Been Meaning to Tell You . . .

. . . some excellent news from TSky Press author Brandon Shimoda. He's got two new books out, which, he says, are "something of fraternal sibling-strangers":

The Bowling [which you can't buy any more, becuase it's sold out, becuase it was too beautiful to live--and if it's any consolation, we missed it, too--Eds.], a collaboration with the royal Sommer Browning, and made by good wizard Carl Annarummo and his Greying Ghost Press. The Bowling is a collection of bowling, no less than the grease and the gleam, the balls and the buns of ten frames of subterranean heroism ...

Lake M, a long poem, and the preface of an even longer (forever in-progress) poem, beautifully made by Sueyeun Juliette Lee and her Corollary Press. Lake M resides at the bottom of a 15,000 year-old lake in western Montana, where my grandfather, Midori Shimoda, was imprisoned during World War II, under suspicion of being a spy. . . .

I hope you will all have a look, and thank you,

Brandon Shimoda

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. . . & TSky Press author Joshua Marie Wilkinson has prepared for you another fab installment of
Rabbit Light Movies (a journal of poemfilms)

Episode #11 features new work from TSky peeps Julie Carr, Lisa Robertson, and Zachary Schomburg, as well as from John Beer, Eula Biss, Joel Brouwer, Joel Craig, Patrick Durgin, Monica Fambrough, Judith Goldman, Sarah Gridley, Terrance Hayes, Christine Hume, Claudia Keelan, Sandra Lim, Dawn Lundy and Martin & Ronaldo V. Wilson, Peter O'Leary, Donald Revell, Michael Robins, Jennifer Scappettone, James Shea, Carol Snow, Kerri Sonnenberg, Peter Streckfus, Tony Trigilio, Leila Wilson, Allyssa Wolf, Lesley Yalen & Natalie Lyalin, and Matvei Yankelevich.

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. . . & Alice Blue #11 includes work by TSky peeps Benjamin Buchholz and Brian Evenson, as well as Amelia Gray, AD Jameson, Susan Moorhead, Erik Leavitt, Julio Peralta-Paulino, Erika Kristine Bogner, Sam Schild, Timothy David Orme, Michael Kimball, and Aaron Block.

You should check it out. It's edited by Sarah Gallien, Will Gallien, Madison Glass, and Amber Nelson. Amber's a wicked nice person. Also, Sarah Gallien used to be Sarah Burgess, so we're guessing that she and Will got married. That's pretty awesome.

One of TSky's former editors married one of our contributors after we had our famous TSky Summer Camp '05. That event was, like, the best time ever. Even though there couldn't have been more that a dozen people there. Mainly, our dozen NYC friends who aren't scared of the woods (can you believe there are a dozen?). Yeah. That totally rocked. We should do that again. . . .

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. . . & Craig Santos Perez at The Offending Adam reviews Christian Peet's Big American Trip.

These postcard meditations call into question what America means by 'we,' and why many feel that the presence of immigrants means there isn’t enough barbed wire to keep them ('us') out. . . . Peet notes: “the ‘lyric’ is // written with a hand of the tremor.” Indeed, the lyrics of Big American Trip are written with a hand of the tremor—a tremor caused by the unstable surfaces and underlying forces that constitute the history, language, politics, economy, and culture of the nation. [Read the full review]

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. . . & we have a lot of review copies from Ahsahta Press. High-end stuff. If it was heroin it would kill you. If you're a high-end reviewer, you should contact us about getting your hands on some of it, and then tell us what you think--if you're not dead.

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. . . & our friends at SLOPE also have good news for y'all:

Dear Friends, Readers and Loved Ones,

SLOPE is pleased to be re-joining you this spring with a portfolio of poems and materials by the luminous Sarah Gridley, the author of GREEN IS THE ORATOR, fresh out from New California Press. Sarah Gridley's portfolio is part of Issue #26 which began with a glimpse into the heart of Heather Christle and will continue with portfolios devoted to the work of Don Mee Choi, Richard Meier and Nathaniel Tarn among twenty others to follow--with Slope projects in preparation by Amber Nelson (Film) and Phil Cordelli (Unmaps), and issues guest-edited by Jen Bervin, Catherine Moore, Noah Saterstrom, among other good shepherds, to come.

Thank you for reading, and resting with us,

The Editors of Slope

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. . . & our friends at Fence would like to make life good (and inexpensive) for you:

Two years-ish ago, Fence offered a year’s subscription to the magazine, a la Radiohead’s In Rainbows release, for whatever you the buyer felt good about paying. It felt good to us and we hope it felt good to you, and so we’re offering it again.

Our Spring/Summer issue, very late this year, is coming out in a month, and you can click here to pay whatever you want, between $1 and infinity, for a year’s subscription starting with this issue. Contributors include:

Anselm Berrigan, Evan Lavender-Smith, James Wagner, Allyssa Wolf, Anna Moschovakis, Elizabeth Fodaski, Thomas Doran, Debbie Yee, Rodrigo Toscano, Christina Yu, Michael Robbins, Lee Ann Brown, Heather Christle, Carl Phillips, Sandra Doller, Tomaz Salamun, Steven Alvarez, Timothy Donnelly, Jack Boetcher, Ben Greenman, Rebekah Rutkoff, Angela Ashman, Rebecca Schiff, Aurelie Sheehan, Wayne Koestenbaum, Greta Byrum, with beautiful art by Dawn Clements.

Our slogan: Don’t regret not doing it.

Chapbook Open Reading Period & A Month-Long Roundup

TSky Press Chapbook Reading Period
(ends 31 August)

Tarpaulin Sky Press is reading chapbook manuscripts during the month of August. Chapbook manuscripts should be postmarked between August 1 and August 31, 2009.

There is no need to query first; simply mail the manuscript according to the chapbook submission guidelines.

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The New TSky is the New Trickhouse

Tarpaulin Sky #16
Summer 09:
Trickhouse

The current issue of Tarpaulin Sky is the current issue of Trickhouse; i.e., the current issue of Trickhouse is the current issue of Tarpaulin Sky. Think of it as Trick Sky or Tarp House. Or just don't worry about all that, and instead proceed directly to the goods:.

Trickhouse Vol. 5 / Tarpaulin Sky #16
Curated by Noah Saterstrom

• texts by Mei-mei Berssenbrugge, Thalia Field, and Joanna Howard (from Heide Hatry's Heads and Tales)
• video by Anne Waldman and Lisa Jarnot
• sound by Caroline Bergvall
• correspondence from Lisa Birman
• an experiment conducted by Brandon Shimoda & Lisa Schumaier
• an interview with Gordon Massman, conducted by Ana Božičević, Blake Butler, Elena Georgiou, Amy King, and Selah Saterstrom
• visual art by Josh Friedman
• and guest curator, Verbobala's "Hex-ologram"

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Steven Karl reviews Andrew Zornoza's Where I Stay & Christian Peet's Big American Trip

"Both Peet and Zornoza’s books are examples of not submitting to a status quo in literature, instead they use the traits once synonymous with Wong Kar-wai: originality, vision, risks, and experimentation to give you back this country as it is: flawed, fractured, hypocritical, greedy, beautiful, breathtaking, mesmerizing, and the constant dialect of a lie and a truth."

Read the entire review here.

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Where I Stay is also reviewed at Small Press Reviews:

"As haunting as it is gritty, Where I Stay has the feel of an impressionist watercolor and underscores the value of the small press in literary culture. Indeed, I hesitate to simply call it a book; its ambitions, beautifully realized, make it a hybrid of textual and visual arts." Read the full review here.

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See also: a great interview with Andrew Zornoza at Bookish Us.

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Fence Vol. 12 No. 1 Spring/Summer 2009

The latest issue of Fence is particularly stellar. The two poems by Janaka Stucky are worth the price of admission alone. And since we couldn’t afford to make the AWP where Kate Bernheimer, Brian Evenson, Laird Hunt, Eric Lorberer, and Joyelle McSweeney were in a panel discussion on nonrealist fiction, we were delighted to be able to read the transcript. TSky faves Karla Kelsey and Eugene Ostashevsky also figure prominently in the mix. As well as Kate Greenstreet, with whom I'll be reading--huzzah!--in October.

Need more? Well, then, you’ll also find James Gendron, Jannifer MacKenzie, Chris Pusateri, Lizbeth Keiley, ennifer Kronovet, Meena Alexander, Steve Langan, Brett Fletcher Lauer, Dean Young, Chris Tysh, Heather Winterer, Christine Hume, Rachel Sherman, Gregg Bordowitz & Lisa Johnson, images by Jason Middlebrook—and still more.

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The Best of Fence, The First Nine Years

Including essays from Fence editors Caroline Crumpacker, Anthony Hawley, Katy Lederer, Frances Richard, Matthew Rohrer, Christopher Stackhouse, Max Winter, Rebecca Wolff, and Jason Zuzga, along with 400+ pages of poetry and nonfiction from TSky editor Christian Peet and TSky contributors Amy Catanzano, Geoffrey Detrani, Brandon Downing, Eugene Ostashevsky, and Lance Phillips

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Francis Raven's Provisions

Interbirth Books is pleased to announce Francis Raven's hybrid collection of poems & prose: Provisions. Fifty books were printed, assembled, and hand bound in-house at Interbirth Books using a combination long / kettle stitch. Twenty-six books are lettered A through Z and signed by the author. This hardcover edition includes cover art by Francis Raven. 84 pages — 5.25 x 7.25 — $22 (free shipping in the US).

We have a copy. You should too. Even if you're broke, you should go to the Interbirth website just to peruse the photos: interbirthbooks.org. Oh yeah, another reason: the contents of the books are pretty alright, too. The David Hadbawnik book is sold out, but Francis Raven, Mary Burger? Handbound? Really, what the heck else can we ask of a book?

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Also check the latest issue of kadar koli, from Habenicht Press. Edited by Roger Snell; designed by Ann Marie Snell; cover by Yasuhiro Esaki. Featuring work by Joanne Kyger, John Phillips, Nicole Mauro, Lal Ded (trans. Andrew Schelling), Betsy Andrews, Beau Beausoleil, Jacques Roubaud (trans. Eleni Sikelianos), George Albon, Kate Colbu, David Miller, Carol Snow, Dale Smith, Laura Solorzano (trans. Jen Hofer), Chuck Stebelton, Rosmarie Waldrop, Theodore Enslin, Gypsy Cante (trans. Will Kirkland), and Kristin Prevallet. $5 plus shipping.

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H_ngm_n #8

The long-awaited 8th issue H_ngm_n is live.

Edited by Nate Pritts, the issue features art from Nikki Painter; fiction by Bill Dunlap, Christopher Higgs, A D Jameson, and Zachary Tyler Vickers; comix by John Dermot Woods; poems by Nico Alvarado-Greenwood, Scott Bade, Erica Bernheim, Joseph Bienvenu, Jason Bredle, Paula Cisewski, Nina Corwin, Jordan Davis, Jessica Dessner, John Duvernoy, John W. Evans, John Findura , Matt Hart, Steve Healey, Cynthia Arrieu-King, Eric Kocher, Ben Kopel, Gregory Lawless, B.J. Love, Tony Mancus, Anthony McCann, Pete Miller, Alexis Orgera, Chris Rizzo, Broc Rossell, Brandon Shimoda & Julia Cohen, Rachel M. Simon, Jeff Simpson, Carmen Gimenez Smith, Chad Sweeney, Robert Whiteside, Joseph P. Wood, and Jon Woodward; and a hell of a lot more. See for yourself.

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RECENTLY RECEIVED

Most of the titles below are available for review, though we include the friend copies and the purchased copies as well, thinking we can probably scare up another copy if you're interested in reviewing one for TSky. Titles marked with asterisks are hand-bound books or otherwise special editions and are limited, if still available at all.

* Samuel Amadon, Each H (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2009).

Shaindel Beers, A Brief History of Time (Salt Publishing, 2009)

A Best of Fence, the First Nine Years: Vol.1 Poetry & Nonfiction
* Ross Brighton, A Pelt, A Shrub, A Soil Sample; with drawings by Anne Mackenzie (Neoismist Press, 2009)

Rebecca Brown, American Romances (City Lights, 2009)

Allison Carter, A Fixed Formal Arrangement (Les Figues Press, 2008)

René Char, The Brittle Age and Returning Upland, Gustaf Sobin, tr. (Counterpath Press, 2009)

Ginnetta Correli, The Lost Episodes of Beatie Scarelli (Marshmallow Press, 2008)

Michael Cross, Throne / Michelle Detorie, A Coincidence of Wants / Johannes Göransson Majakovskij en tragedy (Dos Press, 2007)

Jeremy M. Davies, Rose Alley (Counterpath Press, 2009)

* Shira Dentz, Leaf Weather (Tilt Press, 2009)
Denver Quarterly, Vol. 43. No. 4

* Claire Donato, Someone Else's Body (Cannibal Books, 2009)

* Jeffrey Encke, Most Wanted: A Gamble in Verse (Last Tangos Editons, 2004)

Fact-Simile, Spring/Summer 2009

Fence Vol. 12 No. 1 Spring/Summer 2009

Christine Gardiner, My Father’s Sister (Nascent A Press, 2009)

K. Lorraine Graham, Terminal Humming (Edge Books, 2009)

* Carolyn Guinzio, Untitled Wave (Cannibal Books, 2009)

*Caia Hagel, Acts of Kindness and Excellence in Times Tables (The Cupboard, 2009)

* Melanie Hubbard, Gilbi Winco Swags (Cannibal Books, 2008)

Elizabeth Hughey, Sunday Houses the Sunday House (University of Iowa Press, 2007)

Robert Krut, The Spider Sermons (BlazeVox Books, 2009)

Fred Marchant, The Looking House (Graywolf Press, 2009)

Sabrina Orah Mark, Tsim Tsum (Saturnalia Books, 2009)

* C.J. Martin, City (Vigilance Society, 2007)

* Laura Nash, Brownfields (Ugly Duckling Presse Dossier, 2009).

* Akilah Oliver, The Putterer's Notebook (Belladonna Books, 2006)

Timothy David Orme, Catalogue of Burnt Text (BlazeVox Books, 2009)

Poezija June 2009: If We Crash Into A Cloud, It Won’t Hurt (Croatian Poetry 1989 – 2009)

Kevin Rabas, Lisa’s Flying Electric Piano (Woodley Press, 2009)

* Francis Raven, Provisions (Interbirth Books, 2009)

Tomaž Šalamun, There’s the Hand and There’s the Arid Chair; edited by Thomas Kane; translated by the author with Thomas Kane, Peter Richards, Phillis Levin, Joshua Beckman, Ana Jelnikar, Christopher Merril, Matthew Rohrer, Brian Henry, Anselm Hollo (Counterpath Press, 2009)

* Carter Smith, Therefore You Are That Other One You Love (Dos Press)

* Andrea Strudensky, Incident Light Poem (Dos Press)

Marina Temkina, What Do You Want? (Ugly Duckling Presse Eastern European Series, 2009)

Mark Wagstaff, In Sparta (Troubador Publishing, 2009)

Rebecca Wolff, The King (W.W. Norton, 2009)

John Dermot Woods, The Complete Collection of People, Places, & Things (BlazVox Books, 2009)

Elizabeth Marie Young, Aim Straight at the Fountain and Press Vaporize (Fence Books, 2009)