December 5th, 2008 / 7:05 pm
Presses

Dzanc Half-off Holiday Sale

From Dzanc:

Based on a True Story
Based on a True Story

Hesh Kestin

Best of the Web 2008
Best of the Web 2008

Steve Almond
Nathan Leslie

Gifts and Clothing
BOOK BUNDLES

In a Bear's Eye
In a Bear’s Eye

Yannick Murphy

All Over
All Over

Roy Kesey
Gifts and Clothing
GIFTS and CLOTHING

Unending Rooms
Unending Rooms

Daniel Chacón
Black Lawrence Press

bryant-darkness
While in Darkness There is Light

Louella Bryant
Black Lawrence Press
Temporary People
Temporary People

Steven Gillis
Black Lawrence Press
Monkeybicycle4
The Last Game We Played

Jo Neace Krause
Black Lawrence Press
Monkeybicycle4
Signs of Life

Norman Waksler
Black Lawrence Press

Monkeybicycle5
Monkeybicycle

Issue Five

Monkeybicycle4
Monkeybicycle

Issue Four
Monkeybicycle4
Things That Pass for Love
Allison Amend
OV Books

Tags: ,

34 Comments

  1. darby

      I just bought Bob, or Man on Boat. I had forgotten I wanted to read that.

  2. darby

      I just bought Bob, or Man on Boat. I had forgotten I wanted to read that.

  3. barry

      fuck, folks. i read quite a few of these and im telling you you gotta order some of these titles.

      kyle minor
      yannick murphy
      peter markus
      jo neace krause
      daniel chacon

      i wish suzanne burns and stefan kiesbye’s collections were available for pre-order. they are gonna be killer.

  4. barry

      fuck, folks. i read quite a few of these and im telling you you gotta order some of these titles.

      kyle minor
      yannick murphy
      peter markus
      jo neace krause
      daniel chacon

      i wish suzanne burns and stefan kiesbye’s collections were available for pre-order. they are gonna be killer.

  5. aaron

      I’ve just been (finally) reading Kyle’s book the last few days and really enjoying it. And the Markus and Murphy and Kesey books were all really, really good.

  6. aaron

      I’ve just been (finally) reading Kyle’s book the last few days and really enjoying it. And the Markus and Murphy and Kesey books were all really, really good.

  7. DiGang

      How about some critical review, or really any type of review of these books, other than, “Drool, they’re really good!”

  8. DiGang

      How about some critical review, or really any type of review of these books, other than, “Drool, they’re really good!”

  9. barry

      you are expecting a critical review in a post that says “half off holiday sale”???

      click on the link and read the reviews from dzanc’s site.

      whats wrong with drool?

  10. barry

      you are expecting a critical review in a post that says “half off holiday sale”???

      click on the link and read the reviews from dzanc’s site.

      whats wrong with drool?

  11. Matt
  12. Matt
  13. Matt
  14. Matt
  15. Frank Smythe

      The Roy Kesey book was as good as I expected. The Markus book okay, but a little bit repetitve. I guess that was the point but it got boring repetitive instead of interesting repetitive. The Kyle Minor book was the best of the ones so far. He does a lot of different voices. Not flashy but effective and the book even made me cry at 4 out of six of the endings. The best story in the book was A Love Story about the gay married minister. I also like the Berlin and Florida story at the end.

  16. Frank Smythe

      The Roy Kesey book was as good as I expected. The Markus book okay, but a little bit repetitve. I guess that was the point but it got boring repetitive instead of interesting repetitive. The Kyle Minor book was the best of the ones so far. He does a lot of different voices. Not flashy but effective and the book even made me cry at 4 out of six of the endings. The best story in the book was A Love Story about the gay married minister. I also like the Berlin and Florida story at the end.

  17. pr

      That made me want to buy the kyle minor book. thanks.

  18. barry

      pr and frank:

      yes i agree, kyle minor’s ws my favorite of the lot. this is the first sentence of the book:

      “I hate Christmas, but this year is different because there is a small chance my wife will die and take our unborn child with her.”

      wow.

      but man, jo neace krause and daniel chacon’s collections are bad ass. pr. i really think you will like the krause. she is a very good storyteller.

  19. barry

      pr and frank:

      yes i agree, kyle minor’s ws my favorite of the lot. this is the first sentence of the book:

      “I hate Christmas, but this year is different because there is a small chance my wife will die and take our unborn child with her.”

      wow.

      but man, jo neace krause and daniel chacon’s collections are bad ass. pr. i really think you will like the krause. she is a very good storyteller.

  20. barry

      her stuff is dense and heady, something i think you would enjoy

  21. barry

      her stuff is dense and heady, something i think you would enjoy

  22. barry

      dense is the wrong word. its not chabon or anything.

  23. barry

      dense is the wrong word. its not chabon or anything.

  24. Frank Smythe

      Barry,

      I agree. The sentences sneak up on you in that Minor book. “The very face of evil was love.” “She had always feared she would die alone, but she was not alone.” “I just think that life is a disappointment in general and you’re just coming to knowledge of it later than the rest of us.” “Never before had she known options, although she felt like what was left to do had been marked on her before she was born.”

  25. Frank Smythe

      Barry,

      I agree. The sentences sneak up on you in that Minor book. “The very face of evil was love.” “She had always feared she would die alone, but she was not alone.” “I just think that life is a disappointment in general and you’re just coming to knowledge of it later than the rest of us.” “Never before had she known options, although she felt like what was left to do had been marked on her before she was born.”

  26. Frank Smythe

      I don’t have that Kesey book in front of me, but it has sentences to die for too. I’m going to go get my copy and write out some of them too. Does this violate any copyright laws? Shit, these guys are going to get mad.

  27. Frank Smythe

      I don’t have that Kesey book in front of me, but it has sentences to die for too. I’m going to go get my copy and write out some of them too. Does this violate any copyright laws? Shit, these guys are going to get mad.

  28. pr

      barry- i bought the minor now maybe i will go by krause. man, i love short stories.

      frank- i think it’s just free advertising for them, they’ll be psyched.

  29. barry

      pr:

      you will not be dissapointed if you buy krause’s collection.

      also, i am surprised at you .telling ken baumann you are proud of him for missing html giant posts because he was doing “real world” stuff. i think he should get his priorties straight. ha.

      i love you

  30. barry

      pr:

      you will not be dissapointed if you buy krause’s collection.

      also, i am surprised at you .telling ken baumann you are proud of him for missing html giant posts because he was doing “real world” stuff. i think he should get his priorties straight. ha.

      i love you

  31. aaron

      >I don’t have that Kesey book in front of me, but it has sentences to die for too.

      I would agree with this and argue that this sentiment is one of the constants in the Dzanc books. It has been said about others but I’ll just add that some of Yannick Murphy’s sentences are also to die for.

      I will also argue against, while trying to not discredit, Frank’s argument that Markus’ book gets repetitive boring. On the one hand, I can see how that might happen, on the other hand the language, for me, and specifically the repetition thereof, worked to kind of hypnotize me and I kept wanting to think that nothing was really going on, but then all of a sudden something would occue on the page and make me recognize the layers of the previous few lines/paragraphs/sections where I’d almost been thinking that nothing was happening.

  32. aaron

      >I don’t have that Kesey book in front of me, but it has sentences to die for too.

      I would agree with this and argue that this sentiment is one of the constants in the Dzanc books. It has been said about others but I’ll just add that some of Yannick Murphy’s sentences are also to die for.

      I will also argue against, while trying to not discredit, Frank’s argument that Markus’ book gets repetitive boring. On the one hand, I can see how that might happen, on the other hand the language, for me, and specifically the repetition thereof, worked to kind of hypnotize me and I kept wanting to think that nothing was really going on, but then all of a sudden something would occue on the page and make me recognize the layers of the previous few lines/paragraphs/sections where I’d almost been thinking that nothing was happening.

  33. Dan Wickett

      Much appreciation spread to those of you with kind words for the books we’ve published thus far (and in Barry’s case, for those we’ll publish in the future as well).

      It is even better to read of the kind sentiments towards the writing on the sentence level as I was just invited to speak to a class of undergraduate writing students at the University of Michigan, and it’s something I specifically discussed with them – that while we love a great story, wonderful plot, great characters, etc., we are looking for authors that can develop all of that while also concentrating all the way down to the sentence level with their writing. To be able to write individual sentences that make us want to write them down somewhere and read them again and again.

      It’s nice to see that those authors we are excited about finding an audience with similar beliefs.

      Thank you, htmlgiant.com for posting about our Holiday Sale and for pointing towards the other great independent publisher sales this time of the year – it’s made for some fun shopping.

  34. Dan Wickett

      Much appreciation spread to those of you with kind words for the books we’ve published thus far (and in Barry’s case, for those we’ll publish in the future as well).

      It is even better to read of the kind sentiments towards the writing on the sentence level as I was just invited to speak to a class of undergraduate writing students at the University of Michigan, and it’s something I specifically discussed with them – that while we love a great story, wonderful plot, great characters, etc., we are looking for authors that can develop all of that while also concentrating all the way down to the sentence level with their writing. To be able to write individual sentences that make us want to write them down somewhere and read them again and again.

      It’s nice to see that those authors we are excited about finding an audience with similar beliefs.

      Thank you, htmlgiant.com for posting about our Holiday Sale and for pointing towards the other great independent publisher sales this time of the year – it’s made for some fun shopping.