I grew up in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and now live in Regina with my wife, three children, and arthritic cat.
I spent some time as an actor (though not a very successful one), before deciding I would rather be writing the stories than performing them. I studied English and creative writing at the University of Regina and the University of Guelph before my first book, Dominion, was published by Orca Book Publishers.
My work has been nominated for multiple awards, including the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize, and Terra Nova, the sequel to Dominion, received a starred review from Kirkus. I have yet to actually win any awards, mind, but maybe someday...
When I’m not writing books, you can find me reading other people’s books, playing video games, or taking long walks. Actually, most often you can find me feeding and cleaning up after my family. I spend more of my hours as a stay-at-home dad than I do as a writer.
You may notice that I’m not on any social media platforms, which can make me hard to follow as a writer. I’m sorry if that’s frustrating.
I did spend some time on social media, but found that it was very draining for me, and activated my worst praise-chasing tendencies. I realized that if I wanted to create any kind of following, I would need to devote more time to it—at the cost of time for my family, my writing, and myself. When an odious billionaire bought Twitter, I decided that was my cue to get out of town. I haven’t used social media since, and have felt much healthier for it.
I won’t try and convince anyone else to give up social media. I know for some people—especially marginalized people—it can be an avenue to a much-needed community, despite its addictive and exploitative design. But for me, it just isn’t worth the cost.
My website was designed by my awesome brother, Chris Arbuthnott, who has done all of this work for me on a volunteer basis. All I can say is that I’m very lucky to have him as a brother.