Spider in a Tree gets a starred review from Booklist

Tue 15 Oct 2013 - Filed under: Not a Journal., starred review, Susan Stinson | Comments Off on Spider in a Tree gets a starred review from Booklist | Posted by: Gavin

Great news for Susan Stinson: Spider in a Tree has just received its fourth trade review and the best was saved for last. Booklist’s starred review goes out today:

“As a Puritan preacher who suspends listeners above the sulfurous fires of hell, Jonathan Edwards commands center stage in this compelling historical novel. With mesmerizing narrative gifts, Stinson exposes readers to the full force of Edwards’ brimstone sermonizing. But she also lets readers hear Edwards’ voice in other registers, giving compassionate reassurance to his troubled wife, extending tender forgiveness to a despairing sinner, reflecting pensively on how God manifests his wisdom in a lowly spider. But the Edwards voice that most readers will find most irresistible is his inner voice, laden with grief at a young daughter’s death, perplexed at his spiritual status as master of a household slave. . . . An impressive chronicle conveying the intense spiritual yearnings that illuminate a colonial world of mud, disease, and fear.”

Kirkus did not love the book. C’est la vie! Publishers Weekly gave it a very strong review and picked it as an Indie Sleeper. And Library Journal also just reviewed the book this week:

“Famous theologian Jonathan Edwards (1703–58) comes to life in this mid-18th-century story of the First Great Awakening, a revivalist movement that swept Protestant Europe and the American Colonies. . . . Weaving together archival letters, historical detail, and fictional twists, Stinson vividly resurrects this emotional historical period prior to the American Revolution.”

The book is flying off the shelves in the Pioneer Valley and now we are seeing it beginning to be picked up regionally and nationally. Yesterday Susan read at the Yale Divinity School (where Edwards studied—check that photo above!) and tonight she is reading at the Stockbridge Library (where Edwards also lived) and with luck she will get either to sit at or take a photo of Edwards’s desk.

The she is off to California—the most open of the events is at MCC-San Francisco before coming back here for readings at Amherst Books, Porter Square (with Kelly!), and KGB Bar and the Book Reading Series in NYC. Busy times!

October 15, 6:30 p.m. Stockbridge Library, Stockbridge, Mass.
October 23, 12 p.m., American Studies, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA
October 24, 4 p.m. Religion, Politics, and Globalization Program, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
October 25, 7 p.m. MCC-San Francisco. Reading and reception,150 Eureka Street, San Francisco, CA 94114
October 30, 2 p.m. reading, talk, Q&A, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA
November 13, 8 pm. Amherst Books, Amherst, Mass.
November 18, 7 pm. Porter Square Books, Cambridge, Mass. (with Kelly Link)
November 21, 7 p.m. Drunken Careening Writers series, KGB Bar, NYC (with Holly Hepp-Galvan and John Schuyler Bishop)
December 15, 5 p.m. Bloom Readings, Washington Heights, NYC

Author photo courtesy: Jeep Wheat.

Boston Boo Festival

Mon 14 Oct 2013 - Filed under: Not a Journal., naked commerce | Comments Off on Boston Boo Festival | Posted by: Gavin

Ok, perhaps it is the Boston Book Festival but doesn’t the Boston Boo Festival sound more October?

Ok, again, so: this Saturday October 19 we will be at the Boston Boo(k) Festival in Copley Square selling books from 10 am – 5 pm.

Susan Stinson is coming with us: come and get a signed copy of Spider in a Tree!

Just as at the Harvard Book Store Warehouse Weekend we are intending on selling books cheap! We want these books in readers’ hands!

We’re going to be at Table 48 on Dartmouth Street (between Sisters in Crime and Arts Emerson).

Besides cheap, cheap, cheap backlist we will also have Howard Waldrop’s new collection Horse of a Different Color.

And!

For those who missed it at the Harvard Book Store Warehouse Weekend we’ll be giving away a free chapbook to all buyers:

“The two story chapbook, North American Monster Stories, will never be for sale. The stories are the title story from Nathan Ballingrud’s collection, North American Lake Monsters, and “Up the Fire Road,” a story from Eileen Gunn’s collection Questionable Practices.”

Should be fun, hope to see you there!

Kelly @ Random

Wed 9 Oct 2013 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Kelly Link | 9 Comments | Posted by: Gavin

So, the big news around here is that Kelly sold her next couple of books—and reprint rights to Magic for Beginners—to Noah Eaker at Random House. Yay!!

The first of the books is Get in Trouble*, Kelly’s first new collection of stories since Pretty Monsters (2008). Get in Trouble should be out in early 2015. It will be followed at some point by the second book, Novel As Yet Unwritten**.

Thanks as ever to Kelly’s fabby agent Renee Zuckerbrot of the Renee Zuckerbrot Literary Agency and to Kelly’s new foreign rights agent Taryn Fagerness who has already sold Get in Trouble to Francis Bickmore at Canongate Books—who did such a great job with Pretty Monsters.

Here is the proper and official announcement as reported in Publishers Marketplace:

Author of Magic for Beginners, which was a Time Best Book of the Year and on Best of the Decade lists from the Village Voice, Salon, and The Onion and Stranger Things Happen Kelly Link’s GET IN TROUBLE, another collection of short stories, and her first novel, to Noah Eaker at Random House, byRenee Zuckerbrot of Renee Zuckerbrot Literary Agency (NA).
Foreign rights: taryn.fagerness@gmail.com

* Kelly assures me the cover design will not feature the word “Get” in tiny letters inside a huge “Trouble.” I say wait and see.

** Not final title.

Nook Daily Find

Mon 7 Oct 2013 - Filed under: Not a Journal., ebooks, Peter Dickinson, sale | Comments Off on Nook Daily Find | Posted by: Gavin

Peter Dickinson’s Death of a Unicorn is the Nook Daily Find and is $2.99 today only at bn.com.

It has jumped up the charts throughout the day and now it is sitting pretty at #30 besides two of Nora Roberts’s books. Long may Lady MM rise!

ETA: #7!

It’s a Top Ten bestseller!

Ben Parzybok and Sherwood Nation at PNBA

Fri 4 Oct 2013 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Benjamin Parzybok | Comments Off on Ben Parzybok and Sherwood Nation at PNBA | Posted by: Gavin

Next fall we are publishing Benjamin Parzybok’s second novel Sherwood Nation and I am very happy to say that PNBA booksellers can get a very advance galley copy at the PNBA Trade Show Author Feast at the Airport Holiday Inn, Portland, OR, on Monday.

Sherwood Nation is a huge, amazing, scarily timely novel about a drought-stricken Portland, Oregon, and a nascent attempt to rebuild society from the grassroots up. If you read Couch, you’ll already know that Ben is a hilarious and smart writer and in the five years(!) he worked on Sherwood Nation he’s only gotten better. Everything he cares about is here: community, families (born and made), love, bicycling, doing good work, and looking after self, community, and the land we live on.

You’ll be hearing more (ok, there’s more below) about the book as 2014 comes on. With luck—and help from readers like you!—it will be one of the big books of next year!

We’ll have more galleys and giveaways as the publication date approaches but I wanted to get the heads-up out there to the people who are most likely to read and love this book as much as we do.

In drought-stricken Portland, Oregon, a Robin Hood-esque water thief is caught on camera redistributing an illegal truckload of water to those in need. Nicknamed Maid Marian—real name: Renee, a 20-something barista and eternal part-time college student—she is an instant folk hero. Renee rides her swelling popularity and the public’s disgust at how the city has abandoned its people, raises an army . . . and secedes a quarter of the city of Portland, Oregon.

Sherwood Nation is the story of the rise and fall of a micronation within a city.

Even as Maid Marian and her compatriots (a former drug kingpin, her ad-writer boyfriend, and many others) build a new community one neighbor at a time, they are making powerful enemies amongst the city government and the National Guard. Sherwood is an idealistic dream too soon caught in a brutal fight for survival.

Benjamin Parzybok’s Sherwood Nation is a love story, a war story, a grand social experiment, a treatise on government, on freedom and necessity, on individualism and community.

Publication Day for Spider in a Tree

Tue 1 Oct 2013 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Susan Stinson | Comments Off on Publication Day for Spider in a Tree | Posted by: Gavin

What a day! And tomorrow well be celebrating in style at First Churches here in Northampton, Mass., with Susan (and you, we hope!). The church (“a large stone Gothic cathedral”!) is at 129 Main St. and the reading is at 7 p.m.

On this day that part of the government has stepped away from its duties and shut down the government, it is a relief to read the history of the church:

“The American Baptist and United Church of Christ congregations joined together in June of 1988 to become The First Churches. The First Church of Christ of Northampton, is the oldest congregation in our city and was established in 1661. The First Baptist Church in Northampton was founded under the leadership of Rev. Benjamin Willard in 1826. Now, both churches share in worship, fellowship, educational classes, programs, and mission and act as one congregation.”

Two groups working together. It can be done!

Today has been a long time coming for Spider in a Tree. Susan has been writing this novel for ten years. It is a strong, fabulous book about life in 1740s Massachusetts and the frictions between belief and work, neighbors and preachers, church and town. Jonathan Edwards and his (large!) family are at the forefront but also their slaves—how could people who called themselves godly own slaves? It was a different time, a different mindset, very hard to comprehend from here. Susan does a wonderful job of putting the reader into the heads of many of the people who actually lived in this town back then. I’ll put a small taste of it below.

Hope to see friends and neighbors tomorrow at First Churches. The reading is the first in Forbes Library’s local reading series and Broadside Books will be there with the book—as well as tickets for Susan’s Bridge Street Cemetery Tour on Saturday, Oct. 5, at 1 p.m. But, mostly, congratulations to Susan for this fabulous book and thank you for sending it to us!

Chapter 1: June 1731, Newport to Northampton

The girl saw a tall, gaunt man look up from a slice of raisin pie (she had baked it, perfecting her hand with cold water crust) when she walked into Captain Perkins’s parlor with Phyllis close behind her. She could see that he was the one doing the buying. Phyllis put a hand on the small of her back to position her near the table where the men sat. The girl stared at the oozing, dark-flecked pie from which the buyer had spooned a tiny bite.

“Mr. Edwards, this is Venus.” Captain Perkins spoke smoothly. “I kept her as the pick of the lot when I unloaded most of the cargo in the Caribbean on my last voyage. I got a shipment of very good allspice, as well.”

“Impressive,” murmured someone.

The girl held her hands clasped and her back straight, but her legs were trembling. Phyllis kept a hand on her back. She had said that there would be others in the room, come to witness the sale over pie and rum punch. The girl barely took them in.

She raised her eyes and found Mr. Edwards looking at her face. She felt locked out of her own mind, both numbed and spinning, but she held his gaze. This was improper, but he kept looking himself, steadily, into her eyes. He was, perhaps, twice as old as she was, so still young. He had on a black coat with a beaver hat resting on his knee. She could see that he was a stranger, and his collar marked him as a preacher. Whatever else he might be, as a person to exchange glances with, he was uncommonly intense.

Captain Perkins spoke up from his chair. “She’s a dutiful girl. And she’s already had the small pox.”

. . .

MassHealth for Mass Health

Mon 30 Sep 2013 - Filed under: Not a Journal., MassHealth, Ursula | 22 Comments | Posted by: Gavin

photo-20

This is the first week since our daughter, Ursula, was born in February 2009 that we will not have any home nurses coming in to help look after. This is a huge milestone and I cannot resist writing about it. We are filled with all the glee of parents of a newborn coming home for the first time. Sure, it also means life is complicated, but, hey, we knew that when we signed up for this gig.

Ursula is a very healthy four-and-a-half-year-old. She is in preschool 4 days a week (for all of 2 hours 15 minutes a day!) and loves tumble tots at the YMCA.

She still sees various specialists and physical (and other) therapists but for the most part when you talk to her she is just a great, smart, healthy kid who loves books and chocolate. We are so lucky and so grateful.

The home nursing came from the mighty MassHealth, which of course then-Governor Romney signed into law and then “RomneyCare” was used as the basis for the new Affordable Health Care/”ObamaCare.” Let me tell you, having a kid in hospital and being able to change insurance companies without being penalized for all her pre-existing conditions was huge. If we were living in a different US state by now we would be bankrupt and maybe living in Ursula’s Nana’s basement—which, I have to say, is a lovely basement. So, from the bottom of our hearts for now and forever: Thanks to all the politicians, backroom folks, grassroots activists, and healthcare professionals for MassHealth. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Tomorrow!

Mon 30 Sep 2013 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Susan Stinson | Comments Off on Tomorrow! | Posted by: Gavin

Hey, tomorrow is publication day for Susan Stinson’s Spider in a Tree!

There will be stories in the newspapers, stories on the radio, streamers flying from the windows when Susan bikes through town, and readers’ mind blown as they consider the way 18th century theologians could also be . . . slave owners. Weird? Very weird.

Here’s one story about Susan’s graveyard tour (tickets still available!) Springfield Republican: “Writer Susan Stinson of Northampton honors theologian with Bridge Street Cemetery tours”

and here’s the info on Wednesday nights launch night.

Woohoo!

October 2, 7 pm, Launch party & reading, First Churches, Northampton, Mass. Sponsored by Forbes Library and Broadside Books.
— Writer’s Voice interview, WMUA

October 5, 1 pm, Bridge Street Cemetery Walking Tour. Tickets now available from Broadside Books.

Susan in the Republican; Smith College food service negotiations

Fri 27 Sep 2013 - Filed under: Not a Journal., podcasts, radio, Smith College, Susan Stinson, unions | Comments Off on Susan in the Republican; Smith College food service negotiations | Posted by: Gavin

There was a huge, great story about Susan Stinson in the Springfield Republican yesterday, “Writer Susan Stinson of Northampton honors theologian with Bridge Street Cemetery tours,” which included a couple of photos from a cemetery tour Susan took the author, Cori Urban, on. We’re going on the tour on Oct. 5—tickets available from Broadside Books (Hope to see you there!)

Bridge Street Cemetery was established in 1663. After the town voted that no more burials should take place next to the Meetinghouse, a portion of a 10-acre lot on the far edge of town, known as the “minister’s lott” at Pine Plain, was allocated for use as a burial ground, according to the website for Historic Northampton Museum and Education Center. In 1680, the bodies of those previously buried were moved to Bridge Street Cemetery.
The approximately 20-acre cemetery is an active non-denominational city cemetery.
A well-known theologian, Edwards has significant ties to the cemetery. He was minister at what is now First Churches in downtown Northampton from 1727-1750. Solomon Stoddard, his grandfather; Jerusha Edwards, his daughter; and other members of his family are buried in the cemetery.

Monday: MFB CC no more

Fri 27 Sep 2013 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Creative Commons, Kelly Link | Comments Off on Monday: MFB CC no more | Posted by: Gavin

Just a note to say that due to an upcoming change in the rights status, as of Monday, September 30th, we will be taking down the creative commons versions of Kelly Link’s Magic for Beginners.

First I’d like to thank all the publishers who went along with this: Harcourt, HarperCollins UK, and also the ten other international publishers, thank you for your bigheartedopenmindedness! Because two stories from MFB also appeared in Pretty Monsters, the CC-version of MFB has always been 2 (er, somewhat circumventable) stories short of the published edition. (The ebook, which is available on Weightless and all the other usual spots, of course includes all the stories.)

Second, in the 5 years MFB has been available under the CC license there have been at least 125,000 downloads which is amazing! and we’d like to once again thank everyone for their CC-conversions . . . and also for CC-inspired work!

Kelly’s first collection, Stranger Things Happen, is still available under the CC-license (145,000 downloads and counting!) and we are still committed to the ideas behind it. All our ebooks are available DRM-free on Weightless and we are always open to the idea of releasing further titles under the CC-license in the future.

In the meantime if you’d like to download Magic for Beginners before we take it down on Monday: all the DRM-free versions are of course here.

Next Wednesday

Wed 25 Sep 2013 - Filed under: Not a Journal., cemetery woman, Northampton, Susan Stinson | Comments Off on Next Wednesday | Posted by: Gavin

We’ll be celebrating Susan Stinson’s book launch and reading at First Churches here in Northampton, Mass. Yes, this is a book set in Northampton written by a Northampton author and published by a company whose offices are in Easthampton, but whose principals live in Northampton. It’s a local book for local people! Well, in the sense that everyone is local somewhere.

Susan’s reading also kicks off the Forbes Library Local History/Local Novelists 2013/14 Reading and Lecture Series—the whole series info is below—and is leading a cemetery tour on Saturday, October 5 at 1 pm.

Hope to see you there!

October 2, 7 pm
First Churches, 129 Main St., Northampton, Mass.

October 5, 1 pm
Bridge Street Cemetery Walking Tour.
Tickets available from Broadside Books.

October 2	Spider in a Tree book launch Susan Stinson First Churches, 129 Main Street, Northampton co-sponsored by Small Beer Press, Broadside Books and First Churches
November 6	Celebration of Local Novelists, Part 1 John Clayton, novelist, Mitzvah Man Marisa Labozzetta, novelist, Sometimes It Snows in America Karen Osborn, novelist, Centerville
December 4	Hampshire County Memories: Historic Local Photographs Faith Kaufmann and Dylan Gaffney, Forbes Library Special Collections
January 8	Journalists as Fiction Writers Andrew Adamek Fred Contrada Bob Flaherty James Heflin Diane Lederman Mark Roessler
February 5	Quabbin J.R. Greene, author, The creation of Quabbin Reservoir: The death of the Swift River Valley Maryanne O’Hara, novelist, Cascade Gail Thomas, poet, No Simple Wilderness: An Elegy for Swift River Valley
April 9 (2nd Wed.)	Emily Dickinson/Quiet Charles Coe, author, All Sins Forgiven: Poems for My Parents Kevin Quashie, author, The Sovereignty of Quiet: Beyond Resistance in Black Culture Jane Wald, director, Emily Dickinson Museum
May 7	Celebration of Local Novelists, Part 2 Deborah Noyes, novelist, Plague in the Mirror Jacqueline Sheehan, novelist, Picture This Hilary Sloin, novelist, Art on Fire

Susan Stinson readings & events:

October 2, 7 pm, Launch party & reading, First Churches, Northampton, Mass. Sponsored by Forbes Library and Broadside Books.
— Writer’s Voice interview, WMUA
October 5, 1 pm, Bridge Street Cemetery Walking Tour. Tickets now available from Broadside Books.
October 14, 12 p.m. Edwards Room, Yale Divinity School, New Haven, Mass.
October 15, 6:30 p.m. Stockbridge Library, Stockbridge, Mass.
October 23, 12 p.m., American Studies, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA
October 24, 4 p.m. Religion, Politics, and Globalization Program, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
October 30, 2 pm, reading, talk, Q&A, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA
November 13, Amherst College, Amherst, Mass.
November 18, Porter Square Books, Cambridge, Mass.
November 21, 7 pm, Drunken Careening Writers series, KGB Bar, NYC (with Holly Hepp-Galvan and John Schuyler Bishop)
December 15, 5 pm, Bloom Readings, Washington Heights, NYC

Updated: October 2, 2013, is, by general agreement, a Wednesday, not a Tuesday. Oops!

Small Beer Podcast 18: Kelly Link’s “Stone Animals” & Cider

Tue 24 Sep 2013 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Dusty Buchinski, Geoff Noble, Jennifer Abeles, Julie C. Day, Julie Day, Kelly Link, Podcastery, small beer podcast, Stone Animals | Comments Off on Small Beer Podcast 18: Kelly Link’s “Stone Animals” & Cider | Posted by: Julie

Old friends never go out of style. Yet, somehow, too often they manage to slip into the dusty corners of our lives. Each time one pops up and disrupts my helter skelter schedule, I feel a frisson of rediscovery. “Yes, this is why we remember each other. This really is how it used to be.”

This latest Small Beer podcast is exactly such an old friend. Recorded a while back, I got nervous about the time involved in editing it down, then distracted by a number of non-podcast related deadlines, and finally let the recording slip into some forgotten crack. Dear, Lord, what was I thinking?! The discussion is opinionated, amusing and thoughtful in just the right measure. Months later it makes me want to go back and reread “Stone Animals” all over again.

Spoiler Alert: The details of the story are discussed at length. If you have not yet read “Stone Animals” consider this your excuse to do so now. Not. One Wasted. Moment. I promise. You can purchase the beautifully illustrated chapbook from Madras Press, knowing all proceeds go to the Fistula Foundation, or you can read it for free (under a Creative Commons license) as part of Kelly’s Magic for Beginners collection.

Episode 18: In which Julie C. Day, Jennifer Abeles, Dusty Buchins, & Geoff Noble discuss Kelly Link’s “Stone Animals.”

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe to the Small Beer podcast using iTunes or the service of your choice:

Death of a Unicorn ebook sale

Mon 23 Sep 2013 - Filed under: Not a Journal., ebooks, Peter Dickinson, sale | Comments Off on Death of a Unicorn ebook sale | Posted by: Gavin

To celebrate the publication of our latest Peter Dickinson title (The Poison Oracle), we are putting the ebook of Death of a Unicorn on super sale this week: it’s 70% off, was $9.95, now only $2.99!

Get it here:

— Weightless
— Kobo
— iBooks
— Barnes & Noble

You can get it at all the usual places (we have sent the new price out to all the sites we can, some of them are slower to process the price change than others) and as always we recommend Weightless and your local bookshop (through Kobo) first.

Bookslinger: Pride and Prometheus

Fri 20 Sep 2013 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Bookslinger, John Kessel | Comments Off on Bookslinger: Pride and Prometheus | Posted by: Gavin

New this week on Consortium’s Bookslinger app is John Kessel’s Jane Austen/Frankenstein mashup, “Pride and Prometheus,” reprinted from his collection The Baum Plan for Financial Independence.

Previously on Bookslinger:

Kij Johnson’s “At the Mouth of the River of Bees”

Georges-Olivier Chateaureynaud’s “Delauney the Broker” (translated by Edward Gauvin) from the collection A Life on Paper.

Ray Vukcevich, “Whisper”

Maureen F. McHugh, “The Naturalist”

Karen Joy Fowler, “The Pelican Bar”

Kelly Link, “The Faery Handbag”

Benjamin Rosenbaum, “Start the Clock”

Maureen F. McHugh, “Ancestor Money”

Download the app in the iTunes store.

And watch a video on it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySL1bvyuNUE

More HBS fun

Thu 19 Sep 2013 - Filed under: Not a Journal., bookshops, keep it indie | Comments Off on More HBS fun | Posted by: Gavin

We had a ton of fun last Saturday at the Harvard Book Store Warehouse Weekend. Ok, so we only stayed one day, but, we were there the day the Fugu Truck was there. Total win!

There are three more weekends of it and man, I am tempted to go. We walked away with a box of books—and I think we got away lightly. And missed a ton of good books. Argh.

We were also gifted with some home brewed beer (4 different types!) from Thom Dunn, who we met this summer in at Clarion San Diego. That was a lovely surprise—the beer, not Thom. Thanks, Thom!

We were in between the lovely people at Ploughshares magazine and Cervena Barva Press, who were very kind. Of course anyone who compliments the kid is immediately a friend of ours. We had a lovely time, so, Boston area peeps: don’t miss out!

Saturday, September 21 and Sunday, September 22 (10am–6pm)
Local Flavors: Food Truck Favorites and Epicurean Treats

Saturday, September 28 and Sunday, September, 29 (10am–6pm)
Local Innovation: From Science Fiction to Science Fairs

Saturday, October 5 and Sunday, October 6 (10am–6pm)
Local Craft: Workshops, Zines, Indie Comics, and more

Murder! Murder!

Tue 17 Sep 2013 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Greer Gilman | Comments Off on Murder! Murder! | Posted by: Gavin

We are very pleased to celebrate the publication day of Greer Gilman’s novella chapbook Cry Murder! in a Small Voice. There is no one who writes like Greer, as you may know if you’ve dreamt your way through Cloud & Ashes. Cry Murder! is a different beast, a mystery—of sorts—a tale of Ben Jonson and loss and longing in seventeenth century London. And we are very happy to note that the cover of Cry Murder! is by Kathleen Jennings who also created the beautiful cover for Cloud & Ashes.

Early readers say:

“I made myself portion this exquisite novella out over days, so I could savor the language, a lacework of Elizabethan poesy and paradigm spun with subtle modern thread to make it pleasing to the contemporary eye.” [1]

“Cry Murder is in fairly equal measures funny, heartbreaking, and downright eerie, sometimes within a sentence or even a phrase of each other.” [2]

“A delight. Greer Gilman’s Cry Murder! in a Small Voice is a highly original, thought-provoking and beautifully polished tale; a short story written in a chewy, glistening Jacobethan prose which is entirely the author’s invention.” [Oxfraud]

And you?

Freebie

Fri 13 Sep 2013 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Eileen Gunn, indie bookstore exclusives, keep it indie, Nathan Ballingrud | Comments Off on Freebie | Posted by: Gavin

It’s true: tomorrow at the Harvard Book Store Warehouse Weekend we’ll be giving away a free chapbook to those who take full advantage of our pile-them-high-and-sell-the-cheap sale!

The two story chapbook, North American Monster Stories, will never be for sale. The stories are the title story from Nathan Ballingrud’s collection, North American Lake Monsters, and “Up the Fire Road,” a story from Eileen Gunn’s collection Questionable Practices.

The whole weekend looks like fun. There are tons of great journals and publishers—as well as MBTA gifts and the all important food truck: Fugu Truck.

Here’s the whole list from the Harvard Book Store site:

Black Ocean – In addition to showcasing some of their stunning books, this press will host author signings and meet & greets throughout the day.
Boston Review – You can’t beat free issues of a great literary magazine with an email newsletter sign-up, and that’s just what you’ll get at Boston Review’s booth today.
Cervena Barva Press – Founded in 2005, Cervena Barva Press (“Red Color” in Czech) publishes poetry, fiction, plays, translations and memoir from writers all over the world.
Fugu Truck – This awesome local food truck will be serving up Asian street food beloved by Bostonians.
Harvard Review – Calling all writers of short fiction, poetry, and non-fiction: Bring a few pages of your submission and get an on-the-spot assessment by Harvard Review Editor Christina Thompson (from 12:00 P.M. – 2:00 P.M.).
Inman Review – A local literary journal with a great reputation, Inman Review will be discussing (and maybe even accepting) submissions today in addition to selling current and back issues.
MBTAgifts – Always a favorite, MBTAgifts offers old MBTA signs and memorabilia.
Ploughshares – This literary heavyweight offers up discounts on back issues and a free digital solo when you sign up for their newsletter. They also promise to be charming and personable. No blank stares. EVER.
Q’s Nuts – A Somerville favorite, this artisan nut company will have you giving in to tempation once you try their line of sweet, savory and exotic flavors.
Rose Metal Press – Learn about hybrid genres when you visit the booth of this Brookline-based press, and pick up a book, button, or bookmark while you’re at it.
Small Beer Press – All the way from western Mass., this smashing husband and wife duo is planning to offer a very special giveaway, a great selection of remainders and zines for sale, and maybe even mugs!
Ward Maps – Harvard Book Store’s Park Street neighbor will feature antique and rare maps for sale.
Wilderness House Press – An imprint of Ibbetson Street Press, Wilderness House Press will feature books for sale as well as author booksignings and giveaways.

Our Warehouse is located at 14 Park St. in Somerville, between Somerville Ave. and Beacon St., just outside of Union Square. The closest T stop is Porter Square, on the Red Line, and bus lines #83 and #87 have stops on Somerville Ave. near Park St.

And unlike at most parties… friends of friends are definitely encouraged to bring friends! See you there!

The Poison Oracle: conversation online for publication day

Tue 10 Sep 2013 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Peter Dickinson, Sara Paretsky | Comments Off on The Poison Oracle: conversation online for publication day | Posted by: Gavin

To celebrate the publication of our latest Peter Dickinson mystery reprint, The Poison Oracle, we worked with the fine folks at Crimespree Magazine to put the whole conversation between two absolute legends of the mystery field online: Sara Paretsky and Peter Dickinson.

Originally published in 1982, The Poison Oracle is a strange and haunting novel, somewhat of its time, yet still fascinating (and, yes, haunting), and we are very happy to be able to put it in front of new readers. It is the second adult mystery novel of Peter’s that we have published—look out for an upcoming ebook sale on the also-excellent-but-very-different-first title, Death of a Unicorn—and we are planning on at least one more.

We were incredibly happy that the the fabulous Sara Paretsky agreed to chat to Peter about the book and that conversation is included in our new paperback and ebook editions.

Here’s the start of the conversation, or you can jump here and read the whole thing.

When Gavin Grant asked if I would do a conversation with Peter Dickinson for The Poison Oracle, I jumped at the chance. Dickinson is one of the premier writers of the Twentieth Century. His language is meticulous, his narratives carefully thought out, his characters vivid and credible. I should have looked before I leapt: it’s one thing to be an admiring reader, another to conduct a conversation. Besides, the act or art of writing feels like a delicate watch, something like the handmade one with all the little moving parts that tennis great Rafael Nadal wore and lost. If you start tinkering with the mechanism, you destroy the watch.

Sara Paretsky: I first read The Poison Oracle when it was published in 1982. The novel is so rich with themes and nuances—language, clashes of cultures, how do we communicate across cultures? across species? What makes a moral person, what goads a person who thinks himself a coward to act?—that I’ve always put it on my own private best-ten list.

Peter Dickinson: That’s nice, but actually I don’t often think about that sort of thing when I’m writing. My focus is mainly on stuff like getting a character from one room into another. In a sense the plot—the story— is there to allow the big questions to happen up without actual ratiocination. Once there they have to be accommodated. Otherwise you start thinking of yourself as a Great Writer, which is death.

SP: The Poison Oracle is a book about many things, but language and communication lie at its heart….

Read on

Harvard Warehouse Weekend!

Tue 10 Sep 2013 - Filed under: Not a Journal. | Comments Off on Harvard Warehouse Weekend! | Posted by: Gavin

For the next four weekends the Harvard Book Store is opening up their Somerville warehouse and hosting 4 indie culture weekends. We will be there! Saturday, September 14, 10 am to 6 pm, we will be selling books, mugs, maybe even saltshakers! We may have even a giveaway.

What we will definitely have: incredibly cheap books!

Here’s all the info on the weekends taken directly from the HBS site including a list

Warehouse Weekends: Local Voices
Four Weekends of Books, Culture & Community
This Weekend: Small Presses and Literary Journals
10am to 6pm, Saturday, Sept. 14 and Sunday, Sept. 15

Date

Saturday

September 14, 2013

10:00 AM

LocationHarvard Book Store Warehouse

14 Park St., Somerville, MA

DIRECTIONS »

TicketsThis event is free; no tickets are required.

We know you value local.

We know you make it a point to shop at independent businesses, dine at local restaurants, attend neighborhood events, support community organizations, and champion area artists.
That’s why we’re such good friends.

That’s also why you’re invited to join us this fall for Harvard Book Store’s Warehouse Weekends where local is the name of the game. We’ve asked dozens of our favorite community cohorts to help us celebrate our collective ind(ie)pendence with bargain books, free samples, contests, workshops, and more!

From 10:00 A.M.-6:00 P.M. today, our 6500 sq. ft. warehouse in Somerville will feature chapbook giveaways, consultations with literary editors, and many of the best literary magazines and small presses in New England. And did we mention our 25,000 used, rare and remainder books available for your browsing pleasure?

Meet:

Black Ocean – In addition to showcasing some of their stunning books, this press will host author signings and meet & greets throughout the day.
Boston Review – You can’t beat free issues of a great literary magazine with an email newsletter sign-up, and that’s just what you’ll get at Boston Review’s booth today.
Cervena Barva Press – Founded in 2005, Cervena Barva Press (“Red Color” in Czech) publishes poetry, fiction, plays, translations and memoir from writers all over the world.
Fugu Truck – This awesome local food truck will be serving up Asian street food beloved by Bostonians.
Harvard Review – Calling all writers of short fiction, poetry, and non-fiction: Bring a few pages of your submission and get an on-the-spot assessment by Harvard Review Editor Christina Thompson (from 12:00 P.M. – 2:00 P.M.).
Inman Review – A local literary journal with a great reputation, Inman Review will be discussing (and maybe even accepting) submissions today in addition to selling current and back issues.
MBTAgifts – Always a favorite, MBTAgifts offers old MBTA signs and memorabilia.
Ploughshares – This literary heavyweight offers up discounts on back issues and a free digital solo when you sign up for their newsletter. They also promise to be charming and personable. No blank stares. EVER.
Q’s Nuts – A Somerville favorite, this place will have you giving in to tempation once you try their line of sweet, savory and exotic flavors.
Rose Metal Press – Learn about hybrid genres when you visit the booth of this Brookline-based press, and pick up a book, button, or bookmark while you’re at it.
Small Beer Press – All the way from western Mass., this smashing husband and wife duo is planning to offer a very special giveaway, a great selection of remainders and zines for sale, and maybe even mugs!
Ward Maps – Harvard Book Store’s Park Street neighbor will feature antique and rare maps for sale.
Wilderness House Press – An imprint of Ibbetson Street Press, Wilderness House Press will feature books for sale as well as author booksignings and giveaways.

And unlike at most parties… friends of friends are definitely encouraged to bring friends! See you there!

Be sure to keep your eye on this page for all new updates regarding our Warehouse Weekend partners.

Here are the full list of weekend fun:

Saturday, September 14 and Sunday, September 15 (10am–6pm)
Local Voices: Small Presses and Literary Journals

Saturday, September 21 and Sunday, September 22 (10am–6pm)
Local Flavors: Food Truck Favorites and Epicurean Treats

Saturday, September 28 and Sunday, September, 29 (10am–6pm)
Local Innovation: From Science Fiction to Science Fairs

Saturday, October 5 and Sunday, October 6 (10am–6pm)
Local Craft: Workshops, Zines, Indie Comics, and more

Walking Tour of Bridge Street Cemetery

Mon 9 Sep 2013 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Susan Stinson | Comments Off on Walking Tour of Bridge Street Cemetery | Posted by: Gavin

On October 5th at 1 pm, Susan Stinson will be giving a walking tour of Bridge Street Cemetery in Northampton. Tickets are $5 and are available at Broadside Bookshop, 247 Main Street, Northampton MA 01060, 413-586-4235.

Walking in this cemetery inspired Susan’s forthcoming novel, Spider in a Tree. (Don’t miss the launch party at First Churches (129 Main St., Northampton) on October 2nd at 7 pm!)

Reprints!

Mon 9 Sep 2013 - Filed under: Not a Journal. | Comments Off on Reprints! | Posted by: Gavin

Good news from here: we’re sending two books back to press, both of them first collections, both of them fantastic. The first is Ted Chiang’s Stories of Your Life and Others and the second is Kij Johnson’s At the Mouth of the River of Bees.

Of course that means we’d love to hear from you if you’ve found any typose [sic!] in either of the books. And, sure, if you email us next week to tell us it will be too late and we will gnash our teeth, but, then, we’ll just wait for the next printing!

Some goings on, reviews, &c.

Fri 6 Sep 2013 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Angelica Gorodischer, Kelly Link, Maureen F. McHugh, Naomi Mitchison, Ursula K. Le Guin | Comments Off on Some goings on, reviews, &c. | Posted by: Gavin

LCRW 29 is out. Must write a prop’r post about that soon. Phew. It is a goody.

Things on the to-be-read pile: Duplex by Kathryn Davis. Alice Kim gave it a thumbs up which is good enough for me. Also, picked it up at Odyssey Books the other night after Holly Black’s reading.

Just came across this great review of Travel Light by Paul Kincaid from 2007 on SF Site.

“The enchantments of Travel Light contain more truth, more straight talking, a grittier, harder-edged view of the world than any of the mundane descriptions of daily life you will find in … science fiction stories.”

Sounds about right to me. We reprinted this book because I found myself buying more and more copies to give to people and now I am very glad we did as now readers have told me they pick up multiple copies to press on friends. Thus a good book is read!

Nerds of a Feather reviewed Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Unreal and the Real: Where on Earth: “You’ve probably guessed that I really liked this volume of short stories . . . ” (There’s an earlier review of Outer Space, Inner Lands here.) Nerds of a Feather is a great name.

If you subscribe to F&SF, you may already know this: Angélica Gorodischer’s “By the Light of the Chaste Electronic Moon” appeared in the May/June edition of F&SF.

A while ago Kelly did a podcast interview and reading with Hold That Thought with Rebecca King. Kelly in turn interviewed Readercon guest of honor Maureen F. McHugh and Scott Edelman posted it in two parts. And! Game reviewer VocTer posted a reading of “Magic for Beginners” on YouTube. This is part 1 and is an hour long!

Oldest unpaid invoice 10-year anniversary is coming

Fri 6 Sep 2013 - Filed under: Not a Journal., bookshops, LCRW | 2 Comments | Posted by: Gavin

And since we are optimists we still hope it will be paid! This invoice, no. 145* is for all of … $29.40. If I get it together I’ll post a scan of it as it is, er, fun (maybe only to me?) to see that it was supposed to be for $32.40, but 1 copy of Judith Berman’s Lord Stink chapbook was misbound. Oh, the thrill of it all!

Since the invoice was only for ~$30, we never bothered following up until 2008 when we tried to tidy up all our unpaid invoices. Most of them are/were for bookstores that take LCRW on consignment (argh, the paperwork!) and it was great to suddenly get all these tiny checks. Invoice no. 145 languished. However, it was not alone!

As you can see below in the pasted in info, this bookstore asked for “a standing order for 5 copies of our chapbooks and LCRW.” Yay! Now we could just ship out 5 copies each time we published a zine or chapbook. Pretty sweet. If said bookstore paid said invoices for zines, etc.

Instead this arrangement lasted exactly 1 issue of LCRW and 2 more chapbooks. Silly me. A couple more unpaid invoices later (unpaid balance: $74.40, ooh!) and we realized we should probably stop sending them stuff.

Come on chaps, pay a zinester!

This is one of the big reasons we love our book distributor, Consortium. They deal with all the shipping out and returns and invoices and credits and reinvoicing and shipping and all that and every day I am grateful I don’t have to do it.

We still send LCRW out to some stores that only pay every 2-3 years, but, hey, they pay. This store never did. But they do order our books from Consortium and from wholesalers.

So we sent them reminders in 2008, 2010, and 2012 (and maybe other times, but that’s what’s written on it), and then I realized that our little oldest unpaid invoice was going to turn 10 years old on September 16, 2013. I can hear it now, 10 more years! 10 more years!

Invoice 00145

September 16, 2003

Title                                                                Price       Quantity   Discount   Total
Foreigners and Other Familiar Faces   $5   3       40%       $9
Lord Stink                        $5       1   40%       $3
Rosetti Song                $5       3         40%       $9
LCRW 12                  $4       3          40%       $5.40
Total                       $29.40

As of now you have a standing order for 5 copies of our chapbooks and LCRW.
Thanks for ordering our books from Ingram or directly from Pathway Book Service.

Invoice 00151
November 8, 2003

Title                       Price       Quantity   Discount   Total
LCRW 12             $5   5       40%       $15
Total                       $15
Sorry—our new chapbooks have been delayed at the printer. We will get them to you as soon as we get them.

Invoice 00172
December 4, 2003

Title                  Price       Quantity   Discount   Total
Bittersweet Creek           $5         5                  40%
Other Cities               $5       5      40%
Total       $30

At last!

* Not all of invoices number 1 to 144 were paid. A few zine and bookstores closed without paying, c’est la vie. You publishes your zines and you takes your chances!

1/14/15, ETA: Added chapbook links and tidied up the post.

Unpaid invoices? $74.40
Amusement over the years? ~~Priceless.~~ Variable!

Coming next week

Thu 5 Sep 2013 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Peter Dickinson | Comments Off on Coming next week | Posted by: Gavin

To celebrate publication day of our latest Peter Dickinson reprint: next week Crimespree Magazine will publish a conversation about The Poison Oracle between two fabulous novelists: Sara Paretsky and Peter Dickinson.

PW on Tyrannia

Wed 4 Sep 2013 - Filed under: Not a Journal., A. DeNiro | Comments Off on PW on Tyrannia | Posted by: Gavin

Great review of A. DeNiro’s forthcoming Tyrannia in Publishers Weekly:

“DeNiro (Skinny Dipping in the Lake of the Dead) has crafted the rare work whose setting is the realm of pure imagination.” Read it here.

An American Beer Nerd in Edinburgh 2

Fri 30 Aug 2013 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Literary Beer | 1 Comment | Posted by: Michael

The Pentland Hills, with Wall

Part Two: The North Is Coming

If you haven’t, read part one.

“The North is coming!” cry the beer nerds of Scotland and Northern England, in shameless reference to those bold, glory-seeking fictional beer nerds from Beyond the Wall. In the North, I learned, a brewing renaissance is underway. The dominance of CAMRA-established uniformity I talked about in part one cracks steadily under the small but building onslaught of US-influenced, globally inspired nano- and microbreweries. Edinburgh is full of tiny, endlessly cross-pollinating knots of brewing brilliance, a beer microculture not entirely unlike those I’ve found surrounding Boston and Detroit.

Below I review a lot of bars in no particular order, though I did save some of the best for last. One week, fourteen pubs (plus repeats), miles and miles of walking over hill and under dale, too many pints to count, and thanks in great part to all that low ABV I raved about in part one, only one hangover! The fish and chips and bangers and mash blurred together; the beers and the bartenders did not. I prepared an insufficiently researched beer tour map ahead of time; it got thrown to the wind. What I found instead was better. I have updated the map—open it in another window and follow along.

Tyrannia isn’t a geographical location

Tue 27 Aug 2013 - Filed under: Not a Journal., A. DeNiro, Spolia | Comments Off on Tyrannia isn’t a geographical location | Posted by: Gavin

Spolia #1

As Gus Iversen notes on the Spolia magazine intro page to A. DeNiro’s story “A Rendition”

Tyrannia isn’t a geographical location as much as a frame of mind.

Read the intro (“Tyrannia: Population: A. DeNiro“) here and the full story here.

Bookslinger: At the Mouth of the River of Bees

Fri 23 Aug 2013 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Bookslinger, Kij Johnson | Comments Off on Bookslinger: At the Mouth of the River of Bees | Posted by: Gavin

New this week on Consortium’s Bookslinger app is the title story from Kij Johnson’s At the Mouth of the River of Bees.