Review: Crazy White Devil: Poems by Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Review by: Lori Freshwater on Oct. 24, 2009 : (no rating) Guy LeCharles Gonzalez takes the gloves right off in this wonderful collection of poetry. We know immediately that this is going to be poetry that lives up to its promise, it is going to be poetry that speaks truth. We know that because the
Every Writer Should Read Fool on the Hill
As for where the individual plot-threads came from: Stephen George is, pretty obviously, a semi-autobiographical character. The story of Luther and Blackjack comes from my childhood fascination with the “Dog” and “Cat” entries in the World Book Encyclopedia—World Book had these pictorial layouts showing all the different dog and cat breeds, and for some reason
Burning Down the House: True Story
Arguably my “biggest” publishing credit is co-authoring Burning Down the House: Selected Poems from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe’s National Poetry Slam Champions (Soft Skull Press, 2000), and while I am both proud of and eternally grateful for its publication, its existence has more to do with timing and opportunism than the quality of the work therein. Besides my own attempts at zines and chapbooks, it was my first real introduction to the world of publishing, and it left a permanent mark that partly explains my cynical passion and/or pragmatic idealism for the publishing industry.
Publishing is a Community Service
Only those who know nothing of the history of technology believe that a technology is entirely neutral… Each technology has an agenda of its own. It is, as I have suggested, a metaphor waiting to unfold. Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death There’s a lot of hand-wringing and finger-pointing happening in publishing these days, both
Ignoring No
[This is a guest post by Tara Betts. Her info is at the end of the post.] come celebrate with me that everyday something has tried to kill me and has failed. — from Lucille Clifton’s Book of Light (Copper Canyon Press, 1993) I kept notebooks as a little girl, and I always knew I
Are Publishers Too White to Survive? Who Cares!
A recent meeting with two Caucasian well-respected literary agent friends of mine cemented that concern when one announced, “We’re all the same, [people the publishing industry]. We’re all white, we’re all over-educated, Ivy-leaguers, many of whom are trust fund babies.” Jeff Rivera, Declining Book Sales? WTF? Seriously? This is apparently going to be remembered as
Somewhere Over The Rainbow
via youtube.com This, Maya Azucena’s acoustic version of Hallelujah, and the entire Cowboy Junkies Trinity Sessions album, are the most haunting songs ever. That is all.
8 Marketing Posts for Proactive Writers
There’s been a notable spike in new traffic here lately, partly from Twitter and partly from the blog being favorably cited recently by Editor Unleashed and ASMP’s Strictly Business Blog. (Thanks!) In light of my last two posts being a bit more ranty than usual, and my schedule next week being crazy, I thought it
Feminista!’s List of 100 Best Works by Women Writers
I did so much better with the BBC top 100 list that included all those children’s books and titles by dead white men we were required to read in school. I’d only read 18 of the 100 best works by women. So, I’ve challenged myself to read all 100, including rereading the ones I’d read
New Media’s Credibility Problem
By offering consumers a low cost digital product, the economics of ebooks create a virtuous, self-reinforcing cycle. The low price expands the available market by making it affordable to more consumers; low production and distribution expenses allow the publisher to earn a healthy margin; and the larger addressable market allows publishers to sell more units