Here’s the latest news about my writing work! Scroll down to learn more about what I’ve been up to.
In my latest ODD post, A Month of Milksops, I ponder a milestone: Milksop turning one month old.
Here’s a taste of the post: “Milksop is one month old today. In book years, that makes him an awkward, insecure teenager. He wants people to like him but is deeply worried they don’t. Will he find his way in the book forest, or will he be lost forever, ending his brief shelf life in a book bog?”
Have a read, and if the spirit moves you, subscribe to ODD: it’s all free, all the time.
So pleased to be included among these recommended summer reads, a list published in the Western News! (Many years ago, I got my Honours BA and MA in English at Western University.) Personally, I think Milksop would be a great book to read at the cottage, on the beach, or sitting on your porch or balcony with the beverage of your choice.
The New York Times and the London Review of Books haven’t returned my calls about my debut novel Milksop, but I got this lovely write up in my county news.
I thought the article made me famous, there were so many people thronging to nearby Dunnville today. I feared these strangers were asking locals where my hobby farm was and that I’d be swamped with readers wanting my signature in their copy of Milksop, along with a dozen eggs.
Then I remembered it’s the Mudcat Festival this weekend . Crisis averted!
So pleased to be added to the Giller Prize’s “Craving CanLit” page, a list of fiction and graphic novels by Canadian writers published between October 2025 and September 2026 (the timeframe for submission to the prize).
For more than 40 years, I studied and taught CanLit. With Milksop, I’ve now made a small contribution to that literary community. Honoured to be among these authors—and as it happens right beside my good friend Brent van Staalduinen!
If you’re craving some new CanLit, you can check out the full list here. Milksop is on page 3.
In my latest Old Dog Dumps post, I celebrate publication day for my debut novel Milksop.
In “Look Out! Milksop Released Today into the Wilds of Writing,” I share what inspired the novel and what my hopes are for my little paper boat—along with how readers can help keep it afloat.
Here’s a taste: “It began with a memory from 50 years ago. That memory became an image: a teenage boy from the city sits on a tractor in an unfamiliar farmyard. He can’t get the tractor started, even though the farmer showed this strange boy how to do it the night before. On a second tractor, the farmer is heading down the laneway. He doesn’t look back.”
Have a read, and if the spirit moves you, subscribe to ODD: it’s all free, all the time.
In my latest Old Dog Dumps post, “Small Dreams and Minor Miracles: That’s ODD,” I reflect on both writing and reading fiction as forms of dreaming—and the minor miracle that my debut novel Milksop will be released in less than a week.
Here’s a taste: “It’s a noisy world filled with words, isn’t it? A world of shortened attention spans for reading those words. A world of tweets by twits, rage-bait posts, and content designed to keep us doomscrolling. It’s a minor miracle that the novel exists in this environment.”
Have a read, and if the spirit moves you, subscribe to ODD: it’s all free, all the time.
Milksop Evan has received a smack down from a French teenager.
In my latest ODD post, part 4 of “Milksop: In Others’ Words,” I share the story of how seventeen-year-old Tina from France (2026) reacted to seventeen-year-old Evan from Ontario (1979). It wasn’t pretty. I’ve concluded that my novel must be banned, at least among French teenagers, maybe all teenagers. Perhaps existing copies should be turned into a bonfire of my vanities.
Happy reading! And as always, if the spirit moves you, feel free to share your thoughts and the post itself. Don’t forget to subscribe: it’s all free all the time.
Apparently there’s no cure for my writerly madness.
In my latest ODD post, “More Sightings of Milksops in the Wild,” I share my horror at discovering that centuries-long debates have raged about this humble word, “milksop.”
Here’s a taste: “Yes, my little novel has entered a minefield. Above that minefield a storm is brewing, one the literary world and the global order have never seen, worse than the combined havoc created by those two viruses, COVID and Donald Trump.”
Warning: I’m still prone to exaggeration and suffer from illusions of grandeur.
Happy reading! And as always, if the spirit moves you, feel free to share your thoughts and the post itself. Don’t forget to subscribe: it’s all free all the time.
I’ve received another lovely endorsement for my debut novel Milksop!
Here’s a taste of what Melissa Kuipers says: “Full of delightful characters, farming mishaps, and a relatable city-slicker narrator who finds himself out of his depth in the country, Van Rys’s debut novel is full of description so rich you can smell the hay and feel the rumble of the tractor while reading.”
What else does Melissa say? In my latest ODD post, part 3 of “Milksop: In Others’ Words,” you’ll find her full endorsement along with my reflection on her words, especially on how Milksop is a fish-out-of-water story. I also ask whether my novel and I are something of a fish out of water in the publishing world.
Have a read, and if the spirit moves you, subscribe to ODD: it’s all free, all the time.
It’s April 23! One month until Milksop’s launch!
In my latest ODD Substack post, I share links for pre-ordering Milksop, along with two rather embarrassing fantasies, one about a pre-ordering frenzy, the other about Ann Patchett.
Here’s a taste: “I see Ann Patchett in bed. There’s nothing untoward about this fantasy. She’s in bed reading, and her husband, Karl VanDevender, whose name suggests he’s of Dutch heritage, like Evan Mulder and me, is beside her. Ann clearly likes Dutchmen. Their dog Nemo is sleeping between them. Ann is reading Milksop, smiling and laughing and even shedding a tear or two—at Evan’s story, not at the poor quality of my writing. That would be a nightmare.”
Where’s the line between having big dreams for your writing and being delusional? I think I’ve crossed it.
Happy reading!
