Howard Waldrop, R.I.P.

Mon 15 Jan 2024 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | 1 Comment | Posted by: Gavin

Howard Waldrop holding a copy of his collection Night of the Cooters in 2018Brought low by the news that Howard Waldrop died yesterday, January 14, at the age of 77.

We delighted in bringing his first collection, the still well and hilariously named Howard Who?, back into print in 2006 and then publishing a later collection, Horse of a Different Color in 2013. Each of those books has at least one of my favorite stories in them: the award-winning “The Ugly Chickens” in the former and the holy grail/vaudeville mashup title story in the latter.

In 2014 we published ebooks of two selections of his works, Other Worlds, Better Lives: Selected Long Fiction and Things Will Never Be the Same: Selected Short Fiction, which were published in trade cloth and trade paper by Michael Walsh of Old Earth Books. Then in 2022 we re-released his Wheatland Press/Electric Story collection Dream Factories and Radio Pictures, his “movie (‘dream factories’) and television (‘radio pictures’) stories from his first four collections, as well as a new article and a new story.”

That’s the publishing part. More on the man himself, one of my most faithful correspondents, later. For now, he is much missed. Here’s his best known story, The Ugly Chickens.


The Book of Love Limited Edition

Thu 11 Jan 2024 - Filed under: Not a Journal. | Comments Off on The Book of Love Limited Edition | Posted by: Gavin

A limited edition of Kelly’s first novel, The Book of Love, to be published later this year by Small Beer Press, courtesy of Random House who published the novel in hardcover, audiobook, and ebook on February 13, 2024.

The Book of Love is a huge beautiful novel about love in its many forms. The Random House edition is 640 pages and 2.1 pounds in weight. Read more


OKPsyche in MN & WI

Thu 11 Jan 2024 - Filed under: Not a Journal. | Comments Off on OKPsyche in MN & WI | Posted by: Gavin

Anya Johanna DeNiro just confirmed two more events for her novel OKPsyche:

(Postponed) 1/20/24 from 3 -5 p.m. at Avant Garden, 215 E. Main St., Anoka, MN 55303

and

3/25/24 at A Room of One’s Own, 2717 Atwood Ave., Madison, WI.

I haven’t been to Room for years — long enough that they’ve changed hands and location since I was last there. I hope at some point to make it over because the people who own and run it are fun, admirable, and great booksellers — they also make great maps of book recommendations which they post on social media so I recommend following them. One of these days! In the meantime, if you’re in the area, hope you can get to one of these events.


2 Weeks Until Kindling

Wed 10 Jan 2024 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on 2 Weeks Until Kindling | Posted by: Gavin

On a very snowy, wet, dreich day it is funny to write about a book called Kindling but the spark in Kathleen Jennings’s collection is bright enough to shine even in weather like this. (I realize weather is localized and that it is incredibly hot, but still wet!, in Brisbane, Queensland where Kathleen lives.)

Warehouse-wise the book is in a liminal state — either On Hand or about to be — and hopefully not in a frozen-in-a-truck state somewhere between Pennsylvania and Tennessee.

Preorders will be going out soon and those placed on this site go out with a bonus backlist title. Most likely from us, but maybe from another press if the pack and pickers at the Jackson warehouse start having fun.

Over in Portland, OR, Rachael P. has the right idea on how to read this book in Powell’s 2024 Book Preview: The First Quarter:

Kindling Kindling by Kathleen Jennings
by Kathleen Jennings

When the words “gothic” and “folk tales” come up in a book description, I will always get excited. This anthology promises the creepiness of classic folk tales and lush, dreamlike settings. I’ve seen many reviews raving about the elegance of the prose, which, fittingly for folk tales, verges into the poetic. I can’t wait to read these stories under a warm blanket this winter. — Rachael P.


Preorder The Book of Love

Mon 8 Jan 2024 - Filed under: Not a Journal. | Comments Off on Preorder The Book of Love | Posted by: Gavin

We just added a page on the BKMN website for preorders for signed or personalized copies of Kelly’s forthcoming debut novel The Book of Love.

If you’d like your book(s) personalized, once it’s in your cart, put the name of the person you’d like it personalized for in the “notes” field.

Every pre-order (including those before the page went up) placed by publication day — February 13, 2024 — will ship with a signed, limited edition not-for-sale specially made 5″ square broadside.

Books will be shipped Media Mail beginning February 11th. If you’d like your book to arrive sooner, please ask for a quote on Priority Mail shipping.

Kelly is doing some in-person and online events. She is tentatively planning to be at Book Moon on the afternoon of Saturday, Feb. 17, if you’d like to pick up your copy then.

More of Kelly’s book.
Kelly recommends some books.


SBP BS Bestsellers 2023

Fri 5 Jan 2024 - Filed under: Not a Journal. | Comments Off on SBP BS Bestsellers 2023 | Posted by: Gavin

2023 was the another odd year for the press. Since I did the top 14 (BS = Bookscan, now called Circana) bestsellers last year (for a reason that eludes me now), here are the past year’s top 15 — look at all those short story collections!

North American Lake Monsters Nathan Ballingrud Lost Places: Stories Sarah Pinsker Travel Light Naomi Mitchison The Privilege of the Happy Ending: Small, Medium, and Large Stories Kij Johnson Spirits Abroad: Stories Zen Cho In Other Lands Sarah Rees Brennan Stranger Things Happen: Stories Kelly Link Never Have I Ever: Stories Isabel Yap Kalpa Imperial: the Greatest Empire That Never Was Angélica Gorodischer At the Mouth of the River of Bees: Stories Kij Johnson Okpsyche Anya Johanna Deniro Fire Logic: an Elemental Logic Novel Laurie J. Marks A Stranger In Olondria Sofia Samatar Tender Sofia Samatar

 


The Heart of Owl Abbas

Thu 4 Jan 2024 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on The Heart of Owl Abbas | Posted by: Gavin

KKindling cover - click to view full sizeathleen Jennings’s new book, Kindling, her first collection of stories, is being trucked from printer to distributor and from there on its way to shops, cafes, backpacks, bedside tables, ship’s libraries, and a few to alternate worlds. One of those worlds might be the one where her story The Heart of Owl Abbas is set:

Cautious even in despair, Excelsior shredded the gossamer spell into cheap sentiment and tramping rhythm, and sent it by nip-fingered courier below where, unintended, the words fell like fire-inches, like sparks in kindling.

The rooms of roses burn,
The lanterns are turned high.
Petty Street, long starved for light,
Lifts a ravening eye.


DeNiro on Mohanraj and Rosenbaum Are Humans

Wed 3 Jan 2024 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on DeNiro on Mohanraj and Rosenbaum Are Humans | Posted by: Gavin

OKPsyche coverSomething good to start the new year with: Anya joins Mary Anne Mohanraj and Benjamin Rosenbaum on Mohanraj and Rosenbaum Are Humans for a conversation about her novel, OKPsyche. The conversation roves all over: on genre, gender, writing, history, poetry, and more — not to be missed.


Not the Delaware Attorney General

Thu 21 Dec 2023 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on Not the Delaware Attorney General | Posted by: Gavin

Kindling cover - click to view full sizeNot to be missed in all of this, in January we’re publishing Kathleen Jenning’s first collection of stories, Kindling.

The printer, Maple Press in York, PA, is about to ship the hardcover and trade paperbacks to our distro, Consortium, whose main warehouse in an Ingram one in Jackson, TN. Once they’re received and sorted, Consortium will start shipping the books out to bookstores, libraries, me(! — well, Book Moon), and so on, and everyone in the whole world will get ready to celebrate the publication day, January 23rd, by setting the world on fire, overthrowing repressive governments, installing solar power and batteries, buying more bikes, and reading this collection of modern folk and fairy tales.


Halting Subs, But Going On (and On)

Thu 21 Dec 2023 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | 3 Comments | Posted by: Gavin

Thank you, Vanessa Armstrong, for this news story about Small Beer on Tor.com.

The article led to a small flood of men emailing manuscript submissions and queries, showing that no matter how clear a headline is (“Small Beer Press Is Halting New Publications” is very clear), some people don’t think it applies to them.

I’m 2 years into long Covid. I’ve written updates since March 2022. I never tested positive for Covid. I’ve since had another 3 or 4 vaccines/boosters. I only see people unmasked once they’ve done a Covid test.

From my two years on this couch, I beg you to wear a mask in public/when traveling, etc. Insist on better filters at work or school. Build Corsi-Rosenthal boxes for meet-ups or home.

The Covid virus can attack many different parts of the body. This is a mass disabling event I do not want you to be part of.

I’ve added to the statement below. I realize I go on so please skip to here and pick up some books for yourself/someone you know.

We closed Small Beer to submissions in March 2023 and only published four books this year: two novels and two collections of stories. After 20+ years of reading submissions it’s been very strange to know there are good books I am missing but c’est la vie.

In December 2021 I came down with something unknown. I never tested positive for Covid but in 2022 I was diagnosed with Long Covid. I am a very different person now: I can’t carry boxes of books around, I don’t drive, I can’t read as much as I used to, I lie on the couch most of the day because walking or even sitting up for too long wipes me out. I have tried many anecdotally successful supplements and medicines — none of which have done any good. In the last two years I only see people who have are masked or have tested negative. Kelly drives me into our bookshop, Book Moon, once a week or so where people are unmasked but we run 2 Corsi-Rosenthal boxes and I am always masked. I literally would not wish this on my worst enemy — although I don’t really have one except maybe the soul crushing companies that would like to run all the small presses and indie businesses out of town.

We’d contracted our 2023 titles over the past few years. We have one more title under contract but I’m not sure if we can publish it as I think it’s too much work for me. I emailed with our authors about my limitations and occasionally talked on the phone but phone calls or zooms wipe me out and then I can’t do anything else.

In 2022 we only managed to publish two books. This year we published four and here at the end of the year I see how much these books missed the old me. Sarah Pinsker’s second collection Lost Places was selected for Slate’s Best Books of the Year which is something to celebrate. It’s always hard for small or indie presses to get coverage and no one expects to be on Best of the Year lists but I always hope our books will at least be considered for lists and awards. This year that was more difficult as I wasn’t able to send books out as widely or follow up. Publicity is part of my job and following up takes a fair amount of energy which I don’t have. So unless we want to change our habits and start being unfair to authors, we have to stop.

I haven’t even mentioned our September title, Anya Johanna DeNiro’s short, amazing, difficult, transcendent science fiction novel OKPsyche — the review I enjoyed most was Jake Casella Brookins in Locus which started off, “I was completely unprepared for how powerful Anya Johanna DeNiro’s OKPsyche is” — or our final book, Kij Johnson’s long awaited, decade in the making second collection, The Privilege of the Happy Ending. 

Kelly recently took a two-year position at Smith College so now we will get health insurance there — then we’ll have to work out what to do after that. Kelly’s novel, The Book of Love, comes out in February, and at some point next year we’ll publish a limited edition. That’s been fun to work on and if it goes ok maybe we will do more. Or maybe we will just keep our zine, LCRW, going — although even there we only managed one issue this year. I can’t mail it out anymore so it’s harder to do. I love paper zines, so the intention is there. I’ve been very lucky to have support in the past two years. It is pretty crappy to see the ground cut away from under my feet but I know it could be worse.

In 2010 a friend, Michael J. DeLuca, and I started a DRM-free ebook website, WeightlessBooks.com, and my disability meant I had to step away from that last year.

I’d thought that with cutting down on other things (we don’t travel anymore: no more book fairs and conferences; no more Weightless; a lot less Book Moon; fiction is now quite hard to write) there was a chance I could keep Small Beer going but it is too much. As long as the authors are happy, we’ll keep the books in print — or sell them on where possible: Random House just released the cover for their new 2024 edition of Karen Lord’s debut novel Redemption in Indigo. 

My expectations for Small Beer was that Kelly and I would keep publishing books we enjoyed basically until we dropped dead, preferably a long time from now. So now I have the whole anger and grief that besides not being able to go sledding (if it snows, thanks Shell/Exxon/climate change), or walk the dog more than 1.5 blocks out and back, there’s also no more dancing — I miss dancing. My inner self often has music of my own or others playing and I am often dancing. I am so slow now.

Mine is not a long Covid story where I was once a marathon runner and now I lie on the couch. I liked lying on the couch preferably with comics, champagne, and bonbons. Ok, so that didn’t happen very often, but still.

Anyway. Everyone who is wearing a mask is helping everyone else. You are the helpers and I thank you. I appreciate all the notes from friends and strangers and am replying slowly. It is much easier to be flippant on Bluesky. I keep up with long Covid news.

We have pushed some great and weird books out into the world in the last 20 years, some further than others, but never a book we thought wasn’t odd and great and worth being a physical object in the world. No one knows the impact of a book that has sold 300 or 30,000 copies — it may change the world for one reader. It happened to us time and time again. I look forward to reading more good, odd books from other publishers in the future.

 


Top 5 Bestsellers 2023

Tue 19 Dec 2023 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , , , , | Comments Off on Top 5 Bestsellers 2023 | Posted by: Gavin

Top 5 shipped from distroHere are our top 5 bestsellers so far this year by numbers shipped from our distributor:

  1. Sarah Pinsker, Lost Places
  2. Nathan Ballingrud, North American Lake Monsters
  3. Kij Johnson, The Privilege of the Happy Ending
  4. Anya Johanna DeNiro, OKPsyche
  5. Sarah Rees Brennan, In Other Lands

In 2023 we published the Liminals series capper from Ayize Jama-Everett, Heroes from Another World. Ayize had an amazing year: he published 3 books (including a great Afrofuturistic graphic novel The Last Count of Monte Cristo) and put out a documentary, A Table of Our Own: “an extraordinary and thought-provoking documentary that delves into the rich tapestry of the African-American experience, exploring the intersection of psychedelic substance use, spirituality and the pursuit of social justice.”

We followed Ayize’s novel with Sarah Pinsker’s second collection which was included in Slate’s Best Books of the Year.

Then came Anya Johanna DeNiro’s OKPsyche — I think the review I enjoyed most was Jake Casella Brookins in Locus which started off, “I was completely unprepared for how powerful Anya Johanna DeNiro’s OKPsyche is” and leapt off into the kind of review that I alwayshope to read of a book I love.

Our final book of the year was Kij Johnson’s The Privilege of the Happy Ending. 10 years in the making, it’s a weird and wide-ranging collection and was recently reviewed in the Washington Post by Michael Dirda.

We’re shipping books & zines from our warehouse and Book Moon daily. Orders welcome!

Laurie J. Marks is Writing Again

Fri 15 Dec 2023 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on Laurie J. Marks is Writing Again | Posted by: Gavin

Anyone who has read the deep and excellent Elemental Logic series will rejoice with me to see that Laurie J. Marks is writing again. In a post today she writes about it, about the grueling years she and her wife Deb have gone through, the unexpected choices that she’s made, and, after a year of being retired, taking up writing again.


LeVar Burton Reads The Court Magician

Wed 13 Dec 2023 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , | Comments Off on LeVar Burton Reads The Court Magician | Posted by: Gavin

LeVar Burton Reads podcast artworkLeVar Burton is variously and widely recognized as a champion of all things literary for books and one of the ways he shares his joy and love of narrative is through his podcast. He recently chose Sarah Pinsker’s story “The Court Magician” — listen here (or wherever you access Podcastia).


Never Have I Ever Polish Edition

Fri 8 Dec 2023 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on Never Have I Ever Polish Edition | Posted by: Gavin

Never Have I Ever cover Good news for Polish readers: we just received the on-signing contract payment from MAG Jacek Rodek for Polish rights to Isabel Yap’s award winning debut collection Never Have I Ever. That’s the first international rights sale for that title.

In other news, Isabel and Alyssa Wong will be anchor instructors for the final two weeks of the Clarion Workshop in San Diego next summer. Applications are now open.


LibroFM Bundles

Wed 6 Dec 2023 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on LibroFM Bundles | Posted by: Gavin

Get 10% off audiobook credit bundles at LibroFM for the next couple of days — they only run this sale once a year. I use Libro and like it, easy to use, huge library, etc., etc.

 


Slate: The 10 Best Books of 2023

Wed 6 Dec 2023 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on Slate: The 10 Best Books of 2023 | Posted by: Gavin

The covers of the 10 best books.Sarah Pinsker’s Lost Places gets lovely review in Dan Kois’s list of Slate’s 10 Best Books of 2023.

How to explain what’s so graceful about this collection of fantasy stories by the Hugo and Nebula Award–winning Pinsker? . . .  Every story is surprising, delightful, and very human, and left me excited to read more from this writer, who is both finely attuned to the language and rituals of modern life and in touch with some real deep-magic weirdness.

See the list and read the full recommendation.


Indiepubs sale

Tue 5 Dec 2023 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on Indiepubs sale | Posted by: Gavin

Our distro’s nice, fast Indiepubs site — where you can get books from 100+ indie publishers — has a ton of our books at 50% off for one week. The discount is automagically added in cart as per the screenshots below and shipping is free for orders over $40.

More sale books! Go to the underworld in Archivist Wasp; drift away in Sofia Samatar novel;, afrofuturamazingism: The Liminal War, Down Under with a twist in Terra Nullius; a Chinese autofiction with ghosts; Appalachianesque short stories; a Wind in the Willows sequel — add books to cart for discount Gavin, Small Beer Press, &c. @gavingrant.bsky.social 675 followers 635 following 437 posts Gavin J. Grant. He/him. Peely-wally Scottish immigrant. Equality, health care 4 all. BLM. Long covid 12/21, meh. smallbeerpress.com (closed to subs): Anya DeNiro, Kij Johnson, Kathleen Jennings, Zen Cho, & LCRW, a zine. bookmoonbooks.com Suggested for you Posts Posts & replies Media Likes Gavin, Small Beer Press, &c. @gavingrant.bsky.social · 18m Who here could have expected etc etc etc Liz Bourke @hawkwinglb.bsky.social · 34m Well this is great news. www.theguardian.com/business/202... Gavin, Small Beer Press, &c. @gavingrant.bsky.social · 33m Ha, wrong again. Free shipping at $40: indiepubs.com/search/?spag... Gavin, Small Beer Press, &c. @gavingrant.bsky.social · 34m About half our slightly weird books are 50% off for a week on our distro's Indiepubs site. Discount automagically added in cart. Free shipping @ $50 indiepubs.com/search/?spag... ALT ALT Gavin, Small Beer Press, &c. @gavingrant.bsky.social · 34m About half our slightly weird books are 50% off for a week on our distro's Indiepubs site. Discount automagically added in cart. Free shipping @ $50 indiepubs.com/search/?spag... ALT ALT Reposted by Gavin, Small Beer Press, &c. Jesse D. Jenkins @jessejenkins.bsky.social · 2h Really important analysis from US Treasury Dept. finds the overwhelming share of clean energy investment driven by the Inflation Reduction Act is occurring in lower income communities, offering real economic opportunity across America: home.treasury.gov/news/press-r... This is as intended. 🔌💡 Reposted by Gavin, Small Beer Press, &c. Dr. Lucky Tran @luckytran.bsky.social · 9h This is bad. Atlanta is proposing a blanket ban on masks. (Sounds like healthcare workers & religious face coverings might be exempt) There is no evidence mask bans reduce crime. But mask bans do increase disease spread, violate free expression rights, & are misused to stop & frisk people of color. ALT ALT Reposted by Gavin, Small Beer Press, &c. Sarah Weinman @sarahweinman.bsky.social · 19h At last, my favorite crime novels of 2023, all at this gift link: www.nytimes.com The Year’s Best Crime Novels Our columnist picks the year’s best. Reposted by Gavin, Small Beer Press, &c. Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 1d Good morning, here are the ten books I was most struck & moved by this year. www.nytimes.com The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of 2023 From witch stories to near-future noir, here are the year’s 10 best speculative books. Gavin, Small Beer Press, &c. @gavingrant.bsky.social · 23h See if we can stop the rot — sign here: Alicia Spencer-Hall @aspencerhall.bsky.social · 1d Aberdeen plans to remove all degrees and research in modern languages. Utterly disgraceful. Please consider signing this petition www.change.org/p/save-langu... Gavin, Small Beer Press, &c. @gavingrant.bsky.social · 1d Thanks everyone who supported me not doing the Hot Chocolate Walk for Safe Passage: I raised $200, our kid raised $310(!), and Safe Passage raised 25% of the annual budget: $781,930!!! Donate here if you like. THANKS friends and strangers, very much appreciated! p2p.onecause.com/hcr2023/ursu... Gavin, Small Beer Press, &c. @gavingrant.bsky.social · 1d If Joan of Arc had a heart Would she give it as a gift? To such as me who longs to see How an angel ought to be? Lorena Hobbitt @kellylink.bsky.social · 1d Joan of Bark Closeup of saintly looking labradoodle, eyes raised toward heaven (the lunch table). ALT Gavin, Small Beer Press, &c. @gavingrant.bsky.social · 1d "The universe owes us nothing; we, the living, must safeguard one another." Gift link from author, great stuff: Rachel Vorona Cote @rvoronacote.bsky.social · 6d I've been obsessing over Jon Klassen's delightfully dark children's books since I first started reading them to my toddler. This summer, I finally decided to write about them. Here's my Letter of Recommendation essay for the New York Times Magazine (gift link): www.nytimes.com/2023/11/28/m... Gavin, Small Beer Press, &c. @gavingrant.bsky.social · 1d Give them hell, Mary: "Al Jaber made the comments in ill-tempered responses to questions from Mary Robinson" www.theguardian.com/environment/... Reposted by Gavin, Small Beer Press, &c. Tiffany @webinista.bsky.social · 1d Petting dogs and waving at babies are the key to happiness. (This is why I tend to walk to get groceries.) Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 1d Vonnegut knew Kurt Vonnegut tells his wife he's going out to buy an envelope: "Oh, she says, well, you're not a poor man. You know, why don't you go online and buy a hundred envelopes and put them in the closet? And so I pretend not to hear her. And go out to get an envelope because I'm going to have a hell of a good time in the process of buying one envelope I meet a lot of people. And see some great looking babies. And a fire engine goes by. And I give them the thumbs up. And I'll ask a woman what kind of dog that is. And, and I don't know. The moral of the story is - we're here on Earth to fart around. And, of course, the computers will do us out of that. And what the computer people don't realize, or they don't care, is we're dancing animals. You know, we love to move around. And it's like we're not supposed to dance at all anymore." Let's all get up and move around a bit right now... or at least dance. ALT Reposted by Gavin, Small Beer Press, &c. Ryan North @ryannorth.ca · 1d Decades ago my wife got this bear at Starbucks whose SKIN SLIDES OFF, revealing that he's not a festive holiday bear but instead showing his true form (murder bear happily wearing the skin of his slain enemies.) A holiday tradition ALT ALT ALT Reposted by Gavin, Small Beer Press, &c. Lorena Hobbitt @kellylink.bsky.social · 1d Would love to know why Siri’s voice recognition has absolutely gone to shit over the last few months. It’s made asking for music impossible when at one point it was quite impressive. Reposted by Gavin, Small Beer Press, &c. C.C. Finlay @ccfinlay.bsky.social · 3d Applications are open for this years Clarion Writers Workshop at UC San Diego. It's a great line-up of instructors -- Sam J. Miller, Jeffrey Ford, Matt Bell, Nalo Hopkinson, and the anchor team of Alyssa Wong and Isabel Yap. clarion.ucsd.edu#apply clarion.ucsd.edu Clarion Workshop Gavin, Small Beer Press, &c. @gavingrant.bsky.social · 2d Never saw this show growing up in Scotland but fascinated to read this: c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 2d Let's talk about 'Hogan's Heroes'. It ran 1965-1971: A campy spy comedy set in a POW camp in Nazi Germany, which feels like a very weird choice. Maybe even in bad taste? But here's what changed my mind about it: First, every major German character was played by a Jewish actor. Hogan's Heroes cast on the set of POW barracks. ALT Reposted by Gavin, Small Beer Press, &c. Molly Shah @mommunism.bsky.social · 2d The words of one of the Palestinians who were shot in Vermont Alt text bot ALT Gavin, Small Beer Press, &c. @gavingrant.bsky.social · 2d 2023 Massachusetts minimum wage is $15/hour & should be going up from there: www.mass.gov/info-details... Lachelle 🍉 @praxiteles.bsky.social · 2d Gretchen and Michigan dems have done so many solid things here but constantly underestimate the impact it would have to simply raise the minimum wage Gavin, Small Beer Press, &c. @gavingrant.bsky.social · 2d I'm going to Book Moon today to help ship zome sines (hmm), zome with chocolate, some with books, some sekrit bundles. 2 more weeks of holiday shipping! smallbeerpress.com/shopping/ 2023 books! Short story collections by Sarah Pinsker & Kij Johnson, short novel (OKPsyche) by Anya Johanna DeNiro, series capper from Ayize Jama-Everett. And a zine (purposefully mis)named after a NY heiress's wrist tattoo. ALT Home Search Feeds 2 Notifications Lists Moderation Profile Settings Following Popular With Friends Blacksky LongCovid What's Hot Classic Indie bookstores & booksellers More feeds Send feedback · Privacy · Terms · Help Screenshot of some of the titles at 50% discount for 1 week on our distro’s Indiepubs site. Free shipping on orders over $50. Many many indie publisher books on this site! Sooner or Later Everything Falls Into the Sea SMALL BEER PRESS (-$8.50) $8.50 Tender SMALL BEER PRESS (-$8.50) $8.50 Air Logic SMALL BEER PRESS (-$8.50) $8.50 Taboo SMALL BEER PRESS (-$8.50) $8.50 Half-Witch SMALL BEER PRESS (-$7.48) $7.47 Dance on Saturday SMALL BEER PRESS (-$8.50) $8.50 Available Dark SMALL BEER PRESS (-$8.50) $8.50 The Adventurists SMALL BEER PRESS (-$8.50) $8.50 The Silverberg Business SMALL BEER PRESS (-$8.49)

 

All books on sale


Holiday shipping 2023

Fri 1 Dec 2023 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , | Comments Off on Holiday shipping 2023 | Posted by: Gavin

Reposting:

This is an early reminder about holiday mailing dates as they’re a day or so earlier than last year. Our office has been closed this year and I’m shipping orders from either Consortium/Ingram’s warehouse or occasionally by me or, more often, the excellent booksellers of Book Moon.

I am usually a proponent of ground shipping. Don’t choose next day or 2nd day: keep stuff off planes and on trains and trucks. However, holiday shipping is a different beastie.

Media mail shipping is included free on all orders. However, there is no “last mailing date” for media mail. If the truck is full, media mail packages wait for the next one. If it’s really busy, and it usually is, those packages will arrive after the holidays. If you don’t care, yay! If you want to guarantee pre-holiday arrival, please choose Priority Mail.

These are the USPS shipping deadlines so please order by December 15th for holiday shipping, thank you!

USPS Ground Advantage™ Service Dec. 16
First-Class Mail Dec. 16
Priority Mail Dec. 18
Priority Mail Express Dec. 20

And no matter where you are, Weightless Books is always open and has all our DRM-free ebooks.


Celebrating the Visionary Stories of Kelley Eskridge

Wed 29 Nov 2023 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on Celebrating the Visionary Stories of Kelley Eskridge | Posted by: Gavin

Delighted to come across Dangerous, Hopeful Futures: Celebrating the Visionary Stories of Kelley Eskridge by Jonathan Thornton on Tor.com this week:

Kelley Eskridge is not a prolific author, but she has nevertheless produced a body of work remarkable for its subtlety and depth. Eskdrige’s short stories are marvels of character-focused SF, where speculations are explored through the interactions of everyday people. They frequently centre queer characters and explore ideas around gender. Similarly, her lone novel Solitaire (2002), is an underrated and pioneering work of queer cyberpunk that thoughtfully explores the potential uses of VR technology for incarceration.

Kelley is an excellent writer. We brought Solitaire back into print a few years ago. Her collection, Dangerous Space, is also available from Aqueduct. Definitely recommend if you’re looking for sf that takes on the current moment in gender, incarceration, family, politics, and more.


Room of One’s Own Holiday Catalog

Tue 28 Nov 2023 - Filed under: Not a Journal. | Comments Off on Room of One’s Own Holiday Catalog | Posted by: Gavin

Page of trans fiction picks from Room: Wild Geese, Idlewild, OKPsyche, and PonyboyIn previous years we’ve celebrated books being in the NPR Best Books lists and others and I’m still somewhat optimistic that some of the books will appear here or there but with me being less able to reach out to reviewers I suspect some books sent out did not always reach their target. C’est la vie. I’ve said before I always expect our books to win every award and be in every list (“What’s the world coming to? Our book is not in [incredibly niche list the book might tangentially have fit]? Oh no!”) and sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t.

We published 4 books (& a zine) this year: 2 collections, a series capping novel, and a short novel — the good news today is that two of those books (along with Kelly’s White Cat, Black Dog) are in A Room of One’s Own Holiday Catalog: Kij Johnson’s The Privilege of the Happy Ending and Anya Johanna DeNiro’s OKPsyche‘s highlighted on the trans fiction page:

“This novel tore my heart up—in the very best way. Our narrator is a semi-recently-out trans woman in her forties, she is an ex-wife, a mother separated from her son, and largely between stable work (a former writer, whose metafictions pepper the text). Friendships real and imagined provide a mirror of reflection in which our narrator turns the mundane into profound. This is a portrait of a woman who has so much love in her heart, and slowly learns to afford herself some of that love.” — Charlie


Brew & Forge Book Fair

Mon 27 Nov 2023 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on Brew & Forge Book Fair | Posted by: Gavin

Copy of brew & forge_edited.jpgIf you have some Small Beer books on your to-read list, see if you can get them at the Brew and Forge Book Fair where multiple copies of four of our books are available. Coincidentally, if you buy 4 books at the fair, you get a free notebook . . .

The fair opened today and runs until December 8. Authors voted for the tenth book fair to benefit the Palestinian Feminist Collective which “is committed to achieving Palestinian social and political liberation by confronting systemic gendered, sexual, and colonial violence, oppression, and dispossession. Read more about their work here.“


Brindles?

Fri 24 Nov 2023 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on Brindles? | Posted by: Gavin

Discounted Bundled Books for You & Your Reader Friends:

2023: Hard year. Good weird books. ayize jama-everett, heroes of an unknown world “dive in, you will love what you discover.” —victor lavalle, author of the changeling sarah pinsker, lost places ★ “queer, hopeful, and eerie, celebrating the rebellious spirits of both immortal-feeling youth and resilient elder protagonists.” — booklist (starred review) anya johanna deniro, okpsyche “an exploration of ensoulment and embodiment, and the search for both, told by a trans woman in lush sink-into-it prose.” — nina maclaughlin, boston globe kij johnson, the privilege of the happy ending ★ “hugo and nebula award winner johnson (the river bank) returns with 14 dazzling speculative shorts. . . . these boundary- pushing, magic-infused tales are sure to wow.” — publishers weekly (starred review)


What about Small Beer?

Sat 18 Nov 2023 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on What about Small Beer? | Posted by: Gavin

AKindling covers a follow up to my last post, ugh, I did go on, I wanted to give a clearer idea of what is happening with the press.

Of course, since we have the obfuscatorily named zine, the story isn’t 100% clear.

There are many things I can do for the press lying here on this couch. There are many I can’t and sometimes all I can do is watch TV or read the internet.

We have one book under contract that was just delivered. Because it is a different kind of thing it would take normally about 3 years to bring to publication. I am not sure how long it will take now.

Other than that, we have Kathleen Jennings’s collection of stories, Kindling, coming in January. The proofs just arrived from the printer and when I return them I’ll find out if we’re still on schedule. I don’t think we’ve only ever had one book in that forthcoming page before. Weird to see. Glad this dictation thing is working well today.

We hope to publish a limited edition of Kelly’s novel at some point next year. There would be some kind of poetry if that were our last book. Although I’m a big fan of accessibility, so it would be sad if our last book is a limited edition.

We closed completely to submissions in March and given that I have not improved, I do not expect to reopen anytime soon. The way I am now I could not do justice to any book that we bought. It is very strange not to read submissions after 20 years.  I’m going to try and keep the zine going. However, I’m not up to mailing it, and some days I’m not up to reading. This year we managed one this year.* Next year, who knows.

 

* Rather than correct the sentence I’m going to leave it to sure the basic level of brain fog detail missing that I know have. I’ve never been the best writer (I’ve published some of them, ha!), but at least I was able to string a sentence together and I enjoyed writing fiction, nonfiction, reviews, etc. I didn’t expect to write like this until I was 85 or so. What can I say, I’m ahead of my time.

 


This Sauce Is Weak

Sat 18 Nov 2023 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on This Sauce Is Weak | Posted by: Gavin

I have — hilariously to me — just had my first cold in 3 years or so. Having a cold while having long covid. Phew, I do not recommend it.

I used to be decently fit. Not a runner, that was always painful for some reason. This screenshot of my phone/watch stepcounter shows my rather crappy daily average and how in the last few days it cratered. To get the generally unsaid part over with now rather than at the end (my own tl;dr), no matter when I die, mine will be a Covid-related death. To be brought so low by a basic cold demonstrated that my defenses/immune system/resources are weak sauce indeed and one energetic butterfly flapping its wings in a nearby town will be enough to tip me over. It sounds melodramatic but I’m over 50 and I read new studies every week about long Covid’s effects on my age group. So far, so not great. Check out the drop in my already low number of daily steps on the tiny chart. On the other hand, I am reading my first Vita Sackville-West novel, All Passion Spent, about an 88-year-old widow and very much enjoying every slow minute of her looking around and back at her life.

Anyway. What about lying around feeling even more rubbish than usual was hilarious? Just the very fact of picking up a cold despite taking the same Covid precautions as we’ve done for the last 3 years.

Over the course of the pandemic, I’ve only seen people who are either masked or people who test for Covid when they arrive. Last week I saw some friends — wait, I know how this often goes, but this story doesn’t go that way: we hadn’t dropped our guards, everyone tested negative and then we took masks off. So, no, since they tested negative and I did daily tests Sunday to Wednesday, it seems unlikely I had Covid23.

But despite all that, despite testing whenever seeing friends, despite me masking if I go to Book Moon (I go to so few places, it’s a curtailed world, but at least I can read and write about it), after all that care, I caught a simple cold, ha! The less hilarious part was how it absolutely flattened me. So stop reading here if you don’t like icky stuff about bodies. Which is me, I’d like to stop reading.

A pallet of boxes of booksColds, as I learned during this pandemic, are also coronaviruses. On Thursday morning, which I think was Day 5 of the cold, I started improving. Those five days were a grind on the household. I stayed in bed a lot more or, as is usual, on the couch. Not that different from my new normal, but without my usual ability to potter around the kitchen and put together a quick meal. That morning I made some porridge and felt that sitting at the table to eat (instead of lying on the couch — how often I have to type those words; almost as often as I . . . ) was a huge and difficult accomplishment. I’m expecting a congratulatory telegram from the president to arrive any time. Maybe tomorrow.

After, as I shuffled — these feet would not be lifted — to the couch, my watch was showing my heart rate at 118 and when I lay down it was ~95. I was lying here doing nothing, resting after a 10-yard shuffle, thinking about picking up my laptop, looking at our dog, unimpressed with me as I was not scratching her, on the other of the couch, then . . . I started sweating, and sweating more until I was wiping sweat off my forehead. Or fivehead as our kid likes to say. I was a whole gleaming ball of fivehead.

Me in the lift with yet another pallet of books.Was I moving a pallet of books per the photo above from a few years ago (I do order optimistic print runs) or the terrible selfie in the cargo lift (ugh, too lazy to shave) from October 2021? Nope. I was lying around. Maybe working out the poisons? I had a few sessions of sweating it out this morning and now I’m improved.

I wrote somewhere in a previous long Covid post about my new ability to lie around and not do anything and this week I levelled that up. When I was sick as a kid I remember being so bored lying in bed. Now, despite not going to sleep, I could look out the window — or more likely, at a wall, the window being too stimulating — for a while. When I’m sick(er than my new normal, etc.) I often feel I could do what needs to be done. Walk the dog? Of course. Do this, do that? I could, but the lever (pick your own mechanical, literal, or technological metaphor) won’t flip. I could do it and there’s no impatience as to the why not, it’s just I don’t. There’s no Bartleby, no draft card or bra burning, just seeing what needs to be done and being aware that I am not doing it.

I became a different person 23 months ago. Curtailed, diminished, disabled. When I caught the cold I’d roll between the high point of perhaps if I kick this my body will return to what it used to be and the low point of what if this is my new, new normal? Every day I wake up curious to see what’s happened and it’s not until I stand up and my heart rate jumps that I find out how I am. Meh.

Looking at what’s to come leaves a little to be desired. It’s taken a couple of days to write this because there’s no good ending. I answer a some work emails and just I run out of juice. When I walk, I shuffle and this new, new normal is a bit painful. I watch TV and try not to miss walking or running or singing or dancing. When I walk I feel as if I have worked hard all day. Step count, faithful step count, proves me wrong. It is a bleak series of thoughts to take into the darkening of the year. There are millions like me, trying different meds (yep, still am), masking when they see anyone, unable to do most of what they used to. Kelly described me as profoundly changed. My vulnerability has placed huge limits on what she and our kid can do. I am chronically disabled and now it looks like I am one good infection away from real trouble.

How annoying. How are we — all of us, not just this household — supposed to live? Well, I certainly don’t have a neat and tidy answer to that.

If you read this far and want to help:

— Please wear a mask in public.
— Or: we publish good, slightly weird books that make great presents and my PR efforts are a bit weak this year.
— Or: donate & support our kid and Kelly’s mum who will be doing the annual Hot Chocolate Walk in a week or two.


Hot Chocolate Walk 2023

Thu 9 Nov 2023 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , | Comments Off on Hot Chocolate Walk 2023 | Posted by: Gavin

It is almost time for the annual Safe Passage Hot Chocolate Walk (or run, for the more lively among us) here in Northampton. A while ago a friend persuaded me to take part and me and our kid did quite a few years together. We started long enough ago that I was pushing the pram around. Now the kid could push me around. This year our kid and Kelly’s mum are walking while I am raising money from this here couch.

Any donations are welcome with the understanding that everyone is stretched and has their own things they like to support. If you’re of a mind, I’d love your to support either our kid’s page and Annie’s, thank you!


Austin Woerner in Ploughshares

Thu 9 Nov 2023 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on Austin Woerner in Ploughshares | Posted by: Gavin

Austin Woerner has an essay in the new issue of Ploughshares. The issue is edited by Ladette Randolph and also features prose by Anthony David, Parul Kapur, John Keeble, Diane Hinton Perry, Nafis Shafizadeh, Wiam El-Tamami, Jamie Lyn Smith, and Jim Shepard. I haven’t seen it yet but Austin’s essay is apparently about the Chinese writer Su Wei. We published Austin’s translation of Su Wei’s first novel to appear in English, the weird and fascinating The Invisible Valley. 

More about Austin:

Austin Woerner is a Chinese-English literary translator whose work has appeared in Poetry, the New York Times Magazine, and elsewhere. He is the translator of a novel, The Invisible Valley, and two volumes of Ouyang Jianghe’s poetry, and the editor of Chutzpah!: New Voices from China (University of Oklahoma Press). For the past seven years, he has taught creative writing and translation in China, at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou and at Duke Kunshan University in Suzhou.


An Uneasy Stage

Wed 8 Nov 2023 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on An Uneasy Stage | Posted by: Gavin

Happy to note that Kirkus just posted a review of Anya’s OKPsyche and it will be in their December 1st issue. Here’s how it begins:

An unnamed trans woman is at an uneasy stage in her metamorphosis. She has finally cast off the male persona that never fit her, but she has yet to become the woman she dreams of being. Part of her discomfort is physical—she does not have the body she wants—but much of it is social and emotional. She knows that most strangers do not see her for what she is. Her ex-wife is still adjusting to what is, for her, a surprising new reality. Her mother deadnames her. And, most importantly, her young son is shutting her out. DeNiro’s significant achievement here is making palpable the excruciating, inescapable self-consciousness of her main character. Her decision to narrate in the second person is a bold one; this move will help some readers immerse themselves in the story, but it will just as likely alienate others.


OKPsyche in Locus

Tue 7 Nov 2023 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , | Comments Off on OKPsyche in Locus | Posted by: Gavin

The new issue of Locus has a roundtable on short fiction with Ted Chiang, Kelly Link, and Usman T. Malik and an interview with superstar Carmen Maria Machado, both of which I’m looking forward to seeing when my print issue arrives. But the first thing I read in the pdf was Jake Casella Brookins’s review of Anya Johanna DeNiro’s OKPsyche. I can’t reprint the whole thing but it is worth reading before and after you read the book. It starts off:

I was completely unprepared for how powerful Anya Johanna DeNiro’s OKPsyche is. Told in second person by a carefully unnamed narrator, the novel blends fantasy, science fiction, and absurdism; it’s also a very grounded and personal work. The narrator, a trans woman trying to reconnect with her young son, trying to find friendship and love in a hostile world, is aided by magical figures and contraptions, but it’s her voice that stands out. This is absolutely brilliant writing: raw and unflinching in how it portrays transphobia and self-doubt, sweeping and dynamic in its use of language and imagery.

And all I can say is that I am so glad the reviewer read the same book I did and hope many people will pick up the book and see how strong it is.


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