Oh, Canada Day!

My new book is being released tomorrow and I'm busy, but not too busy to give a shout out to Canadian readers on Canada Day.

Thanks, Canada, for giving us smart and snarky performers like Nathan Fillian, Michael J. Fox, and Ryan Reynolds who have been in cult American scifi/fantasy movies like Firefly, Back to the Future, and Blade II.

Thanks, Canada, for giving us William Shatner, because without Captain James T. Kirk there would have been no Battlestar Galatica or all the Star Trek spinoffs, or Galaxyquest, which is funnier every time I see it and also starred fabulous Erico Colantoni, another Canadian.

Thanks, Canada, for giving us prescient authors like Margaret Atwood, William Gibson, Charles de Lint, and Tanya Huff, who helped establish speculative fiction and all that followed.

Without Gibson, there would have been no The Matrix, which starred another sort of Canadian, Keanu Reeves, who also starred in Bram Stoker's Dracula and the film adaptation of Gibson's Johnny Mnemonic. Gibson also wrote episodes of The X-Files, the best seasons of which were filmed in Canada.

Thanks to Canada for all those great Canadian bloggers, and I'm not going to name my favorites all because it will cause jealousy and dissention and we don't want that.

Personally, I most grateful to Canada for all the brilliant comedians, especially the work of members of SCTV, who always let hilarious chicks be centre stage and taught me how to commit to a joke and extend it as a theme: if there is a cabbage in the first scene, there will be a cabbage in the second scene, and the cabbage will be essential in the final scene.

Finally, thanks to Canada for spelling things weird, thereby allowing me to say to my editors, "I didn't misspell it -- it's Canadian!"

GRATUITOUS VIDEOS OF THE DAY

Ya know what the theme will be!








Tanya Huff's series was made into Blood Ties, a wonderful vamp show that starred Canadian Christina Cox. The video is all about the romance, but Cox brought a seriousness and toughness to her role. The series was cancelled far too soon.