1. Ask Aunt Gwenda a question.
2. Do you teach these books?
3. Send us a day off.
4. This email is an unending maw of want: discuss.
4. This should be #8 as 2x4=8.
5. Go see the pretty pictures.
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1. Aunt Gwenda's been handing out pithy advice for a while now.
Aren't you in need? Send us your question to info@... (include
your address and with luck we'll send you the ish of LCRW your
question appears in).
That could be #19, which will be the 10th anniversary issue. Perhaps
the last if we think too deeply about that. But Zine World just said
this about #17, so maybe we will keep going: "This treasury of
fiction is a feast of mystery, novelty, and desire."
Send Aunty G. a Q!
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2. We'd love to hear from any teachers or professors or whomever
using Small Beer books in classrooms or any kind of teaching use. We
want to send some catalogs out to other people who could be doing the
same thing so maybe you can help us use the right language?
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3. Busy times at Small Beer Global HQ (which hovers near Sweden at
the moment before heading toward the Med for autumn). There's
raspberry picking, banjo picking (good crop this year, all that
rain), lolling on the deck, and training for the upcoming shove
ha'penny competition.
Did you know, if we send more of these emails apparently we will
sell more books? Seems an unlikely proposition to us, however, so we
will keep with the slow glide to obscurity.
However, we are firing off technological flares as if the apocalypse
had come and we were holding the last high ground from the zombies
(right, dispensed with the obligatory zombie mention).
Here are the latest non-Flash (oh how we still dislike you) moves: a
journal style updatey-thing and a fancy new calendar page.
Subscribing can be done to either, both, the usual. You, too, can
make Google calendars (we have made many...) and make them open or
clos'd.
http://lcrw.net/wordpress/http://lcrw.net/smallbeer/calendar.htmhttp://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=qa0d2oe7mgfub6alg7moj4k2ts%
40group.calendar.google.com
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At this point the numbering fails here as it failed above. See you in
Minneapolis at the Twin Cities Book Fest. Or Tulsa. Or Austin.
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We posted some stuff on above said journaly thing recently, including
a pointer to a letter to Carol Emshwiller from James Tiptree, Jr.
(aka Alice Sheldon), with spelling and punctuation left intact.
http://www.lcrw.net/carolemshwiller/tiptree-letter.htm
(Misspellings of our own are intentional and hilarious and anyway
can't be fixed because we are updating to Univac 1.02 and can no
longer access the Internet Page Making Tool. These things are done to
make us more humid. Or test our humility. Or humors.)
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Congratulations to all the Hugo Award winners especially Kate
Wilhelm, whose book Storyteller: Writing Lessons and More from 27
Years of the Clarion Writers’ Workshop won the Hugo for Best Related
Book. Storyteller also won the Locus Award a couple of months ago.
That’s pretty amazing. The little book that could and all that.
Kate was one of the co-founders of the Clarion Writers’ Workshop — of
which there are now three: Clarion (San Diego), Clarion West
(Seattle), and Clarion South (Australia) — and taught there for 27
years (hence the book title!). She is the Chair of the (all
volunteer) Board of Directors of the Clarion Foundation, a nonprofit
organization she helped establish in 2005 to ensure that the Clarion
Workshop will continue.
Storyteller a lovely book, formal where it needs to be (while
writing about writing) and informal where it can be — the fun parts.
Read some excerpts and so on:
http://lcrw.net/wilhelm/http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=193152016X
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About our books and other stuff
New books in spring. New LCRW in November. Reading pile huge. Latest
edition of The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror spreading joy and
heartache across the land.
http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=0312356145
Sex in the System: Stories of Erotic Futures, Technological
Stimulation, and the Sensual Life of Machines edited by Cecilia Tan
has stories by Paul DiFilippo, Sarah Micklem, Bruce Sterling, M.
Christian, Gavin J. Grant and others you know. Hot.
http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=1560258519
Kelly Link's second collection, Magic for Beginners, is out in a
handy new paperback from Harcourt. She'll be Out West in September
and then all over the place in October. Meanwhile:
"Even if fairies and zombies don't normally fall into your realm of
reading, Kelly Link's short-story collection, Magic for Beginners
(Harvest, 320 pp., $14), is worth picking up. Doing so will put you
in the hands of a true conjurer."
—http://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/
entertainment/1157532090103760.xml&coll=2
"Enchanting and highly potent."—Women's Review of Books
Check the calendar (http://lcrw.net/smallbeer/calendar.htm) to see
where she'll be. (She'll be doing the same....) There's even a
possible trip to Italy (where STRANGER THINGS HAPPEN has come out), a
Conference of the Undead in Berkeley, and more. Must stop, put feet
up, have cup of tea. All too much.
HC http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=1931520151
PB http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=113562562X
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Latest limited edition is s small run of Ellen Kushner's
swashbuckling remaking of Dumas, Heyer, Nancy Drew (not really), &c.
The Privilege of the Sword.
John Scalzi did a terrific interview with Ellen Kushner that's up at:
http://journals.aol.com/johnmscalzi/bytheway/entries/6253
We didn't print that many of these and the paperback is in its 3rd
printing so the hardcover is skipping merrily along and we don't
expect to have many left soon.
Ellen is reading all over the place (often with Delia Sherman, whose
new YA novel, Changeling, is Out Now, don't you know):
http://www.sff.net/people/kushnerSherman/Kushner/upcoming.html
-- including at KGB in NYC on 9/20: http://www.lcrw.net/kgb
Get this book while yous can:
http://www.lcrw.net/kushner/index.htm
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Hi. It's been a while. As per usual. Hope your summer has been ok.
Sorry we're behind on answering your email, reading your story, all
that stuff.
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Tomato sauce should not be used with Howard Who?
http://lcrw.net/peapod/waldrop/index.htm
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Alan DeNiro's collection Skinny Dipping in the Lake of the Dead is
reviewed
in the August issue of Locus and picked as a notable book:
"DeNiro’s writing is deeply weird, sometimes challenging, but always
smart
and affecting." -- Tim Pratt
http://www.locusmag.com/2006/Issues/08NewAndNotable.html
"Nothing cools you off like Skinny Dipping in the Lake of the Dead."
—The Spoken Word http://www.prx.org/pieces/12683 (short mention @ 54
mins)
"Original and clever without being overdone."
http://www.bookdwarf.com/archives/cat_reads.html#000649
La de da: http://www.lcrw.net/deniro/
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Zine distros
If you have ever wondered why you don't find LCRW at your local
newstand or even in your local chain bookshop here's another eye-
opener on magazine distribution. The Indy Press Association seemed
like a great idea to us* and to many other people but in the past few
years the IPA's financial mismanagement nearly killed some good mags
they were distributing.
Pulp Friction (SF Weekly)
Ryan Blitstein: The Independent Press Association was founded to
champion
alternative magazines, but now its members say it has become the kind of
hard-hearted corporation it once opposed.
http://www.sfweekly.com/Issues/2006-06-14/news/feature.html
* We contacted the IPA about distributing LCRW but it fell through
the usual
cracks:
-- It's too cheap. [Whereas we think going higher in price would
suck, even if we could use the % to go color or to add pages or
change the binding.]
-- B&W cover? Weird size? [Yeah, we know.]
-- It's unfocussed. [Or, it's too finely focussed on things that
interest us.]
-- There are too many unknowns and not enough "names". [Maybe, what
you gonna do? Ask "names"? Push out the interesting new writers? Eh.]
-- Und so weiter.
-------------- -------------- -------------- --------------
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Jay Kinney and Paul Mavrides who did the illustrations for Ray
Vukcevich's story "In the Flesh" on the Infinite Matrix have turned
the illo they didn't use into a postcard and a T-shirt. It's pretty
cool. The question is, who will dare wear the shirts to the airport?
http://www.cafepress.com/kinney/
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What happened to the Squirrel Nut Zippers is talked about in this New
Observer piece from May this year (link from Wikipedia). It's not a
pretty story, so don't read it if you're already down, ok?
Sure, they were sometimes kitschy but they had that whole joy
thing going for
them.
http://www.newsobserver.com/105/story/439524.html
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Random links:
http://www.delocator.nethttp://www.outofthiseos.typepad.com
We lied about the pretty pictures. Step outside instead? See you!
--
Small Beer Press
176 Prospect Ave.
Northampton, MA 01060
413-584-0299
http://www.lcrw.net
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
LCRW 19
Where We Will Be
2007 Books
2006 Books
2042 Books
We’ve been away for a while. Oops! Promise to be knocking on your
email door at least a couple of times a year from now on. [Promise
not valid for any days that you or we get less than 8 hours sleep.
Not valid in the USA or the UK. Not valid on Tuesdays or Odin’s Days.]
First: Happy St. Andrew’s Day! Get your kilt on, your flask filled,
find a partner, and get out on the dancefloor. Scots Wha Hae an’ a’
that an’ a’ that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Andrew
Not sure about the dancing? How about raising a glass to Colin
Beattie. Who? Alisdair Gray has a blog where he occasionally posts
letters and so on. He just posted a wonderful history of the Oran Mor
pub (which is a place of beauty due in no small part to Gray’s
paintings) which Beattie bought in 2002:
http://alasdairgray.blogspot.com/2006/11/oran-mor-glasgow.html
Not such a good thing, a wee bit south of Scotland, anyone passionate
about theatre and theatre history, please take a minute to add your
name to the growing petition to challenge the closing of the Theatre
Museum in Covent Garden: http://www.theatremuseumguardians.org.uk/
-------------
New to you and mailing slowly to stores and subscribers: LCRW 19
Aka The Tenth Anniversary Issue. Or: the one with wrestlers on the
cover. (That Nifty Cover is by Eric Schaller.) Contains fiction about
birds, brides, bath(tubs), and, yes, wrestlers by fave writers such
as Ray Vukcevich and Carol Emshwiller as well as new-to-these-pages
peeps such as Daniel Rabuzzi and Katherine Beutner. And, yes, the
necessary wisdom of Dear Aunt Gwenda. There is wondrous limninal
poetry, too. [Really? Uh, we think so.]
However, we are Still Waiting on the chocolate to be delivered, so
chocolate subscribers copies are a little delayed, sorry!
Subscribers now include people in the following countries: Canada,
Finland, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Portugal,
Sweden, the USA, and the UK.
Join in?
http://lcrw.net/lcrw/subscriptions.htmhttp://lcrw.net/lcrw/shopping3.htm#zines
Project Pulp
Seems as if one of our long-time sales channels (we know the lingo!),
Project Pulp, has bought the farm. We’d like to thank Jon Hodges for
innumerable sales over the years and the hundreds of hours he must
have spent on the site. We bought a few books and zines and
subscribed to a few more through the site and it was pretty
miraculously easy considering all the micropresses he was dealing
with. So, thanks Jon. Best of luck with future endeavours.
Sort of Secret, Not Any More, Really
Speaking of future endeavours, here’s one of ours. Next November (a
year from now, isn’t that titillating?) the Del Rey tentacle of the
Random House machine (machine tentacles!) will publish something
titled along the lines of The Shocking, the Amazing, the Fried-in-
Butter, the Knit-One-Purl-One, the Fuel-Efficient, the Tea-Powered,
The Best of Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet (So Far). You read it
here first. (Or, if someone is reading this to you, you actually
heard it here first and you can pretend you were standing at the
ZineBar chatting with friends and someone told you the news. ) Either
way: Tons of fun for everyone. Yay!
---------
Some recent pieces on Kelly Link (the Harcourt pb of Magic for
Beginners has gone back to press, yay!):
Kelly reads “The Hortlak” on The Writer’s Block:
http://podcastdownload.npr.org/anon.npr-podcasts/podcast/
151/510076/6414201/KQED_6414201.mp3
More readings here: http://lcrw.net/audio/
The Boston Globe, “Make it weird”
Feel like the fiction you've been reading has been missing something
-- aliens perhaps, or the occasional occult incursion of rabbits? A
new literary movement, based in Northampton, has just the thing for you.
by Jessica Winter | October 8, 2006
“[Small Beer Press] has provided a platform for engrossing but hard-
to-classify work such as Carol Emshwiller's dystopic fable ``The
Mount," Rust Belt surrealist Alan DeNiro's collection ``Skinny
Dipping in the Lake of the Dead," and Shelley Jackson's conjoined-
twin Gothic ``Half Life." [Ed. Note: published by HarperCollins.]
“The story of Small Beer Press, and of the new wave fabulists, begins
a decade ago in Boston, where Link met Grant at the dearly departed
Avenue Victor Hugo Bookshop on Newbury Street. (She later dedicated
``Magic for Beginners" to both spouse and shop.) Their 'zine, ``Lady
Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet," which specializes in what Grant calls
``weird or speculative fiction," planted the seeds for a do-it-
yourself publishing house.”
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2006/10/08/
make_it_weird/
------------
Howard Who?
We have signed copies of Howard Who?, Howard Waldrop’s legendary
(really, there are legends based on it) debut collection of which
this is the First Paperback Edition.
http://lcrw.net/lcrw/shopping3.htm#peapod
-----------
Where We Will Be
Small Beer Press author reading pages have been centralized and can
all be (subscribed to!) and found here: http://lcrw.net/smallbeer/
calendar.htm
Small Beer will have a table at:
The Independent and Small Press Book Fair, NYC
Dec 2-3, Saturday (10-6) and Sunday (11-5)
Free and open to the public
Small Press Center, General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen, 20
West 44th Street, between 5th and 6th Avenues in midtown Manhattan
(smallpress.org· 212.764.7021)
If you’re in Northampton, MA, on the first Monday of any month,
here’s an open invite to drinks at The Dirty Truth bar. Next one is
Monday, Dec. 4, 7.30ish. (Later is ok, but less sense may be made.)
at The Dirty Truth, 29 Main St. Northampton (413) 585-5999.
Directions: http://www.themoananddove.com/dirtytruth/about_info.html
(Not that we will be there on Monday, but we will be next month.)
Ellen Kushner (The Privilege of The Sword) reads with rising star
Naomi Novik (His Majesty's Dragon):
Tuesday, December 5th -- Doors open 6:30 PM
Free Admission -- $5 donation if possible
South Street Seaport Museum's Melville Gallery
213 Water Street (near Beekman)
http://maps.google.com/maps?oi=map&q=213+Water+Street,+New+York,+NY
------
Music: First Tiger
http://www.myspace.com/tigerthefirsthttp://www.myspace.com/tigerthesecond
-----------
2007 books
Oh yes. We have some books coming out next year. Order them now for
Christmas (etc.) presents and we’ll send whomever you want a card for
you. (A pretty leetle card it will be.) We built a FAQ for them and
are reprinting it here as well as some info on the actual books.
Q. Can I preorder 2007 books?
A. Yes! http://lcrw.net/lcrw/preorder.htm
Q. Books. Hmm. Don’t they have authors?
A. Sometimes. These ones we’re working on are new novels by John
Crowley, Elizabeth Hand, Laurie J. Marks, and Interfictions: an
Anthology of Interstitial Writing, edited by Theodora Goss and Delia
Sherman. A little more about the books is available on the preorder
page.
Q. And were there artists involved with the covers or did they just
fall from the sky?
A. Yes on the former. Liz Hand’s cover is by Jacob McMurray; John
Crowley’s features a Rosamund Purcell photograph, and the
Interfictions features a photo of a box made (in all senses of the
word) by Connie Toebe.
Elizabeth Hand, Generation Loss: A Novel
April 2007 · 1931520216 · Trade Cloth · 6 x 9 · 320 pp · $24
John Crowley, Endless Things: An Ægypt Novel
May 2007 · 1931520224 · Trade Cloth · 6 x 9 · 400 pp · $24
Delia Sherman and Theodora Goss, Editors, Interfictions: An Anthology
of Interstitial Writing
April 2007 · 1931520240 · Trade Paper · 6 x 9 · 296 pp · $18
Laurie J. Marks, Water Logic
June 2007 · 1931520232 · Trade Paper · 5.5 x 8.5 · 320pp · $16
Preorder: http://lcrw.net/lcrw/preorder.htm
Shop? http://lcrw.net/lcrw/shopping3.htm
Updates: http://lcrw.net/wordpress/
2006 Books
Howard Waldrop, Howard Who?
Ellen Kushner, The Privilege of the Sword
Maureen F. McHugh, Mothers & Other Monsters
Alan DeNiro, Skinny Dipping in the Kale of the Dead
Small Beer Press ·http://www.lcrw.net
2042 Books
Books? Que?
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
We've mostly moved
Merry March: Interfictions coming soon
4 Years of War, Hasn't It Been Great?
More on spring books
Other Book news
Other SPB Book news
Bye!
We've mostly moved to these two pages which are 1stly: journaly and
2ndly: calendric. You can subscribe to at least the second (you can
also subscribe to our free tax calendar for small businesses, but
there might be a little less interest in that...).
http://www.lcrw.net/wordpress/http://lcrw.net/smallbeer/calendar.htm
/---\ \---/ /---\ \---/ /---\ \---/ /---\ \---/
Dear Reader,
Merry March! We're getting ready to present new books to the world.
Wigs are being powdered. Shoes are being filed into points. Knees are
canted at the right angles (which aren't right angles this year). The
first of this year's crop of books is something new for us: a book we
are producing for someone else. Interfictions: An Anthology of
Interstitial Writing is edited by Delia Sherman (one of the
cofounders of the Interstitial Arts Foundation) and Theodora Goss and
is really published by the Interstitial Arts Foundation (http://
www.interstitialarts.org/). Delia and Dora have also included a
conversational afterword (which can be read on the Interfictions
blog) and Heinz insu Fenkl gives the introduction. The cover is a
photo of an art box by Connie Toebe.
Interfictions comes out in on Monday April 30th (don't believe any
other date you see!) and we are sending out review copies now. Yours
will be arriving right soon now. If you are a reviewer. Or blogger.
(Contact us if you'd like a copy. [Or to get some postcards.])
More on this book as we get closer to the pub date. In the meantime,
links!
Book blog: http://interfictions.blogspot.com/
Connie Toebe: http://www.connietoebe.com/http://www.powells.com/biblio?
PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9781931520249
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/asin/1931520240/theendicotstudio
/---\ \---/ /---\ \---/ /---\ \---/ /---\ \---/
Our other new titles for '07 all hit the stores between April and
June and can most easily be read about here:
http://lcrw.net/lcrw/preorder.htm
or there's more about them at the end of the email.
/---\ \---/ /---\ \---/ /---\ \---/ /---\ \---/
Also to come in September: The Best of LCRW! (so far). The best of
the first 10 years as selected by Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant* and
published through the good folks at Del Rey by the wisdom and smarts
of Jim Minz. More on this as it develops. Hopefully we'll be having
parties at zine stores across the nation. Some of these we will be
at, some: how about you?
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/asin/0345499131/theendicotstudio
* Method of selection was as follows: LCRW issues 1-19 were pinned to
hay bales. Arrows were shot at the zines. Absolutely true.
/---\ \---/ /---\ \---/ /---\ \---/ /---\ \---/
4 Years of War, Hasn't It Been Great?
4 years ago millions of people around the world protested the US
Government's premeditated invasion of Iraq. The WMD evidence looked
flimsy and there was nothing to link Iraq to the Sept. 11, 2001
attacks. Declaring war on a concept, terror, was perhaps the dumbest
idea since the redesign of the Florida ballot. The present
administration had apparently begun planning the invasion soon after
taking office yet there were no plans to follow the invasion, no
plans besides TV opportunities and embedding journalists. There was
an international coalition, but it was weak, and the world knew the
US was going ahead with its invasion no matter what anyone else did.
4 years later, embroiled in a civil war in Iraq, it's too late for
finger pointing (although an impeachment might be nice). Bringing the
troops home right away is not an honorable option. It's been hard
work to try and train a police force and an army. Harder work to try
and get Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds to work with the US (and the
remains of the weak coalition): and yet the US has to work harder to
save its own ass and to stop the civil war it helped start.
Suggestions on napkins to the White House, who obviously don't have a
clue. The United Nations? The African League? Nato? Someone? Anyone?
There'll be more marches against the ongoing war (and to remember the
thousands of Iraqi and American dead) soon. Perhaps the US Government
will see its populace walking in the cold days of spring and be moved
to action.
/---\ \---/ /---\ \---/ /---\ \---/ /---\ \---/
More on spring books:
Generation Loss: A Novel
Elizabeth Hand
April 2007 · Trade Cloth · 6 x 9 · 265 pp · $24
http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=1931520216
Lit thriller. Page turner. Book a flight or just skip work. It's that
good.
» Starred review in PW.
» Paperback rights sold to Harcourt Harvest.
Endless Things
An Ægypt Novel
John Crowley
May 2007 · Trade Cloth · 6 x 9 · 400 pp · $24
http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=1931520224
The fourth novel—and much-anticipated conclusion—of John Crowley’s
astonishing and lauded Ægypt sequence: a dense, lyrical meditation on
history, alchemy, and memory.
Water Logic
Laurie J. Marks
June 2007 · Trade Paper · 5.5 x 8.5 · 320pp · $16
http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=1931520232
Marks’s Elemental Logic series is a triumph of politics, fantasy,
world-building, and intelligent design: of character, world, and magic.
» Marks is a Guest of Honor at the Memorial Day WisCon
convention in Madison, WI (http://www.wiscon.info).
» Postcards available (email us, we'll send you a packet of them!)
/---\ \---/ /---\ \---/ /---\ \---/ /---\ \---/
Other book news: Shaun Tan's The Arrival is so good you should have 3
copies air shipped to you from Australia. One for you. One for your
Best friend. And one for us because we want many many copies.
http://www.shauntan.net/
Elizabeth Knox's Dreamquake: Book Two of the Dreamhunter Duet comes
highly recommended by Kelly:
http://www.powells.com/biblio?
PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9780374318543
Other SBP book news:
There's a ton. Kelly Link's Magic for Beginners is out in Italy and
the UK -- in the latter of which it received an amazing review in The
Guardian by Audrey Niffenegger (http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/
story/0,,2025109,00.html). There is a play of "The Girl Detective"
playing in New York City until March 17th. Save us some seats:
http://www.ateh.org/AtehMain.aspx?
Main=Home&Info=GirlDetective&Content=GirlDetective
Carol Emshwiller has a new novel coming in April, The Secret City,
and it's a corker. It's Carol at the top of her game. 2007 is shaping
up to be a great year in books and with Carol being Guest of Honor at
the World Fantasy Convention in Saratoga later this year, a great
year for fans of Carol!
The Secret City:
http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=1892391449
Congratulations to Ellen Kushner whose swashbuckler novel The
Privilege of the Sword is a finalist for the Nebula Award. Of course
congrats to all the nominees, it's an honor (or a Privilege...) to be
nomulated. Fingers crossed.
The Privilege of the Sword:
http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=1931520208
Coming up soon on the Lit Blog Coop (and the warren of blogs
associated with it) the Lit Blog Coopsters will be discussing Alan
DeNiro's Crawford Award finalist collection Skinny Dipping in the
Lake of the Dead:
http://lbc.typepad.com/blog/2007/02/spring_2007_our.htmlhttp://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=1931520178
In May: hell, let's get through March and April without worrying
about new issues of LCRW and WisCon.
Be brave and get out there into the cold cold winter (unless you're
in Australia — hello lovely people! We want to come back! Leaving was
a mistake!) and get nice and cold so that when you pop into your
local bookshop to get some good books or mags it'll be warming not
just the cockles of your fickle (but actually loyal) heart but also
your little fingers, too. Then when you get home someone will have
the kettle on and you can surprise them with your smart and wonderful
book choice and maybe some bon-bons or a chocolate cake. Aw, aren't
you lovely?
/---\ \---/ /---\ \---/ /---\ \---/ /---\ \---/
Small Beer Press
http://www.lcrw.net
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Table of Contents
1. Oh, Happy Day: Awards News
2. Exquisite Memoir: And Now We Are Going to Have a Party by Nicola
Griffith
3. More New Releases: A t-shirt and two prints
3. Meet Us: P&S at Wiscon 31
4. Last Copies: Mecca|Mettle by Thomas M. Disch and BlöödHag;
"Postcards of Doom" by 30 illustrators
5. Upcoming Projects: Matthew Hughes and Thomas M. Disch
***
Yes, that Table of Contents is actually from the Payseur & Schmidt
newsletter, which you can subscribe to here (http://
payseurandschmidt.com/mailing.shtml) and is full of interesting books
that you should snap up because they are 1) beautiful 2) wow 3)
unique 4) not usually reprinted 5) must be encouraged so that they
keep this crazy stuff up long enough for us to finish our Epic poem
on the Post Industrial Age titled Wooden Wheel Types, A Spoken History.
This week is a biggie for Small Beer, too. It's Alan DeNiro week at
the Lit Blog Coop (http://lbc.typepad.com), Monday was the
publication day for Endless Things, yellow tulips came up then were
eaten by bunnies in the backyard, and Generation Loss received a
stunner of a review in the Washington Post (and a starred review in
Booklist: buy, librarians, buy!). And we are trying to remember the
recipe for LCRW. More on this stuff (and more) below. More. Losing
the meaning now. More.
We post more often now here: http://lcrw.net/wordpress/ In fact, this
will be posted there soon.
Hot! We are planting fruit trees. How about you?
Another TOC
Liz Hand
John Crowley
LCRW
Interfictions
Laurie J. Marks
Kelly Link
++++++
Generation Loss is the first book we've published by Elizabeth Hand.
Yay! It is dark, unremitting, looks at art and says What the Hell?
and pops a few pills on the way. Is Maine weird? Sometimes.
Liz is about to go out on tour. Hear her here: http://
www.elizabethhand.com/2007/gen_loss.mp3
Interview on Bookslut: http://www.bookslut.com/features/
2007_05_011056.php
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/03/
AR2007050301965.html
http://www.largeheartedboy.com/blog/archive/2007/04/
book_notes_eliz.html
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20016465,00.html
Read some: http://lcrw.net/hand/hand-excerpt.htm
Tonight: Thursday May 10 7 PM
Olsson’s, 7th Street NW, Washington DC 20004, 202.638.7610
Thursday May 17 7 PM
Artifacts, 28 North Maple Street, Florence, MA 01062, 413-320-9480
—reading with John Crowley, Paul Park,& others, & music from Flora
Reed & Philip Price (of the Winterpills). Books supplied by Amherst
Books. (Named Best Bookstore of New England by Boston Magazine.)
Friday May 18 Time TBA
Hiram Halle Memorial Library, 271 Westchester Avenue, Pound Ridge, NY
10576, (914) 764-5085
Saturday May 19 2 PM
Borders, 162 E Main St., Mt Kisco, NY 10549, (914) 241-8387
Wednesday May 23 7 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138,
(800) 542-READ
Megan Sullivan of Harvard Book Store recommends Generation Loss in
the Boston Globe:
“This smart, dark, literary thriller will keep you up at night. A
photographer who has been drinking, doing drugs, and alienating
everyone around her since the ’70s goes to Maine to interview a
legendary photographer and gets caught up in the case of a missing
girl.”
Saturday Date to be confirmed
Sherman’s Books, 8 Bay View Street, Camden, ME 04843, 1-207-236-2223
BookExpo America
Jacob Javits Center, New York City
Signing: Sat. June 2, 12-12.30 PM
Reading: Sun. June 3 10.30 AM (Foreword Second Stage)
June 23+24
Maine Festival of the Book, Portland, ME (Reading and panel participant)
+++++++
John Crowley's 4-part novel Aegypt is completed in Endless Things, a
beautiful book that manages to end many strands of story without
being elegiac or closing down the narratives -- a feat few authors
could handle and few readers of the series might have believed. It is
a deep, sometimes hilarious, and hopeful novel that readers will be
able to dig into and enjoy for long stretches of the summer.
The cover is an irresistibly attractive photograph by Rosamond
Purcell from Bookworms:
http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=1593720238
John reads (with Sarah Langan) at KGB Bar in New York City on May 16:
http://lcrw.net/kgb
and on the 17th at Artifacts in Florence (Northampton), MA:
http://lcrw.net/smallbeer/calendar.htm
The first three books in the Aegpyt series are being reprinted in
trade paperback by the Overlook Press beginning in autumn.
Reviews of Endless Things:
http://www.bookforum.com/beha_may.htmlhttp://www.greenmanreview.com/book/book_crowley_endlessthings.html
Das Book:
http://lcrw.net/crowley/
+++++++
Want to see some neat art coming out of the Vermont Center for
Cartoon Studies? Here's a neat site from Colleen Frakes and Jon-Mikel
Gates: http://www.cowboyorange.com/
We went up for a visit (in a snow storm, hard to believe now) and
were blown away by the concentration of good art and artists. We'll
post more links as time goes by.
+++++++
Alan DeNiro's collection Skinny Dipping in the Lake of the Dead
(http://www.lcrw.net/deniro) is the Spring Read This! Pick (thanks,
Pinky of http://www.pinkyspaperhaus.com!) this week at the Lit Blog
Coop (http://lbc.typepad.com).
If you loved the book or hated it, go tell them, link to it, post
about it and then post about your post and call your local radio and
tell them. These Lit Bloggers are the book reviewers of today and
tomorrow and they are looking to talk to the whole interewebs -- and
get the internet talking. Their combined voices (and individually on
their blogs) are an interesting strand in the cross-all-genres
conversation of the moment.
One part of our contribution is an interview with Alan recorded while
he was in town for the UMass Amherst Juniper Festival (he's a good
reader and a great panelist, please consider adding him to you
festival!). We waited until Alan was hungry, tired, and looked like a
greyhound, then got out the difficult questions. (Alan's signature
drink it...?)
Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2EdC6LW8Qs
+++++++
LCRW links
The new one is in the pot and getting ready to boil. Or something.
The latest store to add LCRW to its backroom stores:
Magers and Quinn Booksellers
3038 Hennepin Ave. S.
Minneapolis, MN 55408
Which is a great and groovy store.
The Best of LCRW is on track for a September release from Del Rey.
Wacky, no? It should be called The Best of LCRW (So Far), but that
didn't fit on the jacket. So please write that on the cover (or title
page) when you get your copy. It is an excellent book, or at least
the parts not written by us, are brilliant. Will the world be shaken
when it comes out? It will shake with joy at Dan Chaon's
introduction. Then it will be assigned to classes and become part of
the Harold Bloom-approved Western Canon. Then kids will start writing
haiku as protest and we will be first up against the wall when the
revolution comes. We will escape on our jetpacks. We don't know what
future you're living in, but in ours: we have jetpacks.
http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9780345499134
+++++++
Huge local event!
http://www.google.com/calendar/event?
eid=YnBsNnB0YmE5Y2p0aHY2YnNsMGo1b3FqYmMgcWEwZDJvZTdtZ2Z1YjZhbGc3bW9qNGsy
dHNAZw&ctz=Etc/GMT
A Speculatively Spectacular Evening with:
Elizabeth Hand (Generation Loss)
John Crowley (Endless Things)
Paul Park (The White Tyger)
Flora Reed & Philip Price (of the Winterpills)
& a selection of interstitial material (i.e. in the breaks) from
Michael DeLuca, Jedediah Berry, Diana Gordon, &c.
Celebrate spring with Small Beer Press’s Speculatively Spectacular
evening of art, readings, music, and perhaps a little more. Beginning
at 7 p.m. on May 17, the event will be held at Artifacts, a new
gallery at 28 North Maple Street in Florence, MA. Artifacts is housed
in a converted warehouse, where guests will be able to meet the
authors, listen, dance if they are so inclined, and mingle as three
bestselling authors showcase their latest offerings.
John Crowley (Endless Things), Elizabeth Hand (Generation Loss), and
Paul Park (The White Tyger) will headline the event. Crowley, who
lives in Conway and teaches at Yale, and Hand, who lives on the Maine
coast, will be reading from their recently published novels (see next
page for reviews). Park, who teaches at Williams College in
Williamstown, Massachusetts, will read from his latest novel, The
White Tyger.
A variety of other local authors will read their work, including a
number of contributors to Small Beer Press’s tiny lit zine, LCRW.
The evening will be topped off by Flora Reed and Philip Price (of
the critically-acclaimed Winterpills[http://www.winterpills.com]),
who will provide musical entertainment.
Guests will be expected to peruse the art, be polite to the authors,
provide good conversation, and, on leaving, remember where they
parked their jetpacks.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------
When: Thursday, May 17, 7 PM
Where: Artifacts
28 North Maple Street
Florence, MA 01062
413-320-9480
Art: Appropriately for Maine author Elizabeth Hand’s post-punk lit
thriller Generation Loss, Artifacts will hold over the photographs
from Susie J. Horgan’s Punk Love.
Music: Flora Reed & Philip Price (of the critically-acclaimed
Winterpills http://www.winterpills.com/).
Refreshments: Will be provided. As will seats, walls, windows, and
doors.
Tickets: This is not a ticketed event and entrance is free.
Books: The authors’ books will be available on the night at a table
manned by stalwart booksellers from Amherst Books.
http://www.amherstbooks.com/Events/eventsMay2007.shtmlhttp://www.lcrw.net
+++++++
Interfictions
Ther first Interstitial Arts Foundation anthology is out online and
in the real world. 19 new stories at a buck a piece plus a freebie—
you read it and tell us here (http://interfictions.blogspot.com/)
which story is the the bonus one! The authors include newer writers
as well as a few who are more well known. Adding to the depth of the
book are three translations -- one each from Spanish, French, and
Hungarian -- which goes a tiny way to filling the translation gap.
The authors involved are: Anna Tambour, Catherynne M. Valente,
Christopher Barzak, Colin Greenland, Csilla Kleinheincz, Holly
Phillips, Jon Singer, Joy Marchand, K. Tempest Bradford, Lea Silhol,
Leslie What, Matthew Cheney, Michael J. DeLuca, Mikal Trimm, Rachel
Pollack, Vandana Singh, and Veronica Schanoes.
We recently did a giveaway for copies of Interfictions (http://
lcrw.net/iaf/). Copies went to the following readers who will paint
or sing their reviews on subways near you:
Hannah Wolf Bowen
Bob Scheffel
Hyowon Kim
Nin Harris
Steph Burgis
Look out for (or instigate) interstitial events in the summer months.
More at these sites:
http://interfictions.blogspot.com/http://lcrw.net/iaf/http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9781931520249
+++++++
It's Mother's Day in the USA on May 13th. Isn't that nice? Aren't you
going to send her chocolates? Or books? Especially as the US postal
rates rise the next day. Seems like a great opportunity. Here's one
idea:
The mother of all Mother's Day gifts--Mothers and Other Monsters.
Anyone can send Mother's Day flowers. Mother has always said you
aren't just anyone.
A book for everyone who has ever had a mother.
Celebrate the little monster in every mom.
Mother's Day flowers wither and candy melts. But with proper
storage, Mothers and Other Monsters will last forever.
http://lcrw.net/mchugh/
+++++++
Laurie J. Mark's third Elemental Logic novel, Water Logic, is the
first novel we've published in a fantasy series. So, they must be
good, right? Yes. They're right up your street. They're smart, sexy,
and political. These books use some of the familiar tropes of
pastoral fantasies, but they don't rely on them. It's not a standard
military fantasy series, it's subversive and electric. Good things
happen. Bad things happen, too. The costs of magic are high.
If you haven't been reading and want to dive in, start with Fire
Logic then Earth Logic. Water Logic, coming in June, is a knockout.
Laurie J. Marks is a Guest of Honor (with Kelly) at WisCon 31. We
will have a launch party with special Things to go to those who buy
the book -- pre-orders will receive the one that is easier to mail.
(More on these secret things later.)
Laurie has recorded a podcast (ahem) of the first chapter:
http://lauriejmarks.com/audio/water-logic-chap1-1-marks.mp3http://lauriejmarks.com/audio/water-logic-chap1-2-marks.mp3
or you can read it here: http://lauriejmarks.com/water-logic-
excerpt.html
http://lcrw.net/lcrw/preorder.htmhttp://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9781931520232
Laurie is reading in Albany, June 16, 2007, at Flights of Fantasy
Bookstore, 488 Albany-Shaker Rd, Loudonville, NY 1221.
If you work at a bookshop and are interested in a reading copy of
this, send us an email!
+++++++
Are you playing this game? http://www.worldwithoutoil.org
+++++++
Secret giveaway for the readers who go this far. How about you tell
us which book you want? We will say no and come back to you with an
offer of a Peapod Threesome for a review of at least one? A couple of
these sets (tied up in a pretty ribbon) are available. Love to hear
from you sweetie.
+++++++
Live in Australia? Or somewhere else? Or, nowhere, you ghost, you?
How about this:
Independent Publishers - The Brave New World
Join Gavin Grant (Publisher of the US-based Small Beer Press) at 12
noon AEST on Tuesday 15 May to discuss the dynamics of US,
international, and independent publishing.
http://blog.awmonline.com.au/2007/05/09/independent-publishers-a-
brave-new-world/Log in here; http://awmforum.server101.com/index.php?
+++++++
Ah, respite.
+++++++
Link links
Missed Kelly on her tour last September? Catch up with her now-not-so-
super secret Authors@Google visit with Karen Joy Fowler: http://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WPmq-gprbs
This week Nancy Pearl included Magic for Beginners in one of her NPR
lists (online, not on the radio): Under the Radar: Books Not to Miss,
saying, "It's intricate, wildly imaginative and totally wonderful."
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9255546
Kelly sold a young adult collection to Sharyn November at Viking. It
will contain many of the stories she has been publishing in young
adult anthologies as well as one new story and, since this is her
first young adult collection, a couple of stories from her other
books. (This last because her previous collections contain stories
like Catskin which make it hard for some adults to give to young
adults.) Should come out next year and will be followed by a tour
(with support from the reformed Guns'n'Roses (shhh, it's a secret)
and the usual Today Show for Kids, Young Letterman!, and other age-
appropriate media.
Kelly is a Guest of Honor (with Laurie J. Marks) at WisCon 31. (Hope
to see you there!) www.wiscon.info
Kelly will also be at BookExpo America, Readercon, Worldcon in Japan,
a Best of LCRW reading at KGB, World Fantasy in Saratogo Springs in
November. Un so weiter.
This is the best way to keep up: http://lcrw.net/smallbeer/calendar.htm
+++++++
We alphabetized our Shopping page which might make it easier to use.
Do tell if and when you are unhappy with our website: http://lcrw.net/
lcrw/shopping3.htm
+++++++
Exeunt.
Small Beer Press
http://www.lcrw.net
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
1) Preface
2) Thesis, Antithesis, Synthesis
2b) Karen Joy Fowler story
3) Introduction (B Dan Chaon!)
4) Stuff that's on the inside
5) The Ask
6) The Tell
7) The Noun
+ ............................................... +
1) This is a preface for an email newsletter featuring and focusing
on the question: Is Increased Daylight Hedgehog Activity Linked to
Urban Heat Islands? and the anthology The Best of LCRW.
Get it: http://www.powells.com/biblio?
PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=0345499131
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0345499131/theendicotstudio
Sort of: http://lcrw.net/lcrw/thebestof.htm
There is, in fact, a completely different fabric used in the preface
of the book itself.
+ ............................................... +
2) Have you seen any hedgehogs in your area? Are they a little manic?
Are they trying to get into air-conditioned bookshops? Have you
considered that they might be dangerous in this heat?
The Best of Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet can help you ignore
this problem. It's a book, a real book, and it's a stonker. A
stoater. It has more than 30 authors' fiction and poetry in it. Yes,
an anthology with poetry in it! When did you last see that? (This
question does not apply to poets, editors, or readers.)
When starting this zine thing 10+ years ago (10+ is much more fun to
type than 11) we didn't really think there would ever be a book
springing forth from it. And now there is and we love it so we could
just eat it. If we were paper eaters, which we are not. So we will
put it on a shelf and pull it down to look for favorite bits now and
then and occasionally we will sell copies to people or give them to
people and sometimes we will weep at it all and when we are asked why
we are weeping it will be something to do with happiness and that's
all we'll be able to sob until we are handed a martini.
Even when we signed the contract, cashed the check (thanks!), sent
out contracts to writers (and then did it again when we lost a few),
and watched the thing being designed and made, it didn't seem real.
But now we have seen a few blog posts about it, so we know it must
be real after all. Phew.
+ ............................................... +
To Be)
The latest ish of the zine, #20 (http://lcrw.net/issues/lcrw20.htm)
has a story from Karen Joy Fowler, "The Last Worders," which You Can
Read Here:
http://lcrw.net/fictionplus/fowlerlastworders.htmhttp://lcrw.net/lcrw/shopping3.htm#zines
+ ............................................... +
3) A-one, a-two, a-one-two-three-four
In this tea chest of stories there is an introduction. By Dan Chaon,
a brain-meltingly talented short story writer. Imagine James Brown at
the peak of his career going "Huhhnhh!" in the middle of a fantastic
body-popping dance move: that's Dan's stories.
Here's the start of the intro: “What is in this container?” Is it
“dwarves and faeries and hobgoblins sitting around drinking mead out
of acorns?” Or “post-nuclear holocaust cannibal mutants with a taste
for sexy college students?” Perhaps it’s something even more
sinister, some sort of “weird or speculative fiction.”
http://lcrw.net/lcrw/shopping3.htm#zines
+ ............................................... +
4) Insider information
Trade on this! "It's paper coated with ink that will swallow you up
and carry you into the imaginative peregrinations of Karen Joy
Fowler, Karen Russell, Jeff Ford, Veronica Schanoes, David Erik
Nelson and Cara Spindler, and A Huge Amount More. A big part of the
joy of this thing is the amount of newer writers here whose stories
we get to throw out to a wider audience.
This is the book, see:
The Best of Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet
edited by Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant
Del Rey, 416 pp., $14.95 (paper)
ISBN 13: 978-0345499134
Old ISBN 10, does anyone use these any more? How quickly we change.
0345499131
It's even in the Random House catalog: http://www.randomhouse.com/
catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780345502292
Cover by Jacob McMurray (http://www.jacobmcmurray.blogspot.com).
Bought by Jim Minz (Thanks Jim!), published by Chris Schleup,
Fleetwood Robbins, et al, designed by Barbara M. Bachman, apologies
again to Hillaire Belloc (not least for the typo in the bio, doh!).
Read by millions and millions!
+ ............................................... +
5) The Ask
Brooklyn Book Festival was pretty As(s)k(icking).
+ ............................................... +
6) The Tell
The tell is when we have a book out we send out emails, see? Not sure
how this will help in the upcoming Zine World Poker Hi-Lo Xerox (TM)
Stakes, but that's the tell.
A brief interview telling about the tell:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/blog/post/PLNK3EAR1V9878GLN
6, part 2)
Would you like to interview us, the editors? Please do! Also: please
review the books. This is all about asking, really, isn't it? Help
get this Huge Book out to the People.
+ ............................................... +
7) The Noun
The noun of the moment is Hot, Baby, Hot!*
+ ............................................... +
7a) Other Nouns
"With a major SF imprint publishing this hefty anthology, LCRW’s
times as a low-profile fringe zine may be at an end."
—Publishers Weekly (http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/
CA6471655.html?q=lady+churchill&)
"An otherworldly Farmer’s Almanac."
—Library Journal
"Showcasing a selection of the top new and exciting writers working
today, The Best of Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet presents a
wondrous playground for lovers of experimental and avant-garde
literature. If this is the 21st century zine, the form can be taken
off the endangered list."
—Rick Klaw (http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/review?
oid=oid%3A534868)
"LCRW is one of my favorite literary magazines, featuring authors
like Jeffrey Ford and Nalo Hopkinson and strange and lovely stories
you won't see being published in the Paris Review or VQR. (And why
not, I might ask you.) The fact that one of the editors is one of the
best living short story writers doesn't hurt."
—Jessa Crispin (http://bookcriticscircle.blogspot.com/2007/09/what-
to-read-this-fall_06.html)
"Dan Chaon provides an introduction, but really, no introduction can
quite prepare you for the celebrated mix of insane ideas that await
in the pages, ready to pounce. Link herself delivers the first, a
modern-day revisionist fairy tale titled “Travels with the Snow
Queen.” Karen Joy Fowler’s “Heartland,” about doomed young love
amongst fast-food employees, is a heartbreaker, and among the book’s
early highlights."
–Rod Lott (http://www.bookgasm.com/reviews/anthologies/lady-
churchills-rosebud-wristlet/)
Comments from the cheap seats: Yay!
Audio interviews:
Kelly Link, Gavin J. Grant, Karen Joy Fowler,
http://trashotron.com/agony/news/2007/08-20-07.htm#082107
Seana Graham
http://www.trashotron.com/agony/audio/2007/2007-news/082907-
seana_graham.mp3
Again: http://www.powells.com/biblio?
PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=0345499131
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0345499131/theendicotstudio
+ ............................................... +
7b) (i) We shall send out a free copy of the anthology (to wit, The
Best of LCRW) to the five readers who post their most interesting
photos of themselves (or others) with either the zine (you may know
of which one we speak), a Small Beer Booke, or, indeed, The Best of
LCRW.
The photos can be 1) posted to us by mail [with the understanding
that we will a) scan them and post them online and b) use them to
block the light, the burning burning light from our fair skin], 2)
emailed to us 3) posted on blogs, on Amazon.com, in reviews, in
newspapers (best of all), or in the editorial column of Vanity Fair
(c'mon Graydon!).
+ ............................................... +
8) Other
It's been a long time since we sent one of these from Japan.
(This long: http://lcrw.net/issues/lcrwv2n1.htm)
That's so long ago that none of us here can remember if we had an
email list back when we were part of Zaibatsu Lady Churchill (which
was before we took our tiny piece of the office block and floated it
from Osaka to Boston, then Brooklyn, then up the Connecticut River to
Northampton).
So this newsletter was started in Yokohama, continued in Tokyo, then
dropped (like our jaws) while in Hokkaido.
Going to the World Science Fiction Convention was a blast. We
arrived in Tokyo and ran around as much as the super-hot summer
allowed. (The newspapers reported that temperatures were 5 degrees C
(9 degrees F) hotter than 20 years ago so rice farmers are looking
for new rice strains that won't be damaged by the heat.)
Quick visits were made to Harajukyu for T-shirts, a tofu restaurant
(with 3 new-to-us types of tofu and 4 types of sake), and an eye-
popping exhibition (on the top floor of a department store) of Jan
and Eva Svankmajer’s paintings and 3-D creative taxidermy sculptures.
We also visited Kelly’s Japanese publisher Hayakawa Publishing
(http://hayakawa-online.co.jp/) which was great fun. We was impressed
not only Mr. Hayakawa and all the editors (they put out 300 books a
year!) but also by their ground floor café, Christie’s (yes, they're
Agatha’s publisher) and their basement French restaurant. Every
publisher should have a café.
There are some pics on Flickr. More may follow. But shouldn't we be
working instead of posting stuff? Stuff? So, maybe.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lcrw/tags/japan/
There's another short write-up is here:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2007/09/getting-the-gis.html
+ ............................................... +
Other Stuff
Librarians: want to see our books? Some of them will be on display at
the CBE booths here:
Ohio Library Association
October 10-12, 2007 / Columbus, OH
New England Library Association
October 14-16, 2007 / Sturbridge, MA
American Association of School Librarians
October 25-28, 2007 / Reno, NV
California Library Association
October 26-28, 2007 / Long Beach, CA
+ ............................................... +
Yes: Howard Waldrop is blogging for us!
http://lcrw.net/wordpress/?cat=38
+ ............................................... +
* Extra noun, "baby" comes with no charge except to look both ways
before you cross the road and always designate a driver, baby!
And lastly: http://www.powells.com/biblio?
PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=0345499131
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0345499131/theendicotstudio
Hey, look, it's an ebook, too!
http://www.fictionwise.com/eBooks/eBook49685.htm
+ ............................................... +
Please note, we have moved our office:
Small Beer Press
150 Pleasant St., #306
Easthampton, MA 01027
413-203-1636
http://www.lcrw.net
+ ............................................... +
Ok, if you got this far you probably passed by item 7, section b,
part (i). Go back, go back!
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
A New LCRW, or, The Dangerous History for Boys and Girls of a Secret
Guide for Men and Women to the Complete Historiography for Dogs and
Cats of the Mind-Blowing Impossibilities of the Ironed Shirts and
Blouses and Multiple Formats of LCRW
Confusion
Reading by light that is how old?
LCRW in many ways
less and less and a secret
Recent Reads
Margaret on Holidays
Address
qqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqq
Welcome to the first snowy day of the season and maybe the start of
Fimbulwinter?
qqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqq
Confusion
Quick. Stop. Quick! Stop. Oh, now we've confused ourselves and
forgotten what all this hullaballula was for. Stop, start. Um.
qqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqq
The Light
Maybe you don't believe LCRW has reached issue 21? It only took about
10.75 years. Which is more than enough time to put the kettle on and
find a comfy seat and be ready for when this issue drops in the mailbox.
Also, in Martian, LCRW is only 5 years old. Or 17 Venusian years.
Or, and the staples are starting to ache here, 45 Mercurian years old.
All of this was discovered by our newly young editorial staff
(counting in Martian years) with the handy-dandy Martian Birthday
Calculator built by LCRW 21 contributor Brian Conn. (Let's make it a
meme and crash his site!)
It is unlikely you will reach your first Plutonian birthday. Oh well.
http://www.brianconn.net/mbc.php
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There is News
The new issue of Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet, aka LCRW, this
being Number, or No., 21, has gone out into the world.
There are some stunning stories in this one. We know that Karen Joy
Fowler's story from Robot No.20 (http://lcrw.net/fictionplus/
fowlerlastworders.htm) is still finding readers but if you want your
mind blown (and, really, why else are we here?) read Alice Sola Kim's
"The Night and Day War" in LCRW 21.
The Unexpected Angle
There are more ways than you might expect, Horatio old chum, to
procure yourself a copy of this zine. We have gone a little format
crazed around the Pioneer Valley recently. We have not made LCRW art
projects out of leaves and old bike tires (yet, damn snow), but we
have made this issue of the zine available in Formats As Yet Not Seen
by LCRW readers. Or indeed, by Any.
The usual version, saddle-stitched, 60 pages (half-legal [8/5" x
7"]), black and white, has been mailed to subscribers, reviewers, and
stores and is (quick!) available here:
http://lcrw.net/issues/lcrw21.htmhttp://lcrw.net/lcrw/index.htmhttp://lcrw.net/lcrw/subscriptions.htmhttp://lcrw.net/lcrw/shopping3.htm#zines
But, (stop!) that isn't all.
There are two other formats available.
1) For the first time ever (unless we count #13: http://lcrw.net/
issues/lcrw13.htm) you can now buy LCRW as a perfectbound paperback.
Talk about a historical document! And, you can pay $10 instead of $5!
Here are the specs:
Perfect binding, 144 pages, 5.83" x 8.26", 60# weight paper, still
black and white, white exterior paper (100# weight), full-color
exterior ink. (We have this beautiful cover by Tatsuro Kiuchi so
we're not taking much advantage of the color option. Maybe next time
-- if we ever do this again.)
http://www.lulu.com/content/1466042
And if you like the look of that but would rather have it as an
ebook, that's available too -- you good-looking early-adopting Kindle-
user, you!
We had some trouble actually finding the download option on Lulu but
we're confident you can:
http://www.lulu.com/sbp
2) Or, buy it on Fictionwise:
http://www.fictionwise.com/eBooks/eBook52982.htm
Some of our books have done really well on Fictionwise.com so from
now on we'll add them whenever we can (we may even go back and try
and add older books, you never know).
Once we have a couple of issues of LCRW up there you'll be able to
subscribe to the electronic edition which will make it easier to keep
up with from abroad. We're not sure if the price will stay the same
or not. Maybe. Perhaps.
And while futzing about Fictionwise, we noticed they can zap you a
copy of The Best of LCRW:
http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/eBook49685.htm
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Also, you can verry easily subscribe to the original edition of LCRW
here:
http://lcrw.net/lcrw/subscriptions.htm
We have been asked if buyers have to use Paypal to get LCRW. The
answer is: No. You can send us cash or checks using this page:
http://lcrw.net/smallbeer/ordersheet.htm
Also, we have purchased zines and other things through our Paypal
account but without using Paypal -- it draws directly from the bank.
Exciting!
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Places you can see us and the books: The Washington Post Holiday Book
insert. Ooh! Venus! Bitch! Conjunctions! F&SF! (Check the
classifieds!) Jubilat! AWP in NYC (the book fair is open to the
public on Saturday, Feb. 2, drop by if you can, it'll be huge),
Harvard/Vericon, Jan 25 - 27, (http://www.vericon.org).
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Most fun: review Laurie J. Marks' Water Logic on your blog, in your
national magazine, or wherever and we will send you some tea!
http://lcrw.net/marks/http://lcrw.net/wordpress/?p=218http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9781931520232
This is one of the best big fantasy series we've read and it's the
sort we want more of. It's political, engrossing, epic, and intimate.
Tor published the first two volumes in the series and we are very
proud to see the series continued. Can't wait for #4.
Fire Logic
http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9780812566536
Earth Logic
http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9780765348388
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Ok. So, Stephen King (great writer and no doubt a lovely guy) and
some others (do they read A Public Space? Strange Horizons?) think
that the short story is up the creek. We beg to differ.
We recommend that anyone who feels the story is D.E.A.D. give The
Best of Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet a shot. This anthology has
a ton of new writers who are quite happy to stretch the format, remix
it, go with the historical view, or just ignore everything that's
come before.
http://lcrw.net/lcrw/thebestof.htmhttp://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/partner?
partner_id=26490&cgi=product&isbn=0345499131
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John Kessel's new collection is going to the galley printer so will
be zooming out to the reviewers of the world in a couple of weeks.
We're printing a short hardcover run and the usual good amount of
paperbacks (enough for John to upgrade his jetpack) so if you want a
hardcover, maybe go reserve one here:
http://lcrw.net/lcrw/preorder.htm
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Recent Reading:
We are a little buried in Year's Best reading but here are a few
things from the other stacks.
Doug Lain and M.K. Hobson have (re)started Diet Soap: http://
www.dietsoap.org/
Microcosm have a new issue of Doris: http://
www.microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/zines/2079/
Very much worth ordering (for $1!) is the You Can Work Any 100 Hours
Per Week You Want (In Your Underwear)!! Zine
http://www.microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/zines/1702/
Whores of Mensa #2 by Ellen Lindner, Mardou, & Jeremy Dennis
http://usscatastrophe.com/store/mensa.html
Alex Holden's Magic Hour: http://poopsheet.ecrater.com/category.php?
cid=206926
Sarah Becan's Monkeynauts (and a link to her site): http://
usscatastrophe.com/store/monkeynauts.html
Alex Robinson's Lower Regions is something completely unexpected and
brilliant from one of our fave comic book writers -- if you haven't
read Box Office Poison put this on your reading list now:
http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9781891830198
Lower Regions is a wordless comic inspired by Dungeons & Dragons and
just hilarious -- and, of course, is more than that:
http://www.topshelfcomix.com/catalog.php?type=12&title=596
Also, Top Shelf (like everyone else in the world!) is having a
seasonal sale -- free samplers abound:
http://www.topshelfcomix.com/catalog.php?section=specialdealshttp://www.bloodshotrecords.com/http://payseurandschmidt.com/catalog.shtmlhttps://www.bonnydoonvineyard.com/ (apparently -- horrid non-
navigable (but pretty...) Flash site)
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At last The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier is
out (we found it at Newbury Comics http://www.newburycomics.com) from
Alan Moore and compatriots. Physically it's a thing of wonder --
inserts, different paper stocks and page designs for different
sections (there are some weird long lines that aren't the easiest
thing in the world to read) and 3D glasses.
Moore's obsessions kind of get the better of the story but if you
believe the getting there is the more interesting part, you'll love it.
http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9781401203061
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A couple of months ago we were Very Happy to receive an advance copy
of Eric Felten's How's Your Drink?: Cocktails, Culture, and the Art
of Drinking Well.
This is a book we've been waiting years for! Felten writes a column
about drinks (and drinking, famous and infamous old drunks, &c.) in
the Wall Street Journal and it's worth buying the paper just for it.
We've tried more than a few of the cocktails in this book, but the
real pleasure is in Felten's writing. He goes for the stories behind
the drinks, tracks down cocktail inventors, and makes drinking fun
instead of a challenge. Buy two: one to read and one you don't mind
getting splashed with simple syrup.
http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9781572840898
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More music than books: certain people would like to point you to the
new Magnetic Fields album coming in January and a tour:
http://houseoftomorrow.com/archives/000057.phphttp://www.houseoftomorrow.com/calendar.php
Also with the new album (missed the tour, darn it) are the Squirrel
Nut Zippers. Hope it's as fun as it used to be:
http://www.snzippers.com
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less and less and less -- in dollars
Yes, the dollar is in the whole. Time we all moved to Canada,
Australia (maybe we will just stay there in Jan. '09 when we go to
teach Clarion South), Europe, Japan, Somewhere.
Anyway, secret sale for readers anywhere in this world -- as long as
you use the shipping button:
http://lcrw.net/lcrw/shopping3.htm#shipping
We recommend that readers on other worlds buy our books on Fictionwise.
1) order any two books by December 20, 2007.
2) tell us in the comment field which other title (book, zine,
chapbook @ the same price or less) you would like Free.
3) we mail them to you.
4) we are all happy.
And: due to the snow and the upcoming KGB Reading (Matt Cheney!) and
this Thanksgiving holiday day thing we may be a bit slow but we will
Work Hard to Send Out Your Stuff ASAP.
Remember books are shipped Media Mail (which will get slower as the
holidays approach) unless you upgrade to Priority Mail
http://lcrw.net/lcrw/shopping3.htm
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Lastly: if you are living in the decadent west and have decided you
have too many tchotchkes (although can one ever have enough books?)
please consider gifts in your name instead of another crappy piece of
made-by-slaves plastic crap:
http://www.heifer.orghttp://www.pih.orghttp://www.habitat.orghttp://www.amnesty.org
For one more week you can get one of these:
http://www.laptopgiving.org
or try shopping somewhere like this: http://veganstore.com
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Our interns have been busy recently. You can follow Michael's
Literary Beer (and Cider) progress here: http://lcrw.net/wordpress/?
cat=44
And here's something from our other intern, Margaret Kinney:
It is holiday time. People will be telling you that you, that we,
have forgotten the true meaning of Christmas. They may mean Jesus, or
pure giving or love, or something vague like that. Nowadays, they
will also be telling you that, by forgetting this meaning and
engaging instead in an orgy of materialism, you are destroying the
environment and contributing to our wasteful, consumerist culture.
But more people will be telling you that Christmas is a time for
giving, abundant giving, and that you need to come to their store and
spend, spend, spend on whatever it is that will assuredly make you
and everyone you love so happy. And I believe them. And so do you.
And we will buy things and wrap them in wasteful, shiny papers, and
set them in heaps until we unwrap them together and glow with
happiness just like the ads promised. Those naysayers above offer
various reasons for this; we are sinful, greedy, taken in by modern
temptations, we are shortsighted, our culture is irredeemably
materialistic. Yes, probably. But maybe there is something else.
Evolutionary psychology is a relatively recent and still not widely
accepted branch of study. It holds that evolutionary pressures have
shaped our minds as well as our bodies, which doesn’t seem too
controversial by itself. But it becomes offensive to many of those
who have heard of it at all, when it intrudes too far into the mind
and explains away a rather stunning array of behavior. Mind-body
split, Descartes and all that. In any case, the basis of much of our
human behavior, according to the theory, is reciprocal altruism, the
basis of that kin selection. The latter meaning you will help those
who share your genes, even at great personal expense, the former that
you will help non-relatives with the expectation that they will pay
you back eventually. Thus love is really just concern for your genes,
acts of love really acts on their behalf. The mother sacrificing
herself for kids who share half her genes, etc. Altruism is disguised
self-interest. And so on. It’s all very complicated. Many seemingly
ephemeral aspects of human nature can be elucidated by this theory.
But people are resistant to it, sometimes hugely. An anthropologist
once attempted to refute the whole of it by telling me about her
friend who said he secretly loved his adopted child more than his
biological one. Anthropologists generally abhor evolutionary
psychology, I think, because it takes the emphasis off of cultural
explanations. Culture being what they study. Others simply shy away
from such concrete explanation for sacred, special phenomena like
love. Doubtless culture and consciousness have a huge effect on every
aspect of our behavior, and mitigate many instincts. But it seems
extreme to deny any non-cultural explanations, or even to deny a
large role to the millions of years of shaping that our brains have
undergone.
So maybe it’s not nonsense, and maybe not really that offensive. For
example, Christmas. Sure it’s largely a cultural product, dependent
on tradition and our modern consumerism. And Christmas feelings are
far from scheming. But part of the reason that the whole Christmas
ritual, in its modern, not terribly Jesus-centric way, remains so
powerfully satisfying and alluring, may be that it appeals to a deep-
seated instinct in us. What is it, really, after all, but a very
pure, artificial enactment of kin selection and reciprocal altruism?
I give you a gift, you give me one, we are beholden to each other.
The more we give the better, the more beholden. We are connected. In
one of the most basic human ways. Yes? Why shouldn’t our lizard
brains be thinking such things, even as our consciousnesses are taken
up by tingly satisfaction and fellow-feeling? Maybe, the more we
understand this aspect of our feelings, the better we can control
them, the better we can restrain ourselves and pacify all those
annoying, if correct, doomsday environmentalists and anti-
materialists. Who knows? Thoughts?
http://lcrw.net/wordpress/?p=325
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We have moved. Maybe you know this? Here is the new address again,
just in case:
Small Beer Press
150 Pleasant St., #306
Easthampton, MA 01027
413-203-1636
http://www.lcrw.net
Wonder what we forgot?
More maunderings here: http://lcrw.net/wordpress/
Thanks for reading.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
A real sale this time.
http://lcrw.net/special.htm#shipping
It's Yet Another Sale! Happens Once a Year. Ends December 24!
No, wait. Say someone gives you $$$ for Xmas or whatever and you
(sensibly) want to Buy These Books! Ok. Now this sale runs until
December 31st, 2007 and no later.
We Are Meeting Everyone Else's Prices! Except Those People Who Live
in the Middle of Nowhere and List Books for 1 penny. How Can They Do
That? Anyway, There Are Tons of Deals! We Are Pretending We Are Crazy
Used-Car Salesmen Shouting About Crazy Low Prices. (Our throats are
getting sore.)
All Books Come with Meaningless 100,000-Mile Invisible Warranty! All
Books Printed on Paper! Guaranteed to Be Printed with Ink! Guaranteed
to Be Books!
Please Read This About Shipping:
-- Books ship December 6th.
-- To arrive for the holidays: please order Priority Mail Shipping
http://lcrw.net/special.htm#shipping
-- Books shipped by Media Mail will probably not arrive before the
holidays.
-- International shipping.
http://lcrw.net/special.htm#shipping
-- Permanent remainder sale here:
http://lcrw.net/lcrw/shopping5.htm
Here it is! Please spread the word far and wide!
http://lcrw.net/special.htm#shipping
Cheers!
Small Beer Press
150 Pleasant St., #306
Easthampton, MA 01027
413-203-1636
http://www.lcrw.net
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Updates on things that are being done, not done, Getting It Done,
undone, not particularly Lifehacked, coated in sticky toffee, and
otherwise somewhat interesting if you have a minute.
As well as a note on an event or two.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Don't order any books until you've read the full thing through. Nope,
there's nae mair sales but there's a freebie of a weird nature. Then:
go wild. Order them all. Make us work shipping out parcel after
parcel (like the sale: awesome, thanks!).
Make us work and maybe we will stop playing videogames....
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We are afraid that below this line you, being the smart person we
know* and respect**, will in fact be knowing everything we will be
writing about. Radioshift. Do you use, it? Love it? Hate it? Snow
shovelling technique. Got any secrets?
We hope you will not find it boring. And if you do, could you film
yourself lip-synching along to The Pierces' "Boring" and post it on
YouTube?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXbk3OL-t-s
More hilarious in storytelling: "Sticks and Stones"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAU2Pf78fXE&feature=related
* Unlikely.
** You read books? You not only have our respect, you have our
admiration!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Happy New Year, Gregorians. Welcome to the last year of the G.W. Bush
disaster (satirically known as a presidency) and the first year where
we will publish a book by John Kessel. Maybe there will be more years
like this. Maybe John will send us a novel. Who knows! We have just
made an offer on another book and we have a contract out (heh) on
another and should we get it together soon we will send out a
contract on another. Soon we will have 100 books a year on our list
and even Andy Hatchell will not be able to keep up!
Pre-ordering John's collection (or our August title, Ben Rosenbaum's
The Ant King and Other Stories) will definitely increase our ability
to pay for their printing and many other good things, of course.
http://lcrw.net/lcrw/preorder.htm
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Here are some updates on what's going on:
Handbasket: We are no longer weaving our Small Beery Basket. We hope
those that ordered them before Xmas received them (sorry about the
delay due to the post office, RSI, and a small disaster on the
weaving floor concerning a bucket of paint, a donkey, and a city
inspector. The fix there was not cheap so we have put a hold on the
baskets for now.
Mugs: We are still working with a potter on this. There is a design,
there are mock-ups, there is a kiln. Said kiln has not been fired.
HTML: Maybe we will have a site update. We haven't gotten back to a
lovely guy who might help out. Sorry! There's a small update to our
main page which we like: http://lcrw.net
Zine: LCRW is now akin to light. It can be gotten as a bunch of
electrons and/or a paperback.
Electronica:
http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/eBook52982.htm
The perfect(bound) version can be seen here:
Exterior: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lcrw/2175913417/
Interior: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lcrw/2175913323/
and ordered here:
http://www.lulu.com/content/1466042
Exciting, ne? Well, except for the person who rated LCRW 21 "Ok" on
Fictionwise. Oh well. Fortunately we just received word of a (mostly,
there's always something) great review on the revitalized The Fix site:
http://thefix-online.com/reviews/lcrw-21/
Here's the regular site (which has a lovely Google map of where LCRW
can be found) and the place of subscriptions:
http://lcrw.net/lcrw/index.htmhttp://lcrw.net/lcrw/subscriptions.htm
The Zine Book: Gosh, that was fun. Still flying off the shelves in a
way that makes us wonder if people realize there is not actually a
free Churchill with every copy.
http://lcrw.net/lcrw/thebestof.htmhttp://www.greenmanreview.com/book/book_link_gavin_wristlet.htmlhttp://www.sfsite.com/01a/lc263.htmhttp://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=0345499131
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There is an awesome article about Liz Hand and other authors with
tattoos on ABE:
http://www.abebooks.com/docs/Community/Featured/author-tattoos.shtml
Generation Loss was on a bunch of reader's best of '07 lists (and the
Washington Post [below]) which was great to see. We tried entering it
for the Edgars and failed because we have not been averaging five
books a year. Darn the technicalities! Page Six will not be covering
this boondoggle.
"Although it moves like a thriller, it detonates with greater
resound. A dark and beautiful novel."
—Washington Post Best Books of 2007
There's an interview with Liz in Locus and part of it can be read here:
http://www.locusmag.com/2007/Issue12_Hand.html
Read more about the book:
http://lcrw.net/hand/
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Wired ran another piece on alt. reality games and mentioned Sean
Stewart among others. In fact Small Beer Press is actually a part of
an ARG which is still to run. You'd be amazed how far in advance
these people seed stuff. MP3 players in concert bathrooms? That's
nothing. How about a failed Texas oilman as president? No, can't
blame them. Anyway, nothing's ever going to be quite as it seems
again now that reality's the plaything:
http://www.wired.com/entertainment/music/magazine/16-01/ff_args?p1
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The Interstitial Arts Foundation is keeping busy. They had a fun
online salon in December (which you can catch up on here: http://
p081.ezboard.com/finterstitialartsfrm2.showMessage?topicID=323.topic)
and they're on a membership drive for the new year with completely
redesigned website (nice job Stephen!):
http://www.interstitialarts.org/wordpress/
Rambles posted a strong review of the IAF's anthology:
"The stories themselves are generally superb -- from the first,
Christopher Barzak's subliminally scary "What We Know About the Lost
Families of ----- House," to the last, Catherynne M. Valente's poetic
but distanced "A Dirge for Prester John" -- to the extent that most
of the works presented could be noted as stand-outs."
http://www.rambles.net/sherman_interficts07.htmlhttp://lcrw.net/iaf/index.htm
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John Crowley's Aegypt books keep finding new readers (and we're not
just talking about Christopher Rowe: http://
christopherrowe.typepad.com/uncommonwealth/2007/11/holy-crap.html).
Michael Dirda wrote about the series for the American Scholar, and it
is lovely to be able to point to something like that online:
http://www.theamericanscholar.org/wi08/crowley-dirda.html
Endless Things hit a couple of best of the year lists:
"A work of great erudition and deep humanity."
—Washington Post Best Books of 2007
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/artsandliving/features/2007/
holiday-guide/gifts/book-world-holiday-issue/index.html
"An unpredictable, free-flowing, sui generis novel."
—LA Times Favorite SciFi Books of 2007
http://www.latimes.com/features/books/la-bk-
park9dec09,0,1253262.story?coll=la-books-center
and received a lovely encomium from Matt Ruff: "This year, while
millions of Harry Potter fans celebrated and mourned the end of their
favorite series, a much smaller but no less devoted group of readers
marked another literary milestone: the publication of the last book
in John Crowley's Aegypt Cycle."
http://www.themillionsblog.com/2007/12/year-in-reading-matt-ruff.html
The first book in the series, The Solitudes, is doing quite nicely in
paperback and the second, Love & Sleep, comes out at the end of the
month. John recently posted his (hilarious) thoughts on the cover on
his livejournal (cough).
http://crowleycrow.livejournal.com/75720.html
Here are links to the books. Yes, they are to Powell's. Yes, we love
the efficiency and depth of Amazon and by golly do they sell books.
But there's no Amazon bookshop (until they buy B&N or Borders) so
until then we delight in sending you to the lovely peeps at Powell's.
And, yes, we get a cut which basically pays for our webhosting, yay!
The Solitudes
http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=1585679860
Love & Sleep
http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=1585679860
Endless Things
http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=1585679860
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Here is the rail trail behind our office. How awesome it is, how
awesome:
http://manhanrailtrail.org/
If you like the small comics and zines and things there is a sale at
Poopsheet. Some of the stuff is 40% off, everything is at 15% off
until Jan. 31st:
http://shop.poopsheetfoundation.com - 15%
There is a weird science fiction story in the new issue of the
Virginia Quarterly Review. Jedediah Berry has a just plain weird
story and great story in the latest issue of the Chicago Review.
All these reviews! Just read the first issue of a new poetry and art
review, Cave Wall, from Greensboro, NC. If you liked Sunshine Ison's
poetry from LCRW (or the Best of LCRW), you can find more here. Also
Fred Chappell and some other recognizable names. For the most part
it's narrative poetry, not too weird.
http://www.cavewallpress.com/index.html
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Kelly Link has a busy spring coming up (before Pretty Monsters comes
out in autumn). She's teaching a class at Smith College here in
Northampton and one for the MFA program at Columbia University in New
York. She also has a couple of students from Stone Coast MFA program.
This summer she is teaching the Taos Toolbox and Clarion Diego.
Here are some dates (our Google calendar has most of these)
including a local event which we're looking forward to in a couple of
weeks (no, she is not opening for Neko Case on 2/2, but we will be
leaving AWP as soon as we can to make sure we make it there!):
1/26, 7 pm - 11 pm, $10
Essentials Books Out Loud Dance Party
American Legion Post 271, 126 Russell St., Hadley, MA 01035
John Hodgman, Thurston Moore DJing, Rachel Sherman, Kelly Link, Ed
Skoog, Who Shot Hollywood.
More info on the organiser: http://www.shopessentials.net/eshop/http://www.shopessentials.net/eshop/index.php?
main_page=product_info&cPath=126&products_id=861
class visit, Holy Cross, Worcester, 2/13
publishing conference, U.Georgia, Feb.21-24
reading, Athens, GA, 2/25
reading, Brooklyn, 3/6
Minnesota class visit 3/24 (with Alan DeNiro)
Writer's Festival, University of Cincinnatti, 4/9-11
http://www.taostoolbox.com/http://clarion.ucsd.edu/http://www.usm.maine.edu/stonecoastmfa/
In November (so fast, so fast it goes) was an interview in Locus:
http://www.locusmag.com/2007/Issue11_Link.html
and Kelly received an amazing shout out in the LA Times (ok, maybe
that's not the right term):
http://www.calendarlive.com/books/la-ca-
booksfaces30dec30,0,959989.story?coll=cl-books-features
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
We're getting ready for the day paper is no longer a viable option so
Kelly's books (and a lot of our other titles, 21 altogether when
everything goes live in a couple of weeks) are available to be read
on Google Books. Email them to your friends! We've been adding basic
search boxes to the book pages (again: some of the books aren't live
yet) to our site and will be making them prettier at some point.
Google will eventually just buy us and we will publish books
directly through their search engine. Really.
http://books.google.com/books?q=%22small+beer+press%
22&lr=&sa=N&start=10
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Our new(ish) office address is below for submissions, cheques,
presents, etc. We can probably sell you books from here, just call
ahead and expect to get about 5 minutes before we get distracted by
something Shiny.
Other places we will be found: Vericon, Boskone, AWP, Philadelphia
Book Festival, WisCon, Readercon. And that's as far ahead as it goes
right now. Ok, the Brooklyn Book Festival. But, really, that's it.
Ok, ok. The bar, we will be found at the bar. You're right.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Free ... Thing!
First person to order a book and request it wins the one and only
completely unique rather odd 2008 Small Beer Press planner. This is a
sample from a printer which we think is groovy but doubt we are going
to use. Anyone? Here's a picture of it (standing in front of one of
our fave new things -- even if it is mostly unused):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lcrw/2176682854/http://lcrw.net/lcrw/shopping3.htm
--
Small Beer Press
150 Pleasant St., #306
Easthampton, MA 01027
413-203-1636
http://www.lcrw.net
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Somthing
Somthing more
Something spelled correctly
Some books we liked
Neighbots
This is not in order
How about you?
Sleepy yet? Wake up! For you it's Tuesday.
What to do at 1.25 AM when sleep has gone the way of all flesh and
sense has gone for a walk with a slightly weird and unsatisfying
metaphor. What? What to do? Tell everyone you know in the form of a
newsletter.
-- bath time -- bath time -- bath time -- bath time --
Not bath time: Tea Time
Last year we published Laurie J. Marks's third Elemental Logic novel,
Water Logic, which is part of one of the best big fantasy series
going. There's nothing out there quite like these books. The
protagonists are all smart people (which makes what they choose to or
have to do all the harder) caught up in events larger than themselves.
One of the arguments against magic in fantasy is that it can
sometimes seem as easy to use as a credit card. Your questing group
have met a huge hungry troll at the top of the pass? Swipe your card
and troll disappears.
Marks's books look at what happens when one person is very powerful
and what happens when power changes hands -- specifically, can it be
done peacefully? These are thought-provoking books for people
watching and/or taking part in the US elections or for those who have
been horrified by the last 5-6 years in Iraq and Afghanistan (to
start with). These are for readers who aren't afraid of exploring
that most dangerous and painful idea: hope.
http://lcrw.net/marks/http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9781931520232http://lauriejmarks.com/books/water-logic-excerpt.html
If you haven't read any of these books, they are part of a 4 book
series, Fire, Earth, Water, and Air. The first two books are
available in hardcover and mass market paperback. Laurie is presently
working on Air Logic.
Fire Logic
http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9780812566536
Earth Logic
http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9780765348388
At some point on our journal-y thing we also offered some lovely tins
of tea that we had made to go with Water Logic (get it, water?) to
people who reviewed the book on their blog, in a zine, or on TV. Send
us your Youtube links, reviews, etc., and we will happily send you
some tea.
-- bath time -- bath time -- bath time -- bath time --
First (well, after Laurie): we are supporting the writers' strike so
hard that we have given up writing and we are using our mental powers
to make you think that you are receiving an actual email but actually
this is a Thought Projection Communication which we sent well before
the strike.
You did know the TV writers (not the LCRW or Small Beer writers, as
far as we know) are on strike, right?
Anyway, if there are any labor unions with power left in the USA,
surely they are the TV unions? Don't mess with our opiates!
Despite this being a Mental Communique and not an email all these
links to buy books will still work. Such as this one which is for
John Kessel's first short fiction collection in ten years, The Baum
Plan for Financial Independence and Other Stories:
http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9781931520508http://lcrw.net/lcrw/preorder.htmhttp://broadside.booksense.com/NASApp/store/Product?
s=showproduct&isbn=9781931520508
More about John's book will be mentally sent your way in the run-up
to the pub date (which is not the date(s) we go to the pub) but
rather the date the world will be amazed and filled with joy to once
again look upon a John Kessel book. You can catch up with John at a
few readings this spring and summer:
4/16, Quail Ridge Books, Raleigh, NC
4/22, Regulator Bookstore, Durham, NC
5/14*, Malaprops, Asheville, NC
5/15*, Park Road Books, Charlotte, NC
7/16, KGB Bar, New York City (with JoSelle Vanderhooft
7/17–20 Readercon, Boston, MA
—and more to come in Buffalo, NY; Madison, WI; Boston, MA; Amherst,
MA, Denver, CO, etc. Some of those are conventions, some readings.
John is an awesome reader so we hope you'll get to go out and see
him. He's also recorded the title story which will be online at some
point and maybe we will get an interview up on Youtube. We've done an
interview and put together a reading group guide for the book—what do
you think, should we include it in the book or just put it online?
* These readings are with Greg Frost, another writer whose readings
are always a blast. His latest novel, Shadowbridge, is a highly
entertaining, sometimes dark story of a young woman who is perhaps
the shadow puppeteer alive. Of course, there are complications!
http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9780345497581
-- bath time -- bath time -- bath time -- bath time --
Autumn
There's nothing like thinking about autumn and falling leaves (we
understand that for reasons of upsidedownedness this might be easier
for our Very Southern friends) while the snow outside has not melted
in the past month or so. What will we be doing in autumn?
We will be publishing new books! We are in the process of signing
contracts on four books. Will have to send out some actual info on
that (and put up the pre-order page!) when those come in. They
stretch out from September to next April.
If you go to AWP this weekend coming in NYC, we may tell you more
(and swear you to secrecy before giving you our flier!).
Ok, so that wasn't as much info as we hoped it would be. Oops. Next
time.
-- bath time -- bath time -- bath time -- bath time --
Our neighbors in the Paragon Arts building in Easthampton get more
and more interesting! Here are a few:
—Theo Black (http://www.theblackarts.com) who sent us an amazing logo
idea: http://lcrw.net/wordpress/?p=348
—Spooky Bikes, want a handmade frame? http://www.spookybikes.com
—Questionable Content, new comics every day, and some Very Smart
shirts: http://questionablecontent.net
—http://www.greasecar.com, wave of the future where we all eat our
chips and then drive on the oil
—and apparently there's someone moving in who is experimenting with
making biofuel out of hydroponically-grown algae!
-- bath time -- bath time -- bath time -- bath time --
Other readings and so on are on our calendar (which is also on our
front page and on our journaly page) including 2 upcoming readings by
Carol Emshwiller (yay!) in New York. Carol has been a fave of ours
for longer than ants have had legs. Go see her read, or just read one
of her books, and see why.
The Secret City:
http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9781892391445
The Calendar:
http://lcrw.net/smallbeer/calendar.htm
Hmm. More about AWP from our journaly thing:
http://lcrw.net/wordpress/?p=350
We’ll be at the Associated Writing Programs Conference and Bookfair
Thursday to Saturday (Hilton NY & Sheraton NY, 6th Ave. and 53rd
St.). We're taking boxes of returns (most like-new condition) and
selling them at 1/2 price. Whoopee!
— Fri., Feb 1, 10:30 AM — “Reeling Beyond Realism: But to Reel in What?”
Kate Bernheimer, Rikki Ducornet, Brian Evenson, Theodora Goss, Kelly
Link, Ken Keegan (moderator)
Sheraton, Lower Level, Executive Conference Center, Rm D
—Fri., Feb 1, 2:30 PM — Kelly Link signing at the Best American
Fantasy table.
—Sat, Feb 2, 11 AM — Delia Sherman & Theodora Goss sign copies of
Interfictions,
Small Beer Press
Americas Hall 1, Exhibit Hall, 3rd floor, Hilton
—Sat, Feb 2, 2.30 PM — Kelly Link signing
Small Beer Press
Americas Hall 1, Exhibit Hall, 3rd floor, Hilton
-- bath time -- bath time -- bath time -- bath time --
Ok, so there's not much about our upcoming books. How about some others.
Do you like the sci-fi stuff? Iain M. Banks's Matter is probably for
you and should be on all the award ballots next year. You know,
Nebula, Pulitzer, that sort of thing. It's quite stunning how tightly
and widely Banks manages to tell his story of three siblings quite
different interactions with the Culture and the power structures of
their own country. Best SF novel since the last Ian McDonald novel.
http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9780316005364
In fantasy, The Dragons of Babel by Michael Swanwick is lots of fun.
Parts of the novel have been appearing in Asimov's and other places
(i.e. The Year's Best) for the past couple of years and it is very
satisfying to see them all tied together at last.
http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=0765319500
What else? Here are LCRW HQ we have mostly been reading 6-month old
submissions (sorry about that, if we still have it and it's that old
it means it's in the "we like this but we're not sure how much" box)
and the neverending stuff for Year's Best. As ever, we're always
looking for recommendations!
The most recent edition, the 20th(!), came out recently and can be
picked up in all 1.44 pounds of it's glory from Powell's:
http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9780312369422
And here's another anthology, dum de dum:
http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9780345499134
And of course, we make books and sell them here (we are Sullivan-
nodding right now):
http://lcrw.net/lcrw/shopping3.htm
-- bath time -- bath time -- bath time -- bath time --
Good night!
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Hello chaps and chapetters,
April 15th is not a great day, really. Except it is publication day
for John Kessel's new collection The Baum Plan for Financial
Independence and Other Stories and you can download it for free. Not
bad!
Here's the short form—more links and so on below:
http://lcrw.net/kessel/http://lcrw.net/wordpress/?p=388
Please do pass the word along and enjoy the book. More from us soon
with further plans to send more great books out into The World.
------------------------------
http://lcrw.net/lcrw/shopping3.htm
Mail order: http://lcrw.net/smallbeer/ordersheet.htm
Buy ebook: http://www.fictionwise.com/eBooks/eBook65812.htm?cache
Hardcover:
Powells: http://www.powells.com/biblio?
PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9781931520515
Locally: http://www.booksense.com/product/info.jsp?
isbn=9781931520515&affiliateID=beer&assignStoreNear=01060%20
Trade paperback:
Powells: http://www.powells.com/biblio?
PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9781931520508
Locally: http://www.booksense.com/product/info.jsp?
isbn=9781931520508&affiliateID=beer&assignStoreNear=01060%20
------------------------------
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 15, 2008
Today, April 15, 2008, is tax day in the USA and we all need cheering
up. We’re celebrating at Small Beer Press by publishing John Kessel’s
first collection of short stories in ten years, The Baum Plan for
Financial Independence and Other Stories, as well as releasing it as
a free download in a number of completely open formats—with, of
course, no Digital Rights Management (DRM).
The Baum Plan includes Kessel’s Tiptree Award winning “Stories for
Men” (gender inequality meet Fight Club . . . on the moon), “Pride
and Prometheus,” a mashup of Frankenstein and Jane Austen, and
“Powerless,” an amazing mix of pulp fictions, paranoia, and academia.
The Baum Plan is licensed under a Creative Commons (Attribution-
NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 license allowing readers to share the
stories with friends and generally have at them in any remixing/
interpretation/Web 2.0 huddly-cuddly noncommercial manner. The
collection is provided in these formats: low-res PDF, HTML, RTF, and
text file. We encourage any and all conversions into other formats.
John Kessel is the co-director of the creative writing program at
North Carolina State University in Raleigh. A winner of the Nebula,
Sturgeon, Locus, and Tiptree Awards, his books include Good News from
Outer Space, Corrupting Dr. Nice, and The Pure Product. His story
collection, Meeting in Infinity, was a New York Times Notable Book of
1992. Most recently, with James Patrick Kelly he edited the
anthologies Feeling Very Strange: The Slipstream Anthology and
Rewired: The Post-Cyberpunk Anthology. He lives with his wife and
daughter in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Small Beer Press is an independent press based in Easthampton,
Massachusetts. Since its founding in 2000 in Brooklyn, Small Beer
Press has published Kelly Link’s collections Stranger Things Happen
(Salon Best Books of the Year) and Magic for Beginners (Time Magazine
Best Books of the Year); Ursula K. Le Guin’s translation of Angélica
Gorodischer’s novel Kalpa Imperial; Carol Emshwiller’s The Mount
(Philip K. Dick Award winner); Sean Stewart’s Perfect Circle; Story
Prize Finalist Mothers & Other Monsters by Maureen F. McHugh, and
John Crowley’s Endless Things, among others. Small Beer also
publishes a small lit-zine, LCRW.
In July 2005 Small Beer Press released Kelly Link's first collection,
Stranger Things Happen, online under a Creative Commons license. It
has since been downloaded more than 50,000 times.
#30#
Get your copy here: http://lcrw.net/kessel/
------------------------------
Small Beer Press
150 Pleasant St., #306
Easthampton, MA 01027
413-203-1636
http://www.lcrw.net
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
You are the first to know.
Today we are releasing Maureen F. McHugh's collection Mothers and
Other Monsters for the second time. (Actually, the fifth: hardcover,
limited edition, paperback, ebook, and now this).
What is this? Today the book is being released free online under a
Creative Commons license. Yay!
Here's the short form—more links and so on below:
http://lcrw.net/mchugh/
Please do pass the word along. The further out these go (especially
from our site) the more chances there are of persuading other authors
of doing the same with their books.
http://lcrw.net/cc/
------------------------------
The paper edition is much nicer, although not free:
http://lcrw.net/lcrw/shopping3.htm
Mail order: http://lcrw.net/smallbeer/ordersheet.htm
Buy ebook: http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/eBook33632.htm
Hardcover:
Powells: http://www.powells.com/biblio?
PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=1931520135
Locally: http://www.booksense.com/product/info.jsp?
isbn=1931520135&affiliateID=beer&assignStoreNear=01060%20
Trade paperback:
Powells: http://www.powells.com/biblio?
PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=1931520194
Locally: http://www.booksense.com/product/info.jsp?
isbn=1931520194&affiliateID=beer&assignStoreNear=01060%20
Limited edition:
http://lcrw.net/special/mchugh/index.htm
------------------------------
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 22, 2008
Hot on the heels of last week's successful Creative Commons release
of John Kessel's collection The Baum Plan for Financial Independence
(which Entertainment Weekly gave an A- and called "A sustained
exploration of the ways gender dynamics can both empower and enslave
us") Small Beer Press is proud to announce their third title to be
released under a Creative Commons license, Maureen F. McHugh's
Mothers and other Monsters.
The thirteen stories in McHugh's "gorgeously crafted" (Nancy Pearl,
NPR, Morning Edition) collection include her her Hugo Award winner
"The Lincoln Train" as well as a reading group guide with an
interview, essay, and talking points.
Mothers and Other Monsters was a Story Prize finalist and a Book
Sense Notable Book.
Mothers and Other Monsters is licensed under a Creative Commons
(Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 license allowing readers to
share the stories with friends and generally have at them. The
collection is provided in these formats: low-res PDF, HTML, RTF, and
text file. We encourage any and all conversions into other formats.
Maureen F. McHugh has spent most of her life in Ohio, but has lived
in New York City and, for a year, in Shijiazhuang, China. She is the
author of four novels. Her first novel, China Mountain Zhang, won the
Tiptree Award and her latest novel, Nekropolis, was a Book Sense pick
and a New York Times Editor's Choice. For the last couple of years
she has been writing Alternate Reality Games. McHugh lives in Austin,
Texas.
Small Beer Press is an independent press based in Easthampton,
Massachusetts. Since its founding in 2000 in Brooklyn, Small Beer
Press has published Kelly Link’s collections Stranger Things Happen
(Salon Best Books of the Year) and Magic for Beginners (Time Magazine
Best Books of the Year); Ursula K. Le Guin’s translation of Angélica
Gorodischer’s novel Kalpa Imperial; Carol Emshwiller’s The Mount
(Philip K. Dick Award winner); Sean Stewart’s Perfect Circle; Story
Prize Finalist Mothers & Other Monsters by Maureen F. McHugh, and
John Crowley’s Endless Things, among others. Small Beer also
publishes a small lit-zine, LCRW.
Last week Small Beer Press released John Kessel's first collection in
a decade, The Baum Plan for Financial Independence, online under a
Creative Commons license. It has since been downloaded more than
5,000 times. It has also popped up on many social reading sites such
as Scribd, Teleread, Munseys, etc.
In July 2005 Small Beer Press released Kelly Link's first
collection, Stranger Things Happen, online under a Creative Commons
license. It has since been downloaded more than 50,000 times.
#30#
Get your copy here: http://lcrw.net/mchugh/
------------------------------
Small Beer Press
150 Pleasant St., #306
Easthampton, MA 01027
413-203-1636
http://www.lcrw.net
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Why Hello. Are you going to Los Angeles for Book Expo? Why, so are
we. We are in LA having been at WisCon (were you there? What a
different world it points to!).
And, we're going to have a little fun here. Later this year, we will
publish Benjamin Parzybok's debut novel, COUCH (http://
www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=1931520542). On
Ben's website (http://ideacog.net) you'll see a link to Operation
Peachblow from something called the Black Magic Insurance Agency
(BMIA). And that's enough about that.
Perhaps coincidentally there will be a quick caper at Book Expo
involving some lovely people:
Tin House, Penguin, MacAdam/Cage, Agate, Baby Tattoo, No Voice
Unheard, Algonquin, McSweeney's, Gray Wolf Press, Drawn & Quarterly,
Rain Taxi, and your hosts, Small Beer Press.
The game runs on Saturday and Sunday (on Friday we have to set up the
cell phone for text messaging, etc.) at Small Beer Press booth (#2120).
More BookExpo Stuff:
FRIDAY
9-5 Booth 2120, galleys, books, Joan Aiken chapbook, catalog,
goodies, etc.
10:30 AM Ben Parzybok signs in the Debut Author signing group
1:00 PM Ben Parzybok signs at the Consortium signing booth
SATURDAY
9-5 Booth 2120, etc.
Caper!
6:00 PM Independent Press Party co-sponsored by Small Beer Press
(Figueroa Hotel, 939 S. Figueroa St., LA, CA 90015)
SUNDAY
9-5 Booth 2120, ETC!
Caper!
We encourage you to forward this to any booksellers
you know who are going to the convention:
---
Hey,
There's an underground game going to happen at on Saturday + Sunday at
BookExpo. Stop by Booth 2120 and they'll start you out on your way to
a pile of goodies that no one else will get!
---
More on the news front a bit after this. And that, which has been a
lot, really, is all for now.
--
Small Beer Press
150 Pleasant St., #306
Easthampton, MA 01027
413-203-1636
http://www.lcrw.net
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
This time with working links
A lie
A note to an LCRW subscriber
A note from Anna
Recently overheard: why to shop local
That zine
***********8888888**************8888888888***************88888888888****
*********
Thanks for subscribing! We recently sent out LCRW 22 and included a
raffle ticket. Now we have picked a winning ticket, number 2970067.
***********8888888**************8888888888***************88888888888****
*********
The title of this email is a complete fabrication. It is only an
unsubtle acknowledgment that while summer is rather gloriously
northern hemispherically here we are also working harder than the
rabbits who are eating our sunflowers on our autumn books. Bugs Bunny
showed us it is useless to fight rabbits. So we will pick fights we
might win. There is an election this year in the YouSA and we are
foolishly publishing a bunch of books that are complete fictions.
Some of these books are already showing up in the electrosphere.
We especially like this one, which is trying to stay anonymous for
the nonce: http://www.powells.com/biblio?
PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9781931520546
Here are the others (full of kings and Benjamins):
August
Benjamin Rosenbaum
The Ant King and Other Stories
http://www.powells.com/biblio?
PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9781931520522(hardcover)
http://www.powells.com/biblio?
PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9781931520539(paperback)
September
Geoff Ryman
The King's Last Song
http://www.powells.com/biblio?
PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9781931520560 (paperback)
October
Joan Aiken
The Serial Garden: The Complete Armitage Family Stories
http://www.powells.com/biblio?
PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9781931520577 (hardcover)
November
Benjamin Parzybok
Couch: a novel
http://www.powells.com/biblio?
PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9781931520546 (paperback)
***********8888888**************8888888888***************88888888888****
*********
It's a bit cramped inside your computer. Can we get out now?
***********8888888**************8888888888***************88888888888****
*********
A note to LCRW Subscriber #2970067
You’re a winner! We put little red tickets in to all the subscriber
copies (and to the lovely shops that carry LCRW!) of LCRW #22 that
just went out and randomly picked a winner who will receive galleys
of Ben Rosenbaum’s The Ant King and Other Stories and Kelly Link’s
Pretty Monsters. So if you received ticket 2970067, send us an email
with your address and these will be off to you!
We’ll give the winner a week to contact us. If this doesn’t work,
maybe next time we will tape the labels to the zine. Picking out a
random ticket was fun. Maybe we will pick some more next time.
Subscribe many times here: http://lcrw.net/lcrw/subscriptions.htm.
(Chocolate is still the most popular.)
Hello to new readers! Perhaps you are here because Jim Minz was kind
enough to buy The Best of Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet for Del
Rey. We had a ton of fun with that book. It started off twice the
size it ended up (11" x 17") but apparently literary anthologies are
easier for bookshops to stock (and for readers to hold) at 5.5" x 8.5".
http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9780345499134
This newsletter goes out at a maximum of once per month unless
something exciting (the first ripe tomato or a new organic dark
chocolate bar is spotted). This newsletter in other words has no
rhythm or frequency and is often both juvenile and delinquint (which
is five times as bad as delinquent).
Without readers such as Henry Spungle-Thwaite and his $1,000
purchase of the letter E for this newsletter, we would not be able to
provide such frequent, powerful, and juicy emails. We know not all of
our readers can afford such popular letters as the Spungle-Thwaites,
however, please consider supporting this email at the $1 a day level
and you can purchase the letters Q, U, I, T, N,O, and W.
***********8888888**************8888888888***************88888888888****
*********
Ebooks: Some for free (see above), some on Fictionwise, a couple of
Mobipocket, even some on the Kindle. Are they selling? Enough that
we'll keep doing them, but so far readers like paper more than
electrons.
http://www.fictionwise.com/eBooks/smallbeerpresseBooks.htm?cachehttp://www.lcrw.net/lcrw/shopping3.htm#ebooks
One note: our titles sometimes appear as ebooks before the paper
edition.
***********8888888**************8888888888***************88888888888****
*********
Subject: Newsletter Whatsit.
Date: June 25, 2008 6:00:32 PM EDT
Recently, I found myself in Western Massachusetts (as this area is
named on Craigslist.org) in a dilapidated ex-Victorian-esque mansion
which has been converted into small but suitably interesting
apartments. Why Western Mass? To come intern for Small Beer Press of
course! Why a Victorian Mansion? Cheapest thing of Craigslist! (Who
knew?)
In order to celebrate my Victorian-eqsue abode, I have decided to
share one of my favorite (non-dilapidated) Victorian-esque websites:
http://www.bloomers4u.com
During the Victorian era bloomers were generally worn in opposition to
mainstream, more restric tive clothing styles.
This website sells custom-made bloomers for the contemporary
woman (or
man) in a variety of lengths, sizes, fabrics, styles, and colors. You
can get them in silk, you can get them with bows, you can get them in
red, you can get them short-short, or you can get very traditional
no-nonsense cotton bloomers. Whatever your heart desires.
If you're wondering why you might want bloomers today (I know it
isn't
Halloween yet), let me assure you that they are incredibly
comfortable, great for pajamas, and a silly and wonderful garment to
have.
With much delight,
Anna the Brand New Intern
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Readings:
7/2, 7 PM: Kelly Link reads at Mysterious Galaxy in San Diego, CA
-- which is this Wednesday night.
7/16, 7 PM: John Kessel reads at the KGB Bar in NYC with JoSelle
Vanderhooft
7/17 - 20: John Kessel, Kelly Link, Delia Sherman, Theodora Goss,
Ellen Kushner, John Crowley, Greer Gilman, Elizabeth Hand, et al, at
Readercon in Burlington, MA
http://readercon.org/
-- Small Beer Press will have a table in the dealer's room along
with many interns and interesting Things!
-- We think Laurie J. Marks will be there, but have to check!
7/22, 7 PM: John Kessel and David J. Schwartz (Superpowers) read at
the Odyssey Bookshop in South Hadley, MA
-- Check out another of our lovely local bookshops: http://
www.odysseybks.com/
-- http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=0307394409
8/1, 7PM: Benjamin Rosenbaum reads Stacy's Coffee, 709 West Broad
St., Falls Church, Virginia 22046, (703) 538-6266
http://www.stacyscoffee.com/index.php?
option=com_events&task=view_detail&agid=58&year=2008&month=08&day=01&Ite
mid=28
8/6 - 8/10: John Kessel and Benjamin Rosenbaum (and 5,000 others!)
are at the World Sci Fi Convention a mile up there in Denver, CO.
Subscribe to our readings calendar on Google:
http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=qa0d2oe7mgfub6alg7moj4k2ts%
40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America/New_York
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This email is Wordle free.
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Nic Clarke has an essay today on Naomi Mitchison on Strange Horizons
which includes a look at the "charming, subversive picaresque fantasy
Travel Light." Yes, we love this book and hope you will give it a shot.
http://www.strangehorizons.com/reviews/2008/06/an_experimental.shtmlhttp://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=1931520143http://www.lcrw.net/peapod/mitchison/index.htm
Also. Strange Horizons are having their annual barnraising fundraiser
community get together. We threw in some prizes for supporters and
think it's a great way for readers to get rid of some pesky monies.
http://www.strangehorizons.com/fund_drives/200806/main.shtml
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Recently overheard in a used bookshop that was closing:
"New bookshops can't compete with Amazon. I was at [redacted] and
they had this book I wanted* so I went home and ordered it on Amazon
for 30% off."
There was no knowledge or realization that this guy, whose bookshop
was closing due to rising rents, etc., had just shafted another local
bookseller! That 30% he "saved" (which didn't value his time very
highly as he had to go hom, look it up, order it, wait for it instead
of just buying the book) would have helped that bookshop stick
around, pays local people to sell books, pays taxes, contributes to
the community, etc. etc.
If the booksellers don't understand, who will?
At least the American Booksellers Association are giving it a shot
with their new program Indiebound.org which hopes to bring together
local businesses in a new alliance to promote each other rather than
big box stores. If you live in a rural area and a big box bookshop or
the internet is your only choice, c'est la vie. If you live in a town
or city, there will probably be one local bookshop which is a good
fit for you. Bike them all and pick one — or some! — and start
ordering through their web site if you want. Or, heck, go to Powell's.
http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9781931520539
Here's a clip from Foreword This Week on indie business alliances.
The money part is in the 3rd para. Thought provoking for anyone with
an interest in keeping local businesses thriving:
“Booksellers were slightly ahead of the curve because they were
threatened very early by the chain stores,” said Steve Bercu, co-
owner of Bookpeople in Austin, Texas, and founder of the Austin
Independent Business Alliance. “It was easy for them to recognize and
understand it.”
When corporately owned pharmacies, coffee shops, toy stores, and
hardware stores began springing up, other local businesses took
notice as well. The alliances that were formed publish directories,
sponsor events, hang fliers, and promote member businesses in other
creative ways. Today, well-publicized studies conducted by these
alliances and national organizations, including ABA and the American
Independent Business Alliance, show that spending money at
independent businesses keeps more money in local communities.
Bercu told FTW about a study conducted several years ago on the last
Saturday in November. Austin residents spent $44 million that day. If
that money was spent entirely in national chain stores, Austin kept
only $5.85 million. If that $44 million was spent in independent
businesses, the community would keep $20.25 million. That $14 million
difference would have resulted from a “small change in behavior,”
Bercu said.
http://www.forewordmagazine.com/ftw/ftwarchives.aspx?id=20080604.htm
* Editorial note: Perhaps An Idiot's Guide to Closing Your Business.
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Free downloads
We've got a new page for all the Creative Commons-licensed downloads
on our site. So far there are 3 short story collections available
(and, of course, they're still available at your local bookshop),
Maureen F. McHugh's Mothers & Other Monsters, John Kessel's The Baum
Plan for Financial Independence, and Kelly Link's Stranger Things
Happen:
http://lcrw.net/cc/
Out there in the big wide world where there are more readers than
grains of rice (it's a big universe and apparently everyone out there
reads but rice is only native to Earth) there is much rejoicing at
the news that not only does Lew Shiner have a new novel out, Black &
White, he and Subterranean Press have released it under a Creative
Commons license on his Fiction Liberation Front. Go hence!
http://www.lewisshiner.com/liberation/index.htmhttp://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=1596061715
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Here's where it all began and where it all keeps returning to, snake-
like, if you are a snake who is daft enough to bite your own tail:
L C R Q. (Um, it's it W?)
Now hear this: there is a new issue of the zine that brought Lady
Churchill to Massachusetts, Japan, Brooklyn, and then back to
Massachusetts. It is: Number 22.
http://lcrw.net/issues/lcrw22.htm
There is a sad lack of Holly Black and M.T. Anderson stories in this.
(Try the Year's Best instead: http://www.powells.com/biblio?
PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=0312369425)
There are 60 pages of good stuff. One
copy was printed on gold leaves and buried in a blatant attempt to
copy The King's Last Song. Stories include stories are stories there
are stories these writers wrote stories whose stories are stories are
here: William Alexander, Charlie Anders, Becca De La Rosa, Kristine
Dikeman, Carol Emshwiller, Alex Dally MacFarlane, Maureen F. McHugh,
Jeremie McKnight, Mark Rigney, David J. Schwartz, Jodi Lynn Villers,
Caleb Wilson, Cara Spindler, and Miriam Allred,
There is also a poem from Eileen Gunn, advice from Dear Aunt Gwenda
and comix from Abby Denson and Michael DeLuca. Derek Ford provided
the cover art inspired by Jeremie McKnight's "The Camera & the Octopus."
As ever (until we update our website...), you can order it here:
http://lcrw.net/lcrw/shopping3.htm
At the moment all orders from our website come with a free chapbook
of an unpublished Joan Aiken Armitage story from our forthcoming
collection The Serial Garden.
alt.lcrw.reads: Fictionwise · A perfectbound paperback edition is
available at Lulu. Here's the direct link to 22 (and 21 before it).
http://fictionwise.com/ebooks/eBook68013.htmhttp://www.lulu.com/sbp
22 http://www.lulu.com/content/2575651
21 http://www.lulu.com/content/1466042
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Summer recommendations:
—Barley Tea. Once more it's a little hot for the constant cups of hot
tea (even if they're still de rigeur a couple of times a day) so we
are now into* pitchers of barley tea. (Which was described as "bread
juice" this weekend.) It's refreshing, not sweet, and caffeeeeeeine
free (which can be a good thing).
http://www.nikkamarket.com/house-barley-tea-bags--caffeine-free.html
* just up to our knees.
—Just in case it's all about zines for you: Xerography Debt has a new
blog thing with reviews, hot hot tips, &c.
http://xerographydebt.blogspot.com/
—Dengue Fever have a new CD out and are on tour.
http://www.myspace.com/denguefevermusic
—Triple Canopy have a speech up by Roberto Bolano that's never been
translated before.
http://canopycanopycanopy.com/2/the_caracas_speech
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Small Beer Press
150 Pleasant St., #306
Easthampton, MA 01027
413-203-1636
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
New Books: Here
Blueberries
Makings for Brooklyn
A Move to the Happy Valley
New Books: Not Here Yet
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Books and Blueberries are two great things best kept apart.
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New Books: Here
The first one is The Ant King and Other Stories by Benjamin
Rosenbaum: this is an incredible, wide-ranging collection of stories
that range from Babar (yes, Babar) to the far future to horny
woodpeckers to world-ruling fruit. There's weirdness and joy and
challenging ideas all in one. This is a real brain-stretcher with
some of the best science fiction and fantasy of recent years. Reviews
have been strong (* "Give him some prizes, like, perhaps, "best first
collection" for this book."—Booklist, starred review) and more are
coming (Washington Post, Realms of Fantasy—which shows the breadth
of interest in this book).
We published this in both paperback and hardcover (as well as, with
Ben's permission) releasing it online under the Creative Commons so
that readers can choose the format that best suits them. We still
have hardcovers but don't expect them to last long:
http://www.lcrw.net/lcrw/shopping3.htm#antking_hchttp://www.lcrw.net/lcrw/shopping3.htm#antking_pbhttp://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9781931520539http://lcrw.net/cc/index.htm#rosenbaum1http://charles-tan.blogspot.com/2008/06/feature-interview-with-
benjamin.html

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It's gorgeous here in the Happy Valley (no, really, that's what it's
known as) and we are in the midst of fruit picking, putting up, and
so on. WE have made some books, too. Some of them more last minute
than others. And our hero is Andi Watson, as you will soon see.
First: blueberries. If you are anywhere in the northeast, there's
still (perhaps) time to go pick some. If you are near the Happy
Valley, we very much recommended Bird Haven Blueberry Farm in
Southampton -- we not only picked 10 pounds, we also picked up a
rhubarb (mmm!) and strawberry pie (vegan, of course, who would put
horses hooves in pie??), and some peach jam to see if we liked that
(more on the whys of that soon).
Bird Haven is just a beautiful place. We picked berries there last
year as well. This year we picked enough to freeze so that there will
be blueberry pancakes all winter. (Maybe enough to make juice, but
they are so good by themselves, maybe, maybe not.)
Today's pancakes were an experiment: Williams-Sonoma's oatmeal
pancake mix with the handpicked blueberries and local maple syrup
(we'll make that next year!). The idea being that if the mix were any
good then we'd go ahead and add pulverized oats to our regular
pancake batter. And the results are in: the jury gives a big Yay! So,
next time on Small Beer for Breakfast, we'll be testing oatmeal and
pancake recipes. (Experimenting with breakfast seems a bit dangerous!)
Also: Bird Haven has at least one more weekend of blueberries left.
If you can go, don't miss out: http://www.birdhavenblueberry.info/
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Next up Small Beery Bookwise is Geoff Ryman's novel The King's Last
Song which should just now be reaching bookshops (Powell's already
has it in stock, yay!). Geoff, a Canadian who lives in England, is
teaching this semester at UC San Diego so he will be doing a couple
of West Coast readings later this autumn. His readings are something
to behold. We may be able to post a couple of them online, we'll let
you know.
Ryman's first book based on events in Cambodia was published in
1985, the award-winning The Unconquered Country. The King’s Last
Song was inspired by a visit to an Australian archaeological dig at
Angkor Wat in 2000. He has been a regular visitor since, teaching
writing workshops in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap twice, and publishing
three further novellas set in Cambodia. In Britain he produced
documentaries for Resonance FM, London, on Cambodian Arts.
The King's Last Song is a huge and engrossing novel which follows
two stories which somewhat intertwine: a 12th century story of a king
who brings the country together and a story set in 2004 in which the
biographical tale of the 12th century king is discovered written on
gold leaves. The gold leaves are stolen—and the archaeologist who
discovered them is kidnapped along with them—and two of his friends
set out to find him.
This isn't a tourist's guide to Cambodia, but it is an insight into
a country and culture which is rarely written about in the west. We
leapt at the chance to publish this book and hope that it finds the
wide readership it deserves.
* "An unforgettably vivid portrait of Cambodian culture past and
present."—Booklist (starred review)
"Ryman's knack for depicting characters; his ability to tell
multiple, interrelated stories; and his knowledge of Cambodian
history create a rich narrative that looks at Cambodia's "killing
fields" both recent and ancient and Buddhist belief with its desire
for transcendence."—Library Journal
http://lcrw.net/ryman/http://lcrw.net/lcrw/shopping3.htm#kingshttp://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9781931520560

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Kelly is making buttons (and more) for the Brooklyn Book Festival. We
will be Table No. 40 (see our calendar for more info on this and
other upcoming readings):
http://lcrw.net/smallbeer/calendar.htmhttp://www.brooklynbookfestival.org/
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A Move to the Happy Valley
Danielle Baldassini, September 8, 2008
Moving from Bristol, RI to Northampton, MA is a bit like switching
from listening to monolithic radio music to an eclectic mix of fast-
paced punk, spicy salsa, tribal drums, and slow, dreamy electric
guitar. In my one week of living here, I have encountered dry hot sun
and torrential downpours, lonely streets asleep in late afternoon,
and the hustle and bustle nightlife of the living, breathing
downtown. Going to see the Silver Jews at the Iron Horse on Thursday
night proved a dazzling introduction to Northampton’s music scene.
David Berman’s soft, eerie voice has a resonating tone that lingered
with me like the hot sweat of the crowd long after I left the venue.
His duets with his wife Cassie have a harmonious balance, a delicate
weaving of soft, subtle melodies and sonorous bellows of honest
poetry. Their set list varied from upbeat, melodic songs to poignant
musings on love, loss, and beauty accompanied perfectly with
Cassie’s rhythmic bass, and a soft, consistent drumbeat. As I looked
around, I saw clearly that the performance inspired a range of
emotion, from the boy on my right eagerly bobbing his head, grinning
and singing along, to the girl on my left, head cocked slightly to
one side and eyes straight ahead, seeming to be looking not at the
band, but through them, to find something soft and soothing. As I
left the venue and walked through the warm late-summer night, I could
almost see what she was looking for.
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Sarah Palin: why won't you be interviewed? What? You never received
our email? Darn. Should try sending that again.
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Kelly Link has her first collection of young adult stories, Pretty
Monsters, coming out next month. We have 2 advance release copies to
give to readers (in North America, sorry!) who promise to review it
online. Emails to the usual address.
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Ebooks
We're on it. Well, mostly. There are even some available on that rare
beast, the Kindle. You can get your local library to buy them (from
Follett and other places) and 15 of our titles are available as DRM-
free PDF downloads here:
http://lcrw.net/lcrw/shopping3.htm#ebooks
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Andi Watson
We have two more books coming up, the first is the first of a new
imprint, the second is a debut novel. And Andi Watson contributed art
for both. Andi's site is here (http://andiwatson.biz), we recommend
Skeleton Key as a starter.
http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9780943151120
If you have kids, he also has a lovely little series, Glister, for
all ages
http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=158240853X
Joan Aiken's The Serial Garden: The Complete Armitage Family Stories
is at the printer
http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9781931520577
and Benjamin Parzybok's debut novel, Couch, heading there soon:
http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9781931520546
More on these next time!
http://lcrw.net/lcrw/preorder.htm
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Last note: Elizabeth Hand's Generation Loss is on sale for ten bucks!
http://lcrw.net/lcrw/shopping3.htm#genloss
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--
Small Beer Press
150 Pleasant St., #306
Easthampton, MA 01027
413-203-1636
http://www.lcrw.net
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Hello campers:
Two mentions of the mighty Douglas Adams in one week is enough to get
us off our backsides (a lie) and writing a newsletter.
First The Guardian reports that Adams's widow, Jane Belson,
sanctioned a new Hitchhiker book said thing to be written by Eoin
Colfer. About a million people would have sent Ms. Belson $1 to not
sell this idea. Oh well, as Kurt Vonnegut said in Slaughterhouse Six,
so it went.
Oh wait, that one was by John Grisham. They all rather meld together
in one's muddy old brainpan.
The second Adams mention was a (happier to us) one in Publishers
Weekly's review of Benjamin Parzybok's novel Couch. Here's the full
review, although mention must needs be made that this book was being
edited up until last week so the reviewer was working from a previous
draftier draft:
"Parzybok's delightfully lighthearted writing successfully diverts
attention from the heavy-handed plot devices that threaten to
overwhelm this ambitious debut. An apartment flood destroys almost
everything owned by mismatched roommates Thom, Tree and Erik, leaving
only the handmade orange couch, which the landlord demands they
remove. Broke, jobless and now homeless, the roommates begin carrying
their couch through the streets of Portland, Ore., and quickly
discover two things: it might be magical, and Goodwill won't take it.
They reluctantly embark on a hapless quest to take the couch exactly
where it “wants to go.” Occasionally laugh-out-loud funny, the
enthusiastic prose carries readers through sporadic dark moments,
though it can't save a clunky finale that leaves too many unanswered
questions, including the survival of its heroes. Parzybok's quirky
humor recalls the flaws and successes of early Douglas Adams."
Here's the glossy (aka naughty?) version:
"Delightfully lighthearted writing. . . . Occasionally laugh-out-loud
funny, the enthusiastic prose carries readers through sporadic dark
moments . . . Parzybok’s quirky humor recalls the flaws and successes
of early Douglas Adams."
— Publishers Weekly
Or maybe for shortness's sake, just that last line?
There are quite a books of interest in this week's issue of PW, so
let's do the whole review then the possible blurb (prizes will be
given to us if we get this right):
The Love We Share Without Knowing, Christopher Barzak. Bantam, $12
paper (288p)
which is long-time LCRW contributor and eerily energetic fireball Mr.
Barzak's second novel (after the well-received One for Sorrow").
From: "Barzak's accomplished novel-in-stories dwells on people
dealing with life's sorrows through somewhat tenuous connections. Set
in Japan, the narratives focus on protagonists from the country and
travelers in search of a new life, as in “Realer Than You,” in which
16-year-old Elijah Fulton longs for his native America while
struggling to fit into his new surroundings outside of Tokyo. “The
Suicide Club” is made up of four young adults on the fringe of
Japanese society attempting to make sense of their lives, while
“Sleeping Beauties” concerns, albeit sappily, an American teacher and
his Japanese lover; the narrator loses his identity through total
immersion in his lover's life, yet it's the slow return to self that
is even more devastating. “If You Can Read This You're Too Close”
centers on a disillusioned, selfish young man whose life is changed
after a blind man sees him. Barzak's perceptive writing evinces the
fragile and overwhelming desire for meaning and love." (Nov.)
To: "Barzak's accomplished novel-in-stories . . . evinces the fragile
and overwhelming desire for meaning and love."
http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9780553385649
The Lone Star Stories Reader Edited by Eric T. Marin. LSS Press,
$13.95 paper (284p)
in which is found Gavin's story "Janet, Meet Bob" and 14 others:
From: "Marin selects 15 fantasy stories from the first 25 issues of
webzine Lone Star Stories, with moderate success. In Catherynne M.
Valente's stunning “Thread: A Triptych,” a fantastical mail-order
bride is brought to the “real” world, only to be cast aside. The
western meets dark fantasy in Martha Wells's standout “Wolf Night,”
when a group of people barricaded in a stockade are attacked by an
otherworldly creature. Other standouts include Ekaterina Sedia's “The
Disemboweler,” where a robot explores a world where little spirits
animate machines, and Sarah Monette's “A Night in Electric
Squidland,” where two queer psychic cops infiltrate an occult BDSM
nightclub. Most of the stories have a writer's-workshop sameness to
them that flattens their range, but the gems really shine." (Nov.)
http://www.lsspress.com/8201.htmlhttp://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9780981781907
To: "15 fantasy stories from the first 25 issues of webzine Lone Star
Stories . . . the gems really shine." (Nov.)
Magic to the Bone Devon Monk. Roc, $6.99 (368p)
which is the debut novel by Devon Monk who had a story back in LCRW #14:
From: "In this clever and compulsively readable debut, set in a
magical analog of Portland, Ore., Allie Beckstrom is a Hound, able to
trace a spell back to its caster. When a young boy is injured by a
spell, Allie tracks it back to her estranged father, Daniel, a
ruthless businessman who protests his innocence. Then someone
magically disguised as Allie kills Daniel. Allie and sexy corporate
operative Zayvion race against time to find the answers. Magic is
common in this alternate universe, but using it always incurs a
physical or mental cost, rendering it a commodity to be bought and
sold, used and abused. Allie's internal and external struggles are
brilliantly and tightly written, creating a multifaceted character
who will surprise, amuse, amaze and absorb readers." (Starred review)
To: "Brilliantly and tightly written, creating a multifaceted
character who will surprise, amuse, amaze and absorb
readers." (Starred review)
http://www.lcrw.net/issues/lcrw14.htmhttp://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9780451462404
Not sure if we mentioned Couch to you before...? It comes out in
November and will have a page on our site soon. In the meantime,
there's these:
http://lcrw.net/lcrw/preorder.htmhttp://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9781931520546
Couch is the first debut novel we've taken from our slush pile—Ben
sent in a query for it around the same time he sent us his story "The
Coder" which we published in LCRW #21 (http://lcrw.net/issues/
lcrw21.htm).
The query grabbed us so we asked for some pages. Some while later
(we were buy blogging!) we asked for more. We passed it around and
eventually, some laugh out loud moments later, we offered Ben a
sizable chunk of Equador for it. He negotiated us up to actual cash
instead of countries cut out of our world map shower curtain and We
Made a Deal!
We've been spreading the word ever since. In May we carried an
inflatable couch around the LA Convention Center (and gifted it on to
some very happy house designer!) and gave out a couple of hundred
galleys and got Mr. Parzybok on TV. Ok, on Library Journal's
videosite (http://www.libraryjournal.com/flashVideo/element_id/
2140230947/taxid/33554.html) and generally had fun.
Collectors note: the galley went through at least 3 iterations. One
of those in an edition of 14.
The second galley cover featured a couch drawn by star intern Anna
Sears and colored by none other than Jedediah Berry.
The final cover is by a full-color wraparound drawing by UK comics
star (and Small Beer fave) Andi Watson. We've got tons of books by
Andi and recommend the following (to start with!):
Glister, a great all-ages comic:
http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9781582408538
Slow News Day, an American abroad tale (won't there be a lot of
those if things go badly in November!)
http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9781593620806
Skeleton Key, a fun story involving a girl and her fox spirit friend
available in a bunch of trade paperbacks which are worth tracking
down, even from Powell's "Remote Warehouse" as listed here:
http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9780943151120
Last week Mr. Parzybok was meeting Pacific Northwest booksellers and
we hope to set up a few readings there soon. So far we've confirmed
these, hope you can go. He's a good reader and it's a fun book. Check
out all our readings here:
http://lcrw.net/smallbeer/calendar.htm
Fri, Nov 14, 7 PM
Powell's, 1005 W. Burnside, Portland, OR 97209
http://www.powells.com/info/places/burnsidemap.html
Mon, Nov 17, 7:30 PM
Elliott Bay Book Company 101 S. Main St. Seattle, WA 98104
http://www.elliottbaybook.com/events/index.jsp
Wed, Nov 19, 7 PM
KGB Bar, New York, NY (reading with Caitlin R. Kiernan)
Thu, Nov 20, 8 PM
Amherst Books, 8 Main St, Amherst, MA 01002 (413) 256-1547
http://www.amherstbooks.com/
Preorder our books here:
http://lcrw.net/lcrw/preorder.htmhttp://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9781931520546
{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{__________}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}
LCRW update: we're in the middle of thinking about being in the
middle of reading and putting together a new issue of LCRW. One thing
we are wondering about is whether those chocolate subscribers would
mind if we sent out a lovely but cheaper bar this time (except for
those whose subscriptions are about to expire) and a lovely but
expensive bar next time.
Any comments appreciated:
http://lcrw.net/wordpress/?p=471
{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{__________}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}
Listen to "The Ant King"!
http://podcast.starshipsofa.com/podcast/
StarShipSofa_Aural_Delights_No_42_Benjamin_Rosenbaum.mp3
{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{__________}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}
The latest review of Pretty Monsters is from School Library Journal:
Gr 9 Up–In her first collection of stories for young adults, Link
upends traditional horror, science fiction, and fantasy motifs,
creating original, quirky, and distinctly beautiful literary
landscapes. Honed, brilliant language renders blood, werewolves,
ghosts, magic, and monsters sublime–at times even funny. Readers will
relish uncertainty in these savory, strange stories and never feel
quite sure of their footing. They proceed giddily, jumping from one
uncanny premise, phrase, or image to the next, eventually stumbling
upon a revelation that hits them like the snap of a rubber band.
Clever resolutions and tricky plots place teens on delightfully
circuitous reading paths. Unexpected endings force them to double
back and reconsider each story from the beginning. In this second
read, young adults might notice Link’s seamless incorporation of
their own experiences. Awkward adolescence, uncomfortable first love,
frustrating parents, and complicated friendships surface quietly amid
wonderfully knotty, twisted plots and incandescent imagery. This
compilation of intricate, transfixing selections succeeds in making
the weird wonderful and the grotesque absolutely gorgeous.–Shelley
Huntington, New York Public Library
We will be selling signed copies of Kelly Link's latest collection,
Pretty Monsters (comes out October 2 from Viking) from here:
http://lcrw.net/lcrw/shopping3.htm#pmhttp://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9780670010905
{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{__________}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}
Rights sale: Joan Aiken's The Serial Garden: The Complete Armitage
Family Stories just sold to Post Publishing for Thai rights and Uri
Ky Yuk for Korean rights! We only have US/Canadian rights on this
beautiful book but it's great fun to hear about it going out into the
world. Our printer tells us it should ship from them on October 14th,
so it will be in stores by it's publication date of October 28th.
Should have news on a New York event for the book in early November
coming soon. Fingers crossed on that. Download a free story here:
http://lcrw.net/aiken/
{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{__________}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}
Looks like The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: 21st Annual Collection
is hitting the stores, too. Publishers Weekly gave it a starred
review, yay!
Demand on this one is high (due to the fantastic nature of the
contents), so if it isn't in stock it should be on reorder, yay!
Get the hardcover
http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9780312380489
or the Paperback
http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9780312380472
{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{__________}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}
Geoff Ryman's The King's Last Song: Or Kraing Meas just came out in
the US. Booklist gave it a starred review:
Ryman draws on his extensive knowledge of Indo-Chinese history and
his masterful descriptive powers to paint an unforgettably vivid
portrait of Cambodian culture past and present. His focus on the
power of a peaceful philosophy to assuage pain and guilt brings a
message of hope to a country still haunted by its war-torn past."
We're hoping for some decent coverage of this book, after all, how
many novels about Cambodia are published each year?
http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9781931520560http://lcrw.net/lcrw/shopping3.htm#kings
The King's Last Song is our bestselling ebook at the moment:
http://fictionwise.com/ebooks/eBook72755.htmhttp://lcrw.net/lcrw/shopping3.htm#ebooks
{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{__________}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}
Please vote in November!
--
Small Beer Press
150 Pleasant St., #306
Easthampton, MA 01027
413-203-1636
http://www.lcrw.net
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Hello there shiny happy peoples,
2 big things you may have seen on our bloggity device. Or on Kelly's
new site, http://www.prettymonsters.net. Anyway, this is a fun, mad,
great fun day because we're sending out another free book and having
a sale—and 20% of the proceeds will be donated to Obama! Change the
world, honeybunnies! (Um, too much Maya Gold? Yes!)
1. the sale
2. the download
1. Short version: http://lcrw.net/special.htm
Longer version:
* Celebrate, come on! We are celebrating many things by having a
sale.
* 20% of the proceeds of this sale will be donated to Barack
Obama's campaign for President of the United States of America.
* Next month in the USA we get to show the world that the
mistakes of the last eight long years will not be repeated. If you
really want to buy these books but don't want to donate to Obama, we
won't insist. But: we hope you will donate! And vote.
* Everything on this page is at least 25% off. Some of it is 60%
off. Reason enough to celebrate!
* We are publishing our first book for readers of all ages: Joan
Aiken's The Serial Garden and we want to make sure that the kid in
your life (or you) gets it for the holidays.
* We just got our tax bill and apparently we have to bail the
government out all by ourselves.
* Hallowe'en is coming and we need to move some books out of the
haunted warehouse.
* Suggestions welcome!
What can you do: Buy every book we've published (including the two
still at the printer): $249! (You just gave $50 to Obama!)
Or, just the books published this year: $63 (9x7/5 = uh, carry the 1,
erm, $12.60 to Obama! We'll call it $13.)
Buy some books: change the world.
http://lcrw.net/special.htm
2. Short version: http://lcrw.net/cc
Longer version:
To celebrate the publication of Kelly's new collection, Pretty
Monsters*, most of Kelly's previous collection Magic for Beginners is
now available as a free download in various completely open formats
with no Digital Rights Management (DRM) strings attached. It is
licensed under a Creative Commons (Attribution-NonCommercial-
ShareAlike 3.0) license allowing readers to share the stories with
friends and generally have at them in any noncommercial manner. The
book is provided below in these formats: Text file, HTML, rtf, and lo-
res PDF.
Kelly Link and Small Beer Press think that Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
(USA) and HarperPerennial (UK) are completely awesome for being
willing to participate in making these stories available online. Due
to contractual obligations, "The Faery Handbag" and "Magic for
Beginners" are not included in this download.
We encourage any and all conversions into other formats. We'll
happily host, credit, and add your conversion to the file list below.
Please abide by these few rules for file-conversions:
* Send us a link to the reader for your conversion so that we
can include it on the downloads page.
* No DRM. We are not interested in this. If your format of
choice has a means of restricting copying, use or playback, please do
not use it.
* If the book has been converted to your format of choice but
the conversion doesn't suit you, go ahead and reconvert it for your
own use and distribution. We will host the first and only the first
version as the few formats we have provided are pretty much all we
know anything about. And we don't know that much about those.
* Enjoy!
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and HarperPerennial asked that we also
provide links easy links to buy Magic for Beginners. So, here we go:
US hardcover:
—Signed: http://lcrw.net/lcrw/shopping3.htm#mfb
—Powells: http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/partner?
partner_id=26490&cgi=product&isbn=1931520151
—local bookshop: http://www.indiebound.org/aff/beer?product=1931520151
US paperback:
—Signed: http://lcrw.net/lcrw/shopping3.htm#mfb
—Powells: http://www.powells.com/biblio?
PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=0156031876
—local bookshop: http://www.indiebound.com/product/info.jsp?
affiliateId=beer&isbn=0156031876
—Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0156031876/
theendicotstudio:
UK edition:
—Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Magic-Beginners-Kelly-Link/dp/
000724200X/
—John Smith: http://www.jscampus.co.uk/shop/product_display.asp?
mscssid=35BW2TV92M549MU6VWHRFBUDWR3J72T2&ProductID=9780007242009&BranchI
D=0
—Waterstones: http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/
displayProductDetails.do?sku=5567773
* Pretty Monsters comes out today! We hope your local bookshop will
carry it!
—Powells: http://www.powells.com/biblio?
PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9780670010905
—Order a signed copy from us and receive tattoos, stickers, and
similar items of interest.
http://lcrw.net/lcrw/shopping3.htm#pm
More Small Beer Press CC-licensed downloads:
http://lcrw.net/cc/index.htm
That one thing again:
http://lcrw.net/special.htm
Happy Autumn!
--
Small Beer Press
150 Pleasant St., #306
Easthampton, MA 01027
413-203-1636
http://www.lcrw.net
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Ebook wonderings
Low Stock Stuff
Last Minute Things
Secret Offer
LCRW 23 is gang oot
Xmas Ordering
..... ...... ...... .......... ........ ....... ......... ..... .......
.......
Order now and we will wrap your books in a randomly selected canvas
tote bag.
..... ...... ...... .......... ........ ....... ......... ..... .......
.......
We've added a couple of options to a couple of book pages on the web
to see if there's any demand or uptake. On the following pages you
can get the book for $16, or the ebook for $9.95, or both for $19.
http://lcrw.net/parzybok/index.htmhttp://lcrw.net/ryman/index.htm
..... ...... ...... .......... ........ ....... ......... ..... .......
.......
Get Your Name on the Dustjacket
Small Beer Press will publish Greer Gilman's second novel, Cloud &
Ashes: Three Winter's Tales (9781931520553 · Trade cloth · 5.5 x 8.5
· 448 pp · $26 · http://lcrw.net/gilman).
Order and your name will be printed on the inside of the dust-jacket
as a special thanks to dedicated readers.
This special offer runs through December 31st, 2008 and only applies
to orders made through the Small Beer Press website or using this form:
http://lcrw.net/smallbeer/ordersheet.htm
..... ...... ...... .......... ........ ....... ......... ..... .......
.......
Low Stock (and High Collectibility) Warning
Our distro is out of the hardcover of Ben Rosenbaum's collection, The
Ant King and Other Stories, which was recently chosen as one of the
best books of 2008 by the LA Times (and discussed on Torque Control).
The distro is not getting more copies of this, so if you want it,
check your local bookshop or order here:
http://www.lcrw.net/lcrw/shopping3.htm#antking_hc
"The Ant King and Other Stories (Small Beer Press) contains invisible
cities and playful deconstructions of the form. In "Biographical
Notes to 'A Discourse on the Nature of Causality, With Air-Planes,'
by Benjamin Rosenbaum" -- yes, his name is part of the title -- the
author imagines a world whose technologies and philosophies differ
wildly from ours. The result is a commentary on the state of the art
that is itself the state of the art.
http://www.latimes.com/features/books/la-ca-favoritebooks-
sciencefict-2008dec07,0,3049326.story
http://vectoreditors.wordpress.com/2008/12/08/a-discussion-about-the-
ant-king-and-other-stories/
Another Low Stock
We have signed copies of future cult novel, Couch, by Benjamin
Parzybok. Get in ahead of the crowd. We've got a good stock of signed
copies, our distro has shipped 75% of the run, it's an Indie Next
List Pick for January, the Brits are interested in buying it, fingers
crossed, and it looks like we'll be going back to press on this soon.
http://lcrw.net/lcrw/shopping3.htm#couch
..... ...... ...... .......... ........ ....... ......... ..... .......
.......
LCRW 23 is being mailed out -- pics on the web site soon. It is a
lovely thing, we hope you will enjoy it. As voted by readers (http://
lcrw.net/wordpress/?p=471) the chocolate for this issue's chocolate
bar+zine subscribers does indeed come from IKEA, so that next time we
can spend some money on something Nice.
New on this page: you can order the paper or ebook edition here:
http://lcrw.net/issues/lcrw23.htm
The ebook has been uploaded to Fictionwise.com and is in production.
The lovely paperback edition will be available on http://www.lulu.com/
sbp soon.
..... ...... ...... .......... ........ ....... ......... ..... .......
.......
Sale Prices Are Now in Effect and include Media Mail shipping:
http://lcrw.net/lcrw/shopping3.htm
..... ...... ...... .......... ........ ....... ......... ..... .......
.......
*** Special Offer Just For You
Buy any 4 books and we will include a new Theo Black designed Small
Beer Press T-shirt. Please include the size you would like in the
note field. Available sizes: S,M,L, XL, XXL
If you'd like to buy just the shirt, there are a very limited number
of them available here. There is no picture of them there yet!
http://lcrw.net/lcrw/shopping.htm
..... ...... ...... .......... ........ ....... ......... ..... .......
.......
Some fresh reading:
http://philippinespeculativefiction.com/
..... ...... ...... .......... ........ ....... ......... ..... .......
.......
Tomorrow, Dec. 11, is the last day to get packages out on time for
Xmas to most of the world from the USA. Here are the post office
deadlines:
* Dec. 11 Priority Mail: Asia, Pacific Rim, Australia, New
Zealand, Canada, Caribbean, Mexico, Europe, Middle East
* Dec. 15 Domestic Parcel Post
* Dec. 20 Domestic First-Class Mail
* Dec. 20 Domestic Priority Mail
* Dec. 22 Domestic Express Mail (365 days per year (in many
areas), including Christmas Day)
http://lcrw.net/lcrw/shopping3.htm#shipping
And here are the prices:
John Crowley, Endless Things · $9 · trade cloth
Alan DeNiro, Skinny Dipping in the Lake of the Dead · $8 · trade
paperback
Signed
Carol Emshwiller, Report to the Men's Club and Other Stories · $8 ·
trade paperback
———, The Mount · $8 · trade paperback
Signed
Angélica Gorodischer, Kalpa Imperial · Translated by Ursula K. Le
Guin · $7 · trade paperback
Elizabeth Hand, Generation Loss · $9 · trade cloth
John Kessel, The Baum Plan for Financial Independence and Other Stories
$24 · trade cloth · $16 · trade paper
Ellen Kushner, The Privilege of the Sword · $24 · trade cloth
Signed
Kelly Link, Pretty Monsters · $19.99· trade cloth
Order a signed copy and receive tattoos, stickers, and similar items
of interest.
———, Magic for Beginners · $9 · trade cloth
Signed
———, Magic for Beginners · $14 · trade paperback from Harcourt
Signed
———, Stranger Things Happen · $16 · trade paperback
Signed
———, ed., Trampoline · Maureen F. McHugh, Shelley Jackson, Greer
Gilman, more · $8 · trade paperback
Laurie J. Marks, Water Logic · $10 · trade paperback
Signed
Maureen F. McHugh, Mothers & Other Monsters · $8 · trade paperback
Signed
———, Mothers & Other Monsters · $10 · trade cloth
Benjamin Parzybok, Couch · 16 · trade paper
Signed
Benjamin Rosenbaum, The Ant King and Other Stories · $24 · trade
cloth · $16 · trade paper
Geoff Ryman, The King's Last Song · $16 · trade paperback
Jennifer Stevenson, Trash Sex Magic · $16 · trade paperback
Delia Sherman and Theodora Goss, Editors, Interfictions: An Anthology
of Interstitial Writing
$12 · trade paperback
Sean Stewart, Mockingbird · $8 · trade paperback
Signed
———, Perfect Circle · $10 · trade paperback
Ray Vukcevich, Meet Me in the Moon Room · $8 · trade paperback
Kate Wilhelm, Storyteller: Writing Lessons and More from 27 Years of
the Clarion Writers' Workshop · $8 · trade paperback
*** Peapod Classics
Carol Emshwiller, Carmen Dog · $7 · trade paperback
Naomi Mitchison, Travel Light · $7 · trade paperback
Howard Waldrop, Howard Who? · $14 · trade paperback
Signed
Three Peas in a Pod · Separately: $28 · Together: $21
*** Limited Editions
Kelly Link, Magic for Beginners · edition of 150 · $100
Maureen F. McHugh, Mothers & Other Monsters · edition of 150 · $50
Magic for Beginners & Mothers & Other Monsters · $135
*** Small Beer Press 2008
In 2008 we published 5 more great books which, all together, have a
retail price of $84.
We're selling sets of all these titles in paperback for $69.
—Media Mail shipping is free in the USA. Priority will add $9.
—Shipping to the rest of the world would probably be at least $40.
—Upgrade to hardcovers (for books by John Kessel and Benjamin
Rosenbaum) for $15.
*** The Whole Small Beer Ebook Package (20 books, the current LCRW,
various podcasts and movies) on a handy 2 GB flash drive.
$99.95
*** LCRW No.23 · $5
Ted Chiang, Kirstin Allio, Mark Rich, Angela Slatter, & More.
..... ...... ...... .......... ........ ....... ......... ..... .......
.......
How big is Your head?
https://mymonsterhat.com/
..... ...... ...... .......... ........ ....... ......... ..... .......
.......
After the Indie Press Book Fair in New York City this weekend we had
to restock and get Kelly Link to sign more copies of Pretty Monsters,
which are available here:
http://lcrw.net/lcrw/shopping3.htm#pm
"Essential to the book’s fairytale content is Link’s understanding of
the power of objects, the proprietary folk tale feel of something in
hand — a carved comb, a clay cup. There’s alchemy in it, and power.
Perhaps the thing that most clearly marks this as a young adult book
is the agency it gives to teens and children. Sometimes the business
of magic is best left up to the young."
http://venuszine.com/articles/art_and_culture/reads/4872/
Werewolves_corpses_and_aliens_oh_my_
..... ...... ...... .......... ........ ....... ......... ..... .......
.......
Sharpen your pencils, applications will be accepted to Clarion
beginning Jan.2:
2009 writers in residence are:
Holly Black, Larissa Lai, Robert Crais, Kim Stanley Robinson,
Elizabeth Hand, and Paul Park.
Clarion Writers' Workshop
at UC San Diego
June 28 - August 8, 2009
Applications Accepted
January 2 - March 1
http://clarion.ucsd.edu/
..... ...... ...... .......... ........ ....... ......... ..... .......
.......
An excellent present!
"The Armitage's world grows richer as it is extended. This is a
collection of stories which allow -- in fact demand -- the reader
joins in with their own imagination and remakes the story inside
their own head. Aiken's pragmatism shows through in her stories.
Instead of remaining in or reflecting upon the past like some of her
contemporaries, they show an author making the best of the world and
coming out ahead with humor and imagination."
http://www.januarymagazine.com/kidsbooks/serialgarden.htmlhttp://lcrw.net/aiken
..... ...... ...... .......... ........ ....... ......... ..... .......
.......
1) Thanks for reading!
2) Thanks for shopping!
3) Thanks for supporting independent businesses! See http://
www.indiebound.org for more.
..... ...... ...... .......... ........ ....... ......... ..... .......
.......
Small Beer Press
150 Pleasant St., #306
Easthampton, MA 01027
413-203-1636
http://www.lcrw.net
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
This Week in Chicago:
Who's That Detective?
Couch-Carrying Odyssey: OR, WA, MT (we can't spell)
JWH
Cloud. And: Ashes.
Artists Wanted
New Books
========== ========== ==========
This is the first newsletter we've sent out since President Obama was
inaugurated and it has been a relief to see him and his government
reverse some of the dark ages policies of the previous
administration. It has also been hilarious to see the nominees
brought down by the tax code -- perhaps someone could work on
simplifying the code? And, can someone tell us why Tom Daschle and
all the others only had to pay the interest on their back taxes and
not penalties?
It has sucked to see the Republicans still suck at family. How can
they expect businesses to do well if they refuse to fund education
and health care? Tax cuts won't stimulate the economy: everyone
working will save the extra money in case they're fired and it won't
help those looking for work. Adding Federal funding to states for
education and health care would have meant more people keeping their
jobs. Nice move, party of the idiots.
So there is still much to rail against. The death penalty, global
warming, poisonous peanuts (a symptom of the FDA not having enough
inspectors and not doing enough follow through), outsourcing of jobs,
the lack of decent cars in the USA while the same companies sell good
cars abroad.
Enough with the railing (Actually: more railing! Spain's high speed
rail system is working and we should copy it!) and on with the news
about books. And, it is good!
========== ========== ==========
This Week in Chicago:
Thursday: 43° F | 27° F, Partly Cloudy
Friday: 40° F | 27° F, Mostly Cloudy
Saturday: The AWP Bookfair is free and open to the all at the Chicago
Hilton, 9 AM - 5 PM.
Small Beer Press has a table at the AWP conference. No, we don't know
the number, but it is the one featuring a handsome young fellow
toting his first novel. (More on that below.)
If you're in (or near) Chicago we recommend going by: this is the
best place to see hundreds of indie presses all in one spot with tons
of great books and magazines that you may or may not have heard of.
One Story, Ninth Letter, Mid-American Review, there's tons of good
reading. Sorry to be missing it, but what fun if you go. And that's
not even counting the parties....
And, at that fair, that handsome young fellow is selling books.
Cheap. Cheap. Cheap. (No birds, though.) If you'd like to buy our
books Cheap Cheap Cheap (and the usual free shipping in the USA),
here's a link to the mail order form. Note that it's a PDF. Yep, this
link goes straight to the pdf. This page doesn't exist (well, until
Google crawls it) on our website, only on paper in Chicago and
(maybe) on your computer.
http://lcrw.net/AWP2009.pdf
========== ========== ==========
Who's That Detective?
Q. Who is this handsome young fellow?
A. Jedediah Berry
Q. Who's that?
A. Small Beer Press's assistant editor! Jed's first novel, The Manual
of Detection comes out in a couple of weeks from Penguin and it is a
doozy. We've added his readings to our reading calendar but you can
also see if he's coming near you on the ever-so-handy booktour site:
http://booktour.com/author/jedediah_berryhttp://www.thirdarchive.net
If you act fast, you might be able to pick up early copies from
Powell's"
http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9781594202117
========== ========== ==========
Couch-Carrying Odyssey: OR, WA, MT (we can't spell)
Couch is back at the printer for a second printing (yay, celebrate,
move your couch around tonight!) and poor Benjamin Parzybok will be
adding many steps to his (http://walkertracker.com/ben) count as we
are sending him out On the Road Again next month.
You can download the March Tour Flier PDF (another pdf!) and do with
it what you will here:
http://lcrw.net/parzybok/parzybok_march_tour.pdf
Or it's here: http://booktour.com/author/benjamin_parzybok
Monday, March 16, 5:00 PM
Powell's Books
1005 W. Burnside Street, Portland, OR, 97209
Tuesday, March 17, 7:00 PM
Orca Books
509 E. 4th Ave. Olympia, WA 98502
Wednesday, March 18, 7:00 PM
Garfield Book Company at PLU
208 Garfield St., Suite 101, Tacoma, WA 98444
Thursday, March 19, 6:30 PM
BALLARD PUBLIC LIBRARY
5614 22nd Ave NW, Seattle, WA 98107
Saturday, March 21, 7:00 PM
Village Books
1200 11th Street, Bellingham, WA, 98225
Monday, March 23, 3:00 PM
Fact & Fiction
220 North Higgins, and On Campus, Missoula, MT 59802
Tuesday, March 24, 7:00 PM
The Bookstore, Dillon, MT
26 N Idaho St, Dillon, MT 59725
Wednesday, March 25, 7:30 PM
Auntie's Books, Spokane, WA
402 W. Main, Spokane, WA
Tuesday, April 07, 7:00 PM
St. Helens Book Shop
58527 Columbia River Hwy., St. Helens, OR
Buy the book here:
http://lcrw.net/parzybok
========== ========== ==========
Randomization
If you are a writer of fiction, go and apply for one of these. The
deadline is March 5th:
http://www.arts.gov/grants/apply/Lit/Calendar.html
This has nothing to do with our forthcoming Writers Daily Planner,
but it is the kind of info that will be in it!
http://lcrw.net/lcrw/preorder.htm
========== ========== ==========
Jeph Jacques of Questionable Content (http://questionablecontent.net)
had a great post on the state of daily comics in newspapers and on
the web which makes for interesting reading for people like us trying
to sell books:
http://qcjeph.livejournal.com/100732.html
Speaking of webcomics, here's one from Tor.com from Andi Watson:
http://www.tor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=comic&id=11345
========== ========== ==========
JWH
John Wesley Harding has a new CD, "Who was Changed and Who was Dead,"
out next month and it has the best list of tiered pricing options
we've seen for a while. (Also: some great pop songs!)
http://www.johnwesleyharding.com/rspcjwh.html
But you can buy the album, not to mention download and hear it,
immediately. There are various offers available to you.
"Who was Changed and Who was Dead" was recorded in Portland, OR and
New York City, with The Minus Five, not to mention many of JWH's
oldest and best musical friends and allies: Scott McOi, Peter Buck,
Steve Berlin (producer of Why We Fight), Kurt Bloch (producer of Trad
Arr Jones), Mike Viola, Robert Lloyd (who needs no introduction),
Kelly Hogan, and many more.
These orders are available as of now
BASIC: $15.98 (+ $2.50 postage & packing)
DOWNLOAD plus CD with BONUS LIVE DISC!
The BASIC package also includes a copy of the finished CD mailed
directly to your home as soon as we get them in our hands, which
means that you will receive them comfortably in time for Christmas.
BASIC PLUS: $29.98 (+ $5.00)
DOWNLOAD plus CD with BONUS LIVE DISC and T-SHIRT!
FANCY: $49.98 (+ $5.00)
DOWNLOAD plus CD with BONUS LIVE DISC, T-SHIRT and limited edition DVD!
SUPERFANCY: $79.98 (+$9.99)
DOWNLOAD plus CD with BONUS LIVE DISC, T-SHIRT, DVD and signed ARTWORK!
CRAZY DELUXE & PERSONAL: $5,000.00
DOWNLOAD, plus CD with BONUS LIVE DISC, T-SHIRT, DVD and signed
framed ARTWORK plus READ ON!
Includes the entire SUPERFANCY package PLUS, and it's a BIG PLUS:
John Wesley Harding will come and perform at your house, for you and
your friends, on a mutually agreeable date. NO JOKE! If it's near,
he'll even pay the transport; though if it's far, you'll have to pay.
The price of this epic package, including your own personal John
Wesley Harding concert, is $5,000, and at that price, we're waiving
the postage and packing. This is the only offer of its kind, and
quite possibly the only offer of its kind ever.
========== ========== ==========
Wandering in the bookshop and can't remember what you wanted to read?
Print this out!
http://www.locusmag.com/2009/2008RecommendedReading.html
If you are wandering online, please consider supporting an actual
bookshop such as Powell's or your local bookshop through IndieBound.
Yes, you may pay a couple of dollars more per book, but as with any
other internet bookshop (even the supermarket known as Amazon) the
bookshop will still pay your shipping so it's free to you. So you pay
a few dollars more, which is directly paying someone at Powell's (or
your local bookshop).
Couch
http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9781931520546
Ed Park's novel, Personal Days
http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9780812978575
Or on IndieBound, look, cough, you can set up wish lists:
http://www.indiebound.org/users/gavingrant/wishlist
========== ========== ==========
Cloud & Ashes Update
Greer Gilman is working on the last set of tweaks for her superdense
masterpiece, Cloud & Ashes: Three Winter's Tales. We got a nice
number of pre-orders, thank you, so their names will be found on the
reverse side of the jacket. The cover moves along slowly but all
things being equal, the book should come out in May and Greer will be
doing some readings then.
Cloud & Ashes comprises three tales: "Jack Daw's Pack" (Nebula Award
finalist), "A Crowd of Bone" (winner of the World Fantasy Award), and
the new third part, a whole novel, "Unleaving."
You can read a little about the book here: http://lcrw.net/gilman/
And order it here: http://lcrw.net/lcrw/preorder.htm
========== ========== ==========
Artists Wanted
The Interstitial Arts Foundation is searching for cover art for our
second literary anthology, Interfictions II. All visual artists are
invited to submit images for possible use as the cover art of the
anthology.
Check it out here:
http://www.interstitialarts.org/wordpress/?p=65
And upload pics of your art here!
http://www.flickr.com/groups/interstitialarts/
========== ========== ==========
We, well, mostly Michael (http://mjd.joskinandlob.com/wordpress), are
working on a new website. We expect it to be llive in time for the
end of the world in 2012, or in time for you to jack right into it
and swim through it in cyberspace, whichever comes first.
It will probably not look like this: http://www.miauk.com
========== ========== ==========
The Serial Garden in the LA Times:
"The incessant collision of the fantastic and the familiar make these
stories immediately engaging.
"Aiken never bores. She delights in names: Regina Queenscape, Dunk
R. Spoggin , Admiral Lecacheur, Mrs. Nutti, P.G. Zero -- not to
mention "Armitage" itself. (Aiken was the daughter of the poet Conrad
Aiken; her parents divorced, and her mother married the writer Martin
Armstrong, whose surname the young Aiken then skewered.) She has fun
with place names as well. In "The Serial Garden," Mark reads on the
package: "In case of difficulty in obtaining supplies, please write
to Fruhstucksgeschirrziegelsteinindustrie (Great Britain), Lily Road,
Shepherds Bush."
"Antic lists are unleashed -- we don't just get one kind of poison
mushroom but "deathcups . . . stinkhorns, false blushers, sickeners,
devil's boletus and lurid boletus." (In one story, Mark is so
lavishly, if cryptically, insulted by his formidable great-uncle
Gavin that he starts transcribing the elaborate billingsgate.)
""The Serial Garden" is my happiest discovery this year. I say this
without being influenced in the least by what happens to Mr. Armitage
in "The Frozen Cuckoo." As I conclude my hymn of praise, I am
certainly not thinking of how, shortly after Mr. Armitage pans A.
Whizzard's "shockingly bad book on spells and runes," the incensed
author requisitions the Armitage house, then turns him into a bird
that later gets trapped in an ice cube."
http://www.latimes.com/features/books/la-caw-astral-
weeks25-2009jan25,0,5457988.story
I know you’re a big mouth but what are we?
Did we mention this? is this a repeat? Who cares? Publishers Weekly
introduced our new imprint, Big Mouth House, to the world in a nice
piece ("Small Beer, for Children") that also mentioned Kelly’s new
collection, Pretty Monsters:
"When Kelly Link and Gavin Grant, founders of Small Beer Press in
Easthampton, Mass., first considered publishing children’s books
several years ago, they had a problem: the name of their press
sounded like a brewery."
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6595908.html?nid=3329
What We Talk About When We Talk About Beer? Anyway, it’s true: we are
slowly and carefully opening out a new imprint for readers of all
ages: Big Mouth House (http://www.bigmouthhouse.net). At some point
soon the Big Mouth web site will become better. We've put up a little
about forthcoming books, guidelines (queries only, no picture books
for the foreseeable future), and so on.
For the moment, The Serial Garden is Big Mouth House: one book that
is so lovely and has been such fun to work on that we can’t wait to
get it back from the printer.
http://lcrw.net/aiken/index.htmhttp://www.bigmouthhouse.net
========== ========== ==========
Get ready for The Ant King. It looks like Benjamin Rosenbaum will be
on tour here in May.
More info TK!
http://lcrw.net/rosenbaum/
========== ========== ==========
New Books
We are in the process of signing up some new books. Some of them are
even at the contract stage. But they are not signed yet, darn it. So
you can't know about those.
There is one we can tell you about: a debut mystery we're publishing
in September, Hound, by Vincent McCaffrey:
Death was, after all, the way Henry Sullivan made his living.
Henry is a book hound, content to evade life by escaping into the
books he sells to other dealers. But the murder of an ex-lover pulls
him out of his familiar circles and leads him both to examine his
past and to investigate the murky depths of literary Boston.
Hound, the first novel featuring Henry Sullivan, is the debut novel
by a long-time Boston bookseller and it lays bare both the city and
the literary world in a classic slow-burning style.
Vincent McCaffrey has owned and operated the Avenue Victor Hugo
Bookshop for more than thirty years, first in Boston, and now online
from Abingdon, MA. He has been paid by others to do lawn work, shovel
snow, paint houses, and to be an office-boy, warehouse grunt,
dishwasher, waiter, and hotel night clerk. He has since chosen at
various times to be a writer, editor, publisher, and bookseller. He
can still remember the first time he sold books for money in 1963—and
what most of those books were. Hound is his first novel.
Vincent is a great guy and we're incredibly happy to be publishing
this book. He's started a website and is getting warmed up with some
nice thoughtful pieces on books, bookselling, the world, and so on.
We have some hilarious bits to post later, but in the meantime,
here's Vincent's site:
http://vincentmccaffrey.com
========== ========== ==========
Thanks for reading our books.
--
Small Beer Press
150 Pleasant St., #306
Easthampton, MA 01027
413-203-1636
http://www.smallbeerpress.com
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Scribd
Your Mysteries Earn Free Books
------------------
We just posted all our Creative Commons-licensed books onto Scribd:
http://www.scribd.com/Small%20Beer%20Press
We already have most of our books on Google Books so that you can
read them online -- and now those smart people at Powell's have added
a Google Books link so that our books can be read there, too: more
readers reading, yay!). Of course, we've got to pay the printer, so
please, go here and buy some cheap books: http://lcrw.net/awp2009.pdf
------------------
We still have a few signed copies of Ben Parzybok's novel Couch. The
book is about to come back from the printer again, so get your signed
first editions here: http://lcrw.net/lcrw/shopping3.htm#couch
Read another good first novel the other day, Paul Melko's
Singularity's Ring. It's a big-idea science fiction novel with
(almost) everything changed up from the present: singletons (like all
of us) are looked down on by duos, trios, quads, and the main
characters here, a quintet who make up one personality, Apollo
Papadopulos. There's a supercomputer AI or two, all the action and
future fun a reader could want, and, don't miss it just for this: bears
http://www.powells.com/biblio/9780765317773?&PID=26490
------------------
You have 3 more days to listen to BBC Radio 7's adaptation of "The
Faery Handbag":
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00hlb0h
Also, the Recorded Books edition of Pretty Monsters now has a release
date: May 2009!
------------------
We've read books on Amazon's Kindle but the vertically-integrated
monster that is Amazon isn't making us any happier than it did before
with its new Kindle. Long live the iPhone, Palm Pilot, XO, Sony
Reader, and other non-limited (and cheaper) readers:
http://lcrw.net/wordpress/?p=845
------------------
And Now: Your Mysteries Earn Free Books
However, editorial genius assistant Jedediah Berry’s awesome first
novel, The Manual of Detection, is out Today! Today! Run to your
local bookshop and if they don’t have it firebomb them, er, ask
politely when they will have it in. If they do have it, what are you
reading this for? Go read the book.
Or, maybe you will win a free copy!
We were going through Jed’s desk the other day and found a few lonely
and unread copies so we decided that we should find them good homes.
First, we made him sign them, and now, clearly, it’s time for a contest.
To enter, leave a comment here: http://lcrw.net/wordpress/?p=871 with
a mystery in need of solving. Personal or historical, major or
quotidian, real to everyone or just to you. We’ll choose five of the
most strange and intriguing mysteries and those folks will get a copy
of The Manual of Detection. They may even get their mysteries solved.
(Please don’t wait around for that to happen.)
Submit conundrums and enigmas within a week or so. And in the
meantime, you may want to read up on the Manual over here: http://
www.manualofdetection.com
http://www.powells.com/partner/26490/biblio/1594202117http://www.indiebound.org/aff/beer?product=1594202117
If you're in the Amherst, MA, area, Jed is reading at Amherst Books
next Friday -- and Michael has made beer for it!
http://lcrw.net/wordpress/?p=852
Don't miss Jed in your town:
http://booktour.com/author/jedediah_berry
------------------
--
Small Beer Press
150 Pleasant St., #306
Easthampton, MA 01027
413-203-1636
http://www.smallbeerpress.com
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Gilman at the printer
Tiptrees
Nebulas!
Loci!
LCRW 23 is out.
And now the reason for the title: We've got books on super sale and
you get first crack at them.
**************** **************** **************
Gilman, Cloud & Ashes, at the printer
Our new hardcover is at the printer, Thomson-Shore in Dexter,
Michigan. That is one Michigan company who do great work and we are
very happy to be working with an employee-owed company. We just
received an email saying that Cloud & Ashes will be shipping on April
30, so it should be in stores within a couple of weeks. If you'd like
yours faster, order it here:
http://www.lcrw.net/lcrw/preorder.htm
You can see the amazing new cover by Australian artist Kathleen
Jennings here:
http://www.powells.com/biblio/9781931520553?&PID=26490http://www.indiebound.org/aff/beer?product=9780674033375
And a little note from the artist, here:
http://tanaudel.wordpress.com/2009/04/20/cloud-ashes/
Thanks again to those readers who pre-ordered the book—you can find
their name on the inside of the dustjacket.
"Sublimely lyrical Jacobeanesque dialect . . . readers who enjoy
symbolism and allusion will cherish Gilman's use of diverse folkloric
elements to create an unforgettable realm and ideology."--Publishers
Weekly
**************** **************** **************
Tiptree Award Winners Announced!
The James Tiptree, Jr. Literary Award Council is pleased to announce
that the 2008 Tiptree Award has two winners: Patrick Ness’s young
adult novel, The Knife of Never Letting Go (Walker 2008) and Nisi
Shawl’s short story collection, Filter House (Aqueduct Press, 2008).
For links and the Tiptree Award Honor List (a highly recommended
reading list), go here:
http://lcrw.net/wordpress/?p=1007
**************** **************** **************
We don't touch the stuff, but millions do. Twitter!
http://twitter.com/jedediahberryhttp://twitter.com/hollyblackhttp://twitter.com/Gwendahttp://twitter.com/boonofdoomhttp://twitter.com/sparkwatsonhttp://twitter.com/InterstitialArthttp://www.twitter.com/adeniro
**************** **************** **************
Loki
Locus Magazine announced the finalists for their awards and there are
lots of groocy books on there: http://www.locusmag.com/News/
2009/04/2009-locus-award-finalists.html
Small Beer (et al) titles of interest include:
"Pretty Monsters", Kelly Link (Pretty Monsters)
http://www.powells.com/biblio/0670010901?&PID=26490
"Pride and Prometheus", John Kessel (F&SF 1/08)
http://www.powells.com/biblio/9781931520508?&PID=26490
The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 2008: 21st Annual Collection,
Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link & Gavin Grant, eds. (St. Martin's Griffin)
http://www.powells.com/biblio/9780312380489?&PID=26490
Pretty Monsters, Kelly Link (Viking)
http://www.powells.com/biblio/0670010901?&PID=26490
**************** **************** **************
LCRW 23 sold out! Don't miss out, subscribe to the best zine in the
world* and get 4 issues (over 2 years, which pass surprisingly
quickly when there are good chocolate bars to find.
http://www.lcrw.net/lcrw/subscriptions.htm
—Join in the fun and sponsor an issue! More info on that next month:
$1,000, 4 issues of LCRW with chocolate & you get to title a bonus
issue of LCRW.
http://www.lcrw.net/lcrw/subscriptions.htm
P.S. Yes, this issue is the one where we send out the long-promised
good chocolate bar.
* This statement excludes any zine without Wristlet in the title.
**************** **************** **************
Books we've enjoyed: It's easy to follow* what Gavin, Jed, and
Michael, are reading, but are you following Katharine Hott McAwesome?
Here's a book not to miss: Flora's Dare: How a Girl of Spirit Gambles
All to Expand Her Vocabulary, Confront a Bouncing Boy Terror, and Try
to Save Califa from a Shaky Doom (Despite Being Confined to Her Room)
Ysabeau's previous book, Flora Segunda (http://www.powells.com/biblio/
9780152054397?&PID=26490) was great fun—Kelly wondered if she had
read P. C. Hodgell, must ask—and the second one ups the ante and is
just fabulous. There are parts of this book that push you up out of
your seat and make you pace back and forth with the tension (or, if
you have a horse nearby, would make you take a quick gallop the
nearest bar). Secrets? Check! Intrigue? Check! Magic? Check! Tension?
As mentioned. Can't wait for the third. In the meantime, read Flora's
Dare!
http://www.powells.com/biblio/9780152054274?&PID=26490
* Michael: http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1539259
Jed: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1753875.Jedediah_Berry
Gavin: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/441180.Gavin_J_Grant
Katharine: http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2209516
Buy Gavin a book or make your own wishlist:
http://www.indiebound.org/users/gavingrant/wishlist
**************** **************** **************
We've got books on super sale.
Ok, here's the deal.
PART YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT
Unless we change distributors (which we don't want to, the people are
Consortium are really nice. And smart!) it's time that we start
getting charged storage on our longterm warehouse. Is this a great
time for this? No! Who cares? Not us!
PART YOU CARE ABOUT
Sale on, baby, sale on! Get books you want really cheap.
Carol Emshwiller, Carmen Dog (pb) $1
Carol Emshwiller, The Mount (pb) $1
John Crowley, Endless Things (hc) $1
Alan DeNiro, Skinny Dipping... (pb) $1
Elizabeth Hand, Generation Loss (hc) $1
Angelica Gorodsicher, Kalpa Imperial (pb) $1
Kelly Link, Magic for Beginners (hc) $1
Kelly Link, Trampoline (pb) $1
Laurie J. Marks, Water Logic (pb) $1
Maureen F. McHugh, Mothers & Other...(pb) $1
Naomi Mitchison, Travel Light (pb) $1
Sean Stewart, Mockingbird (pb) $1
Kate Wilhelm, Storyteller (pb) $1
We'll sell some of each copy until we've sold enough then it's back
to normal pricing, so buy up, buy now for Mother's Day, Father' Day,
and St. Andrew's Day (Nov. 30th, but you can't be too ready for big
days like that!).
How? Go here: http://www.lcrw.net/special.htm
US Shipping: $3 first book, $1 each addition.
International (including Canada): $12 first two books, $22 for 3 or
4, $35 will get you a box of about 8.
http://www.lcrw.net/special.htm
**************** **************** **************
Cheers from your busy little pals at —
Small Beer Press
150 Pleasant St., #306
Easthampton, MA 01027
413-203-1636
http://www.smallbeerpress.com
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Really, is there anything that we can't mangle?
Froth about forthcoming
A few short stories to read from SBP peeps
Question
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
Really, is there anything that we can't mangle? Call that a headline?
Something pithy or pissy to catch the imagination? Maybe $1 books
works by itself.
Anyway, the $1 sale ends Wednesday:
http://www.lcrw.net/special.htm
Other titles are also on sale there, what do you know.
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
Friends recently started a fight at the old homestead by dropping off
an odd number of these utterly fantastic chocolates:
http://www.chocolatesprings.com/
They are somewhat local, maybe we will go see them. Hee hee. Good
lord, look at that stuff. Now that's a subscription to sign up for.
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
We recently announced a few new titles -- and there don't even
include 2 more novels and 2 more story collection we are buying Right
Now. We will tell you first. Promise.
* September: Hound by Vincent McCaffrey
A debut novel about a Boston bookhound, books, death, and maybe the
death of books. This is the first in a series and it will come out in
hardcover.
* October: Second Line: Two Short Novels of Love and Cooking in New
Orleans by Poppy Z. Brite
This paperback collects two of Poppy Z. Brite’s chaotic and fun short
novels (The Value of X and D*U*C*K) featuring two New Orleans chefs,
Rickey and G-man, who grow up together, fall in love, open a
restaurant, Liquor, and have some fun along the way. Poppy is writing
a new afterword to go with the novels. Love this series, love that we
get to be a part of publishing it. Huge thanks to Bill Schafer of
Subterranean Press for helping put this together.
* November: Interfictions 2: An Anthology of Interstitial Writing
edited by Delia Sherman and Christopher Barzak. The editors went out
into the fields and found 21 pieces of excellently border-crossing
material. They’re also putting together an online launch party and
auction which will be filled with wonderful art, music, and stories.
The book will be the icing and the cake, though.
* January: Suprise! We are still eating Christmas cake and not
thinking about books. Not all true, though, as Feb. is going to be a
big mouth month:
* February 2010: The Poison Eaters and Other Stories by Holly Black.
Our second Big Mouth House title is a debut collection of young adult
stories from New York Times bestseller (and one of our neighbors),
Holly Black. Holly’s stories have just gone from strength to strength
over the past few years — as evidenced by her appearances in various
Best of the Year anthologies and lists. The Poison Eaters includes a
new Modern Faerie Tale as well as some of our favorite stories of
recent times.
Our distro is clamoring for info on books after that. We say: can't
you be satisfied with the present day? We just published Greer
Gilman's second novel, Cloud & Ashes, and it is a knock out. Can't
you go tell the bookshops and so on about it? Publishers Weekly liked
it ("Sublimely lyrical . . . an unforgettable realm and ideology").
We did, too. It is headbombingly addictive, immersive, knotty,
naughty, and unlike much else around.
http://lcrw.net/gilman/index.htmhttp://lcrw.net/lcrw/shopping3.htm#gilmanhttp://www.powells.com/biblio/9781931520553?&PID=26490
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
A few things to read:
"The Cinderella Game" by Kelly Link in Ellen Datlow and Terri
Windling’s new anthology Troll’s Eye View
http://www.powells.com/biblio/9780670061419?&PID=26490
"The Elect" by Gavin J. Grant online at 3 AM Magazine
http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/the-elect/
"Ourselves, Multiplied" by Jedediah Berry
"Dowsing for Shadows" by Karen Russell
"La Tête" by Georges-Olivier Châteaureynaud (translated from the
French by Edward Gauvin)
all of which can be found in the new issue of Conjunctions (# 52):
Betwixt the Between
http://www.powells.com/biblio/9780941964685?&PID=26490
"Saint Andrews Hotel" by Sara Majka in the new issue of A Public Space
http://www.apublicspace.org/back_issues/issue_8/
"Of Thinking Being and Beast” by Michael J. DeLuca in Beneath
Ceaseless Skies
http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/story.php?s=20
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
--
Small Beer Press
150 Pleasant St., #306
Easthampton, MA 01027
413-203-1636
http://www.smallbeerpress.com
Best Excuse
Hound
Letterpress
Kelly's Uncle, the Gastroenterologist
Electrons-R-Us
Forthcoming
Announcements
A Note for PNBA Booksellers
And, not us, but: Peter Straub's editions
Where and Why We Buy
*************************************
As all zines used to start and now all newsletters and blogs must
begin this way, we too say: It's been a while!
But we have a great reason:
http://smallbeerpress.com/not-a-journal/2009/05/20/small-beer-little-
baby/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lcrw/3743913900/
In the meantime, Gavin & Kelly are moving to Boston for a couple of
years — although the press will stay in Easthampton — and will be
seen somewhat less frequently out in the world. They report that they
will miss the camaraderie and the talk about books and the beer, but,
hey, bundle of joy = joy!
*************************************
We will be at the Brooklyn Book Fair on Sunday, September 13, selling
books at a tiny discount, giving out, er, smiles?, and enjoying what
is usually one of the most enjoyable and relaxed book fairs we go to.
Hope to see you there.
http://www.brooklynbookfestival.org/
*************************************
In a couple of weeks our latest book will be released. HOUND is
Vincent McCaffrey's debut novel and the first of a series featuring
bookhound Henry Sullivan. This book has an interesting shared
history: 15 years or so ago Gavin, not put off by the 2+ hour
interview, started work at the Avenue Victor Hugo Bookshop in Boston.
A year or so later, Kelly turned up and, not put off by her 3 hour
interview!, started work there, too.
Kelly lasted longer than Gavin who, after helping open the second
floor (and discovering all kinds of great buried treasure there and
in the basement -- including a letterpress -- more on that later) had
to take some time off to temp, work at the Bookceller, and go teach
English in Japan.
Somewhere in the middle of that, in late 1996, Gavin decided to put
out a zine. Despite not being a huge punk rock fan, he loved the do
it yourself ethos and decided there should be a tiny magazine that
covered the things he liked: which, over the years, has boiled down
to good, slightly weird fiction, some poetry, and (later) Gwenda Bond
telling the world how it ought to be.
But back then, Vince, having published a small literary magazine,
FICTION, in the early 1970s, and then GALILEO, a science fiction
magazine (with 50,000+ subscribers!) in the late '70s, was cautiously
encouraging and let us sell the zine in the store where we sold a
good number of copies over the years. Vince talked to us about books,
buying, selling, cataloging, publishing, the history of publishing,
and the possible futures. No one expected that one of those futures
would include in 2009 Small Beer Press publishing Vince's debut
novel, HOUND.
More on that later. We'll have an interview with Vince up on the
site soon and if you have any questions for him, send them along. He
also has a great website here:
http://vincentmccaffrey.com/http://www.avenuevictorhugobooks.com/
You can be one of the early readers by picking HOUND up from our
website:
http://smallbeerpress.com/books/2009/09/08/hound/http://www.powells.com/biblio/9781931520591?&PID=26490http://www.indiebound.org/aff/beer?product=9781931520591
or you be among the absolute first to get it by dropping by our table
at the Brooklyn Book Fair on Sunday, September 16, from 10AM - 6 PM.
Another reason to order from the site comes next.
*************************************
Letterpress
As mentioned above, there were actually 2 letterpresses in Avenue
Victor Hugo Bookshop's capacious basement. Once the store closed on
Newbury Street (it's still going online, see above), a lot of stuff
got tossed, recycled, passed on, donated, etc., and Kelly & Gavin
ended up with both the letterpresses and some old type -- some pied
(mixed up!), some well used, and some Comic Sans (eek!).
The small one is now set up in the Small Beer office (thanks to the
hard work of Paul Bozzo building on work done by Michael DeLuca and
Lauren Smith) and we have printed our first piece of ephemera: a
business card for Henry Sullivan.
Apparently Henry is the kind of bookseller to carry a few cards in
his shirt pocket and sometimes the cards are run off by a sort of
decent sort of crappy print shop where they keep using the type long
after it should have been recycled back to the foundry and replaced
with a fresh set so his card is not the crisp and clearcut piece of
art it might be. It is, however, extant outside the novel for a few
lucky readers:
http://smallbeerpress.com/books/2009/09/08/hound/
Start reading the book:
http://smallbeerpress.com/free-stuff-to-read/2009/09/03/hound-
chapter-1-chapter-2/
Two mystery bookshops, Mysterious Bookshop in NYC and Poisoned Pen in
Arizona, have chosen Hound for their First Mystery Bookclubs. Between
that and enthusiasm from the bookshops it is looking almost as if our
first printing will be close to shipped out so if you like the pretty
pretty books and want a first edition now is probably the time to
grab one.
And, if you live in NYC or are close by, how about going to this event:
The Mysterious Bookshop, in cooperation with IBNYC, features debut
author and bookseller Vincent McCaffrey (owner of Avenue Victor Hugo
Bookshop) reading from his new novel, Hound. This will be followed by
a panel discussion with McCaffrey and three local independent
booksellers (Jessica Stockton Bagnulo, co-owner of brand-new
Greenlight Bookstore in Fort Greene, Brooklyn; Christine Onorati,
owner of WORD, in Greenpoint, Brooklyn; and Henry Zook, co-owner of
Bookcourt, in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn) on the past, present and future
of bookselling. Please join us for an enlightening and exciting
event. Go to http://www.ibnyc.org for more info.
More readings? On our site or here: http://booktour.com/author/
vincent_mccaffrey
And, there are 3 copies being offered for free here:
http://www.librarything.com/er/list?program=giveaway
*************************************
Meanwhile our spring title, Greer Gilman's Cloud & Ashes is still
blowing minds. Reviewers are telling us that they need more time and
we can only agree because once you've read it the best and most
enjoyable thing to do is to start right back at the beginning and let
the book sing itself to you again:
http://smallbeerpress.com/books/2009/06/01/cloud-ashes-three-winters-
tales/
http://www.powells.com/biblio/9781931520553?&PID=26490
*************************************
Kelly's Uncle's Curative
We just posted an interview with Kelly's Uncle Wes whose first book
just came out from Penguin. Exciting, yes? Even more exciting for
those who are, er, uncomfortable. Let's leave it to the title to get
across what we're trying to say here: Cure Constipation Now, A
Doctor's Fiber Therapy to Cleanse and Heal by Dr. Wesley Jones which
"provides a simple three-step fiber therapy program has brought
lasting relief to thousands of patients."
Read the interview:
http://smallbeerpress.com/not-a-journal/2009/08/30/uncle-wess-new-book/
and pick up a copy of the book for you and one for cousin Charlie:
http://www.indiebound.org/aff/beer?product=9780425227558http://www.powells.com/biblio/9780425227558?&PID=26490
*************************************
Electrons-R-Us
LCRW 24 should at last soon be appearing on Fictionwise. As should
HOUND. We have 26 titles there for your funnitude:
http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/p642/Small-Beer-Press/?
*************************************
Our Writers Calendar has been delayed but is still coming!
*************************************
What happened to the Rainmakers? Yes, Google will tell us but really
it is more enjoyable to wonder and to sometimes sing Let My People Go
Go.
*************************************
In October, we publish a great book by Poppy Z. Brite, Second Line:
Two Short Novels of Love & Cooking in New Orleans. Long time fans of
Poppy's cheerfully chaotic cooking series (including Liquor, Prime,
and Soul Kitchen) may have read this book already as the two novels,
The Value of X and D*U*C*K, were published in lovely hardcover
editions by Subterranean Press. Second Line is full of the pure joy
of love, hard work, and great food—and are a tremendous extension (or
introduction) to Brite’s series.
http://www.indiebound.org/aff/beer?product=9781931520607http://www.powells.com/biblio/9781931520607?&PID=26490http://smallbeerpress.com/shopping/preorder/
*************************************
Then in November comes the second anthology from the Interstitial
Arts Foundation: Interfictions 2, edited by Delia Sherman and
Christopher Barzak. There will be tons of readings, parties, events,
extra stories, jewelry, and other genre-cracking activities occurring
when this comes out. But, importantly, this is a book of 21
fascinating stories and, as with the first anthology, there are
writers from half a dozen countries, three translations, and about
100 great ideas. Also, this book is a couple of dollars cheaper -- or
you can buy them in a package deal for (let's see, $18 + $16 = $34,
so how about) $25?
http://www.indiebound.org/aff/beer?product=9781931520614http://www.powells.com/biblio/9781931520614?&PID=26490http://smallbeerpress.com/shopping/preorder/
*************************************
We have some excellent titles lined up for 2010. The first being
February's New York Times best seller Holly Black's debut collection,
The Poison Eaters and Other Stories (which, being a YA collection,
will come out from Big Mouth House).
We love this book, it's dark and scary and perfect for late winter.
Indiebound has the real cover (add it to your Wishlist!):
http://www.indiebound.org/aff/beer?product=9781931520638http://www.powells.com/biblio/9781931520638?&PID=26490http://smallbeerpress.com/shopping/preorder/
Later titles include a first translation of a fantastic French
author, two debut novels (Couch just keeps going, so we are very
encouraged!) which are very different from one another, Alasdair
Gray's Old Men in Love, and, yes, more.
*************************************
Some small part of Small Beer is on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Small-Beer-Press/16849399780
*************************************
A Note for PNBA Booksellers
Hey, thanks for supporting COUCH! Benjamin Parzybok will be back
visiting with Bob Harrison at the Consortium booth at the PNBA trade
show this weekend to say hi and sign books. Stop by and say hi.
Also, we have a free downloadable PDF ripe for use with book groups
and clubs or for newsletters: A Reader’s Guide and Companion to Couch
http://www.lcrw.net/parzybok/Couch_Reading_Guide.pdf
Which can also be read here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/18265080/A-Readers-Guide-and-Companion-to-
Couch-a-novel-by-Benjamin-Parzybok
*************************************
Other Stuff To Read
ChiZine Publications just published LCRW 19 contributor Daniel
Rabuzzi's first novel, The Choir-Boats (Longing for Yount, vol. I of
II). A little more can be found here:
http://www.fartheryount.comhttp://www.indiebound.org/aff/beer?product=9780980941074http://www.powells.com/biblio/9780980941074?&PID=26490
In November Ballantine Spectra will publish Alan DeNiro's first
novel, Total Oblivion, More or Less. If you liked Skinny Dipping in
the Lake of the Dead you will love this book. If you haven't read the
former, read the latter!
http://www.indiebound.org/aff/beer?product=9780553592542http://www.powells.com/biblio/9780553592542?&PID=26490
And Random House just published Libba Bray's new novel, the nominally-
YA Going Bovine. But, really, are there any smart readers out there
put off by the YA tag? No? Well that's a relief. This is one crazy,
mad-cow disease inspired novel that is funny and harsh in equal
measures. Read! When asked how she got into the headspace of her
teenage boy protagonist Libba said, "It has been commented upon by my
tribe of female friends that I really am a teen boy at heart. So I
mooned them and asked if they would watch me try to cram an entire
bag of marshmallows in my mouth without barfing. They declined." The
book is weirder and funnier than most other things you will read this
year:
http://www.indiebound.org/aff/beer?product=9780385733977http://www.powells.com/biblio/9780385733977?&PID=26490
*************************************
hello autumn
*************************************
Update on Kelly's stories: none coming for a while! In the meantime
there are these:
Kelly's latest story, "Secret Identity," is in an anthology with
Libba Bray, Geektastic, edited by Holly Black and Cecil Castellucci.
http://www.indiebound.org/aff/beer?product=9780316008099http://www.powells.com/biblio/9780316008099?&PID=26490
Previous to that, "The Cinderella Game" was published in Ellen Datlow
and Terri Windling’s Troll’s Eye View: A Book of Villainous Tales.
http://www.indiebound.org/aff/beer?product=9780670061419http://www.powells.com/biblio/9780670061419?&PID=26490
The Library of America just published Peter Straub's 2-volume
anthology, American Fantastic Tales: Terror and the Uncanny from the
1940's Until Now which includes one of Kelly Link's stories, "Stone
Animals".
http://www.indiebound.org/aff/beer?product=9781598530483http://www.powells.com/biblio/9781598530483?&PID=26490
Buy both volumes of American Fantastic Tales in a boxed set and save
$15!
http://www.loa.org/volume.jsp?RequestID=310
Kelly's collection Pretty Monsters received a Locus Award and has
been nominated for the World Fantasy Award and the Recorded Books
audio edition just received a starred review!
http://www.indiebound.org/aff/beer?product=9780670010905http://www.powells.com/biblio/9780670010905?&PID=26490
It just came out in Australia (in 2 parts, 1st is The Wrong Grave)
and is coming out from Canongate (fabulous press!) next month.
More here:
http://smallbeerpress.com/not-a-journal/2009/08/13/geektastic-rift-in-
wrong-grave-shows-trolls-eye-view/
Also, Peter Straub's new novel is about to come out, too. How can we
tell? Dan Chaon is reading it on Goodreads! The book doesn't come out
until February, though. Darn it. Subterranean are doing some kind of
interesting edition, so we'll link to that, too.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5979072http://www.indiebound.org/aff/beer?product=9780385516389http://www.powells.com/biblio/9780385516389?PID=26490
This is what Peter Straub says about the Sub Press edition:
"Subterranean Press will be publishing is an earlier state of the
novel now called A Dark Matter, not merely the limited version of the
trade edition. I wish to have it preserved and published in this form
as well as the final, many-times-re-edited form to indicate what I
hoped its shape would be like. This is a much looser, sloppier, more
wild-eyed version of the book, with blind alleys, red herrings, and
false trails.”
Which makes is pretty much a must-have for Straubians!
http://www.subterraneanpress.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?
Screen=PROD&Product_Code=straub02&Category_Code=B&Product_Count=123
*************************************
Thanks for reading -- and buying our books. Even if you read them
from the library, we appreciate you encouraging your library to keep
ordering our books. Please consider buying our books through
Indiebound or Powell's (through the links above or not, either way)
as that way between us, we help employ booksellers to actually
handsell books.
For comparison: for books sold on Amazon (no matter what price they
charge you), we receive about 1/3 of the retail price, which doesn't
go very far. Amazon run a good website but it is based on unfair
practices: any retail business that fights sales tax is pretty much
saying that they don't want to support any community. Which means we
don't want to support them. Every dollar spent is a political act.
*************************************
Rhubarb, apple, or peach & blueberry?
*************************************
And, we have a newish site with bugs and all! http://smallbeerpress.com
Please visit and if you find mistakes, dead links, etc., please do
email us and tell us. And drop Michael J. DeLuca, designer,
facilitator, maker, a line if you like it:
http://mjd.joskinandlob.com/wordpress/http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/story.php?s=49
Some of the old stuff is missing and may or may not reappear. At the
moment the old site is still there, making the web palimpsesty for
us. So you can go see a little about LCRW 24 here
http://www.lcrw.net/lcrw
or here:
http://smallbeerpress.com/lcrw/2009/08/03/lady-churchills-rosebud-
wristlet-no-24/
*************************************
Traditional zine ending: hope it won't be so long until next time.
But, er, no promises, ok? Until then, this: http://smallbeerpress.com/
not-a-journal/
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
But now it's December 2009 (unless it is still late August? No?
Darn.) and we are having ...
A fundraiser/sale!
New Books
—IAF auction ends today
An Award
Random Reading
(((((((((((((-----------))))))))))))))
A fundraiser/sale!
This post on our site is kind of like one of those year-end letters
with a note and a few pictures about what we've been up to this year
(Hello Ursula Annabel Link Grant!) and then a couple of fundraiser
things: Kelly and Gavin on Boston radio on Friday where you can call
in, donate, and get your song played on the radio:
"Operators will be standing by LIVE at 866-931-MIKE on Friday,
December 11th from 7AM to 7PM to take your calls!"
And: all our books are on sale—and $1 from every book (or ebook,
zine, subscription, etc.) goes to Franciscan.
And, if you order items at full price, we will donate the difference
between the full price and the sale price to Franciscan Children's
Hospital! (Huge thank you to everyone who has done this!)
All our forthcoming titles are even on sale. Madness, thy name is
fundraising!
Come by! Or, Come buy? Please do spread the word! We are hugely
grateful for all the help and support we received this year and this
is the best way we can think of to say thank you.
http://smallbeerpress.com/not-a-journal/2009/12/07/kelly-gavin-on-
mike-fm-a-sale—all-for-franciscan/
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New Books:
1) Poppy Z. Brite, Second Line: Two Short Novels of Love and
Cooking in New Orleans
A new trade paperback of a sexy pair of novels that may make you hop
on a plane and head down south to try and find these two guys's
restaurant! We're so happy to get to publish this book -- maybe, if
we're lucky, Poppy will continue the story.
"Seeing love and passion bloom in the hearts of what seem like the
most unlikely of subjects is, to me, quite a remarkable feat. Simply
put, Second Line was an excellent read that deepened my understanding
of Rickey & G-Man’s relationship and left me hungry for more from
this dynamic couple. I dare you to give Second Line a try and see if
you don’t become a Brite fan like me!"
—New Orleans.com (http://www.neworleans.com/blogs/second-line-another-
delicious-book-by-poppy-z-brite.html)
Read the first two chapters here:
http://smallbeerpress.com/free-stuff-to-read/2009/11/19/second-line-
the-value-of-x-chapter-1/
http://www.bscreview.com/2009/11/second-line-by-poppy-z-brite-excerpt-
from-duck/
http://smallbeerpress.com/books/2009/10/27/second-line/
New Books:
2) Delia Sherman & Christopher Barzak, Editors, Interfictions 2:
Selected by Amazon.com as one of the Best Books of 2009. An
anthology? Maybe a firework sent up in collective artistic
consciousness? Who knows! It's a new book of short stories with
contributors from all over the place and some of the stories are
about houses and some are about things that break across traditional
borders and if you like LCRW there is a fair chance you will enjoy it.
Inspiring? Yes it is! Here's a whole art auction inspired by it!
http://iafauctions.com/http://smallbeerpress.com/books/2009/11/03/interfictions-2/
New Books:
3) A Working Writer’s Daily Planner 2010: Your Year in Writing
Now only $9.95 -- multiple copy (5 for $40!) discounts available
(still counts as a donation, as above!). Everything (maybe) a writer
needs in one easy package. It's also a $5 ebook! Watch a video of it
in action and check it out here:
http://smallbeerpress.com/books/2009/11/24/a-working-writers-daily-
planner-2010/
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Older New Books:
1) Vincent McCaffrey, Hound
Anyone remember Avenue Victor Hugo Bookshop -- if you do, you might
recognize one of the places in this novel, Alcott & Poe Books on
Newbury Street in Boston. This book is the first of three about a man
alone who is forced out of his comfortable life by the murder of an ex.
“For the true bibliophile, this is a book you’ll love. McCaffrey
peppers his prose with all kinds of allusions and references to books
and literature, new and old, classic and arcane, as well as multiple
passages of verse. Clearly, as a career bookseller, McCaffrey knows
his books.
—The Hippo, NH
Read from the start:
http://smallbeerpress.com/free-stuff-to-read/2009/09/03/hound-
chapter-1-chapter-2/
Meet the author:
January 14, Odyssey Bookshop, South Hadley, Mass.
http://smallbeerpress.com/free-stuff-to-read/2009/09/03/books/
2009/09/08/hound/
2) Greer Gilman, Cloud & Ashes
A book which will emanate out into the years and meet itself coming
back. It's a little tough, but so worth it. Not just for
languagarians, intense and rich enough for anyone.
This book is one of the reasons Small Beer Press exists as a press:
to make sure books like this have a home.
“A book whose hold on your mind, on your memory, is assured. It is a
story about story, and stories are what we are all made of. Abandon
hope all ye who enter here.”
—Paul Kincaid, SF Site
http://smallbeerpress.com/books/2009/06/01/cloud-ashes-three-winters-
tales/
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Books so new they don't exist yet. Well, the manuscripts do. We've
been putting the finishing touches to Holly Black's debut collection
and it is a corker. The first story, "The Coldest Girl in Coldtown,"
is a vampire story that is definitely unpretty. The second story, "A
Reversal of Fortune," is about a girl's competitive eating match with
the devil. The range of stories is wide, the quality high high high.
Can't wait to get this out there. Some lucky readers have scored
galleys but the final book has two new stories in it. Superb!
And, Theo Black just handed in the final pen and ink spot
illustrations, one for each story. Yay and yay and yay!
http://smallbeerpress.com/forthcoming/2009/08/03/the-poison-eaters-
other-stories/
Want to see what other excitements we have? A translation, a novel by
Alasdair Gray, one of the most anticipated novels of 2009 (via io9!),
and more:
http://smallbeerpress.com/shopping/preorder/
And that only goes up to August: Sept, Oct, Nov: they all have books!
This is the year we either go bust, go nuts, or go on and put out
even more good books next year. (That last option was a bit of a
letdown, wasn't it?)
(((((((((((((-----------))))))))))))))
And here we are in virtua or something:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Small-Beer-Press/16849399780
(((((((((((((-----------))))))))))))))
The Onion chose Kelly's second collection Magic for Beginners as one
of the best collections of the decade -- and Lev Grossman in The Week
chose it as one of the best fantasy books of all time. Fighting
words! But for the most part what happened was a great discussion in
the comments about other great short story collections not to miss or
other great fantasy books:
http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-10-best-shortstory-collections-of-
the-00s,35747/
http://www.theweek.com/article/index/102447/
Best_books__chosen_by_Lev_Grossman
Of course you can go download (most of) MFB for free courtesy of the
fine folks at Harper UK and Harcourt in the USA:
http://kellylink.net/
And, Pretty Monsters is out in the UK — and getting some lovely reviews:
http://www.fantasybookreview.co.uk/Kelly-Link/Pretty-Monsters.htmlhttp://www.theshortreview.com/reviews/KellyLinkPrettyMonsters.htm
Read an interview with Kelly:
http://www.theshortreview.com/authors/KellyLink.htm
and win a copy of Pretty Monsters:
http://www.theshortreview.com/competitions.htm
and in Australia it's two books (with such great covers): The Wrong
Grave and (coming next year) Pretty Monsters
http://www.galaxybooks.com.au/items.asp?id=245311
And "The Wrong Grave" made David Larsen's (in NZ's The Listener) Best
of 2009 list:
http://www.listener.co.nz/issue/3630/artsbooks/14520/
the_50_best_childrens_books_of_2009.html
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Crazy wonderful: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6f5bcn_z0Qg
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Gavin & Kelly were honored to receive a World Fantasy Award for Small
Beer Press and Big Mouth House. Yay! (See that sale link above for a
picture of Ursula with the awards.) Congratulations to all the
nominees and winners.
Since the award was for 2008 it must have been for these Small Beer
Press books:
John Kessel, The Baum Plan for Financial Independence and Other Stories
Benjamin Rosenbaum, The Ant King and Other Stories
Geoff Ryman, The King’s Last Song
Benjamin Parzybok, Couch
as well as our debut Big Mouth House book:
Joan Aiken, The Serial Garden: The Complete Armitage Family Stories
You can see the good Dr. John Kessel on TV through the magics of the
intertubes here:
http://www.unctv.org/ncbookwatch/author_az/2009/John_Kessel.html
Watch out for big Geoff Ryman news coming soon. Big!
The Serial Garden was just singled out by Ed Park in the LA Times as
one of his favorite books of the year:
"The wit is irrepressible, the invention wild: A baby is transformed
into an elephant, which Harriet and Mark Armitage then need to stuff
into a decommissioned phone booth. (Don't ask -- just read.)
Secondary characters do their inimitable turns, then disappear, or
get transformed into animals. (Even animals can't escape morphing
into other animals: A neighboring sorceress turns Walrus, the
Armitage cat, into a wolf.) Such delicious lightness, paradoxically,
is the fiction's raison d'être.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/arts/la-ca-astral-
weeks6-2009dec06,0,5724808.story
You can order a package of all these books for $69 or $84:
http://smallbeerpress.com/shopping/#thisyear
or get them as part of the sale for $59:
http://smallbeerpress.com/shopping/remainders/
(((((((((((((-----------))))))))))))))
We have not opened a new imprint, Small Beer Press ... Horizons (not
renamed Small Beer Press ... Dell Arte!)
http://smallbeerpress.com/not-a-journal/2009/11/22/small-beer-press-
horizons/
(((((((((((((-----------))))))))))))))
Many of our books (now including Sean Stewart's Mockingbird and
Perfect Circle) are available as Instant Downloads for ~$10 from our
site:
http://smallbeerpress.com/shopping/#ebooks
(((((((((((((-----------))))))))))))))
Random Reading
David Schwartz (and anyone who wants to read a dark, fantastic,
modern-day berserker story) this is for you: "The Shield of the
Norns" in the Fall issue of The Georgia Review -- you can download
the first page here:
http://www.uga.edu/garev/fall09/fall09.html
Strange Horizons has been on a tear recently with stories from
Veronica Schanoes ("'Stain is for brain,' Carl says. 'That's all
there is to it. Don't get any ideas.'"), Leonard Richardson (ok, that
was back in July but it was awesome), Alan DeNiro, and a couple of
our faves,
A Safe Place to Be
By Carol Emshwiller
"I'd heard cats can do that, but I never actually heard the sound
before."
http://www.strangehorizons.com/2009/20090928/safe-f.shtml
"Nomadology"
By Chris Nakashima-Brown
"We talked about moving in together after her work was done. Carol
had found an abandoned analog television broadcast facility that we
occupied as our secret nest, decorated with furnishings purchased at
the weekly foreclosure auctions. On the nights when the power was on,
we broadcast transmissions over translator channel 72, wondering
whether rabbit ears were still attached out there, ready to receive
our signal. Swimming in the effervescent electric bath of cathode ray
blue, we rapped subversive genomic limericks for an audience no
Nielsen rating could ever capture."
http://www.strangehorizons.com/2009/20091102/nomadology-f.shtmlhttp://www.strangehorizons.com
Back in October, National Scary Month, The Washington Post asked a
bunch of writers one great question, "What story scares the hell out
of you?" There are lots of links to classic stories online by M. R.
James, W. W. Jacobs, Saki, and even one by Kelly (yay!)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/27/
AR2009102703745.html?referrer=emailarticle
Post-apocalyticism is in the air -- not at all counting the disaster-
porn piece of crap 2012 -- and there were good sort-of science
fiction stories of that ilk in recent issues of Agni (Valerie Vogrin,
"things we’ll need for the coming difficulties") and American Short
Fiction (Josh Weil, "The First Bad Thing").
Kelly recommends Lucy Sussex's story "Something Better than Death" in
Aurealis (http://www.aurealis.com.au)
And Gavin just read Kim Stanley Robinson's Galileo's Dream which is
an excellent dense cross-genre (historical and science fiction);
http://www.powells.com/biblio/0553806595?&PID=26490
Big sale at Sense Five: http://www.sensesfive.com/store/
Golden Gryphon are having a well-timed 2-for-1 holiday sale: http://
www.goldengryphon.com/
PS Publishing are having a 3 for 2! http://store.pspublishing.co.uk/
Paul Dry books: Order $100 of books get free shipping + 30% off!
(((((((((((((-----------))))))))))))))
Happy Christmas or the holiday of your choice -- we are partial to
New Year: hats thrown in the air, kisses, dances, friends, family,
drinks, what's not to like? -- and we hope you have a wonderful
winter, or summer down south ...!
Thanks as ever for reading.
Small Beer Press
150 Pleasant St., #306
Easthampton, MA 01027
413-203-1636
http://www.smallbeerpress.comhttp://www.facebook.com/pages/Small-Beer-Press/16849399780
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
A New Book
LCRW
Good News
A Catalog
Steampunk!
An Event
~~ A New Book?
We have a new book, we're doing an event, we're raising some money
for Franciscan Children's Hospital, we've got a very complicated book
at the printer, and we're announcing the soft launch of a new ebook
store! And, next week: maybe a new issue of LCRW. And, and, and....
Cough. ~~ A New Book!
Ok, ok, so we have a new book -- and it's a corker. A humdinger. A
poke in the eye with a sharpie. It's The Poison Eaters and Other
Stories by Holly Black—who wrote the Spiderwick Chronicles (with Tony
DiTerlizzi, did you see the movie? Fun!) and the novels that the NY
Times says maybe probably started this whole dark urban YA fantasy
thing with Tithe and Valiant and Ironside. The Poison Eaters is just
great. There are a whole range of stories and you can basically pick
your poison: vampires, werewolves, devils, and more more more.
http://smallbeerpress.com/books/2010/02/19/the-poison-eaters-other-
stories/
http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=26490&cgi=product&isbn=9781931520638
You can read a couple of the stories here: "Going Ironside" is a
short Modern Faerie Tale and "The Coldest Girl in Coldtown" is my rec
for horror awards this year. Brr!
http://www.bscreview.com/2010/01/the-coldest-girl-in-coldtown-by-
holly-black-short-story/
http://www.endicott-studio.com/rdrm/rrIronside.html
and if you want a signed copy order here by Thursday and ask for it
to be signed and/or personalized!
http://www.brooklinebooksmith-shop.com/book/9781931520638
~~ LCRW?
Surely not? Well, maybe. You know how it is with zines. They're
nothing if the first page isn't an apology for being late. And, you
know, we haven't gotten that apology written yet, which is really
holding things up.
What's in that issue (number 25) of LCRW? Fiction and poetry and
Advice from: Veronica Schanoes, Richard Parks, Dear Aunt Gwenda,
Jeanine Hall Gailey, and more as well as not one but two
translations. We may have more news on the translation front later
this spring, keep an eye out. (Ouch.) The translations are from
Edward Gauvin of French author Georges-Olivier Châteaureynaud's "A
City of Museums" (which will be included in A Life on Paper, the
first book by G.-O. C. in English which we will publish in May—
galleys are going out now!) and a self-translation by award-winning
Chinese author Haihong Zhao (which was brought to our attention by
Michael Swanwick, yay!).
S u b s c r i b e ! http://smallbeerpress.com/shopping/subscriptions/
~~ A Catalog?
We still have to sort out contracts on one week (ball is in their
court, phew) so here's a catalog of what we're up to until January
2011. We do have some other irons in the fire. More, TK, always, yes.
How about Alasdair Gray (wooee!), Georges-Olivier Châteaureynaud,
Karen Lord, Julia Holmes, another Planner, Kathe Koja, Ted Chiang,
and Karen Joy Fowler. And there is more. Pop Pop Pop. The sound of
our heads exploding.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/27176396/Small-Beer-Press-2010-Catalog
Maybe we will make a paper version for BookExpo and Wiscon and so on.
Maybe.
~~ Good News!
But we have to keep it secret for a week or two. Hee hee.
~~ Steampunk!
We have about half the stories in for our Steampunk! awesome
anthology which Candlewick are publishing. And they are fabby! So
great to open emails that have stories like these among them. This
book is a ways out yet, but is fun fun fun.
~~ Event?
This morning the Boston Globe includes our awesome event this
Thursday at 6 at the Brookline Booksmith in their Three to See mini
feature.
http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2010/03/09/
three_authors_answer_the_call_in_a_fund_raiser_for_the_franciscan_hospit
al_for_children/
What’s not mentioned: there will be free stuff! Franciscan will
provide the candy, there will be a tiny leetle bit of chocolate, and
we will have Working Writer’s Daily Planners for all and sundry!
(Well, say the first 100 people, if UPS delivers them on time.)
Also, if you’d like any books signed by Holly Black (The Poison
Eaters, Tithe, Spiderwick), Kelly Link (Pretty Monsters, Magic for
Beginners), and Cassandra Clare (City of Glass, City of Bones), use
these links to pre-order them directly from the fab peeps at the
Booksmith.
And, if you have questions for these writers (especially for the
“lightning round”!) please email them to:hollycassandrakelly@....
Hope to see you there—or at least to read one of your questions!
~~ Thanks!
One of these days we might have to get real jobs (er, baby needs ...
everything!) but until then, thanks again for reading.
http://smallbeerpress.com/http://www.facebook.com/smallbeerpresshttp://www.scribd.com/doc/27176396/Small-Beer-Press-2010-Catalog
The Brookline Booksmith Event Series & Small Beer Press present
A Benefit for Franciscan Hospital for Children
Featuring a discussion with YA superstar authors
Holly Black
(The Spiderwick Chronicles, The Poison Eaters)
Cassandra Clare
(The Mortal Instruments trilogy)
and emcee Kelly Link
(Magic for Beginners, Pretty Monsters)
Thursday, March 11 at 6pm
Venue change!
Now in the Readers' and Writers' Room at the Brookline Booksmith
(279 Harvard St., Brookline)
Tickets $5
All ticket proceeds and 20% of book sales at the event will be
donated to Franciscan Hospital for Children.
A discussion with the co-creator of The Spiderwick Chronicles,
the person behind The Mortal Instruments and the author of Pretty
Monsters? Don't mind if we do! The Booksmith and Small Beer Press
present a YA extravaganza to benefit Franciscan Hospital for Children.
Attendees can email their questions for the authors in advance
to hollycassandrakelly@.... The three authors will also take
questions from the audience. Additionally, there will be giveaways
and all three authors will sign books.
Tickets are $5 and can be purchased at the front register of
the Brookline Booksmith or by calling the store at 617-566-6660.
Since 1949, Franciscan Hospital for Children has pioneered
clinical, therapeutic and educational programs for children with a
variety of disabilities. Through the years, as one of the nation's
largest pediatric rehabilitation hospitals, they have expanded their
complement of programs and services for children with special health
care needs, as well as for children from the local community. Their
continuum of care includes inpatient, residential, educational,
surgical, outpatient and home care programs, a combination of
services for children that is hard to find anywhere else.
Franciscan Hospital for Children promotes the integrity and
well being of children and their caregivers through their quality of
care. This allows each child the opportunity to achieve the maximum
potential in an atmosphere of respect, compassion and dignity.
Through their family-centered programs, their physicians,
nurses, clinicians and educators are committed to helping children
reach their full potential.
brookline booksmith
279 Harvard St.
Coolidge Corner, Brookline
--an easy block from the Coolidge Corner T-stop on the C line
617.566.6660
thestore@...
Dana Brigham, Co-owner and Store Manager
Open 7 days a week:
Monday - Thursday: 8.30 am - 10 pm
Friday: 8:30 am - 11 pm
Saturday: 9 am - 11 pm
Sunday: 9 am - 9 pm
Open 24/7 at www.brooklinebooksmith.com
Visit us on Facebook and Twitter
or if you're heading west...
wellesley booksmith
www.wellesleybooksmith.com
82 Central Street
Wellesley, MA 02482
781.431.1160
thestore@...
Deb Sundin, Store Manager
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
We're doing a bunch of things:
— new books (trust us, awesomeness on paper)
— new ebook website. Wait for it? No! Weightlessbooks.com
— new issue of the zine (#25). Yowee!
— an interview with Chinese science fiction author Zhao Haihong
— blatherings on the Facebooks
— celebrating Tiptree award-winner Greer Gilman! and what an honor list
— taking part in a groovy auction for Laurie J. Marks's wife
— Jed's for sale!
— Gavin & Kelly can be, er, pitched? Is this going to hurt? Pitch Session: 9PM
EST, May 17, 2010
— getting ready for BEA and WisCon
— We're going for a walk in Boston on June 13. Want to join us?
— and here's Michael on making beer:
"Know that when I sat down to brew this beer, it was with the purest of
aesthetical intentions in the Small Beer spirit: I strove for a beer that would
as closely as possible resemble a bar of 70% raw cacao dark chocolate in liquid
form."
And, courtesy of the fab folks at Two Dollar Radio (see their links and get
their books down below) here's the party. Come on by!
Cheers!
May 4, 2010
MAY 25: WRRRROCK ON:
A Music Concert & Social to Benefit Literacy
Featuring Japanther and Care Bears on Fire in Support of Girls Write Now
21 Days Until Wrrrrock On!!!!
Two Dollar Radio is throwing a party with our publisher-friends at Chin Music,
Coffee House,Exterminating Angel, Featherproof Books, Seven Stories, Small Beer,
Tin House, Tyrant Books, and Unbridled Books.
Wrrrrock On is an evening to benefit Girls Write Now happening Tuesday, May 25th
at Galapagos Art Space, located at 16 Main Street in DUMBO, Brooklyn, from
7-9PM. Admission is a suggested donation of $2-22 at the door, with 100% of
those proceeds going directly to Girls Write Now. Japanther and Care Bears on
Fire will perform, and Joshua Mohr will emcee the event.
Girls Write Now (GWN), the first and only East Coast nonprofit to combine
mentoring and writing instruction within the context of all-girl programming,
has, since 1998, helped nearly 3,000 underserved or at-risk girls from NYC’s
public high schools develop into the next generation of writers and readers. In
recent years, GWN has been profiled in The New York Times and featured on NBC
Nightly News with Brian Williams. In November, the organization received a 2009
Coming Up Taller Award from First Lady Michelle Obama and the President’s
Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, distinguishing Girls Write Now as one
of the top 15 after-school arts and humanities programs in the nation.
Join us on Twitter and Facebook:
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, respond with "unsubscribe" in the subject
line.
--
Two Dollar Radio
Books too loud to ignore.
twodollarradio.com
--
Spring 2010: Holly Black · Alisdair Gray · More
http://smallbeerpress.comhttp://www.facebook.com/smallbeerpresshttp://www.scribd.com/doc/27176396/Small-Beer-Press-2010-Cataloghttp://weightlessbooks.com
Small Beer Press
150 Pleasant St., #306,
Easthampton, MA 01027
413-203-1636
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Ok, so it looks like this went out to most people without all the groovy links.
So here is is again. And it was meant to be resent the day it went out. Which
must be today. Because surely something like this wouldn't sit around undone?
Hmm.
We're co-sponsoring a NYC party fundraiser & more! For more:
http://www.twodollarradio.com/wrrrrockon.htm
We're doing a bunch of things:
— celebrating Tiptree award-winner Greer Gilman! and what an honor list
http://www.tiptree.orghttp://smallbeerpress.com/books/2009/06/01/cloud-ashes-three-winters-tales/
— new books (trust us, awesomeness on paper).
http://smallbeerpress.com/forthcoming
— new ebook website. Wait for it? No! Weightlessbooks.com Blind Eye Books are
the bestsellers so far, with Holly Black and Poppy Brite (and Joan Aiken!) doing
well for Small Beer. We'll be adding Naomi Mitchison's lovely novel Travel Light
this week—and a whole new press!
http://weightlessbooks.com
— new issue of the zine (#25). Yowee! At last! The chocolate bars are going out
this week—we had to wait for them to arrive. And we are trying not to eat them
all before we send them out. But: yum!
http://smallbeerpress.com/lcrw/2010/04/23/lady-churchills-rosebud-wristlet-no-25\
/
— an interview with Chinese science fiction author Zhao Haihong
http://smallbeerpress.com/not-a-journal/2010/05/03/zhao-haihong-interview/
— blatherings on the Facebooks
http://www.facebook.com/smallbeerpress
— taking part in a groovy auction for Laurie J. Marks's wife
http://community.livejournal.com/debsliverlovers
— Jed's for sale! Oops. This sold in between the last newsletter and this: and
raised $200+ for Hunger Mountain, very cool!
http://cgi.ebay.com/30-page-fiction-critique-author-Jedediah-Berry-/260591063685\
?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cac701285
— Gavin & Kelly can be, er, pitched? Is this going to hurt? Pitch Session: 9PM
EST, May 17, 2010
http://coyotecon.com/pitch-sessions/
— getting ready for BEA and WisCon.
At the former we have some galleys (Kathe Koja, Karen Lord, more!) and we'll
have some books for sale and so on at WisCon. Gavin will be at both, no Kelly or
Ursula this year. Jed will be at BEA but then he is off up to Toronto to Bloody
Words(!)—something about a Hammet nomination: congrats to him and we'll be
hoping he wins!
And, don't forget the Two Dollar Radio pre-BEA Brooklyn parrrrrrrrrrty! (see
below)
— We're going for a walk in Boston on June 13. Want to join us? It's a 5K (say 3
miles, oooh) fundraiser for Franciscan Children's Hospital and Gavin & Kelly are
(weather-willing) intending to take their daughter Ursula along. We'd love to
have your company and/or support!
http://heartbreakhill5k.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=342919&l\
is=1&kntae342919=5D4E227CFE57495B9A728E86ADB785FF&supId=291766748
— and here's Michael on making beer: "Know that when I sat down to brew this
beer, it was with the purest of aesthetical intentions in the Small Beer spirit:
I strove for a beer that would as closely as possible resemble a bar of 70% raw
cacao dark chocolate in liquid form."
http://smallbeerpress.com/not-a-journal/2010/05/03/cacao-piquin-stout-or-beer-of\
-the-gods/
And, courtesy of the fab folks at Two Dollar Radio (see their links and get
their books down below) here's the party. Come on by!
http://www.twodollarradio.com/wrrrrockon.htm
Cheers!
May 4, 2010
MAY 25: WRRRROCK ON:
A Music Concert & Social to Benefit Literacy
Featuring Japanther and Care Bears on Fire in Support of Girls Write Now
21 Days Until Wrrrrock On!!!!
Two Dollar Radio is throwing a party with our publisher-friends at Chin Music,
Coffee House,Exterminating Angel, Featherproof Books, Seven Stories, Small Beer,
Tin House, Tyrant Books, and Unbridled Books.
Wrrrrock On is an evening to benefit Girls Write Now happening Tuesday, May 25th
at Galapagos Art Space, located at 16 Main Street in DUMBO, Brooklyn, from
7-9PM. Admission is a suggested donation of $2-22 at the door, with 100% of
those proceeds going directly to Girls Write Now. Japanther and Care Bears on
Fire will perform, and Joshua Mohr will emcee the event.
Girls Write Now (GWN), the first and only East Coast nonprofit to combine
mentoring and writing instruction within the context of all-girl programming,
has, since 1998, helped nearly 3,000 underserved or at-risk girls from NYC’s
public high schools develop into the next generation of writers and readers. In
recent years, GWN has been profiled in The New York Times and featured on NBC
Nightly News with Brian Williams. In November, the organization received a 2009
Coming Up Taller Award from First Lady Michelle Obama and the President’s
Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, distinguishing Girls Write Now as one
of the top 15 after-school arts and humanities programs in the nation.
Join us on Twitter and Facebook:
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, respond with "unsubscribe" in the subject
line.
--
Two Dollar Radio
Books too loud to ignore.
twodollarradio.com
--
Spring 2010: Holly Black · Alisdair Gray · More
http://smallbeerpress.comhttp://www.facebook.com/smallbeerpresshttp://www.scribd.com/doc/27176396/Small-Beer-Press-2010-Cataloghttp://weightlessbooks.com
Small Beer Press
150 Pleasant St., #306,
Easthampton, MA 01027
413-203-1636
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Calendar
Weather
English
Geography We have set up some readings.
Arithmetic
Art
P.E. Lift those boxes! Ship those books! Run up those stairs!
Secrets
Where? Here:
http://smallbeerpress.comhttp://www.facebook.com/smallbeerpresshttp://www.scribd.com/doc/27176396/Small-Beer-Press-2010-Cataloghttp://weightlessbooks.com/
If only we had some kind of device which would tell us the time. Or the date.
Because, surely, if we had something like that, days, weeks, and months would
not creep silently by us? August? Says who? Good lord. Right, that's it. Time
for a cup of tea.
[[[[ Dum de dum. Dum de dee. Dum de dum. Watching the kettle boil. Making tea.
Tea is steeping. Tea is ready! Happiness all round.]]]]
We hope this finds you well. We are sweltering in Boston. It has been so hot
that the "s" dropped off and we were weltering, which has the free dictionary
says is
1. To wallow, roll, or toss about, as in mud or high seas.
2. To lie soaked in a liquid.
3. To roll and surge, as the sea.
We have been more 2. than 1. or 3. and that liquid is
a) good day: iced mugicha/barley tea!
b) ok day: beer! hot tea!* Irn Bru!
c) bad day: Amoxicillin. Pepto. Tears. Rain. Aw, how sad.
* Yes. Even on weltering sweltering meltering days.
Fortunately a + b >>> c meaning there are many more beer and tea days than rainy
days. (Boston monsoons we abjure you!)
Besides, what we really do is hide in the heat of the day and head to the park
in the evening. Parks: they're like gardens where someone else does all the
work! Of course, someone else keeps stealing our lettuces, but we're getting
back at them by eating their blueberries.
Got extra blueberries from that picking trip? Use them in these most excellent
oatmeal pancakes (although you should replace the cinnamon with vanilla):
http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=162795 Wowee tastee.
We also publish books. And, sometimes, a zine. Not going to talk about the zine
here, though. Next year is soon enough. After all, it will be 15 years since we
began—although that can't be right as we just celebrated 10 years a year or two
ago. Can't be four years ago. Don't be silly.
Best reaction to one of our books recently was Alan Good's on Bookslut:
"A Life on Paper is fantastic in both meanings: it’s fantastic, as in strange,
unreal, weird, imaginary; and it’s fantastic, as in absolutely fucking awesome.
People will call A Life on Paper magical realism. A few will call it irrealism.
I don’t care what you call it. I just want you to read it."
http://www.bookslut.com/fiction/2010_06_016171.php
Yeah!
Numberish:
So far this year we have published authors from France, Massachusetts, Scotland,
Brooklyn, and Barbados.
Later this year we will publish authors from California, Michigan, England, and
Seattle.
So far this year we have published 2 short story collections, two debut novels,
and the self-declared last novel of a grand old man!
Later this year we will publish two short story collections—both the first of
this decade!—and reprint another, one big sexy novel, and a desktop planner.
So far this year we have published—wait, this is boring now.
But, it is cool to have published: two debut novels, a debut collection, to
reprint another debut collection, books from France and Barbados, an Alasdair
Gray novel (who knew that such a dream could come true!), and so on. In other
words we are publishing perhaps ten books this year (that includes a handy dandy
desktop planner which will include news about next year's books). Ten!
We think right now (late July, 2010) we have published 36 books. This does not
include multiple editions of the same title (i.e. we published the following
books in hardcover and trade paperback: Perfect Circle, Trash Sex Magic, Mothers
& Other Monsters, The Baum Plan for Financial Independence, and The Ant King and
Other Stories). Nor does it, obviously, count ebook editions. Nor does it
include chapbooks (ah, therein lies a tale. We have 1 more to do soon!).
So, 36 books, and by January: 42. We're working on next year's books, too.
Suppose we will hit 50 then and that will be our 10 year anniversary of making
books. We will throw a party involving us mailing you a printed object similar
to a book. Email us if you think you would like to know what we are publishing.
Some of it will be surprising. Some of it will make you break down the walls,
ignite the boosters, and flee this solar system. No, really. But we know which
people those books will do that to, so we will not tell them. (It's not you,
btw, it's your neighbor.)
And, we have a book which is probably coming in 2012. And it is crazy. Not
crazy enough to end the world, we think, but: totally nuts. It will be expensive
and you will be able to pay massive quantities of cash to fly here and pick up
your own copy. Or, we can mail it to you or you can pick the trade edition up at
your local bookshop. But really you will be amazed at how expensive the
expensive edition will be.
A few things about future books: we have more Big Mouth House books
coming—including a series set in Cape Cod by none other than Pulitzer Prize
finalist (how's that for a stamp of approval?) Lydia Millet! Owee, can't wait
until that gets out there. There are mysteries—the second Hound is even better
than the first. Short stories. Could there be another Planner...? How smart you
are!
And last month, 2 new books dropped in our lap. Good lord were we happy. (The
answer here is yes.)
[[[[[[Books That Weigh Nothing and For Which the Wait Is Zero]]]]]]]
Ebooks! We have an ebook store for those who like that sort of thing. It has all
the books of ours we have ebook rights to (most of them), as well as some
LCRWs—more get added as time passes.
But it's way more than just our ebook store: it's a one-stop center for indie
press ebooks! So far we have ebooks from a couple of fantastic presses, Blind
Eye Books and Featherproof Books, and within a couple of weeks we will be adding
the Fairy Tale Review (the journal and the books)—at prices that will make your
finger burn across your keyboard to buy them in case they are a mistake. (They
might be, we're still learning!) After Fairy Tale there are more presses and
books clamoring at the gates: ha, crazy fun.
We're still picking our way through the shattered LCD screens of a million
busted ebook reader projects and websites so at the moment most of our titles
are available in PDF to start with and then we add more formats as titles become
popular. All the Blind Eye Books are available as epub, mobi, and lit files.
Featherproof Books, though, are crazy beautifully designed so are PDF only for
the nonce. Some Small Beer and Big Mouth House books are available in multiple
formats.
Prices range from $2.99 - $9.95 or so.
And watch this space in the months to come for a huge serial novel which we
think will be a barnstorming web event. We did a trial run with some serial
fiction (Astrid Amara's The Archer's Heart) this spring and the reaction was
awesome.
Fun, indie books are yours here:
http://weightlessbooks.com | http://blindeyebooks.com |
http://www.featherproof.comhttp://weightlessbooks.com/format/books/wicked-gentlemen/http://weightlessbooks.com/format/books/the-poison-eaters-other-stories/
[[[[[ Fall 2011? We foresee Steampunk!]]]]
Oh, that exclamation point. It's so tempting, just sitting there on the
keyboard, saying, "Go on! How's anyone to know how enthusiastic you are?"
"Um, by the tenor of the writing?"
"No! Silly! It's me, me me! The Right Honorably Dishonored Exclamation Mark!"
"I'm tired."
"Ha! You'll get aeons of sleep when you're dead! In fact, drop dead! I can write
this newsletter! Look! Books! Books!! Books!!!"
"Actually, that's not bad. Mind if I use it?"
"Books!!!!"
Ok, and, yes, that exclamation mark may yet survive into the title of the
anthology Kelly Link and Gavin Grant are editing for Candlewick. We have
stories from M.T. Anderson, Libba Bray, Holly Black, Cassandra Clare, Cory
Doctorow, Kelly, Elizabeth Knox, Garth Nix, Delia Sherman, Ysabeau Wilce, and,
yes, others. It is awesome to open up email and get these stories and by the
time it's a book it should be about two tons of fun. Steampunk just keeps going,
getting broader and deeper as more people try it, and we can't wait to get this
book out. But, will have to wait. Oh well.
[[[[[[Books. ! ]]]]]]
Books? Books! See far up above here about categories. See below for titles and
reactions. Lots of libraries and lots of indie bookshops carry our books (of
course, so does our website: http://smallbeerpress.com/shopping). We are in the
business of turning art into commerce. We publish a few good books every season
and we hope that you will enjoy some of them.
We just published this fabby debut novel which has had an awesome response.
Karen will be over from Barbados in September to be at the Brooklyn Book
Festival and to read with Julia Holmes (see below) at Greenlight and Word in
Brooklyn. This is one fun book:
Karen Lord, Redemption in Indigo
http://smallbeerpress.com/books/2010/07/06/redemption-in-indigo-2/
Read the intro + Chapter 1:
http://www.tor.com/stories/2010/07/preview-redemption-in-indigo-by-karen-lord
"Full of sharp insights and humorous asides ("I know your complaint already. You
are saying, how do two grown men begin to see talking spiders after only three
glasses of spice spirit?"), "Redemption" extends the Caribbean Island
storyteller's art into the 21st century and hopefully, beyond."
—Nisi Shawl, Seattle Times
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/books/2012415471_scifi25.html
Here's one we put out in a crazy 2-color hardcover edition with corrections and
emendations by the author from the British hardcover and paperback. It's a
multiply framed novel of stories of love, power, and the love of power.
Alasdair Gray, Old Men in Love: John Tunnock's Posthumous Papers
http://smallbeerpress.com/books/2010/06/08/old-men-in-love-john-tunnocks-posthum\
ous-papers/
"God bless visionary eccentrics. . . . In today's case, I am lavishing thanks
not only for the existence of Alasdair Gray, our present-day reigning literary
eccentric, but also for his marvelous invention, John Tunnock: crabby and
crabbed, quintessentially Scottish misanthrope, unsung and deceased novelist,
surname-sharer with a teacake, "hero," if I may be so bold, of Old Men in Love."
—Paul Di Filippo, Barnes and Noble Review
http://bnreview.barnesandnoble.com/t5/In-the-Margin/Old-Men-in-Love/ba-p/2944
"Like the best of Gray's work, Old Men in Love is funny and profane, but with a
shuddering anger to the politics."
—Jessa Crispin, NPR
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127367054
Ted Chiang, Stories of Your Life and Others (coming in October)
http://smallbeerpress.com/forthcoming/2010/07/17/stories-of-your-life-and-others\
/
Soooo happy that this book will be back in print! Also, Ted has a new book, a
novella, The Life Cycle of Software Objects, coming soon from Subterranean
Press.
"Shining, haunting, mind-blowing tales . . . this collection is a pure marvel.
Chiang is so exhilarating so original so stylish he just leaves you speechless.
I always suggest a person read at least 52 books a year for proper mental
functioning but if you only have time for one, be at peace: you found it."
—Junot Díaz
Karen Joy Fowler, What I Didn't See and Other Stories (coming in September—in
fact, it's at the printer!)
http://smallbeerpress.com/forthcoming/2010/07/17/what-i-didnt-see-and-other-stor\
ies/
One of the biggest books of the year! Weird and great cover by Erica Harris. A
dozen heartbreaking mind melting stories from Karen, including one new story,
two Nebula winners and "The Pelican Bar" (originally published in Eclipse 3)
which just won the Shirley Jackson Award for short story.
http://www.shirleyjacksonawards.org/sja_2009_winners.php
Karen will be reading in California (and maybe elsewhere):
Oct. 7, 7PM, Copperfield's in Santa Rosa, CA
Oct. 11, 7PM, Moe's in Berkeley, CA
Oct. 14-16, NCIBA trade show, Oakland Convention Center and City Center
Marriott, CA
Nov. 5, 7PM, Vroman's, Pasadena, CA
Julia Holmes, Meeks, a novel
http://smallbeerpress.com/books/2010/07/20/meeks/
“The satire here has plenty of bite, but instead of winking at the reader,
Holmes evokes her world with luminous prose.”
—Los Angeles Times
Julia is reading all over the place: Portland, OR, Boston, MA (see you there?),
New York, NY, and more. She sold out at Word in Brooklyn, please go see her and
make it happen all around the country!
http://smallbeerpress.com/events/
And you can get a taste of that cake here (it'll make sense if you read it,
honest):
http://www.thecollagist.com/archive/June2010/Holmes/index.html
Kathe Koja, Under the Poppy (coming October 22)
http://smallbeerpress.com/forthcoming/2010/05/06/under-the-poppy/
This is a huge, sexy historical novel in two parts. The first is set in a
Victorian-era brothel, the second in high society. There's a stage show coming
February 2011. Decca, runs a Victorian brothel, Under the Poppy, and is in love
with co-owner Rupert, who, in turn, is in love with Decca’s brother, Istvan.
When Istvan appears, louche puppet troupe in tow, their desires play out against
a backdrop of approaching war and the townsmen seek refuge watching the girls of
the Poppy cavort onstage with Istvan’s naughty puppets….
“This book made me drunk. Koja’s language is at its poetic best and the epic
drama had me digging my nails into my palms.”
—Cory Doctorow (Little Brother)
Kathe is reading at KGB Bar in NYC on Nov. 17 and is doing Detroit-area events
as well. Check out the calendar! Preorder and help us pay the printer!
A Working Writer's Daily Planner 2011: Your Year in Writing
The return of our popular planner—now with more LCRW-reader photos! We put out a
call for pics and received some great ideas. Look for this in September.
If you or your writing group/college/company/writing school/etc., would like
multiple copies: email us! We can give you a break on prices!
For everyone else, there are multiple-copy discounts available here:
http://smallbeerpress.com/forthcoming/2009/12/06/a-working-writers-daily-planner\
-2011/
Georges-Olivier Châteaureynaud, A Life on Paper: Stories
http://smallbeerpress.com/books/2010/05/25/a-life-on-paper-stories/
The first book in English from an awesome French writer. What is not to love? If
this goes well, there are novels novels novels TK. Fingers crossed!
“Châteaureynaud’s dance steps are so nimble that he seems, without effort, to
show us what is best in others.”
—Brooklyn Rail
"Both classic and modern, strange and simple, Châteaureynaud’s stories remind
not only of Vonnegut but of Gogol and Kafka. What’s endearing about the stories
is the amount of tenderness running through them. Even in stories about bizarre
cruelty (the title story tells of a father who had his daughter photographed a
dozen times a day for her entire life), affection provides the glue."
—Time Out Chicago
Holly Black, The Poison Eaters and Other Stories
25% off!
http://smallbeerpress.com/books/2010/02/19/the-poison-eaters-other-stories/
Fantastic book of short stories by the author of the groundbreaking,
genre-forming novels Tithe and White Cat. Illustrated by all-round artistic
genius Theo Black.
Read about the glamour (or lack of it) of vampires:
http://www.bscreview.com/2010/01/the-coldest-girl-in-coldtown-by-holly-black-sho\
rt-story/
* “Black’s first story collection assures her place as a modern fantasy master….
Sly humor, vivid characters, each word perfectly chosen: These stories deserve
reading again and again.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
([{<«Secrets»>}])
We have new books!
—more Joan Aiken! A whole book of uncollected and unpublished stories. A
treasure trove! The Monkey's Wedding and Other Stories, April 2011
—more McCaffrey: the second Hound novel, pick up Hound in pb next year or cheap
now! July 2011
http://smallbeerpress.com/books/2009/09/08/hound/
—Lydia Millet: a series of serious fantastic stories for readers of all ages!
—An all translated, guest-edited issue of LCRW of Mexican science fiction and
fantasy! http://smallbeerpress.com/lcrw/
—so much more!
Where? Oh, right over there:
http://weightlessbooks.com/http://www.scribd.com/doc/27176396/Small-Beer-Press-2010-Cataloghttp://www.facebook.com/smallbeerpresshttp://smallbeerpress.com
That's it for today—and maybe the whole month! One last photo: Gavin and a
somewhat serious-looking Ursula at the Brookline Booksmith:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lcrw/4819976736/
Thanks again for reading!
Small Beer Press
150 Pleasant St., #306,
Easthampton, MA 01027
413-203-1636
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Shipping
NYT
BBF, baby
Scribd
Secrets
No lies!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What just arrived at the office? Karen Joy Fowler's first collection this
century: What I Didn't See and Other Stories. It is totally stunning and
fabulous. It is mind-blowing that we get to do this and we are running around
like wind up toys that never run down we are so excited by it.
Karen is reading in California later in autumn:
10/7, Copperfield's, Santa Rosa
10/11, Moe's, Berkeley
10/15, NCIBA trade show, Oakland
10/16, SF in SF
10/19, Capitola Book Cafe
11/5, Vroman's, Pasadena
and you can get the book here and now:
http://smallbeerpress.com/forthcoming/2010/07/17/what-i-didnt-see-and-other-stor\
ies/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Georges-Olivier Châteaureynaud's first collection in the English language, A
Life on Paper: Stories (translated by Edward Gauvin) has received a passel of
great reviews:
“The celebrated Châteaureynaud, who over the course of a distinguished career
has created short tales that are not exactly contes cruels but which linger on
the edge of darkness and absurdity.”
—The New York Times Book Review
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/05/books/review/VanderMeer-t.html
“Châteaureynaud is a master craftsman, encapsulating weighty themes with pith
and heart. In his hands, the short story is a Gothic cathedral whittled from a
wine cork.”
—The Believer
“Châteaureynaud celebrates the quiet, hidden beauties of the world and the
objects or knowledge we hold tight like talismans to protect us from its losses
and horrors.”
—The Quarterly Conversation
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This Sunday, rain or shine, we will be in Brooklyn. Whoohoo! I am certainly
looking forward to it. I really enjoy this one. There's a real mix of people who
know us and people who don't. Love trying to match books to readers!
Brooooklyn Book Fair site: http://www.brooklynbookfestival.org/
Schedule: http://www.brooklynbookfestival.org/BrooklynBookFestival/events.html
The important part: Michael and I drive down eaaarly in the morning. We go to
that great sandwich place down the street and eat NYC bagels for second
breakfast. (If we're lucky we'll get to the banh mi place on Atlantic Ave for
lunch!). And, we drive back to Boston that night. At first Kelly and I had hoped
to take Ursula down. I even booked a hotel room. Ha, said the kid. No way. She
has her first cold: challenging! So there is indeed no way the 3 of us are going
down and I am very happy Michael was able to step in to help out. Even though I
told him I would talk about http://weightlessbooks.com all the way down. (Or did
I tell him? Hope so.) Last year my sister, Fiona, was over here helping us out
with Ursula. That road trip will be hard to beat!
The actually important part: Karen Lord (Redemption in Indigo) is coming over
from Barbados to be at our booth. Come by and say hello. Bring a cou cou stick
to make us all laugh! Ok, maybe she is coming over for other stuff, too. Some of
it is secret. Some of it isn't—she's recording an interview for later broadcast
with the ever-excellent Jim Freund and his http://www.hourwolf.com/hotw.
We will be raising a glass of something or other to toast Karen, her debut
novel, and its excellent reception. You can see some reviews on our page (link
below). Here's a taster:
"Lord’s first novel is a clever, exuberant mix of Caribbean and Senegalese
influences that balances riotously funny set pieces (many involving talking
insects) with serious drama initiated by meddlesome supernatural beings."
—New York Times Book Review
(http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/05/books/review/VanderMeer-t.html)
On Sunday Karen will be reading with N. K. Jemisin (whose name I have sadly been
misspelling as N. K. Jemison, darn it and sorry!), and Bill Evans at 2 PM at the
Brooklyn Historical Society.
Also, Karen will be reading on Friday night at McNally Jackson and Tuesday night
at Greenlight with our other star debut author Julia Holmes—whose novel Meeks
received a dream review in The New York Times Book Review:
"Meeks is a wild, woolly, sly, gentle and wry first novel. . . . It’s a book
whose singular vision keeps returning to me at odd moments, one of the most
original and readable novels that’s come my way in a long time."
(http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/books/review/Krusoe-t.html)
If we have any copies of their books left after the Book Fest, we'll get Karen
and Julia to sign some for readers elsewhere. If you want to order ahead of time
for personalization, now is the time!
Sept. 10: Reading with Julia Holmes
McNally Jackson Books, 52 Prince Street, New York, NY
Sept. 12: Karen reads at the Brooklyn Book Festival and signs books at the Small
Beer Press table.
Brooklyn Borough Hall, 209 Joralemon Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201
Sept. 14: Reading with Julia Holmes (Meeks)
Greenlight Bookstore, 686 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, N
Both Karen's book and Julia's have sold out their initial print runs. Yay!
Excerpts? Samples? Why, yes!
Redemption in Indigo
http://www.tor.com/stories/2010/07/preview-redemption-in-indigo-by-karen-lordhttp://smallbeerpress.com/books/2010/07/06/redemption-in-indigo-2/
Meeks
http://www.thecollagist.com/archive/June2010/Holmes/index.htmlhttp://smallbeerpress.com/books/2010/07/20/meeks/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Besides the Book Fest we uploaded excerpts and some ebooks of LCRW to Scribd.
Read ahead of our pub schedule here!
http://www.scribd.com/Small Beer Press
http://www.scribd.com/doc/36952401/A-Working-Writer-s-Daily-Planner-2011-Excerpthttp://www.scribd.com/doc/36954610/Kathe-Koja-Under-The-Poppy-Excerpthttp://www.scribd.com/doc/36954968/Karen-Joy-Fowler-What-I-Didn-t-See-and-Other-\
Stories-%E2%80%94-Excerpt
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Shouldn't we update this newsletter to Constant Contact or something? Um. Sure.
Later.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here's a great place to get Old Men in Love: John Tunnock's Posthumous Papers by
Alasdair Gray
http://www.powells.com/biblio/9781931520690?&PID=26490
Why? Because of Gerry's great review!
http://www.powells.com/review/2010_06_12.html
There's an awesome art book of Gray's, er yes, art coming out later this year.
It is a must have. Publishing this book was a dream come true. Not getting any
trade reviews was a bit unexpected though. Still hoping to sell enough to put
another of his books out. You never know!
http://smallbeerpress.com/books/2010/06/08/old-men-in-love-john-tunnocks-posthum\
ous-papers/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We chunter on, announce things, let secrets slip, and so on here:
http://www.facebook.com/smallbeerpress
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Secrets: we have a Geoff Ryman collection of stories coming out in November.
Surprise! It is a huge and awesome book—SF with a human face as Geoff called it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Publishers Weekly was again first off the blocks with their take on Kathe Koja’s
huge sexy historical novel, Under the Poppy:
“The latest from Koja (Skin) is a page turner with riveting language and close
attention to sensory detail. Set in late 19th-century Brussels, the
story follows the adventures of puppeteer Istvan and brothel owner Rupert who
bond as friends and lovers. The first half of the novel is set at
Rupert’s brothel, Under the Poppy, a haven for bawdy puppet shows and loose
women. With war in the air, the brothel is forced to house soldiers led by a
corrupt general. A mysterious assault on Rupert leads to more violence and an
exodus of prostitutes from the establishment. Istvan and Rupert, with one of the
former working girls, who morphs into a theater owner and puppeteer, leave as
well and arrive in a new town, where they cavort with a family of aristocrats
that includes Isobel, who falls for Rupert (as does her young brother, Benjamin,
the family heir). Koja’s style is unconventional, resulting in a melodrama with
deep insights into character and a murky plot balanced with prose as theatrical
as the world it portrays.(Oct.)”
http://smallbeerpress.com/forthcoming/2010/05/06/under-the-poppy/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kelly just finished her first story in a while, "The Summer People," which will
come out in our huge excellent YA Steampunk! anthology next year from
Candlewick.
In other Kelly news we got fabulouuuus copies of a book of hers from Brazil.
Will post pics online. Also, "Lull" appears in Tim Pratt's devilish new
anthology, Sympathy for the Devil
http://www.powells.com/biblio/9781597801898?&PID=26490
Also, "The Wrong Grave" appears in John Joseph Adams's huge new blockbuster The
Living Dead 2.
http://www.powells.com/biblio/9781597801904?&PID=26490
We love the indie bookshops—and we certainly appreciate anyone who clicks
through and gives us the kickback from the excellent peeps at Powells.com.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Speaking of that Steampunk anthology, Holly Black has a story in it, too! We'll
put the whole table of contents up online soon. In the meantime, Holly is on
tour next week in Texas! and we ganked this whole cloth from Ms. Black’s lj and
posted it on our site. So here it is in case you're in that area:
melissa_writing, Kelley Armstrong and Alyson Noel kindly asked me along for a
couple of stops on their multi-author, multi-city Smart Chicks Kick It tour.
Where I’m going to be is listed below, but look here for the full schedule of
everyone and everywhere.
September 13th, 2010 7 PM @ BOOKPEOPLE, Austin, TX
Kelley Armstrong, Melissa Marr, Alyson Noel, Holly Black, Rachel Caine, &
Cassandra Clare
September 14th, 2010 7 PM @ B&N THE WOODLANDS, Houston, TX
Kelley Armstrong, Melissa Marr, Alyson Noel, Holly Black, Cassandra Clare, Kami
Garcia & Rachel Vincent
September 15th, 2010 7PM. Off-site location TBD. Hosted by BLUE WILLOW, Houston,
TX
Kelley Armstrong, Melissa Marr, Alyson Noel, Holly Black, Sarah Rees Brennan,
Margaret Stohl & Cassandra Clare
September 16th, 2010 6 PM Off-site location TBD. Hosted by LEMURIA BOOKS,
Jackson, MS
Kelley Armstrong, Melissa Marr, Alyson Noel, Holly Black, Cassandra Clare,
Jessica Verday & Sarah Rees Brennan
September 17th, 2010 7PM @ Scottsdale Civic Library Auditorium, hosted by
POISONED PEN Phoenix, AZ
Melissa Marr, Alyson Noel, Kelley Armstrong, Holly Black, Sarah Rees Brennan,
Kimberly Derting, and Becca Fitzpatrick
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Our Working Writer's Daily Planner 2011 is at the printer—yes, a printer here in
the USA. We print all our books in the USA figuring that if people here have
decent jobs they might have cash to buy stuff. Every dollar is a political act.
The ebook edition is available now though:
http://weightlessbooks.com/genre/nonfiction/a-working-writers-daily-planner-2011\
/
Which makes this a good place to mention Weightless Books, our indie press ebook
store. We've brought in some very interesting stuff
Bestseller Ginn Hale (Wicked Gentlemen, Feral Machines) and more:
http://weightlessbooks.com/category/publisher/blind-eye-books/
Books and journals only $2.99!
http://weightlessbooks.com/category/publisher/fairy-tale-review/
Blake Butler, Amelia Gray, more:
http://weightlessbooks.com/category/publisher/featherproof-books/
And us!
http://weightlessbooks.com/category/publisher/small-beer-press-publisher/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What else can I let slip? We have a new Joan Aiken collection coming, The
Monkey's Wedding and Other Stories. It's a great, spooky, scary, funny book.
Such such fun. All the stories are uncollected (i.e. very hard to find!), some
are unpublished, and two were published under a pseudonym.
Vincent McCaffrey sent in Hound 2: A Slepying Hound to Wake which is a leap
above Hound, and that was a pretty good book!
We just sent contracts to two writers and a third is about to go out. Whoot!
Annnnnnnnnnnd, on Monday we'll get some earrrly galleys for our new middle grade
novel from Lydia Millet, The Fires Beneath the Sea. Cape Cod, magic, much more!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peace in our time!
Thanks for reading!
--
New: Alasdair Gray · Karen Lord · Georges-Olivier Châteaureynaud · Karen Joy
Fowler · More? Mais oui.
smallbeerpress.com | Facebook | 2010 Catalog | weightlessbooks.com
Small Beer Press
150 Pleasant St., #306,
Easthampton, MA 01027
413-203-1636
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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