Quill and Quire reports on changes at Red Deer Press

Quill and Quire reports today on changes at Red Deer Press, including the departure of long-time publisher Dennis Johnson; Red Deer press publishes Robert J. Sawyer Books, the imprint I edit.

In the article, posted in the subscription-only area of their website, they quote briefly from an email response I sent to Q&Q editor Derek Weiler. For the record, the full email said:

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Kirstin Morrell, the fabulous managing editor for almost two years now at Red Deer, is a huge science-fiction fan, and very knowledgeable about the genre; her role will expand, I'm sure (although I will continue to be the actual acquistions and substantive editor for my line).

Richard Dionne is totally behind my line, and very enthusiastic about it -- as is Sharon Fitzhenry herself.

We've had our best initial sales ever with our latest release, Phyllis Gotlieb's Birthstones, and we've had a great initial buy -- our biggest to date -- from Barnes and Noble for our next, Matthew Hughes's The Commons, so it's all ahead at warp speed for Robert J. Sawyer Books.

If you want a comment from me for an article: "Dennis Johnson is a visionary and enormously hard-working. He came to me looking to create a science-fiction imprint, and it's a testimony to his business acumen that he got me to agree to do it for so little money. Calgary is booming right now, and there are so many opportunities out there, I'm not surprised he's gone on to bigger things ... but he'll be missed, and I wish him well."

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site