eBook sale! During February, six titles just 99 cents, all markets, all retailers. See our web site for the list of books and more about them. somewhatgrumpypress.com

Congratulations to our founder, writer and editor @dabble58.bsky.social, on acceptance into the MFA program in Creative Non-Fiction at University of King's College in Halifax, NS!

Guilt, the lack thereof, where does one draw the line? Warning: this entry talks about violence and sexual abuse I've always had a difficult time sorting out guilt. Maybe it is my Roman Catholic upbringing (the Church does guilt so well...), or life experiences, but it's always a challenge teasing…

As a way of welcoming everyone to this New Year, please find below a list of free resources culled from my 2025 #gardening research. gardeningatlast.ca/2026/01/19/h...

A joke for the history buffs: Germany’s satirical newspaper @der-postillon.com titles: “Vienna Academy of the Arts offers Trump admission as a student — They don’t want to get blamed again“

flirting with people so I can get them to read my work

Members (and non-members) in Nova Scotia can contribute short romance fiction to the Nova Swoons micro anthology. The submission deadline is January 22. More information: writers.ns.ca/programs/mic...

You can borrow Somewhat Grumpy Press eBooks through any library that gets eBooks from Overdrive. www.overdrive.com/publishers/s...

99 cent eBook sale coming in February: "Magic in Her Blood," "Traitors, Cannibals, Highlanders, and Vikings," and "Ocean's Lure." All 99 cents, all markets, all month! somewhatgrumpypress.com/magic-in-her...

Greenland. An independent sort of place. Leave it alone! A few years ago, I was offered the sensational opportunity to go to Greenland, to speak to a group of sheep farming women at their annual get together. We flew from Halifax to Reykjavik, then took a smaller plane to Nuuk, Greenland's…

Also kudos to Burwell's editor for most of his books (and several of our books from other authors too) - our founder, @dabble58.bsky.social.

New 5-star review for Bib & Tucker, by @dabble58.bsky.social. "It was very interesting to learn what it was like to be a nurse in 1947, and the shocking (pun intended) conditions in hospitals." www.goodreads.com/review/show/... #booksky #bookreview

New 5-star review for Possession Point, by Glenn Burwell. "Overall, this was a great read — smart, grounded, and distinctly Canadian." www.goodreads.com/review/show/... #booksky

The Mind’s Eye, or minding the eye… I've been reading the excellent The Mind's Eye by Oliver Sacks, in my continuing search to learn all the things about medical history to provide interesting challenges for Ruth in my next novel. It's fascinating, as are most of Sacks' books, but this is probably…

"It is the height of hubris to suggest the events we now commemorate, which we measure maybe in hundreds of years, as recollections that will last more than a few generations, never mind forever." #holidays #memorials covell.ca/2026/01/01/a...

Happy new year and all that, or dragging myself through the holidays with clinical depression At long last the holidays are over. They seem to get longer and darker every year. Way back, I was already finding them hard. As I get older, and the world gets grimmer, they accelerate in darkness. Photo…

A new blog post, in which @covell.ca from SGP interviews author Glenn Burwell, and learns many things, including whether Burwell is a plotter or pantser (and to take better interview notes). #booksky somewhatgrumpypress.com/2025/12/29/b...

Thanks to @sfwa.org for being so responsive to concerns around the Nebula Awards and LLM use. The Nebula should honor human creativity, as the revised rules now state. However, we also don't want to see writers tripped up on eligibility or hit by witch hunts over minor LLM usage like spell check. 1/

I get that not all authors want to do blogs, but if you are going to the trouble of writing a blog, PLEASE give me a way to subscribe! (And announcing your latest post on social media doesn't count - I might not see it, or might not use the same social media service).

My personal feeling is that if there is a part of my fiction that feels super boring to write, it is probably going to be boring for my reader and I need to step up my game. It doesn't mean that it's going to be a breeze; often the opposite.

God damn them all, I was told we’d cruise the seas for American gold (we’d fire no guns, shed no tears); now I’m a broken man on a Halifax pier…

When life gives you tree stumps...

After today, the world gets a bit lighter again. Happy Winter Solstice!

Canadian tv show Heated Rivalry is getting a 2nd season on Crave Crave says the adaptation was its most-watched original series debut within the first seven days www.cbc.ca/news/enterta...

The older I get, the more faith I have in older faiths and observances such as solstice. This is St Lythans burial chamber, built 1,500 years before Stonehenge (and not yet excavated). When I visited, a recent previous visitor had left an offering. As I left, two visitors arrived and sang there.

Gift Link. "No Congressional legislation was passed to institute this MAGA control over every US public school. No public debate informed it. No evidence was offered for its preposterous assertions....Yet the word “funds” or “funding” appears 9 different times." www.bloomberg.com/opinion/feat...

I welcome the storm Nature needs to dominate Put us in our place

Did you enjoy a book? Especially if it's from a small publisher or self-published, please leave a review (can be short and posted anywhere), and ask your local library to order a copy.

Another of the real authors at Somewhat Grumpy Press. This is Carolyn Nicholson, Nov Scotia author of "Traitors, Cannibals, Highlanders, and Vikings," a historical fiction with fantasy elements, about her her ancestors. She's wearing her clan's tartan. somewhatgrumpypress.com/traitors-can...

Why we don't do much advertising on social media - it enriches this crowd.

Refreshing non-clickbaity piece discusses the history of the format and how industry consolidation contributed to its decline. Mass Market are the smaller, cheaper books, Trade are the larger paperbacks we associate with lit. www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...

An eclectic collection of photos from a recent trip. covell.ca/2025/12/15/v...

All our books are listed at the Canadian book site 49th shelf. Click any title, and you can find a bookstore near you that can order the book. 49thshelf.com/content/sear...

Another real human at SGP, our founder @dabble58.bsky.social, along with Pierre Trudeau (not real, but not AI) at Carrefour Atlantic. Checkout Brown's books here: somewhatgrumpypress.com#brown #booksky

Feeling better about some of our sales numbers by authors with much less publicity behind them.

The Dreaded Lurgie Version 1.0.0 I remember buying another copy of this book about ten years ago, after my family had suffered through a series of infections of one sort or another. No idea where it is now, but I could have used it this past month as I fought my way through whatever-it-was that…

In honour of #JaneAusten250, I offer a couple of blog posts about my 2023 and 2025 visits to Jane Austen Country and Jane Austen's House. covell.ca/2023/07/20/e... covell.ca/2025/10/20/o...

Spent the morning reading about a publishing company that sells cheap eBooks under fake names, by rewriting other authors' books. Authors at SGP are real people, writing original stories the old-fashioned way. Here's Glenn Burwell with his latest book. somewhatgrumpypress.com/possession-p...

Possession Point, the fifth detective Robert Lui story from Vancouver author Glenn Burwell, is now available to order from Chapters/Indigo. www.indigo.ca/en-ca/posses...

The @librarything.com giveaway for review copies of 'Farewell, the Beloved Country,' a memoir of a childhood in the Belgian Congo, by Greta Du Boise Cleynhens, is now open! Available in Canada only. #books #booksky www.librarything.com/ner/detail/5...

If you are in the mood to shop for books, we have a score of books in multiple genres, all from Canadian authors, available by order from most bookstores and in stock at Dartmouth Book Exchange (they ship). somewhatgrumpypress.com

"Heather is six years old when her mixed-race family emigrate from India to Canada in 1955. She encounters dangers and predators on four legs and two, and learns there are worse things a mother can do than leave her children." #booksky somewhatgrumpypress.com/2025/11/23/s...

Congratulations Glenn Burwell - Possession Point, the 5th Detective Robert Lui thriller, releases tomorrow! eBook available from any online service; paperback can be ordered at any bookstore. In stock at Dartmouth Book Exchange - they have the whole series. Edited by @dabble58.bsky.social #booksky

Magic in Her Blood, contemporary #fantasy by ATL Doyle, has a 4-star average rating on Goodreads and 18 reviews! (Still not sure why one reader said 'Don't judge by its cover,' but Goodreads is still showing the ARC cover). #booksy www.goodreads.com/book/show/22...

A recent 5-star review for Bib & Tucker by @dabble58.bsky.social on Amazon: "DA Brown, a nurse herself, clearly spent a great deal of time researching the comparatively gruesome techniques applied to mental patients in the 1940s-50s." #booksky somewhatgrumpypress.com/bib-tucker/

Possession Point, the 5th Detective Robert Lui thriller, will be available Nov 20! Pre-order the eBook from your favourite retailer. somewhatgrumpypress.com/possession-p... #booksky

Two new 5-star reviews for Bib & Tucker by @dabble58.bsky.social: "very well-written and engaging" "great Canadian historical fiction" "very well researched" "Ruth is a character to relate to and cheer for." eBook and paperback available www.librarything.com/work/3496232... #booksky #bookreviews

"Other than the fact that my last name is Nicholson, why would I belong to a clan in this day and age? Aren’t clans something from the past and no longer relevant today? All good questions." carolynnicholson.ca/2025/11/11/w...

"I become angry when people say we shouldn’t be funding the Canadian Forces, yet continue to expect our men and women to go and do everything with materials and equipment dating from the Second World War. And then refuse to pay them a living wage. " dorothyanneb.ca/2025/11/10/r...