Today, I will be your Bill Kristol.

Dear Octopus Fans,

We have five announcements to make:

1. Eric Baus’s Tuned Droves

2. Shane McCrae’s One Neither One

3. Open Reading in April for full-length manuscripts

4. Subscriptions for 2009-2010

5. T-Shirts

[details on #s 1-5 after the jump, and at the very bottom: a picture of Bill Kristol getting nailed by a pie   -JT]

1. Our second full-length poetry book, Tuned Droves by Eric Baus, is now available on our website, at SPD , and on Amazon. In his follow-up to the acclaimed THE TO SOUND (Verse Press/Wave Books 2004), Eric Baus’s second full-length poetry book is a continuation of his experimentation with the elongated lyric prose form.

http://www.octopusbooks.net

Read advance praise on the Poetry Foundation website and at The Cambridge Book Review.

http://poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2009/02/neon_meat_dreams_of_an_octafis.html

http://smallbytes.net/~bobkat/TunedDroves.html

2. Our latest chapbook, One Neither One by Shane McCrae is now available at our website. McCrae brings a haunting cut-up & surrealistic aesthetic to bear on the mutable thinking about race.

http://www.octopusbooks.net

Read a poem from the chapbook here: http://www.octopusmagazine.com/issue10/McCrae.htm#b

3. Octopus Books will hold an open reading period for full-length poetry manuscripts in April of 2009. Manuscripts must be submitted between April Fools day and April 30, 2009. We prefer you submit your manuscripts electronically. To submit, purchase the $10 reading fee through paypal from the button on the Octopus Books website on the “Submit” page, then attach your manuscript in an email tooctopusbooks@gmail.com. In the subject line of the email write your name and “Manuscript Submission.” There is no need to introduce yourself in the body of the email. Your email will be handled anonymously by an intern. Your manuscript will be forwarded in a different file without any identifying markers and read blindly by the editors and other readers. Do not include your name on the manuscript at all.

If you choose to submit by mail, send manuscript to: Octopus Books; 1031 SE 21st; Portland, OR 97214. Include your email address and a $10 check written to “Octopus Books.” We will still notify you by email. Also, include your name on the packaging, but not on the manuscript itself.

Please, help us spread the word.

4. You may now purchase a two year subscription from Octopus Books and receive everything we publish through 2010. This includes 3-4 full-length poetry books including Boris by the Sea by Matvei Yankelevich (Fall 2009), The Difficult Farm by Heather Christle (Fall 2009), and 1-2 other books published from our open reading period in the fall of 2010. This also includes 4 or more chapbooks including Shane McCrae’s One Neither One. The cost is $56 (a $90 value counting shipping/postage costs).

5. Octopus T-Shirts are available for purchase through this email only, and not on the website. $12 (includes shipping). A photo of the tshirt is attached. You may use this link to paypal to make your purchase. Indicate in your notes which size you would like (S, M, L, XL).https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=3355358

Sincerely,

Zachary Schomburg & Mathias Svalina

Editors

www.octopusbooks.net

Suck it, Kristol. Lick that filling off your face. Oh yeah.