The launch of the final issue of SANDBOX magazine originally scheduled for tonight, Thursday February 2, has been rescheduled for Tuesday, February 7th. More information on the launch can be found here.

Come down to celebrate the immense accomplishments of the magazine that galvanized the creative community of Winnipeg and achieved such heights in such a short time, triumphing over adversity to the last!

We are currently contacting all those that have made reservations to tonight's event to inform them of the change.

Enter in the Grant Park store to win a pair of tickets to see Straight No Chaser in concert Tuesday March 6th at the Burton Cummings Theatre.

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This week saw the passing of Russell Hoban, an underrated giant of fantasy, experimental fiction, and children's literature.

Generations of readers will remember him for his wonderful children's picture books, including Bedtime for Frances and The Little Brute Family; others, for his 1980 post-apocalyptic masterpiece Riddley Walker, written entirely in a kind of devolved pidgin, and its brilliantly fractured take on British history, any recollection of which has been occluded by catastrophe.

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McNally Robinson has acquired a machine that manufactures a quality paperback book every 4 minutes or so. The machine is part of the bookstore, standing in the front window, and customers can watch books being printed and bound.

The finished book is hard to distinguish from books printed by publishers except for the fact that the paper used for print-on-demand is better quality.

The print-on-demand machine (called the Espresso Book Machine by its manufacturer, On Demand Books, because you can custom order like a specialty coffee and in about the same time), immediately addresses three niche markets.

First, self published authors can now print, launch and distribute through McNally Robinson, avoiding the difficult decision to print many copies without knowing how many will sell.

Second, readers and researchers can buy physical copies of out-of-edition titles, of which there are millions available to McNally Robinson through print-on-demand databases like Google Books and Lightning Source.

Third, teachers and professors can customize textbooks and print only as many as they have students enrolled.

In future, print-on-demand will meet mainstream demand. Negotiations are in progress to make publisher catalogues available for print-on-demand in independent bookstores, which would help shore up the physical supply chain.

The store can now print a book faster than anyone can deliver it from a distant warehouse, with no shipping and handling fees.

Self publishers can email enquiries to bookmachine[AT]grant.mcnallyrobinson.ca.

For more information contact Liz Treidler (453 0424 extension 242) or Paul McNally (955 1937)