Soon Come (what I'm working on at the moment)

Yes, that picture is me, in my undergrad days. I was probably somewhere between 20 and 21 years old when it was taken. And that ancient device in front of me? An electric typewriter.

My novel The New Moon's Arms came out in February 2007, and I'm inches! Seconds! Mere instants! away from finishing up and handing in Blackheart Man, the second novel in a three-book contract for Hachette. It's a fantastical alternate history set in someplace similar to the Caribbean in the 18th century or so. Something like that, anyway. I'm so embroiled in it at the moment that it'd be difficult to describe it accurately. I do need to finish it yesterday, because I have two novels due in 2008. One has the working title of "Once." I'm still figuring out the details of the story, but I know that it's a fantasy, and that it takes place in Toronto in 1895 - 1897. It will also have scenes in Niagara Falls and probably in South Africa. It's got a circus, it's got cross-dressing, it's got daredevil stunts, Zulu warriors, princes, kings, and monsters. Much more than that, I do not know. The second novel I'll be writing in 2008 is a young adult fantasy novel, set in modern day Toronto. It's called Taint. As part of my research for that one, I think I may need to take classes in clown dance, krumping and poppin. Anyone know of any good workshops in Toronto or elsewhere, I'd love to know. You can only learn so much from watching Rize and Stomp the Yard over and over. They'll probably laugh their faces off at a 47 year-old with arthritis, a bad back and bum knees even walking in the door, but I read of one krump workshop where the oldest person there was a 63 year-old grandma, so I take courage from that.

I'm sketching out proposals for two new fantasy novels, one with a child protagonist and one with two women protagonists.

I'm also collaborating, very slowly, on a comic with David Findlay. Its working title is "Mr. Fox." I've never done a comic before, but neither has David, so maybe we can learn together.

On the editing side of things, in 2007, thanks to Rob Sawyer's recommendation, I had the delightful job of being an editor for Kristyn Dunnion's new novel Big Big Sky. Working with Kristyn was a blast! You may notice online bookstore listings for the novel that say, "by Kristyn Dunnion and Nalo Hopkinson," but that's a load of bull. I don't know who first misread what press release and attributed the novel like that. It's ticking me off no end that the mistake is propagating via the Web, though Kristyn's being quite gracious about it. My editor at Grand Central Books is the amazing Jaime Levine. I really like working with her. Yet my novels don't say, "By Nalo Hopkinson and Jaime Levine," and no-one would expect that they would.

Anyway, the folks at Fitzhenry Whiteside must have been pleased with the work I did, because they asked me to edit a small line of reprint fantasy novels for them, and I said yes. More about that later, as we choose a title for the imprint and hammer out the details. Let me stress, though, that this is not for unpublished or unsolicited work, so please don't start flooding my inbox with manuscripts.

Recently, I've found myself stumbling into collage and altered art. It began when I started going into local thrift stores, buying the types of toys that make me deeply uneasy, and remixing them. Some of the pieces -- usually the paper ones -- are whimsical and just for pretty. They're relatively quick to assemble, and they are a recreation break for my mind after I've had a good writing day. But every so often, content rears its writhing Medusa head. One art doll piece is turning into an installation that's growing conceptually. I appear to be working through some of my thoughts on tropes of authenticity, tribalism, and indigeniety in fantasy fiction. I don't know where that will go. I'll keep you posted.