Welcome to A Month of Rain and Reads, a celebration of self-published and indie SFF throughout the entire month of November. To find out how you can take part and view the whole list of content, visit our introduction post.
Today we’re interviewing Elliott Dunstan, an Ottawa-based poet, historian and author as he launches his crowdfund campaign on Backerkit as part of The Book Bazaar 2025.
Elliott is raising funds for GULA. In this spiritual successor and response to “The Wasteland”, GULA explores the apocalyptic wasteland of capitalism, greed and environmental collapse in a searing epic poem.
Follow the campaign and pledge your support!
Please tell us a little about yourself and your Backerkit project.
I’m a poet first and foremost, and have been releasing zines and chapbooks since… 2015? So it’s been a decade since my first real zine! Poetry has always felt like my ‘first language’, especially as a deaf author who primarily communicates through the written word, and I’m always pushing myself to find new ways to express my ideas. GULA came out of a particularly rough time in my life, which initially resulted in CARRION CITY, and then THE SINGULARITY; both zines dealing with housing insecurity, poverty, and the stress of constant environmental and social catastrophe. GULA takes these ideas, though, and puts them into a quasi-narrative format — one that leans into the surreal nature of the ongoing News.
GULA is also fundamentally born from my position in the social hierarchy. I’m a disabled poet, both physically and mentally; I’m also queer and trans, trying to exert bodily autonomy in a world that doesn’t want me to; and I’m mixed-race with complicated roots in a time when nationalism is on the rise. At the same time, as a historian, I know the signs of an empire in collapse — and so as dark as GULA is, it’s still ultimately offering up some hope. I hope so, anyway — my idea of hopeful may not be shared by everyone!
Why did you join The Book Bazaar 2025?
I’m someone who tends to be very isolated, very much a lone wolf in terms of artistic projects. By joining the Book Bazaar, I’ve been able to work with others as we promote and support each other’s project — and still be able to run into my burrow to work on my actual art! But it’s been a fantastic opportunity so far to whet my teeth both on crowdfunding and on collaboration.
Have you crowdfunded before? What do you hope to achieve with your project?
This is my first time doing a proper crowdfund! I’ve done similarly-shaped things before, preorders of books and whatnot, but this is my first time committing to a campaign of this size. My zines and books are designed for small markets and printed for small markets — this is an opportunity for me to dream a little bigger in terms of reach and distribution.
Tease us with your Backerkit campaign! What rewards can we expect?
If you like weird art, you’re in luck. And I think more of you like weird art than you let on. Where are my Hieronymous Bosch and Boris Lurie fans at?
Why did you decide to self-publish/publish with a small press and what has been your biggest success so far?
I enjoy almost every aspect of publishing (stress: almost) and while I’ve now signed with a small press for my upcoming novel, I still enjoy being able to choose every detail of how my zines and collections look. I decide the cover, the art, the formatting; everything can be part of my vision to the finest detail. In short, I’m a control freak. My biggest success on this front has *definitely* been Revenant’s Hymn, my collection of horror short stories and poetry initially released in 2022. While I’m not smashing any sales records, it’s stuck with those who’ve read it in a way every artist dreams of — and it presents a cohesive thematic landscape, especially the paperback (which is illustrated!).
What is your favourite thing about being an indie author?
I mentioned the control freak thing already — but the real answer is how much the community runs with everybody on the same level. While it’s not perfect, the horizontal nature of indie means that the reviewers, the authors, the editors, the illustrators, all have to talk directly to each other — and that, for me, has led to much more lasting partnerships than I’m led to expect from a traditional landscape.
What tips can you share on self-publishing or crowdfunding with your fellow indies?
You’re gonna get sick of your own work after the 50th time formatting and editing it. It didn’t turn bad, you’re just tired. It’s okay.
Can you recommend a few of your favourite SFF books from indie/self-published authors?
Both of these are neck-deep in exactly the kind of surrealism I enjoy — one is Hard Times at the Aprostate Crater by Persephone Possum (newgurlxeno on Itch.io), which is… How do I even describe this book. Very NSFW, first of all, but also it’s a little bit like Looney Tunes, Evangelion and 1950s science fiction having very, very messy queer sex. The other is the collection Oleander Grip by Frog Kosaric (frogindustrialconcern on itch.io) which is funny, distressing, horrifying, sometimes kinda sexy, persistently surreal, and sometimes a little *too* real. It’s primarily science fiction, but weird gloopy surrealist science fiction. Finally, a complete shift in tone — Mahaila Smith’s ‘Water-Kin’ is a poetic solarpunk narrative in a zine, available (for free!) from Metatron Press. It’s sweet, sad, and you *will* cry over the littlest robot beetle.
What are you working on after your campaign?
I’m currently pitching a gothic horror novella, so I’ll probably be focusing on that, as well as a noir-horror WIP I have currently on the back-burner called CORPSEFLOWER. So there’ll be more long work coming from me in the future, at least if all goes well.
Do you have any last words?
Nobody is free until we’re all free — that means Palestine, that means Sudan, that means Congo, and it also means immuno-compromised people, queer and trans folks who are messy and sexual and weird about it, aromantic and asexual people, plural systems, otherkin, schizophrenics, refugees and immigrants, criminals — I have at least the privilege and the tools to make my voice heard. Not everybody does.
About the Author
Elliott Dunstan is a queer horror author currently living on the unceded lands of the Algonquin-Anishinaabe people in the Ottawa Valley. Previously published by Strange Horizons, Bywords.ca and Zoetic Press, Dunstan has released several poetry-focused chapbooks and zines over the last decade. His first full-length novel is coming out in 2026 from Poplar Press.
- Website: ElliottDunstan.com
- Bluesky: fiversdream.bsky.social
- Instagram: @elliott_dunstan
