After checking out my website you may be wondering: Why does a duck in a suit feature so heavily on these pages? Is Juby an author or a duck?
It’s kind of a long story. If you have Facebook, you can go to my page and scroll down to a series of posts starting on December 15, 2023. What happened is that in the fall of /23 I was nominated for the Leacock Medal for Humour (for the fourth time!) and was deciding what to wear to the event. I happened upon a suit on the Brooks Brothers website. It wasn’t just any suit. It was a velvet suit covered in tiny embroidered ducks.
​
I became obsessed. A duck suit! My god. The class! The wit! I would be like an eccentric British noble wandering around if I had a duck suit. And such a thing might allow me to win the Leacock medal. (Note for readers: I did not. But I did win it in 2006 and I wore a polka dot dress to the ceremony. Make of that what you will. Polka dots>Duck Suit.) In spite of my enthusiasm, the duck suit was out of my price range. I think it was originally somewhere in the vicinity of $1200. I simply couldn’t justify it.
​
I went to the Leacock ceremony in a dress I’ve had for 15ish years and had a great time.
​
But the duck suit haunted me. Or maybe it was just the algorithm. I would visit the duck suit online from time to time and one day it was marked way down. The duck suit was only $782! I put up a photo on Facebook and asked my friends there whether I should buy it.
​
Facebook, being severe enablers, said yes. But $782 is a lot of cabbage for a single duck suit, even one that is on sale. And then Sean Enns, a local writer and former student, suggested I crowd fund it. So I did and combined it with a book give away for advance reader copies of my next book, A Meditation on Murder. And over the course of a day or so my readers donated between $5 and $50 and I had my duck suit. Every single duck on it is dedicated to those donors.
​
Sadly, I was in a short-lived thin phase and bought a size 8 suit. A size 10 would have been more prudent. But I still struggle into it from time to time.
​
Here is the explanation I posted on Facebook as the campaign was heating up and people had questions about the seemliness of such an endeavour:
FACEBOOK POST
​
Update:
​
Today by Susan Juby, Organizer
​
I know a number of you have questions. My mother, for instance, is probably concerned. Allow me to try and answer some of them:
​
Q: Susan, oh no! Are you broke? Why are you doing a Go Fund Me for a velvet duck suit?
​
A: No, I am not broke. Yes, I am terrible with money, but I'm not $782 velvet duck suit bad with money. This suit is only a possibility with the generosity of a crowd fundraiser.
​
Q: Do you think you're all that? Don't you have any dignity?
​
A: No.
​
Q: I thought authors made a lot of money. Why don't you buy your own duck suit?
​
A: No.
​
Q: Aren't you embarrassed to do this?
​
A: The world is really awful right now. You know what's not awful? Duck suits. You know what's even more fantastic than velvet duck suits? The fact that my readers, friends, and family have donated to make this suit a reality. I have laughed OUT LOUD every time a donation came in. But yes, I am embarrassed. EMBARRASSED BY HOW MUCH JOY THIS HAS BROUGHT ME. (And how great everyone is. Did you know that an $18 donation means "life" and that it is a Jewish custom to give money in increments of 18, symbolically blessing the recipient with the gift of long life. Cynthea taught me that when she dropped a cool $18 on this fundraiser.)
​
Q. I don't want an advance reader copy of your new book. What do I get if I donate?
​
A: You will be sponsoring a duck. Each donor symbolically owns a duck.
​
Q: Jesus. That's really weird.
​
A: That's not a question.
​
Q: Aren't you going to feel selfish owning a velvet duck suit that costs $782 (on sale)?
​
A: Yes. That's why after publication season is over I have decided to loan the suit to size 8-ish people who have a special occasion coming up. If you are winning an award for making the best jam or are the top scorer in your water polo league or are going on a date with someone you want to scare just a little, you can put in a request to borrow the duck suit. It goes without saying that writers and artists will get priority. Should someone want to wear the suit to the Gillers that would be extra great because it is likely the only way I'm ever going there.
​
Love and gratitude,
​
Susan
As part of the campaign, I promised to wear the duck suit for my next author photo. It turns out that styling a duck suit is not for the faint of heart. Read more about that in a Facebook post on Feb 27, 2024. Here is a condensed version:
FACEBOOK POST
​
At long last, the proper debut of THE DUCK SUIT!
Thanks to Dave at Delgado Photography for a fun shoot. I love the way Long Lake looks at night and it's also a place that is very duck-friendly, so it seemed auspicious.
I heeded my friend Paul Coccia's suggestion that the suit would require "a strong hair and makeup direction."
Megan, Dave's wife and proprietor of Serenity Salon, gave me a massive blow-out, which made me feel like I could return anything to any store with no questions asked.
I visited the makeup counter at MAC, explained my mission and the artist leapt into action like an ER doctor with a critical patient. I left with a lot of strong direction in my bag. When I started getting ready, I realized that I forgot to get foundation and so I covered my entire face in blemish concealer. Gorgeous. Simply gorgeous.
We hit the lake and all was going well until a man with a dog started coming around. He was a youngish man who wanted to know if I was getting my real estate agent photos done.
"Ha!" I said, "Ha ha. Not on your life. I hate real estate and no sane person would buy a house from me."
Then he went away, only to come back about fifteen minutes later to ask if I was, you know, single.
"No," I confessed. "Definitely not."
"Well," he said. "I have an uncle who--" (I assume he had an uncle who wanted to buy some real estate from someone who is actively hostile to dwelling-based commerce.)
"Definitely married," I said, feeling forty-three again.
I think Dave was impressed. "Does that happen to you often?" he asked.
No. Never. Entirely a function of the duck suit, which is apparently deeply compelling to people looking to set up their uncles.
Anyway, it was all very fun. Thank you again to all the duck suit enablers and shareholders.
Hairfelt (sorry, I had to!) thanks to duck suit shareholders. You are all hilarious and good sports: Paul Coccia (also general hair and makeup advice), Anonymous, Barrie Summy, Alim Rawji, Rita Moir, Charlotte M-R, Marni Stanley, Barbara Berson-Weinberg, Rachel Jackson, Donna Bishop, Chandler Savannah-Cumming, Ken Jack, Sarah Patterson, Bill Buchanan, Janina Stajic, Robin Stevenson, Wendy Burch-Jones, Ishta Murcurio, Kiara Strijack, Kirsten Mah, Rachel Grav, Monica Vandermeulen, Anna Humphrey and Brent Marshall, Anonymous, Denise Davidson, Dana Battaglia, Danielle Younge-Ullman, Joanne Levy, Jessica Waite, Alexandria Stuart, James Pickell, Ross Cormack, Connie Raffin, Kevin Wanke, Kellie Connelly, Dave Bigelow, Anita MacLeod, Tanya Trafford, Sheila Cooper, Sandra Thompson, Sara Simpson, Sean Enns (generator of original idea), Anonymous, Myranda Bolstad, Pete Skuce, Erin Grittani, Lori Ronquist, Heather Scott, Sandy Cooper, Kyla Hannington, Linda Boyd, Shaleeta Harrison, Rod Carley, Gail Vanderleek, Cynthea Masson, Christine Barbetta.
— feeling blessed.
I will end by saying that this website is a call-back to my first website. The theme for that one was Rare Birds and it featured a lot of bird watching motifs. Right from the beginning the subject matter for my novels seems to be metaphorical rare birds and odd ducks. If you have an affinity for those things, welcome. These books are for you.