Donovan Street Press Signs Local Author Paul Burns

And... busy busy busy!

Jul 09, 2025

Being the 63rd edition of Assorted Nonsense, the official newsletter of Donovan Street Press Inc.

We’ve Signed Local Author Paul Burns!

I’m delighted to announce that Donovan Street Press has signed local author Paul Burns from right here in Riverview, New Brunswick, to publish his Middle Grade novel The Druid and the Dragon in 2026. Welcome aboard Paul!

We discovered Paul at a Pitch the Publisher event during WordSpring, the Writers Federation of New Brunswick’s annual writing festival, a few weeks ago. Regular readers will know that I’ve attended three Pitch the Publishers and heard some fantastic pitches from over twenty writers.

Paul’s novel The Druid and the Dragon aligns well with DSP Inc. because it’s a fantasy novel and we love science fiction and fantasy and there just doesn’t appear to be lots of it being published in Atlantic Canada. It’s also a Middle Grade novel, which will make it our second after Matt Watts’ Hope of the Wasteland, which we published this past March.

The Druid and the Dragon is about Fraser, an average boy whose world gets flipped upside down when a crazy old dragon saves him from three high school bullies. The dragon informs Fraser that he’s a “Guardian” and that it will be his job to team up with the dragon to save a magical world of fantastical beings from an evil wizard. Will a brand new Guardian and a crazy old dragon be up to the job? You’ll just have to read it to find out!

As much as I love our other authors (which I do!) it’ll be great to work with someone local. Paul and I signed the contract in person over coffee at Le Factrie on Albert Street across the Petitcodiac River in Moncton where we discovered that we have a lot in common. We love coffee, a lot of the same books, and dogs (see pics below). Retired from our day jobs, we both refuse to put our feet up and are doing what we love: writing and making books. Here’s a shot of Paul and his pooch Styker in front of the cool-looking plane they flew to Le Factrie, with, I believe, Stryker at the controls:

Author Paul Burns with his furry friend Stryker

But wait. Who is Paul Burns, exactly?

Well, he describes himself as a “life-long reader of science fiction & fantasy” with “a great affinity for spaceships and dragons.” He’s the author of two previous books, “Owen and the Dinosaur” and “Emily Finds a Dragon,” both of which were also for younger readers. Emily Finds a Dragon was nominated for the Hackmatack Children’s Choice Award.

Paul loves writing “stories with a bit of humour woven in.” As I mentioned, he lives right here in Riverview, New Brunswick, along with his wife, Gail, their dog Stryker, and their “two black house panthers, Merlin and Luna.” Paul enjoys hiking with his wife and Stryker and he’s also a photographer. And he’s a member of the Writers’ Federation of New Brusnwick.

Editing has already begun on The Druid and the Dragon with a planned publication date of sometime in 2026. Can’t wait to see what we come up with for a cover!

What Else?

Busy busy busy!

I’ve been to Ontario and back, moving one of my daughters back to Atlantic Canada for the summer. We’ve had visits from some great friends and tomorrow I’m off to PEI to see my parents and maybe a sister or two and maybe my ol’ pal Dave.

On the publishing front, Jenn and I finished DSP Inc.’s corporate income taxes, thanks entirely to Jenn and her brilliant financial mind, which saves the company several hundred dollars by not having someone else do it. It was a bit of a learning curve but that’s fine, as I think of this entire venture as akin to going to Business School.

In other news, Donovan Street Press books are now on Book Manager/Pubstock, which means that our catalog is visible to all participating indie book stores across North America. I have begun emailing select indie bookstores to let them know. Well, two so far. As you can imagine, these indie bookstores are absolutely delighted to hear from me and learn about our books. Ha ha! Well, maybe not so much.

Here’s the thing about that. I picked two relatively local bookstores and researched them both as much as I could, figuring out who owned them and discerning their philosophy regarding books and writers, as detailed on their websites. I wanted to make my pitch sensible, respectful, appropriate, and tailored to them. Now, I have yet to hear back from either of them. And this is fine. Because my emails, while tailored to these specific stores, are probably not really that much different from the hundreds of marketing emails that I receive each day, and typically do not respond to. Me and Donovan Street Press are not known quantities and the fact is any bookstore is right to be cautious. The last thing they want is more books on their shelves that are just going to sit there and collect dust. It is no different than Donovan Street Press being super careful about what authors we decide to publish.

That being said, I have an obligation to Donovan Street Press, to my authors, and to my own books, to market them. And there are bookstores that have taken our books (thank you!), and those bookstores successfully sell our books (double thanks!) So I will continue to approach bookstores all across this fair land to find those willing to take a chance on us and our well-written, finely-honed, entertaining, informative, and beautiful books (if I do say so myself).

What else?

Well, our next book, Cherry Whip by Michael Antman, is now available for pre-order on Amazon (ebook version only). We’ll be launching Cherry Whip September 25th 2025 in ebook, trade paperback, and hardcover editions.

And I’m delighted to report that Hope of the Wasteland by Matt Watts was recently selected by Summerside Intermediate High School in Summerside, PEI to be one of their Rotary Club Books, purchased by the local Rotary Club and distributed to Grade 7 students. Yay!

And that’s not all. Hope of the Wasteland was also selected to be part of the Books By Heart Collection, which includes 60 Kobo titles from members of the Atlantic Publishers Marketing Association, of which Donovan Street is a Supporting Member.

Congrats to Matt Watts on his book Hope of the Wasteland being selected for both of these!

And, in case you were curious, here are just some of the places you can find Donovan Street Press books so far:

Any bookstore or library can order our books; just ask them!

If you own a bookstore and would like to feature some of our books, please drop me a line at joemahoney@donovanstreetpress.com

Featured Title:

The Gates of Polished Horn

By Mark A. Rayner

“Rayner is showing his prowess as a genuine storyteller. The stories are at times subtle, at times dark, at times heartwarming, and heartbreaking. He's got skills, and we as readers get to reap the benefits. Bravo!” ~Scott F, Amazon.ca

What happens when you’re face-to-face with a truth that shakes you?

Do you accept it, or pretend it was never there?

Award-winning author Mark A. Rayner smudges the lines between realist and fabulist, literary and speculative in this collection of stories that examines this question—what Homer called passing through The Gates of Polished Horn.

We discover the cruelty of creating synthetic consciousness. A woman is worried that her husband is having an affair but discovers it's much, much worse. A time traveler uncovers a reality-bending fact while observing the death of Socrates. Waldo, of Where's Waldo fame, has an existential crisis. A traveling salesperson is killed on the highway, and this is just the start of his journey through the gates.

Infused with comic insight and tragic vision, this collection invites readers into new realities that touch on our shared humanity.

“Mark A. Rayner’s formidable storytelling is on full display in this thoughtful and diverse collection. He’s a fine and creative writer whose characters and storylines are quirky, inventive, and often very funny. Bravo!”

~Terry Fallis, two-time winner of the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour

Here are some ebook Purchasing Links for The Gates of Polished Horn

You can also get The Gates of Polished Horn at Chapters/Indigo.

About the Author:

Human-shaped, monkey-loving, robot-fighting, pirate-hearted, storytelling junkie, Mark is co-host of our podcast Re-Creative and an award-winning author of satire and speculative fiction. He writes in the genres of science fiction, humorous SF and dark comedy. When not working on the next novel, he pens short stories, squibs and other drivel. (Some pure, and some quite tainted with meaning.)

He is also a prof at Western University, at the Faculty of Information and Media Studies, where he teaches bemused students how to create digital products that won’t become self-aware and destroy all humanity.

He does all of these thing while being Canadian and owning cats.