Tag: Rachel A. Rosen

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Happy birthday, Rachel A. Rosen, get well soon, Carl Dow, and some housekeeping notes

Image is a photo of Tricon 2026 panel on De-Industrialization of the Frontier: Proletarian Themes in Sci-Fi.
De-Industrialization of the Frontier: Proletariat Themes in Sci-Fi panel at TriCon. From left to right: Rachel A. Rosen, Madona Skaff-Koren, Brandon Crilly, Jonathan Olfert, and Jason Haslam. Photo yoinked from Rachel’s Facebook page.

OTTAWA, May 18, 2026 — As I type these words, my six year-old, Baobao, is patiently waiting for me to finish, while reading a volume of Doraemon: le chat venu du future on the couch across from my desk in our living room. School’s out so that we can (not) celebrate the queen’s birthday, while her mother is in the air flying to a conference in Regina. And I am doing my best to juggle publishing and fatherhood.

But onwards.

As usual, there is a lot of news from triple Aurora Awards nominee Rachel A. Rosen, who (as you can see in the photo above) spent the weekend in Halifax, attending TriCon 2026 and participating in at least a couple of panels while there. Yet another event I wish I could have been to. Well, there’s always CanCon later on this year, I hope.

Besides that, Rachel’s Aurora-nominated podcast (co-hosted with David L. Clink), Wizards and Spaceships, launched its 3rd season last week, in which Rachel and David interviewed award-winning SF/fantasy authors, Vajra Chandrasekera, Samantha Mills, and Gregory A. Wilson.

Image is a screenshot from the Wizards and Spaceships podcast.
Screenshot courtesy of Wizards and Spaceships

And of course, she will be back in the classroom tomorrow. The woman amazes me, no doubt about it.

•     •     •

Image is a photo of the six year-old Baobao, with grandpa Carl Dow, seated in his wheelchair.
Granddaughter and grandfather, January 19, 2026 (note that no grandfathers were harmed during the taking of this photo).

In less happy news, Black Grass author (and, yes, my father), 92 year-old Carl Dow, is in the hospital awaiting surgery to deal with an infection in his hip. He is (as he almost is) in good spirits and has made friends with the other patients in his ward, but nevertheless is eager to return home (and, I hope, put the finishing touches to his forthcoming novel, Wildflowers: The Women Who Made McCord Chronicle).

Needless to say, I wish him a speedy recovery as his son and his publisher.

If you want to offer him moral support, the best way to do that would be to buy one (or both) of his books, which are, of course, available in both paper and ebook versions in our shop. To make him even happier, once you’ve read it and/or them, you could drop a review, here or anywhere else you leave them on the web!

Image shows covers of books published by the BumblePuppy Press.
Buy one, or better yet, buy them all — there’s not a bad book in the bunch!

•     •     •

And on that note, my patient child has asked for lunch and a trip to Gatineau Park, so I will end this entry here. Happy Victoria Day to those who celebrate, or even just get a day away from their regular labours. We need all the joy we can find in these nervous times.

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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.

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From the BumblePuppy’s nest #001

Image shows The BumblePuppy Press' mascot, half-puppy and a half-bumblebee, wearing a jacket and smoking a pipe.

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

Image shows copy of Skipping Stones, with text reading 'Chapbook Launch - Skipping Stones' superimposed at the bottom left.

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.

The event is free, but registration is needed to take part. Please visit https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/chapbook-launch-skipping-stones-tickets-914917481817 to register; it’s going to be a lot of fun!

• • •

Zilla Novikov talks Cascade

Image of Beyond Cataclysm podcast announcing Zilla Novikov discussion Rachel A. Rosen's Cascade, with cover photo.

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.

• • •

Image shows Wizards & Spaceships podcast hosts David Clink and Rachel A. Rosen.
Wizards and Spaceships podcast hosts David Clink and Rachel A. Rosen.

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.

Happy reading!

That's me!

Geoffrey Dow, publisher

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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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One year for Cascade? (Actually, more than one … mea culpa)

Cover of Rachel A. Rosen's Cascade with 1st birthday graphic superimposed on back cover (www.pngarts.com/explore/238839)
Birthday graphic from First Birthday PNG Image Transparent Background.

June 16, 2023 — It’s hard for me to believe, but it has been more than a year since we published Rachel Rosen’s brilliant debut novel, Cascade.

I am embarrassed to admit that I missed the actual anniversary (June 7, 2022), and while I’ll lean a little on my duties as a father, and of getting Zilla Novikov’s equally-brilliant Reprise ready for publication, neither explanation/excuse really lets me off the hook.

But here we are, with a belated celebratory offering.

First, Rachel’s book is on sale, 25% off each version, ebook or print. Please visit our store, if you have somehow not yet bought her book!

Second, if you haven’t read the book and still need convincing, I have collected a lot of reviews here — if these raves don’t convince you, I don’t know what will.

That's me!
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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

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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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Ho-Ho-Holiday Sale!

The BumblePuppy Press is pleased to offer a full 20% discount on all of our books, from now until December 25th (though, y’know, if you want them in time to put under the tree for that beloved bookworm in your life, best to order them now)! Click here or on the image below to visit our store.

(And note that we are offering in-person delivery for those of you living within bicycle distance of downtown Ottawa for only $5.00, a considerable saving off of Canada Post’s price. Please email orders@bppress.ca to make arrangements.)

Poster displaying The BumblePuppy Press' logo, and the covers of our existing and forthcoming books in two columns. From left-to-right, top-to-bottom: Black Grass, by Carl Dow; Cascade, by Rachel A. Rosen; So Human As I Am, by Rachel A. Rosen; The Old Man's Last Sauna, by Carl Dow; Reprise, by Zilla Novikov, Winnie-the-Pooh, by A.A. Milne, edited by Geoffrey Dow.