Emerging Writers Network

Source of Lit - Matt Bell

I know, I know, Source of Lit posts around here are typically designated for literary journals, and I'm also well aware that many EWN'ers have put out some great reading material in recent times.  All that said, in an 'it's my ball' sort of moment, I'll just say I'll run the EWN as I see fit (like not posting for a week and then hitting all 3 of you with a handful of posts in one day).

Two of the journals I picked up at AWP, Barrelhouse and Keyhole, had excellent new short stories from Matt Bell in them.  He actually got me interested in drying paint in the most recent Cella's Round Trip.  He's got a story in the new issue of Meridian, and his Mario's Three Lives is seeing a third life of its own in the newly published Best American Fantasy Stories.  He also edited the latest web issue of Hobart.

He's got two chapbooks coming out, one any day now, though my mailman may have stolen it, and another coming from Caketrain this summer.  He also has written one of the best in-depth looks at work by Brian Evenson I've seen.

Add to all of that, his most recent effort, which I find hard to believe I'm saying based on how much I've enjoyed all of the above, but is a real step up in storytelling, "An Index of How Our Family Was Killed," in the latest online Conjunctions.  It is simply an excellent story, told in a unique manner, but not at all gimmicky.  Head on over asap and read this one.  A very, very small excerpt:

"An index is a collection of echoes, each one suggesting a whole only partially glimpsed."

Slacking or not?

I leave it to you, the trio of readers stopping by daily.  Once again I'm falling into the trap of starting up my next book before writing my review of the book just finished.  I could say it's because there's always something going on with Dzanc Books, or that I'd like to think about the book a bit longer first.  I'm not sure why, but it's a trap I seem more and more likely to fall into as time goes on.

To at the very least acknowledge the books I've been reading lately, a quick post - these are not the reviews, not even the mini-reviews, just quick acknowledgments.  Much more later (I'd promise but I've done that before).

Last Days by Brian Evenson (2009, Underland Press).  Read late last year, and again, this week, after reading the fantastic essay by Matt Bell in The Quarterly Conversation.  Maybe Evenson's best, which is saying a LOT.

The Annotated Nose by Marc Estrin (2008, Unbridled Books).  Since his debut novel, Insect Dreams:  The Half-Life of Gregor Samsa, Marc Estrin has been a writer to watch;  one filled with ideas using his fiction to work his way through those ideas.  This book, with his fictional tale of a character, and that fictional character's annotated notes regarding that fictional tale, side by side, "edited" by Estrin, is a wild ride.

Madewell Brown by Rick Collignon (2009, Unbridled Books).  A book I've bugged both the author and publishers about for about three years now, maybe an email or phone call every 3 to 6 months - "Is there a date yet?"  I loved Collignon's first three books set in Guadalupe, New Mexico, and the return to that fine little town is as magical as those three reads were.  It's sad to me, while yet a bit exciting, just how inexpensively you can find the first three titles online (The Journal of Antonio Montoya, Perdido, and A Santo in the Image of Cristobal Garcia).  I give you my highest recommendation to do so, to order them, to read them, and to pre-order this book, due in May, from Unbridled Books and get ready for a handful of hours of enjoyment.

Once the Shore by Paul Yoon (2009, Sarabande Books).  A collection of 8 stories previously published in locales such as EWN favorites One Story, Glimmer Train, Small Spiral Notebook and American Short Fiction.  Having read the majority of these in their original publishings, it was a treat to read them again, and side by side with Yoon's other fiction. 

American Rust by Philipp Meyer (2009, Spiegel & Grau).  A fantastic debut by Philipp Meyer - many thanks to publicist Jynne Dilling Martin for suggesting to me that it was one I'd like.  She was dead-on accurate.  Prescient in its look at the American economy, frighteningly accurate in its portrayal of areas of our country that had dedicated themselves to the steel industry, and full of incredibly interesting and full characters whose lives the reader is immediately captivated by.

Fugue State by Brian Evenson (2009, Coffee House Press).  Okay, simply put, we here at the EWN are Evenson slappies.  Aside from $100 limited editions or $400 really limited editions, if he writes it, and we can afford it, it will be read.  I don't know if there's a writer out there so highly regarded publishing with so many different independent publishers, seemingly allowing all of them to get a piece of the action (Percival Everett does come to mind, though lately he's been on a Graywolf Press train, he also has a nice history of spreading the wealth).  A short story collection, it allows the reader to see many aspects of Evenson's mindset, a mindset that I do recommend the reader prepare for before diving in.

Drift and Swerve by Samuel Ligon (2009, Autumn House Press).  Autumn House Press is the new residence of editor extraordinaire, Sharon Dilworth.  Not once did she publish a story collection over at Carnegie Mellon University Press that I didn't enjoy immensely, and her first two efforts, New World Order by Derek Green, and this one, for AHP, continue that tradition.  Those that enjoy a little darkness with their humor, this one just might be for you.

Big World by Mary Miller (2009, SF/LD Books).  The Short Flite/Long Drive Books division of Hobart comes through with their second mini-book and while I thought they came out of the gate with a well written and interesting book, I think they're hitting the first turn at full stride with this story collection.  Mary Miller has become one of my favorite story writers the past few years, showing the capability of writing both flash fiction and longer, maybe more traditional, stories.  Dogs, troubled women, and less than stellar male accomplices get put through the full gamut here.  All that, plus Hobart has given us a book that fits in our back pocket when we're out and about.

The National Virginity Pledge by Barry Graham (2009, Another Sky Press).  21 stories over 80 pages and all jam packed with grit.  Actually dirt might be a better choice of words.  His characters beg to be watched, no matter how dirty you might feel when you occasionally realize that that's what you're doing, reading faster and faster to watch them.

The Manual of Detection by Jedediah Berry (2009, The Penguin Press).  The debut novel by Berry reminded me of many authors from the past - Kafka, Borges, and Auster all come to mind, for example.  There is an absolute playfullness to Berry's writing (character name Travis Sivart - look at it long enough and you'll see what I mean) that is engaging.  This novel is part noir, part David Byrne instrumental music, part Jim Jarmusch film.  What it really is though is a novel that I had a damn hard time putting down, and if I hadn't had many deadlines tha past five days, would have finished it off much quicker. 

I've not finished these next two, but they deserve some quick words too.

All Fall Down by Mary Caponegro (2009, Coffee House Press).  Another story collection, which is nice as I can dip in, read a couple and set it aside for a day or two.  I'm at a bit of a loss as to how to describe Caponegro's stories, but will definitely suggest you look for this in July when it publishes.  With 6 stories over nearly 220 pages, Caponegro writes longer tales than one might typically find, and does so with very precise language.  Her sentences remind me of writers frequently associated with Gordon Lish - every word mattering, and placed just so.  The main difference being the length of her stories - where many other writers with that association (and I do NOT know that she has any association with Lish), very frequently their stories are in the 5 to 12 page length, not of the distance a few of these travel.

Notes from No Man's Land by Eula Biss (2009, Graywolf Press).  The winner of the Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize, which by the way is quickly becoming a MUST read each and every year, Biss has a very interesting style of essay writing.  She writes of race, and does so from every possible angle.  She has a fantastic ability to begin her essays, seemingly writing about something and then with one quick sentence, the lead-in to a new paragraph, turning the essay on it's head and making what frequently appears to be a chasm-like leap.  However, big as those leaps appear at first, they are not thought out in an ill manner, as Biss progresses from that first sentence leap, the essays usually bring that gap down to a reasonable hop.  She does what a good essayist does - she gives her readers causes to think, to question their beliefs.  She doesn't demand you agree with her every statement.  She offers her thoughts, her views, allows you to question your own, which I don't think is ever a bad thing.

I would highly recommend you searching for each and every title listed above (warning, some of them don't come out until between April and June), buying them, spending some time with them, and then emailing the author and publisher and letting them know just how much you enjoyed them.

Pre-order while it's still at the printer

EWN'er Matt Bell's chapbook, How the Broken Lead the Blind, has been sent to the printer by Willows Wept Press (run by EWN'er Molly Gaudry), and will be shipping later this month.  As there are only going to be 100 copies printed, and Matt has been developing a good sized following recently, I'd order my copy asap!

Update (January 12, 2009):  Only 23 copies are left to PRE-ORDER.  Glad I ordered mine back on December 3!

Here's what a few people you may have heard of have to say about the book (cover art by Christy Call):

"Matt Bell is a beautiful contradiction, a romanticist who wields his pen without mercy. In How the Broken Lead the Blind, Bell's eye for the small details that bind is undeniable. His collection of short-short stories wastes no time with extraneous prattle, delivering instead characters and tales that rattle the senses with stark surprise. In an uncompromisingly good gathering of fiction, Bell gives us worlds upon worlds through the imagination and observations of a gifted new talent."
—Steven Gillis, author of Temporary People and Giraffes

"These stories are at once big-hearted and humorous, containing many surprising truths. The writing is measured and penetrating, precise but with warmth. Matt Bell is a maker of fine fictions."

—William Walsh, author of Without Wax and Questionstruck

"Matt Bell can do what so many fiction writers can't: Matt Bell can make anything happen."

—Michael Kimball, author of Dear Everybody and The Way the Family Got Away

"There is an insistent rhythm in everything Matt Bell writes. Not the thudding hammer blows of fraudulent drama, not the drip of leaking satire, certainly not the jolly click and tap of a story that could be--ought to have been--texted. It's gentle and enormously powerful: the beating of a heart. It's hard not to think of Bell's work as a living, breathing thing--which is in fact what it is, holding us in its ebb and flow, consoling and inspiring us the way real, true art always has and always will."

—Gary Amdahl, author of Visigoth and I am Death

“Matt Bell has an uncanny ability to cut to our inner needs, our fears and desires, our wishes to be both with another, yet to be alone at the same time. The stories within How the Broken Lead the Blind will reel you in sentence to wonderful sentence, and leave you wanting more.”

—Dan Wickett, Director of Dzanc Books, founder of Emerging Writers Network

“How the Broken Lead the Blind punctures relationships, bleeds the surreal, threads gut-punches through needles. An absolutely brilliant read.”

—J. A. Tyler, author of The Girl in the Black Sweater

“Like a perfect rock album, Matt Bell's How the Broken Lead the Blind both celebrates and explodes the form. The form here is flash fiction, and while there may be others who are doing it as well, there is certainly nobody better than Bell. Like the songs on Sgt. Pepper or Odelay or Paul's Boutique or [insert name of genre-busting, wildly inventive and eminently satisfying album here], each of these stories offers a jump-cut into the pain, fear, hope, joy, and questions of everyday life. Which is to say, Matt Bell does in 500 or 1,000 words what it takes most writers—if they're lucky, talented, innovative, and soulful—about five times the space to accomplish.”

—Dave Housley, author of Ryan Seacrest is Famous

“Matt Bell delivers ten inventive stories rich in language, ideas and catharsis that will leave you hungering for his next collection.”

—Steven McDermott, editor of Storyglossia, author of Winter of Different Directions

"Matt Bell's short-short stories gush with intricate details of love, loss, and sorrow. Each story holds a miracle waiting to be unearthed, as if this young writer was in all our lives, recording those subtle, key moments that pass quietly but speak to us forever. He is a writer with so much to say, but like with those moments, he understands they don't have to be loud, or long, to bestow their greatest impact."

—Michael Czyzniejewski, author of Elephants in Our Bedroom

"Matt Bell writes startling stories about personal connections, how they break under the slightest pressure, how they mend--all stories in which occur fantastic little twists: a severed hand appears, a piano gives up its secret, disoriented geese tumble from the sky. How the Broken Lead the Blind is a useful relationship manual for those of us still waiting to receive our very own hair box."

—Ryan Call, author of Pocket Finger

Sounds pretty damn good to me!

Things to order quickly

One of the interesting things going on these days is the limited edition book.  Very frequently you'll see chapbooks in runs of 100 copies, sometimes less.  These are things that when I hear about them I try to order as quickly as possible.  The last thing I want to see happen is to start hearing about this fantastic collection of poems or short stories and find out I can't get a copy.

A couple of friends with books coming out soon you'll want to check out (yes, both see blurbs from myself on the covers - in one case written before I'd really gotten to know the author very well):

Barry Graham's short story collection, The National Virginity Pledge, will be coming soon from Another Sky Press (however, I now notice there doesn't seem to be a way to order it just yet - I'll update as soon as I figure it out).

Matt Bell's debut chapbook, How the Broken Lead the Blind, is coming soon from Willow Wept Press and is currently available for pre-order, and only will see 100 copies printed.  Get it.  This is the one that you'll look at and wonder why the hell I was asked to blurb it as the other quotations come from such luminaries as Steven Gillis, William Walsh, Michael Kimball, Gary Amdahl, J.A. Tyler, Dave Housley, Steven McDermott, and Michael Czyzniejewski.  No cover is available as of yet though.

The other place to keep in mind is the work coming from ML Press.  Limited to 50 copies of each issue, these single story chapbooks come in a trio per month and have some power hitters in the line-up (Brian Evenson?  Peter Markus?  Gary Lutz?  I'll stop so as to not offend the others published or soon to be).  Each issue has sold out before they actually are due to ship, so it's really one to jump on quick.  ML Press has even set up multi-month subscriptions to help you make sure you don't lose out.

What Books I'm Looking Forward to in 2009

I know, I know.  2009?  What about reviewing a few more 2008 titles?  I hear you and, at least in my own mind, have that all under control.  You'll see more of those soon, as well as varying lists of my favorite books, novels, story collections, poetry collections, non-fiction titles - well, you know the deal.

In the mean time, I've been looking at catalogs and getting emails from authors and am already a little terrified that there's no way in hell I'm going to be able to read every title published in 2009 that I already know I want to read.  One interesting thing to note - some of these were submitted to Dzanc Books and, well, since I'm not going to include the Dzanc titles publishing in 2009 in this post, obviously were not accepted by Dzanc Books.  However, it is absolutely possible to find yourself both receiving a no thank you note from myself in regards to your book, and then finding out I am anxiously looking forward to it when published elsewhere. 

I'll state right now, in order to at least slightly expedite matters, the following are only organized in that they will be published in 2009 - they're not listed by month, or by publisher, as I'd originally intended.  Nor are these in the order of my excitement towards their release, etc.  Just simply, the order I grabbed their names and/or found their cover photos to include.

I'll also state, swing by over the course of the next week as I realize what titles I forgot the first time around and try to sneak them into the middle when nobody's looking.  No way you say?  Already happened three times since the original post!

I'll actually start off with one I've read already, Brian Evenson's Last Days, an extension of the previously published (in limited edition form) The Brotherhood of the Mutilation via the addition of a second novella, itself titled "Last Days", which was recently published in full by Unsaid, a fantastic literary journal.  I had the pleasure of reading the novella in journal form, had the disappointment of inability in finding a copy of TBotM, and then the distinct excitement in finding out newcomer, Underland Press, was publishing the combination of novellas as a full-length novel.  It's fantastic, really.  Much as I loved the novella "Last Days", you add that other novella before it to give it even more context, as well as a slightly larger body count, well, just do yourself a favor and get this one.  It's due out in February.

Another writer I've probably read most of the book from will be Mary Miller, whose story collection, Big World, will be the second effort from Hobart's Short Flight/Long Drive mini-books division.  This is another February planned title and at under $10 for 200 plus pages is a steal.  Mary's been knocking the ball out of the park the past few years with both short stories and flash fictions. 

May will see Southern Methodist University Press bringing out God's Dogs from Mitch Wieland.  This will be their second collaboration and their first, Willy Slater's Lane, pulled off a 5 star review from the EWN back in 2002.  God's Dogs is a novel in stories and I'm excited as I've read a few of Wieland's stories since loving his novel, and because Kathryn Lang at SMU Press does a remarkable job of finding steadily incredible quiet writers.  Rare is the big care chase, or explosion, or even protagonist with out of the ordinary problems - instead she finds writers that mine the daily lives of people that you might know, that you might be, and do so with an intelligence and care that makes you the reader care about them and what happens to them.  I'm positive this effort will be no different for either Wieland, or Lang's SMU Press.

January has Little Brown/Back Bay Books bringing out the debut novel from Michael Shilling.  Personally, I'm a sucker for good novel about rock bands and this one, Rock Bottom, about the Blood Orphans sounds like it has it all - from the website:  "They were locked and loaded for rock and roll greatness. And then everything … went … wrong. The singer became a born-again Buddhist who preaches from the stage. The bass player’s raging eczema turned his hands into a pulpy mess. The drummer, a sex addict tormented by the misdeeds of his porn-king father, is losing his grip on reality. And the guitar player - the only talented one - is a doormat cowed by the constant abuse of his bandmates. Set in Amsterdam on the last day of Blood Orphans’s final tour, Rock Bottom is the raucous story of a band - and their heroically coked-out female manager - trying to get in one last shot at fame’s elusive bullseye."

Marlon James will see his second novel (after his wonderful debut, John Crow's Devil) coming from Riverhead in February.  The Book of Night Women looks to be grand in scale and scope - some 430 plus pages and described as a "sweeping, stylish historical novel of Jamaican slavery that can only be compared to Toni Morrison's Beloved" (no pressure there).  I really enjoyed JCD and have been looking forward to this one since finding out Riverhead was publishing it.

Another writer I've been reading stories from for what seems to be years is Kevin Wilson and he's now seeing his story collection, Tunneling to the Center of the Earth, come out from Ecco in late March.  This is one of a long line of authors I was introduced to by Kyle Minor, whose (sadly) no-longer-around The Frostproof Review published the title story.  After reading it is when I began looking for Kevin's name in table of contents.  The great thing is, those listings have been fairly regular since that initial reading of Kevin's work.  You can even get a taste of this collection as one of the stories was published in the online journal, Diagram.  "The  Dead Sister Handbook:  A Guide for Sensitive Boys."

To keep in line with the Kyle Minor suggestions, Holly Goddard Jones' debut collection, Girl Trouble, will appear from Harper Perennial in the fall.  Kyle suggested I include one of Holly's stories, "Good Girl", in the EWN Holiday Gift Email a few years back as she was a classmate of his at Ohio State University (I hardly cringed typing that school's name).   The story was incredible and was absolutely included that year, drawing quite a bit of praise from EWN'ers at the time.  Since then I've done my best to gobble up every journal that's been wise enough to include a new HGJ story.  She's seen her work included in the last two New Stories from the South anthologies, as well as Best American Mystery Stories 2008.  Absolutely one to watch.

I'm greatly looking forward to June's release of Dave Reidy's Captive Audience, a short story collection from Ig Publishing.  The lead story in the collection, "The Regulars", was selected by Charles D'Ambrosio as the winner of the first ever EWN Short Fiction Contest, and I've been paying attention to - ie, enjoying the hell out of - Dave's stories ever since.

I find myself starting each of these paragraphs in my mind with "This might be the one I most look forward to . . ."  In this case, it might just be the case as it's been six years since Rick Collignon's third Guadalupe novel was published in late 2002.  Dolt that I was, I'd not heard of Rick's previous two novels, but seeing that the latest was set in this mythical town he'd created with the first two, thought I should pick them up as well.  You'll note from these links that I sort of loved all three.  Now comes Madewell Brown, described in a 2004 announcement as:  "Rick Collignon's fourth novel, the story of Madewell Brown, the mysterious man who made his first appearance in the opening pages of his second novel Perdido, chronicling his experiences in the Negro Leagues."  The book will be a spring title from Unbridled Books - it's great to see this team stick together, as Fred Ramey has been the editor of each of Rick's books, the first two via MacMurray & Beck, the third with BlueHen, and this time with Unbridled, and each of those efforts has also seen the effort of Greg Michaelson and Marketing Director, Caitlin Hamilton-Summie, behind them as well. 

Tin House has been on a roll as of late - Jeff Parker's Ovenman, Keith Lee Dixon's The Dart League King and Adam Braver's November 22, 1963 are all fantastic novels and come February, they'll publish Jan Elizabeth Watson's novel, Asta in the Wings.

Trying to do a better job of making sure I pay attention to literature from outside the United States, I've become a fan of a couple of publishers that concentrate on publishing such.  One is Archipelago Books.  For one thing, they publish some of the nicest looking books around, typically in a closer to square measurement than your standard trade paperback, with a solid color surrounding the actual cover photo.  You can tell immediately that it's an Archipelago title and that's an impressive feat these days.  This April has them publishing The Twin by Gerbrand Bakker, translated from the Dutch by David Colmer, and it looks great.

Another such publisher is Chad Post's Open Letter Press.  Seriously, spend about 20 seconds with Chad and you'll decide that you love him, can't wait to read more translated work, and will be happy to take a look at anything he's publishing.  I've enjoyed two of the initial six titles Open Letter Press has published (The Pets and The Taker and Other Stories) and certainly look forward to reading more of what they choose to present to those of us looking to read material originally published in languages not English.  In February, they'll publish The Conqueror by Jan Kjaerstad, translated from the Norwegian by Barbara Haveland.  

An author I'm not at all familiar with, but excited about her third story collection, is Jessica Treat.  Her Meat Eaters & Plant Eaters comes out in June from BOA Editions, Ltd.  This will be their third (I believe) fiction effort after years of absolutely stellar poetry publishing.  I have a feeling I'll be kicking myself for not having figured out that Treat was a writer to read prior to now as her previous collections were published by Coffee House Press and FC2, a couple of publishers that I almost always enjoy books from.

And as I've also almost always enjoyed poetry collections that Peter Connors of BOA has been kind enough to send me in the past, I'm fairly certain I'll enjoy Dark Things by Novica Tadic, translated from the Serbian by Charles Simic (as well as having an introduction written by Simic).  Especially seeing the description that "Tadic's poems are dark, brilliant, spare, and ever-mindful of the enormous acts of evil that human beings commit against one another."

While I'm discussing poetry, I'm also greatly looking forward to the new collection from Keith Taylor.  Wayne State University's Made in Michigan series wisely selected Keith's If the World Becomes So Bright and will bring it out in February.  Keith has an amazing ability to bring together nature and city life and investigate how the two affect how we go about our daily lives.  His work is lyrical, and more important for a reader such as myself, accessible while still adhering to the rigors of poetry (if that even makes sense - it does to me, but it's still me discussing poetry, so . . .).

WSU will also be publishing a new story collection from EWN favorite, Bonnie Jo Campbell, titled American Salvage in April.  This, another Made in Michigan series entry sounds like a winner and I believe the title is perfectly suited to Campbell's writing.  She has consistently given us characters over the years that are doing what they can to salvage their own lives - maybe not getting all the way to that salvation, but at least attempting to, giving their all, no matter how pathetic that all might sometimes be.  At times she's dark, she's nearly always funny, and her sentences crackle.  Keep this one in mind.

There is a repeat offender in this post.  Brian Evenson also has a short story collection coming this July from Coffee House Press.  It's Fugue State, and is illustrated by graphic novelist Zak Sally.  Having finally taken the plunge deeply into the world of Evenson's writing this year, including past short fiction collections, I'm really excited to see another Evenson/Coffee House collaboration, The Open Curtain still haunts me many months after reading it.  And his short stories are having the same effect on me, at least two or three from both Altmann's Tongue, The Wavering Knife, and Contagion have sat with me, popping into my head at inappropriate moments, these past few months since plowing through the Evenson oeuvre.

And from repeat offenders to a debut author, Paul Yoon will see his short story collection, Once the Shore, published by Sarabande Books in April as a paperback original.  He's seen his work collected in both Best American Short Stories and Best of the Web, and is a rising young talent.  Described by the publisher as "Ethereal stories set on a South Korean island introduce a haunting new voice in international fiction."  Having read some of Paul's work throughout the past few years in journals such as American Short Fiction, Ploughshares and One Story (where I go to discover writers), not to mention his wonderful piece from Memorious we included in Best of the Web, it's very exciting knowing there'll be a collection of his work I can refer to from now on.

Dipping back into poetry, two more Michigan authors will see collections this spring and they are truly giants of the industry - Jim Harrison will see the number of works he's published reach the thirties in April when Copper Canyon Press publishes his latest collection, In Search of Small Gods.  The other is Thomas Lynch, whose new collection is due from WW Norton in 2009, but I can't find a single damn thing about it online anywhere - Norton's site, Amazon, Lynch's homepage, etc.  

In June, Manic D Press will publish Cheryl Klein's second book and debut novel, Lilac Mines.  From the description from Manic D:  "A contemporary historical novel about the ties that bind and wounds that never heal."  I've had the opportunity to read some of this and am looking forward to seeing the entire novel together.

Dan Beachy-Quick is another EWN favorite with a new poetry collection coming out in 2009, April to be precise, from Tupelo Press.  This Nest, Swift Passerine has Beachy-Quick entwining "found and original texts, creating literal form - this book - out of sheer metaphor.  In this language nest, the mind of poet and reader find a common dwelling place."

Two Dollar Radio, a great young press, has Joshua Mohr's debut novel, Some Things That Meant the World to Me, hitting stores in June.  Besides being from Two Dollar Radio (who published Amy Koppelman's wonderful I Smile Back recently), any book that Donald Ray Pollock writes "Joshua Mohr's scorched-up prose nearly burned my eyes out;  and his main character, a young man known as Rhonda, is one of the most troubled and heartbreaking people you will ever encounter in literature," about is one that I'm going to pick up a copy of.

Press 53, one of my favorite indies, has a few titles coming in 2009 that I'll be looking forward to.  They've become THE house to go to if you've got a creative idea for an anthology of short fiction and they'll continue that next year with at least two I want to see - Surreal South 2 edited by Pinckney and Laura Benedict.  They're amassing what I'm sure is another creepy collection of poetry and short fiction with that gothicy southern feel to them.  That will be available in the fall.  Earlier than that will be J. Dillon Woods edited, Vs. Anthology, capturing stories from folks like Kyle Minor, Pinckney Benedict, Brad Vice, John McNally, Stacy Richter, Andrew Scott, and other great writers with topics like "Jesus vs. Thor" and "Adolf Hitler vs. Grendel" and even one about two Detroit Lions teams.  They've also got a new single author collection, Women Up On Blocks, by Mary Akers that looks fantastic.

Next up, a memoir from Kathleen Rooney entitled Live Nude Girl from the University of Arkansas Press.  This is an expansion of the essay that got Kathleen included in the Random House anthology, TwentySomething Essays by TwentySomething Writers ,back in 2006 and it takes an intimate look at the power and vulnerability that are shared by those modeling.  I enjoyed the original essay and much of Kathleen's poetry and look forward to the full memoir.

Amelia Gray's short fiction collection, AM/PM, is due in February from Featherproof Books.  I've recently read a spate of Gray's stories that have been published online and found her writing to be truly exciting.  Featherproof will also be published a collection of stories by Blake Butler, Scorch Atlas, more towards the fall from what I understand.  No covers can be found for either of the titles as of yet, but with these two titles, Featherproof has lined themselves up for a killer year.

Speaking of Blake Butler, the always incredible Calamari Press will be publishing his novella, Ever, which will also include artwork from Derek White.  Blake has a very interesting style that he's been developing over the past couple of years and I think he's really honing in on something unique with each new effort, something that has taken bits and pieces from those writers that he really loves, without outright doing what they do.  I think this book could be a monster.

Aaron Gwyn, whose story collection, Dog on the Cross, was absolutely excellent, returns in early 2009 (April) with a novel from WW Norton.  Gwyn's The World Beneath is a compact (192 pages) novel and is set in Perser, OK, where many of my favorite stories from Dog on the Cross took place.

Dalkey Archive brings a new William Gass title, Cartesian Sonana and Other Novellas, in February.  I'm woefully behind on reading any Gass and I love novellas, so here we go. 

Lauren Groff's short story collection Delicate Edible Birds will hit stores thanks to Hyperion in January.  While I enjoyed her novel, The Monsters of Templeton, last year, I still recall reading stories of her in journals like Ploughshares, The Atlantic and Hobart, and am really looking forward to having them all in one place.

John Domini's The Sea-God's Herb:  Essays at Reading and Culture will be published by Red Hen Press in 2009 - I've really enjoyed John's last two novels and assume the non-fiction is right on par!  Also, in the fall Red Hen will be publishing a trio of novellas, Extraordinary Renditions, by Andrew Ervin.  I've read early versions of these and they're damn good!

Ed Falco finds his third book to be published by Unbridled Books, Saint John of the Five Boroughs, coming out in the fall.  Ed previously published a collected stories collection, and a novel, with Unbridled. 

William Gay returns with yet another step back into the 1950's and southern America.  I'm guessing his new one, The Lost Country, headed our way via MacAdam/Cage, might be a bit dark, might have incredible language, and possibly will be the best damn thing any of us reads in 2009.  Hey, you want to mess with somebody?  Give them William Gay's Twilight while the Stephanie Meyer phenomenon is still high - they might not sleep for a week.

While we're looking at the category of long-standing favorites, Percival Everett comes to mind, and not so surprisingly, he has a new novel coming out from Graywolf Press this year (not so surprisingly as I believe Everett averages a little under 1 1/4 books per year since publishing his first title).  Late May will see I Am Not Sidney Poitier.  A brief description of the title, Everett's 17th novel (I believe) from Graywolf:

'Not Sidney Poitier is an amiable young man in an absurd country. The sudden death of his mother orphans him at age eleven, leaving him with an unfortunate name, an uncanny resemblance to the famous actor, and, perhaps more fortunate, a staggering number of shares in the Turner Broadcasting Corporation.'

Diana Joseph has a new memoir coming out in March courtesy of Amy Einhorn Books (Putnam) titled I'm Sorry You Feel That Way.  I've been a big fan of Diana's ever since reading her debut story collection, Happy, or Otherwise, a few years back and am really excited to see what she does with the non-fiction form.

The Counterpoint/Soft Skull combo has a couple of exciting looking titles as well.  From Counterpoint in January, Roger Alan Skipper's The Baptism of Billy Bean.  Skipper has been compared to the aforementioned William Gay, and Tom Franklin.  Good enough reason to check him out in my book.  From Soft Skull comes Milk, Sulphate and Alby Starvation from Martin Millar in February, a reprint of a 15 year old title from the author that Neil Gaiman raves about.  The description has me recalling Something About Lulu, even though it's nothing at all like the way you'd describe that novel.

Burgeoning publishing house Tyrant Books is planning on heading out of the gate at full speed:  a new novella from the previously (twice) mentioned Brian Evenson and then the fall will have new novels from Eugene Marten (whose 2008 Waste is one of the best books I've read this year) and Michael Kimball (whose 2008 Dear Everybody was fantastic).  Not much information up at the site yet, but knowing that the press is affiliated with the journal NY Tyrant, and has this trio to start them off?  Count me in.

Another one from Graywolf, coming in April, is the new novel from J. Robert Lennon, Castle.  I love the premise - somebody buys a plot of land only to find out that there is a block in the middle that they do not own, and the paperwork showing who might own the property has all of the interesting information blacked out.

A

Ladette Randolph, former editor at the University of Nebraska Press, and current editor of Ploughshares, will see her novel, A Sandhills Ballad, published by the University of New Mexico Press this April.  This follows her excellent short story collection and two anthologies she's edited, not to mention being responsible for many, many great books while at the U-Nebraska Press.

A book I know Ladette had much to do with, Sherrie Flick's debut novel, Reconsidering Happiness, will be out in the fall from the University of Nebraska Press.

Late July will bring us an interesting looking anthology from Plume, edited by Michael Taeckens, Director of Publicity for Algonquin Books during the day, and a really nice guy by email, phone AND in person.  Love is a Four Letter Word:  True Stories of Breakups, Bad Relationships, and Broken Hearts will include an introduction from Neal Pollack and 23 essays from the likes of Junot Diaz, Maud Newton, George Singleton, Amanda Stern, Jami Attenberg, and even Michael himself.

In September, Free Press will publish the non-fiction title, Dogtown:  Death and Enchantment in an Island Ghost Town by Elyssa East.  It's about a murder in an abandoned colonial settlement in Massachusetts that is believed to be haunted.

In February, Bottom Dog Press is going to publish the next novel from Jeff Vande Zande, Landscape with Fragmented Figures.  Not many details yet, but I've enjoyed the little bit of Jeff's writing I've read in the past.

April Fool's Day will see LSU Press, via their Yellow Shoe Fiction Series (a top notch series at that), bring us Darrin Doyle's Revenge of the Teacher's Pet:  A Love Story.

The University of West Alabama Press will be bringing out Chris Tusa's novel, Dirty Little Angels.  I don't know much about it yet, but Don Pollock suggested I might look into it and that man has yet to lead me astray.  I'll be looking into it.

J.A. Tyler will see his novella, Someone, Somewhere, published by Ghost Road Press in the summer.

Starcherone Books adds to their great catalog with Donald Breckenridge's You Are Here in the fall.  I recall the excerpt that this refers to, and remember really liking it a lot.

July has Permanent Press bringing out Stephen March's novel, Strangers in the Land of Egypt.  While I know I also have his short story collection, Love to the Spirits around here sadly unread, I did enjoy his novella, the prize-winning Armadillo back when it was published.

I really loved Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits when it came out, so now that Algonquin is again publishing Laila Lalami, this time around her debut novel, Secret Son, I am really excited to dig into it.  It comes out in April.

"Eminently mullworthy, Tim Horvath’s Circulation is a glittering performance of the narrative imagination, an elegy for books and libraries as we have heretofore known them, and a profound meditation on death, family, language, and the limits of human knowledge—all this disguised as a contemporary parable, a book of modest length."
--David Huddle

This blurb sells me on this Sunnyoutside forthcoming title (March).  Those who have been around the EWN long enough know I'm a huge David Huddle fan and I'm going to trust his taste.  So, I suggest you pick up Mr. Horvath's novella, and while you're in the store, have them special order anything they can by David Huddle for you too.

Sunnyoutside will also be publishing, it looks like later in the fall, a collection of essays from EWN favorite Curtis Smith titled The Agnostic's Prayer. 

Keyhole Books will be publishing their first titles this year and William Walsh's Question Struck leaps out as one I'll be interested in having read Without Waxxx by Walsh and some of his shorter work online as well.  He's got a unique sensibility about his work that is always interesting.

Underland Press will be publishing the next Jeff VanderMeer Ambergris novel, Finch, in November.  There is no cover yet, but based on the other Underland covers, and other covers from Jeff's work, I look forward not only to the novel, but to the cover itself.

Cinematheque Press looks to come out running hard, with book design as much a part of the process as who and what they publish.  One early project is a limited edition (84 copies, and I think that's really down to 83 as I have one reserved!) hard cover book of ten new "brothers" stories from Peter Markus entitled The Moon is a Fish.  Some of these stories will re-appear in We Make Mud, Peter's next full-sized collection, but that's not until early 2011.  Some may only appear in this book.  It's supposed to have drawings by Rebecca Markus, whose work Peter Markus fans have seen on the NMP chapbook cover.

Shane Jones' Light Boxes comes out in February from Publishing Genius.  I've had a peek and liked what I saw.  The website for the book is great. 

Matt Bell's chapbook, How the Broken Lead the Blind, is a great read and one I look forward to doing while holding paper in between my hands, and not just screening a pdf file.

Robert Fanning's second full collection of poems, American Prophet, comes out in January from Marick Press.  I've had the extreme pleasure of reading many of these poems, and especially, hearing them read aloud a few times - keep your eye out for this one!

Those of you that ordered the special AWP Priced 4-pack from Cloverfield Press a while back - the fourth and final book, Mike Alber's Reliant Vaccuum, is headed your way soon.  While the website doesn't show it, they've come up with a kick ass cover (that I only have a pdf of and cannot post here) and are getting closer and closer to shipping and making it available on their site.

Steve Yarbrough has sold his latest novel, Safe From the Neighbors, to Knopf.  I'm assuming fall.  As readers of the EWN know, Steve is one of my absolute favorite writers, so this is hardly a post where I've played favorites as to the ordering of these.  They were very random.

There will also, I'm sure, be wonderful books from places like Ellipsis Press, Dancing Girl, Rose Metal Press, New Michigan Press, Future Tense, and many other smaller publishers that don't book up months in advance.  You'll read about those as I hear about them.

I'm also sure as soon as I hit Save I'll either remember five more titles I can't wait to read, or will get three emails or comments from authors or publicists.  I welcome them all, it only means more great material to choose from in 2009.  Consider this a small start.

What Else?

What else would my first post be about today, in America, other than Thanksgiving, or at least what I personally am thankful for?

First up, as it is every year, would be the trio known as my children.  Though the oldest has begun to accept the idea that being a teenager means acting up more, and my daughter won't stop talking about Twilight (she's only read each of the four books four times apiece and dragged me to the movie once - did anybody else know that Bella was a deer?), and the youngest just won't stop talking, the majority of time, when they haven't conspired to see if they can cause my head to blow up from the inside, they cause nothing but love and intense pride.

Beyond them are my parents, sister and one specific aunt.  The support this quartet gives me, and has given me over the years, has made anything I accomplish possible.

Then we remember this is a literary blog, and the rest of my thanks do nothing but remind me of that.

I'm always thankful to a quartet of individuals that altered my life, with no absolute intention of doing so - Alyson Hagy, Elwood Reid, Steve Yarbrough, and Caitlin Hamilton Summie.  Alyson and Elwood by remaining friends with the non-writer from the creative writing class we were all part of way back in the fall of 1988.  Remaining in touch with them allowed me the knowledge that in the spring of 2000 they had a combined three books coming out in a six week period.  Those books are three of the first four or five books I wrote reviews for and started the EWN with.  Steve Yarbrough for actually reading the review I wrote of his novel, Oxygen Man, and not accusing me of stalking him via the internet, but instead asking me to send more reviews, and less than a year later passing along a review to Caitlin Hamilton, at that time Director of Publicity and Marketing for the new Penguin Putnam imprint, BlueHen (and not quite yet a Hamilton Summie either).  Though I believe there were about 31 members in the EWN receiving reviews at that time via email, Caitlin was the first publicity minded individual to ask if I'd like to receive galleys of her books.  A small monster was created that day.

Without these four there might not be an EWN, or at least the one that I recognize now.  With no EWN, I probably don't meet Steve Gillis.  And man, if I don't meet Steve Gillis, well, there goes at least 150 emails a day from my inbox on topics ranging from Dzanc Books, to the EWN, to NYT articles, to sports, to our kids, to lame jokes, to emoticons I didn't even know exisited, to anything that's important - truly a life changing friend.

Take away the EWN and I probably never would have met those that I consider my closest friends, in or out of the literary world - Aaron Burch, Elizabeth Ellen, Matt Bell, Jeff Parker, Dwayne Hayes, Jessica Bomarito, Stefan and Sanaz Kiesbye, Peter Markus, Tamara Christie (okay, I did meet her, my cousin, well before the EWN was even a thought), Barry Graham, and I'm happy to say, a list that seems to get a little longer each year.

No EWN means no Dzanc Books, of which I couldn't be more thankful.  If you assume my kids take around 4 to 6 hours of my day on a weekday, you may assume another 3 to 4 is spent sleeping, leaving at least 14 hours for me to spend on/with Dzanc Books, and I'm thankful for each and every minute of that, even the most frantic of those minutes.  I'm thankful for Dzanc having allowed me to develop better relationships with people like Keith Taylor, Steven Seighman, Gina Frangello, Stacy Bierlein, Diane Goettel, and Colleen Ryor, not to mention authors like Roy Kesey, Yannick Murphy, Peter Markus, Hesh Kestin, Kyle Minor, Louella Bryant, Norman Waksler, Jo Neace Krauss, Allison Amend, Michael Czyzniejewski, Henning Koch, Suzanne Burns, Laura van den Berg, Dawn Raffel, Terese Svoboda, Stefan Kiesbye, Nathan Leslie, Peter Selgin, Robert Lopez, Jeff Parker, Jeff Kass, Pamela Ryder and all of the others that will come.

And the list of virtual friends, and those that began as virtual friends that have been met in person at AWP or BEA the past few years is much too long to list here, and much too likely to skip somebody important.

As you can see, I have much to be thankful for, and truly hope I remember to show it regularly.

Honored

Here at the EWN, I am honored to have stumbled my way into the "10 Best Literature Blogs" as selected recently over at Blogs.com - the best in blogs, by guest blogger, David Gutowski, he of the fantastic Large Hearted Boy.

Honored both for having somebody like David feel that way about this site, and also for the company we get to keep in that list.

Books

How's that for a witty subject line?  It is what this post is about though - simply, books.  Books in all their glorious beauty.  To me, this is what is the final gavel slamming down on the judge's bench argument for why there will always be books in print form.  Besides being great instruments of communication, and entertainment, they also are objects, and sometimes incredibly well put together objects.  Objects of varying size and style and color.

Four examples from recent reads or packages that exemplify what I'm talking about:

Our Beloved 26th by Riley Michael Parker from Future Tense Books.  This is a stunning little chapbook, about 40 pages in length, about 4.25" x 5.5" in size.  It has a nice stock for a cover and has solid black paper inlays.  The cover has author provided artwork, in color and the chap includes one single work.

Spill by Curtis Crisler from Keyhole Press.  Another really beautifully hand created document.  It too is a staple-bound creation, a little over 30 pages in length, 5" x 7" in size.  Hard stock cover with what looks like an ink spill/Rorschach blot and solid red paper inlays.  It's a collection of the authors poetry.  This one is limited to 100 copies.

The Taker and Other Stories by Rubem Fonseca, translated from the Portuguese by Clifford E. Landers, from Open Letter Press.  A nice hardcover book with no dust jacket, with solid black inlay papers, this is a collection of 15 of Fonseca's short stories covering just under 170 pages.  The book is 8.5" x 5.5" and has a lighter green color for the most part.  Very eye catching.

The Annotated Nose by Marc Estrin with artwork by Delia Robinson from Unbridled Books.  This book, at about 420 pages in length, and about 7" x 9" is the biggest of the books looked at today, and possibly one of the most unique books you'll see published this, or any other, year.  A lovely dust jacket, red inlays, dozens of full page photos/pieces of art, a novel on the left-hand side pages and annotations regarding the novel on the right-hand side pages.  This book, at $39.95, is pricier than the others, and most hardcovers you're going out to find in stores these days but is exactly what I point out in the opening paragraph - an object, not just a story (and this from somebody who values stories at an extremely high level), but a true piece of art to be enjoyed in this form.

Rumors

Really, the EWN is still alive and kicking, even though it was before Halloween when I last posted.  I think I lost a couple of days to a sugar coma, but have also been out and about attending readings by Alan Cheuse, Ron Carlson and James Shepard, and Peter Markus and Renee Gladman since then, as well as reading Dzanc Prize entries, and material published online for potential Best of the Web 2009 nominations, proof reading Visiting Hours for the absolute final time, scrambling to make sure books were available across the country for one reading and in potential reviewers hands on the other side of the country for another author, AND responding to tons of awesome queries about the Dzanc Books upcoming Write-a-Thon (thank you to many).

I've also been reading and can tell you there will be some very positive reviews coming soon for books like Martin Clark's The Legal Limit, and a couple of excellent recent additions to the Melville House Press series - The Contemporary Art of the Novella.  Both Steve Stern's The North of God and Alejandro Zambra's Bonsai (translated by Carolina De Robertis) were fast, exciting reads.  It's a compelling series that I plan on exploring more of in the near future.

2008 Whiting Writers' Awards Announced

Ten writers were awarded $50,000 Whiting Writers' Awards this evening at a reception in New York and EWN favorite and friend Benjamin Percy was one of them!

From the press release of Camille McDuffie (Goldberg McDuffie Communications):

"The ten writers recognized this year for their extraordinary talent and promise are:

 

Mischa Berlinski, fiction.  His first novel, Fieldwork, was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2007. He is at work on a second novel and living in Haiti.

Rick Hilles, poetry.  His first collection, Brother Salvage, was published by the University of Pittsburgh Press. He is an assistant professor in the MFA Program at Vanderbilt University and lives in Nashville, Tennessee.

Donovan Hohn, nonfiction.  His essays have appeared in Harper's, The New York Times Magazine, Agni, The Bedford Reader, and Internazionale. His first book will be published by Viking in 2010.

Douglas Kearney, poetry.  He is the author of Fear, Some (Red Hen Press, 2006) and the forthcoming collection, The Black Automaton, which will be published by Fence Books in 2009.  He has an MFA in writing from the California Institute of the Arts, where he now teaches. 

Laleh Khadivi, fiction.  Her first book, The Age of Orphans, will be published by Bloomsbury in 2009.  She is currently the fiction fellow at Emory University in Atlanta.

Manuel Muñoz, fiction.  He is the author of two collections of short stories, Zigzagger (Northwestern University Press, 2003) and The Faith Healer of Olive Avenue (Algonquin Books, 2007).  He lives in Tucson, where he is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Arizona.

Dael Orlandersmith, plays.  Her plays include Yellowman, The Gimmick and her Obie-Award winning Beauty's Daughter, in which she also starred.  She is currently an artist-in-residence at Sarah Lawrence College and is at work on a memoir..

Benjamin Percy, fiction.  He is the author of two short story collections, The Language of Elk (Carnegie Mellon, 2006) and Refresh, Refresh (Graywolf, 2008).  He teaches in the MFA program at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa.

Julie Sheehan, poetry.  She is the author of two collections of poems, Thaw (Fordham University Press, 2001), and Orient Point (Norton, 2006).  She teaches in the graduate Writing and Literature program at Stony Brook Southampton and lives in East Quogue, New York.

Lysley Tenorio, fiction.   He has recently completed a collection of short stories and is working on a novel.  He lives in San Francisco and teaches at Saint Mary's College in Moraga, California."

More information to come soon!