is currently in copy editing, and it will be published on September 15, 2023!

This work is near and dear to my heart. It has an ensemble cast, bodymind celebration, an accessible ship, and PEW-PEW-PEW! It’s a book, but I’ve written it as 13 episodes, so CALL ME, NETFLIX!

Oh yeah, and of course there are scenes with dessert because have you met me?

Curating amazing stories!

Book cover: a watercolour of a brick wall in teal, brown, and beige bricks. Black graffiti says “Nothing without US.” And dark orange-red graffiti says “TOO.” Editors and author names are also on the cover.

The fall of 2022 brought the second of our disability fiction series, Nothing Without Us Too into the world. Kohenet Talia C. Johnson and I co-edited this work during the height of the pandemic, and the title seems even more significant to us than ever. The stories are so amazing—snarky, funny, moving—and we couldn’t be more proud of our contributing authors. It was sad for us to hear of Melissa Mead’s passing, but thanks to her family, we were able to include Melissa’s story in this collection. And how awesome was it for Amanda Leduc to agree to write the foreword! That was so exciting for us.

Now we’re promoting through launches and hoping for reviews because this is yet another collection that imo, everyone should read to understand how disabled creatives write protagonists that need to be in fiction.

New Spoonie Authors Network initiatives!

In 2023, we’re piloting the ReLaunchpad, where disabled indie and small-press authors can launch or relaunch their works in a virtual book launch. Our hopes are to also turn this into a readings and panel discussion. For January 15, there will be readings only, but there will also be giveaways! These events are free, and you can register your spot at Eventbrite !

Event advert: Spoonie Authors Network [Re]Launchpad logo is in the top left, consisting of three flying rocketships with open books on their hulls. Text within a dark rectangle indicates the time and the authors (Tangela Williams-Spann, Jamieson Wolf, Nicole Zelniker, Stephen Graham King, Dianna Gunn, and Diana L. Pomeroy.) Hosted by Cait Gordon. Along the bottom of the advert are all the book covers for Sad Black and Fat: Musings from the Intersection (Tangela Willams-Spann), Little Yellow Magnet (Jamieson Wolf), Letters I’ll Never Send (Nicole Zelniker), Ghost Light Burn (Stephen Graham King), Moonshadow’s Guardian (Dianna Gunn), and Iara’s Crossing (Dianna L. Pomeroy).

Being heckin’ crafty!

I discovered I love unwinding by playing with polymer clay and making jewellery! It began with repairing some earrings I had, then I got the bug!

Polymer clay creation of a pink rose lying on its side. It has one red petal, and blood droplets on one of the leaves.

I recently edited the first book in Christina Robin’s Angel series, called Angel of Death. Roses play a big part of the protagonist’s life. But, Sarah is also a serial killer, so hence the bloody petal and droplets. Christina had a rose with blood as a scene separator, so I made this pin for her for the book birthday!

And hearing and pendant set. The metal is silver. Each earring has a silver bead, a chip of white quartz, garnet, another chip of white quartz, and another silver bead. There is a twisted wire pendant in a pear shaped that has the same beds and stones.

I also am just learning how to twist wire for jewellery making! It’s so much fun! Bruce bought me a massive kit of stone chips, so I have crafted some pretty pieces. This garnet and silver set is for my ma!

A Black Barbie is dressed like Reva Sander from the Obi-Wan Kenobi series. She’s smiling and has braided hair pulled back. She’s wearing a black tunic with a brown leatherette sash criss-crossed over the black. She has black leggings, boots, and gloves. She’s wielding a purple lightsaber.

Cosplaying Barbies! Read about this Barbie’s transformation in my post, “How Cosplaying a Barbie as Reva Sevander is Helping Me Through Childhood Trauma.”