Posted on Leave a comment

Rachel A. Rosen nominated for 3 Aurora Awards!

That’s right, three!

Photo shows Aurora Awards trophy, featuring the word, AURORA and a maple leaf.
Vote early (but don’t vote often — I guess …). Photo boldly taken from Robert J. Sawyer’s Facebook page.

Ottawa, April 21, 2026 — Well, holy moly! The Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association (CSFFA) released its list of nominees for the 2026 Aurora Awards yesterday, and the BumblePuppy Press is thrilled to be able to tell you that our own Rachel A. Rosen has been nominated for not one, not two, but three Auroras.

And, if I’m being fully honest, I am pretty thrilled, too. Call it riding on someone else’s coat-tails if you will, but I can’t help but feel that I was pretty clever to offer Rachel a contract for her first novel, Cascade, way back in 2021. The woman is brilliant in all sorts of ways, and I get the bragging rights to say that I saw that genius first!

But I digress.

Cover of Blight, by Rachel A. Rosen

Blight is available from the usual online vendors and, of course, in our shop.

Rachel’s second novel, Blight, has been nominated for the Best Novel award; she’s also in the running for best short story, with, “What If We Kissed While Sinking a Billionaire’s Yacht?” published in Antifa Lit Journal Volume 1, and for the podcast she co-hosts with David L. Clink, Wizards and Spaceships.

In the best novel category, Rachel is competing with the likes of such luminaries as Julie E. Czerneda, Heather Fawcett, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Tanya Huff, Guy Gavriel Kay, and Robert J. Sawyer (who, as you can see above, blurbed Blight itself prior to publication). The BumblePuppy Press offers its congratulations to all nominees, but I hope you’ll forgive me if I cross my fingers a little extra tightly on Rachel’s behalf.

The history of the Aurora Awards (albeit under a different name) go back to 1980, when none other than A.E. van Vogt was given a Lifetime Achievement Award for the work he did before he moved to the United States. Since 2012, they have been the Auroras and, as with the American Hugo Awards, you too can vote for the work you loved best in 2025 (if you are a Canadian citizen or Permanent Resident). All it takes is an internet connection and a credit card or PayPal account to join the CSFFA. The price is $10.00. Visit their homepage and follow the links to sign up or to renew your membership.

Finally, I guess I’d be remiss if I don’t belabour the obvious: Blight is yours for the buying in our shop.

Excitedly yours,

Image shows Geoffrey Dow's signature

Geoffrey Dow, publisher

Posted on Leave a comment

Vote early, vote late! But vote!

Rachel A. Rosen’s Cascade eligible for Aurora Award

Vote early, vote often!
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.

Cascade has blurbs!

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 Inclusive Woke Winnie-the-Pooh. So please come back soon or, better yet, subscribe to our newsletter!

That's me!

Geoff