[NOTE: This sale is now over.]

As I imagine many of us did, I learned a difficult lesson in the early months of the pandemic: When everyone around you is doing something bad or stupid, it can sometimes become quite reasonable to also do something bad or stupid. Worse than that, it can sometimes be stupid not to be stupid.

The specific cause of that not-too-original observation was last year’s hoarding. In the spring of 2020 our local grocery store’s shelves were suddenly bereft of toilet paper, flour, yeast and disinfectant wipes, among other essentials and staples. Although we ourselves weren’t hit too hard — we tend to buy those kinds of things in bulk on those occasions when we rent a car — but the lesson was learned. When there was toilet paper to be had, I’d snap up twice what I normally would, because I didn’t know when it would be available again.

And so it is with “Black Friday”. Since every other publisher is doing it, everybody expects it us to do it as well. An event that was once some weird American custom we’d make fun of here in the Great White North even a decade back, seems inescapable in Canada in 2021.

And so, here we go …

Sale! Sale! Sale! Sale! Sale! Sale! Sale! Sale! Sale!

Starting tomorrow right now, Thursday, November 25th, and running until midnight Monday, November 29th, The BumblePuppy Press is letting you rob us blind. That’s right, for the next five days only, you can get two books for the price of one! (Note that this offer applies only to our remaining first edition paper copies. Our ebooks remain at our regular (very reasonable and DRM-free) prices, and books ordered from sites like Amazon or Chapters are not included.)

Buy one copy of Carl Dow’s brilliant debut novel, Black Grass (you can read the first three chapters right here for free) and get his collection of short stories, The Old Man’s Last Sauna for free! (and speaking of free, you can read one of those stories, “O! Ernie, What Have they Done to You?” for free right here!)

If you’re fortunate enough to live in the Ottawa (Ontario!) area and can make your way to within bicycling distance of downtown, the publisher (that’s me!) can arrange to deliver you both books for a nominal delivery fee of only $5.00. All in all, you’re looking at two first editions, signed by the author for only $25.00! Click here to buy them now!

They make great Christmas presents, too, if you’re organized enough to be thinking that far ahead.

Thanks and looking forward,

Geoffrey Dow, Publisher

P.S. At long last, we are launching a newsletter. If you want to stay informed, please sign up!