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. 

I'm back guest-columning for Rebecca's newsletter

 Okay, I'm back guest-columning for Rebecca's newsletter, this time to ask the question: am I becoming a baseball fan? (And to sing the praises of our pal Jacob McArthur Mooney's new novel.) 

Here's an excerpt of what I have to say:

"And by the time the postseason started, I shocked myself by tuning in. Who was I now? Was I becoming a baseball fan? I can easily say that what won me over was the Jays’ remarkable sportsmanship, their examples of positive masculinity and the fun the team seemed to be having, even when it looked like their World Series dreams were being dashed. I became just as obsessed with the absolute joy in Ernie Clement’s smile as I was with the 'Springer Dinger.'"

M. 

Grain magazine No. 200 is here!

And I have a new short story, called "Exactly Nine Years," included in it! I'm so excited to see this piece, from my RECENTLY COMPLETED new short story collection manuscript, out in the world. I'm chuffed to see this piece in Grain's 200th issue (as I was to see my story "Fall Back" in The Fiddlehead #300 last summer), and this also marks my second time in Grain. I had poem appear in an issue back in 2017.

This new issue of Grain contains a number of familiar names to me, including Lorna Crozier, Lisa Bird-Wilson, and Aaron Schneider. It also has a super-cool cover that features thumbnails of all 200 previous covers of the magazine.

I can't wait to tuck in to see what's on offer, and I hope you will do the same. Grain is available wherever better Canadian magazines are sold.

M.

My review of Hemo Sapiens, by Emily Weedon

Just in time for Halloween, I'm back in the digital pages of Canadian Writers Abroad, this time reviewing Emily Weedon's stellar horror novel, Hemo Sapiens. This novel gives us a fresh take on the vampire story, one that incorporate tropes from the world of motherhood and the health and wellness industry. Here's an excerpt from my review:

Weedon, using skills honed as a screenwriter, unfurls her tale with cinematic aplomb, bringing a grimy, noirish version of Toronto to life through evocative details that speak to a specific kind of 21st-century urban decay. This novel’s message is clear: Sure, it’s the vampires who drain us, but don’t discount the greater rot that we’ve brought upon ourselves.  

Check out the full review, linked above.