Stuart Ross's Blog, page 30

BOUNCING

Here's the first in a series of excerpts from my short-story collection Buying Cigarettes for the Dog (Freehand Books, 2009). I think "Bouncing" is, like, an allegory for something. Maybe you can figure it out.


BOUNCING

Due to a powerful convolution of entanglement, one ankle blocking the path of another, a knee tilting inward while a foot swung around backward, I fell and I hit my head. I didn't witness it from nearby but from within my very self, and so I am only speculating upon the precise ...

The sad passing of Barbara Caruso

I was saddened last month to hear of the death of artist Barbara Caruso on December 30.

Barbara was amazing: a fascinating visual artist and the author of three important and very illuminating books from The Mercury Press — two volumes of journals and a collection of essays. I don't know if there is any more honest and telling published account of an artist's life than the two installments of A Painter's Journey.

Barbara, married to the poet Nelson Ball for 44 years, was a brilliant, lovely per...

Sneak peek at Gary Clement's cover for Rogue Stimulus

Coming soon from Mansfield Press. Featuring 72 poems in protest of Stephen Harper, by writers from across Canada.

Over and out.

some publishing news

So much has been happening, it's sort of paralyzed me.

My novel got accepted for publication in spring 2011. More on that another time.

Been buried in work with Mansfield Press, which has been one of the most exciting aspects of my literary career. So proud of the books I acquired and edited for the last season: poetry by Jim Smith and Robert Earl Stewart, and a new novel by Tom Walmsley. I think those books are as good as anything any Canadian press has put out in recent times. And I'm real ex...

Good night, Paul Quarrington

Paul Quarrington died today. He was a brilliant, brave, beautiful guy, so supportive of younger writers.

I'll cherish the memory of his September concert at Hugh's Room. The pure magic of the music. Paul's warmth.

Over and out.

I don't want to read another fucking limerick!

The poems for Rogue Stimulus: The Stephen Harper Holiday Anthology for a Prorogued Parliament are pouring in, with just an hour to go before the deadline. My co-editor on this project, Stephen Brockwell, was on CBC's As It Happens tonight, and somehow that triggered a friggin' avalanche of limericks. Well, actually, tons of limericks and other doggerel were already dropping into the harper@mansfieldpress.net inbox.

We've received about 200 poems so far, from all across Canada. And really, I do...

PROROGUE THIS BOOK!

Ottawa poet Stephen Brockwell approached me to collaborate on a very interesting project. We talked it through, did some negotiating. I was game. I approached Mansfield Press publisher Denis De Klerck to see if wanted to be part of it. He was game. Details follow.

PROROGUE THIS BOOK!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: JANUARY 14, 2009
CANADIAN WRITERS TO PROTEST PROROGUED PARLIAMENT

Ottawa small business owner Stephen Brockwell, Toronto poet and editor Stuart Ross and, Denis De Klerck, the publisher of...