“Forgive me my nonsense, as I also forgive the nonsense of those that think they talk sense.” ~ Robert Frost
Ye Olde Assorted Nonsense
Donovan Street Press Inc.
contact@donovanstreetpress.com
Donovan Street Press on Substack
We’re now blogging (newslettering?) on Substack.
Our newsletter is called Assorted Nonsense.
Hope to see you there!
XTC Skylarking “Improper Sound Polarity”
After a friend mentioned XTC on Facebook the other day, I remembered how much I loved Skylarking and called it up on Spotify, and somehow it was even better than I remembered, and while I was listening to it looked it up online.
And came across the astounding bit of information that when Andy Partridge attempted to remaster the album a few years ago, his new mastering engineer, John Dent, told him that it had been recorded out of phase, and that they needed to reverse the polarity.
WTF?
Riverview’s Best Donair
So I’m gradually figuring out the best places to eat in Riverview, New Brunswick. And Moncton. And Dieppe. I live in Riverview, but it’s right across the river from Moncton and Dieppe.
Here’s one place I like so far:
Altos Restaurant, located at 630 Pinewood Road in Riverview.
Three Fave Books
Recently I was invited to participate in a terrific project by the folks at Shepherd, led by Ben Fox. The whole project is about leading readers to books. Some pundits think the book is dead or dying. Ben sure doesn’t. He’s almost single-handedly trying to revitalize book discovery. And as an author, I sure appreciate it.
Re-Creative Guests (so far…)
Below are all the guests Mark Rayner and I have recorded for our podcast Re-Creative so far. There are many more to come!
The premise is simple: Art that inspires. Our wide-ranging conversations start there and go, well, anywhere.
I’ve included links for those episodes currently available.
Many thanks to those who have agreed to talk to us. Every single conversation has been great fun!
The 2023 TMU Alumni Book List
Adventures in the Radio Trade has been included on the 2023 Toronto Metropolitan University’s Alumni Book List. (TMU having been Ryerson Polytechnical Insitute back when I attended.)
How to Turn a Book Into a Best Seller
I still have a lot to learn about selling books.
But here’s what I’ve figured out so far.
I believe the following to be true: “To turn a book into a bestseller, first, write a bestseller.”
It all begins with that.
Erratum
Whenever you write and publish a book, you do your best to get it right. Make it as perfect as possible. It’s really difficult to accomplish that, even with the best of editors, which I had while putting Adventures in the Radio Trade together.
Since the book’s publication I have become aware of a few little glitches. The following errors, typos and omissions were all my fault, introduced after the substantive edit of the book, or simply not the sort of thing an editor could catch.
The beauty of owning your own publishing company, which I do, means that one can fix such glitches with relative ease.
Famous Rhinocerouses I Have Known
One day when my daughters were young I took them to the zoo and tried to leave them there but the zoo wasn’t accepting donations at that time so I was forced to keep them.
Anyway, as we checked out the various exhibits we chatted, and at one point the conversation turned to fame.
Matt Watts and Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Our podcast Re-creative is back!
On this, the first episode of our second season, Mark A Rayner and I join writer, comedian and actor Matt Watts to discuss the classic radio series The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (HHGTG).
Potentially Serious Side Effect Seen in Readers of New Memoir
Publisher Donovan Street Press Inc., one of Canada’s smallest and least profitable publishers, has reported that consumption of one of its books, a memoir about CBC Radio entitled Adventures in the Radio by former recording engineer Joe Mahoney, may cause serious side effects.
The Reunion
This was an interesting experience.
I think a lot of us that attended were skeptical whether we'd have a good time. And afterward a lot of us were amazed that we'd had such a good time. In retrospect maybe this shouldn't be such a surprise. RTA was a program of like-minded people. Maybe it shouldn't come as such a surprise that we'd be comfortable with one another after so much time.
Re-Creative: Season Two
“Wait… aren’t you guys supposed to have a podcast or something?”
Oh yeah right. No, we haven’t forgotten! Mark Rayner and I are busy cobbling together Season Two of Re-Creative. We already have some episodes in the can and are lining up guests to flesh out the rest of season two. Haven’t settled on a launch date for the season yet but we’ll sort that out soon enough. And you’ll be the first to know!
Adventures in Feedback
One of the scary parts of releasing a new book such as Adventures in the Radio Trade into the wild is you don’t know how it’s going to be received. Whether people will understand what it is you’re trying to do, whether they will like how you’ve done it, whether they’ll even care. Crickets is almost worse than no feedback at all.
So it’s gratifying, and a bit of a relief, when positive feedback does start rolling in.
Here’s an email I received yesterday (reprinted here with permission) from veteran freelance writer/broadcaster John Pellatt, who shares a great story of his own about CBC Radio legend Allan McFee.
Reflections on a Book Launch
“How’d the book launch go?” somebody asked me the other day.
There aren’t enough superlatives in the English language to answer that question.
“Amazing,” I tried.
I could also have said, “Magic.” Or: “One of the best days of my life.”
All completely true. Certainly the beginning of an answer.
Here’s a longer answer.
Dear Author Joe
The one sure way to make money in publishing is off the backs of gullible authors. Offering dubious marketing schemes, for example.
If I had any brains at all I would give up my foolish dream of making a go of it as an author and immediately start exploiting my fellow authors for all they’re worth. I would likely make a mint.
I would certainly be better at it than the fellow who attempted to exploit me today.
Robert J. Sawyer’s SF Academic Conference at McMaster, 2013
On September 14th, 2013, I attended an SF academic conference at McMaster University.
The conference was in honour of science fiction writer Robert J. Sawyer’s archival donation to the university library collection.
It wasn’t a typical science fiction convention. There was nobody in costume. This was a conference in which academics from all over North America presented papers and talks on the subject of science fiction. Talks on subjects like “Russia’s Afrofuturism” by Anindita Banerjee from Cornell, and “Sawyer and Czernada in the Classroom” by David DeGraff of Alfred University.
Just Peachy
It has been about a month since I released my memoir about working in radio, Adventures in the Radio Trade, into the wild, the day after I retired from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and the day I became a full time writer.
“How’s all that working our for you?” someone asked me the other day.
“Just peachy,” I told them.
“What do you mean by just peachy?” they wanted to know.
“My wife bought a whole bunch of peaches and we had to eat them all up before they went bad,” I explained. “They were some good though.”
Of Novels and Nephews
My novel, A Time and a Place, is about an uncle trying to save his nephew. The nephew’s name is Ridley. I wrote the first draft (and named the characters) long before Ryley was born. Like the uncle in my novel, I once turned into a seagull to try to save my nephew. No, wait, that didn’t happen. But the fact that I should be offered a publishing deal for a book about an uncle trying to save his nephew on a weekend that I would be visiting a nephew in serious trouble struck me as eerily coincidental.
Peter Pan
Peter Pan, by Scottish writer J.M. Barrie.
A play turned novel, published in 1911.
I can hardly believe I’ve never read it before, but I haven’t. I’ve seen a version of the play, in Stratford. I don’t remember much of the play. Saw the Spielberg movie Hook; don’t remember much of that either.
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