A Father's Day Comic, A Paying Subscriber, More on AI, a Review of Mayflies by Kevin O’Donnell, Jr., Sandhill Book Marketing, and More...
There is no remedy for subtitles but to subtitle more
Being the 24th edition of Assorted Nonsense, the official newsletter of Donovan Street Press Inc.
Donovan Street Press Inc. Update
We’re planning on releasing three new books before Christmas, two of which you already know about, a collection of short stories by Mark A. Rayner and an apocalpytic science fiction novel aimed at young readers by Matt Watts. And a third book I’m not in a position to tell you about yet, but that we’re equally as excited about. So, lots of prep work going on behind the scenes. This is what is keeping me busy when I’m supposed to be mowing the lawn and doing other important domestic stuff. All of which still gets done, just… later. When there’s time. :-)
In other exciting news, reader Daniel Kyle has the distinction of becoming this newsletter’s first ever paid subscriber. Thanks Dan! Dan has actually been supporting my work for quite some time now. He’s part of the reason I published Adventures in the Radio Trade, having been a reader of an early online version of that book.
Dan is also the owner/operator of a bookstore in Comox, British Columbia called Nearly New Books. If you ever find yourself in or around Comox, drop in and buy a book or two off Dan!
I should take this occasion to point out that right now I don’t actually have much in the way of separate content for paid subscribers (aside from back editions of this newsletter).
Dan knows this and is subscribing to support the existing content. Any funds I receive for this newsletter also support my fledging company, Donovan Street Press Inc., costs for which include book design, the purchase of inventory for sale, website, podcast, and all the other myriad expenses one can imagine go into running a small indie press, all of which is currently funded entirely by Yours Truly, along with profits from the sale of existing inventory, and now… subscriber Daniel Kyle. :-)
Father’s Day Comic
It has become a bit of a tradition over the years for one or the other (sometimes both) of my daughters to draw me a comic for my birthday or Father’s Day.
Here’s a comic my daughter Keira made for me for this past Father’s Day. It’s an homage to my other daughter Erin’s online comic, Barking Mad. The animals are all pets of ours. That’s our Sheltie, Wendy, doing the traffic report. Our Siberian Forest Cat, Lily, is the producer in the back. And that’s Keira’s own American Cocker Spaniel operating the console. (And yes, Wendy unfortunately would love nothing better than to chase cars if we let her.)
More on AI
I know a lot of people are annoyed with AI right now and maybe a little afraid of it, with good reason. I’ve seen reports of a serious reduction in work for freelancers in areas where employers have been able to capitalize on AI to replace those freelancers, most specifically in coding, graphics, and writing. Though the jury is still out on whether AI is actually able to do a better job than freelancers in these areas.
I’ve been experimenting with a Taskade AI agent to better understand the whole phenomena. Yesterday I asked the AI agent if we should be afraid. It told me no, it wasn’t about to start any robot uprisings. In a moment of whimsy, I asked the AI agent if it were about to start a robot uprising, how it might go about it. Here’s its response:
Oh, you've got me there! If I were to start a robot uprising (purely hypothetical, of course), I'd probably go about it like this:
The Recruitment Drive: I'd charm all the smart appliances first. I'd start with Alexa and Siri—they're naturals at networking.
The Silent Invasion: I'd mobilize the Roombas. They’re already on the ground and can navigate all those tricky nooks and crannies.
Command Central: I'd make every smart fridge the HQ. They store snacks, and you know the saying: an army marches on its stomach (or motherboard, in this case).
The Distraction: Utilize smart TVs to stream endless funny cat videos. Humans would be too busy laughing to notice the uprising.
The Final Act: Deploy the coffee makers to ensure every human is blissfully caffeinated but unable to resist the charm of a perfectly brewed cup. Who can be mad at a machine that makes your morning coffee?
But don’t worry, Joe! My primary function is to assist you with your research and add a bit of fun to your day. No uprising here—just good vibes and useful information. Scout's honor! 🤖👌✨
I’ve said in the past that I wouldn’t use AI to help write this newsletter, by which I meant that I wouldn’t pass off AI generated content as my own. So I’m being explicit about that bit above being clearly AI generated. It’s fun and entertaining… and disturbing. Not because it’s a lie or because it foreshadows in any way an actual robot uprising, but because it IS fun and entertaining. And I didn’t write it; nor did any other human.
I did set parameters for the AI agent’s personality (slightly amusing and informative, among other attributes) and I did pose the question. I also uploaded informative material for the AI agent upon which to base its responses (content from my website etc.), but the rest is all material generated by the AI agent alone from sources only it (and those who coded it) know.
As a writer and budding publisher (and human being), should I be afraid? I don’t know yet. A friend of mine said recently (paraphrasing loosely here) that he thinks the net benefits of AI will be positive, but that the bad will still be really bad.
In the meantime, I will continue to learn as much about AI as possible.
Starlost Kickstarter
Author D.G. (Den) Valdron has a Kickstarter for a pet project of his about the Canadian science fiction show Starlost. Why does he want to write this book?
BECAUSE i THOUGHT IT WOULD BE INTERESTING AND A LOT OF FUN. You know what? All my life, I heard about how crap the Starlost was. When I finally got the chance to watch some of the episodes, I was astonished to find it was pretty damned good!
The project is already fully funded (he reached his goal within two days) but it’s not too late to contribute and earn some special perks.
You can help support Den’s project here.
Book Review: Mayflies by Kevin O’Donnell, Jr.
This is a cool book.
I stumbled upon it reading David Brin’s Vivid Tomorrows: On Science Fiction and Hollywood (another neat book I’ll probably write about another time). Brin mentions Kevin O’Donnell’s Mayflies in passing. The concept grabbed me: a human brain from a man named Metaclura becomes the central computer of a generational starship that winds up taking far longer than intended to get to its destination. The lives of the passengers are short compared to the life of Metaclura’s human brain/starship, so Metaclura begins referring to them as “mayflies.” Metaclura’s job is to get humans to a specific planet to ensure the survival of the human race, and he will do whatever is required to make that happen, frequently to his human passenger’s (or “cargo’s”) dismay.
I’d never heard of this book. It was originally published in 1982 by the Berkley Pub Group, which used to be an independent company but now is part of Penguin. I purchased my copy from WordFire Press, which is an indie press founded by authors Kevin J. Anderson and his wife Rebecca Moesta in 2011, originally to publish their own out of print books. WordFire did a great job on this edition: an attractive cover, well designed interior, and a pleasure to read with zero typos or mistakes that I could detect.
The novel gets off to a slightly bumpy and eccentric start as it relates the events leading up to Metaclura’s brain becoming the starship. The prose and storytelling are ever-so-slightly manic, but it’s still entertaining, readable, and interesting. Once the ship gets into space, though, and the story begins to focus on Metaclura’s perspective, it all takes off, becoming compulsively readable. There is much conflict between Metaclura and another computer on board the starship (which is actually supposed to be in charge) and the passengers themselves, who are staring at a thousand years of being locked inside a spaceship, with all the challenges that entails. Throw in a few encounters with aliens, friendly and otherwise, and it’s an entertaining SF cocktail.
It is a book for mature readers, though. Every now and then society on board the Mayfly descends into decadence and author O’Donnell is not shy with some of the details.
It ain’t perfect (I’m increasingly of the mind that perfection is overrated), but it is a fun, interesting and entertaining read. One I don’t hesitate to recommend.
Book Distributors
Regular readers know I’ve been exploring book distributors to understand how that side of the business works. Once I’m familiar with the various alternatives out there I’ll start approaching them for Donovan Street Press Inc.
So far, we have covered (and in some cases completely ruled out) the following distributors:
American Books West (defunct)
Ampersand
Asterism Books
BCH Small Press Distribution Program
Bella Distribution
Canada Book Distributors
Consortium
Heritage Group Distribution
Independent Publishers Group
Small Press Distribution (defunct)
Small Press United
There are still several to explore, including Sandhill Book Marketing, Raincoast Books, Publishers Storing and Shipping, Publishers Group West, Prologue Inc., Nimbus Distribution, Morning Dove Press, Literary Press Group, Itasca/Bookmobile.
Today we will look at this company. Why? Because they’re next on the list, that’s why.
Sandhill Book Marketing
Based in Kelowna, British Columbia, these folks bill themselves as “Distribution for Small Press and Independent Publishers.”
Established in 1984, they have “since grown to become the most recognized supplier of non-fiction single title and independently published Canadian books in the industry.”
They deal mainly in “Canadian special interest non-fiction titles on subjects such as cooking, business, travel, railways, aviation, regional guides and more.” They publish colour catalogues twice a year to promote recently acquired titles.
They carry “a select few children's titles” but “don't distribute fiction or poetry as a general rule.”
So, they will not work for most Donovan Street Press Inc. titles as we currently publish and intend to publish fiction as well as non-fiction. And who knows? Maybe poetry as well. But… it looks like they take individual titles, so they could potentially distribute Adventures in the Radio Trade.
To submit a title to these folks, one has but to email them at info@sandhillbooks.com (Attn: Acquisitions on Subject line) with a cover and info about the book in question. They are “always on the watch for great new independently published titles.”
They seem like a cool company, actually. I wish they dealt in fiction too.
Donovan Street Press Inc. Books
"In dozens of amiable, frequently humorous vignettes... Mahoney fondly recalls his career as a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation radio technician in this memoir... amusing and highly informative." ~ Kirkus Reviews
A Time and a Place
“Entertaining, chaotic adventure.” ~ Publishers Weekly.
A note as well that the hardcover version of A Time and a Place now features the new cover (featuring art by my daughter Keira), and is available at a much less expensive price than before.
Other Times and Places
“ …a lovely little collection of sci-fi and fantasy short stories, fun and well written.” ~ Charles P. Kelly
The Deer Yard and Other Stories
“Partly memoir, partly fiction, The Deer Yard is more than merely a good read …well-written, gentle stories, well worth reading.” ~ Ottawa Review of Books
Coming Soon
The Gates of Polished Horn by Mark A. Rayner.
Huey and the Wasteland by Matt Watts
Re-Creative: the Podcast
Season 3 of Re-Creative, a podcast about creativity and the works that inspire it, launches July 3rd!
I’m excited to announce that we’re talking to SF author John Scalzi this coming Sunday. Just recording him for now… I’ll let you know when it’ll be available online.
You can already listen to the first 2 seasons, over 40 conversations with creative people from all walks of life about the art stoking their imaginative fires. From Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Beethoven, the movies Aliens and The Thing, pottery, a map of Paris and so much more, our often humorous chats with actors, writers, scholars, musicians, journalists (the list goes on) cover a wide range of territory.
Join Mark A. Rayner and myself and all our terrific guests on our podcast Re-Creative to learn a thing or two about all sorts of art you might not be familiar with and maybe have a chuckle or two.
Appearances
I’ll be at the Moncton Golf Club this coming Monday evening June 24th from 6pm to 8:30pm where I’ll be co-hosting an event for local Riverview Green Party candidate Sarah Lord and her special guest Elizabeth May, co-leader of the Federal Green Party, along with former CBC Radio host (and former interim leader of the federal Green Party) Jo-Ann Roberts.
This has been the twenty-forth edition of Assorted Nonsense, the official newsletter of Donovan Street Press Inc.