It’s Launch Day for Owen Swain’s #tourdesketch Windsor!

I know I just talked about this earlier this week, but today is the big day, and it warrants an announcement! As of today, December 1^st, 2016, you can now order Owen Swain’s adult colouring book #tourdesketch Windsor from the major retailer of your choice, OR you can visit any number of local book and gift shops in Windsor and pick one up there! List of local shops currently carrying #tourdesketch:

Juniper Books (on Ottawa St.)
From the Heart (Ottawa St)
Story Tellers Books (Ottawa St)
City Cyclery (Lincoln St)
Levigator Press (Wyandotte Ave)
PB Books (Tecumseh Rd)
Artspeak Gallery (limited time for their Mistletoe and Snow Show, Wyandotte Ave.)

Of course, you can always order it from our online store and get free delivery with the promo code: WEDELIVER. Only, if you do that, please be aware that due to an overwhelming number of pre-orders and requests, we are currently out of stock and awaiting a large shipment, so any orders place through our website now will be delivered after the official launch party on December 15^th.

Speaking of the official launch party… if you’re local, you should join us! More information can be found here and you can RSVP here.

And, in case you missed it, #tourdesketch Windsor and Owen Swain were featured on CTV News just a few days ago, and you can catch that feature here: http://windsor.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=1004939

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I don’t have too much more to add right now, but I’ll leave you with this teaser: We’re almost done selecting our 2017 line up. We’ve got one more selection to make (and some contracts to send out) and we’ll be making some exciting announcements soon!  So subscribe to this blog if you haven’t already to be kept up to date!

Owen Swain’s #tourdesketch Windsor Colouring Book Launch!

December 1^st marks the date when Owen Swain’s colouring book #tourdesketch Windsor becomes available worldwide and also when it will be available for purchase in stores all around Windsor. In addition to our online store, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Chapters, and ect, it will also be at Juniper Books, Story Tellers Books, PB Books, City Cyclery, Mudpuppy Gallery, and Levigator Press, just to name a few…

Following that, on December 15^th, Owen Swain and I, along with our friends at Sho: Art, Spirit and Performance, will be hosting an open house colouring party/book launch from 1 pm to – 9 pm at 628 Monmouth Rd, in Windsor.  Owen will be on site throughout the day signing copies of his colouring book and there will be a mound of crayons for you to colour some oversized prints with! Including a massive Christmas card dedicated to the City of Windsor. So some out and join us any time between 1 pm and 9 pm or for the formal book launch/reception at 7 pm.  Light refreshments will also be available.

Last week I had the pleasure of attending Owen Swain’s first indoor #tourdesketch class and it was an experience I will never forget. I’ve mentioned before the importance of going on ‘artist dates’ and experimenting with new artistic mediums, like drawing, painting, writing, ect. Well, I got the chance to really put this theory to the test and came away with a newfound understanding of a very deep connection between the seeing/drawing philosophy Owen Swain teaches and the way that I write.

First, Owen taught us all the importance of seeing what we’re about to draw in our minds’ eye and really connect with what we’re looking at. We learned various techniques, such as drawing quickly to get the overall shape of something, and then drawing more slowly to fill in the details. But what we spent the most amount of time learning was the ability, or the style, I should say, of drawing what we are seeing without looking down at the page to see how the art is progressing.

This, for me, had a valuable connection to writing in that when I write I visualize the scene in my minds’ eye and really try to place myself in it so I can see/hear/sense/taste/smell the situation. Usually I do this from my character’s perspective, so I see the world through their eyes and through the lens of their experience. Then I write, letting the words flow directly from that place, instead of looking at the screen and thinking about the sentences or the art of writing. And from there, I try desperately to get to the end of the scene, the chapter, or even the whole draft of the novel, without feeling like I have to go back and read it or make edits to what I’ve already written.

I’ve only just begun to learn Owen Swain’s method of seeing/drawing, but I fully intend to continue learning from him to see how else I can apply this discipline to my other artistic endeavors and to see if getting better at seeing/drawing will also help improve my writing.

That being said, I urge you to check out Owen Swain’s #tourdesketch Windsor Colouring Book. It’s a lot more than just something to colour, or an ode to Windsor. It’s a window into the mind of the artist, and a window into the soul of our city, which I believe Owen has managed to capture vividly. But don’t take my word for it, see for yourself. http://mirror-world-publishing.myshopify.com/collections/adventure/products/tourdesketch-windsor-colouring-book

And don’t forget to use promo code: WEDELIVER for free delivery within Windsor-Essex!

‘Find’ our Books in Windsor

A while back I stumbled across a video on Facebook depicting a woman in Belgium hiding books and starting a book-themed version of Pokemon Go. I immediately wished something like that existed here and even briefly thought about putting it together myself. But, with one thing and another, I got busy and the idea faded. Weeks pass and then, lo and behold, someone in Windsor has taken the initiative and made this idea a reality and it is none other than our friends over at Adventure Worlds Press, along with fellow local author, Jessica Gouin. 

So today in Windsor, Ontario, you can go outside and literally hunt for books. Clues and photos hinting at the book’s location are posted to the Facebook Group: Book Hunters Windsor which can help point the way, but it’s also possible that you just might stumble on a book ‘out in the wild’. If you do, don’t worry, the book comes with instructions on how to play and the rules are simple enough, just go to the Facebook Group and comment ‘found’ on the photo of the book you picked up. Then read it, and when you’re done, considering re-hiding it and leaving a clue for someone else to hunt it down.

I absolutely love this concept and if you’re in Windsor or the surrounding area, I hope you take advantage of the fact that this is happening in your neighborhood. If you’re not local, then maybe you should jump on this and create something similar in your town before someone else does.

Speaking of finding our books in Windsor, if you don’t want to hunt, you can always head to your local bookstore like Juniper Books, Storytellers on Ottawa St, or the University of Windsor Bookstore. And, local or not, you can head into your nearest major retailer like Chapters and have them order our books for you.

If you just can’t wait, then come and see us on October 30th at the Caboto Club in Windsor for Retrorama. We’ll be there with Adventure Worlds Press and our ever-growing collection of really cool books to take you to a whole host of other worlds.  

Introducing our new imprint… Adventure Worlds Press!

Yes, you read that right, we’re expanding! As you know, we specialize in escapism fiction for all ages in the genres of fantasy, science fiction, adventure, and romance. But what about those genres and types of books we don’t publish, but are still escapism fiction? Like horror, hard science-fiction, short stories, graphic novels, and stuff on the fringe? Well, that’s where Adventure Worlds Press comes in.

We’ve partnered with two up and coming Windsor-based authors, Christian Laforet and Ben Van Dongen. Christian is the author of a collection of horror short stories, The Space Between Houses and together, he and Ben collaborated to put together a collection of science fiction stories in their most recent release, No Light Tomorrow. Since successfully self-publishing their two books, Ben and Christian have been collecting short stories for their blog, Adventure Worlds, with the intent of one day turning that blog into something more, specifically a press. 

So, here we are! As an imprint, Adventure Worlds Press will be run under the sole direction of Christian Laforet and Ben Van Dongen, in partnership with those of us at Mirror World Publishing. They’ll be looking for science fiction, horror, and fringe manuscripts for novels, novellas, graphic novels and short story collections. No word yet on when they might be opening submissions, but subscribe to this blog, or go over to Adventure Worlds Press to check them out and subscribe to them for more information. In the meantime, they’ve got a whole host of stories you can read or you can always pick up a copy of The Space Between Houses by Christian Laforet or No Light Tomorrow by Christian Laforet and Ben Van Dongen.

These books and any future releases from Adventure Worlds Press will be coming to our store soon, and will be available as a part of our Membership Program. (To learn more about how to get unlimited books with our membership program, click here.)

And, best of all, we’ll be holding an event to celebrate this partnership and also to celebrate the launch of our 2016 Fall releases. More info to follow, so don’t forget to subscribe or check back often.