Made up of Arias by Michelle Alfano

Julie Booker, Book review in Partners, Spring 2009 issue of Italian Chamber of Commerce Toronto magazine

"Made Up of Arias is all the voices of childhood, all the stories that allow a child's imagination to safely try on adult themes. Alfano is a keen observer, with an eye for detail and a gift for humour. ... This charming story is well worth reading."

Wave Mechanics: A Love Story by Ricardo L. Nirenberg

JoSelle Vanderhooft a reviewer at PedestalMagazine.com has just reviewed this book.

She says:

"...Ricardo L. Nirenberg’s exquisite 2007 novel Wave Mechanics ... addresses the circumstances surrounding the creation/discovery of physicist Erwin Schrödinger’s wave equation in 1926, a discovery that substantially altered the landscape of Western physics and chemistry in the last century, along with Werner Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle—which some readers may note are more or less mathematically identical. "

and:

"...Wave Mechanics is just one hell of a complicated, smart, sexy, and all-around good story."

and:

"It is a feast for the senses, a challenge for the mind, and a book I cannot praise enough. In fact, my only regret about this book is that it will not likely get the readership it deserves as a small press release. Those readers or audiences who enjoyed such speculative explorations of 20th Century science as Michael Frayn’s Copenhagen (a play about Heisenberg, his uncertainty principle, and Nazi Germany) will definitely want to order a copy of Nirenberg’s book, as will those who found Copenhagen lacking in passion and heart."

Headlong into the New Year

Hello Friends,

Blaurock greeted the new year with verve and vigour with three manuscripts lined up for our Spring catalogue. We are excited about what is to come for Blaurock in 2009.

At the same time, we are reflecting back upon our first full year in existence and want to take the time to thank everyone who has helped make our little press a going concern. So, thank you to our authors, artists, designers, editors, and production staff. But most of all, thank you to you, our readers. May we enjoy each other further in the future.

Wishing everyone well,
Blaurock Press

Blaurock Press and Coach House Books Present

Blaurock Press authors Michelle Alfano (Made Up of Arias), Michael Linhares (Autumn Hollow) and Sylvia Markle-Craine (Swimming to Fatima) share the stage with Coach House poets Kyle Buckley (The Laundromat Essay), Margaret Christakos (What Stirs) and Jeramy Dodds (Crabwise to the Hounds) in Waterloo on December 1. Take shelter from the cold of late autumn at Starlight for Waterloo's greatest Monday night literary review ever.



December 1, 2008
Starlight, 47 King Street North
Waterloo, ON



Doors at 7:00 p.m.

Made Up of Arias

Lilla, Joey and Clara Pentangeli, their father Salvatore and their mercurial mother Seraphina live on Paradise Street behind a giant billboard, in a charmed world filled with operatic heroines. Seraphina idolizes Maria Callas. Between bouts of housework, she re-enacts Violetta’s death scene from La Traviata, dresses in a kimono like CioCioSan in Madama Butterfly, and concocts outrageous tales for her three enchanted children. She also reveals one or two secrets from her past. At last real-life tragedy overtakes the house on Paradise.

Michelle Alfano is a Toronto writer. Her short story “Opera” on which this novella is based, was a finalist for a Journey Prize anthology. Her fiction and non-fiction work has been widely published in Canada and in the U.S.

Edition Numbers

If you look at the inside front cover of any Blaurock Press book you will find a number. That number is the edition number, unique to every book. So if you have, for example, number 120 on the inside cover, that book was the 120th book off of our press. Not earth shattering I know, but one more way that we set ourselves apart from the mass market.

Swimming to Fatima Book Launch

It was a marvelous night at the eBar in Guelph for the launch of Swimming to Fatima. The place was packed, Sylvia was brilliant, sales were brisk and Dan and the staff at the eBar were wonderfully accommodating.

Blaurock Press would like to thank everyone who came out and everyone who worked behind the scene to make it happen.

Sylvia Markle-Craine and her son Nick Craine.

S. K. Johannesen and Penny Winspur

Christian Snyder and Penny

Dan, Sylvia, Christian, Penny and Stan

Swimming to Fatima Book Launch

Blaurock Press and the eBar launch Sylvia Markle-Craine's "Swimming to Fatima" on Monday the 22nd of September @ 7:30. Admittance is free.