LCRW Costs, They Go Up

Sun 30 Mar 2025 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Posted by: Gavin

Damn my eyes. I have seen — and ignored for a year or two too many — spreadsheets such as no zinemaker should see. I have calculated numbers no right-thinking person should know. I have stared at the Sum of all Costs and my very soul trembles before them. In the long dark tea time of the zining afternoon when considering the Fiscal Cliff I run out of Excuses and Pure and Simple Reasons and decide This Must Not Go On. The zine? Yes. Shall I go hiking? No. Shall I hike the zine price? Frustratingly enough, yes.

The USPS costs have Increas’d ($2.31 to mail just 1 zine) and even the Very Paper the zine is printed upon is More Costly in 2025 than in 2024. Or 2023. Or in 2022. Or in 2022. Wait, I am stuck. Please imagine I typed “Or in Year-1” until I hit 1996 when paper was free due to the availability of the photocopier at my temp job. We pay writers but thruppence a word, unincreas’d for Some Years. If that is to increase, and if we are to continue to send out a zine once, maybe even twice in a year, then the Price must rise.

Before The Increase, here are links for those who have the energy to order or — for those with faith the USPS will still be here in a couple of years — subscribe.

 

Chocolate $400
Writers $1,200
Printing $950
Candles $3600
Cover art $100
someone who is good at the economy please help me budget this. my zine is dying


Making Karen Russell Blush

Thu 27 Mar 2025 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Posted by: Gavin

Karen Russell is out on tour with her new novel The Antidote wrote a great list of book recommendations for Elle. They format it so that each book is finishing the sentence “The book that . . .” and for this one the first answer was Kristen Arnett’s forthcoming novel Stop Me if You’ve Heard This One and the second part was Alaya’s story — linked below:

. . . has a sex scene that will make you blush:

Also, Alaya Dawn Johnson’s “A Guide to the Fruits of Hawa’ii” from her stunning collection, Reconstruction, is one of my favorite short stories. It’s about a prison camp where humans are harvested by vampires. (I can imagine some readers might have a lively debate with me here about what qualifies as a sex scene.) “Blush” is too mild a verb for what happens when I reread it. I don’t know what verb to use for a horror-blush. It’s definitely more of a “run for your eternal life” flush than a dewy glow. More meaty red than Maybelline.<


Nebula Award finalist: Jennifer Hudak’s, The Witch Trap

Wed 26 Mar 2025 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , | Posted by: Gavin

Sending our congratulations and sharing the joy that Jennifer Hudak’s story “The Witch Trap” from LCRW 48 is one of six fine finalists for the short story Nebula Award.


Reverting Rights

Tue 25 Mar 2025 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , | Posted by: Gavin

This is to note that we’re reverting — by Angélica Gorodischer’s estate’s request — rights on two of the three of her books that we have in print: Kalpa Imperial (translated by Ursula K. Le Guin) and Prodigies (translated by Sue Burke). The contract for Trafalgar (translated by Amalia Gladhart), which I had already extended once, runs until March 2026. At that point I expect the estate will ask for those rights to be reverted, too.

This means our ebook edition will stop being available soon. The print editions will still be available at a few excellent stores — such as Alienated Majesty in Austin, TX, and Moon Palace in Minneapolis, MN — but bookshops will no longer be able to order them. We’ll have copies for the foreseeable future — I don’t like to run out so I have a good amount of stock on hand . . . ) which will be available here and in Book Moon.

We’ve loved publishing these books and helping to bring Angélica’s books to Anglophone readers and I am only sorry now not to be able to bring any more into print. But as a reader I’m very happy the estate is focused on getting more of Angélica’s books published here.

I expect I will have more posts along these lines this year as my condition hasn’t changed much since last year.


Late March Shipping Update

Mon 24 Mar 2025 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Posted by: Gavin

We’ve been working (as slowly as I ever do these days) with Maple Press on getting shipping re-started on our limited edition of Kelly’s novel The Book of Love and the good news is that it should begin again next week.

We have two Character Editions available — Maryanne and Caitlyn Hightower — along with the Lettered. The final count of the Numbered edition will end up being less than 500 copies.

Otherwise we’re continuing to ship LCRW from Book Moon and most Small Beer books from our distro, Consortium/Ingram in Jackson, TN. We’re all caught up with everything there — bar one new subscription which came in this morning, ha!


Ayize @ Harvard

Mon 3 Mar 2025 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Posted by: Gavin

Ayize Jama-Everett will be at this Harvard conference on Wednesday and Thursday Psychedelics in Monotheistic Traditions: Sacramental Practice and Legal Recognition.

His film A Table of Our Own  is showing at Harvard Law School Room WCC 2004 on Wed. 3/5 @ 8pm & is free & open to the public.