Announcement - New Novel: Philip Sharpe in His Prime coming in 2027!

Well folks, I've got some pretty big news to share. I will have a NEW NOVEL out next year! It's called Philip Sharpe in His Prime and is a prequel to my 2017 novel, The Slip. This new book will be released by Now or Never Publishing (the same small-but-mighty press that did Lowfield last year and my story collection, The Secrets Men Keep, back in 2015) and will be out in April 2027.

Here's the back cover blurb:

Toronto, spring 2000: Philip Sharpe has everything―tenure at U of T, a bestselling pop-philosophy book, the life he always planned―until Vince Carta comes calling. Carta is southern Ontario mafioso, and he wants Philip to ghostwrite his biography: a philosophy-inflected hagiography, flattering and well-paid. Philip refuses. Or tries to. But Carta is persuasive, the compensation is considerable, and the two men share more in their worldviews than Philip would like to admit. As the summer unfolds and the façade of Philip's perfect life begins to crack, the mobster's offer begins to look less like a compromise than a reckoning. 

In this prequel to his 2017 novel, The Slip, Mark Sampson offers up another dark comedy about the ultimate absent-minded professor. Philip Sharpe in His Prime explores ambition, self-deception, and the uncomfortable distance between the philosophy we profess and the lives we actually lead. 

Because of the way the publishing business works, I've known about this acceptance for a while, but I wanted to share the news now because spring 2027 feels like it's right around the corner. The book already has a cover and is available to pre-order from the usual places, including Amazon. You can also find it on Goodreads and Bookmanager. 

Me, signing the contract for Philip Sharpe
in His Prime

Why write a prequel to The Slip? Well, its protagonist, Philip Sharpe, is one of those fictional creations that just won't leave me alone. I think about him all the time, and I wanted to explore that period of his life (this new story is set 15 years before the events of The Slip) when he first became the arrogant, oblivious, absent-minded professor who got into so much hot water in the year 2015.

Anyway, we're still about six months out from release, but I'll keep you posted with news about this book as we get closer to its publication date. 

M.

Upcoming Reading: Sheridan College

Hey Mississaugians: What are you doing next Thursday night, September 17 from 6 to 8 pm? If you're free, why not come to the public reading I'm giving at  the Creative Campus Gallery at Sheridan College's Hazel McCallion Campus at 4180 Duke of York Blvd., along with the scarily talented AGA Wilmot? The event theme is "New Approaches to Literary Horror" and it promises to be a spooky night! I'll be reading from my horror novel, Lowfield, published last year, and participating in a Q&A. You can get all the deets and your free ticket from this EventBrite page. Hope to see you there! 

CNQ is back - and I'm in it!

One of my favourite literary magazines, Canadian Notes & Queries (CNQ), is back after a two-year hiatus, publishing its issue #115. And oh look, I have a piece in it, a review of Lauren Carter’s new novel, The Longest Night. It's great to be back in the pages of this long-running journal, and there's lots to love about Carter's new tome, a mix of time-travelling fantasy and literary fiction.

It's such a relief to have CNQ back in the world, and not just because it can help fill the void when it comes to actual evaluative literary criticism in this country. CNQ has always been filled with astringent reviews, but it's also home to insightful feature articles and accessible reminders of Canada's literary heritage. It's nice to have this edgy magazine back on the newsstands.

Anyway, pick up your copy wherever better magazines are sold.

M.

Review: Enshittification, by Cory Doctorow

Has Big Tech turned everything shitty? Are the digital products and services we've come to rely on getting worse, thanks to monopoly and technofeudalism? Are there bigger issues at stake than just frustration and inconvenience? These are some of the ideas I touch upon in my review of Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do about It, by Cory Doctorow, for Canadian Writers Abroad. Here's an excerpt:

All this makes it sound like I don’t think there’s much value in reading Enshittification, and that’s not true. Doctorow’s insights into the unfair practices of Big Tech are spot on. His own story of trying to get “verified” on a freshly enshittified ... Twitter is hilarious. He’s right to praise the Biden administration for being the first to challenge antitrust laws and norms in the US that have led to so much corporate consolidation and oligarchy. He’s also right to point out how odious it is to be charged a monthly or annual subscription fee on software for a piece of technology we’ve purchased and now own — anything from cars and household appliances to the colours available to us in Adobe. 

Read the full review.

Review: Our Fifth Season, by Josee Sigouin

I'm excited to share that I've gotten a new book review published - of Josée Sigouin's debut novel, Our Fifth Season (Blue Denim Press, 2025) in the pages of Devour: Art & Lit Canada #22. I've known Josée around the Toronto literary scene for many years now, and I was honoured to lend my endorsement to her smart and accomplished tale about two star-crossed lovers divided by age, geography and culture.

Here's an excerpt of my review:

"In this slim debut novel, Josée Sigouin has written a rich, wide-ranging exploration of how the term ‘distance’ can take on multiple meanings in a single relationship. Our Fifth Season examines what it means to love another person without a full picture of them, to give ourselves over to intense emotions even from a position of isolation from the source of those feelings."

Lowfield gets another review!

I'm very grateful to see this review of my latest novel, Lowfield, in Canadian Writers Abroad. The piece, by Eleanor Proudfoot, is titled "Spooked in PEI," and here is an excerpt for your enjoyment:

"Mundane elements of the landscape (such as the construction pillars of the bridge) are recast as ominous, and I was immediately sucked into an eerie atmosphere that felt real and compelling. Gems of sentences build a picture of the landscape: “Prince Edward Island did not wear early April well,” and with this we get the slow build of intrigue. Our main character clearly has some form of PTSD, but Sampson skillfully gives the reader just enough detail for us to want to keep reading to find out more."

Have you picked up your copy of Lowfield yet? Christmas is right around the corner, and the novel makes a great gift for the horror lovers on your list. It's available wherever better books are sold.

Video: My Reading at the Brockton Writers Series

So I completely dropped the ball and failed to acknowledge and share around this video of my reading at the Brockton Writers Series back in September. Oops! Anyway, here it is! It was a lovely night and now you can enjoy a part of it. Please don't forget to like, subscribe, comment, vote, get a Pap smear, thank your mom for all she's done for you, take your blood pressure, support local journalism, and pet a cat.