Adam Robinson
http://www.publishinggenius.com
Adam Robinson lives in Baltimore, where he operates Publishing Genius Press. His book of poems, Adam Robison and other poems, will be published by Narrow House Books this year.
Printers
McNaughton & Gunn
Even though my experience is very basic, people often ask me to recommend printers. Here is a list of printers I have used, and some thoughts. READ MORE >
Great Moments in Literature
Perhaps as a neighbor for Christopher Higgs’s “What Is Experimental Literature” series, we should compile a list of neat, uh, experiments. I’m thinking: What are your favorite tricks in literature? Let’s make a list. Here, I’ll scratch the meta surface. The comment box is “there” as a repository for your additions and complaints, as usual. READ MORE >
J. A. Tyler, ZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Author J. A. Tyler has put together a neat thing, a story across five stories, across five publishers. He calls it “wreckage” and describes the story with his uniquely destructive voice:
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ is wreckage. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ takes place as five distinct works, all built around the same core story. Each narrative is that of a girl who holds the last water in the world, a herd of chaos that takes it from her, and the boy who comes to resuscitate it all. But each story takes this kernel and shreds it in a new direction, incorporates other elements, reshapes the narrative in its own image. And each press that came aboard this project, releasing this wreckage into readers’ hands, worked on the same principle of core unity with distinct press-specific alterations. All that is left is the beautiful static hum: zzzzzzzzzzzzz.
The publishers, linked here, are:
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ [a well]: Greying Ghost
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ [the stars]: Warm Milk Printing Press
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ [this town]: The Collagist
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ [an island]: NewLights Press
This week I received the installment from Aaron Cohick’s NewLights Press (home of the $400 Brian Evenson book), and it is an amazing artifact. It’s completely letterpressed inside and out, and sturdily constructed. It’s hefty. It’s probably about 30 pages, depending on how you count them.
You can see images of the NewLights book here.
Book Giveaway: Applies to Thorson
Here’s a chance to win a copy of Maureen Thorson’s Applies to Oranges, which is one of the top five most beautiful books of 2011. No doy, it comes from Ugly Duckling Presse so that means it’s impeccably designed and intentionally detailed: good paper, letterpress cover, set in a typeface I hadn’t heard of (Bembo). But I don’t let that overshadow the poetry, which I first read and thought, “Damn, these are consistent.” They are the melt-in-your-mouth variety. You read one in a comfy chair after work and let it mellow. There’s an orange in every poem, and every poem is about 15 lines long and just one stanza. Earlier I thought the poems were quiet, but reading the book again now I realize no not quiet, tense. For instance, this sartorial sorrow:
If we had lived a hundred years, I’d say
give me washed leather, milliners’ pins,
Battenburg lace looped in orange silk.
Let me learn the politics of exclusion–
six hundred threads to the inch. In place
of island chic, a native’s pretend servility,
I’d dress to show that sorrow can harden
into a surface more starched than any collar,
more formal than the pleats of a skirt
as its hem dusts a dim corridor. It sets.
It makes creases I’ll never press out. READ MORE >
The Klondike by Zach Worton
The Klondike is Zach Worton’s comic book (320pp, b&w, on sale now at Drawn & Quarterly’s website) about the Yukon gold rush. It’s historical fiction about a fascinating period of expansion, and it’s well researched. In an afterword, Worton talks about finding the right way to tell the story, which he figures to be about 80% accurate, and then lists a detailed bibliography for further reading. I’m interested in the way comics deliver narrative differently from prose, so I found the author’s note to be particularly interesting. The challenges are not disimilar.
The first third of the book sets up all the characters and their objectives. These are in relatively short chapters. Because there are so many distinct people, I immediately thought that the book was going to be an encyclopedic look at separate historical figures, but before long Worton started to intertwine their stories. It was smart to establish things this way, because there are so many actors in the book. It’s like a Shakespearean history, in that it’s very easy to get lost with all the who’s-who. READ MORE >
3 Comments
June 21st, 2011 / 2:07 pm
June 21st, 2011 / 2:07 pm
Well that’s interesting: Poets Athletic Club
I will send Chris Toll's book to the first commenter to name this player.
What’s in a name? From the outside, the Poet’s Athletic Club on North Avenue in Baltimore looks like it might be a bar. I’ve never been inside it. One time me and Steph called to see what the deal was. Apparently it’s a philanthropy club for people who went to Poets High School. There isn’t poetry happening, but I’m thinking there might be shuffleboard. There is a positive but racist review of it at Yelp.
After a lot of social searching, the softball team I’m playing on this year decided to co-opt the name for our team. We feature writer bodies, so Poets Athletic Club works well. We also considered “Ballers,” “Aristotle’s Poetics,” “Phat Pitches,” and “Nuts and Berries.”
Other teams in the league are, “We’d Hit That,” “Butt Sweat and Tears,” “Multiple Scoregasms” and “Smack that Pitch Up.” Names that are funny but aren’t vile include “Jean-Claude Grand Slam” and — no, that’s the only one. There are two teams named “Saved by the Balls” and two named “Don’t Come on Our Bases” and three named “Master Batters.” There is only one “Top of the 6th Bottom of the 9th.” There are over 200 teams in the league. I’ll let you know how we do.
Go! Team. Bring on the Major Leagues. Boring Triple Play (for Sasha Fletcher). Best baseball catches of the world. Braves go 13-0 in 82. The Brothers K. She’s 9. Ambidextrous pitcher has 6-fingered glove. Mike Schmidt retires crying. Cap’n Jazz. This stupid thing. This amazing thing. Spaceman Bill Lee. Tinker to Evers to Chance. Merkle’s Boner. OK, the bird one. Prince and Cecil. All the Stars Came Out That Night. The poop one. Steve Bartman (fuckn Cubs fans). Mays. Jones. Softball.
Chris Toll, The Disinformation Phase
Video by Stephanie Barber
Book by Chris Toll
Pre-orders close this weekend. Order now for advance discount and a chance to win books by CAConrad, Heather Christle and M. Magnus. Chances of winning are high right now.
“I do believe Hell could be driven from the heart with Chris Toll’s amazing new book.”
CAConrad, author of The Book of Frank
“…these poems are tenderly repossessing the ineffable and the commonplace.”
Heather Christle, author of The Trees The Trees
“The Disinformation Phase is conspiracy theory in poetic practice.”
M. Magnus, author of Verb Sap
The Lit Pub, WTF is it?
The Lit Pub came out today, so I asked Molly Gaudry, it’s pioneer, what the fuck it is. Take a look at the website, then read our interview.
Can you explain what The Lit Pub is in 25 words or less?
Book publicity company / online bookstore.
Okay, how about in six words or more. What do you mean by publicity company?
This is hard to answer. What we (Chris Newgent and I) are trying to do, I think, is new and not quite like traditional publicity. It’s actually Matt Bell who helped make it all come together by suggesting focused, month-long discussion, to take place on TLP’s website, about individual books. Kind of like an online book of the month club, with individual publicists focusing on books they’ve selected. Actually, Matt once put it into this context: TLP is a bookstore, and for an entire month it will hold front-table events on its home page for three lucky authors/publishers.
This is hard to answer. What we (Chris Newgent and I) are trying to do, I think, is new and not quite like traditional publicity. It’s actually Matt Bell who helped make it all come together by suggesting focused, month-long discussion, to take place on TLP’s website, about individual books. Kind of like an online book of the month club, with individual publicists focusing on books they’ve selected. Actually, Matt once put it into this context: TLP is a bookstore, and for an entire month it will hold front-table events on its home page for three lucky authors/publishers.
Can I hire you to manage publicity for Sean Lovelace’s amazing book, Fog Gorgeous Stag?
Maybe. It depends on if I also think it’s amazing, and if you can afford me. If you can’t afford me, you can try Chris who has micropress-friendly rates, and hopefully he will think it’s amazing. If he doesn’t, or if you can’t afford him, then you can still be a guest publisher, which at this point is just a matter of securing a spot, and right now we’re booked through March 2012.