Tag: skipping stones

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From the BumblePuppy’s nest #002

Of pride and poetry

(TD/DR:)

  • Our most recent release, Skipping Stones, was published on May 27th, 2024, and is now available through most of your favourite online vendors in both paper and electronic editions, as well as the behemoth, Amazon. Of course, you can also order it, and all our books, directly from our store;
  • The Bumble Puppy Press is proud of our queer-related novels, Cascade and Reprise, both of which are now on sale at a 25% discount in all formats;
  • I discuss my own longstanding relationships (or lack thereof?) with Pride and some of the LGBTQ communities;
  • For Ottawa folks, we have a table at the upcoming Ottawa Small Press Book Fair on Saturday, June 22, 2024, at the Tom Brown Arena between noon and 5:00 PM;
  • Marie-Andrée and Adrienne were interviewed on the Meter&Mayhem videolog on the 15th of June. You can see it at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-ucYRKvaQM;
  • And a reminder about the Skipping Stones virtual book launch on June 26!

Proud of our queer books!

Image shows pride flag, with the cover of Cascade (left), The BumblePuppy Press Logo (centre), and Reprise (right) superimposed upon it.

June 19, 2024 — It seems as if June is Pride Month everywhere but here in Ottawa, where for some reason it is celebrated in August. Which goes some way towards explaining why The BumblePuppy Press is only now taking note of this year’s festivities.

But only some way. Other reasons include the fact that BPPress is a small operation, and that I am juggling a lot of plates (while riding a metaphorical unicycle). And also (full disclosure, as the kids put it these days): I am a cis, white, almost completely straight, male who is approaching 60 with alarming rapidity (February 2025 is in — what? — less that eight months, isn’t it? Dear god …) — but I digress.

As said old(ish), cis, straight, white guy, what does Pride mean to me anyway? After all, I’ve hated parades at least as far back as the early 1970s, when my parents took me to the Santa Claus Parade in Montreal and I was bored silly.

Could it be that I am just cynically using Pride to try to sell a few books, with no more genuine concern for the problems facing “the gayz” than, say, Scotiabank or Loblaws has for any of the “social justice” causes they put their publicity machines behind?

Well, no.

In fact I do have some skin in the proverbial game, even though I am not, myself, a member of the queer community.

I have gay and bisexual friends and relatives; I have at least one trans acquaintance (that I know of); and many years ago, a dyke friend of mine made me very (yes) proud by declaring me an Honorary Queer (along with gifting me a subscription to Diane DiMassa’s marvellous zine, Hothead Paisan: Homicidal Lesbian Terrorist — thanks, Erin!).

(I realize (and realized) that “the gayz” don’t actually have a formal system of handing out such accolades; I still took it seriously.)

The most important reason, of course, is that human rights are (or damned well should be!) human rights. The sex or gender of the people we are attracted to are nobody’s business but our own (provided, of course, that we act on those attractions only with people able to consent; pedophiles remain beyond the proverbial pale).

And so it is that (yes, again) I am proud to have published both Rachel Rosen’s Cascade and Zilla Novikov’s Reprise, novels that are not about being queer, but both of whichtreat queerness as a normal aspect of the human condition.

So, halfway through Pride month, I’ve found the time to put on my marketing hat and do something about it: both Cascade and Reprise are available on sale at 25% percent off through our shop! The sale will continue until the end of June, so get ’em while they’re cheap!

The Ottawa Small Press Book Fair

Image shows covers of BumblePuppy Press books in two tiers.

Local folks, all of our books will be available this coming Saturday, June 22, at The Ottawa Small Press Book Fair, once again taking place at the spacious and airy Tom Brown Arena, 141 Bayview Station Road.

Of course, it won’t just be The BumblePuppy Press holding court, but the cream of Ottawa’s small press crop. If you love books and zines, you owe it to yourself to come out and browse (and buy).

Reminder: Online book-launch for Skipping Stones

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

If you missed the announcement the first time, our most recent (chap)book, Skipping Stones 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 Wednesday, June 26, 2024. Each of them will read from Skipping Stones, and that 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!

Marie-Andrée and Adrienne also appeared on the Meter&Mayhem podcast, first posted on June 15th. It’s on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-ucYRKvaQM.

Image shows The BumblePuppy Press' mascot, half-puppy and a half-bumblebee, wearing a jacket and smoking a pipe.
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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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Now available for pre-order: Skipping Stones!

Poetry comes to the BumblePuppy Press

Cover of Skipping Stones, by Adrienne Stevenson and Marie-Andrée Auclair.
Image above shows front cover of Skipping Stones.

May 19, 2024 — Most of us have experienced imposter syndrome at one time or another. For some of us, it is a never-ending story.

My own experience with it is that it very much depends on context. And publishing a book (or, as the authors prefer, a chapbook) of poetry is definitely one of them.

It’s not that I have no experience with verse — beyond song lyrics, and poems for children (Bob Dylan, Emma-Lee Moss, Lewis Carroll and A.A. Milne, please take a bow!), I have taken pleasure in Dylan Thomas and T.S. Elliot, but after that the list is a short one.

I take no pride in that — but no shame, either; some forms speak to us and some don’t, or don’t very often — but I do take pride in having had the good sense to recognize the qualities of the poetic dialogue contained within the covers of Skipping Stones, by Marie-Andrée Auclair and Adrienne Stevenson.

Written over a period of years as the authors shared their work with each other, they eventually came to realize they were, in a sense, dancing together with words.

The result is The BumblePuppy Press’ first collection of poetry, which I am thrilled to say will be published on May 28, 2024! And it is available now for pre-order, both here and at Amazon, with more to come soon.

Skipping Stones is a remarkable collaboration: sometimes funny, sometimes moving, always compelling and insightful. It will resonate with anyone who remembers what it was like to be young, or who has experienced the changes that come with living.

* * *

A final note: if you are a book reviewer or blogger, please contact me (geoffdow (at) bppress.ca) for a review copy. I hope it will soon be listed on BookSirens as well.

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The new year promises wonders

Image is a photo of Marie-Andrée Auclair, Geoffrey Dow, and Adrienne Stevenson, each signing a contract with the Rideau Canal appearing in the background.
Marie-Andrée Auclair, Geoffrey Dow, and Adrienne Stevenson sign on the proverbial dotted line, November 30, 2023. Thanks to our server at the Canal Ritz for taking the photograph.

December 1, 2023 — Well, yesterday was fun. I had the great pleasure of sitting down to sign a contract old-school — pen on paper! — with Adrienne Stevenson (who is also a first-time novelist with this year’s release of Mirrors & Smoke) and Marie-Andrée Auclair, two Ottawa-based writers whose collaborative book of poems (or “chapbook”, if you prefer), Skipping Stones, will be published by The BumblePuppy Press in the spring of 2024.

I never thought we would branch out into poetry, but Skipping Stones is a book — chapbook! — whose sometimes meditative, sometimes funny, sometimes moving, poems demanded that we grow a new artistic limb.

There will be more information about this in the days and weeks to come.

•     •     •

Speaking of branching out, stay tuned for announcements about a memoir, Life Is Good, written by Jules Paivio, who was the last living member of the famed Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion, and a children’s book, The Inclusive Winnie-the-Pooh, by A.A. Milne, edited and with an introduction by yours truly.

Also, though there have been some unexpected delays, Paul Adamson is hard at work on our first audiobook, Rachel Rosen’s Cascade.

All in all, I am pretty excited about the year to come for the BumblePuppy Press.

And meanwhile, all of our books currently in print are available on our website at 20% off! Click here to visit our store and save! After all, what better holiday gift can there be than a good book? Www.bppress.ca/shop.