Canada’s forgotten battle: Hill 70

I first became aware of the First World War Battle of Hill 70 when researching the 107th Capturing Hill 70“Timber Wolf” Battalion for a couple of short stories I was working on a number of years ago, which were “A Deeper Echo” and “The Wolves of Vimy.” Compared to the treatment of other battles Canada fought in during the First World War — such as the Somme, Vimy, and Passchendaele — it’s almost unheard of today, and I only stumbled across mention of it because the 107th played a part in it. However, as the contributors to the new volume Capturing Hill 70: Canada’s Forgotten Battle of the First World War, edited by Douglas E. Delaney and Serge Marc Durflinger, show, at the time it was seen as equally important as those other battles. I had the opportunity to review the book for the Winnipeg Free Press (presented below in slightly longer form).

Etched in stone on the war monument on Winnipeg’s Memorial Boulevard, along with SOMME, VIMY and PASSCHENDAELE, are the words HILL 70. Yet while Vimy and Paschendaele loom large in Canadian awareness of the First World War, Hill 70 has been forgotten.

‘Les loups de Vimy’ out now in Ténèbres 2017

I’ve been waiting a while to announce this, but it’s finally available — my first short story published in translation is “Les loups de Vimy,” now available in the anthology Ténèbres 2017, published annually in by Dreampress in France. Translated by Sabine Sur, ‘Les loups de Vimy” was originally published in English as “The Wolves of Vimy” in Kneeling in the Silver Light: Stories from the Great War.

Marginalization, speculative fiction and writing for Long Hidden, part 3: the where

Red Sucker Lake (ca. 1920s) - Print #253 Red Sucker Lake 1 - See more at: http://www.eastsideroadauthority.mb.ca/community-redsuckerlake.html#sthash.aBEB8dFu.dpuf
Red Sucker Lake, ca. 1920s. See more at: http://www.eastsideroadauthority.mb.ca

I’ve written in previous posts about why I wanted to write for Long Hidden: Speculative Fiction From the Margins of History and how I went about it. This post will be a bit shorter, as it is mainly about other details that you don’t need to know to enjoy the story, but that you might enjoy knowing anyway. Plus: maps!

(Also, did you know, that Long Hidden is available as of May 9?)