OTTAWA, April 3, 2026 — Yet again, my intentions to post regular updates have fallen victim to the reality that the BumblePuppy Press is still a one-man operation, and that being a dad takes pride of place on my list of priorities. (Indeed, she is working on a project of her own behind me as I type, but has already started to wonder, “When can you play with me?”)
Not that I am complaining; being a papa is the great joy of my life, and this year has been incredible. Within a month and a half of starting grade one, my brilliant daughter (no doubt with considerable help from her remarkable little school, which bases its pedagogy on the no-homework Finnish educational system) was writing in cursive and reading! Since then, she has written and illustrate a 40-page story, L’histoire du pomme (see above), among many other accomplishments.
As any number of mothers and grandmothers told me in the early days, “Enjoy it while you can — it goes so fast!”
All that said, it’s National Poetry month, and what better way to celebrate than to explore Adrienne Stevenson and Marie-Andrée Auclair’s marvellous collaboration, Skipping Stones?
To purchase, please click here or the image above.
That is what we do, throw our poems on the page of a common lake, what sinks quickly is culled what uncoils its energy in many rebounds stays, a blended poem for our venture, another bird in the sky
If verse just isn’t your thing, we do have a lot of prose on offer as well, from Rachel A. Rosen’s all-too plausible near-future Sleep of Reason series to Zilla Novikov’s very funny time-travel romance, Reprise, Carl Dow’s eclectic collection of stories, The Old Man’s Last Sauna and his historical adventure-romance, Black Grass, to our most recent offering, The Inclusive Winnie-the-Pooh.
All these books (with the exception of the forthcoming Life Is Good) are available in our shop.
Our books are available at the usual online vendors and, of course, in our own shop – if you want the books in paper, dare I suggest you order your copies now, rather than wait for the inevitable price increases?
Happy Easter egg hunting to those who celebrate that remarkable bunny!
The Inclusive Winnie-the-Pooh is now available from the BumblePuppy Press!
December 2, 2025, Ottawa — When I was nine or 10, I was given a copy of an edited version of Robinson Crusoe for Christmas. By “edited,” I mean it was cut, bowdlerized, not the full text.
Even then, I wanted the real thing — not what some editor thought I should read, but what the author wrote.
How then did a literary purist such as myself put his name on the cover of this altered version of Winnie-the-Pooh? How did I come to make Christina Robin out of Christopher?
For one thing, I am father to Baobao, my now six year-old daughter. And it didn’t take me long to realize that all too many children’s books — especially, but definitely not limited to, older classics — feature casts that are entirely male, unless the story features a mother-figure (hi, Kanga!).
Though I am a man, I am all-too aware of the unfair truth: that male remains the default state in our world, more than 50 years since the advent of “women’s lib,” or what is now called second-wave feminism. Yes, things have improved; women, members of the LGBTQ+ communities, and people of colour, are more visible in many aspects of life, but still, being a girl is far too often treated as a special case. (And yes, there is one hell of a push-back happening in many parts of the western world right now.)
Here is a sampling of the books I read to Baobao when she was young, and which helped to inspire this adaptation.
• I Can Read About Whales and Dolphins (1996): Though animals are often referred to as it, and the gender-neutral they goes back at least as far as Shakespeare, in this book every animal is a he (unless — sigh — that animal is a mother);
• Grasshopper on the Road (1978): A grasshopper sets out on a long walk and meets many other insects along the way. The titular character is male, as are all of those he encounters (with the possible exceptions of three butterflies, and two dragonflies, which are always referred to as plural they);
• Le castor qui travaillait trot fort (2011): A beaver (male) works too hard, bothering his friends, a moose (male) and a bear (male);
• Many (though not all) of Dr. Seuss’ otherwise wonderful stories; and, of course,
• Pooh itself. Every animal but Kanga, a mother, is male, as is the only human character.
It’s not just unfair that this still goes on, it’s absurd. Like adults, small children are (at least) boys and girls, and there is no good reason that so many books still refuse to reflect this basic fact.
If this absurdity is tiresome to me as a straight, cisgender man (and it is!), how much more tiresome must it be for girls and women?
Baobao, age 2, asleep with Winnie-the-Pooh
So, when Baobao was two years old and was developing the patience for longer stories, I decided to do something about it. Rhythmically, Christina Robin worked just as well at Christopher, so why not, I asked myself, switch it up? Since that worked, why not also make Piglet she instead of he? And why not Eeyore as well?
(Actually, Eeyore was a late change. When Baobao became obsessed with Pooh, one of her refrains was, “Rabbit is funny! Owl is funny! Eeyore is funny!” I realized that my version left all the best comedic bits to the boys, and so, Eeyore made the transition from male to female and, when Tigger made their appearance, it was easy enough to read them as non-binary.)
Are these changes A.A. Milne would have approved of? Quite possible not. He was, after all, already an adult when Queen Victoria died.
But on the other hand, he was a man who really got children, as the stories in this book serve to show very clearly. (And check out his poem, “Busy,” from Now We Are Six — also forthcoming from the BumblePuppy Press, if this book sells at all well) — for one of o! so many wonderful examples.)
Maybe, had Milne lived to see the changes that have marked our own era, he would have said, Yes, let’s make these stories more inclusive! It’s pretty to think so, anyway.
Now, maybe you mind the idea of making such changes to a classic. Maybe you agree with my 10 year-old self that an author’s work should be sacrosanct.
Well, I have good news for you. The existence of The Inclusive Winnie-the-Pooh does not erase the original. In fact, and like colourised movies, the original is available in just about every bookstore in the English-speaking world, in any number of editions, from the fanciest of boxed sets, to editions published on the coarsest pulp paper.
So, if you are a purist, don’t buy The Inclusive Winnie-the-Pooh; the original is out there and always will be.
But for me? I want my daughter to have a copy of the book she heard me read to her when she was very young.
The stories remain the same, but I hope I have opened doors for other players to take up the parts.
NOTE: Due to copyright issues, this book is currently available for sale only in Canada and the United States of America. The book is available from the Big A, and (my preference) direct from the publisher via https://www.bppress.ca/shop. An un-encrypted (DRM-free) ebook will be available soon.
“Rachel A. Rosen is a superb prose stylist and an incisive social commentator. Her post-apocalyptic Canada will haunt you forever. Predicting the future is supposed to be science fiction’s job, but Rosen shows that urban (and rural!) fantasy can do it, too, with sharp-edged commentary and real-world relevance. Look for this one on the award ballots.” — Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo Award-winning author of The Downloaded
Ottawa, January 31, 2025 — Rachel A. Rosen has come through with the second book in her Sleep of Reason trilogy, and it is everything a reader of the first book can want (except for the third book — for that, you’ll need to wait a little longer).
Advance reviews are already starting to come in and (no surprise to me, if you’ll forgive me a little publisher’s hubris) they are good.
You’ve read what Ottawa’s own Robert J. Sawyer (www.sfwriter.com/) had to say above (“Look for this one on the award ballots” indeed!), but wait! There’s more!
“The second book in the series is even better than the first … Rosen is a daring voice in Canadian SFF, and she’ll break your heart while making you laugh.” — Michelle Browne, author of The Meaning Wars
“Suffused with masterful horror and black humour and compassion for its beleaguered and all-too-human characters, this spellbinding chronicle of leviathanic magic, political intrigue, and righteous insurrection hurls a molotov cocktail at the evil lurking in humanity’s banal appetites for control.” — Dale Stromberg, author of Maej
“A worthy sequel to an epic ecofantasy. The world’s on fire, it’s time to lick our wounds and start putting it back together.” —Zilla Novikov, author of Reprise
“Rosen’s ability to create such a beautifully vivid picture of a vicious world as it slowly chokes to death is simply breathtaking.” — Rohan O’Duill, author of Cold Blooded
What can I say? Blight fulfills every promise made by its predecessor.
I am waiting for delivery of a physical proof, but you can reserve your copy now.
If you are a book reviewer or blogger, please contact me for a review copy in the electronic format of your choice via geoffdow (at) bppress.ca.
• • •
Speaking of Rachel, she is not only a disciplined writer and artist (and school-teacher), she has been keeping up with Wizards and Spaceships, the podcast she co-hosts with David L. Clink. Their latest episode features the launch of The Dance, a multiverse anthology featuring a new story by Rachel, among many others, as well as a report about last fall’s Can*Con held in Ottawa.
July 15, 2024, Ottawa — Last night I, along with my wife and daughter, spent the evening with Carl Dow to celebrate his 91st birthday one day early.
Carl — author of the story collection The Old Man’s Last Sauna and the novel, Black Grass — is, of course, also my father, and the reason the BumblePuppy Press exists at all.
As I have said more than once (and probably, have written about as well), more than 10 years ago, Carl asked if I would be interested in reading a novel he had written.
I didn’t say yes right away. He had not let me read any of his non-journalistic work since I had been a teenager, when he asked for my thoughts on a radio play he had written, and I’d told him it was, well, not very good.
But after some thought I did agree to read it, and he sent me a copy of the manuscript by Canada Post. When I sat down with it one evening a few days later, I began to read with more than a little trepidation; I had no wish to tell him he had written something bad again.
The first two, with more to come …
But instead, I finished what would eventually be published as Black Grass in one sitting, literally putting aside the final page just as the sun was (literally) literally rising.
I had laughed, shed a tear or three, and eagerly rushed through the climax because I needed to find out what happened next. Carl (I call him “dad” but refer to him as Carl — don’t ask why, it’s just worked out that way) was — yes — a real novelist.
I told him as much, and he told me that he hadn’t been able to interest a publisher in it. Westerns are out of fashion was one rejection; Americans don’t want to read about another country was another; too much action; too much romance; the list of ostensible reasons why it couldn’t sell went on and on.
I found it hard to believe. The Black Grass I had just read was a compelling adventure, featured an unusual but believable romantic subplot, complex characters and was leavened with wit and humour.
Granted, it had a Canadian setting; granted it bore considerable resemblance to a western … but was the traditional publishing industry so hidebound, so constrained by genre, so unimaginative, that it couldn’t see the potential in a great romance (in the tradition of Sir Walter Scott, as one university English prof put it)?
Well, my reader’s outrage percolated for a while, then I eventually decided that if no one else would publish Black Grass, I would just have to do it myself. That was the genesis of the BumblePuppy Press. (Yes, The Old Man’s Last Sauna, Carl’s collection of short and not-so short stories was published first, but Black Grass was the spark.
And so, on the 91st anniversary of his birth, we are for a brief time offering The Old Man’s Last Sauna, and Black Grass together, for the low (low!) price of only $25.00, $13.00 less than it would cost to purchase them individually. Click here to buy them now!
One more thing: Though he is now 91, Carl says that his next novel, Wildflowers: The Women Who Made McCord Chronicle, is very nearly finished. And after that? He has a sequel to Black Grass already percolating.
Our most recent release, Skipping Stones, was published on May 27th, 2024, and is now available through most of your favourite online vendors in both paper and electronic editions, as well as the behemoth, Amazon. Of course, you can also order it, and all our books, directly from our store;
The Bumble Puppy Press is proud of our queer-related novels, CascadeandReprise, both of which are now on sale at a 25% discount in all formats;
I discuss my own longstanding relationships (or lack thereof?) with Pride and some of the LGBTQ communities;
June 19, 2024 — It seems as if June is Pride Month everywhere but here in Ottawa, where for some reason it is celebrated in August. Which goes some way towards explaining why The BumblePuppy Press is only now taking note of this year’s festivities.
But only some way. Other reasons include the fact that BPPress is a small operation, and that I am juggling a lot of plates (while riding a metaphorical unicycle). And also (full disclosure, as the kids put it these days): I am a cis, white, almost completely straight, male who is approaching 60 with alarming rapidity (February 2025 is in — what? — less that eight months, isn’t it? Dear god …) — but I digress.
As said old(ish), cis, straight, white guy, what does Pride mean to me anyway? After all, I’ve hated parades at least as far back as the early 1970s, when my parents took me to the Santa Claus Parade in Montreal and I was bored silly.
Could it be that I am just cynically using Pride to try to sell a few books, with no more genuine concern for the problems facing “the gayz” than, say, Scotiabank or Loblaws has for any of the “social justice” causes they put their publicity machines behind?
Well, no.
In fact I do have some skin in the proverbial game, even though I am not, myself, a member of the queer community.
I have gay and bisexual friends and relatives; I have at least one trans acquaintance (that I know of); and many years ago, a dyke friend of mine made me very (yes) proud by declaring me an Honorary Queer (along with gifting me a subscription to Diane DiMassa’s marvellous zine, Hothead Paisan: Homicidal Lesbian Terrorist — thanks, Erin!).
(I realize (and realized) that “the gayz” don’t actually have a formal system of handing out such accolades; I still took it seriously.)
The most important reason, of course, is that human rights are (or damned well should be!) human rights. The sex or gender of the people we are attracted to are nobody’s business but our own (provided, of course, that we act on those attractions only with people able to consent; pedophiles remain beyond the proverbial pale).
And so it is that (yes, again) I am proud to have published both Rachel Rosen’s Cascade and Zilla Novikov’s Reprise, novels that are not about being queer, but both of whichtreat queerness as a normal aspect of the human condition.
So, halfway through Pride month, I’ve found the time to put on my marketing hat and do something about it: both Cascade and Reprise are available on sale at 25% percent off through our shop! The sale will continue until the end of June, so get ’em while they’re cheap!
The Ottawa Small Press Book Fair
Local folks, all of our books will be available this coming Saturday, June 22, at The Ottawa Small Press Book Fair, once again taking place at the spacious and airy Tom Brown Arena, 141 Bayview Station Road.
Of course, it won’t just be The BumblePuppy Press holding court, but the cream of Ottawa’s small press crop. If you love books and zines, you owe it to yourself to come out and browse (and buy).
Reminder: Online book-launch for Skipping Stones
If you missed the announcement the first time, our most recent (chap)book, Skipping Stones is getting a virtual launch, even as I work at getting its authors out into the three dimensional world as well.
Adrienne Stevenson and Marie-Andrée Auclair will host that online event via Zoom at 7:00 PM eastern time on Wednesday, June 26, 2024. Each of them will read from Skipping Stones, and that will be followed by an interview with the authors.
Monday, June 11, 2024 — Not to complain, but being a one-man operation (while also being a full-time papa) isn’t easy. Priorities clash with priorities and all too often they cancel one another out.
One thing I have been intending to do for a long time, is to write a regular (weekly? monthly? Time will tell) update about what is going on at The BumblePuppy Press. And this, at last, is my first (published) attempt.
What is going on, you ask? Quite a lot, actually. So I think it’s best to work from the future into the (recent) past for this opening effort.
June 26: Save the date! Online book-launch for Skipping Stones
First, our most recent (chap)book, Skipping Stones (which you can buy here, along with the usual online options) is getting a virtual launch, even as I work at getting its authors out into the three dimensional world as well.
Adrienne Stevenson and Marie-Andrée Auclair will host that online event via Zoom at 7:00 PM eastern time on June 26, 2024. A reading from Skipping Stones by each will be followed by an interview with the authors.
On May 21st of this year, Reprise author Zilla Novikov made an appearance on This Book I Read … THE PODCAST, in which she discusses (among many other things), Rachel Rosen’s Cascade. Needless to say, this too is worth your time (as are both those novels!).
That interview is available from your favourite podcast source or directly from Beyond Cataclysm.
And speaking of podcasts, Rachel started co-hosting one of her own in April. With poet David Clink, Wizards and Spaceships “… cast[s] spells and cast[s] off on brave new voyages while pondering life, the universe, and everything all at once. And the deep questions – Are we alone? Does magic exist? Tights – yes or no? And why are there no ugly people in space?”
• • •
That’s it for now. Our books are available from the usual online vendors and, of course, directly from our shop. I know I am biased, but it’s true: when you’re a small press like this one, all of our books are good books.
Marie-Andrée Auclair, Geoffrey Dow, and Adrienne Stevenson sign on the proverbial dotted line, November 30, 2023. Thanks to our server at the Canal Ritz for taking the photograph.
December 1, 2023 — Well, yesterday was fun. I had the great pleasure of sitting down to sign a contract old-school — pen on paper! — with Adrienne Stevenson (who is also a first-time novelist with this year’s release of Mirrors & Smoke) and Marie-Andrée Auclair, two Ottawa-based writers whose collaborative book of poems (or “chapbook”, if you prefer), Skipping Stones, will be published by The BumblePuppy Press in the spring of 2024.
I never thought we would branch out into poetry, but Skipping Stones is a book — chapbook! — whose sometimes meditative, sometimes funny, sometimes moving, poems demanded that we grow a new artistic limb.
There will be more information about this in the days and weeks to come.
• • •
Speaking of branching out, stay tuned for announcements about a memoir, Life Is Good, written by Jules Paivio, who was the last living member of the famed Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion, and a children’s book, The Inclusive Winnie-the-Pooh, by A.A. Milne, edited and with an introduction by yours truly.
Also, though there have been some unexpected delays, Paul Adamson is hard at work on our first audiobook, Rachel Rosen’s Cascade.
All in all, I am pretty excited about the year to come for the BumblePuppy Press.
And meanwhile, all of our books currently in print are available on our website at 20% off! Click here to visit our store and save! After all, what better holiday gift can there be than a good book? Www.bppress.ca/shop.
Randy Ray (left) and Carl Dow (right) talk while waiting for the birthday food to arrive on July 15, 2023. Photo by Judy Kwasnica.
July 17, 2023 — A few months shy of the 10th anniversary of the publication of Carl Dow’s first book (the eclectic collection of short fiction, The Old Man’s Last Sauna) came another anniversary: Carl’s 90th birthday, which we celebrated in quiet style at his home on the northern edge of Ottawa’s Centretown this past Saturday.
In attendance were Randy Ray, his longtime friend and sometime publicist, Randy’s partner Judy Kwasnica, Carl’s oldest friend (who he has been trying to catch for about 70 years, but who somehow remains four months older) Nick Aplin, his friend Faduma (who asked not to be pictured nor last-named), and of course, my darling wife (who also chooses to keep her face and name off the internet), and my daughter, “Baobao”, whose face I have decided to keep private, now that she is nearly four.
Carl receives a hand-made card from his grand-daughter, Baobao.
As I said, it was a small celebration of Carl’s first 90 years, but a joyful one.
Though largely confined to the wheelchair you can see in some of the accompanying photos, Carl (who is, yes, my father; the shared last name is no coincidence. His writer’s home at The BumblePuppy Press, on the other hand, has nothing to do with nepotism and everything to do with the fact that, when I read his first novel, Black Grass, in manuscript, I started it in the evening and finished it as the sun was rising the next morning. I founded the company because I really wanted that book to see print) promises to deliver his next novel, Wildflowers: The Women Who Made McCord Chronicle to his publisher, well, any day now.
After that, he says he has a sequel to Black Grass percolating — one that will feature Louis Riel himself, along with the protagonist of Black Grass, Gabriel Dumont. He says he might start work on his memoirs once those two novels are in the proverbial can, but I suspect more fiction will get in the way of that.
While I wait for the new book (and to really bury the lede), to celebrate Carl’s birthday, we are offering both of his existing books — Black Grass and The Old Man’s Last Sauna for a combined price of only $25.00. Click here to buy them now!
Please offer your congratulations to my dad in the best way possible — buy his books! If you need evidence before laying down your hard-earned money, click here to read an excerpt from Black Grass, and here to read the powerful novelette, “O! Ernie … What Have They Done To You?” in its entirety.
Rachel A. Rosen’s Cascade eligible for Aurora Award
Image courtesy of Rachel A. Rosen
As is only right and proper, Rachel A. Rosen’s debut novel, Cascade, is eligible in the Best Novel category for Canada’s premiere English-language science fiction and fantasy awards, the Auroras (https://www.csffa.ca/members-home/nomination/).
To have a chance to be added to the final Aurora Awards ballot, a work must get at least five nominations, and only members of the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association (CSFFA) are eligible to vote. The price of that franchise is a pretty affordable $10.00 for an annual membership, and you must be a Canadian citizen or landed immigrant in order to join.
If you loved Cascade, or even if you’re just a fan of Canadian SF&F, that seems a small price to pay to support the work creators you like. Membership information is here: https://www.csffa.ca/become-a-member/. CSFFA membership allows you to:
nominate your favourite works in any or all of the categories;
download e-versions of almost all of the finalist works for free with our voter package; and
vote for the for the awards themselves.
To celebrate (and yes, to improve Rachel’s chances, I won’t lie), we’ve reduced the price on all versions of Cascade. DRM-free ebooks in all formats are now only $2.00, the paperback is marked down to $15.00, and the hardcover is only $26.00. A little self-serving, maybe, but a great deal for you if you have not yet had the pleasure of reading what I really do think was the best Canadian SF novel of 2022. You can buy all of our books here.
Besides the upcoming Aurora Awards, the BumblePuppy Press will have more news about Cascade (audiobook!), the upcoming novel Reprise, and a new version of A.A. Milne’s classic children’s book, which we will be calling The InclusiveWoke Winnie-the-Pooh. So please come back soon or, better yet, subscribe to our newsletter!
Why yes, that is a hard-cover version of Cascade. Available exclusively in our shop for only $25.00!
It’s not often one grins while pressing Send on an e-transfer, but this was one of those times. (Not often?!? Come to think of it, I can’t remember ever feeling delighted about paying money for anything.)
But it was with genuine pleasure that I found myself sending Rachel A. Rosen her first royalty payment for her debut novel, Cascade, amounting to more than 60% of her advance! (There was also a second, much smaller cheque, for sales of her related chapbook, So Human As I Am.)
Yes, I think the exclamation point is warranted. While not quite a bestseller, for the publisher behind a very small press, I consider this a real victory. And I’m confident it won’t be the last.* * *
Not only do we have four really good books currently available for sale now, but this year we have plans for at least another four books, two of them slated for the spring.
Next week we will formally launch a Kickstarter campaign for, and reveal the cover of, Zilla Novikov’s first novel, the very twisted, and very funny, science fiction romance, Reprise, and shortly after that, our Inclusive version of A.A. Milne’s children’s classic, Winnie-the-Pooh.
If you want to avoid the mysterious algorithms of social media, please join our mailing list (link below). We won’t sell your info to anyone else, and you’ll then be the first to know when we have actual news.
Our Director of Promotions and Publicity is as happy about the new year as I am.
I think that’s it for the moment. I hope the new year is starting off as well for you as it is for us!
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The BumblePuppy Press is a small house with big ambitions. Or at least, a small press that aims to publish good work and to keep it available over the long term.
