@joannemerriam
Kjipuktuk|Halifax (formerly Tsalaguwetiyi|Nashville). Inventor #DSPBposts. Small press, 🇺🇸 & 🇨🇦 poli. I turn tea into words: novel AETHER AND EGO (Inanna, Sept 2026). https://linktr.ee/joannemerriam
Sixteen Rivers poet Carolyn Miller has a new poetry collection coming out, her fourth: RANDOM UNIVERSE! These wise, luminous, in-love-with-this-sorrowful-beautiful-life poems will fill you up with their music.
To read more about Carolyn & to buy her book, visit sixteenrivers.org. #poetry #poetrysky
Book cover for Adventures in Bubbles and Brine: What I learned from Nova Scotia's masters of fermented foods - craft beer, cider, cheese, sauerkraut and more by Philip Moscovitch (Formac Publishing): Moscovitch demystifies the process of fermentation as he takes us on a fascinating, and often humorous, culinary adventure across Nova Scotia. https://formac.ca/product/adventures-in-bubbles-and-brine/
Book cover for Brain Storms: My Life with a Brain Tumour—A Family Doctor’s Memoir by Sharon McCutcheon (Nimbus Publishing): A poignant, darkly funny, and hopeful memoir of the psychological impact of illness from a retired New Brunswick doctor. https://nimbus.ca/store/brain-storms-my-life-with-a-brain-tumoura-family-doctors-memoir.html
Daily(ish) #SmallPress #books - from #NovaScotia publishers: Adventures in Bubbles and Brine (by @philmoscovitch.bsky.social, Formac Publishing) & Brain Storms (by Sharon McCutcheon, @nimbuspub.bsky.social). See alt-text.
#DSPBposts #NSarts #bookish 💙📚 #BookSky #booktok #booksta #bookstagram
I’m so happy to finally share the cover for my upcoming book LAVENDER SPIKE, a cyberpunk dystopian with the premise of art as drug, religion, and police state.
LAVENDER SPIKE releases June 23rd 2026 with @ecwpress.bsky.social and is now available for PREORDER
Art by me, design by Jess Albert
🎨🔥♥️
I'm told I need a pinned post with everything you need to know about me in 300 characters yikes | my Austenaut novel: inanna.ca/product/aeth... | #SmallPress starter packs: 🇨🇦 go.bsky.app/D4YKenp 🇺🇸 go.bsky.app/S4HKBuC 🌍 go.bsky.app/S5N1WAY 🎓 go.bsky.app/EoXRRgy | 🌈📚 #Booksky 🪐📚 | yaaaayy nailed it
It's no longer Friday but I'm still in love with these stories! Stay tuned for issue release updates coming very soon...
Right? I got some earplugs from the organizers, what a godsend
At #nslegislature! It’s some sunny today byes
Aaaaand it was both!
Beautiful!
We’ll find out in 27 minutes I guess. I’m still on my way to the NS Leg (I’m meeting up with folks ahead of time)
Wow, fingers crossed!
Book cover for Hopeless by Lesley Choyce (Moose House Publications): Nicolas is headstrong, wayward teen, flailing through school with no plans for a life. His now-departed father called him 'Hopeless', and the nickname stuck. How can you make it through anything wearing a tag like that? It turns out, having a fearless older brother, Garrett, can help...until Garrett makes an unexpected friend and sort of disappears from the family. Nicholas finds a surprise in that friend of Garrett's, and gets an unexpected assignment from a teacher that may yet save his high-school career. But add in near-death experiences, cross-country journeys and reunions that are far from joyful, and why would anyone hope to be hopeful? https://www.moosehousepress.com/product-page/hopeless
Book cover for piyyut by Solomon Nagler, drawings by Angela Henderson (Nevermore Press): piyyut is a long-form poem assembling fables from the Jewish Diaspora in an attempt to unsettle refugee migration stories while exhuming mystical, prophetic voices in post-Holocaust Europe. Verses are titled and informed by the aleph-bet and examine the entanglements of the diasporic experience through allegorical tales and critical Jewish settler confessionals. Each verse is paired with a drawing by visual artist Angela Henderson exploring the intersections between graphic notation and lyrical, poetic form. Combining and juxtaposing digitally- and hand-rendered elements, the hybridized landscapes both respond to and reflect the complex, speculative and sometimes brutalist journey through past and present. https://www.nevermorepress.ca/books/p/piyyut
Daily(ish) #SmallPress #books - from #NovaScotia publishers: Hopeless (by Lesley Choyce, @moosehousepress.bsky.social) & piyyut (by Solomon Nagler, drawings by Angela Henderson, Nevermore Press). See alt-text.
#DSPBposts #NSarts #bookish 💙📚 #BookSky #bookstodon #booktok #booksta #bookstagram
I'm trying out this new Canadian-owned non-AI alternative social media site. Check it out and follow me: hey.cafe/@joannemerriam
A baby rabbit on its hind legs sniffs the air. Text over the indoor background reads, "95% of all bunnies and chicks sold for Easter will die before their first birthday. Save a life... please choose chocolate for your child!"
Please do not get a #rabbit for your child for #Easter because you think they're easy. #Bunnies are great pets! But they are as much of a commitment as a cat or dog and require similar levels of engagement/care (though different *kinds* of engagement because they are prey animals).
I know the graphic has this little exponential exclamation mark, but I kinda love it? Can this be new punctuation? Exclamation to the power of exclamation?
Will I see you here tomorrow?
Tuesday March 10th at NOON at Province House.
Rally for a New Budget Now (1726 Hollis Street, K’jipuktuk/Halifax).
#NSbudget #NSpoli #NSarts #NewBudgetNow #ShoulderToShoulder
Book cover for The Spirit of Scatarie by Lesley Crewe (Nimbus Publishing): A stunning new work of historical fiction from the bestselling author of The Spoon Stealer, set on Nova Scotia’s remote Scatarie Island, following three friends whose lives are inextricably bound, and the spirit who guides them. https://nimbus.ca/store/the-spirit-of-scatarie.html
Book cover for Winning Prizes: Essays by David Adams Richards (Pottersfield Press): Winning Prizes is a collection of essays dealing with topics ranging from faith, murder, love of place as well as historical and literary individuals. He writes passionately about individuality and the courage it takes to strike out on one’s own and to stand one’s ground against the odds, a critical part of living that sooner or later all of us must deal with in our own way. https://nimbus.ca/store/winning-prizes.html
Daily(ish) #SmallPress #books from #NovaScotia publishers: The Spirit of Scatarie (by Lesley Crewe, @nimbuspub.bsky.social) & Winning Prizes (by David Adams Richards, @pottersfieldpress.bsky.social). See alt-text.
#DSPBposts #NSarts #bookish 💙📚 #BookSky #bookstodon #booktok #booksta #bookstagram
Book cover for William D. Roach: Folk Artist by William Roach (Cape Breton University Press): William Roach’s interest – training, if you like – in carving and shaping wood into representations of the world around him, came naturally. When they weren’t making or repairing practical articles and tools, the older men in his life spent countless hours whittling curiosities that delighted children, neighbours and friends.After years working in Ontario, Roach and his family moved home to his Acadian birthplace, Chéticamp, Cape Breton, striving for the stability of family and community. A new life, turning a new leaf, William began expressing himself through his gift – a diversion at first, his passion for creating objects of beauty and value became an obsession and later a business.From his Sunset Gallery and studio on the outskirts of Chéticamp, Roach works tirelessly at his entertaining creations. https://nimbus.ca/store/william-roach-folk-artist.html
Book cover for Signs of Life: Field Notes from the Frontlines of Extinction by Sarah Cox (Goose Lane Editions): What’s to be done when only three spotted owls are left in Canada’s wild? When wolves eat endangered caribou, cormorants kill rare trees, and housing developments threaten a tiny frog? Environmental journalist Sarah Cox has witnessed what happens when we drive species to the brink of extinction. In Signs of Life, she tags along with the Canadian military, Indigenous guardians, biologists, conservationists, and ordinary people who are racing to save hundreds of species before it’s too late. Travelling across the country, Cox visits the Toronto Zoo, home of Canada’s only wildlife biobank, where scientists conserve living cells from endangered species in the event of future loss; tours Canada’s military bases, home to some of Canada’s last preserved ecosystems; and travels to Indigenous communities where land stewards are striving to restore the delicate ecological balance that has sustained people for millennia. Through the eyes and work of individuals who are bringing species back from the precipice, Cox delivers both an urgent message and a fresh perspective on how we can protect biodiversity and begin to turn things around. Winner, Sunshine Coast Writers and Editors Society Book Awards for BC Authors (Non-Fiction). https://gooselane.com/products/signs-of-life
Daily(ish) #SmallPress #books: Today, from #NovaScotia publishers: William D. Roach: Folk Artist (by William Roach, Cape Breton University Press) & Signs of Life (by @sarahkcox.bsky.social, @gooselane.bsky.social). See alt-text.
#DSPBposts #NSarts #bookish 💙📚 #BookSky #booksta #booklovers
Dave’s starting work on a new #booknook! “Romantic Venice” from Rolife. We got 2 at Mind Games in Mic Mac Mall, along with a clockwork prop for me to have at readings etc (more on that when he starts building it). I’m loving his new hobby, it’s like jewelry for my bookcase.
Book cover for Bluenose Adventure by Jacqueline Halsey, ill. by Eric Orchard (Formac Publishing): Share in the adventure and excitement of a young boy's life aboard a working ship, the Bluenose on the Grand Banks. Here's a true-to-life adventure story. Arty is a 10-year-old boy who gets the chance of a lifetime -- he's hired to go on the maiden voyage of the famous schooner Bluenose in 1921. Young readers will delight in joining along with Arty as he learns his way around the ship amidst the dangers, excitement and intrigue of working on a fishing schooner. When Arty climbs to the top of a mast and spots another ship heading toward Bluenose on a collision course, even the captain is grateful for his help. Once he's back in Bluenose's home port of Lunenburg, Arty has a real adventure to share with his family and friends. In this story, based on the real experiences of young boys who worked on board Bluenose in the 1920s, Jacqueline Halsey has created a book that celebrates the story of the ship and her famous captain Angus Walters. https://formac.ca/product/bluenose-adventure/
Book cover for The Plot to Kill the Premier by Jeremy Akerman (Moose House Publications): Amateur sleuth Marc LeBlanc is pulled into a complex case when his friend, the Premier of Nova Scotia, starts receiving death threats. Marc's challenge is to help locate the source of the threats. Is the danger from within the Premier's closest circle? The third Marc LeBlanc Mystery. https://www.moosehousepress.com/product-page/the-plot-to-kill-the-premier
Daily(ish) #SmallPress #books: Today, from #NovaScotia publishers: Bluenose Adventure by Jacqueline Halsey, ill. by Eric Orchard (Formac Publishing) & The Plot to Kill the Premier by Jeremy Akerman (at @moosehousepress.bsky.social). See alt-text.
#DSPBposts #NSarts #bookish 💙📚 #BookSky #bookstodon
Book cover for In the Circle of Ancient Trees by Valerie Trouet, ill. by Blaze Cyan (Greystone Books): Nonfiction. From the Giant Sequoia to the Bald Cypress, this captivating book explores the stories of 10 species of ancient trees, their unique environments, and what they have to tell us about the history of our world. Published in partnership with the David Suzuki Institute. https://greystonebooks.com/products/in-the-circle-of-ancient-trees
Book cover for The Order of the British Vampire by Simon Kewin (Elsewhen Press): Fantasy. Having revealed and removed the mole in the Office of the Witchfinder General, Danesh is a hero – but also a target. The fourth story of His Majesty’s Office of the Witchfinder General. https://elsewhen.press/index.php/catalogue/title/the-order-of-the-british-vampire/
Daily(ish) #SmallPress #books: In the Circle of Ancient Trees (by Valerie Trouet, ill. Blaze Cyan, @greystonebooks.bsky.social) & The Order of the British Vampire (by @simonkewin.co.uk, @elsewhen.press). See alt-text.
#DSPBposts 💙📚 #BookSky #bookstodon #bookish #booklovers #booktok #booksta
<3
The cover of the new book, John Winslow at Grand-Pre, by Jonathan Fowler and Earle Lockerby.
Our newest book is now available!
John Winslow was one of the most significant American military leaders of the generations before George Washington. But instead of creating a country, he destroyed one...
Winslow’s journal provides an eyewitness account of the 1755 Deportation of the Acadians.
"Some of my first poems were written on notepads at the ice cream parlour I worked at in high school. I’d carry them in my apron pockets alongside customers’ orders."
Loch's stunning debut poetry collection is out this month! Pre-order now at gooselane.com/RiverRunning
We are a couple days early posting this, but it deserves to be celebrated multiple days. International Women's Day is this Sunday and we want to recognize some of our female local authors who blaze trails with their stories. Stories that are more important now than ever before.
2/2... the chief reason that Ottawa has emerged as the #fantasy capitol of Canada is...Saunders" - I wonder if there's a direct line from his group of #Ottawa fantasists to James Botte & Farrell McGovern founding Can*Con in '91. Anybody know? (Or maybe this is later in the book! I am only on p.68.)
A picture of the text of the biography To Leave a Warrior Behind by Jon Tattrie, largely blurred, with this in sharp focus: Lincoln had changed him, and he found himself growing distant from his roots. "My family consisted of bourgeois Negroes and I was just like them until I woke up in 1967. From that point on, damn near everything I did appalled them," he later wrote. (from p.45 of the hardcover edition)
A picture of the text of the biography To Leave a Warrior Behind by Jon Tattrie, largely blurred, with this in sharp focus: On the next page come the rabble photos and identities. Charles "Snake" Saunders stands tall and skinny and dapperly dressed in a warm coat and too-short pants that expose his socks. His right hand rests on his hip and his left hand holds a notebook over a trash can in front of the Old Canteen. The caption reads: "Snake Charlie went through so many changes during his four years that it is difficult to find the real him. Intellectually inclined, he could always be depended upon for deep rabble, out of which sometimes came useful ideas. We will always remember his 'metamorphosis.'" (from p.46 of the hardcover edition)
![A picture of the text of the biography To Leave a Warrior Behind by Jon Tattrie: Charles described the name Imaro as one of the "hidden meanings" he embedded in his work. "The name 'Imaro' was derived from the Swahili word for strong." he said.29 He doesn't specify the Swahili word, and a direct translation of English's strong yields Swahili's naguvu. However, the Swahili word imara means solid, stable, steadfast, sturdy, and strengthened. Imara is used as a first name, typically for girls. Charles likely turned the a to an o to get the male name Imaro. "Swahili is a fairly dominant language in the eastern region, and that's where Imaro is born, raised, and has his initial adventures. So I used Swahili there," Charles explained.30 "I've done some stories set on the west coast of Nyumbani, and for that I've used Hausa as my base language, mainly because that's the only West African language I've been able to find a textbook or teach-yourself book for. There's also Yoruba. I've got a book on that, so I kind of mix Hausa and Yoruba in the west. In the middle, I have a book which has some words of Mali, which is a north-central African nation, and when I start writing about South Nyumbani I'm going to have to get hold of some linguistic sources for Zulu [not pictured: the end of that sentence is: and Xosa.] Below are the footnotes for 29: Elliot interview and for 30: Interview in Polar Borealis, late 1980s, republished in 2020. (from p.62 of the hardcover edition)](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:wtetx7xtjyatfdgoo6qzfjx7/bafkreialn64w6xvv2m6urbxwstwvhdc2kfrb5oy2k2wlycgiysr4ihrtqy)
A picture of the text of the biography To Leave a Warrior Behind by Jon Tattrie: Charles described the name Imaro as one of the "hidden meanings" he embedded in his work. "The name 'Imaro' was derived from the Swahili word for strong." he said.29 He doesn't specify the Swahili word, and a direct translation of English's strong yields Swahili's naguvu. However, the Swahili word imara means solid, stable, steadfast, sturdy, and strengthened. Imara is used as a first name, typically for girls. Charles likely turned the a to an o to get the male name Imaro. "Swahili is a fairly dominant language in the eastern region, and that's where Imaro is born, raised, and has his initial adventures. So I used Swahili there," Charles explained.30 "I've done some stories set on the west coast of Nyumbani, and for that I've used Hausa as my base language, mainly because that's the only West African language I've been able to find a textbook or teach-yourself book for. There's also Yoruba. I've got a book on that, so I kind of mix Hausa and Yoruba in the west. In the middle, I have a book which has some words of Mali, which is a north-central African nation, and when I start writing about South Nyumbani I'm going to have to get hold of some linguistic sources for Zulu [not pictured: the end of that sentence is: and Xosa.] Below are the footnotes for 29: Elliot interview and for 30: Interview in Polar Borealis, late 1980s, republished in 2020. (from p.62 of the hardcover edition)
![A picture of the text of the biography To Leave a Warrior Behind by Jon Tattrie, largely blurred, with this in sharp focus: In the spring 1979 edition of Borealis, [John] Bell writes that "probably the chief reason that Ottawa has emerged as the fantasy capital of Canada is the presence in that city of Charles Saunders." (from p.67 of the hardcover edition)](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:wtetx7xtjyatfdgoo6qzfjx7/bafkreigscfjlsfqqjccvtnaojw6kkvstpff34eyzmclrvzvmxidimams5y)
A picture of the text of the biography To Leave a Warrior Behind by Jon Tattrie, largely blurred, with this in sharp focus: In the spring 1979 edition of Borealis, [John] Bell writes that "probably the chief reason that Ottawa has emerged as the fantasy capital of Canada is the presence in that city of Charles Saunders." (from p.67 of the hardcover edition)
I am living for this biography of Saunders right now. So interesting! Highly recommended. And of course we're reading Imaro for @tricon-hfx.bsky.social. And I'm really curious about that quote by Bell that "probably ...1/2
#CharlesSaunders #CharlesRSaunders #SwordAndSoul #SwordAndSorcery #Halifax
That's so great! I think you'll enjoy it. Message me your address and I'll send you a bookplate to put inside the book - if you'd like a signed copy.
I'm not sure if they ship outside Canada, but even if they do, I would recommend (b/c of shipping costs/potential tariffs/other shenanigans) Americans use Bookshop to order domestically and send me your mailing address for a bookplate: bookshop.org/a/96356/9781...
💙📚 #BookSky #bookish #Austen
