It’s been a profoundly busy year at Five Rivers, with some profound changes in the publishing industry, not the least of which was Indigo’s retail restructuring. While that impacted us, it also challenged us to develop new markets and strategies.

We welcomed to our editorial team Amy Bright and Barb Geiger.

We also signed several new authors (Mike Fletcher, H.A. Hargreaves, and Susan J. Forest), and released five new books:

• Crystal Death: Methamphetamine, North America’s Most Dangerous Drug, by Nate Hendley
• Dutch Schultz: brazen beer baron of New York, by Nate Hendley
• The Organic Home Garden, by Patrick Lima and John Scanlan
• Memories, Mother and a Christmas Addiction, by Lorina Stephens
• Stonehouse Cooks, by Lorina Stephens

Next year we’ll launch 10 new titles by eight authors:

• 88, by Mike Fletcher (debut science fiction novel)
• Notice, by Susan J. Forest (collection of speculative short fiction)
• Growing Up Bronx, by H.A. Hargreaves (short fiction collection, part memoir)
• North by 2000+, by H. A. Hargreaves (collection of speculative short fiction)
• John Lennon, by Nate Hendley (biography)
• Steven Truscott, by Nate Hendley (biography)
• Butterfly Stitching, by Shermin Nahid Kruse (mainstream debut novel)
• Mik Murdock, Boy Superhero, by Michell Plested (YA fiction)
• The Insistence of Memory, by Simon Rose (YA fiction)
• Caliban, by Lorina Stephens (speculative fiction)

We’re also planning on having a presence at When Words Collide in Calgary, in August. Robert and Barb will be there waving the Five Rivers flag.

Beyond that, we’re looking forward to reading more submissions from Canadian authors. We’ll continue to develop markets and marketing strategies, possibly expanding into audio books, maybe even screen rights if things align propitiously.

All things considered, we’re cautiously optimistic. Oh hell, we’re outright excited!