Throughout the month of August, we're running a sale on our first two titles of 2016:
Free shipping, as always.
Cloud the Shape of Bedroom: Soundtrack
In his recent interview with Chicago Review of Books, C.J. Opperthauser discussed his focus on building rhythms that suited his "jazz-and-blues ears" when writing Cloud the Shape of Bedroom. Now, C.J.'s given us the official soundtrack for his new chapbook, featuring songs by Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, and more. Enjoy!
C.J. Opperthauser Interviewed at Chicago Review of Books
C.J. spoke with Chicago Review of Books about poetry of place, cultivating productive writing environments, and even bourbon barrel-aged beer.
C.J. said of the poems in Cloud the Shape of Bedroom: "I was writing these poems for the purpose of performing them." Read more about the chapbook and C.J's process at ChiRB.
Cloud the Shape of Bedroom
C.J. Opperthauser's debut chapbook of prose poems, Cloud the Shape of Bedroom, is now available for purchase! Printed, trimmed, assembled, and hand-sewn in-house, this beaut of a book is released in a limited edition of less than 100 copies. To get your hands on your own, order through our store and enjoy free shipping anywhere in the US.
Now Available for Pre-Order: Cloud the Shape of Bedroom
For the next two weeks, you can pre-order C.J. Opperthauser's Cloud the Shape of Bedroom for a discounted price!
The chapbook, which will officially release April 20, has garnered praise from poets we admire:
"Read this book seven times and call me in the morning." —Chad Sweeney, author of PARABLE OF HIDE AND SEEK
"This chapbook's color is silver, its spirit is flesh, and its storm is sonic pleasure." —Catherine Wagner, author of NERVOUS DEVICE
"Cloud the Shape of Bedroom insists on this capability to observe, to alter, to transform, to dream while pushing itself to risk, to push deeper into what's possible when it comes to shaping and exploring the poem." —Carrie Lorig, author of THE PULP VS. THE THRONE
Distilled above, you can read the full praise for C.J.'s chapbook here, take advantage of our pre-order discount here, add Cloud the Shape of Bedroom to your Goodreads shelf here, and explore more work from our cover artist, Mary-Ann Kokoska here.
Looking Forward / Looking Back
As we get set to print and assemble the first title in our 2016 publishing queue, we're doing plenty of reminiscing on all that's happened since our little chapbook press was conceived nearly 5 years ago.
Our first chapbook, Susan Slaviero's Selections from The Murder Book was a beaut, featuring unique end pages from vintage science textbooks, cover art that elicited oohs and aahs at conferences and bookfairs, and poems that were lauded over, landing a spot in Best of the Net and also winning us our first Pushcart Prize!
Our second title, Necessary Objects, we released in 2013, and Molly Gaudry named it among her favorite and most influential chapbooks.
Our third chapbook, Bye Sea, won praise in PANK as an "absolutely gorgeous" example of "inspired typography and design" and from Barrelhouse's Dan Brady, who named it among the best chapbooks of the year.
The next year we released our fourth and fifth titles, Pedro Ponce's Stories After Goya and Alexander York's The Vanity House. Ponce's off-kilter flash fictions received lots of love from PANK and Sharkpack Poetry Review for being wildly imaginative and deftly written. York's collection earned the praise of many for its memorable, "beautiful darkness."
So what's next? We've got a publishing lineup for 2016/2017 that we're ecstatic about:
J. Scott Brownlee - On the Occasion of the Last Old Camp Meeting in Llano County
Abigail Zimmer - child in a winter house brightening
C.J. Opperthauser - Cloud the Shape of Bedroom
Tasha Cotter - Girl in the Cave
Duncan Campbell - Joysong Demarcation
Jennifer Hanks - gar child
We're thrilled to be working with such a talented group of writers, to give their piercing words a home, and to partake in the utter joy of editing, designing, and building beautiful books. Here's to another year of organized chaos and stunning art!