Curriculum Vitae

Contact me

Current

• Blogger at The Map Room (self-employed; Mar 2003–Jun 2011; Jan 2016–present).

Freelance/Occasional

• Reviewer at Strange Horizons (Jun 2020–present).
• Blogger at Tor.com (Nov 2018–present).

Past

• Reviewer at AE: The Canadian Science Fiction Review (freelance/occasional; Nov 2014–Jul 2019).
• Senior Editor/Writer, Executive Correspondence Division, Health Canada (contract; Jul 2007–Jun 2008;  May–Dec 2009).
• Writer/Editor, Ministerial Correspondence Division, Public Works and Government Services Canada (contract; Sep–Oct 2008).
• Volunteer, Pontiac Archives (volunteer; 2005–2008).
• Reporter, The Equity (Aug 2003–Jan 2004).
• President, Ottawa Amphibian and Reptile Association (volunteer; Nov 2001–Apr 2003).
• Legislative Revisor, Legislative Services Branch, Department of Justice (May 2000–Feb 2003).
• Editor/Publisher, The Ontario Herpetological Society News (volunteer; Sep 1999–Sep 2001).
• Planning and Analysis Officer, Income Security Programs Branch, Human Resources Development Canada (Sep 1999–Apr 2000).

Major Projects

• The Map Room (Mar 2003–Jun 2011; Jan 2016–present), a blog about maps.
• Ecdysis (Dec 2013–Dec 2015), a science fiction fanzine.
• DFL (Aug 2004–Aug 2008), a blog about last-place finishes at the Olympics.
• Gartersnake.info (2004–present), a website for people interested in garter snakes.

Select Publications

Fiction

• “Mermaid Care,” Mermaids Monthly, Dec 2021 (forthcoming).

Nonfiction

• “Celebrating Christopher Tolkien’s Cartographic Legacy,” Tor.com, 22 Jan 2020.
• “Where Do Fantasy Maps Come From?” Tor.com, 23 Sep 2019.
• “An Exercise in Telling: Sylvain Neuvel’s Themis Files,” AE, 10 Jul 2019.
• “Fantasy Maps Don’t Belong in the Hands of Fantasy Characters,” Tor.com, 28 May 2019.
• “What Does a Fantasy Map Look Like?” Tor.com, 19 Mar 2019.
• “A Literary Love Letter to Maps: The Writer’s Map,” Tor.com, 26 Nov 2018.
• “The Dúnedain and the Deep Blue Sea: On Númenórean Navigation,” Tor.com, 7 Nov 2018.
• “God and the Machines: The Short Fiction of Peter Watts,” AE, 25 May 2015. As “Dieu et les machines : les nouvelles de Peter Watts,” afterword to Peter Watts, Au-Delà du Gouffre (Le Bélial’, 2016), translated by Erwann Perchoc.
• “Here Be Blank Spaces: Vaguely Medieval Fantasy Maps,” The New York Review of Science Fiction 300 (Aug 2013).
• “How Snake Keepers Should React to the Python Tragedy,” Ottawa Citizen, 8 Aug 2013.
• “Raising Baby Garter Snakes: Some Personal Observations,” The Garter Snake, Apr 2005.

Education

• Provisional Ph.D. candidate, History, University of Alberta (1996–1999). Withdrew from program.
• Master of Arts, History, University of Waterloo (1996).
• Bachelor of Arts (Honours), History, University of Winnipeg (1994).

Awards, Scholarships and Nominations

• Finalist, Best Fan Publication (English), Prix Aurora Awards (2015, 2016).
• Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Doctoral Fellowship (1998–1999).
• Walter H. Johns Graduate Fellowship, University of Alberta (1998–1999).
• Province of Alberta Graduate Scholarship, University of Alberta ( 1997–1998).
• Walter H. Johns Graduate Tuition Scholarship, University of Alberta (1996–1997).
• Graduate Tuition Scholarship, University of Waterloo (1994–1995).
• Academic Proficiency Scholarship, University of Winnipeg (1991).

Skills

• Government work: editing and writing briefing notes, executive correspondence and memoranda; knowledge of legislative and regulatory processes and of the principles of legislative drafting.
• Editing and writing: book reviewing, copyediting and proofreading, fact-checking, journalism.
• Internet: blogging and content management systems (Movable Type, WordPress), social media (all), web design (including HTML5, CSS3, PHP).
• Other: historical research, photography, public speaking.