Poetry Round Up, Winter/Spring 2012, Part I

A quick spotlight on new poetry collections you may have missed this past season!

Rose McLarney, The Always Broken Plates of Mountains, Four Way Books

These poems seem to have emerged almost organically from the land from which they’ve been wrought. Giving us a long history of what shape desire and love have taken in rural Appalachia, the poet speaks with a voice as urgent and clear as a mountain spring. In a poem that’s half directive, half fable, “Heart,” the reader learns how to test a goat’s: “pull the lips up, press/ the gums pale, then release.” Turning from the facts of the world inward, the poet manages to turn an array of emotions into more physical experiences; the color rushes back to the gums if nothing’s awry, and I, along with the speaker, am surprised by my own surprise at finding “all a ribcage contains and/ the warmth in can release.”
See an interview with McLarney at Four Way.

Mary Makofske, Traction, Ashland Press

The book’s tidy poems—which are delivered in such fine-tuned forms as sonnets, sestinas, and rhyming couplets—swell and contract in terms of their subject’s size and scope. Some of the more aggrandized persona poems ring a bit puffed-up to my ear, but she generally succeeds in capturing the quick happening of human perception—from the perspective of, for instance, a frozen caveman or her own childhood self. In the title poem, “Traction,” for instance, as we enter the room with a young girl, we also feel the girl’s physical reaction to her mother’s injury: “The strap gripped her chin, as a parent holds/ a child’s face when she needs to be scolded.” Her best poems would have us remember the simplicity of the simplest pleasures, throw the most privately experienced pain into deep relief.

Brandon Som, Babel’s Moon, Tupelo Press

Most of Som’s lines seek to lull and are beautiful enough to do so unabashedly. But I’m drawn to the collection’s sparer moments, moments of stronger emotional acuity that jut from the poet’s dewier speech. In “Elegy,” after meandering through what reads like lovely field notes on the moon that the tower of Babel must have sought (we’re told “a light wind blew seed into the web between tines of a hayrake;” the speaker remembers a story about Thoreau), we finally arrive at: “The morning of the funeral, my father dressed my grandfather: from the eyelet, each button new to full; the tie’s knot loose as if it had swallowed a small bird.” A stunning chapbook: if its waters sometimes make for deep wading, I’m always glad to make it to the outer bank.

Joan Kane, The Cormorant Hunter’s Wife, University of Alaska Press

I’m cheating a bit: this is a second edition printing. But the book came my way and I loved it, so I’ll ask you to think about checking out the aforementioned second edition. In the world of The Cormorant Hunter’s Wife, nothing is knowable except what’s immediately present—so admittedly and insistently so, in fact, that the present landscape becomes more than merely portrait-ed, that what’s unknowable becomes increasingly distanced from the human experience. The result is a beautifully rendered—not anxiety, exactly— but energy that is similarly tense, an energy that can seem incredibly lonely to a reader not versed in the realities of the Alaskan lives Kane portrays (her work is tied intimately to her Inupiaq Eskimo ancestors’ experience with the arctic/sub-arctic land). It’s a feat that such lovely poems examine the act of storytelling itself; in “Placer,” an opening tercet briefs us on some incident—probably mercury poisoning—, only to be followed up with an emphatic refusal to make a legend out of it: “Grown sick of myth there, the word itself/ Always catching and kenning/ In the wrong tense….” (For a great review by Jacqueline Kolosov-Wenthe from the book’s release date, see Smartish Pace).

Christopher Hennessy, Love-In-Idleness, Brooklyn Arts Press 

Hennessy’s book acts, on the whole, as his speaker imagines acting in “Waiting Room” (an interesting play on the Bishop poem): it makes “A man’s push,/ emptying what it wants to fill.” As exciting as the book’s unbridled desire can be, the poetry here is at its most beautiful when it settles down from the sexy fuss it needs to make. I say need because the poet’s need to carve out a space for homoerotic desire in a mid-western territory is palpable—and, for the most part, it’s a well-dramatized struggle against a culture resistant to hear that desire. But where the poet seems most confident and unapologetic, something more exciting happens than what the reader finds in the book’s harder pressing. In “Aubade with Plum,” as the lover leaves the speaker holds “what felt like a whole plum caught in my throat,/” and watches “the sky turn from shades of plum/ to goddam shades of plum [sic].” And in an elegy for his grandmother, he writes “The men/ of our family say the women of our family are granite-/willed farm girls….To hell with them, with the will-/full blindness of men.” These are the moments I savored.

Unusual Calls for Submissions

Bethlehem Writers Roundtable Short Story Award
Now accepting submissions of short fiction or memoir of 2000 words or less, for the Bethlehem Writers Roundtable Short Story Contest. The theme of this publication is Seasonal Pursuits: Sweet, Funny, and Strange Tales. In addition to a $200 prize, the first place winner's story will also be considered for print publication in the Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC's upcoming anthology of Seasonal Pursuits: Sweet, Funny, and Strange Tales. Second place will receive $100 and third place will receive $50. Submissions will be reviewed by our celebrity judge, Jonathan Maberry. All stories must be submitted by February 15th, 2012.

Whistling Fire Guest Editor Themed Selection
Whistling Fire is proud to announce our new ongoing Guest Editor Themed Selection.  Throughout the year we will have various Guest Editors taking over The Whistling Fire for an entire month and selecting special themed work of their choice.  The lucky few selected will be published every Tuesday of their Guest Editor’s month. We welcome experimental pieces but ask that your writing is limited in length to 3000 words. For more submission guidelines visit Whistling Fire's webpage.
Our March Guest Editor is Orlando Ramirez. Ramirez lives in Riverside, California, where is the editor of La Prensa, a Spanish-language newspaper. He recently received an MFA in Poetry from the Cal State University, San Bernardino, Creative Writing Program. He was one of the original editors of Mango Publications, and has been anthologized widely and published in Zzyva, Berkeley Poetry Review, Badlands and other journals.

Dear Writers,
Poetry – the best poetry – confronts that line, erases it, ignores it, smudges it with a little spit on the tip of the finger to blur the before into the after.
I am looking for poems that cross lines, whether it be the double-yellow line on a two-lane road; the wouldcouldshoulda chain of regret; the poetic line and its break; the line between English/Espanol; the fungible line between male, female and whatever other classifications we create.  Send poems that cross that line and be prepared to discuss the consequences. Any style. In English and Espanol.  Remember -- boundaries are of your own making.
Good Luck,
Orlando Ramirez

All poems must be submitted by February 25, 2012.


At Length
At Length will begin its next open reading period on February 1, 2012. Submissions received after the closing date of February 29th will not be considered. POETRY: We're interested in poems and sequences that are at least 7 single-spaced pages long. PROSE: We're looking for fiction and non-fiction of at least 7,500 words in length. We welcome novellas, novel excerpts, memoirs, narratives, essays, and long short stories. No academic papers, please. Simultaneous submissions are fine, previously published pieces, not so much. *Please be aware that we are not yet able to pay our contributors. Simultaneous submissions are fine, but be sure to mention it in the body of the email, and if parts of the work have already appeared in other venues, please note that as well and provide all relevant details. We will attempt to respond to all submissions within two months, and we ask that you only submit one poem at a time. All submissions are due by February 29, 2012.

Two-hundred New Mexico Poems 
Two-hundred New Mexico Poems, a blog celebrating New Mexico's centennial through poetry, is now accepting previously unpublished submissions of poetry. Suitable themes include: New Mexico history (especially between the years of 1912 and 2012), environment and place, culture, and personal significance of the region. Poems may be formal or free verse and utilize narrative or lyric voice. Submissions are open to all poets regardless of residence, just as long as the poems are clearly connected to New Mexico. Poems written in Spanish will be considered as long as they are accompanied by an accurate English translation. Send your typed submissions with line count of each poem and 50 word bio as a word document to 200nmpoems@gmail.com. Submissions are open until 200 poems have been selected. ("Plenty of room," as of January 31, 2011)

Tweeted Questions: Calling All Lit Mags

Tweeted questions just don't stop! (And we love it. More, please!) Continuing with our quest to answer any and all questions we get through Twitter, our discussion panel is taking on a question from fellow mag, Revolution House.

Do you have advice for new mags?

Specter, Mensah Demary   Don't start a literary magazine for any reason other than a love for literature and writers, as well as discovery (the best thrill, so far, is finding a fantastic story from a newcomer or, in some cases, from a vet who had the story rejected multiple times). Beyond the intrinsic qualifications, my advice is to begin. Don't be afraid. Learn as you go along because you will make mistakes, but nothing too detrimental.

Also, don't be cheap. Spend $10 and buy a domain name for your lit mag. Find a solid hosting service with reasonable monthly rates for dedicated server space. If you're going to invest your time, you might as well invest a little bit of money, too. It's the Internet; presentation is everything, and first impressions are fleeting.


Ninth Letter, Jodee Stanley   Get involved with the literary publishing community. Seriously. Go to AWP [Association of Writers & Writing Programs] and any other conferences/bookfairs/literary events you can get to. Follow your favorite lit mags and literary publishers on Facebook and Twitter; engage in conversation with other editors. Once you've published a couple of issues you can and absolutely should join CLMP [Council of Literary Magazines and Presses] so you can participate in ongoing dialogues with editors and publishers. The literary publishing community is welcoming and supportive, as well as being an unbeatable source of information of all kinds.


Black Fox, Racquel Henry   I'd agree with Jodee. Getting involved in the literary community is good advice. Engaging with other editors and publishers is not only enlightening, but supportive. I think it's important for us to support each other and support the writers that we publish.


Joyland Fiction, Brian Joseph Davis   Joyland is online, free, and is funded by grants and donations. Without traditional subscribers, we run hard into the central problem of literary journal entropy: your readers and supporters are the people you, more often than not, are going reject. We ourselves haven't quite licked that problem, but we're trying all the time to improve it. My general advice is to come up with a rejection policy that makes sense, is clear about response times or whether you respond at all. I do believe how you reject is as important as publishing good work.

One problem that afflicts literary journals every now and then is only publishing from an immediate circle, and we have solved that by having eight different regional editors. They do have total control over what they publish. I'm not saying follow our editorial mandates, but if there are lessons you could learn from us, they’re: trust your editors, and start publishing people you don't know as fast as possible.

Contact established authors you like and ask for writing, as well. Both Emily and I worked in publishing and journalism for years before Joyland so we had a few contacts, but we've also done a lot of outreach to complete strangers whose work we love and it's always amazing. No author is ever going to be offended by being asked for work. Conflicted, yes, but offended, no.


CutBank, Josh Fomon   Foremost, don't overextend what you are capable of doing. Start with something manageable so you can grow and subsequently produce more far-reaching goals as you learn to negotiate the amount of time the entire process takes. When beginning a journal, it's not a bad idea to try to solicit work because that gives you greater control over the content and vision of what you want your journal to be. Not enough can be said about social media; it's a great way to expose your journal to a lot of people.


Black Fox, Racquel Henry   One thing that never occurred to me was the idea of soliciting work. I must agree with Josh. That may not be such a bad idea. We've always asked for work from other writers on Twitter, Duotrope, etc., but the thought of actually seeking a writer out and directly asking for a piece never crossed our minds. I quite like that idea, and that may be something we try.


Colorado Review, Stephanie G’Schwind   My advice is to make sure that your partners in crime (and heaven help you if you try this alone) each have different strengths and areas of expertise. Maybe you and a couple others want to select the work to publish, to discover those new voices. Great! But then ideally, you'll have someone who's an organizer, someone who will create structures and schedules for dealing with submissions, editing, and production. You'll have someone who can copyedit, who loves the nuances of the em dash, the semicolon, and that sort of thing. And you'll have someone who can design and lay out the pages and get the issues to and from the printer. It's easy to get overwhelmed by the details. See if you can recruit some dedicated volunteers to help or perhaps start an internship. And finally, join CLMP; it’s a great community of editors, most of whom are more than willing to share their experience and advice with newcomers.


Black Fox, Racquel Henry   Make sure you do your research. Research was the key to our process. There are so many resources out there for literary magazines, but you'll never find them if you don't do your homework. Also, don't give up. Everyone told us that starting a literary magazine was hard work and that most of them fail. We did it anyway. There is nothing like struggling with something and then seeing it succeed in the end. Take the small victories and don't focus on what went wrong along the way. Last, don't do it unless you really love it. All of our editors love words and we are dedicated to continuing the fight to sustain good literature. It won't work unless it's a labor of love.


Barge Press, Shawn Maddey   You really need to take the time to hardcore examine yourself as a reader and/or writer. I honestly don't believe anybody can approach a big fat pile of submissions with the only goal being "I want to choose the very best pieces." What does that even mean? Everybody likes different things, for different reasons. The more vague and general your goals in reading and publishing are, the more dishonest you're being, and the less focused your editorial work will be. Only saying you publish the best work you can find is always a lie—everyone's got an agenda here, everyone's out to say their brand of literature is what's worth reading. Agenda is really not a nasty word; be bold, embrace agenda, and know exactly what yours is, because that's what will make you strong and that's how the conversation moves forward.

On a kind of similar note, don't be afraid to be a hard-ass. It may take a while, but rejections get a lot easier, the more you send them. Don't settle for anything less than exactly what you want. But know why you're rejecting and why you're accepting, most importantly. Doing all personal rejections in the beginning is a great thing and will make you a dramatically better reader. Bottom line is, you may be one of the nicest, gentlest humans on the planet, but if you're editing a mag, your goal is now to weed out the bad ones (and the good ones, too) and promote only the perfect ones. You don't hurt anybody's feelings with rejections, and, if you do, you're just doing the rest of us a service because they shouldn't be playing writer to begin with.

Never overlook the power of networking. Barge started with a core group of four people on the same page but with different skill sets to contribute. Hallie doing layouts, Christine editing and reading, me doing the same and kind of working as the "voice" and overseer of the organization, and Justin bringing the ideas and, very importantly, the network. Meet artists and designers—they will very often be down with what you're trying to do and they're a very active set of people. Make the right friends and you'll get a lot of awesome work done on the cheap or even free—plus now you've got even more people invested in your product who will help promote it.

Oh, and probably the best advice I can think of: if your drunk ideas are your best ideas, run with that. Just make sure you TAKE NOTES. Extensive, highly detailed notes.


Hayden's Ferry Review, Beth Staples   What's resonating a lot with me is what Stephanie said. It's helpful to have a diversity of talents on your staff. You of course have to love literature, but you also have to understand design, finances, social media, appealing to a readership, finances, managing subscriptions, technology and, oh yeah, finances. The problem Brian mentions is well-noted. The people you reject are, still and hopefully, your readers. That's a difficult negotiation. It's great to put out a wonderful magazine, but it's also important to recruit an audience for it. You'll find the number of people who SUBMIT versus the number of people who SUBSCRIBE is a troubling ratio. I think it's easy to underestimate the time and attention you have to put into issues besides finding the best work. Literary journal staffs are usually small, which means that everyone on board has to wear multiple hats, even ones that make their heads look stupid or feel uncomfortable. This metaphor is running away with me, but I hope you see what I mean.

Tweeted Questions: What's the Role of Small Press?

This summer, we got a question on Twitter about the role of small press. (Really, what's the point of them, anyway? Kidding.) And while we've taken our sweet time answering this question, we also invoked the help of several editors from various literary magazines and had a thorough discussion about the role, place, and function of small presses and literary magazines. So grab yourself a mug of something hot, and settle in. Many thanks to butnsr12, who prompted this discussion by asking:

What role does the small press fill other than as a stepping-stone to the 'big times'?

Specter, Mensah Demary   Small presses are, in my mind, independent of "the big time." They publish the books the large houses no longer want, if they wanted them at all. They're more daring in what they publish (as well as who), and because of their size, they're swifter to adapt to changes in technology. They may be more open for experimentation, for working closely with the author to bring about his/her vision. Maybe small presses fill that gap, that space where the publisher and the writer work together on a project.

Still, I can't discount the large houses because they still publish worthwhile books. I like to think that some are still trying to "fight the good fight," which is the continued growth and promotion of the literary arts. That said, I try to stay away from the idea that small presses are "altruistic" and large houses are "malevolent." The goal is to publish the writer, to feed the ever-hungry (and perhaps fickle) reader.

Ninth Letter, Jodee Stanley   Small presses and literary journals are where contemporary literature grows and evolves. Let's be honest, the "big times" (NY book publishers, slick magazines) are by their very nature forced to consider the market and the bottom line. That's why so many magazines stopped publishing fiction—they (and/or their advertisers) felt that it wasn't attracting enough readers to make it worth the pages it took up. Big houses may want to keep literary authors on their lists, but in the face of budget cuts, the authors whose books sell the least will be the first dropped, regardless of how important the writing they do may be to the literary conversation. Small presses and literary journals don't have these issues—this community's main concern is keeping literature alive. New trends are born here, new schools of poetry, new ways of writing narrative and expressing truths. Writers who want to be part of this dialogue, and readers who want to follow it will always look to independent publishers and journals for the really exciting stuff.

Black Fox, Racquel Henry   I have to agree with Jodee on this one. Small presses are mainly concerned with keeping literature alive. Small presses are not afraid to publish a piece that takes risks. The larger houses are more concerned with publishing work that sells. It's just that priorities are different. The book that goes against the grain is more of a priority for a small press.

Joyland Fiction, Brian Joseph Davis   That dynamic might have had some traction in the '90s—and the small presses hate being considered "the farm teams" by the way—but it's just not true now. If you want to write a certain kind of writing, maybe something really bold, or writing for other writers, then the small press is a destination, not a consolation prize or stepping stone. The small—and large—publishers that are still doing well are the ones that have always acted as community hubs for specific kinds of writing and books. If they can continue to do that, especially with all the tools that make it really easy now, then they'll continue to do fine.

CutBank, Josh Fomon   Small presses aren't the big time? Kidding. But I'm going to defer to Kate Rutledge Jaffe, our former Editor in Chief, on this question: "I think small presses are incredible avenues for new writers looking to gain an audience, a place for readers to find inspiration, a fun way to discover new work and to watch as established writers take big, rewarding risks. Small presses and literary magazines also serve as a paper (and increasingly an online) community of bold writers determined to reach an audience with their work. And the curatorial aspect cannot be glossed over; each small press has a unique vision and eye for work, and publishes works that complement each other and the overall identity of the press. Find a small press whose aesthetic aligns with your own and you'll have found a friend, someone to introduce you to incredible, surprising work you might have otherwise missed."

Colorado Review, Stephanie G’Schwind   I often think of each issue of Colorado Review as a snapshot of a conversation—a conversation about what's happening right now in poetry, short fiction, and creative nonfiction. This is what people are working on and trying out, what they're thinking about, what they're obsessed with. And I hope that it sparks further conversation—for the both the readers and the writers. And while it’s been true for us that agents pay attention to what we publish and often contact us about writers we’ve featured (presumably to invite them to the “big time”), we’ll always be a place for writers to get started, and come home to.

Black Fox, Racquel Henry   We think small presses play a very important role in the deliverance of good literature. There are so many talented writers out there; we simply offer enough places for those writers to be heard. Small presses sometimes enlighten people on what they're missing—they break the rules. In a way, small presses keep the literary world on its toes. They sometimes shock, invoke happiness, sadness, anger, etc. Also, no matter the size of the contribution, small presses are responsible for continuing the tradition of reading for pleasure. Because of small presses, people still DO read literary magazines.

Barge Press, Shawn Maddey   Not sure what "big times" is, but I would guess that if "big time" is your goal, you should probably just shoot for that and skip all of this nonsense. You can get published in a hundred lit mags, put out a billion chapbooks, and it might earn you some cred, or it might not. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and just say that there probably aren't too many mags out there thinking they've got the next Stephen King or Joyce Carol Oates on their hands. There's simply way too many writers and way too much going on in the small press world for that to really hold much water anymore, not to mention, where the mainstream is concerned, a declining interest in the literary forms and styles small presses tend to present... that's why none of us can afford to pay. Besides, my idea of the function of the small press is dramatically cooler than all that.

By submitting to and publishing in small presses, as an author, you're becoming part of a community. But that community isn't necessarily about stepping-stones and self-promotion—though if you can use it that way, all the more power to you! That community is all about discussion and interrelation. If writing is simply writing and you're looking for legitimation to get an agent or major book deal, then the actual market of journals would be very small and limited to a few highly established guys with high print numbers who would be making profits off of the fantastic collections of literature they've put together, people clamoring to see the next big thing. Maybe, to some degree, this was the case in the past, like pre-2000s, and even more dramatically pre-1970s. Any other endeavor would just be futile, the whole thing would just be a big minor league system for the top dogs to pick from; the little guys wouldn't even have a chance, or a purpose.

So why, oh, why do we publish? Just like why, oh, why do we write. Like any writer (and most of us who are editing and publishing are also writers), we have something to say, and, increasingly, the ability and outlets to say it. The only other option is that all content is created equal—that the "best work" is the best work, without room for debate. In that case, why bother? I can't decide what, objectively, the best work is any better than the next person can, and certainly couldn't afford a print run of 10,000 the way others can. Pointless. The truth is, there is no such thing as any kind of concrete and objective truth to any aesthetic. The truth is, this world is made up of many voices, very few of them trying to strike it rich, most of them just doing it for the love of the game. That's what really makes it special and fun—you really just gotta fucking love it.

Hayden's Ferry Review, Beth Staples   This question is a tough one because I find the general sentiment behind it problematic. I recently heard the author Reif Larsen speak, and he said (I wrote it down, so this is verbatim), "I think writers forget why they write: to keep writing." I think too often people focus on some kind of outcome: I'll write a story to get it published in a journal, I'll get published in a journal so I can get an agent, I'll get an agent so I can be famous... I think literary journals exist, in part, to support writers. Is that not an end in itself? The continuation of the art, the support of the artist? And then to find an audience of dedicated readers and bring them to exciting work. We're part of an exciting and vibrant community, and we contribute to that community in all sorts of ways: by creating conversation, by getting excited about literature, by letting writers know that people "out there" care that they're writing. Whether they get a six-figure book deal is, to me, beside the point.

Barge Press, Shawn Maddey   Everyone seems to be pretty much in lock-step with each other, right down to the laughable notion of comparing us to the big-time... not that the comparison itself is idiotic or laughable, just that we're all in so deep in this that it's humbling—we've all had to confront that we are not the “big time” and won't and can't be. But I don't find it insulting so much, as if we're the minor leagues, but still, I just see it as a thought that probably rings true for a lot of people, and one that ought to be dispelled. The clearer the line is between the concept of major publishing houses and the small presses, the better off the small presses are (especially in an era where people are craving the off-beat, the local, the organic, non-industrial products that are carefully crafted rather than merely produced, assembly-line style.)

Community is a definite recurring theme here, and seems something we've all latched on to as one of the defining factors, philosophically, that separates us from the large houses. It is important, for sure, to be part of the community of writers, but, given what we are, I think it's even more important to promote literature as part of the community of artists in general and, more than anything else, the individual communities we live in. Merely appealing to the community of writers is narrow-minded and begs for stagnation and irrelevance—two things which don't do a very good job of promoting our art.

This didn't up, but I don't think we should ever shy away from intellectual confrontation and debate. I recently had a run-in with an editor who was not so chill, from a mag I won't name. To him, print was the only legitimate form of literature, and he seemed almost scornful that his mag was going half-digital. I tried to argue the benefit of digital publishing, but I think he wrote me off as either an idiot or a drunk, because he was not very amenable to my salient logical gymnastics. Where there was an opportunity to have a legitimate philosophical debate, he simply turned his nose at me, rather than defending his point of view. This guy is, thank fucking god, an exception to the rule—everyone else I've interacted with has been the salt of the earth: warm, welcoming, and fun. The moral is: Don't be a stuck-up prude. Stand by your beliefs, yes, but embrace the opportunity to defend them, or at least discuss them. Literature always has to be something people can relate to, and nobody relates to self-absorbed wieners. Not to mention, being a self-absorbed wiener does absolutely nothing to advance the art form.

Celebrate Independence with Independent Presses!

A (never too) late reading list in celebration of July 4th! Get to it.

HFR Contributor Michal Chelbin publishes monograph: The Black Eye

Upcoming HFR contributor Michal Chelbin has recently published The Black Eye through Twin Palms Publishers. The monograph contains photographs of athletes. The photos were mostly taken after moments of physical exertion, before the subjects had fully recovered from the their workouts or competitions. Their faces and bodies are both thoughtful and primal, showing the intellect of instinct.

Enjoy her book, then come back for more of Chelbin's work in the fall issue.

An Interview with Ellipsis Press

Don't be too upset: it's our last interview. Reminisce and check out the others here.


What makes your press different from other publishers?

Ellipsis Press publishes innovative writers who succeed in making new forms in order to express something previously unexpressed, to expand the realm of the articulable. Our books might fall under the heading of "experimental literature," though many people react negatively to the label as it brings to mind opaque styles with no emotional or intellectual payoff, but which we take issue with mostly because it's redundant.

Dalkey Archive, Sun & Moon, McPherson, Coffee House, Calamari, Fairy Tale Review Press, Starcherone, Black Square Editions are just a few of the great small or independent presses in whose tradition and company we hope to belong.

What’s a recent book you’re excited about?

In the spring of 2010 we're going to publish an anthology based on writings that have appeared in the online literary journal, Harp & Altar. Along with some fantastic poetry, it's a great and broad collection of innovative fiction. I believe it represents well what the press is about and the type of work we're interested in publishing.

What advice do you have for emerging writers looking to be published by a small press? What is it about a work that makes you want to publish it?

One person's gutsy transgression is another's mere novelty. What we're looking for is structural or stylistic innovation which also has an intellectual and emotional payoff. This pleasure should be fairly immediately apparent, i.e. not overly delayed or latent (though we can be teased). We will often jump randomly to pages and read whole paragraphs; if your work has a consistency of purpose and language, we'll read more. A great density of references to theoretical texts and/or trendy leftist political slogans and/or graphic and non-ending descriptions of sex or drug episodes generally does not tip the balance in your favor.

An Interview with Swan Isle Press

HFR's tribute to small presses. Check out past interviews here!

What makes your press different from other publishers?

Our books. And with great respect for my colleagues in large houses and small, each publishing house essentially has a unique editorial voice based on its authors and books. Those editorial choices, from content to book design, say something to readers about a publisher’s approach to literature, and express a unique identity. Just one example, that’s the way I feel about New Directions, as a reader. So it may be best to defer this question to our readers. In terms of background, Swan Isle Press is an independent, not-for-profit, literary publisher, with strong academic interests as well. Our resources are modest so we’re only able to publish two, sometimes three titles each year and have tried to create a balanced list of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.

As an NFP publisher, the choice to advance a project is often a lengthy and highly deliberative process since virtually of our books are works in translation and all translations are by respected scholars. It’s very tough being only able to publish just a few books each year since we receive many manuscripts worthy of publication. Every project goes through informal peer review with respected authors and academics who help provide editorial perspective. Swan Isle Press began its life almost ten years ago with books of poetry translated from the Spanish. In 2000, works in Spanish by writers from Spain and Latin America were under-represented, and I perceived that there were unmet needs not only for Spanish speaking readers but also for general readers interested in Spanish and Latin American literatures. So, making original contemporary and classic texts more accessible in single language English translations and bilingual editions is very much a part of Swan Isle Press’s mission and identity.

What’s a recent book you’re excited about?

If I may, I’d like to answer in the plural since Swan Isle Press has just released two inspiring new books, Jaume Cabré’s Winter Journey, the first major translation of his work from the original Catalan. This collection of short stories is remarkable on many levels, exquisite prose, and each of the stories mysteriously connected, so that the book can be read as discrete short stories but is really novelistic in terms of the narrative. But that’s for readers to discover…But in addition to the short stories in Winter Journey, there’s a fine epilogue by Jaume Cabré, essentially an essay that provides a generous insight into how the stories evolved, were written over a period of years, and I think would be of interest, instructive for writers interested in both the creative and more practical elements of how a work comes into being.

Swan Isle Press also just released a bilingual Spanish/English edition, The Light of Desire/ La luz del deseo. Poet Marjorie Agosín has written an intensely personal long poem that is both a secular and sacred meditation on love and its many layers of meaning. This beautiful love poem was inspired by The Song of Songs. The poem was written over a four-year span at Jerusalem’s Mishkenot Sha’ananim which is both a neighborhood in Jerusalem and also home to a fine cultural organization for writers and artists. The poem has been sensitively translated Lori Marie Carlson. The edition also features the images of Chilean painter, Ramón Levil. (Mishkenot Sha’ananim is a non-profit, non-governmental organization, which serves both as a guest house for artists and scholars and as an international cultural centre, which may be of interest to HFR readers, writers, artists.)

What advice do you have for emerging writers looking to be published by a small press?

Whether looking toward a small press or large house: Write. That’s my best advice. Simply write and don’t focus on when or who will publish the work. It’s not even a matter of art for art’s sake, noble as that is. Rather learning and honing the craft of writing and discipline required to better express oneself is a fine objective. Starting a project and finishing it. All too often I receive queries, proposals, but the work is only partially completed and it’s clear that the writer has not fully committed to finishing the work, that the only incentive to do so will come from the outside. Frankly, true writers don’t need much advice or encouragement from me or anyone, they will find a way to write under any circumstances. And read. Writers are always good readers. Classics, contemporary works, anywhere one’s tastes and curiosity lead. In terms of submitting a manuscript, it’s best that the writer is familiar with the books on a publisher’s list. I’ve received some very fine manuscripts that are likely worthy of publication, but simply don’t fit within our current list and mission. Wasted motion for both the writer and the publisher. Small presses are modest operations, certainly in comparison to the larger publishing houses, so working with a small press is a highly personalized experience. In fact, it is more of a collaborative experience that brings together a diverse group of extraordinarily creative and passionate individuals who are committed to doing whatever it takes to bring exciting voices and stories to new readers. Audiences too, because Swan Isle Press reaches out to many communities as part of its mission with author readings at schools, universities, various cultural venues. So perhaps on the most practical level, since many small presses focus on a unique literary genre or niche, authors seeking to be published by small presses (or large) would do well to target those presses whose interests are most closely aligned with their own. When the right match is made, the result can be an amazingly rewarding experience for everyone involved.

What is it about a work that makes you want to publish it?

At Swan Isle Press, above all, the focus is on publishing highly original literature that brings a new voice, a new experience, a new perspective to our readers. Now when I say a new voice, virtually every one of our authors, as well as our translators, have been previously published. But as with many works in translation, an English language edition is the first opportunity for readers to be introduced to an author, and our bilingual editions are often the first time Spanish readers have access to certain works as well that might not have been possible otherwise. The book when published should have the potential to open a new world of expression and thought to the reader, and perhaps build some of those proverbial bridges that bring people closer together.

What prompted the founding of the press?

When all is said and done, my desire to embark on Swan Isle Press was because of a love of literature, my own curiosity as a reader, and to provide opportunities for important works to be published which might not otherwise have been possible whether with a for-profit house, or even with other indie NFPs or university presses. There was another significant mission when Swan Isle Press was founded almost ten years ago – the desire to meet an unmet need, namely to introduce outstanding Spanish and Hispanic voices to U.S. American (or English speaking) audiences. In 2000 relatively few presses were devoted to publishing works in translation, especially by little known or unknown writers. While today there are a greater number of small presses publishing works in translation, it’s still a small number as is attested to by Chad Post’s excellent online site Three Percent, which alludes to the very low percentage of books in translation published each year in the U.S.

Most of our books relate to Spanish and Latin American literature, yet Swan Isle still considers its greater mission to publish world literature in translation. Swan Isle expects in the coming years to include books from other languages and cultures on our list of titles and hopes to move that percentage up along with fellow publishers of world literature.

I continue to believe that words and ideas that are intrinsic to books make a difference in our lives, that discourse that’s engendered is vitally important. Indeed, the freedom to read, to write, to be engaged in critical inquiry, and to express oneself is all part of the democracy of books that I hope Swan Isle Press will continue to advance for many years.

It seems like with large publishers in financial straits, the small presses are getting more attention. So we ask: what has your press done to grow?

The economy has affected many sectors during the past couple of years and publishing is no exception, from the largest houses as widely reported in the news, to other publishers with far fewer resources. Swan Isle Press, as a 501(c)(3), independent publisher, has a business model comprised of book revenues and outside funding. We will only continue to grow if our books continue to receive support and that starts with readers. We also look to and depend on funding from various grant makers and other contributors who share in our vision and literary mission. We’re fortunate that many of our books are now being course adopted at various colleges and universities, that public, school, and university libraries have our books in their collections, and that individual readers have made our books part of their own personal libraries. Fulfillment of our mission and the ability to publish more books per year is only limited by time and resources. If your readers are interested in our Press’ unique mission, they can go to our website, www.swanislepress.com, for more information.

Do you see further growth?

The potential for Swan Isle Press is unbounded, except by monetary constraints. And while our priority is publishing books in translation, with high editorial, design and production standards that reflect the quality of our content, we are also eagerly looking forward this coming year to issuing many of our current titles as e-books. It’s yet a new avenue for us to share our books with readers. Many of our books are already in digital form in BiblioVault, a digital repository for books founded by the University of Chicago Press. So we’re very interested in connecting with our readers in new ways. We’ve also just set up a Swan Isle Press Facebook page and hoping our readers will also find that of interest and hope our page will encourage discourse. Growth can be defined in many ways and discovery of new projects, authors, new ways of communicating with readers, and readers with us, those who share our mission, continue to inspire Swan Isle to grow.

An Interview with Copper Canyon Press

HFR's tribute to small presses strikes again. Check out our past interviews here!


What makes your press different from other publishers?

Our press is unique in the effort we put into developing and maintaining intimate relations with our authors as well as with our readership. We pride ourselves on the focus and dedication of our small staff, which is realized in the quality of the books we produce. Our diversity of publications range from reprints to major authors and emerging poets; as well as translations from Estonian and Arabic to Bengali and Spanish. The publication style of translations that we employ is noteworthy due to the presentation of bilingual editions with the original poem en face. We follow the dictum “The practice of translation is plainly impossible and nevertheless indispensable.” – W.S. Merwin.

What’s a recent book you’re excited about?

A book we’re particularly excited about is Richard Jones’ The Correct Spelling & Exact Meaning. We’ve been publishing Jones since the eighties, and have always felt a strong kinship with his work. As a staff we recently read his newest manuscript in a reading group setting, and were reinvigorated by his poems, such as “The Lesson”, “Miracles”, “Shadow Boxing”, “The Span”, “The Face”, “King of Hearts”, “This Blue World”, and “The Pyramid.” One of the staff mentioned that Jones should be read by Garrison Keillor on The Writer’s Almanac, and eerily enough, Keillor read him the very next day.

What advice do you have for emerging writers looking to be published by a small press? What is it about a work that makes you want to publish it?

We recommend that aspiring authors educate themselves on the requirements of publication with any given press, as well as well as that publisher’s reputation, history, and published work. Our advice to would-be poets can be best explained by Copper Canyon poets Marvin Bell, John Haines, and Eleanor M. Hamilton, whose thoughts on the writing and publishing process are available on our website, under the “Getting Published” tab. We would encourage reading W.S. Merwin’s “Berryman”, and Hayden Carruth’s “On the Impossible Indispensability of the Ars Poetica” as other sentiments of advice.

What prompted the founding of the press?

Copper Canyon Press founders Sam Hamill, Tree Swenson, William O’Daly, and Jim Gautney envisioned a press that would exhibit the vitality of poetry that they believed was necessary to the human condition.

It seems like with large publishers in financial straits, the small presses are getting more attention. So we ask: what has your press done to grow? Do you see further growth?

Our status as a non-profit publisher dictates our ethic and continuing efforts to cultivate a thriving relationship with our donors and readers. It speaks to the importance of constant growth that our Development Committee is continually working towards garnering more support, while sustaining current relationships. We supplement developmental campaigns with marketing and publicity initiatives that serve to expand the audience of readers for our books. This currently involves branching out into the world of social medias, i.e. Facebook, blogging, and maintaining an ever-evolving web presence.

How big can a press be and still be considered small?

Such distinctions are made in the publishing industry according to organizational budgets. Our budget is miniscule, yet our reach is large. Additionally, we are considered a small press because we rely on a core staff of six members, supplemented by a strong intern program.





Visit Copper Canyon's website here.

An Interview with Four Way Books

HFR's tribute to small presses continues. Check out our past interviews here!

What makes us different from other publishers?

It’s hard to approach this question as there are tiers of difference (small presses are different from large, and Four Way is different from other small houses…) — I can tell you what our authors seem to most appreciate: our balance of close editorial attention and aggressive promotion. Commercial houses often can’t be bothered with that kind of attention (to non-blockbusters anyway) and small presses often can’t afford to do as much as they’d like. When Michael Wiegers, the director of Copper Canyon Press, was here at ASU he made a great distinction between “publishing” and “privashing”: it’s crucial to bring books to readers, not just make them into lovely objects.

At Four Way Books, we all—editors, designers, publicity staff—get to know each book, and each author, and I think most authors get a sense of the whole team supporting their book’s publication. We work hard to find each book a real audience (this spring we’ll publish Monica Youn’s Ignatz, a collection partially inspired by George Herriman’s early 20th century comic; we’re promoting the book in all the usual ways, and also to Krazy Kat clubs. Ker plow!)

Also, I cherish the fact that we do not publish according to one aesthetic: there are three of us who acquire books and none of us is predictably wedded to a style or school. Our list has room for the compression and wit and hunger of Alissa Valles, the erudition, formal elegance and spiritual unrest of Daniel Tobin, the sweet hyper-precision about both real and imaginary things that animates the poems of C.S. Carrier...

A recent book I’m excited about?

Luckily for me, there are too many to do justice to. One that’s unusual is Daniel Simko’s posthumous collection The Arrival. It came to us via one of its editors, Simko’s close friend Carolyn Forché, who also wrote the introduction. Simko was ten years old when the Soviets invaded Czechoslovakia, and he and his family emigrated to the US in 1969. He lived most of his life in New York. These lines are from the poem “Departure” which opens the collection,

I am entering this room for the last time.

I am entering you the way an angel enters a scythe.

Advice for emerging writers:

Don’t submit your book too soon. Don’t rush. Think about Stephen Dobyns’ essays in Best Words, Best Order (just think about that title!): we can only meet you for the first time once. Make sure your work is ready. Cut the poems you’ve been wondering about (if deep down you know you are holding on for some sentimental reason or for length-o’-manuscript, rather than for aesthetic value). Listen to your own instincts but also listen to your trusted readers (teachers, friends, fellow writers from your student years): that’s not obeisance I’m advocating, but deep listening. The competition is real, and your cover letter is not going to make a big difference. Don’t send the book off because you want to get out from under it: make sure you’ve done the work the poems have offered to you to do.

What is it about a book that makes me want to publish it?

The mind in motion in its pages.

Founding of the press:

Four Way Books was founded seventeen years ago by four writers who wanted to make a hospitable home for poetry as the major New York houses were publishing less and less of it. You’ll notice that poetry now in 2010 has a very strong cast of independent presses who publish most of what appears in print in a given year: BOA, Copper Canyon, Fence, Four Way, Graywolf, Sarabande, Tupelo… some of whom also publish fiction (as Four Way Books has since 2008): I think poetry hit hard times in NY before fiction did, and has had time to build an independent infrastructure that is increasingly strong. Literary fiction is now hip-deep in that same process.

Four Way Books is rising and thriving, and we’ve always been dedicated to creating opportunities for writers of merit in addition to publishing their work. To that end, we send one writer each year to a writer’s retreat (usually the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts) for a month in support of new work. We have a long view: and we are thrilled when we can follow someone over a career. In fact, as our backlist grows and as we publish more fiction, we’ve decided to increase the number of books we publish each year (from 6-8 to 8-11—as much as a 30% increase!) which makes it easier to continue to take on new authors and to keep publishing the best work of our returning authors, in both poetry and fiction.

What is our relationship with small magazines and journals?

We love them. We are grateful they exist.

An Interview with Caketrain Journal & Press

Here's our second installment in the Small Press series. Check out our past interview with Graywolf here.

What makes your press different from other publishers?

The small press world is so large and various that there is surely no single characteristic that is completely unique to Caketrain, but that being said, there are a few qualities that we’ve labored to cultivate.

We strive to release interesting and daring work to an audience at an affordable cost and to give attention to writers who may be overlooked by larger publishing houses. We aim for a vision that is at once distinctive and anonymous. Each Caketrain chapbook and each work in an issue of the journal is chosen to establish a thematic and aesthetic telephony with the others, a sort of collective concentration established primarily at the level of language in assembly. We’ve always been preoccupied first with the way a story or poem looks and sounds, and only secondarily with what it (literally) means, and we strive for this to come through in every book we release. But at the same time, if you’re properly engaged as a reader, we as editors, with our wants and wills, should be the last thing on your mind. If we’ve done our job, we should disappear from view. In the past several years, our visual identity has slowly ghosted away to the point where neither the cover of our journal nor the landing page of our website makes any prominent display of the word Caketrain—which, reflecting upon it now, seems all of a piece with this notion.

We take great care in the design and typesetting of our books: these characteristics, too often dismissed as superficial or inconsequential, can bring so much to bear, for good or ill, upon a text—and we recognize this and try to operate accordingly.

For seven years now we’ve held our price steady at $8 per copy, with free domestic shipping, so that anyone who wants to can affordably own a Caketrain book.

Because we are a two-person staff—a married couple working on the project in our home office—Caketrain is a part of our lives every day. Every correspondence you have with Caketrain, no matter how small, is an engagement with one of the only two people who make every editorial decision for the press, and with this in mind, we aim to be inviting, polite, kind and encouraging in all our interactions. We’ve actually been commended on the cordial nature of our rejections, and this is important to us—as editors, our work necessarily entails having to say no, often and unconditionally, and the best of efforts, in our estimation, is to shape a “no” into the sweetest epistle. We want everyone to walk away knowing that it means the world to us to have had the chance to consider them.

What’s a recent book you’re excited about?

There’s so much to be excited about right now. We’re releasing Cure All, a collection of linked fictions from Kim Parko, this month and we’re incredibly enthusiastic about that; Kim has always been, for us, one of those dream people who you start a small press with the hope of one day working with, and to have collaborated with her to bring her most complex, daring, accomplished work to life is an honor.

Recently, we’ve been engrossed in Scary, No Scary, by Zachary Schomburg; Envelope of Night, the massive collection of Michael Burkard’s earlier work; and In a Bear’s Eye, by Yannick Murphy.

Lydia Davis’s Collected Stories is easily the best investment of $20 the discerning reader can make this year.

In 2009, our annual chapbook competition yielded titles from Tina May Hall and Matt Bell, which proved very successful in limited-edition runs. In the fall of 2010, both chapbooks will return to print as part of full-length collections (Tina May Hall’s The Physics of Imaginary Objects from University of Pittsburgh Press and Matt Bell’s How They Were Found from Keyhole), which is very heartening news for us. These will both be must-read books, we have no doubt.

Also, one would do well to start following the work of Alec Niedenthal and Sarah Norek right away, voraciously, from journal to journal, and begin to envision the shapes their future collections may take.

What advice do you have for emerging writers looking to be published by a small press? What is it about a work that makes you want to publish it?

The efficacy of a carefully-researched submission, to a press that shares your vision of what writing can be and do, cannot be underestimated. To this day, we receive so many submissions which, regardless of their relative merits, are simply unfit for our mission. And while not everyone can afford to buy a sample from every press on the market, most small imprints are very generous with online excerpts. So we advise you to be well-versed: Do you enjoy and respect the other authors that the press has published? Does your writing approach the aesthetic of the press? Do you feel that your work can enhance the particular editorial vision of the press?

What prompted the founding of the press?

After completing our undergraduate degrees, we wanted to stay connected to the literary world and felt that starting Caketrain would fulfill our desire to be part of a support system for the literary community.

What is your relationship with small magazines/journals?

We see our fellow small presses, and hope they likewise see us, as friendly co-combatants. While we each try to carve out our own niche, and there is certainly a positive side to a competitive spirit, the real competition for small presses is not with one another, but with every other media engagement that might occupy a reader’s time. But books, when invested in, can reach out to an audience in ways that are unprecedented and unparalleled and completely personal—the very fact that a writer can touch a reader in that way is the thing we’re trying to champion; we want to connect writers to readers, plain and simple.

An Interview with Graywolf Press

It's Small Press Month at HFR!

Throughout March, we'll be showcasing interviews with some of our favorite independent presses. It's our way of celebrating the craft of publishing and their imperative contributions to bridge the writer to reader gap. Here's our first homage: to Graywolf. Enjoy!


What makes your press different from other publishers?

Graywolf Press occupies a unique place in the publishing world, as it is larger than many small presses, but still smaller (by far) than the larger New York houses. We feel that this allows us to publish work that we deeply care about from a range of authors, both emerging and established. Robert Boswell is an example of an established author that has left a bigger publisher to work with Graywolf, in part because of the attentiveness and thoroughness that are standard values here. At the same time, we are dedicated to publishing new voices, such as Tiphanie Yanique’s How to Escape a Leper Colony, which we will publish in March 2010.

We also pride ourselves on the attention we give to each book. Because we publish a limited number of books each year, all of them are given full editorial and marketing support. We believe that to truly publish a book, you can’t just print it and send it out, but that you need to nurture it, from start to finish. This can involve intense rounds of editorial work and revision on the author’s behalf, and marketing that is tailored to the book and its strengths. We’re also a nonprofit organization, which means that key funding comes from both individual donors and foundations.

What’s a recent book you’re excited about?

Well, the short answer is that we’re excited about all our books, or we wouldn’t publish them. That said, we’re particularly happy about Stephen Elliot’s The Adderall Diaries; Robert Boswell’s The Heyday of the Insensitive Bastards; and Percival Everett’s I Am Not Sidney Poitier, to name just a few titles we published in the past year. We are also thrilled that three of our books were named NBCC Award finalists this year: Notes from No Man’s Land, by Eula Biss; Close Calls with Nonsense, by Stephen Burt; and Chronic, by D. A. Powell.

What advice do you have for emerging writers looking to be published by a small press? What is it about a work that makes you want to publish it?

It’s important for writers to hone their craft, and seeking publication in literary magazines and journals is a good way to do that, as the act of submitting work drives you to revise and rewrite until, by the act of doing, you become a better writer. Familiarizing yourself with our list by reading Graywolf books is a great way to make sure you are sending your work to the right place. Professionalism—as evidenced by following submission guidelines, sending cover letters, and proofing your work for spelling and grammar errors before submitting—is a must if you want to be taken seriously. But no matter what publications or credentials you have, it all comes down to the work.

We’re always looking for singular, character-driven work that has an engaging voice and a sense of absolute authority. We aim to publish fiction, nonfiction, and poetry that you just can’t find anywhere else, whether because of its innovation, originality, or freshness of voice or form. We’re looking for writers whose work just grabs us and won’t let go. Again, you can get a great sense of what we’re looking for by reading some of our recently published books.

What prompted the founding of the press?

The press was founded in 1974 by Scott Walker in Port Townsend, Washington. He started out publishing letterpress editions of poetry. 35 years later, Graywolf Press has grown into an independent press that publishes fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.

It seems like with large publishers in financial straits, the small presses are getting more attention. So we ask: what has your press done to grow? Do you see further growth?

Our growth areas are tied in some ways to the downturn at larger publishers, though we certainly have our own successful goals and initiatives. Graywolf Press partners with a number of organizations in support of prizes such as the Cave Canem Poetry Prize, which supports the work of African American poets; the Robert Fagles Translation Prize, which supports poetry in translation; and recently, the Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference Bakeless prizes in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. These partnerships allow us to expand the depth of our list by welcoming work that we might not otherwise find. Our editors also travel to international book fairs, such as the Frankfurt Book Fair, to seek out work in translation that might be right for the press. In addition we are actively soliciting work, reading widely, and building relationships with authors in a variety of ways. We expect continued growth, and will continue to foster relationships with authors who may at some point consider the plusses of working with Graywolf Press, rather than just the size of the advance tendered.

How big can a press be and still be considered small?

That’s a tricky question. With ten staff members and an output of about twenty-seven titles a year, we’re no longer a fly-by-night operation, but we consider ourselves a small press. Being a small press has as much to do with an aesthetic as it does size. Certainly being independent is crucial, as it allows you to take risks that larger, numbers-driven publishers won’t. Small presses have always aimed to give an outlet for work that big publishers won’t take a chance on, and today that is just as true. Poetry, story collections, and mid-list authors all get squeezed when they don’t sell, and that’s where we step in. A book can sell in smaller quantities than large publishers require and still be a success for us. In the end, regardless of size, if a press is doing the good work of producing literature that otherwise wouldn’t have a home then it should wear the small/independent press label proudly.

What is your relationship with small magazines/journals?

We subscribe to a number of literary magazines. All of our editors read widely in the hope of finding work that resonates with them. Often, an editor will ask to see more work from an author on the basis of work they have read in a magazine or journal. Though we don’t have particular ties to any organization, we feel that the work being done by literary magazines is an essential part of the publishing process. At the best journals, authors receive the chance to work with an editor before publication, though of course this isn’t true everywhere.

Lovelace Scrambles Our Culture and Makes a Pleasing Dish

It's been raining in the desert. After softening us up with drizzle for days, the main event arrived last night: a storm front that rent trees, darkened houses and sent my cats freaking up and down the hallway all night, imploring me as their god to make it stop. Today the human population of the city, unused to not just rain but weather patterns of any kind, surveys with shocked faces the six inches of water in their backyards, the roof tiles on the ground, the tree sundered by lightning. Experiencing the storm was a brief, powerful experience (just ask my cats), but the effects will linger as we patch, drain, rebuild and try to find where the hell the lawn furniture got to.

Reading How Some People Like Their Eggs by Sean Lovelace leaves a similar feeling of wandering around your psyche afterwards looking at what has been changed, blown away, or revealed.

Pop culture in particular looks different after Lovelace has rained on it. In the title story, a recitation of egg preferences of famous people and notables, he uses bits of celebrity like Lego bricks, assembling a monument to our monuments. Like the bricks, each of these stories can stand on it’s own. The Howard Hughes and Cher entries hit like shot-gun blasts to your inner People magazine, and the Thelonious Monk entry that wraps the story at the end brings an honest query to what the currency of celebrity is among Americans.

Flash fiction uses white space on equal footing with the printed word. Implication can be a blunt instrument in the wrong hands, but Lovelace uses it like a rapier, all his cuts are deft and to the quick. The ending of “Meteorite,” a paragraph that is a single sentence, is a forward thrust that cauterizes as it cuts. “Wal-mart” is a short fable about a broken relationship that manages to indict American culture in two pages. Charlie Brown’s Diary: Excerpts contains single paragraphs that invokes vast bleak landscapes worthy of Beckett. I could go on, but a reviewer is on dangerous turf after reading Eggs. When you find out just how much Lovelace does with so little, you feel like a bad writer yourself if you go on too long. Let’s end with this thought: You could read the entirety of this book on the train on the way to work, but it will ride with you long after that.

How Some People Like Their Eggs
Sean Lovelace
Rose Metal Press

Cool Offer From Black Lawrence Press

For over two years Diane Goettel, Black Lawrence Press Executive Editor, has been giving lectures on how to get the attention of small and independent presses. One of the problems with lectures, however, is that they are only available to people within commuting distance. We are solving that problem by putting Diane’s advice into a weekly newsletter. You may already get emails from Black Lawrence Press about contests and recent publications. This will be an entirely separate newsletter that will go out only to those of you that subscribe.

The newsletter will include tips for novice, mid-career, and seasoned authors alike. It will have information on what editors look for in cover letters, how to choose which writing conferences to attend, and how to choose the right press for your book. The newsletter will also address frequently asked questions that come in from authors like yourself. Furthermore, it will include case studies of authors who have done things like making a name for themselves with a chapbook, changing genres mid-career, using a second language to deepen their understanding of their craft in English. To summarize, we are going to chock each newsletter full of what we think is the freshest, smartest, most exciting insider information about small and indy publishing and how to get published by small and indy presses.

Want to sign up? It will just cost you the price of one Black Lawrence Press title. The choice is yours. (And we’ve got some great chapbooks that are only $9.)

Here’s how to sign up:
1) Go to www.blacklawrencepress.com
2) Click on “Books”
3) Browse our selection of titles, pick one that sounds interesting, and purchase it through Paypal.
4) Forward your Paypal receipt (it should automatically show up in your email box once you make your purchase) to publishingtips@blacklawrencepress.com with “SUBSCRIBE” in the subject line. You will automatically be subscribed for one year of emails.

Our first newsletter will go out this week, so sign up soon!

Best,
Your Friends and Black Lawrence Press