Choices – BPF News or Apartment renovations?

Ah, so many choices. I have a slight urge to post more photos of my ongoing apartment problems/renovations – but I think that can hold off. With some luck, the place is going to look amazing in a few weeks.

So I can report on the latest Bowling Pin Fire news. I’ve had two great profiles in two great magazines, Xtra West, my Vancouver hometown gay and lesbian newspaper, and in SX, Sydney’s gay and lesbian weekly magazine. They’re both great write-ups.

My launch was last week, at Gallery 4A, the Asian-Australian Arts centre. It was terrific and I hope to have photos up on my website in the near future – which, by the way, has been updated and has a terrific new front door.

About 50 folks came out for the launch, old friends, new friends. I was rather stressed about the catering but it was fine. I overcatered on the drink – but that doesn’t matter since I can use the wine myself later (note to self: 6pm on a Thursday night, folks don’t drink a lot… if anyone wants catering advice, e-mail me). The yum cha snacks were a success (particularly the prawn toast and tasty char siu triangles).

We sold a good number of books.

There were a few folks there who I had no idea who they were – through a poetry list invitation or through the gallery. I always think’s a bit weird, just hanging around, not buying a book… And I did say hello, and they said hello back, but I should have said, “how is it that you find yourself here?”

A friend, Paul, took some great, great photos, a million times better than I could have taken with my camera (or by giving it to someone else to take) – and friend and famous photographer William Yang came and took some photos which I hope to see someday too!

And the books are out in 3 stores in Sydney and 2 in Melbourne and 1 in Canberra, and a few copies are selling already.

It’s a strange phase at the moment though – I feel far away from Canada and the books, and have no idea whether any reviews will come in, whether my favourite Canadian shops are selling them (there have been a number of frustrating distribution problems), and whether the books that my friends report buying will add up to some sort of momentum. I really shouldn’t worry about it, though it’s hard not to do at this stage.