Episode Summary

Hosts Holly B. and Rogan sit down with authors Melanie Martilla and Matthew Del Papa to talk about the pets who shaped their lives, the realities of creative burnout and energy management, and the new anthology Super Canucks: An Anthology of Small-Town Canadian Superheroes.

Meet our Guests

Matthew and Melanie are Northern Ontario authors and longtime friends who first met at Laurentian University, where Melanie was Matt’s TA. Matt is a humorist and genre writer who co-edited Super Canucks with Andy Taylor. Melanie is a poet, short story writer, and reviewer who contributed the story “Old Crow.” Both writers appear in the anthology alongside contributors from across Canada.

Meet the Pets
Melanie introduces Torvi, her 70-pound, nine-year-old collie mix and “little Viking queen,” named after a shield maiden from Vikings (meaning “Beloved of Thor”). Matt shares a lifetime of animal companions, including Milky, the fearsome cat who vanished in the ’90s, plus Copper, Zeppelin, Falstaff, Maddie, and Katie. He also dog-sits his brother’s dog, Evie. The group also chats about how pet culture has changed from working dogs to fur babies.

Creativity & Burnout
Melanie opens up about functional burnout following a late-in-life autism diagnosis in 2021, caregiving for aging parents, and the uncertainty of a workforce adjustment at her job. She explains why being kind to yourself matters when your creative bucket is low, and how Torvi acts as her unofficial support dog.

Spoon Theory
Matt explains Spoon Theory, the energy-management metaphor for disability and chronic illness coined by Christine Miserandino in 2003, and why “just buy more spoons” isn’t how it works.

What They’re Writing
Matt writes roughly 1,000 words a day and is juggling several projects: a humorous PI novel tentatively titled Fumbled Beginnings, a local history book about Cape Breton-area research (as discussed), and sprawling fantasy and sci-fi manuscripts. Melanie reviews for the Seaboard Review of Books and has short stories waiting for revisions.

Super Canucks Anthology
Matt and co-editor Andy curated 11 stories from nearly 80 submissions across Canada, inspired by the “brain drain” and the lack of small-town Canadian superheroes. Melanie’s story, “Old Crow,” follows a woman navigating a midlife transformation with help from her best friend and her dog.

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