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
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    55 mins
  • Judy Cormier on Acting and Dames Judi Dench and Maggie Smith

    Judy Cormier on Acting and Dames Judi Dench and Maggie Smith
    Mar 23 2026
    Re-Creative Spotlight: Judy CormierIn this episode of Re-Creative, it’s all about acting. I grew up wanting to be an actor but changed my mind right before university for some reason that still eludes me. Chickened out, probably. It’s a profession that requires actual talent and considerable nerve. But I still find the profession fascinating and appealing. Which is why I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation with Judy Cormier.Judy is an actor based in London, Ontario where she can often be found onstage at the Palace Theatre acting with the London Community Players. She’s also dabbled in directing, having recently co-directed The Wicked Witches of Oz for the Kettle Creek Players. She’s also known for her film work, notably in Black Donnellys, an indie film from 2017 that explores the brutal, vigilante-led end of an infamous Irish immigrant family, and in which Judy portrayed family matriarch Johannah Donnelly.Because it’s what we do on Re-Creative, we also talk about work that has inspired Judy. In her case, it’s the work of three heavyweights of the craft—Judi Dench, Ian McKellen, and Maggie Smith. Judy shares with us specific lessons she unearthed in Dench’s memoir Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent, including the fundamental difference between rote line memorization and the necessity of truly understanding the text you’re performing. We discuss everything from the tragedies of Euripides to the structured chaos of “Pantos,” those unique traditional musical comedies often performed around Christmas. Judy walks us through the unique challenge of training polite Canadian audiences to abandon their reserve and scream at the villain, something we discover Mark excels at. It’s a fun conversation with someone truly passionate about her craft that left me torn between wanting to audition for our local community theatre or writing a panto for them to perform. Or maybe… both?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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    52 mins
  • Tim Blackmore on the Film "Alien"

    Tim Blackmore on the Film "Alien"
    Mar 13 2026
    Re-Creative Spotlight: Tim BlackmoreIn this episode of Re-Creative, Mark A. Rayner and I are joined by Tim Blackmore, an author and professor at Western University’s Faculty of Information and Media Studies, to talk about the 1979 classic movie Alien.Tim knows a lot about the concept of “design” and a lot about this movie, which allows to take a deep dive into the design elements of Alien, which has inspired Tim in his own work and research on propaganda and war.“It’s the stuff that you don’t see coming that you have to watch out for,” Tim tells us, referring to the propaganda that you don’t necessarily realize is propaganda. “Any time you see Grogu, watch your wallet!”After discussing the context of what was happening in the field of science fiction at the time the movie came out, along with SF cinema and culture in general, Tim gets into just exactly how the visual presentation of Alien came about. Turns out it was the combined genius of a whole team of designers, including Roy Cobb, Chris Foss, H.R. Giger, and the screenwriter, Dan O’Bannon.Tim also tells us how the movie was conceived and brought to life, how Ridley Scott became its director, and its influence on so much cinema that came afterwards.Support Our GuestTim Blackmore is a professor in the Faculty of Information and Media Studies at Western University in London, Ontario (Canada). In addition to extensive articles and book chapters, Blackmore has published two major academic works: War X: Human Extension in Battlespace, and, Gorgeous War: The Branding War Between the Third Reich and the United States.In Tim’s own words: “I work on all kinds of projects, and I love that. I read, see and write about popular culture, particularly science fiction (in prose, film, animation, jello…it doesn’t matter to me what the medium is), but also comics and comic strips, science fiction film design (I know that sounds specific, but it’s a huge field). I also focus a great deal on what Leo Marx called The Machine in the Garden, and the persistence of the pastoral in this weird age of post-everything and all-transparency. We need to stay grounded.”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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    1 hr and 11 mins
  • Joe Versus the World (Again): The Value of Empathy

    Joe Versus the World (Again): The Value of Empathy
    Mar 11 2026

    My dialogue with my old pal the World continues. (You can check out my previous conversation here.) This chat took place in July of 2020. Back then, at the advent of Covid, the world around us seemed pretty grim; today, it’s arguably even worse.

    But all is not lost. I am a firm believer in hope. Collectively, we can make this planet a better place. It may require much thought and effort, but it can be done. How, though?

    Well, turning to the World for advice, I found (not surprisingly) that it has some strong opinions. From a critique of my facial hair to a lesson we should have learned from the dinosaurs. Good advice, I think — along with a dire prediction.

    To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Paid subscriptions support the creation of new books and podcasts.

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    2 mins
  • Animator/Filmmaker Tess Martin and Yuri Norstein's Tale of Tales

    Animator/Filmmaker Tess Martin and Yuri Norstein's Tale of Tales
    Mar 2 2026
    Re-Creative Spotlight: Tess MartinIn this episode of Re-Creative, Mark A. Rayner and I got up early to drink our coffee and talk to an animator/filmmaker an ocean away: Tess Martin, based in Rotterdam, the second largest city in the Netherlands. Mark usually starts the podcast by asking me a question but this morning I beat him to it, asking: “What’s your favourite piece of animation?” His initial response was a classic of Canadian animation, from the NFB. (I’ll make you listen to the episode to find out exactly what he said!)The Creative Inspiration: Yuri Norstein’s Tale of TalesWe almost always challenge our guests to choose a piece of art to talk about. One that they love and that informs their own work. Tess chose to discuss a film that had a huge impact on her and that continues to inspire her: Yuri Norstein’s Tale of Tales (1979), a complex, surreal masterpiece a little different than the Saturday morning cartoons you might remember from your youth. It’s not exactly Bugs Bunny, but no less rewarding if you’re up for it. Some consider it the greatest animated film of all time.As Tess explained to us, Tale of Tales is less a classical narrative than a tapestry of memories, providing just enough clues to allow viewers to unlock its meaning and hidden depths, though a familiarity with the culture from which it emerged helps. Featuring a little grey wolf from a traditional Russian lullaby, Norstein employs deeply personal and culturally specific imagery—such as a glass of vodka and bread as an offering for the dead—making the film feel intensely real and true, even if one doesn’t fully grasp every reference the first time around.We talked about how Tale of Tales and similar art invites audiences to be active participants, interpreting clues and symbols to find their own meaning.When you’re done listening to our conversation (or maybe before!) check out the film for yourself to see what we’re talking about: Tale of Tales, a 1979 Soviet/Russian animated film directed by Yuri Norstein[1][2] and produced by the Soyuzmultfilm studio in Moscow:Support Our GuestOriginally from the States, Tess Martin relocated to the Netherlands to pursue her craft. Her own work follows in Norstein’s tradition of thoughtful, material-based art. Her projects tend to develop through a mix of personal interest and the practicalities of the Dutch public arts funding system. And they can take a long time: she’s currently working on an SF project that has already taken a number of years, and is likely to take at least another couple. I can’t wait to see it!Mark, Tessa and I discussed two of her recent films:* How Now House: Using archives, personal memories and the philosophy of time, the film questions whether a space can ever really belong to one person, or time period, at all.* 1976 Search for Life: A new father visits the hometown of his mother in 1976, accompanied by his wife and baby. At the same time, the NASA Viking lander is sending the first images back to Earth from the surface of another planet.You can check out Tess’s work on her website. And I highly recommend that you do! 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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    Not Yet Known
  • Joe Versus the World

    Joe Versus the World
    Mar 1 2026

    I’m fortunate in that I have direct access to the World.

    I’m not entirely sure how this came about, but I’m not one to look a gift planet in the mouth. The World and I chat for time to time and occasionally we record that conversation for posterity.

    I recorded this particular conversation back in 2018. A lot has happened since then, but the gist of the conversation remains relevant. Maybe more so than ever.

    I quite like the World. I mean, not just to live on, but to talk to. I find it refreshingly honest. It says what it means. It doesn’t beat around the bush. I may not always like what it has to tell me but I have to respect it.

    And I would be a fool not to listen.

    To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Paid subscriptions support the creation of new books and podcasts.

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    If you like what you’re reading, please spread the word!



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    2 mins