Small Press Report [1]

Subscribers' Picks, October 2023

1.

First, thanks to Alissa Hattman, Christine Sneed, Heather Weir, Leigh Camacho Rourks, Sara Rauch, and Sarah Kalsbeek for suggesting titles. I added a few from my reading, a few that turned up while visiting the presses’ webpages, and a few from postings like these:

https://electricliterature.com/indie-publishing-gems-for-your-tbr-pile/

https://electricliterature.com/20-small-press-books-you-might-have-missed/

https://chireviewofbooks.com/2019/11/11/9-small-press-debut-novels-you-may- have-missed/

https://bookriot.com/upcoming-small-press-books/

2.

Clicking on a cover will link you to the book’s page at each of the presses. Covers not sprinkled throughout the list appear in a bright cascade at the end of today’s post.

3.

If you’re a writer who’s published books, remember how it felt that first time. Remember how ridiculously hopeful you were—that your book would stand out in the tsunami of print, that it would earn some raves, and that (even if it didn’t help you pay down your Visa balance) it would FIND ITS READERS.

Much as I love Cloud Cuckoo Land, and Normal People and Wolf Hall and Let the Great World Spin and Station Eleven, they found their readers. The books below need our help. Why not be a hero today, why not pick one out and buy it (from the press or an indie bookstore)?

Or two? ¹

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The List:

Novels:

• Sister Golden Calf, Colleen Burner, Split Lip Press (2023).

• Ego & Endurance, Karen Eisenbrey, Not a Pipe Publishing (2023).

• Sift, Alissa Hattman, The 3^rd Thing (2023).

• Landscapes, Christine Lai, Two Dollar Radio (2023).

• New Animal, Ella Baxter, Two Dollar Radio (2022).

• Lungfish, Meghan Gilliss, Catapult Books (2022).

• Duplex, Mike Nagel, Autofocus Books (2022).

• Pollak's Arm, Hans von Trotha [trans. from German by Elisabeth Lauffer],

         New Vessel Press (2022).

• From the Caves [novella], Thea Prieto, Red Hen Press (2021).

• Fishhead: Republic of Want, Ignatius Valentine Aloysius, Tortoise Books (2020 ).

• Tiny, Mairead Case, Featherproof Books (2020).

• Half, Sharon Harrigan, University of Wisconsin Press (2020).

• Martha Moody, Susan Stinson, Small Beer Press (2020).

• A Killer in King’s Cove: A Lane Winslow Mystery, Iona Whishaw, Touchwood Editions (2016).

• Perma Red, Debra Earling, Blue Hen (2002), Milkweed Editions (2022).

Stories:

• Hoist House: A Novella and Stories, Jenny Robertson, Cornerstone Press (2023).

• Direct Sunlight [stories], Christine Sneed, Triquarterly (2023).

• Twenty Stories: New and Selected [stories], Jack Driscoll, Pushcart Press (2022).

• I Am Faithful [stories], Jenny Irish, Black Lawrence Press (2021).

• The Things You Left [stories], Raki Kopernik, Unsolicited Press (2020).

• Our Brains and the Brains of Miniature Sharks [stories], Pablo Piñero Stillmann,       Moon City Press (2020).

• A Dream Come True [stories], Juan Carlos Onetti [trans. from Spanish by       Katherine Silver], Archipelago Books (2019).

• Moon Trees and Other Orphans [stories], Leigh Camacho Rourks, Black Lawrence

        Press (2019).

• Glory Days [stories], Melissa Fraterrigo, University of Nebraska Press (2017).

• Worst Best American, [stories], Juan Martinez, Small Beer Press (2017).

• Praying Drunk [stories], Kyle Minor, Sarabande (2014).

• Creature [stories], Amina Cain, Dorothy (2013).

Essays/etc.:

• Staring Contest: Essays About Eyes, Joshua James Amberson, Perfect Day Publishing (2023).

• Ballast [poetic sequence/history], Quenton Baker, Haymarket Books (2023).

• A Calendar Is A Snakeskin [personal essays], Kristine Langley Mahler, Autofocus Books (2023).

• And You May Find Yourself: Confessions of Late-Blooming Gen-X Wierdo [memoir],

         Sari Botton, Heliotrope Books (2022).

• XO [essay/memoir], Sara Rauch, Autofocus Books (2022).

• Strip [memoir], Hannah Sward, Tortoise Books (2022).

• Migratory Birds [essays], Mariana Oliver [trans. from Spanish by Julia Sanches], Transit Books (2021). Original publication 2014. Winner of the 2022 PEN Translation Prize.²

• Fruit of Knowledge: Vulva vs. Patriarchy [graphic essay], Liv Strömquist [trans. from Swedish by Melissa Bowers], Fantagraphics (2018).

The Publishers:

Archipelago Books, Autofocus Books, Black Lawrence Press, Blue Hen, Catapult, Cornerstone Press, Counterpoint, Dorothy, Fantagraphics, Featherproof Books, Haymarket Books, Heliotrope Books, Milkweed Editions, Moon City Press, New Vessel Press, Not a Pipe Publishing, Perfect Day Publishing, Pushcart Press, Red Hen Press, Sarabande, Seven Stories Press, Small Beer Press, Split Lip Press, The 3^rd Thing, Tortoise Books, Touchwood Editions, Transit Books, Triquarterly, Two Dollar Radio, University of Nebraska Press, University of Wisconsin Press, Unsolicited Press.

The rest of the book covers/links:

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Did you make it down this far? Wow, terrific. As poet Joe Millar would put it, you are indeed estimable.³

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1. Me? Money where mouth is? Right, OK.

Already have Half, Hoist House, Sift, Twenty Stories, and XO. Have to get Christine Sneed’s, Direct Sunlight, since (among other reasons) she’s been a lifeline for my Substack. But two others? Like the sound of Lungfish. Also Landscapes . . . because: a) it’s cli-fi, b) the outpouring of terrific reviews/blurbs/postings, and c) I love the sass behind Two Dollar Radio’s motto: Books Too Loud to Ignore. As well as the statement that follows:

• Our books and films aren’t for everyone. The last thing the world needs is an indie press releasing books that could just as easily carry a corporate colophon. Our work is for the disillusioned and disaffected, the adventurous and independent spirits who thirst for more, who push boundaries and like to witness others test their limits. We know we’re not alone. Let’s make some noise.

2. A note on Transit Books: One of their authors, Norwegian novelist/playwright, Jon Fosse, just won the Nobel Prize for Literature. WaPo published a piece about them. I fear only subscribers can use this link, but here it is anyway:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2023/10/13/transit-books-jon-fosse-nobel-prize/

3. Here’s a poem of Joe’s, “Labor Day”:

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/56336/labor-day