STEINBACH MALL BOOK FAIR
TABLE DAYS – AUTHORS OF MANITOBA.
Well, another excursion selling books directly is over. This one wasn’t nearly as brutal as last week’s Horrorcon, which was effectively 15 hours. This one ran from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm, at the Steinbach Clearsprings Mall. So eight hours, plus two hours travel back and forth and set up.
Some background – Steinbach is a town, mostly Mennonite, about 45 minutes out from Winnipeg. Population about 20,000, it’s sustained by local agriculture, and feeding off of Winnipeg’s commerce – it’s the place for car dealerships for instance.
Clearspring Mall is a fairly active mall on the outskirts of Steinbach. Main tenant is a Sobeys, it’s got a mix of stores. A lot of malls are dying, but this a fairly lively shopping center.
Authors of Manitoba is a local writing organization driven by perky little human dynamo, Casia Schreyer. Casia is from Steinbach, hence the Authors event at the Clearspring mall.
Honestly, I had my doubts. I’ve come to appreciate that there’s an entire culture or industry of these small vendors – not just writers and book sellers, but soap makers, jewelry makers, knick knack sellers, clothing sellers, 3D printer afficionados, crafts-people of every possible stripe and variety. And there’s literally a circuit of flea markets, church bake sales, small collectors conventions, local festivals, street parties, etc. etc., where people gather, and where these vendors show up.
Some of them are incredibly elaborate – lovingly crafted handmade stuff, big detailed booths that are practically a cottage with roofs, signage, all kinds of stuff. Some… are selling knick knacks and junk from Temu. It’s all over. Mostly, there’s some degree of personal investment.
I don’t really wholly understand it all. Do people make an actual living at this? I’ve come to think that at least some do, although it feels like a tough way to do it. For some, it’s a labour of love. For some it’s a hobby of sorts for a little extra money to supplement income or just get out of the house.
I think actually, there’s scope to examine these people and this interesting little culture of travelling vendors. Someone should do a Master’s Thesis or something.
Anyway, so Casia organizes one of these events at the Steinbach mall. It turns out there were about fifty-something vendors. I was impressed. About half of them were writers by my count – there’s the usual jewelry makes, knitters, specialists. We all occupied two rows of tables, down the two main wings of the mall.
Like I said, I had doubts. It didn’t seem to me that an Author’s event like this was, in and of itself, going to attract much of a crowd. With something like the Horror Con, or Collectible Cons, or a Science Fiction Convention like Keycon, people are going there for the thing itself. You get a table or booth there, you know people are coming for that.
This? I didn’t see us getting much more than regular Mall traffic. It might attract a few extra people. But not that many, particularly considering its in an outlying town of 20,000 rather than in the city of a Million.
But I thought, what the hell. Give it a try. Who knows.
HORROR CON 2026
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2026
Tomorrow is Horror Con 2026, at Assinboine Downs in Winnipeg. This is my first time with a solo dealers table at a major convention. Well, first time with a solo dealers table at all, and first time dealing at a major convention. I’ve decided to jump in. Set up was tonight, and tomorrow morning. I got in about quarter to seven. Anna drove me in, it’s out at Assiniboine downs. I think it’s a good spread. I’ve got about forty titles out. Mostly mine, Scott Ellis’, Eve St. Albert, Ewen Campion-Clarke have two or three each.
It feels weird. First time I’ve done a table by myself. First (hopefully) big Convention. The other times I’ve done tables have been a literary or fan conventions – Keycon, When Words Collide, Can-Con. Membership a few hundred, and there mostly for other things.
This one, membership in the thousands I would assume. I have no idea how to estimate – but presumably anywhere from a few thousand to ten or fifteen? And unlike the other conventions – this is literally all about dealers. Everyone coming here is coming to look and buy things. A few other literary types are going to be here – A.P. Fuchs, I.D. Russell, I think I spotted GMB Chomichuk and Chadwick Ginther sharing a table. A.D. McDonald. The horror bookstore people are here, as is at least one used bookseller. I hope it’s going to be a literary crowd.
WRITING ACTION SCENES: Violence, Trauma and Altered Consciousness
By D.G. Valdron, an online Presentation, Tuesday, September 22, 2026, for Nicole Whisler’s Facebook group
“Finish My Fantasy Novel: Write My Best Book”
All too often, violence is sugar coated, from Finn giving a football whoop as he blows up his former friends in The Force Awakens, to Legolas and Gimli’s friendly rivalry keeping score on their murders in Lord of the Rings. Fantasy action is armies and battles either abstracted or cheerful all too often.
But in the real world action is violence. It’s traumatic and terrifying, your body goes through changes, your mind doesn’t work the same way. Instead of heroism there’s desperation and terror, a cavalcade of emotions. Your heartrate shoots, adrenalin floods, your attention narrows. And afterwards? Collapse, elation, depression, ptsd.
I’m really looking forward to this. With a personal history of violence and trauma, and having encountered it professionally, I think that I can offer a lot of insight into the inner dynamic, the emotions, the sensations, the alterations to consciousness that a lot of writers are missing when attempting action or fight scenes.
A Review – Amazing Stories Online
CLUBHOUSE: Review: “Murder-Chickens on Mars” by D.G. Valdron – Amazing Stories
Review by R. Graeme Cameron, Amazing Stories Online.
He covers both Murder Chickens on Mars, and B-Movie Monsters in Love, I am impressed. I would have thought these books would have been impossible to review, they’re so off the wall.
They’re basically a series of specula-fictions. So an examination of the Godzilla Cinematic Universe (the first one), or an evolutionary history of the Gill-Men, tales of Murder Chickens, Martian Civilizations, and strange examinations of cultural artificats.
For example, one of the pieces looks at Harryhausen’s goat legged cyclops, and goes on a tour through Paleantology, Folklore, Biology and Evolution to figure out where and how an 18 foot tall, goat-legged humanoid fits in.
In an ‘Unnatural History of Slurpasaurs’ I look at all those lizards that posed as dinosaurs in B-movies of the old days, treat them as real animals and discuss habitat, development and ecology.
So tall order, but Graeme managed.
WINNIPEG HORROR CON, September 12, 2026
Ladies and Gentlemen, Genders of all tastes, I present… Winnipeg Horror Con, September 12, 2026. I’m D.G. Valdron, and I’ll be one of the dealers – offering my personal bookstore of weird tales of every kind. Starting with…
A dark excursion into cosmic horror, existential dread, over the top gore, featuring 90s slasher movie killers assembled, vampire infestations, river gods, wendigo, human farms, giant centipedes, alien dimensions, and stuff too weird and scary to describe. The trigger warnings alone for this went on for three pages.
And more…
A FIELD GUIDE TO SELF PUBLISHING – September 5, 2026
Exactly what it says on the box. Got the craving to write? Eager to see you work in the world? Want to do it your way?
Welcome to the Crash Course in Self Publishing, by yours truly, hosted by the Manitoba Writers Guild. We’ll guide you through ISBN registrations, the National Library of Canada, Copyright, book formatting, cover design, all the ins and outs of signing up to IngramSpark, Amazon and other spaces and getting your books out. Ebooks, Hardcovers, Print-Books and Audio, the opportunities and challenges of each. Print on Demand, Small Presses, Small Printers, Friesen Press, Vanity and Hybrid publishers, cover designers and artists, editors. You name it. Spaces are limited, they’re going fast. So sign up today!
All proceeds are donated back to the Manitoba Writers Guild.
Sign Up Here…
WHEN WORDS COLLIDE – MY SCHEDULE
Ladies and Gentlemen, Genders of your Choice, Children of all Ages, Assorted Sentients and Sophonts,
Here’s my schedule for When Words Collide 2026. This is the stuff I’ll be actually doing. Basically, three low impact items, meet and greet, autographs and stuff. And three big items – Panels on AI, Presentations on Copyright and Contracts. You’ll find my notes on the big items on this website. Feel free to stop by and sit in. I’m very entertaining. If you’re very entertaining too, so much the better!
A CRASH COURSE IN CONTRACTS FOR WRITERS
WHEN YOU’RE A WRITER, YOU’RE NOT JUST AN ARTIST. YOU’RE ALSO A VICTIM.
A SAP, A SUCKER, A DOOFUS, A STUMBLEBUM, A BLINDFOLDED TRAVELER TRYING TO CROSS THE ROAD AT RUSH HOUR, YOU’RE THE ROADKILL ON THE PUBLISHING HIGHWAY.
But do you have to be?
WRITING IS NOT JUST ART, IT’S A BUSINESS, PUBLISHING IS A BUSINESS. YOUR PUBLISHER IS NOT YOUR FRIEND, YOUR EDITOR IS NOT YOUR FRIEND, YOUR AGENT IS NOT YOUR FRIEND.
Or rather, everyone is friends right up until they’re not friends
IT’S ALL BUSINESS, AND YOU NEED TO KNOW THE CONCEPTS YOURSELF, TO UNDERSTAND THE ISSUES, AND HAVE SOME CONTROL OVER YOUR CAREER.
THERE ARE WAY TOO MANY STORIES ABOUT HOW THE WRITER GOT SCREWED. OFTEN, IT COMES DOWN TO ‘SHIT HAPPENED’ BUT ACTING LIKE A PROFESSIONAL MAY SAVE YOU SOME HEADACHES. HERE ARE THE FUNDAMENTALS OF PUBLISHING CONTRACTS, AND SOME OF THE TOOLS TO AT LEAST KNOW WHAT’S GOING ON.
A CRASH COURSE IN COPYRIGHT FOR WRITERS