As mentioned in my post last week, I'm super stoked to be reading at the Brockton Writers Series on September 10. As part of that, I've contributed to the Series' blog with this post, called "What I Learned Writing a Horror Novel." I hope you enjoy it!
This marks the second time I've appeared in the pages of Grain: I had a poem published in it back in 2017. Over the decades, the magazine has become a literary institution on the Prairies and beyond, and I'm so pleased to have another piece accepted by the good folks who run it.
"Exactly Nine Years" will mark the fourth short story I've published over the last year and a bit: I had a story in The Fiddlehead last summer (in issue 300 - gotta love those round numbers!), one in the Devouring Tomorrow anthology published this spring, and one this summer in The Ampersand Review. Which is all so encouraging, considering that, prior to this flurry, the last short story I had published was, gulp, back in 2014!
Anyway, stay tuned as I share more deets about this issue of Grain when it's published later this year.
M.
Inside issue #8, you're going to find a ton of great stuff, including short fiction by David James Brock (see my 2014 review of his brilliant poetry collection, Everyone is CO2) and myself, poetry by Dennis Lee and Barry Dempster, and an in-depth interview with the inimitable Stuart Ross. I'm especially pleased by the illustrations included with my story, created by artist and designer Kilby Smith-McGregor.
Anyway, go pick up this issue if you can. You won't regret it!
There's this review in The Miramachi Reader, which ran on Tuesday. In it, literary critic and erstwhile PEI resident Jeff Bursey says: "[T]his novel will disturb easily jangled nerves. Any Canadian television producer looking for a CanLit, Canadian-set limited series should option Lowfield right away."
Meanwhile, over on her Substack, author Lisa de Nikolits had this to say: "While paying homage to the horror trope, Sampson forges a novel with hallmarks of his own; he delivers an idyllic steamy summer in Prince Edward Island with cinematic imagery and characters that immediately draw you in... Sampson brings the horror to life in vivid and unforgettable ways, and I applaud his sensational creativity in brandishing the creepy, the evil, and the tentacled. Lowfield is, quite simply, a great read!"
Finally, author Alex Boyd also gave Lowfield a review on his blog, saying "Sampson grew up on PEI and I can only assume that helps him add convincing detail. When an old journal in the house refers to 'P. E. Island,' it feels very real. Characters say imperfect things and act imperfectly, but the book is also served well by its description. In a nightmare about jellyfish they're 'an army of glutinous, wine-dark blobs undulating in the salty waves, trailing their stinging tendrils behind them like torn skirts.'"
While the book may still receive more reviews (whither Globe Books? the Saturday Star? Quill & Quire? The Literary Review of Canada?), it's not really likely this late after publication. Still, I'm very grateful for the reviews above and hope readers will find their way to the novel after reading them.
My story, called "Adults in Costume" and centred around that centuries-old custom among many island cultures called "mummering," will appear in the magazine's Summer 2025 issue. Very stoked to be included among what I'm sure will be a killer line-up of writers! I'll provide more details as we get a little closer to the issue's release date.
A few additional reminders
