Tag: Blight

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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

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From the BumblePuppy’s nest #005

Save the date! The Blight is coming to Toronto July 3rd

A compulsive read: angry, articulate, and lyrical. Somehow, even its horrific fantasy elements only add to the sense that Blight presages tomorrow’s headlines (or it would, if those headlines were written by poets and the newspapers themselves weren’t all owned by billionaires). Rosen is rapidly proving herself to be the twenty-first century’s answer to John Brunner. In fact, this whole trilogy is shaping up to be a minor masterpiece.

In the unlikely event that we shake off our collective stupidity and cowardice enough to fight against the current trajectory of our society— not to mention that of the whole damn biosphere—I want Rachel Rosen leading the revolution. — Peter Watts, author of Blindsight

Ottawa, Monday, February 24, 2025 — Another week, another pre-publication blurb for Blight. If Peter Watts’ words don’t make you want to pre-order Blight, I don’t know what will!

Or maybe you want to pick up a copy from the author herself?

In that case, and if you will be in Toronto in early July, you’re in luck. Rachel will be reading from Blight and answering questions at Glad Day Bookshop on Thursday, July 3, 2025. The event will start at 5:00 PM. (Glad Day is located at 499 Church Street, Toronto, Ontario, M4Y 2C6. Their phone number is 416-901-6600, and email is shop@gladdaybookshop.com.)

I haven’t seen Rachel perform onstage since the launch of Cascade 2022, but even then she was both entertaining and enlightening, and I can only presume she is that much better now.

We are also working on getting Rachel more opportunities to meet her public, so watch this space for news. And of course, if you can’t make it, you can pre-order Blight right here or at most of the usual online options.

Front and back covers of Blight, by Rachel A. Rosen

Thanks and looking forward,

Image shows Geoffrey Dow's signature

Geoff

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From the BumblePuppy’s nest #004

Front and back covers of Blight, by Rachel A. Rosen

Rachel A. Rosen’s Blight available for pre-sale

Cascade sequel to be published June 15, 2025

“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

Image shows copies of Rachel A. Rosen's novel, Blight.

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.

Naturally, I (and Rachel) would love it if you did so directly through our website (www.bppress.ca/shop), but you can also pre-order the Kindle edition of Blight through the Big A (www.amazon.com/Blight-Sleep-Reason-Book-2-ebook/dp/B0DSLVL31N)and paper or ebook editions via Books2Read (books2read.com/u/mYVl9P).

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.

Photo shows Shirley Meier and Ira Nayman standing behind a table displaying many books.
Shirley Meier and Ira Nayman. Photo taken from the Wizards and Spaceships website.

Rachel was also the Daily LFS – Lim Fic Spotlight this past Wednesday (check it out at Liminal Fiction, www.limfic.com/mbm-book-author/rachel-a-rosen/).

More news about Blight and other BumblePuppy Press projects coming very soon!

And (dare I repeat it), if you’re looking for something to read for yourself or a loved one, don’t forget to shop.