Category: novels

Friday Five: writer and Major 7th editor Kirsti MacKenzie

‘Innovating within structure is the great genius pop artists have in common.’

Content warning: interview contains language some readers may find offensive.

“There’s a specific kind of masochism in picking an industry built on rejection,” says Viv, one of the main characters in Kirsti MacKenzie‘s debut novel Better to Beg (Sweet Trash Press, November 2025). It sounds like something a writer might say as they hope against hope that their works will be picked up by literary magazines or agents in their quest for a bit of fame, if not fortune.

Headshot of Kirsti MacKenzie, author of the novel Better to Beg and editor of Major 7th Magazine.
Kirsti MacKenzie

Viv and her partner in music, the British expat Hux, are also on a quest for fame. The two form the fictional indie band The Deserters, and they are riding the crest of underground popularity, thanks to music bloggers and file-sharing services. They embark on a cross-country rock’n’roll/road trip fueled by enough dope to make Hunter S. Thompson consider rehab. Learn more about the novel and Kirsti in this excellent interview on X-R-A-Y Literary Magazine.

A writer from northern Ontario, Kirsti also creates superb short fiction (see this page for four years’ worth of stories) and is the founder and editor of Major 7th Magazine, a literary mixtape composed of short pieces related to specific songs. Read on for more about that litmag, Kirsti’s debut novel, and her thoughts on writing.

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Friday Five: ghastly, ghoulish gaffes that can haunt your writing

Don’t let these goblins creep into your writing.

Peak scary season is upon us, my goblins and ghouls, friends and fiends. Whether you’ll be doling out sugary treats to the little monsters that knock on your door this Halloween night, partake in an adult-oriented costume party, or binge on classics like Young Frankenstein or Rocky Horror Picture Show (I highly recommend either, or both if you’re in the mood for a science fiction double feature), know that after tonight, it all comes crashing down like a sugar high, and we all must end our revelries and return to our writing. (Although some of us may prolong that inevitability by celebrating well into el Dia de los Muertos. Why not make a weekend of it? They’ve already got Christmas decor in the aisles of Dollar General and Hobby Lobby.)

Even after all the hoopla subsides, we writers must come to terms with some scary goblins that can haunt our work year round. Here are five scary creatures that may hang around well after All Hallows Eve, like toilet paper on the stately elm in the front yard of Mr. Henderson, who always handed out those filling-yanking sticky, taffy-like things wrapped in waxy orange and black paper.

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