Category: Reprise

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No picture, because it happened

A father’s love, a publisher’s distaster

Image shows copies of Reprise paperback against a white background.
Well, there is a picture — a repeat, no less — but no un-boxing photo or video.

Monday, June 26, 2023 — Friday saw two things of note happen to your obedient servant.

First, I took my nearly four-year old daughter to a nearby wading pool, where she for the first time ventured into the deep end (nearly neck-high on her) for the first time. I of course, stayed close, while the water lapped at my thighs. Such was my enthusiasm for her pleasure in exploring the waters, that at one point I decided to give her a lesson in basic kicking techniques.

I brought her back to the steps and stretched out, placing my hands on the top steps and kicking up a storm with my legs and feet. And yes, completely forgetting that I was still wearing my phone in that o! so sexy belt holster at my side.

By the time I realized my mistake, the damage was done, and when I returned home to find a box of paper copies of Zilla Novikov’s Reprise on my doorstep, there could be no unboxing video or photo.

Do we now really have paper copies available for sale? You bet we do! But for the moment, you’ll need to order one to see it. Our store is right here: bppress.ca/shop/, and if you’re within cycling distance of downtown Ottawa, contact me first to arrange delivery for only $5.00 (or nothing at all, if you can come to me.

And so, the continue the adventures of a (very) small press. (I can only thank all the gods in which I do not believe that my old phone was already past the point of its planned obsolescence, though that is still small comfort.)

That's me!

Geoff

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Reprise is published!

Image shows copies of Reprise paperback against a white background.
Reprise is now available from your favourite online vendor, or right here at the BPPress store!

June 19, 2023 — It has been, as the song says, a long and winding road, but Zilla Novikov‘s remarkable, and remarkably funny, debut novel, Reprise has been published.

Called “a breakneck journey, a loveletter to being a nerd, and a good time” by the Independent Book Review, Novikov’s post-modern gothic is the novel that might have resulted had Jane Austen and Douglas Adams managed to transcend time and space and produce a child.

To quote Cascade‘s Rachel A. Rosen, “If you like your pop culture nerdy, your queers messy, and your time travel criminally clever, this book is for you.”

Electronic versions of Reprise are available from The BumblePuppy Press Store now, and we expect paperback copies to arrive within the week. If you can’t wait, click here to buy from the online vendor of your choice!

Happy reading, and please remember: if you like this, or any of our books, leave a review! Especially for a small press, reviews are the best way convince a writer you like they should create another book!

That's me!
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Reprise Kickstarter is off

June 19, 2023: UPDATE — Sadly, this Kickstarter was not a success. No one who backed it will be charged. However, Reprise has now been published, and is available from the usual online vendors as well as in our own store (we expect to have paper copies available by Sunday, June 25th, but ebooks can be had now).

Just launched Kickstarter banner

She’s got a doctorate and nothing to lose
He’s got a time machine and a hot wife
Which is deadlier, love or science?

May 21, 2023 — It’s been a long time coming, but the Kickstarter campaign for Zilla Novikov’s singular debut novel, Reprise: A Post-Modern Comedy of Manners, is here at last!

A caustically funny time-travel romance that blends dark academia with with timey-wimey complexity, D&D with S&M, and leaves the reader wondering if the protagonist is a murderer or victim — or both — Reprise is the novel that would have been written by the love-child of Jane Austen and the Marquis de Sade, had she been raised by Douglas Adams.

Reprise will make you laugh, gasp, and maybe, cheer.

Back and front cover of Zilla Novikov's Reprise

Most people play ‘F**k, Marry, Kill’ as a game of hypotheticals, but Eddy Courant’s life takes an unconventional path when Dr. François Gagnon offers Eddy a postdoc position studying time loops. This unexpected chance to revive her career pulls Eddy from a deep depression. She loses herself to the thrill of science, and to the simpler pleasures in life – like flirting with her boss, seducing his wife, and playing Dungeons and Dragons with their son.

That is, until the men funding the research demand ever-more ground-breaking data to justify keeping her on board – after all, they have a war to start.

Eddy is plunged into ever darker and more violent acts to appease the funders. So long as she’s employed, she doesn’t have to face the consequences of replaying countless deaths – including her own. But keeping track of shifting timelines while her own mental state deteriorates means losing the ability to tell real life from its shadow.

If you like your pop culture nerdy, your queers messy, and your time travel criminally clever, this book is for you.

Please click here to support the campaign, and feel free to share the link with anyone you know who loves time-travel, romance, or any kinky combination of the two: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bppress/reprise-hardcover!

That's me!

Geoffrey Dow, publisher

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Cover Reveal: Reprise, by Zilla Novikov

The wild imagination of Douglas Adams,
The acerbic wit of Jane Austen,
The surreal vision of Emily Brontë …

Reprise

In a caustically funny post-modern Gothic, Dr. François Gagnon offers Eddy Courant a postdoc position studying time loops. The chance to revive her stalling research career pulls Eddy from a deep depression. She loses herself to the thrill of science, and to the simpler pleasures in life – like flirting with her boss and seducing his wife. Until the men funding the research demand more ground-breaking data to justify keeping her on board – after all, they have a war to start.

Eddy is plunged into ever darker and more violent acts to appease the funders. So long as she’s employed, she doesn’t have to face the consequences of replaying countless deaths – including her own. But keeping track of shifting timelines while her own mental state deteriorates means losing the ability to tell real life from its shadow.

Can Eddy find loves, stop the arms dealer, and save her sanity – or even one out of three?

Scroll down to see the cover (and find out more)!

Image shows the cover of Zilla Novikov's novel, Reprise.
Cover created by Rachel A. Rosen.

Zilla Novikov’s Reprise, coming April 15, 2023

January 13, 2023 – I am excited and proud to present the cover of The BumblePuppy Press’ next book, Zilla Novikov’s singular time travel romance (and brilliant debut novel), Reprise.

Already available for pre-order as an ebook on Amazon, this coming week will see the launch of a Kickstarter campaign with all sorts of extra goodies available, but for now I just want to share the wonderful cover created by our own Rachel A. Rosen.

And don’t forget to subscribe our newsletter to keep abreast of Reprise news, and news of all of our upcoming books (because there is a lot more to come in 2023).

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The joy of (sending) cash

Rachel A. Rosen’s Cascade earns out advance

Photo of publisher Geoffrey Dow posing with hardcover copy of Rachel A. Rosen's novel Cascade.
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.

Photo of small child reclining in a bouncy chair while holding hard-cover copy of Rachel A. Rosen's novel, Cascade.
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!

Signature file of publisher Geoffrey Dow.

Geoff

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Another month, another signing!

Reprise by Zilla Novikov

Reprise

I feel as if someone needs to force-feed me a thesaurus, but there it is: I am once again thrilled to formally announce that The BumblePuppy Press has purchased the rights to another debut novel.

Reprise, by the remarkable Zilla Novikov, is a story the author has been shopping around for some time and I can only be grateful that no one else has been smart enough to say “Yes! Yes, I want this!” before I did.

Granted, Reprise is not an easy book to sum up — and I’m not going to do it now. A relatively short novel by word-count, Zilla manages to pack a lot into it: inter-dimensional travel, a very funny Dungeons and Dragons adventure, romance, and a hearty kick in academia’s shins, all woven into an extraordinarily tightly-woven plot. Zilla herself described it as a “… toxic romance, slow-burn plot, #darkacademia #specfic …” which is incomplete, but certainly not wrong.

Needless to say, you’ll be hearing a great deal more about Reprise in the weeks and months ahead, as we aim to publish it in the fall of 2022.

You can follow Zilla Novikov on Twitter (@zillanovikov), and don’t forget to subscribe to the BumblePuppy’s newsletter using the form below to keep abreast of what’s happening here. (There is more good news coming this year!)

And don’t forget, our Kickstarter campaign for Rachel A. Rosen’s forthcoming novel, Cascade has been a great success; with 20 days to go, it is already nearly 250% funded!

If you want to support a brilliant new writer (and get in on some fantastic extras) please click here. Alternately, the ebook is now available for pre-order on Amazon.

That’s it for now.

Thanks and looking forward,

That's me!

Geoffrey Dow, Publisher

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