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Nature Reveals Our Deepest Selves
by Sheila McEntee On May 15, we publish Sheila McEntee‘s debut essay collection Soul Friend and Other Loves Notes to the Natural World. Well-known to many in our home state of West Virginia, Sheila’s collection will be a welcome addition to the collection of any nature lover. Detailed black-and-white illustrations by Sophie Kromholz make this…
Letโs Talk About the Forgotten Feminist
In the current cultural and political climate, where Silicon Valley giants are deleting key social dates and celebrations like Black History Month, Women’s History Month, and Holocaust Remembrance Month from our calendars, we are proud to highlight the publication of one of our more recent books: Crosshatch: Martha Schofield, the Forgotten Feminist (1839โ1916), painstakingly researched…
New book alert: The Eunuchโs Daughter & Stories
Today, the 18th February, marks the official publication date of Khanh Haโs exceptional new book: the short story collection The Eunuchโs Daughter & Stories. John Gist describes it as Haโs best effort to date, so donโt take our word for it! Khanh Ha is an award-winning author: a ten-time Pushcart nominee; he is the recipient…
Another chat with Floฬraidh MacDonald Ford
Once again, it’s Answer Your Cat’s Questions Day, and once again, Flรฒraidh MacDonald Ford has agreed to sit down and answer a few of ours. We’re delighted she was able to take time from her busy and hectic schedule to join us. Thank you for inviting me back! It’s been a busy year. I moved…
โNy Kirree fo Niaghteyโ (The Sheep Under the Snow)
Blackwater Press is pleased to announce the release of the audiobook of Mission to Madagascar: The Sergeant, the King and the Slave Trade, read by the author David Mould. You can listen to Chapter 1, โThe Good Season for Travelโ here and view a short teaser. Then scroll up to edition and select the โaudiobookโ…
Shave Anwee!
by William E Burleson My name is Sybil Voss, and I am the fictional mayor of Ahnwee, Minnesota. Iโve been asked by its author to write a thing about the new book, Ahnwee Days, which tells the story of my small, feisty, and likely doomed town.ย ย Iโm not sure how I feel about having my…
Three Marilyn Monroe Movies Everyone Should Watch
Ahead of publication of Burying Norma Jeane and Sundayโs related events, please enjoy this blog post by author Leah Rogin. When I started writing my novel, Burying Norma Jeane, it began as a short story response to finding out that Marilyn Monroe was sharing crypt-space with Hugh Hefner for the rest of eternity without ever…
My Best Relationship Advice
Susan Ostrovโs Loveland: A Memoir of Romance and Fiction was released July 15. I should start off by saying Iโm probably the last person youโd want to give you or anyone relationship advice! I had almost no romantic experience when I got married in college, I was divorced after 24 years of marriage, and havenโt…
James Hastie diary discovered in New Zealand
by David Mould In November 2023, John Parker and his wife Paulette, who own a cattle ranch in New Zealandโs North Island, were sorting through the possessions of Johnโs father, Tony, who had recently passed away. Among them was a precious historical resourceโan 1817 diary by James Hastie. My 2023 Blackwater Press book, Mission to…
Editorial note: what follows concludes the story of James, and his life following his departure from Ireland in 1923.
While Dragging Our Hearts Behind Us EPILOGUE By Boni Thompson 1923 James reaches New York City, by way of the secret branch of the Irish organization Clan na Gael, off-shoot of the Fenians and the Irish Republican Brotherhood, formed decades before to give aid to the many Irish immigrants arriving in America and Canada. He…
Whatโs in my World Book Day parcel?
Today is World Book Day! What would the world be without books? Ugh, we donโt even want to go there. We have a little fun planned for you. During the week starting from the 23rd April and ending on the 30th April, buy (or pre-order) any of our books from our website, and youโll receive…
The importance of reviews for small businesses
We are always very grateful for our readers โ both of our books, and of our newsletter. Itโs tough to emerge in such a congested field, where competition is fierce and where publishing is, for better or worse, accessible to everyone. Blackwater is small but feisty, and we wouldnโt be here without you all. If…
Pre-orders Galore!
We know our latest news has been quite unsettling, and Iโm sure it has given our gentle readers much food for thought. But the show must go on…and what better way to celebrate the future of the publishing world than a bunch of exciting new books available for pre-order? First up, The Three Lives of…
The Supply Chainย
Dear Readers, On Thursday, our North American distributor, Small Press Distribution, announced that it had filed bankruptcy and ceased operations. We had no warning, or inclination at all, and our collective reaction can best be described as !!&*))@0@WTF))*(2 SPDโฆ.!!)__ย Moving on. Why should you, gentle reader, care? Distribution and the supply chain are admittedly the…
While Dragging Our Hearts Behind Us: The Photographs
by Boni Thompson, author of While Dragging Our Hearts Behind Us. St. Patrickโs Day is a fitting day to reflect on the publication of my grandfatherโs story, 101 years after the end of the Irish Civil War, and therefore 101 years since my grandfather James left Ireland behind him. Evading the inevitable round-up of irregulars,…
Black History Month: Mission to Madagascar
The month, weโre donating 25% of proceeds from sales of Guilt and Mission to Madagascar to Charlestonโs Keep Your Faith Corporation. In this blog post, author David H. Mould explores the history of slavery in the British Empire. Black History Month has given me reason to reflect on the history of slavery in Britain, the…
Rebel Cork
The Easter Rising of 1916 was one of the major events of the twentieth century that changed the map of Europe. Following a week of violence centered in Dublin, the men who led the fight were arrested and shot at Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin. The British hoped this was the end of the rebellion; it was…
Black History Month: Guilt
To honor Black History Month, weโre donating 25 percent of proceeds from sale of Guilt and Mission to Madagascar to Charlestonโs Keep Your Faith Corporation, a Black-led community youth literacy, mental health, workforce development, and food access program. Weโre featuring a guest blog post by Carter Taylor Seaton on the inspiration behind her latest novel…
Interview with Flora
April 25, 2021: Spring Hill Cemetery Park, Charleston, West Virginia. Elizabeth was walking her collie, Sally, when Sally came to an abrupt halt. A loud meow was echoing from the woodpile at the bottom of the hill. People organized and dogs were passed around and a friend scrambled over the bank where a small black…
Short Story Day 2023
December 21 is the shortest day of the year โ and itโs no coincidence that itโs also Short Story Day! Short stories are becoming increasingly popular. With their variety of plots, settings, and characters, they are bite-size reads most people can wedge into busy schedules, or even enjoy in one sitting to savour different scenarios.…
October 2023
And here it is, the end of the month again. October has seen the publication of Carter Taylor Seatonโs novel Guilt, with events with our friends at Booktenders and Plot Twist, the WV Book Festival, and events for Mission to Madagascar at the Kanawha County Public Library and Booktenders. Zoรซ Strachan also continued to celebrate…
September 2023
Look at that, our newsletter this month falls on publication day for Richard Robisonโs gorgeous memoir: The Boy from Nowhere! โThe Boy from Nowhere surprised the heck out of me…Offered with modesty and narraยญtive grace, charged with heart-stopping events and characters.โ โ Stephanie Marlis, National Endowment for the Arts recipient, author of Rife. September also…
August 2023
I donโt know who needs to hear this but…September is coming! The season will soon start when the leaves start turning all shades of gold, and the best activity is to curl up in a comfy spot with a hot cup of something nice and…a good book, of course. We have some new ones for…
Q & A with John Fulton
JR: How did your first forays into writing compare to the work you publish now? JF: It depends on what you mean by my โfirst forays,โ which were way back in my college/university days. I was experimenting then, playing around with language, seeing what I could do, what sort of voices and linguistic acrobatics I…
July 2023
Hello all, Hope everyone is staying safe and well this summer. The news is all a bit depressing at the moment, so how about we just talk books for a minute or two? We have A LOT to tell you. Joseph Horowitzโ debut novel The Marriage: The Mahlers in New York is garnering superb reviews,…
Toxic Positivity Afloat: a Modern-Day retelling of Hemingway’s The Old Man and The Sea
Toxic positivity is running amok, and not even Hemingwayโs Santiago can reel it in. Then again, reeling it in would be the antithesis to Santiagoโs indestructible pride just as it would be to a large percentage of humanity whose hold is as relentless as the old manโs. Some would label it a conundrum; others, a…
June 2023
As we welcome July, letโs have a look at what has made June a great month at Blackwater Press, shall we? Probably the keyword for June 2023 was โeventsโ. Online, in person, conferences, pub talks… weโve been places! Starting with the West Virginia Writers conference (June 10), where our very own Elizabeth was the guest…
A Q&A with Patrick Colm Hogan
JR: A People Without Shame is a strange book, full of contrasting parts. At times diary, at times legend, at times transcript, at times article, it seems as though the novel is trying to demonstrate how difficult it is to convey its subject matter in a conventional manner. What do you think of this interpretation?…
May 2023
We hate to brag, but weโre just going to kick off our May newsletter by saying that two (two!) of our newest novels have been listed as Small Press Distributionโs bestsellers! Anangokaa by Cameron Alam, and The Marriage: The Mahlers in the New York by Joseph Horowitz. Please enjoy the latest review of Anangokaa here,…
Mission to Madagascar: The Sergeant, the King, and the Slave Trade
by David H Mould In 1817, a decade after Britain banned the slave trade to its colonies, a 30-year-old East India Company sergeant with no diplomatic training embarked on a risky mission. James Hastie travelled for almost a month from the coast of Madagascar through the tropical rainforest to the central highlands. His missionโto persuade…
April 2023
April started with a bang: Cameron Alamโs debut novel Anangokaa was published on April 3, and has sold out in North America. If youโre waiting on a copy they are shipping as we write. Hereโs the latest review. That same week, Melanie Bianchi (author of one of our best- selling books, The Ballad of Cherrystoke and…
March 2023
March was fast! Mid-month we were delighted to be invited to have a stall at the Celtic Village at Charlestonโs seventh annual Celtic Calling. It was a somewhat different experience compared with anything we have attended so far, with a whole lot of tartan and a whole lot of bagpipes, but Blackwater Press was received…
On Writing
by Cameron Alam Once upon a time, I thought historical fiction was written the way a house is built, brick by brick, word by word, the author using her mortar of craft to adhere words together into sentences, sentences into paragraphs, paragraphs into chapters as the story is formed. When I sat down to write…
February 2023
Hello, dear subscribers. Weโre repeating ourselves here, but February has been as action-packed as usual! Our next books are out in April: Anangokaa by Cameron Alam on April 3, and Joseph Horowitzโs The Marriage: The Mahlers in New York on April 29. Both are available for pre-order, and will be strong additions to the collections of…
January 2023
Without standing up, he lifted the book from a stack on a chest next to his chair. โWhat a coincidence. Iโm sure you know that today would have been Mozartโs birthday: January 27, 1756.โ The Girl with Twenty Fingers Hello all, and congratulations on making it through January โ it wasnโt too bad, was it?…
December 2022
Well, first and foremost: MERRY CHRISTMAS to everyone! We hope you are having a lovely festive season. Some of you may be without water or electricity due to the recent weather emergencies; some may be affected by the emotional overload these holidays bring; others may be struggling for a million different reasons. Letโs seize this…
November 2022
Itโs November, and the biggest, most seasonal, news is that our Small Business Weekend/Civilized Saturday/Cyber Monday/Not Black Friday (!) sale continues through this Sunday, December 4. All of our books are 25 percent off. FYI: books make excellent gifts ๐ . The next bit of good news is that Elizabeth Auldโs long-awaited translation of Lucien…
Twenty Fingers for One Dollar
By Kate Mueser โSo, is it autobiographical?โ Those who know me well will ask that question when they read my debut novel, The Girl with Twenty Fingers, about an American used-to-be pianist in Germany who plays Mozartโs works for piano four hands with an elderly German man. โAbsolutely not!โ I would reply. โBut Kate,โ they…
October 2022
October 17 was the publication of Ioulia Kolovouโs novel The Stone Maidens, followed by a reading and discussion with Zoรซ Strachan at John Smithโs bookshop at the University of Glasgow. Thanks to all who attended this great eventโour first in-person launch! And to who all who have purchased copies: itโs a gripping multi-generational saga of…
Ma Chรจre MamanโMon Cher Enfant
by Elizabeth Auld What does French baroque music have to do with letters from World War I? The answer is not obvious but, in this case, one of simple coincidence. Two scholars of the French Baroque from both sides of the Atlantic become friends; finally, their spouses meet. The rest, as far as this book…
September 2022
September, where to begin? How about with Melanie McGee Bianchiโs The Ballad of Cherrystoke and Other Stories being named a Distinguished Favorite at the NYC Big Book Awards! Blackwater also dipped its first toe into the digital world with an eBook to celebrate the one-year anniversary of Iain MacDonaldโs award-winning novel I Piped, That She…
August 2022
Tuscawilla: Stories of a Farm has been our best seller this month. We thank Robert Tuckwiller for his idea to sell copies at his booth at the State Fair of West Virginia. There really couldnโt be a more perfect setting for selling this book: the Fair features prominently in Caryโs memoirs, and one must pass…
July 2022
July has been another jam-packed month at the various Blackwater Press locations! The biggest news is that we now have distribution in both the UK and the US and Canada. While direct sales will always be the most lucrative way for us to sell books, most shops would rather not deal with a publisher directly,…
June 2022
Itโs difficult to believe weโre already halfway through this year! We are busy preparing our next six books for (hopeful) publication in the next six months. If youโve ever wondered what a publisher does, itโs a combination of reading, editing, emailing, coordinating, researching, typesetting, filing, thinking about metadata, marketingโฆ.a little bit of everything really, especially…
Farewell Roger Angell
Youโll have seen our short story contest is open once again this year, and thank you so much to all of those who have already submitted, responding to our theme of โinkโ. The short story is a beautiful thing, and just over a week ago, a man who left an indelible mark on the form…
Interesting Lives
It is difficult for a man to speak long of himself without vanity; therefore, I shall be short. – David Hume, My Own Life Exciting news from Blackwater Press! Weโre about to launch a new book series, and we need your collaboration. Interesting Lives is our forthcoming series of non-fiction (autobiographies, memoirs, letters, and life…
May 2022
May flew by! Weโre excited to be less than a month away from publication of Melanie McGee Bianchiโs short story collection The Ballad of Cherrystoke and Other Stories, available for pre-order here. If you are a lover of the short story, we promise it doesn’t get much better than this. ‘The complex, the quirky, and…
Tuscawilla Website Update
Weโve added more photographs to the companion website for Tuscawilla: Stories of a Farm, and have a blog post by Kaaren Cary Ford telling of her motherโs welcome to the farm after her marriage in January 1948. I forgot to mention that as newlyweds my mom and dad, Mary Elizabeth Reaser Cary and George Edward…
How to overcome fear of the blank page …
If youโve ever attempted to write anything more creative than a shopping list, youโve probably felt the dread of that blank page staring back at you. The white expanse of infinite possibilities, a world too dauntingly large to take that first step into it โฆ Right? Well, youโre not alone, and as the saying goes,…
Robert Davis: Turning Family History into Fiction
I could give you all the facts โ names, dates, places, relationships โ of my family history, and you would fall asleep quickly. I know this because I would drop off into a deep slumber myself in the telling. And yet, hidden in the dry folds of this history, there was a story to be…
December
So long, 2021. We really hope that all of your Christmas and New Year plans haven’t been totally sabotaged by the most unwelcome of guests, Corona, and that you’ve been able to spend some quality time amid friends and family (and books and booze, of course!). Strange as everything may have been, we have thoroughly…
Meet our new author: Melanie Bianchi!
Happy 30-Days-After-Halloween Forgive me for bringing up ghosts in the wrong month, but I was battling some seriously scary deadlines in late October. Now that itโs mid-November, I have a lull from work and more time to dwell on the dark side. My house is a very small, middle-aged cottage that turned 60 this year.…
October (almost!)
November, where did you come from?! First thing’s first, we would like to once again thank all of those who have pre-ordered Tuscawilla: Stories of a Farm for their patience. The printing landscape has never been so backlogged, and as a small press we sadly don’t get prioritised for any front-of-the-queue treatment. Scandalous, we know!…
One year on…
September has been a big month here at Blackwater Press for two reasons: The first is that weโve (finally) published a book! I Piped, That She Might Dance by Iain MacDonald exists in hard copy at last โฆ in Scotland, at least โฆ We didnโt realize what an impact Covid-19 has had on the book…
Five Tips From Editors You (Possibly) Won’t Have Heard Before
Hello:) Youโve likely run across a few of these pieces before, advising prospective authors on what to do and what not to do, and most of them are very useful indeed! But we thought that instead of repeating what you might have already read, weโd try and think of a few slightly more particular things…
A visit to Tuscawilla
Updated: Jul 30, 2021 Tuscawilla Farm is the ancestral home of two families: the Knights and the Carys. Our forthcoming title โ Tuscawilla: Stories of a Farm โ gives a history of the families and their work between about 1860 and about 1960. The book originated as a pile of handwritten stories on legal tablet…
The Blackwater Tune
Blackwater Press is, so far as we know, one of two publishing companies with its own tune. The tune was found in manuscript 353 from the Montagu Music Collection, Boughton House (“Blackwater” from GB-Ketmmc 353, c.1720, The Montagu Music Collection, Boughton House. By kind permission of His Grace the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry KBE…
Blackwater goes bilingual
We are thrilled to welcome our brand-new team member, Vivien Williams. One of the many fantastic things about Vivien is that she is fluent in not one, not two, but FOUR languages ( and she is working on adding two more to her repertoire). This is a huge perk for us as we can now…
I changed my life for…
Complete this sentence: I CHANGED MY LIFE FORโฆ Think about it, and weโll all come up with a different answer. I, Vivien Williams, changed my life for bagpipes. I know, itโs as absurd as it sounds. And yet itโs true (and also an excellent conversation starter, I will have you know). Iโve been writing and…
The John Reid tribute blog!
This month’s newsletter has almost nothing to do with Blackwater Press. It is all about John Reid. Not our co-founder. The dead one. CONTENT WARNING: If you don’t want to geek out and learn about an influential 18th-century flutist, this newsletter perhaps isn’t for you. Keep your eyes peeled, though, as a Q&A with our…
Thank you!
Hello all, Itโs been a great couple of weeks! America came to its senses; Biden pledged to re-join the Paris Agreement; real-life COVID-19 vaccines were announced; Scotland actually qualified for a major football tournament! And now Blackwater Press has launched its first short story contest โฆ 2020 might be finally turning around! In light of…
