30th Ottawa Antiquarian Book Fair
24th October, Saturday 10:30am – 5:30pm
Tudor Hall – Conference Centre
3750 North Bowesville Road, Ottawa (near Riverside & Uplands)
For more information, please call or e-mail 613- 232-7495; benbooks@cyberus.ca

But wait!  Simply flip the ticket over and eternal salvation shall be yours. 

Kind of reminds one of the church indulgences used in the Middle Ages.

The largest issue was the lack of advertising for the Con, both for the dealers (no program guide or any mention on the website of who the registered dealers were or where the room was) and the Con itself which saw maybe a little over 100 people attend was largely unpromoted and little details provided on the website until just days before.   There was also very little communication with the dealers prior to the event (no dealers package) which caused some confusion with set-up times and tables.  The room itself was very small and somewhat off to the side with little signage to direct people.   Also, despite the website saying all the dealer tables were sold, there in fact was only 5-6 dealers and two tables were vacant (one of which we quickly expanded onto).  Sales were therefore minimal with the low traffic (sometimes an hour would pass without a single person in the room) and I think that the more fortunate dealers managed to break even.  This facet of the event could have been manage much better in my opinion. 

On the bright side, Hugo award winning TOR editor David Hartwellmade a surprise visit from Northern New York and we ended up having a great chat on old sci-fi pulps and vintage classics the Friday night.   The invited guest authors and illustrators, while all locals for the most part, were also very congenial and pleasant to chat with when they stopped by between talks.  The Guest of Honour, Marie Bilodeau, was exceptionally friendly and encouraging to both budding authors in attendance and to the jewelry makers whose wares she particularly fancied. 

Overall, while I do have my fair share of grumbles from a dealers perspective, I think that the event was at least a solid starting point to get a regular annual sci-fi convention going again in Ottawa.  I do have to tip my hat to those who organized the event, and hope that they do try and make it an annual event once again.  I believe that with a little more forethought, planning and volunteers the Con could truly grow into something great for Ottawa.  I will certainly keep an eye out for it next year and think of taking a table once again.

MHB Press
A new UK press specializing in finely bound limited edition signed horror titles (many of which have been long out of print).  With two books already set for pre-order and a half dozen more, by authors like Graham Masterson and Nancy Kilpatrick, waiting in the wings, this imprint is looking to have a great future in fine horror editions.

Punctuation Quiz
A little fun from a fellow Ottawa Press Gang member.  I scored 50%, dang caret/chevron mix-ups again!

Letterpress Exhibition at the Canteen Gallery
Printmaking artist and Ottawa School of Art Teacher, Guillermo Trejo, will be exhibiting his prints and letterpress works at the Canteen Gallery (238 Dalhousie in the Market) from Aug 6 to 22nd. 

The website’s blog also has some other great entries & info for students.  I particularly liked the 100 Great Writing Tips from the World’s Top Bloggers.

Using a bit of my own prose as test bait, it turns out that I write like David Foster Wallace.   Funny enough, put in a paragraph or two from Infinite Jest and the analyzer indicates that David Foster Wallace writes like………well………um……… David Foster Wallace!   Was kinda hoping it would spit out my name, but I guess my work hasn’t exactly taken me into the realm of author extraordinaire

If you decide to give the analyzer a whirl, please post a comment and let us know who you write like.

For those not familiar with Wowio, it’s a great e-book seller (with a wonderful eye for sci-fi/fant, comics and small publishers) who let the publisher set the price and keep the revenue from their sales.  They also have set up a sponsor system, so that a book or comic can be sponsored by someone and made available for free!  Back that up with great content and what better way to lure someone into a comic series or introduce someone to an up-and-coming author like Daniel. 

Even better, if you end up getting hooked on a series or author the prices are very reasonable ($0.99 – $6) per issue or book, and the majority of what you pay goes directly to support the author. 

Now, back to reading Choir Boats

To kick things off, you can meet the editorial team in person this Monday (July 5) at the Collection (56 Byward Market Square) with the first part of the evening being an informal information session about the website starting at 7pm followed by manicures, music, live art and poetry upstairs at the Mercury Lounge from 8pm until midnight.