Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia: Although I havent actually lived down east since just before my fourth birthday, I still consider myself a Maritimer. I think its something to do with being born in sight of the ocean. Or possibly with the fact that almost no one admits to being from Ontario…

Raised, for the most part, in Kingston, Ontario. It was the late sixties, early to mid seventies. Enough said for those of us who lived through it-and those who didnt seem to be getting another chance to fall off platform shoes.

Spent three years in the Canadian Naval Reserve: I was a cook. Theyd just opened it up to women and I figured it would be the first trade that would send women to sea. I was right. Unfortunately it happened a year after I left. No tattoos.

Received a degree in RADIO AND TELEVISION ARTS (B.A.A.) from Ryerson Polytechnical Institute: The year I graduated was the year that the CBC laid off 750 employees in Toronto alone. We were competing for jobs with people who had up to five years experience. The cat threw up on my degree.

Spent eight years working at Bakka, North Americas oldest surviving science fiction book store: Change Of Hobbit in California was actually a very little bit older but unfortunately it was a casualty of the recession in 91. During those eight years, while working full-time, I wrote seven books (the first seven, except for the original draft of CHILD), and nine short stories.

In 1992, after living in downtown Toronto, a city of nearly three million, for thirteen years, I moved with two large cats, one small psychotic cat, and my partner out to a rented house in the middle of nowhere. In the years since, weve purchased the house, buried two of the original cats, replaced them with three more felines and, unintentionally, acquired a Chihuahua. Youre probably wondering how two reasonably intelligent adults can unintentionally acquire a Chihuahua. Please dont ask.

I love living in the country, writin