Hamish MacDonald (author)
Hamish MacDonald is the author of four novels and an independent publisher who hand-binds all his books. He has lived in Canada and Scotland.
In 1999 MacDonald wrote and self-published his first novel. DoubleZero, a Y2K-themed novel, was well received on the underground ‘zine community in Toronto, being Broken Pencil magazine's Spring 2000 "Book of the Issue",[1] and was sold in major bookstores across Canada. The review in Toronto's NOW magazine, written by Bert Archer, said "Amid the dystopian clamour, a thoughtful, light, original and -- just for a change -- utopian look at the beginning of the new millennium."[2]
In 2006 MacDonald released his second and third novels, The Willies and Idea in Stone, under his own imprint: typesetting, printing and binding each copy himself[3] from a home studio in Scotland. His fourth novel Finitude which deals with the possibilities of future climate chaos was published under the same imprint in 2009. As an example of the growing subgenre of speculative fiction known as climate fiction or Cli-fi, Finitude has begun to appear as a text on university syllabi[4][5] for courses examining climate change in fiction.
Indie publishing
As well as being an indie publisher, MacDonald is active in promoting simple printing and bookbinding techniques which require minimal training and little or no specialist equipment. His No Media Kings article[6] on this subject is one of their most comprehensive and popular,[7] and he teaches workshops on hand book-binding at events such as the Edinburgh Independent Radical Book Fair.[8] He also hosts the free podcast 'DIY Book',[9] which teaches aspiring novelists how to write, make, and sell their own books.
Bibliography
- Double Zero (Coach House Press/Hamish MacDonald, 1999, ISBN 0-9685533-0-3)
- The Willies (Hamish MacDonald, 2006, ISBN 1-59971-489-2)
- Idea in Stone (Hamish MacDonald, 2006, ISBN 1-59971-490-6)
- Finitude (Hamish MacDonald, 2009, ISBN 978-0-9560169-0-4)
References
- Pohl-Weary, E. "Broken Pencil" (issue 12, pp 58) 2000. ISSN 1201-8996, Toronto
- Archer, B. "NOW magazine", (Vol. 18, #46, pp69) 1999, Toronto
- "An Interview with Hamish MacDonald". Annexe Magazine July 6, 2011. Retrieved 2 November 2012.
- "College Classes Use Arts to Brace for Climate Change". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 April 2014.
- "THE POLITICAL ECOLOGY OF IMAGINATION" (PDF). University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. Retrieved 2 April 2014.
- http://nomediakings.org/doityourself/doityourself_book_press.html
- http://nomediakings.org/outtasite_links/link_a_new_diy_book_podcast.html
- http://www.word-power.co.uk/viewEvent.php?id=1170
- https://hame.land/diybook.html
External links
- Hame.Land - Author's website
- Work Inspiration with Hamish MacDonald - Interview on Workspiration
- - "Finitude" book review