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Re-Creative

Re-Creative

By: Mark A. Rayner and Joe Mahoney (MonkeyJoy Press and Donovan Street Press Inc.)
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Hosted by Joe Mahoney and Mark A. Rayner, Re-Creative is a podcast about creativity and the works that inspire it. We talk to creative people from all walks of life, and learn from them what piece of art stokes their own imaginative fires.

mahoneyj.substack.comJoe Mahoney Art Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Krista Wallace on Tunnel Vision

    Krista Wallace on Tunnel Vision
    Jun 17 2026
    Re-Creative Spotlight: Krista WallaceIn this season one episode of Re-Creative, Mark and I chat with Port Coquitlam-based fantasy author, actor, and musician Krista Wallace. Krista has a remarkably varied creative footprint: she writes and records audiobooks inside her walk-in closet, sings in a couple of jazz groups (including the beautifully named Fat Jazz), and pays the bills by working as a standardized patient for the UBC Faculty of Medicine—meaning she channels her acting training to simulate specific illnesses for medical students under exam conditions.The inspiration for our conversation was a tiny, four-by-five-inch original watercolor by Burnaby artist Jane Appleby titled Tunnel Vision. Krista bought it years ago, later ran into the artist by pure coincidence at a youth baseball game, and ultimately used the painting as the direct blueprint for a pivotal, un-plotted underground journey in her fantasy series. We dug into how her background in jazz improvisation strips away the fear of the unknown, giving her the confidence to follow a narrative down a dark tunnel without a premeditated exit strategy. You can check out Krista’s novels and short stories on her website here. If the tale about Tunnel Vision intrigues you, then you should definitely read her trilogy, beginning with Gatekeepers Key. Her weekly podcast is called Totally Fantastic Title.Support the PainterAbove is the watercolor painting that inspired Krista, Tunnel Vision, by Burnaby artist Jane Appleby.Visit Jane Appleby’s website to see some of her more recent works.You can subscribe to six month’s worth of this podcast completely for free. Paid subscriptions support Donovan Street Press Inc. and the creation of new books and podcasts.Re-Creative is a co-production of Donovan Street Press Inc. in association with MonkeyJoy Press.Contact us at: contact@donovanstreetpress.com If you don’t wish to receive the podcast (or you’re receiving too many emails from this newsletter), it is possible to manage your Substack subscription to receive only the sections you want (e.g., the Donovan Street Press newsletter, the Captain’s Away serial, the Re-Creative podcast) via your account settings. You can do so by clicking on your avatar and selecting “Manage subscription” or by directly navigating to your account page.Follow Joe Mahoney and Donovan Street Press Inc. on: Goodreads, Bluesky, Threads, Mastadon, Facebook, and Instagram Get full access to Donovan Street Press Inc. at mahoneyj.substack.com/subscribe
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    45 mins
  • Timothy S. Johnston on The Fly

    Timothy S. Johnston on The Fly
    Apr 30 2026
    Re-Creative Spotlight: Timothy S. JohnstonIn the latest episode of Re-Creative, Mark and I welcome back Timothy S. Johnston, who’s quickly becoming our resident SF monster movie expert. But not just any monster movie — only the best. Having previously dissected John Carpenter’s The Thing for us, Timothy returns to remind us of the brilliance of Canadian director David Cronenberg’s 1986 masterpiece The Fly on the occasion of its 40th-anniversary. Timothy clearly knows his stuff; he’s come well prepared with a bevy of facts and trivia about the making of The Fly along with a thoughtful analysis of what makes the movie special. The Inspiration: Body Horror as High ArtTimothy considers The Fly a definite improvement on the original. I’ve never seen the original but have no problem agreeing that Cronenberg’s version—filmed in Toronto—is a superb (if unsettling) piece of filmmaking. One thing I never got around to mentioning to Mark and Timothy during our conversation was that I was lucky enough to meet David Cronenberg back in 2008, taping an episode of Q for CBC Radio. After the host interviewed Cronenberg, which (if memory serves) was a pre-tape — meaning we recorded the interview a day or two before the actual live show — we sat around chatting with the famous director. I remember him telling us about making The History of Violence. For that movie he’d studied up on a martial arts system called Target Focus Training, employed by the hero of that movie, which I knew a little bit about because someone in the dojo I was training in at the time happened to be super interested in that system.Cronenberg was super casual and down-to-earth but also a tiny bit threatening, as you can hear in this clip from a “Previously On” promo for the show Q that I made afterward (you’ll hear Cronenberg’s voice right after Phil Collins and right before Jeremy Irons). (You can also hear the Canadian Indie band Ohbijou in that promo. Love those guys.)Support Our GuestTimothy S. Johnston is a lifelong fan of thrillers and science fiction thrillers in both print and film. His greatest desire is to contribute to the genre which has given him so much over the past five decades. He wishes he could personally thank every novelist, screenwriter, filmmaker, director and actor who has ever inspired him to tell great stories. He has been an educator for twenty-five years and a writer for thirty. He lives on planet Earth, but he dreams of the stars. Visit www.timothysjohnston.com to register for news alerts, read his blog and reviews, and learn more about his current and upcoming thrillers. Timothy is the author of The War Beneath, The Savage Deeps, Fatal Depth, An Island of Light, The Shadow of War, and A Blanket of Steel. His futuristic murder mystery/thrillers include The Furnace, The Freezer, and The Void. He has won the 2018 GLOBAL THRILLER Award (Action/Adventure category), the 2016 EPIC Award (Science Fiction), the 2015 CYGNUS Award (Science Fiction Thriller), the 2020 CYGNUS Award (Climate Fiction category), the 2021 GLOBAL THRILLER Award, the 2015 CLUE Award (Blended Mystery category), the 2023 CYGNUS Science Fiction Award Grand Prize, the 2024 CYGNUS Award (Climate Fiction), and the 2024 GLOBAL THRILLER Award Grand Prize. He has been Finalist or Semi-Finalist in other award competitions, and short- or longlisted in others. Follow Timothy on Facebook @TSJAuthor and Twitter @TSJ_Author.You can subscribe to six month’s worth of this podcast completely for free. Paid subscriptions support Donovan Street Press Inc. and the creation of new books and podcasts.Re-Creative is a co-production of Donovan Street Press Inc. in association with MonkeyJoy Press.Contact us at: contact@donovanstreetpress.com If you don’t wish to receive the podcast (or you’re receiving too many emails from this newsletter), it is possible to manage your Substack subscription to receive only the sections you want (e.g., the Donovan Street Press newsletter, the Captain’s Away serial, the Re-Creative podcast) via your account settings. You can do so by clicking on your avatar and selecting “Manage subscription” or by directly navigating to your account page.Follow Joe Mahoney and Donovan Street Press Inc. on: Goodreads, Bluesky, Threads, Mastadon, Facebook, and Instagram Get full access to Donovan Street Press Inc. at mahoneyj.substack.com/subscribe
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    55 mins
  • Trevor Strong on Creativity, Humour, and Tom Lehrer's Poisoning Pigeons in the Park

    Trevor Strong on Creativity, Humour, and Tom Lehrer's Poisoning Pigeons in the Park
    Apr 13 2026
    Re-Creative Spotlight: Trevor StrongIn this episode of Re-Creative Mark and I talk to Trevor Strong—writer, educator, and long-standing member of the musical comedy troupe The Arrogant Worms. Trevor introduces us to the musical comedy gem “Poisoning Pigeons in the Park” by Tom Lehrer, a huge influence on Trevor’s own work. Trevor points out the song’s “gleeful” subversion of innocence as a template for his own (occasionally dark) repertoire.Trevor holds a PhD in Education. For his thesis, he explored the concept of “creativity” from a historical perspective, which yielded surprising results. Trevor walks us through it; it turns out that creativity is really quite a modern concept. It happens that Trevor himself is extremely creative, his work with The Arrogant Worms but a fraction of his output. His recent solo album, too many songs about cats, is a perfect example. He recorded it all in his own home, using a table as a drum and performing all the cat parts himselfs because (and I think I have this right) he was too cheap to hire a real cat.We include one of the tracks (“Kitty Loves Me More Than You”) on the episode, which I purchased for a buck on Trevor’s Bandcamp account (cuz I’m cheap too). I highly recommend you check out the entire album. Yes, he did it at home, but it’s actually very well produced and, not surprisingly, quite charming and funny. Support Our GuestTrevor Strong is a member of the musical comedy troupe The Arrogant Worms, with whom he had toured extensively across Canada and abroad. Possessing a PhD in Education allows Trevor to call himself “Dr. Strong,” which he admits “carries certain supervillain overtones.”Trevor has published three books and one doctoral thesis pithily titled Creativity in the Ontario Elementary Curriculum 1853–2018: A Historically Situated Document Analysis. Currently, he maintains an adjunct professorship at Queen’s, operates a comedy writing school, and conducts workshops on the mechanics of humor and music.You can subscribe to six month’s worth of this podcast completely for free. Paid subscriptions support Donovan Street Press Inc. and the creation of new books and podcasts.Re-Creative is a co-production of Donovan Street Press Inc. in association with MonkeyJoy Press.Contact us at: contact@donovanstreetpress.com If you don’t wish to receive the podcast (or you’re receiving too many emails from this newsletter), it is possible to manage your Substack subscription to receive only the sections you want (e.g., the Donovan Street Press newsletter, the Captain’s Away serial, the Re-Creative podcast) via your account settings. You can do so by clicking on your avatar and selecting “Manage subscription” or by directly navigating to your account page.Follow Joe Mahoney and Donovan Street Press Inc. on: Goodreads, Bluesky, Threads, Mastadon, Facebook, and Instagram Get full access to Donovan Street Press Inc. at mahoneyj.substack.com/subscribe
    Show More Show Less
    55 mins
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