Second Line shipping

Thu 29 Oct 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | 1 Comment| Posted by: Gavin

We’ll be shipping out Poppy Z. Brite’s Second Line to reviewers and readers asap — contact us if you want to review it.

We may yet have a nice little surprise for collectors (give us another week after all) and a little something sort of special for regular readers…


Greenstart

Tue 27 Oct 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | 2 Comments| Posted by: Gavin

In 2008 I was happy to see our home electricity through New England GreenStart came from:

  • 75% hydroelectric power
  • 20.9% biomass
  • 3% solar
  • 1.2% wind

For summer 2009 the figures had improved to:

  • 69.3% hydroelectric
  • 19.9% biomass
  • 4.7% solar
  • 6% wind

So solar and wind now make up more than 10% of our power: a good start! I think the program has changed in some way but as far as I know on it goes, happily charging a little extra to invest in alternative options.


Second Line

Tue 27 Oct 2009 - Filed under: Books | 7 Comments| Posted by: intern

October 27, 2009 · 9781931520607 · trade paper/ebook

Read a new interview with Poppy Brite in Gambit magazine.

Second Line: Two Short Novels of Love and Cooking in New Orleans starring lovable chefs Rickey and G-man from the incomparable Poppy Z. Brite. Includes: The Value of X and D*U*C*K and a new afterword by the author.

“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!”
—NewOrleans.com

“Fun foodie fiction, and readers will scarf it down.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Poppy Z. Brite lives in New Orleans, which is perhaps the best setting in the world for two novels about the chaotic world of the restaurant kitchen. The first, “The Value of X,” introduces Rickey and G-man, two chefs who love food and each other. Against the backdrop of some fabulous meals, the two must navigate the end of childhood, questions of sexuality, the challenges of family and separation, and their divergent ambitions. In “D*U*C*K,” the two have become owners and co-chefs of Liquor, one of the Big Easy’s most popular restaurants.”
—The Daily Hampshire Gazette

“The Value of X should be particularly noteworthy for teens, as it is the coming out and coming-of-age stories of two of Brite’s long time characters, future chefs (and restaurant owners) Rickey and G-Man….. Brite’s books and stories about New Orleans are some of my all time favorite comfort reading and fans of southern writing and food should not let this collection pass them by. Great stuff, for sure.”
—Guys Lit Wire

Read an excerpt from The Value of X.

Read an excerpt from D*U*C*K at BSCreview.

These two short novels bookend Poppy Z. Brite’s cheerfully chaotic series starring two chefs in New Orleans. The Value of X introduces G-man and Rickey, who grew up in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward and who are slowly realizing there are only two important things in life: cooking and each other. Rickey’s parents aren’t quite so taken with the boy’s plans and get him an impossible-to-resist place at the Culinary Institute of America.

In D*U*C*K, Rickey and G-man’s restaurant, Liquor, is doing well but there are the usual complications of running a kitchen: egos get bruised, people get fired . . . and then Rickey is jumped in an alley by one of their ex-waiters.

On the mend, Rickey takes a side job to cater the annual Ducks Unlimited banquet, where every course must, of course, include the ducks the hunters have bagged. Rickey’s crew are ready to meet the challenge, but Rickey’s not sure he can do it all and deal with the guest of honor—his childhood hero, former New Orleans Saints quarterback Bobby Hebert.

Originally published in limited hardcover editions by Subterranean Press, these two novels are full of the pure joy of love, hard work, and great food and are a tremendous extension (or introduction) to Brite’s series.

Poppy Z. Brite’s fiction set in the New Orleans restaurant world includes Prime, Liquor, and Soul Kitchen. She has also published five other novels and three short story collections. She lives with her husband Chris, a chef, in New Orleans.

High praise for Poppy Z. Brite’s previous books:

“A high-end restaurant is—for any competent novelist—a gift that keeps on giving. The heat, the bickerings and intrigue, the pursuit of perfection, the dodgy money keeping it all afloat: the setting spawns plots . . . Can the [Liquor] franchise sustain itself? The answer is yes.”
—New York Times

“Rickey and G-man’s venture makes for a funny, surprisingly suspenseful story informed by Brite’s sure, sympathetic eye and her in-depth understanding of the arcane subculture she describes.”
—The Washington Post


Poppy Brite fun

Tue 27 Oct 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal. | Leave a Comment| Posted by: Gavin

If all goes well tomorrow we should have a fun surprise to offer Poppy Brite fans. If all does not go well this post does not exist.


Fantasy football for books people?

Sun 25 Oct 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , , | Leave a Comment| Posted by: Gavin

So why isn’t there something like Fantasy Football or the Hollywood Stock Exchange for books? Wouldn’t it be fun to bet who was going to be #1 next week, which house would have all the NBCC winners, etc., etc.? And if game-theory peeps are to be believed, wouldn’t the simulacrum give us some sense of the real world?

Anyway, some techy-programy-bookie-type person out there: please go and make millions on this now, please, thank you.


The Ant King

Fri 23 Oct 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Leave a Comment| Posted by: Gavin

LitDrift are giving away a free copy of Ben Rosenbaum’s wide-ranging and excellent story collection The Ant King this week. Drop by and leave a comment for your chance to win. They also, bravely, encourage haiku.

Congratulations to last week’s winner, Paul Ketchum, who gets a free copy of Couch!


Planner Preview + $4.95 DRM-free PDF

Fri 23 Oct 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , | Leave a Comment| Posted by: Gavin

We have just posted the month of March here as a preview of our Working Writer’s Daily Planner which is at the printer now. (2011’s will be earlier!)

The Planner is also now available as a DRM-free PDF (emailed within 24 hours of purchase — and usually sooner) for just $4.95.

We’re selling it as a nicely-bookmarked 2MB PDF (formatting makes it harder than other books to convert into other formats) which means you can print it at any size you want: letter-sized to put in a 3-ring binder, tiny to go on index cards, or 6″ x 9″ to replicate the printed edition.

We’d love to hear about different printing and use strategies and we’re always open to suggestions for what should go into next year’s edition. (Read the table of contents for this year’s Planner here.)


If it’s Thursday, must be Portsmouth

Thu 22 Oct 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , | Leave a Comment| Posted by: Gavin

RiverRun Books is one of the most popular Twittering Bookstores and they love Hound — you can’t miss it, it’s right there on their front table — which is great as Vince is reading there tonight.

Vince is blogging all week at Powell’s.com and is part of a great book event in New York City on Sunday.


Wed 21 Oct 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Leave a Comment| Posted by: Gavin

Dave Schwartz posted a fantastic photo: “Alan Deniro’s poster at the Rain Taxi Twin Cities Book Festival, handmade publicity for his imminent novel, Total Oblivion, More or Less.” Click on it and make it bigger:

Threat Level Gnosis by Snurri.


Tue 20 Oct 2009 - Filed under: Celebrating | Leave a Comment| Posted by: Gavin

Small Beer Press + Big Mouth House receiving the World Fantasy Award!


What do you think the price should be?

Mon 19 Oct 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | 5 Comments| Posted by: Gavin

What should we price the pdf ebook of our upcoming A Working Writer’s Daily Planner 2010? The paper version is $13.95 (and is at the printer).

The ebook will be pdf only — there is too much formatting and too many pics for anything else.

Suggestions?


Free calendar

Wed 14 Oct 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Leave a Comment| Posted by: Gavin

Update: Done!

We just received this promo and we won’t be ordering them (just like last year!) as we have a calendar all of our very own making that at long last is at the printer. It’s a nice enough planner, a month per page, and various handy things.

So, instead of letting it molder until next year, we’ll send it out to the very next reader to order one of our books or zines.

Not our calendar by you.


Ray Vukcevich at the movies (almost)

Mon 12 Oct 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , | Leave a Comment| Posted by: Gavin

Meet Me in the Moon RoomA couple of readers have emailed us to ask if the skippy viral thriller-chiller film Paranormal Activity is based on Ray Vukcevich’s incredibly creepy and wonderful story “Whisper” — which was collected in Meet Me in the Moon Room (and originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction in January 2001).

The answer: while we haven’t seen the film at the moment we don’t think so. Ray tells us there has been a lot of film interest in “Whisper” over the years (along with a few of his other stories) but even though both “Whisper” and Paranormal Activity feature paranoid people setting up cameras to record themselves sleeping it seems that this is one of those cases of parallel evolution where the a similar idea is interpreted artistically from a couple of different points of view.

Either way, if you like creepy stories and haven’t read “Whisper,” now’s your chance.


Redemption in Indigo

Mon 12 Oct 2009 - Filed under: Forthcoming, Preorders | Leave a Comment| Posted by: Gavin

June 22, 2010:
9781931520669 · Trade paper · 180 pp

In this clever and entrancing debut novel which won the Frank Collymore Award, Paama frees herself from a troublesome and capricious husband, only to become the unwitting heroine in a fantastic struggle to reconcile the supernatural forces of fate with humanity’s free will.

“The impish love child of Tutuola and Garcia Marquez. Utterly delightful.”
—Nalo Hopkinson


Redemption in Indigo

Mon 12 Oct 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , | 2 Comments| Posted by: Gavin

Karen LordSmall Beer Press are very happy to announce they have acquired the rights to Karen Lord’s debut novel, Redemption in Indigo, which received the pre-publication BDS$10,000 Frank Collymore Award in Barbados and will be published as a trade paperback original in June 2010.

Redemption in Indigo is a clever and entrancing debut which incorporates folktales to tell the story of a woman who frees herself from a troublesome and capricious husband only to become the unwitting heroine in a fantastic struggle to reconcile the supernatural forces of fate with humanity’s free will.

Jewel Forde interviewed Karen on CBC’s “Mornin’ Barbados” and Karen’s just posted the video on Facebook.

Read the introduction after the break:

Read more


Cloud (& Ashes Lit)Drifts Free

Fri 9 Oct 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Leave a Comment| Posted by: Gavin

Following last week’s Hound (hope you enjoy it, James DeBruicker!) this week’s freebie at LitDrift is Greer Gilman’s intense and magical Cloud & Ashes. Email them or leave a comment to enter.


Earlier Entries in »