Jamieson Wolf
Number-one bestselling author
Prix Aurora Awards – Voting Is Open!
I’m super thrilled! The voting for the Prix Aurora Awards is now open!
If you are a member of The Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association (CSFFA), you can now place your vote! My novel Minotaur is up for Best YA Novel. Voting runs from today until July 18th, 2026. You can hop over to the CSFFA website here: https://www.csffa.ca/
If you are not a member of the CSFFA, don’t worry! You can sign up to be a member and it only costs $10. You can find info at the same link. You have until July 11th, 2026, to buy a membership if you’d like to vote in this year’s Prix Aurora Awards. The real bonus is the fact that you get to download and read everything that is on the ballot. That’s a lot of bang for your buck.
There are so many amazing books, poems and stories to vote for. Check out the full list here: https://www.csffa.ca/awards-information/current-ballot/
I’m so thrilled that my novel is on the ballot. It’s a career first and a dream to even be nominated for a Prix Aurora Award. Ever since I started writing, I’ve dreamed of making it on the ballot and I’m so happy that I made it on the ballot with Minotaur.
You never know when you’re writing a book if people will like it. The journey of writing a book for me can take upwards of a year and the entire time, I had no idea if anyone would want to read a story about a young woman who lives with a disability in the darkness of a labyrinth. I just knew that I had to write it. I’m so glad that other people like the book, too!
Hop on over to the CSFFA website and place your vote. If you love Minotaur, show the novel some love. You will get sparkles automatically sent to you!
Until then, I’ll be within the walls of the labyrinth, making sure that the dark is held at bay.
Glass Magpies – A Poem
I gather letters to myself like a magpie.
They are shiny and sparkling and I need to hold light right now.
As I gather them up,
the light draws me inward so that I can look at myself,
and I can really see myself and who I am
without wondering what layer
to make people comfortable.
These pieces of glass hold onto the light,
making them pulse and shine.
The letters are written in different handwriting,
slashes of F’s, A’s and G’s like bullets written on glass,
each slice of the letter like a scar on the surface burnt black;
To counteract the hatred,
I can also see the soft curls of Q’s, U’s, E’s and R’s
that are written in chalk along the rough surfaces of dark red bricks,
in bright lines like feathers in a rainbow of colours,
ready to break down walls and barriers.
These letters hold a story within them,
of whom I’ve always been;
it just took me a while to see myself properly in the glass.
I walk further along the path,
collecting more pieces of glass along the way.
There is a drumbeat in the air and with each step,
a sense of promise grows in me,
which only increases when I find myself in a clearing.
In front of me,
there is a stone with an outline of me,
and I wonder if it was made by the same hand that made the letters.
Approaching the glass,
I begin to place the shards with the outline,
knowing that when I have filled the whole silhouette with glass,
I will finally be able to see myself
as I truly am.
Come Read in the Dark
It still boggles my mind with excitement that Minotaur is an Aurora Award nominee.
It’s all kinds of wonderful that the book has been recognized this way and I’m just glad that people are enjoying it. It’s even got some reviews on Amazon which is lovely. It took a lot for me to write that book, so having Minotaur nominated for an Aurora Award is incredible.
If you want a chance to read Minotaur and hundreds of other great stories, graphic novels and poems, you can always join the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association for the low price of $10, you can read all of the books on the ballot for the awards for free! I mean, how amazing is that?
You can find more information here at their website: https://www.csffa.ca/
Voting begins on June 6th, 2026, and closes on July 18th, 2026, so you have plenty of time to read Minotaur and so many other amazing works.
The live Aurora Awards ceremony will take place in August, but there is plenty to read until then.
I really hope you enjoy Minotaur and the other amazing worlds there are to dive into.
Come into the labyrinth, I promise there is enough light to read by.
Thirteen Years to Tomorrow – A Poem
I find myself here every year,
standing by the same pool of water
wondering what the new cycle will bring.
It’s been an honour to watch myself
grow into who I am,
the reflection of me rippled by the water.
There was a part of me that thought
I would beat this disease
that lives within me
and that I would find
a way past all of it,
break through the wall
into the light of a new day.
Thirteen years living with
this intruder has taught me differently.
I can’t push through everything
and ignore the difficulties;
they teach me who I really am,
remind me what I’m capable of.
Thirteen years has taught me
nightmares can exist during the daytime,
take place when the sun is out,
not only hiding in shadows;
I’ve had to rearrange how I think
of where terror can be.
Thirteen years ago has given me
a different perspective on who I was,
and who I wanted to be;
all these years have taught me that,
despite what the shadows my try to tell me,
I am capable of real magic.
Thirteen years have shown me
who I really am and,
even though there are days
where I don’t recognize the reflection
that I can see in the water,
its only because the spell I cast
all those years ago
came true.
Mercutio by Kate Heartfield – A Book Review
The first Shakespeare play that I ever read was Romeo and Juliet.
Like a lot of other people, I read it in high school. It opened up a whole world for me, full of true love and tragedy, hope and solace. I fell in love with Romeo and Juliet as they fell in love, but it was Mercutio that held the light for me. I read and re-read that tragedy multiple times and it was always Mercutio that leapt off the page. He used wit and humour and spoke of love like it was a real, breathing thing. I always thought his demise was unfair, but when is anything about fairness in a Shakespeare tragedy?
When Kate Heartfield announced Mercutio, I wondered how she would do it. Knowing and loving her work as I do, I knew that it would be historical magical realism, but how would she do it? How would she make the doomed character live again? And following that, how tragic would this tale be?
Instead of tragedy, however, Hartfield delivers something more. She has brought Mercutio back to life for me and lets him truly live. The novel tale takes place before the story of Romeo and Juliet, so don’t go into this book thinking it’s a tragedy. Go into the book with no expectations of what it could be and let yourself be drawn into the story and the world that Heartfield has created.
When Mercutio meets the poet Dante in the field of battle, he doesn’t know that this friendship will span years and take place across different realms. In their battle, they cause something to crack between the world of humans and Faerie. The two worlds somehow form a link to each other as if someone has opened a door and nothing is ever the same for Mercutio.
First, Mercutio begins to see stars that no one else can see. Then Dante disappears and Mercutio realizes that he’s being followed and that they aren’t from this world. Worse yet, they need his help. But there is a price. With the Farie folk, there is always a price to be paid.
What follows is a wonderous book filled with magic, tarot, Fey folk and a race against time, across plains and all of Italy. The whole country is brought to life in a story where the balance of humanity and magic is thrown off balance and back again. I’ve never read anything like it. I’ve already read it twice and started reading it a third time in order to write this review.
The novel Mercutio is incredible, hands down. If you don’t like Shakespeare, don’t worry! This is still the book for you. Mercutio brings a Shakespeare play to life but doesn’t read like one. If you do like and love Shakespeare, you folks are going to absolutely fall in love as I have and all the lovely Easter eggs that she Hartfield has planted.
Heartfield is so skilled at bringing you into a world that we know, but she manages to tell a complicated story that shadows the events in Romeo and Juliet, and you could read the novel and the play together seamlessly and have an incredible experience.
But wait and fear not! Mercutio stands entirely on its own. If you have never read Romeo and Juliet, you won’t be missing a thing. The whole story is told in such a way that you don’t need to know what comes before or after. This novel is asking you to simply enjoy. It doesn’t shy away from saying something either. There is a lovely queer storyline that made the romantic in me ever so happy.
Love is a magic beyond what humanity can understand, and it makes us do some incredible things. We have only but to take a deep breath, enjoy the incredible journey and see what the cards have to say.
Read Mercutio, please. It will heal something that is cracked in you and help you to believe in the power of love.
You can find more info on Mercutio and where to purchase it here: https://www.kateheartfield.com/mercutio/
Buy Little Yellow Magnet from Amazon and Kobo!
Jamieson Wolf has written a compelling story about navigating multiple sclerosis and cerebral palsy. His story will touch your heart, make you cry, then laugh, and inspire you. A touching memoir with a bit of magic…and tarot! ~ Theresa Reed, author of The Tarot Coloring Book
Jamieson Wolf 