2025: Personal messages and announcements

My picks for the best books i read in 2024:

https://cliffjburns.wordpress.com/2025/01/12/best-books-read-in-2024/

Feel free to post your own rosters.

...and now a roster of my favorite movies of 2024:

https://cinemaarete.wordpress.com/2025/01/13/the-best-movies-i-watched-in-2024/

My latest blog post takes a spiritual turn:

https://cliffjburns.wordpress.com/2025/01/22/if-i-had-a-q-a-session-with-god/

I just want to say that this afternoon Sherron and I beat a young couple we play badminton with 21-18.

First time we've beaten those two sharks, who happen to be 1/3 our age.

Only one game, but I'm claiming bragging rights.

Gonna be taking a sabbatical from social media and on-line activities for a month or thereabouts, while I tend to other things.

Have a wonderful Spring, fellow book nerds.

I'll be attending (virtually) an event featuring a variety of Palestinian poets.

You can either tune in live or view the reading later. Here are the details:

https://www.haymarketbooks.org/events/716-heaven-looks-like-us-palestinian-poetr...

Last week, I suddenly found myself in hospital, for reasons that weren't exceptionally clear to me...

https://robertday154.wordpress.com/2025/05/27/my-unexpected-journey/

>7 RobertDay: Eek, scary stuff, Robert.

Most of my experiences in the Canadian medical system have been positive but I could see something similar happening here.

Sometimes doctors DON'T get it right and one must always be vigilant--after all, it's YOUR body.

Silence is complicity.

And so:

https://cliffjburns.wordpress.com/2025/06/12/three-poems-for-gaza/

My kid has released a new song for their "Plasticine Cowboy" project.

A moving, beautiful ballad you can check out here:

https://plasticinecowboy.bandcamp.com/track/little-bear-tape-demo

(Obviously that enormous talent comes from her mother's side of the family.)

A new pome:

https://cliffjburns.wordpress.com/2025/08/01/put-away-your-gadgets-and-reflect-o...

My kid just got shortlisted for a Lambda Award--YELLOW BARKS SPIDER, in the Transgender Fiction category. Now how about that?

https://lambdaliterary.org/awards/current-finalists/

>12 CliffBurns: grattis, as we say up here

I know pride is the worst, most grievous sin...but I confess I am one proud papa.

>12 CliffBurns: Well, hurrah!

And, by the way, Happy 20th Birthday to LibraryThing.

I just noticed the banner on the top left of the page (my powers of observation are positively Sherlockian, as you can tell.)

I joined in 2007, so wasn't among the early crowd, but I've found it a lot more interesting and enjoyable here (for the most part) than on any other social platform I can name offhand.

Thanks to the founders of LT for their hard work and vision, and for giving booklovers a place they can gather collectively and share their appreciation for the printed word.

>16 CliffBurns: So say we all.

>16 CliffBurns: I also joined in 2007, and I created Literary Snobs in October 2008 (after discussion with Cliff). The group currently has 949 members and has posted over 51,000 messages. It's been one of the most consistently active and friendly groups on LT since it was formed, and LT is one of the friendliest communities online. Here's to another ten years.

I have two short-short stories in the new SASKATCHEWAN SCREAMS anthology--homegrown spooky stories from my neck of the woods.

Here's the Amazon link, wish I had something else to give you, but...

https://www.amazon.ca/-/fr/Saskatchewan-Screams-Donovan-Thiesson/dp/1069690503?s...

>19 CliffBurns: Congratulations!

Wrote an essay on the decay of public discourse for our regional newspaper which, surprisingly, has a readership of 13,000:

https://www.sasktoday.ca/north/battlefords-news-optimist/opinion-when-words-beco...

>21 CliffBurns: Three cheers of supportive agreement!

Thanks.

As is apparent in this group, you can disagree with someone's views while still retaining your civility.

Er...that is...most of the time...

My youngest just released another album of ambient music, part of a longer project they've been conceiving for a number of years:

https://wandsoftheminorarcana.bandcamp.com/album/lud-in-the-mist?fbclid=PAdGRleA...

I was interviewed by CBC Radio about my essay "When Words Become Weapons".

That interview will run Sunday morning at 8:45 on "Saskatchewan Weekend", hosted by Shauna Powers.

The episode will also be archived so folks can tune in later if they miss it.

>21 CliffBurns: Good article, which could use some global readership too since the issue is global. I especially value the part about imagining the person right in front of us since internet as a medium by default makes us feel the communication is depersonalized. That alone could do small wonders for public discourse.

>22 KatrinkaV: I think you've put your finger on the key point of the essay.

It's not as hard to be polite when you're confronted by the person you're debating. You no longer have the safety of being anonymous...and out of range.

A poem about autumn:

https://cliffjburns.wordpress.com/2025/10/12/a-poem-about-autumn/

My interview on CBC Radio is now archived for public consumption, so if you missed the initial airing on Sunday, you can find it here (at your convenience):

https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-205-saskatchewan-weekend/clip/16175037-wh...

Shameless self-promo:

https://cliffjburns.wordpress.com/2025/10/16/for-your-reading-pleasure-black-dog...

I spent quite some time earlier this year reading and re-reading quite a lot of Chris Priest's work for an article on his Dream Archipelago stories which I'd promised Bruce Gillespie for his fanzine.

The fanzine has now appeared and can be downloaded from eFanzines.com: https://efanzines.com/SFC/SFC122L.pdf

The article is entitled A Dream of Islands.

Congratulations, Robert, that's a mighty hefty task.

Merry Christmas to one and all:

https://cliffjburns.wordpress.com/2025/12/20/merry-christmas-from-black-dog-pres...

I don't know about the rest of you, but I had a pretty fantastic haul of books this holiday season, including:

THE ONCE AND FUTURE RIOT by Joe Sacco
THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ: The 100th Anniversary Edition by L. Frank Baum
PAX: War and Peace in Rome's Golden Age by Tom Holland
FLESH by David Szalay (Booker Prize winner)
IN PRAISE OF FAILURE: Four Lessons in Humility by Costica Bradatan
THE ARRIVAL by Shaun Tan
THE ZINN READER by Howard Zinn
THE ORIGINS OF TOTALITARIANISM by Hannah Arendt

An eclectic mix, a good reflection of my book shelves (and tastes).