Can*Con Retrospective

Can*Con (an annual literary conference with a focus on Canadian Content in Speculative Fiction) has always been my favourite bookish event. Not only is it held in my home-town, but it brings together the nicest, smartest, most incredible people for a weekend of great conversations, meet-ups, and overall speculative-themed fun. Can*Con 2026 was no exception, and now I’ve had a chance to rest my brain a little, I feel (somewhat) capable of posting a quick retrospective!

This was my first year attending the con at its new Brookstreet Hotel location (after missing last year to accompany a friend on the last 100k of the Camino de Santiago, which is a pretty good excuse for missing a year, in my opinion), and I was very impressed. Spacious conference rooms, LOTS of bright, airy places to hang out and chat between panels, clean bathrooms, and water/coffee/tea stations everywhere. The vendors’ hall was twice the size it used to be, with twice as many vendors selling all sorts of fun stuff. I picked up books from the Bakka Phoenix and Little Ghost Books tables, some cute collectibles from Mona Storm, and a beautiful cat-themed scarf from the Ottawa Stray Cat Rescue.

The programming options this year were stellar, and there wasn’t enough time or energy to attend every panel I wanted to see. That said, the ones I did mange to watch were, as usual, both informative and entertaining.

On Friday, I went to the Make Magic Live! and Horror is Personal panels, and then took part in the first half of the All Night Write-in hosted by the Capitol Region Writers.

Saturday was a BUSY day. I managed to attend the The Violent Victim and Data Preservation as Anti-Information panels…and missed a bunch more I would have liked to see, mostly because they overlapped and/or I was just too darn tired! Bad Hand Press gave us permission for a con-exclusive early release of RISE FROM THESE DARK WATERS, so I took a turn at the signing table and autographed more than a few copies. Many thanks to Lynette for being my emotional-support-friend, and to Bakka Phoenix and Little Ghost Books for having copies at their tables. It was an incredible feeling to see my book AS A REAL BOOK and out in the world for the first time.

I also spoke as a panellist on the Discomfort as a Compass Needle panel, alongside Jason Krawczyk and Liz Westbrook-Trenholm, with the wonderful Sarah Gailey moderating. We had a great conversation about how we navigate and leverage discomfort in our writing and whether we seek to intentionally discomfort readers (or simply don’t pull punches), and ended with a brief foray into what comfort-giving elements we incorporate into our work.

In the evening, I dropped in on the Spooky Social, and turned into a pumpkin before the dance party.

Sunday was a little less demanding, energy-wise, and I was able to attend a number of interesting panels, including: The Monster at the Potluck: Food, Hospitality, and Danger in SFFH; The Mysterious Object as Horror Device; and How to Read your Work Like and Expert. I also spoke on the Welcome to Your Cozy Canadian Horror Hotspot panel with Ashley Deng and Rebecca Hirsch Garcia, moderated by Kaitlin Caul whose incredible questions kept the conversation feeling effortless. We discussed the definition of “Cozy Horror”, how we incorporate (or not) cozy into our own work, and LOTS of book and movie recommendations.

The con finished up with a trip out for noodles with most of my lovely critique group (very very good noodles!), after which I came home and collapsed.

Parting thoughts:

• I need to be on that Monster at the Potluck panel next year! Read RISE FROM THESE DARK WATERS….you’ll see why.
• Having a support network and friends really helps navigate conventions when you’re a spoony author
• I was (and still am)WAY more stressed about signing books than I thought I would be. Some of it’s just time jitters, but most of it’s anxiety about spelling (which was bad before the brain injury) and dysgraphia (which is new). I can’t trust my hand to make the letters my mind wants it to, which means I stick to a very careful “To X” and then my initials. It looks pretty weak, and when I see all the other authors with their lovely, calligraphy-worthy personalizations and signatures, I wilt a little inside. Sigh. Something to either work on or come to terms with, I guess.