Hundreds of articles, scores of short stories, and now five books later I realize I’ve created a considerable body of work, and that’s a somewhat puzzling and humbling thought. As John Lennon wrote: Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans. I find myself thinking that quite a bit.

And so now, while I’m writing this next novel, From Mountains of Ice, which I hope to release in the fall of 2009, I’ve been busy making other plans. It would seem I’ve established, for the second time in my life, a publishing house. Now, however, unlike my ill-fated Keystone Press, which published a chapbook of poetry by a gifted poet, Vaughan Harris, entitled The Cabinet-maker’s Art, I find myself contemplating publishing work outside of my own thanks to the advent of digital printing and print on demand services. No need for me to look to offset and a room full of books. No need for an enormous drain on financial resources. And no need to drive to local bookstores hawking my wares and hoping for payment in 30 days. My little publishing house, because of electronic technologies, can market via the Internet, work internationally, and actually have a hope of meaningful sales and exposure.

In light of that Five Rivers has now acquired the rights to publish a scholarly work for historical textile aficionados, from historical pattern-maker Deb Salisbury of The Mantua-Maker. The book, Elephant’s Breath and London Smoke: Historical Color Names, Definitions, and Uses, is a dictionary of the type described in the title, employing primary and secondary sources from Elizabethan through Edwardian Eras. We’re working on a release of September 1, 2009, although at the rate Deb’s working we may very well be able to launch the book sooner, depending on the acquisition of illustrations and editing time.

As companions to this remarkable body of work, Deb is working on two others, Fancy Dress Costumes, and Fashions Terms, Fabric Names, Fabrication Methods. More details about the trilogy will be posted here as they become available.

Five Rivers is also looking at acquiring the publication rights to a science fiction series written by an Ontario author fed-up with the ridiculous policies of big publishers, and an art book created and written by one of Canada’s international animation legends. I’ll have more news about these projects as they develop.

When am I going to have time to finish writing From Mountains of Ice, let alone meet the demands of the promotional schedule I’ve set for myself? Well, there’s another saying: If you want something done, ask a busy person.

Besides, if I weren’t doing this I’d be creating world chaos, so this is a much better place to which I go.