[3] He was one of four Georgian Bay Secondary School Grade 13 students who earned the Wilfrid Laurier University scholarship by winning the Reach for the Top district finals,[4] and was the co-recipient of the three grade 13 English awards for the Meaford Graduation diplomas at Georgian Bay Secondary School.
[6] He was a student in the master of museum studies program, also working part-time in the university bookstore, and remained involved in the school while starting his professional career, and in 1995 he began a two-year assignment running the UT Press's (UTP) Custom Publishing Service which he considered his fondest achievement.
[citation needed] In 1993 at age 22, during his first year of graduate studies, he submitted a story called "Book of the Dead" to White Wolf Publishing, set in their world of Vampire: The Masquerade.
Bassingthwaite also wrote the fifth novel of the series, By Dust Consumed, but submitted it for publication in 2001 just as WotC cancelled the Alternity line of products; it was never published, but was made available as a PDF for a limited time.
Alan Lattimore, on the review site Tangent Online, wrote "Cacia is a loved and indulged daughter of a well respected city merchant.
[...] Cacia and Pawel are both engaging characters, their situation is credible, their interaction set off sparks and their ultimate acceptance of the value of the other feels solid.
In 2016, he published a collection of comedy horror short stories, Cocktails at Seven, Apocalypse at Eight, featuring the gay protagonist Derby Cavendish.
Reviewer Heather Grove enjoyed the book, calling it "marvellous [...] The characters are fantastic, with plenty of hilarity and depth to them.