Bio

I’m an activist, graphic designer, and for my sins, a high school teacher. Through magic dark as Vantablack, I have somehow conjured the time to write a book series, The Sleep of Reason. If you’re looking for more disaster wizards, check out my first novel, Cascade. I’m part of the Night Beats artist collective, so if you like my ideas, you can subscribe to my newsletter.

Writing

Cascade (The Sleep of Reason Book I), published by BumblePuppy Press.

In the wake of a worsening climate crisis, magic runs rampant and demons roam across the Canadian prairies. A long-dead god stirs in the Pacific Ocean, while the wilderness is choked by invasive, screaming grass.

The Cascade has shattered political stability, leaving a scandal-plagued government clinging to power in Ottawa. As catastrophe looms ahead, a precognitive rainman, Ian Mallory, stands between run-of-the-mill corruption and a nightmarish, dystopian future. It is up to a diverse and unlikely band of activists, scientists, journalists, and one underpaid, emoji-spell wielding intern to save their beleaguered country from its own worst impulses.

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Buy it in ebook from your favourite online supplier

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sad bastard cookbook cover

The Sad Bastard Cookbook: Food You Can Make So You Don’t Die (Night Beats Productions), with Zilla Novikov and illustrated by Marten Norr

Life is hard. Some days are at the absolute limit of what we can manage. Some days are worse than that. Eating—picking a meal, making it, putting it into your facehole—can feel like an insurmountable challenge. We wrote The Sad Bastard Cookbook to share our coping strategies.

FREE PDF here!

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Read 22 stories of the human, the alien, and the artificial—including my story, “solidAIrity.” Oh yes, and I also did the cover.

They may soon live among us: cyborgs, genetically-enhanced humans, interspecies hybrids, androids, artificial intelligences, aliens in disguise. These 22 stories explore what might come next.

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Text reads: Torrid Tales From the Creative Trenches. Instant Classic That No One Will Read Featuring stories by Tucker Lieberman, Ryszard Merey, Zilla Novikov, Rohan O'Duill, Anna Otto, Rachel A. Rosen, Dale Stromberg. A 50s looking woman works on a typewriter. A devil stands over her desk with a flaming quill. The most important thing about this image is that the devil has a face on his butt.

Instant Classic offers nine sardonic tales holding a carnival mirror to writers and stories. From a deal with the Devil to the ultimate AI vs human showdown, witness the terrifying spectacle of artists who’ll do anything to clamber out of the creative trenches alive.

These stories include a reprint of “solidAIrity” and a new story, “Hell of a Manuscript,” about a literary agent in Hell.

Buy it from Amazon.

snails having the sex

Psychic Snail Sex Couldn’t Replace the Telegraph, But One Frenchman Sure Tried in Atlas Obscura

Visions of Utopia in Culture + the State 4: Alternative Interventions

Design

I also design book covers. Here are a few of my favourite projects.

cold rising: a cold rush novella by rohan o'duill. Image is two people, one adult and one child, standing on the edge of a dark chasm.
Cold Rising, Rohan O’Duill. Available from Lower Decks Press.
The Night Garden by Nicole Bea. A girl in a fancy dress leaning against a wall holding a cat.
The Night Garden, Nicole Bea. Forthcoming.
signs you may be sleeping by nicole bea. A girl in water surrounded by stars.
Signs You May Be Sleeping, Nicole Bea. Forthcoming.
a blackout poem with the text Zilla Novikov, Query, a novel visible.
Query, Zilla Novikov. Available from tRaum.
Beyond Human cover: human and android hands reach to touch fingers over a power button in an homage to Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam.
Beyond Human: Tales of the New Us. Available from Lower Decks Press.
Thank You for Loving Me cover: muted colored-pencil style drawing of waves cresting over the title.
Thank You For Loving Me, Nicole Bea. Available from Silver Shell Publishing.
Reprise by Zilla Novikov. A mad science threesome done pulp style.
Reprise, Zilla Novikov.
Available from the BumblePuppy Press.
Sad Bastard Cookbook cover: A table set with a vase of roses, uncooked ramen on a plate, a plastic knife and a box of tissues.
The Sad Bastard Cookbook, Zilla Novikov and Rachel A. Rosen. Available from Night Beats.
The Things We Couldn't Save cover: a pink background with a black flip phone. The screen is broken as is one of the hinges.
The Things We Couldn’t Save, Nicole Bea.
Available from Silver Shell Publishing.
The Medusa Deep cover: A zeppelin type ship floating over a pine forest at night. The two lamps at the front look unnervingly like eyes.
The Medusa Deep, David Neil Lee. Available from Wolsak & Wynn
The Midnight Games cover: A floodlight above a football stadium with clouds gathering in the background. One of the clouds looks like a tentacle.
The Midnight Games, David Neil Lee. Available from Wolsak & Wynn
Love in the Cthuluscene cover: The night sky with shadows of seahorses blocking out some of the stars.
Love in the Chthulucene (Cthulhucene), Natalee Caple. Available from Wolsak & Wynn
A Long Slow Aftermath cover: A blue-scale photograph of a tattooed person with their head in their hands. The title looks like it was torn off a band poster and covers the person's face.
A Long Slow Aftermath, Jeffrey Vernon Matucha. Available from Amazon.
But It's So Silly cover: a an ink drawing of an adult and child playing. The title curls in a fun arc above the illustration.
But It’s So Silly: A Cross-cultural Collage of Nonsense, Play and Poetry, JonArno Lawson. Available from Wolsak & Wynn
Pain, Porn and Complicity cover: A statue of two women, one naked and one in clothed, in supplication. The naked woman holds an apple, a reference to the Twilight book cover.
Pain, Porn and Complicity: Women Heroes from Pygmalion to Twilight, Kathleen McConnell. Available from Wolsak & Wynn
Secret Identity Reader cover: a yellow background with read dots. The silhouettes of Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman are cut out of it.
Secret Identity Reader: Essays on Sex, Death and the Superhero, Lee Easton and Richard Harrison. Available from Wolsak & Wynn

Rachel Rosen is one of those rare professionals who is personable, insightful, and incredibly skilled.  Her knowledge of desktop publishing is impressive, extending from trending cover designs and ideas to eye-catching fonts and formats. Not only did Rachel steer my cover ideas to an age-appropriate market, she added zing to my book title through her suggestions.  Rachel is easy to communicate with and provides constructive feedback. She meets all her dealings with integrity and generosity of spirit. Her eye for detail is second to none. If you can select your own desktop publisher (shout out to all those self-publisher’s out there), choose her. It’s a decision you will not regret.

Rebecca Reultan, Brisbane, Australia

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