October 2026 Newsletter

“The struggle is great, the task divine, to gain mastery, freedom, happiness, and tranquility.” Epictetus

My new novel,Disruption went out into the world in September. Exciting and frightening, all at the same time. Will people like it, will they even read it? The questions go on and on, but too late to back out now. So here we go. My publisher, Karen Haughian from Signature Editions sent me a wonderful blog about the publishing experience and asked me which stage I was currently experiencing. I fluctuate between all of them, but the consistent emotion is nerves. Not sure there will ever come a time when I can control them. The best way forward though is to keep on keeping on.

Oh, and by the way, here is the trailer toDisruption. Hope you enjoy it.

Happy October.

Reading and Publicity Events for Disruption:

Here are a few pictures of my reading at Container Brewing on the 28th of September. And another one from my reading at Helicon Books on the 30th. Thanks to all of you who joined me for these two events.

I also had a wonderful interview on Farha Guerrero’s radio show, The Blue Hour on September 29th. Here is the LINK to both the interview and the transcript from our discussion. Thank you Farha for a wonderful discussion.

I will be reading at Russell Books in Victoria on October 14, 2026 starting at 6:30. I will be at Russell Books that afternoon signing copies ofDisruption prior to the reading. Hope to see you there.

I will also be reading at the Whistler Writers Festival on Saturday November 7th at 5:00 p.m. and offering some editing sessions at the festival. Come join us and help us celebrate the 25th anniversary of our festival.

Other readings are planned for November 14th at the Next Page in Calgary at 6 p.m. and at Audreys Books in Edmonton on November 17th at 7 p.m. Readings are also organised for Toronto (November 23rd at Ben Mcnally Books and Winnipeg (November 26th at Ravens End Books. More about those readings in my November Newsletter.

Writing:

I did a bit of work on Bouboulina, my graphic novel in September, revising Chapter 9 and reworked some of my earlier chapters based on the feedback of my critique group. I will get back to you soon, Bouboulina. I promise.

###Awesome Achievements:

My former SFU Writers Studio student Purnima Bala’s (2018/2019)short story “CMD: Reset” appeared in Between Worlds: The IF Anthology of New Indian SFF, vol. 1 published by Westland Books, is available here.

My former SFU Writers Studio student, [Jennifer Ashton](https://jenniferashton.ca/ (2018/2019) will have a virtual book launch of her new book, Growing My Way Home, on October 8th at 6 p.m. Details are availableHERE.

My former SFU Writers Studio student, Isabella Mori (2018/2019) will deliver a workshop on the power of tarot and writing on October 29th . During the workshop, participants will look at ways to use tarot for prompts as a writing aid, and explore themselves as writers. No experience with tarot is needed, and participants don’t need a tarot deck. Here is the link to sign up for the workshop.

My friend and the artist behind my graphic novel Bouboulina, Canadian mystery writer Joanna Vander Vlugt introduces the BC author collective, the Second-Act Sleuths, and their first mystery publication, Murder on the Menu—a humorous anthology of short stories with a Foreword by one of Canada’s most prolific and varied crime writers and a national bestseller in the U.S., Vicki Delany (The Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series, Tea by the Sea mysteries, the Catskill Resort mysteries, and the Lighthouse Library series, as Eva Gates).

Murder on the Menu begins with Winona Kent’s short story, Between Stations, which whisks readers back to 1973 and seventeen-year old Lucy, who moves to London in need of adventure, and does she ever find it. In CJ Papoutsis’s, Murder at the Acropolis, Nick “The Bookie,” the owner of a Greek café in a sleazy part of Victoria finds a body outside his back door. Taylor Feldspar, inAngostura Bitters , and three of her cozy mystery writers, are invited to stay with celebrated author Bertie Caroway. And then Bertie ends up dead. The concluding story, The Lady in Pink, touches upon a cold case file involving a senator’s son, and three teenage girls, who may, or may not have committed murder.

The Lady in Pink was inspired by a road trip Joanna and her husband took to California, when at 2:00 am they really did assist a broken-down driver pulling a trailer, only to discover something in that trailer…

These are a few of the entertaining stories that can be read in Murder on the Menu. Available on October 6, 2026, at your favourite book retailer or through the following universal link Books2read.

Upcoming Events:

Look who’s coming to the Whistler Writers fest!

The 25th Silver Anniversary of the Whistler Writers Festival welcomes readers and writers in a welcoming gathering of storytellers, authors, musicians, books and ideas. The festival showcases award-winning authors from across Canada and local rising stars in performance readings, masterclass writing workshops and industry events. Feature guests include: Tara Gereaux, Michelle Good, Stella Leventoyannis Harvey, Clara Hughes Zak Jones, Eve Joseph, Robyn Harding, Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas, Loghan Paylor, Anakana Schofield, Kim Spencer , A.D. Sui, Wiley Wei-Chiun Ho and more. Stay tuned and follow us on social media to see who else is on our guest list.

Tickets went on sale on September 16. Hope you will come celebrate our 25th anniversary.

And my friend, Bronwyn Preece will be delivering a writing workshop in October. Check out the poster below for details.

Book Recommendations:

Here are the books I read in September.

Not sure who recommended this book to me, but I so enjoyed these quirky stories, some of which were no more than a page long and date back over Kawabata’s career. The first story was written in 1923 and the last story in the collection is from 1972. Kawabata coined the term,Palm-of-the-Hand to describe these stories which at times feel like a moment of time, a brief experience rather than a complete story. Beautifully written and meditative in nature. Here is a Kirkus review.

This memoir is a collection of Ms. Saulitis’ essays about life and death after she is told her breast cancer has returned. The book was published in 2016 after her death in January 2016. Poetic, evocative and completely candid this collection helps the reader understand and empathize with Ms. Saulitis’ reality and invites the reader to also think about his or her own life and eventual death. There were many lines I loved in this book which felt to me to be very meditative. For example: “When I woke this morning, my mind darted down the dying-of-cancer path, as it does every morning, and I reeled it back by reminding myself of a poem by the late Jane Kenyon, called, “Otherwise.”

I got out of bed
On two strong legs.
It might have been
Otherwise.

Kenyon died of cancer when she was about my age. She ends the poem: But one day, I know/it will be otherwise.” Here is a review from the LA Review of Books.

Set in 1967 America, this novel by the late Benjamin Alire Sáenz chronicles the life of a family who must face the impact of the Vietnam war when their eldest son receives his draft notice. Told from the perspective of various characters, I very much liked the introduction of the family in the beginning and snippets of how the family changes throughout the novel. I also liked the voices of each of the characters in the Espejo family. As the author notes in the back pages of his novel, “Espejo in Spanish means, ‘mirror.’ A perfect name for my fictional family, a family caught up in one war or another, from the day they fled the Mexican Revolution to the day the oldest son, Gustavo, receives his draft notice on September 16, 1967.” Mr. Sáenz goes on to provide his reasons behind writing this novel, which he began to write after the United States attacked Iraq in 2003. “I wrote this novel because history keeps repeating itself, and writing a novel is the only tool I have to rebel against the repetition of history.” Well said. As writers, we only have our voices to combat unnecessary war and strife.

This collection of personal essays captures some of the author’s personal and professional experience as the United Nations Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The essays provide a historical background to the ongoing conflict in Palestine and capture Ms. Albanese’s personal journey in her role. This is a deeply moving read. The article in The Conversation provides further information about this book and here is a Kirkus review.

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Talk to you soon. Take care. Stella