Episodes

  • Michèle Laframboise on Sheri S. Tepper’s Grass

    Michèle Laframboise on Sheri S. Tepper’s Grass
    Sep 21 2026
    “When you write science fiction you feed from the work of many other fantastic people.” –Michèle LaframboiseOn this, the 19th episode of Re-Creative, author Michèle Laframboise shares with Mark and I her love for Sheri S. Tepper’s novel Grass, which she finds totally engrossing. Michèle especially enjoys the well-drawn secondary characters, the description of the planet, which she considers a character itself, and how Sheri masterfully manages the multiple story lines.Michèle explains that Tepper started to write later in life, and that many of her stories have an ecological perspective. Tepper’s awareness of overpopulation issues informs much of her writing.Had she not discovered Tepper, Michèle never would have become a writer herself, she tells us. And it goes even deeper. “I know that after reading Grass, I am a better human being,” she adds.The three of us discuss the vibrancy of the science fiction and fantasy field in Quebec, with Michèle recommending fellow writers Élisabeth Vonarburg, Yves Meynard, and the sadly departed and much missed Jean Louis Trudel.We talk about the vagaries of the publishing business. Much like Mark, Michèle got into self-publishing when the publisher of her first three novels closed up shop.Support Our GuestBeside trying to initiate first contact with strange flora, Michèle Laframboise feeds coffee grounds to her garden plants, runs long distances, and writes full-time.Fascinated by sciences and nature since she could walk, Michèle has published 19 novels and over 70 short-stories in French and English, earning various distinctions in Canada and Europe. She is also a comic enthusiast who drew a dozen graphic novels and maintains an illustrated blog.Her stories have been featured in Solaris, Galaxies, Brins d’Éternité, Asimov’s, Analog, Compelling Science Fiction, Abyss & Apex, and Future SF. Holding degrees in geography and engineering, she draws from her scientific background to create worlds filled with humor, invention and wonder.Check out Michèle Laframboise’s website, and don’t miss her 2023 Trillium Book Award winner, Le secret de Paloma! You can buy her books at her bookshop here. And if you’re on Goodreads, and you enjoyed her work, leave a review here!Re-Creative is a co-production of Donovan Street Press Inc. in association with MonkeyJoy Press.Contact us at: contact@donovanstreetpress.comIf you don’t wish to receive the podcast (or you’re receiving too many emails from this newsletter), it is possible to manage your Substack subscription to receive only the sections you want (e.g., the Donovan Street Press newsletter, the Captain’s Away serial, the Re-Creative podcast) via your account settings. You can do so by clicking on your avatar and selecting “Manage subscription” or by directly navigating to your account page.Follow Joe Mahoney and Donovan Street Press Inc. on: Goodreads, Bluesky, Threads, Mastadon, Facebook, and Instagram Get full access to Donovan Street Press Inc. at mahoneyj.substack.com/subscribe
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    41 mins
  • Celu Amberstone and Paula Johanson

    Celu Amberstone and Paula Johanson
    Aug 26 2026
    Re-Creative Spotlight: Celu Amberstone and Paula JohansonThis episode of Re-Creative was a first for the show as Mark and I hosted two guests at the same time: Celu Amberstone and Paula Johanson, both writers and educators with a love of the natural world. They both live in British Columbia. Paula’s inspiration is the map, particularly a map of Salt Spring Island, where she lives. Kipling once described the island as one of the most beautiful and temperate places in the world, and Paula agrees. “A map is trying to tell you about how people think about a place,” Paula says. [see below for two of the maps we discussed]Celu likes to listen to music that gets her in touch with her characters and stories. But it’s not music with lyrics that she can understand; it’s a visceral experience for her. She likes to listen to “Viking”, Celtic and indigenous music. The latter connects, especially, to her own indigenous heritage.“Tribal music tells me about the people and the land,” Celu says. “If I’m listening to the old people sing, I can feel the land through their songs.”They both share the idea that geography itself are major characters in their work, with Paula the influence stems from maps and with Celu it’s tonal music that describes the land.A fascinating and evocative conversation!Find out more about this episode at re-creative.caSupport Our GuestsPaula JohansonPaula is a Canadian writer. A graduate of the University of Victoria, she has worked as a security guard, a short order cook, a teacher, newspaper writer, and more. As well as editing books and teaching materials, she has run an organic-method small farm with her spouse, raised gifted twins, and cleaned university dormitories.In addition to novels and stories, she is the author of forty-two books written for educational publishers, among them The Paleolithic Revolution and Women Writers from the series Defying Convention: Women Who Changed The World. Johanson is an active member of SF Canada, the national association of science fiction and fantasy authors.Celu AmberstoneCelu is of mixed Cherokee and Scots-Irish ancestry, and she was one of the few young people in her family to take an interest in learning Traditional Native crafts and medicine ways. This interest apparently made several of the older members of her family very happy while annoying others.Legally blind since birth, Celu has defied her limitations and spent much of her life avoiding cities. Moving to Canada after falling in love with a Métis-Cree man from Manitoba, she has lived in the rain forests of the west coast, a tepee in the desert, and a small village in Canada’s arctic. Along the way she also managed to acquire a BA in cultural anthropology and an MA in health education. Celu loves telling stories and reading. She lives in Victoria British Columbia near her grown children and grandchildren.Discover Celu’s books at Books2Read! Or, check them out at your local library!Find Paula’s books at Books2Read! Or, check them out at your local library!You can subscribe to six month’s worth of this podcast completely for free. Paid subscriptions support Donovan Street Press Inc. and the creation of new books and podcasts.Re-Creative is a co-production of Donovan Street Press Inc. in association with MonkeyJoy Press.Contact us at: contact@donovanstreetpress.com If you don’t wish to receive the podcast (or you’re receiving too many emails from this newsletter), it is possible to manage your Substack subscription to receive only the sections you want (e.g., the Donovan Street Press newsletter, the Captain’s Away serial, the Re-Creative podcast) via your account settings. You can do so by clicking on your avatar and selecting “Manage subscription” or by directly navigating to your account page.Follow Joe Mahoney and Donovan Street Press Inc. on: Goodreads, Bluesky, Threads, Mastadon, Facebook, and Instagram Get full access to Donovan Street Press Inc. at mahoneyj.substack.com/subscribe
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    41 mins
  • Miriam Schulman: Artpreneur, and Mary Renault's The Bull from the Sea

    Miriam Schulman: Artpreneur, and Mary Renault's The Bull from the Sea
    Aug 3 2026
    Re-Creative Spotlight: Miriam SchulmanIn the latest episode of Re-Creative, Mark and I welcome Miriam Schulman. Miriam is an artist, author, and — as host of The Inspiration Podcast — a fellow podcaster. Miriam kind of blew my mind because she’s good at the business side of art. As our conversation went on I became increasingly curious about how her approach could apply to books and publishing.Whenever Mark and I have these conversation I try not to do too much talking. Although they’re not interviews per se — they’re conversations — they’re not about me. I don’t invite people to our podcasts so I can talk about me! But as I edited this one I kept having to cut myself out because I wouldn’t shut up about my own little publishing company and our approach and how it could benefit from Miriam’s approach. Miriam was quite patient and understanding but it’s definitely a better episode with A. less of me and B. more of her and Mark. Weeks before the episode Miriam offered us copies of her book for free. “Don’t worry about it,” I told her. “To be honest, I won’t have time to read it before we record.” Now I’m kicking myself because after talking to her I really want to read her book! Guess I’ll just have to buy it — which, of course, is what I should be doing anyway, to support out guest. It’s a really interesting conversation about how Miriam draws from her own artistic and financial background to teach others how to build sustainable, profitable careers from their art — without selling their souls. As always, our conversation is built around art that has inspired our guest. In this case, Mary Renault’s classic historical novel The Bull from the Sea, the sequel to The King Must Die. Miriam tells Mark and I what drew her to this retelling of the Theseus myth and its emphasis on living with the consequences of one’s choices. And from there we get into how rich people think, “how they love crazy,” such as Beeple’s $100,000 pooping robot dogs, and how people typically purchase “meaning over medium.”Support Our GuestYou can learn more about Miriam Schulman and her work by picking up a copy of her book, Artpreneur, or by visiting her website. To dive deeper into her strategies for creative business and mindset, tune into The Inspiration Place podcast, available on all major podcast platforms and YouTubeYou can subscribe to six month’s worth of this podcast completely for free. Paid subscriptions support Donovan Street Press Inc. and the creation of new books and podcasts.Re-Creative is a co-production of Donovan Street Press Inc. in association with MonkeyJoy Press.Contact us at: contact@donovanstreetpress.com If you don’t wish to receive the podcast (or you’re receiving too many emails from this newsletter), it is possible to manage your Substack subscription to receive only the sections you want (e.g., the Donovan Street Press newsletter, the Captain’s Away serial, the Re-Creative podcast) via your account settings. You can do so by clicking on your avatar and selecting “Manage subscription” or by directly navigating to your account page.Follow Joe Mahoney and Donovan Street Press Inc. on: Goodreads, Bluesky, Threads, Mastadon, Facebook, and Instagram Get full access to Donovan Street Press Inc. at mahoneyj.substack.com/subscribe
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    49 mins
  • Matt Watts on Mad Max: The Road Warrior

    Matt Watts on Mad Max: The Road Warrior
    Jul 24 2026
    Re-Creative Spotlight: Matt WattsIn the latest (brand new!) episode of Re-Creative, Mark and I welcome back Matt Watts, in his second magnificent appearance on this podcast. And hopefully not his last! Matt and I go way back. I first met him outside Ooh La La’s, the restaurant in the atrium of the Toronto CBC Broadcast Centre over twenty years ago. Then he was just a young man (so was I) but now he is old and grizzled (so am I). But neither of us is as old as Mel Gibson! Pictured below in the movie that Matt, Mark and I talk about in this episode. The reason I met Matt back then was because I was going to be the recording engineer on his new radio play, Steve, the First. We hit it off right away, ultimately making many radio plays together as we tried to create the next Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Although we never saw that level of success, I think we came up with some pretty good stuff, which you can find online if you know where to look (I don’t). A few years later I devoted an entire chapter of my memoir Adventures in the Radio Trade to the work that Matt and I did together for CBC Radio, and a few years after that Matt wrote a cool middle grade novel called Hope of the Wasteland which we published through my company Donovan Street Press. He’s currently writing a sequel to Hope of the Wasteland, which is exciting, so we continue to work together, and hopefully always will. I consider the work I’ve done with Matt some of the greatest creative collaborations of my life. It’s always fun to talk to Matt cuz we’re interested in the same things, and he’s smart and he’s funny. Throw the co-host of Re-Creative Mark A. Rayner into the mix, talking about a series of movies we all love, and you’ve got the makings of an engaging, illuminating, and above all fun conversation. Support Our GuestMatt Watts appeared on Ken Finkleman’s The Newsroom and was the star and a writer on Michael, Tuesdays and Thursdays (Michael: Everyday), on CBC television.Matt is also a comedian, radio writer, and actor. He created, wrote and starred in the CBC One radio dramas: Steve, The First, its sequel Steve, The Second and Canadia: 2056 and has written for Kids in the Hall. And he’s the author of the middle grade fiction novel Hope of the Wasteland, published by Donovan Street Press. You can check out Michael: Everyday and The Newsroom on CBC Gem.You can subscribe to six month’s worth of this podcast completely for free. Paid subscriptions support Donovan Street Press Inc. and the creation of new books and podcasts.Re-Creative is a co-production of Donovan Street Press Inc. in association with MonkeyJoy Press.Contact us at: contact@donovanstreetpress.com If you don’t wish to receive the podcast (or you’re receiving too many emails from this newsletter), it is possible to manage your Substack subscription to receive only the sections you want (e.g., the Donovan Street Press newsletter, the Captain’s Away serial, the Re-Creative podcast) via your account settings. You can do so by clicking on your avatar and selecting “Manage subscription” or by directly navigating to your account page.Follow Joe Mahoney and Donovan Street Press Inc. on: Goodreads, Bluesky, Threads, Mastadon, Facebook, and Instagram Get full access to Donovan Street Press Inc. at mahoneyj.substack.com/subscribe
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    51 mins
  • David Perlmutter and the Powerpuff Girls

    David Perlmutter and the Powerpuff Girls
    Jul 4 2026
    Re-Creative Spotlight: David PerlmutterIn episode 17 of Re-Creative from our first season, Mark A. Rayner and I talk to writer, encyclopedist, and cartoon expert David Perlmutter. David, a freelance writer based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, takes us on a deep dive into the history of cartoons.We posted that episode on July 5th, 2023. And I have noticed in the years since that David has been an unflagging supporter of both our Re-Creative podcast and Donovan Street Press. Thanks David!Mark and I both really enjoyed this conversation. I’ve always loved cartoons, and this episode gave us an opportunity to talk about the cartoons we loved growing up. For David, it was the Smurfs and G.I. For Mark and I, Bugs Bunny and The Flintstones. Every Saturday night I would park myself in front of the television with my sisters and watch Bugs Bunny, often while eating supper. It was just about the only time my parents would let us eat in front of the television. David walks us through how developments in each decade contributed to the next generation of animation. One of David’s greatest inspirations was the late-90s breakthrough show Powerpuff Girls, created by Craig McCracken, which David explained was heavily influenced by the Batman television series from the 60s. Craig McCracken, David told us, was “like the Kurosawa of television animation.”If you like cartoons, we think you’ll really appreciate this episode of Re-Creative.David Perlmutter’s published works include the non-fiction books America ‘Toons In: A History Of Television Animation (McFarland and Co.) and The Encyclopedia Of American Animated Television Shows (Rowman and Littlefield); as well as a number of speculative fiction collections and novellas, including Orthicon (2020). You can purchase David’s books via the Independent Author Network or on Amazon.You can subscribe to six month’s worth of this podcast completely for free. Paid subscriptions support Donovan Street Press Inc. and the creation of new books and podcasts.Re-Creative is a co-production of Donovan Street Press Inc. in association with MonkeyJoy Press.Contact us at: contact@donovanstreetpress.com If you don’t wish to receive the podcast (or you’re receiving too many emails from this newsletter), it is possible to manage your Substack subscription to receive only the sections you want (e.g., the Donovan Street Press newsletter, the Captain’s Away serial, the Re-Creative podcast) via your account settings. You can do so by clicking on your avatar and selecting “Manage subscription” or by directly navigating to your account page.Follow Joe Mahoney and Donovan Street Press Inc. on: Goodreads, Bluesky, Threads, Mastadon, Facebook, and Instagram Get full access to Donovan Street Press Inc. at mahoneyj.substack.com/subscribe
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    40 mins
  • Krista Wallace on Tunnel Vision

    Krista Wallace on Tunnel Vision
    Jun 17 2026
    Re-Creative Spotlight: Krista WallaceIn this season one episode of Re-Creative, Mark and I chat with Port Coquitlam-based fantasy author, actor, and musician Krista Wallace. Krista has a remarkably varied creative footprint: she writes and records audiobooks inside her walk-in closet, sings in a couple of jazz groups (including the beautifully named Fat Jazz), and pays the bills by working as a standardized patient for the UBC Faculty of Medicine—meaning she channels her acting training to simulate specific illnesses for medical students under exam conditions.The inspiration for our conversation was a tiny, four-by-five-inch original watercolor by Burnaby artist Jane Appleby titled Tunnel Vision. Krista bought it years ago, later ran into the artist by pure coincidence at a youth baseball game, and ultimately used the painting as the direct blueprint for a pivotal, un-plotted underground journey in her fantasy series. We dug into how her background in jazz improvisation strips away the fear of the unknown, giving her the confidence to follow a narrative down a dark tunnel without a premeditated exit strategy. You can check out Krista’s novels and short stories on her website here. If the tale about Tunnel Vision intrigues you, then you should definitely read her trilogy, beginning with Gatekeepers Key. Her weekly podcast is called Totally Fantastic Title.Support the PainterAbove is the watercolor painting that inspired Krista, Tunnel Vision, by Burnaby artist Jane Appleby.Visit Jane Appleby’s website to see some of her more recent works.You can subscribe to six month’s worth of this podcast completely for free. Paid subscriptions support Donovan Street Press Inc. and the creation of new books and podcasts.Re-Creative is a co-production of Donovan Street Press Inc. in association with MonkeyJoy Press.Contact us at: contact@donovanstreetpress.com If you don’t wish to receive the podcast (or you’re receiving too many emails from this newsletter), it is possible to manage your Substack subscription to receive only the sections you want (e.g., the Donovan Street Press newsletter, the Captain’s Away serial, the Re-Creative podcast) via your account settings. You can do so by clicking on your avatar and selecting “Manage subscription” or by directly navigating to your account page.Follow Joe Mahoney and Donovan Street Press Inc. on: Goodreads, Bluesky, Threads, Mastadon, Facebook, and Instagram Get full access to Donovan Street Press Inc. at mahoneyj.substack.com/subscribe
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    45 mins
  • Timothy S. Johnston on The Fly

    Timothy S. Johnston on The Fly
    Apr 30 2026
    Re-Creative Spotlight: Timothy S. JohnstonIn the latest episode of Re-Creative, Mark and I welcome back Timothy S. Johnston, who’s quickly becoming our resident SF monster movie expert. But not just any monster movie — only the best. Having previously dissected John Carpenter’s The Thing for us, Timothy returns to remind us of the brilliance of Canadian director David Cronenberg’s 1986 masterpiece The Fly on the occasion of its 40th-anniversary. Timothy clearly knows his stuff; he’s come well prepared with a bevy of facts and trivia about the making of The Fly along with a thoughtful analysis of what makes the movie special. The Inspiration: Body Horror as High ArtTimothy considers The Fly a definite improvement on the original. I’ve never seen the original but have no problem agreeing that Cronenberg’s version—filmed in Toronto—is a superb (if unsettling) piece of filmmaking. One thing I never got around to mentioning to Mark and Timothy during our conversation was that I was lucky enough to meet David Cronenberg back in 2008, taping an episode of Q for CBC Radio. After the host interviewed Cronenberg, which (if memory serves) was a pre-tape — meaning we recorded the interview a day or two before the actual live show — we sat around chatting with the famous director. I remember him telling us about making The History of Violence. For that movie he’d studied up on a martial arts system called Target Focus Training, employed by the hero of that movie, which I knew a little bit about because someone in the dojo I was training in at the time happened to be super interested in that system.Cronenberg was super casual and down-to-earth but also a tiny bit threatening, as you can hear in this clip from a “Previously On” promo for the show Q that I made afterward (you’ll hear Cronenberg’s voice right after Phil Collins and right before Jeremy Irons). (You can also hear the Canadian Indie band Ohbijou in that promo. Love those guys.)Support Our GuestTimothy S. Johnston is a lifelong fan of thrillers and science fiction thrillers in both print and film. His greatest desire is to contribute to the genre which has given him so much over the past five decades. He wishes he could personally thank every novelist, screenwriter, filmmaker, director and actor who has ever inspired him to tell great stories. He has been an educator for twenty-five years and a writer for thirty. He lives on planet Earth, but he dreams of the stars. Visit www.timothysjohnston.com to register for news alerts, read his blog and reviews, and learn more about his current and upcoming thrillers. Timothy is the author of The War Beneath, The Savage Deeps, Fatal Depth, An Island of Light, The Shadow of War, and A Blanket of Steel. His futuristic murder mystery/thrillers include The Furnace, The Freezer, and The Void. He has won the 2018 GLOBAL THRILLER Award (Action/Adventure category), the 2016 EPIC Award (Science Fiction), the 2015 CYGNUS Award (Science Fiction Thriller), the 2020 CYGNUS Award (Climate Fiction category), the 2021 GLOBAL THRILLER Award, the 2015 CLUE Award (Blended Mystery category), the 2023 CYGNUS Science Fiction Award Grand Prize, the 2024 CYGNUS Award (Climate Fiction), and the 2024 GLOBAL THRILLER Award Grand Prize. He has been Finalist or Semi-Finalist in other award competitions, and short- or longlisted in others. Follow Timothy on Facebook @TSJAuthor and Twitter @TSJ_Author.You can subscribe to six month’s worth of this podcast completely for free. Paid subscriptions support Donovan Street Press Inc. and the creation of new books and podcasts.Re-Creative is a co-production of Donovan Street Press Inc. in association with MonkeyJoy Press.Contact us at: contact@donovanstreetpress.com If you don’t wish to receive the podcast (or you’re receiving too many emails from this newsletter), it is possible to manage your Substack subscription to receive only the sections you want (e.g., the Donovan Street Press newsletter, the Captain’s Away serial, the Re-Creative podcast) via your account settings. You can do so by clicking on your avatar and selecting “Manage subscription” or by directly navigating to your account page.Follow Joe Mahoney and Donovan Street Press Inc. on: Goodreads, Bluesky, Threads, Mastadon, Facebook, and Instagram Get full access to Donovan Street Press Inc. at mahoneyj.substack.com/subscribe
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    55 mins
  • Trevor Strong on Creativity, Humour, and Tom Lehrer's Poisoning Pigeons in the Park

    Trevor Strong on Creativity, Humour, and Tom Lehrer's Poisoning Pigeons in the Park
    Apr 13 2026
    Re-Creative Spotlight: Trevor StrongIn this episode of Re-Creative Mark and I talk to Trevor Strong—writer, educator, and long-standing member of the musical comedy troupe The Arrogant Worms. Trevor introduces us to the musical comedy gem “Poisoning Pigeons in the Park” by Tom Lehrer, a huge influence on Trevor’s own work. Trevor points out the song’s “gleeful” subversion of innocence as a template for his own (occasionally dark) repertoire.Trevor holds a PhD in Education. For his thesis, he explored the concept of “creativity” from a historical perspective, which yielded surprising results. Trevor walks us through it; it turns out that creativity is really quite a modern concept. It happens that Trevor himself is extremely creative, his work with The Arrogant Worms but a fraction of his output. His recent solo album, too many songs about cats, is a perfect example. He recorded it all in his own home, using a table as a drum and performing all the cat parts himselfs because (and I think I have this right) he was too cheap to hire a real cat.We include one of the tracks (“Kitty Loves Me More Than You”) on the episode, which I purchased for a buck on Trevor’s Bandcamp account (cuz I’m cheap too). I highly recommend you check out the entire album. Yes, he did it at home, but it’s actually very well produced and, not surprisingly, quite charming and funny. Support Our GuestTrevor Strong is a member of the musical comedy troupe The Arrogant Worms, with whom he had toured extensively across Canada and abroad. Possessing a PhD in Education allows Trevor to call himself “Dr. Strong,” which he admits “carries certain supervillain overtones.”Trevor has published three books and one doctoral thesis pithily titled Creativity in the Ontario Elementary Curriculum 1853–2018: A Historically Situated Document Analysis. Currently, he maintains an adjunct professorship at Queen’s, operates a comedy writing school, and conducts workshops on the mechanics of humor and music.You can subscribe to six month’s worth of this podcast completely for free. Paid subscriptions support Donovan Street Press Inc. and the creation of new books and podcasts.Re-Creative is a co-production of Donovan Street Press Inc. in association with MonkeyJoy Press.Contact us at: contact@donovanstreetpress.com If you don’t wish to receive the podcast (or you’re receiving too many emails from this newsletter), it is possible to manage your Substack subscription to receive only the sections you want (e.g., the Donovan Street Press newsletter, the Captain’s Away serial, the Re-Creative podcast) via your account settings. You can do so by clicking on your avatar and selecting “Manage subscription” or by directly navigating to your account page.Follow Joe Mahoney and Donovan Street Press Inc. on: Goodreads, Bluesky, Threads, Mastadon, Facebook, and Instagram Get full access to Donovan Street Press Inc. at mahoneyj.substack.com/subscribe
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    55 mins