Hello all.
Big stuff happening at the House of Hackney, some of which involves writing.
The biggest development on the writing front is that I have submitted the manuscript for Student of Blood, the second book in the Professor Howard Chronicles, to the good people at Cannon Publishing. And we know what that means…
I had a great time writing this book, and got to play with some interesting ideas. My brain is a strange place, where highbrow and lowbrow mix without rhyme or reason, and this gets reflected in my writing. In Student of Blood, there are sword fights, monsters, a bit of mystery, a bit of humor… and also just a little bit of me exploring psychological ideas about narcissism and René Girard’s theory of mimetic rivalry. Practice makes perfect, and I like to think that I did a better job on this one than I did on Chosen by the Sword. We’ll see if you all (and the Cannon editors) think so as well.
Speaking of Chosen by the Sword, that book made the list of finalists for the 2025 Imadjinn Award in the category of Best Fantasy Novel. The winners will be announced July 19th. This is the first time that anything that I’ve written has been up for an award. I’m trying not to let myself get too wound up about it, but it is awesome that somebody liked the book enough to nominate it. It would be even more awesome if it won, of course, because then I’d get to introduce myself as “award-winning novelist Charles Hackney.” (And don’t think I wouldn’t milk THAT for all it’s worth)
My short story “Professor Howard and the Interlibrary Loan Request of Death” has been published in Cannon’s anthology of short fiction Cannon Fodder 2025. This anthology serves as a kind of sampler platter of Cannon authors, with each story coming from the authors’ fictional worlds. In my story, Dave Howard tries to accomplish a straightforward task, but ends up fighting for his life in a conflict that could bring down human civilization. There’s also a fire-breathing chicken in the story, so check it out if you like chickens. In addition, this is your chance to get a glimpse of what others are writing at Cannon, so it’s an opportunity to expand your reading list (always a worthy goal).
I have also submitted “Professor Howard and the Lethal Lab Monkeys” and “Professor Howard and the Perilous Conference Paper” for publication in non-Cannon anthologies. Outside of the Professor Howard world, I submitted my sword-and-sorcery short story “Wrath of the Penitent” for publication as well. I will let you know if they get accepted.
I will be incommunicado for the next few weeks, due to a big change in situation that has nothing to do with writing. My family and I will be moving back to Canada. My wife has been called to lead a church in Saskatchewan that we helped to plant, and she will also be serving as Assistant Professor of Theology at Briercrest College and Seminary. If you want to know more about her work as a theologian, she has a Substack as well: The Catechist’s Quill, and she runs the Women in Theology database. I will also be working at Briercrest, stepping into a position as Chair of the Psychology Department.
And so, while I go offline and focus on packing boxes, driving the UHaul, navigating the border crossing, and unpacking boxes, I leave you with one of my favorite – sorry, I should get into the habit of spelling it “favourite” – songs about Saskatchewan: The Last Saskatchewan Pirate
See you all on the other side!
Congrats on your writing accomplishments and best of luck with the move!