 "Books Inc. Berkeley proudly welcomes local author Paul Justison for a reading from his debut novel Lost and Found in the 60s, a illuminating vision of San Francisco in the era of flower children, free love, and groovy music!"
Holden Caulfield returns as Mark Stenrud to bring the psychedelic era vividly to life. Alienated from a toxic mother, and in constant conflict at his conservative high school because of his radical politics, Mark Stenrud escapes to Haight-Ashbury, where he takes a job in the post office and settles into a carefree existence in the psychedelic center of the universe. LSD chemists notice his organizational skills and calmness in the face of danger and recruit him to join their enterprise. He accepts and has free time for romance, adventures, and street justice. After months of success, he loses his touch, leading to narrow escapes, bad decisions, and his own downfall. Along the way, he learns about loss, forgiveness, and the meaning of self-respect. "This novel is excruciatingly accurate and totally outrageous. Justison has captured the extravagance of the time: the interplay of sexual liberation, psychedelic experiences and coming of age that made the community so intense and inviting. Was drug use so extensive and casual? You bet. Was casual sexual connecting so extensive and easy? Oh my, yes. The 60s, including its dark, scary, lonely, confused reality is all here, as well as the ecstasy, the kindness, and the sharing. If you weren't there, this is as close as you're going to get to knowing what you missed. The stories, the people, the vision- enjoy the trip." - James Fadiman, microdose researcher and author, The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide: Safe, Therapeutic and Sacred Journeys "This lively and engaging novel chronicles the adventures of a high school drop-out who leaves Arizona for the Haight Ashbury in the 1960's where the credo was "Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out." The narrator, a bright, observant young man, quickly becomes part of Hippie culture of free love, tripping on marijuana and LSD, Be-Ins, Viet Nam War protests, and anti-draft demonstrations, which is captured in nuanced and textured detail. Central to this novel is the protagonist's deep respect for women as friends and lovers who are his equals in their shared explorations as well as existential lessons learned. For those who were there, this novel will bring it all back, for those who weren't, this novel is a vivid portrait of of the 60's." - Wendy Martin, Professor of American Literature and American Studies, and Founder/Editor of Women's Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal Paul Justison dropped out of high school in 1966 and fled to Haight-Ashbury, spending most of the next two years there and in Marin County engaging in all the pleasures and follies that magical time had to offer. After the sixties ended, he went to college, started a career, and raised a family. He has been published in The Rumpus, The Gambler Mag, Flash Fiction Magazine, and Fiction on the Web. Lost and Found in the 60s is his first novel. Event Information: Tuesday, January 24, 2023 - 7:00pm Books Inc. 1491 Shattuck Ave Berkeley, CA 94709 If you could cook dinner for any author, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you make? I don’t know if he eats meat or not, but I’d love to have a steak with Cormac McCarthy. I’m not sure what route I’d go with it. Sometimes I do my secret marinade. On other occasions, I’ll do a red wine and mushroom demi-glace. I could also just do a pan sear with garlic, butter, and rosemary. So many options, but I’d definitely do asparagus and mashed potatoes as a side. Who is your biggest literary crush, author or character? Well, I wouldn’t call this a crush any longer because I’m now an adult male, but I definitely had a crush on Wednesday Addams as a kid. I was in the sixth grade when the 1991 film came out, and I fell in love with Christina Ricci’s portrayal. Jenna Ortega does an incredible job in the new series. Does writing energize or exhaust you? Both, actually. When I’m in the flow, like when I’m really feeling the poem almost as if I’m channeling it from a source outside of myself, I feel incredibly energized. Time stops. This sounds weird to say, but I feel this sense of unity and oneness, a true euphoria. When I exit that space, I feel depleted. I have to decompress a little. I can’t talk to anyone because socializing feels so strange, like another language. I need a drink and several minutes just to feel like I can be a person in the world again. What is your writing Kryptonite? Oddly enough, teaching poetry. I love when I get to teach poetry along with the usual English comp courses, but I find that giving feedback on poems taps into the same energy that I use for my own work. Whenever I teach poetry, like I did in spring 2022, I end up not writing as much. Have you ever gotten reader’s block? Interesting concept. I wasn’t aware this actually existed until the interview. Anytime my English 101 students turn in essays. Unfortunately, I don’t have a choice but to read them and give them feedback. They’re trying. They’re mostly good people, but some of their essays…yikes. How did publishing your first book change your process of writing? I feel like it puts more pressure on the process. I’ve been submitting my work to literary journals since I finished graduate school (2010), and while I had several published, it wasn’t really until the first book came out that I started thinking every poem had to be “publishable.” I got in my head for a while. I overthought everything. Is this good? Will someone publish this? In the past, I wrote poems that I knew were throwaways, but I enjoyed writing them. It took me a while to be able to get back to writing for fun and not thinking each poem needed to be great. What authors did you dislike at first but grew into? Poets as a whole haha. I was really into sports growing up, and I had this very typical, Midwestern belief that poetry was “girl stuff.” I loved reading, but I was strictly into fiction and nonfiction. I hated poetry units in school and didn’t take them seriously. It wasn’t until high school that I started reading and writing poetry. I saw one of my friends writing in the high school library. I asked him what it was, and he told me, “Poetry.” I was surprised. I was like, “What the fuck are you writing poetry for? That’s lame.” He said, “No, it’s actually really therapeutic. I can process my thoughts and experiences and feel better about my life.” So, I started writing poetry to deal with my teenage angst, but I didn’t really know what I was doing. In college, I took a Brit Lit class and encountered the Romantic poets again. I fell in love with John Keats. I learned more about form and technique. I started devouring all the poets I could. So that’s the long answer. I guess the short answer is John Keats. What was an early experience where you learned that language had power? In high school, I was kind of an asshole to my parents. I just thought I was smarter than them. They were conservative, very practical Christian/Catholics who both came from agricultural backgrounds, and I was weirdly this liberal, creative atheist who just viewed them as backwoods Kansans. I don’t think that anymore. I would do a lot of things just to piss them off, like becoming a Kansas Jayhawks fan instead of cheering for K-State, or deciding to become a vegetarian for a while not for any ethical or environmental reason but just because it was a stab at my dad, who had been a cattle rancher. One Saturday night, I was supposed to hang out with my friends. We were at my sister’s basketball tournament in Kansas City, and my dad decided he wanted to stay to watch the next teams play because some of my sister’s friends were on those teams. I was upset, so on the way home, I made a cutting remark about him not having any friends when he was young. He’s ordinarily a pretty calm guy, and this is very uncharacteristic for him, but he pulled the car over and came at me like he was going to beat the shit out of me. My mom intervened, and we didn’t come to blows. That was when I realized that language has power. I think I always knew it, but that was the moment where I saw language’s power coming at me in the form of a fist. As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal? Definitely a raven or a crow. Or a plague doctor. They’re all kind of similar. I remember my first email handle was oldcrowsmiles. I chose that in high school. My parents thought I was sneaking around drinking alcohol because of Old Crow bourbon. I just liked crows. How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have? I have 4-5 manuscripts that are actually ready to go. I need to revisit them. Many of them were written while I was in graduate school or shortly thereafter. I was quite prolific then, but when I look back on material from 10-15 years ago, I feel like I’m such a different writer now. While I may eventually try to publish those old manuscripts, I’d like to put together a new one of the stuff I’ve written the last couple years. If you didn’t write, what would you do for work? I don’t currently write for work as teaching pays the bills. Well, I do work as the lead writer for Bandbox vinyl record club, so I guess I can’t say that I don’t write for work. But to answer the question, I’d be a chef. I love cooking. I would love to be like Anthony Bourdain, cooking and writing.  To Daughter a Devil explores women in horror and the horror in being woman. Each poem puts a magnifying glass to the female body and uses the most beautiful and the most terrifying parts to paint a picture of growing up and learning to live with — and possibly love — the evil that lives inside of us.
About Megan Mary Moore Megan Mary Moore holds an MFA in poetry from Miami University. She is the author of Dwellers (Unsolicited Press, 2019) and her work has appeared in Rattle, Grist, and Contemporary Verse 2. She lives in Cincinnati where she frequently dresses like a fairy princess, watches too many horror movies, and writes poems about things that scare her. About Unsolicited Press Unsolicited Press strives to produce exceptional works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from award-winning authors. Unsolicited Press based out of Portland, Oregon and focuses on the works of the unsung and underrepresented. As a womxn-owned, all-volunteer small publisher that doesn’t worry about profits as much as championing exceptional literature, we have the privilege of partnering with authors skirting the fringes of the lit world. We’ve worked with emerging and award-winning authors such as Shann Ray, Amy Shimshon-Santo, Brook Bhagat, Kris Amos, and John W. Bateman. Learn more at unsolicitedpress.com. Find us on twitter and Instagram, @unsolicitedp. To Daughter a Devil is available on January 3, 2023 as a paperback (96 p.; 978-1-956692-51-8), e-book, and audiobook (forthcoming). Retailers and libraries can order copies through Ingram.  In his debut poetry collection, Rhys Daly urges the reader to confront discomfort and embrace the things we fear to see what may be beyond them. Shedding asks what parts of ourselves are truly ourselves, and what parts are carefully constructed to defend us against external and internal pressures. It tells a story of someone breaking open his rigidly constructed mindset, examining a home that’s suddenly begun to feel foreign, revisiting memories he has tried desperately to forget, and discovering what they can teach about trauma and healing.
Through conversational free verse and visceral surrealist imagery, Shedding invites you on a journey of deconstruction and reconstruction of self, grudges, the reliability of memory, and what we learn when we face the things we’ve left behind. About Rhys Daly Rhys Daly is a queer Asian-American Seattle area writer and actor who wishes he lived even closer to the ocean. His work often explores discomfort, uncertainty, identity, acceptance, and the wonder in the mundane. When he’s not hunched over a coffee table furiously memorizing lines or scribbling up poems, he can be found walking moodily down a city street looking for his next bit of inspiration. Other works can be in Volume Four, Issue 3 of Rigorous Magazine, as well as the Fall 2020 issue of Short Vine Journal. About Unsolicited Press Unsolicited Press strives to produce exceptional works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from award-winning authors. Unsolicited Press based out of Portland, Oregon and focuses on the works of the unsung and underrepresented. As a womxn-owned, all-volunteer small publisher that doesn’t worry about profits as much as championing exceptional literature, we have the privilege of partnering with authors skirting the fringes of the lit world. We’ve worked with emerging and award-winning authors such as Shann Ray, Amy Shimshon-Santo, Brook Bhagat, Kris Amos, and John W. Bateman. Learn more at unsolicitedpress.com. Find us on twitter and Instagram, @unsolicitedp. Shedding is available on December 31, 2022 as a paperback (112p.; 978-1-956692-46-4), e-book, and audiobook. Retailers and libraries can order copies through Ingram.  Womenscape is a collection of twelve stories, each a life-changing moment in a woman’s life. These women, who range from five to ninety-five, navigate through the varied landscapes of their lives with surprising results. There are disappointments and triumphs, tears and laughter, and many unexpected outcomes along the way.
In the first story, “In the Beginning”, Lily Ann, a spoiled five-year-old who relies on her beauty to get her way, confronts an unexpected challenger on her first day of kindergarten. In “Resurrection”, Mary O’Hara Levin, recently widowed. wanders the country, not knowing what she is looking for until she gets off the bus in a small town in Tennessee. In “Venus Rising”, Venus Goldfarb, an outcast, is forced to cast herself out into a world she views as unwelcoming and threatening. Ill equipped and afraid to navigate this world, she finds sanctuary and purpose in an unexpected place. These are three of the twelve women whose stories are told in this collection. Change can be daunting. Life can be surprising. This collection of short stories explores some of the challenges women of varying ages face. Most are successful; some are not, but they all learn something about themselves that changes their lives forever. About Susan Helene Living for many years on the East Coast, Susan Helene moved to California, and earned a master’s degree in mathematics and Computer Science, while raising her two daughters and a quartet of dogs. Having taught in many educational environments, she joined the faculty at Fullerton College to become the first and only woman Computer Science Department Coordinator for over twenty years. When not enjoying time spent with her family: her husband, her two daughters and four dogs of various size and questionable pedigree, she studied ceramics, where she learned the varied processes of wheel throwing, sculpting, and tile making. The exactitude of computer programming and the attention to process and detail in her chosen field of art helped hone her skills of observation. It was after presenting “Her Cup Runneth Over” to a writer’s workshop, that she felt encouraged to explore writing more seriously. Her short story, “The Sixty-First Day”, was accepted for the eighth edition of Montana Mouthful, October 2020 issue. She is also the proud recipient of a Second Place Prize in the High Desert Branch- California Writers Club pandemic anthology contest. Her story, “The Rose”, was published in their anthology: Survival: Tales of Pandemic, published in 2020. About Unsolicited Press Unsolicited Press strives to produce exceptional works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from award-winning authors. Unsolicited Press based out of Portland, Oregon and focuses on the works of the unsung and underrepresented. As a womxn-owned, all-volunteer small publisher that doesn’t worry about profits as much as championing exceptional literature, we have the privilege of partnering with authors skirting the fringes of the lit world. We’ve worked with emerging and award-winning authors such as Shann Ray, Amy Shimshon-Santo, Brook Bhagat, Kris Amos, and John W. Bateman. Learn more at unsolicitedpress.com. Find us on twitter and Instagram, @unsolicitedp. WOMENSCAPE: Selected Stories of Eclectic Women is available on December 20, 2022 as a paperback (132p.; 978-1-956692-45-7), e-book, and audiobook. Retailers and libraries can order copies through Ingram.  PORTLAND, OR; December 13, 2022--The Bunker Book is a work of poetry by Anne Babson that revisits medieval plague tales in an era of American pandemic and French Resistance literature in a divided nation. Set in New Orleans and other cosmopolitan destinations, it presents the problems of Kyiv, of the Second World War, and all fights against fascism as a way of talking about America today. This poetry collection makes the new cosmopolitan South confront the ghosts of the old problematic South and exorcise them. While it occasionally echoes sentiments present in Atwood’s work, it offers hope to the reader despite all. Focused on the life of a woman who hides herself and the books banned in an oppressive society in a bunker, her library comes to life and speaks to her in the voices of figures like Machiavelli, the Wife of Bath, Marlene Dietrich, Margery Kempe, Rhett Butler, Saint Thomas Moore, and Christine de Pisan. It contemplates the cloistered life of pandemic and religious medieval women mystics in one idiom. It imagines the underground resistance of Paris during the Nazi occupation reenacted in our times in an American setting.Works as old as Beowulf find themselves enacted on the banks of the Mississippi, and poems as present-tense as the latest headlines about the war in Ukraine also find a home on Tchoupitoulas Street in New Orleans.
The Bunker Book calls the reader to hope despite reasons to despair, to overcome fear and to fight the forces that would silence artists and political dissidents everywhere. Anyone feeling frustrated with our times might take solace and encouragement from these defiant and hopeful words. ADVANCE PRAISE FOR ANNE BABSON "Anne Babson’s poems are bunkered under the intersection of learning and lived knowledge, in depths where history and myth share roots and where blood and milk share a source. Bookish and puckish, formal and transformative, Babson’s poems range through time and space while always returning to (or do they ever leave?) the fever-dreamscape of her New Orleans. Along the way, she counters patriarchy’s fatal predations with a restorative feminism that calls us to action. Spend some time in this bunker and you’ll emerge, with Babson’s saints, ready to dance and to fight."–Brad Richard, author of Parasite Kingdom and Motion Studies "What do you do when the world closes in on all sides? If you’re Anne Babson, you sustain yourself in a fortress of books and let your mind wander where it may. Babson’s The Bunker Book is a delightful feast of linguistic wit and play. In these poems you will party with Gertrude Stein in PJs, go bar-hopping with the Vampire Lestat--and that’s on a slow night! Of all the writers who entered lockdown with optimistic plans for their work, only Anne Babson could emerge from her bunker with such a brainy, brash, gut-busting, brouhaha of a book. Do yourself a favor and dive in."–Alison Pelegrin, author of Our Lady of Bewilderment "Anne Babson's The Bunker Book knows no boundaries. Shifting through place and time, the poems commune with a variety of fictional and historical women, each living in their own metaphorical bunkers. From The Wife of Bath to Sylvia Plath to Heather Lewis, every encounter is dark, playful, hallucinatory, revelatory. Like Ilya Kaminsky's Deaf Republic, this book explicates a civilization. Poetry lovers should rush to these pages."–Maurice Carlos Ruffin "Some books read as if they were cities: the reader is walking its neighborhoods, experiencing the music and bustle of each street, each poem. Like New Orleans itself, Anne Babson’s The Bunker Book is a glorious hodge-podge of voices and influence. As if walking Bourbon Street, we hear German, Spanish, and French co-mingling as Psalms sidle into Elvis, Laura Ingalls, and Mrs. Havisham; as free verse follows villanelle, ghazal, and blank verse; as churches are built beside bar. And as it does, history’s shadow stretches into the contemporary. These are poems of witness, and more importantly in these troubled times, poems of hope. The Bunker Book presents “a city safe for women built on heroic/couplets,” and Anne Babson is quite the architect."–Gerry LaFemina, author of Baby Steps for Doomsday Prepping ABOUT ANNE BABSON Anne Babson’s first collection The White Trash Pantheon won the Colby H. Kullman prize from the Southern Writers Southern Writing Conference in Oxford, Mississippi. Her second collection, Polite Occasions, was published by Unsolicited Press, and her third collection, Messiah, was published by Saint Julian Press. She wrote the libretto for the opera Lotus Lives, which has been performed in New York, Boston, and Montreal, and it is set to be released to video in coming months. She is the author of four chapbooks– Uppity Poems, Dictation, Poems Under Surveillance, and Dolly Shot. She has been anthologized in the United States and in England, most recently in the notable collection Nasty Women Poets: an Unapologetic Anthology of Subversive Verse released in 2017. Her work has appeared in literary journals on five continents and has won numerous editorial awards. Her play about gun culture in the South, Reenactment, was published in 2019. She has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize four times. She has received residency grants from Yaddo and Vermont Studio Center. She writes lyrics for a variety of musical projects, most recently a blues album. She teaches writing and literature at Southeastern Louisiana University. She is the president of the Women’s National Book Association of New Orleans. ABOUT UNSOLICITED PRESS Unsolicited Press strives to produce exceptional works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from award-winning authors. Unsolicited Press based out of Portland, Oregon and focuses on the works of the unsung and underrepresented. As a womxn-owned, all-volunteer small publisher that doesn’t worry about profits as much as championing exceptional literature, we have the privilege of partnering with authors skirting the fringes of the lit world. We’ve worked with emerging and award-winning authors such as Shann Ray, Amy Shimshon-Santo, Brook Bhagat, Kris Amos, and John W. Bateman. Learn more at unsolicitedpress.com. Find us on twitter and Instagram, @unsolicitedp. THE BUNKER BOOK is available on December 13, 2022 as a paperback (142p.; 978-1-956692-44-0), e-book, and audiobook (forthcoming). Retailers and libraries can order copies through Ingram. The author is available for speaking engagements.  PORTLAND, OR; December 6, 2022 -- So much happens in the backbeat. In music, the backbeat is a place for discovery, improvisation, and connection. What happens in the backbeat of human experience—a rich life beyond our initial surfaces? What do we discover and create when we attend to this space? What happens when we examine it and open it to others? Backbeat Ocean invites the reader to join a poetic dive and subsequent rise through this unspoken space as through the five oceanic zones. The journey begins in the Sunlight Zone and progresses through each zone until we confront darkness in a descent to the Hadal Zone. An alchemical turn guides the ascent back through the zones arriving in the Sunlight Zone once again, having changed from the journey. Collectively, these poems intersect self-discovery, relationships, nature, trauma, and daily life in a tensive, philosophical, and vulnerable journey. They discover connection through the power of plunging into an existential tapestry—embracing it all, putting it into place, and recognizing the depth that exists in being human. Individually, each poem builds on the one before and guides the reader through a vast ocean. From simple moments that leave space open to structured escapades that capture chaos and larger systems, these pages seek authentic discovery on the path to meaning. Backbeat Ocean integrates vulnerability, confusion, contemplation, and strength. The collection speaks to the complexity and richness of the life that exists around and inside us, in the backbeat.
About Janette Kennedy Janette Kennedy, MAEd, MFA regularly wrangles dreams, family, and words. Her poetry has appeared at Mothers Always Write, on the Tiferet Journal community blog, and on the sidewalk of her hometown as a part of the 2021 World Travels Sidewalk Poetry Contest. Although she has been known to sling data and pivot tables with the best, she is fascinated by the power of art and nurturing creativity. She has taught diverse students of all ages for over 15 years, and currently teaches undergraduate composition and literature. Discover more at janettekennedy.com About Unsolicited Press Unsolicited Press strives to produce exceptional works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from award-winning authors. Unsolicited Press is based out of Portland, Oregon and focuses on the works of the unsung and underrepresented. As a womxn-owned, all-volunteer small publisher that doesn’t worry about profits as much as championing exceptional literature, we have the privilege of partnering with authors skirting the fringes of the lit world. We’ve worked with emerging and award-winning authors such as Shann Ray, Amy Shimshon-Santo, Brook Bhagat, Kris Amos, and John W. Bateman. Learn more at unsolicitedpress.com. Find us on twitter and Instagram, @unsolicitedp. BACKBEAT OCEAN is available on December 6, 2022, as a paperback (156 p.; 978-1-956692-42-6) and e-book (all major retailers). Retailers, schools, and libraries can order copies through Ingram. The author is open to speaking with the media, holding readings, and engaging in other author opportunities. Tyler James Russell's WHEN FIRE SPLITS THE SKY is an Apocalyptic, Psychological Road-Trip Thriller11/22/2022
 PORTLAND, OR; November 22, 2022 -- Following Ben’s weekend hunting trip outside Juneau, his wife Maranda—a trauma survivor with multiple personalities—makes a discovery that looks like it will finally put their limping, less-than-a-year marriage out of its misery. But in the morning, when a cataclysmic blast throws the world into chaos, Ben and Maranda find themselves stuck in a car, heading north to Anchorage, on a seemingly hopeless quest to reunite with a missing family member before it’s too late.
Driving for days through the fiery devastation, Ben and Maranda’s marital and personal trauma plays out against what might be a global—or even cosmic—catastrophe. All the while, they are pursued by two men with dark ties to Maranda’s past. To reach Anchorage, Ben and Maranda will be forced to confront their blackest secrets as they decide what any relationship might be worth at the end of the world. Told in alternating chapters from Ben and Maranda’s perspectives, When Fire Splits the Sky is an apocalyptic, psychological, road-trip thriller about the limits of our capacity to endure, change, and survive. Praise for Tyler James Russell Intense, propulsive, full of dark energy, Tyler Russell’s novel envisions the end of the world through the yearnings of two characters barely clinging to what makes them human. Its darkness is irradiated by a sharp wit, psychological depth, and lyricism unusual in a thriller barreling this quickly across the pages. Fans of Palahniuk’s Fight Club, Flynn’s Gone Girl or McCarthy’s The Road will savor these nonstop pyrotechnics. Robert Rosenberg, author of This is Not Civilization and Isles of the Blind A spellbinding thriller about the shattering impact of human trafficking, set in a devastated and dangerous apocalyptic world, Tyler James Russell’s brilliant exploration of how the human mind copes with extreme trauma grabbed me on page one and never let me go. Russell’s creative language and short riveting chapters kept me glued to the page, desperate to know what would happen, yet I didn’t want this remarkable, terrifying story to end. When Fire Splits the Sky is the most riveting, original book I’ve read in ages. Laura Davis, author of The Courage to Heal and The Burning Light of Two Stars This is a welcome reprieve from the simplistic caricatures about someone with multiple personalities that have become common today. No serial killer. No crazy person. Just a look at the alters that fill out the person Ben calls his wife. When Fire Splits the Sky helps us see the humanity and struggles of both Ben and Maranda (et al), as they fight to come to terms with their personal and relational trauma, searching for a path toward mutual healing. Sam Ruck, author of the Loving My DID Girl(s) blog About Tyler James Russell Tyler James Russell is the author of To Drown a Man (2020), a poetry collection, also from Unsolicited Press. He lives in Pennsylvania with his wife Cat and their children. His other work has been nominated for the Best of the Net and Rhysling Awards, and has appeared or is forthcoming in F(r)iction, 365 Tomorrows, and Sepia, among others. When Fire Splits the Sky is his first novel. About Unsolicited Press Unsolicited Press strives to produce exceptional works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from award-winning authors. Unsolicited Press based out of Portland, Oregon and focuses on the works of the unsung and underrepresented. As a womxn-owned, all-volunteer small publisher that doesn’t worry about profits as much as championing exceptional literature, we have the privilege of partnering with authors skirting the fringes of the lit world. We’ve worked with emerging and award-winning authors such as Shann Ray, Amy Shimshon-Santo, Brook Bhagat, Kris Amos, and John W. Bateman. Learn more at unsolicitedpress.com. Find us on twitter and Instagram, @unsolicitedp. When Fire Splits the Sky is available on November 22, 2022 as a paperback (282 p.; 978-1-956692-41-9) and e-book (all major retailers). Retailers, schools, and libraries can order copies through Ingram. The author is open to speaking with the media, holding readings, and engaging in other author opportunities. ### Press only, Unsolicited Press 619.354.8005 marketing@unsolicitedpress.com For artist interviews, readings, and podcasts: Tyler James Russell  I Bought My Husband’s Mistress Lingerie tells Stacey Freeman’s uplifting story beginning when she made a life-changing discovery in her husband’s suitcase. Set in Short Hills, New Jersey, her memoir in essays takes readers around the world and back in time for an emotional ride through her childhood and adolescence, marriage, separation and divorce, navigation of bicontinental co-parenting, introduction to mid-life dating, and return to work. Oscillating between periods of despair and laughter and often landing somewhere in between, this slice-of-life essay collection serves as a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and how sometimes gifts can come from the most unexpected people and places.
About Stacey Freeman Stacey Freeman is a writer and journalist and the founder of Write On Track LLC, a full-service consultancy dedicated to providing high-quality content and strategy to individuals and businesses. Her writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The Lily (published by The Washington Post), Forbes, Entrepreneur, MarketWatch, Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan, Woman’s Day, Town & Country, InStyle, PBS’ Next Avenue, AARP, SheKnows, Yahoo!, MSN, HuffPost, POPSUGAR, Your Teen, Grown & Flown, Scary Mommy, CafeMom, MariaShriver.com, and dozens of other well-known platforms worldwide. She lives in New Jersey with her three children. About Unsolicited Press Unsolicited Press strives to produce exceptional works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from award-winning authors. Unsolicited Press based out of Portland, Oregon and focuses on the works of the unsung and underrepresented. As a womxn-owned, all-volunteer small publisher that doesn’t worry about profits as much as championing exceptional literature, we have the privilege of partnering with authors skirting the fringes of the lit world. We’ve worked with emerging and award-winning authors such as Shann Ray, Amy Shimshon-Santo, Brook Bhagat, Kris Amos, and John W. Bateman. Learn more at unsolicitedpress.com. Find us on twitter and Instagram, @unsolicitedp. I Bought My Husband’s Mistress Lingerie is available on November 15, 2022 as a paperback (230 p.; 978-1-956692-40-2), e-book, and audiobook. Retailers and libraries can order copies through Ingram.  Holden Caulfield from Catcher in the Rye returns as Mark Stenrud to bring the psychedelic era vividly life in Lost and Found in the 60s. Alienated from a toxic mother, and in constant conflict at his conservative high school because of his radical politics, Mark Stenrud escapes for Haight-Ashbury, where he takes a job in the post office and settles into a carefree existence in the psychedelic center of the universe. LSD chemists notice his organizational skills and calmness in the face of danger are recruit him to join their enterprise. He accepts and has free time for romance, adventures, and street justice. After months of success, he loses his touch, leading to narrow escapes, bad decisions, and his own downfall. Along the way, he learns about loss, forgiveness, and the meaning of self-respect.
Praise for Paul Justison “This novel is excruciatingly accurate and totally outrageous. Justison has captured the extravagance of the time: the interplay of sexual liberation, psychedelic experiences and coming of age that made the community so intense and inviting. Was drug use so extensive and casual? You bet. Was casual sexual connecting so extensive and easy? Oh my, yes. The 60s, including its dark, scary, lonely, confused reality is all here, as well as the ecstasy, the kindness, and the sharing. If you weren't there, this is as close as you're going to get to knowing what you missed. The stories, the people, the vision- enjoy the trip.” --James Fadiman, microdose researcher and Author, The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide: Safe, Therapeutic and Sacred Journeys "This lively and engaging novel chronicles the adventures of a high school drop-out who leaves Arizona for the Haight Ashbury in the 1960’s where the credo was "Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out.” The narrator, a bright, observant young man, quickly becomes part of Hippie culture of free love, tripping on marijuana and LSD, Be-Ins, Viet Nam War protests, and anti-draft demonstrations, which is captured in nuanced and textured detail. Central to this novel is the protagonist’s deep respect for women as friends and lovers who are his equals in their shared explorations as well as existential lessons learned. For those who were there, this novel will bring it all back, for those who weren’t, this novel is a vivid portrait of of the 60’s." --Wendy Martin, Professor of American Literature and American Studies, Founder and Editor, Women's Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal About the Author Paul Justison dropped out of high school in 1966 and fled to Haight-Ashbury, spending most of the next two years there and in Marin County engaging in all the pleasures and follies that magical time had to offer. After the sixties ended, he went to college, started a career, and raised a family. He has been published in The Rumpus, The Gambler Mag, Flash Fiction Magazine, and Fiction on the Web. Lost and Found in the 60s is his first novel. About the Press Unsolicited Press strives to produce exceptional works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from award-winning authors. Unsolicited Press based out of Portland, Oregon and focuses on the works of the unsung and underrepresented. As a womxn-owned, all-volunteer small publisher that doesn’t worry about profits as much as championing exceptional literature, we have the privilege of partnering with authors skirting the fringes of the lit world. We’ve worked with emerging and award-winning authors such as Shann Ray, Amy Shimshon-Santo, Brook Bhagat, Kris Amos, and John W. Bateman. Learn more at unsolicitedpress.com. Find us on twitter and Instagram, @unsolicitedp. "Lost and Found in the 60s" is available on November 8, 2022 as a paperback (246 p.; 978-1-956692-39-6) and e-book (all major retailers). The title is distributed to the trade by Ingram. The author is open to speaking with the media, holding readings, and engaging in other author opportunities. What books are on your nightstand? Lately I’ve been reading a lot of epics—both historic and fantasy. Things with enormous stakes and multiple POVs. In the last year I’ve read everything from Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy to Bernard Cornwell, NK Jemisin, and Ken Liu, and am about to start Steven Erikson’s Malazan books. I’m taking inspiration from this for a future project, sure, but I also think some of my reading habits have changed post-COVID. I find myself gravitating towards these long, dense pieces. There’s probably some reading-as-coping-mechanism there, but I don’t think it’s primarily escapism. I find myself in deep admiration of those writers who are daring to write unironically about grand, concrete, life-and-death themes, especially now when we seem to have brushed against the limits of what we as a civilization are capable of enduring. Reading or writing about anything other than those limits feels incomplete to me, at least right now. What are common traps for aspiring writers? At least for me a trap was trying to appear clever or talented. Most of us are writing because somewhere along the way told us we were good at it, but I think the “look at me!” impulse has only ever gotten in my way. My best work seems to consistently come when I allow myself to sink beneath the text in as ego-less a way as possible, focusing only on trying to grasp something that is solid and true. How did publishing your first book change your process of writing? I don’t know that it changed the process of writing (the two books were worked on at about the same time), but other things changed around it. I’d wanted to have my name on a published book since I was a kid, and imagined that once that happened, I’d finally feel like a “real” writer. Of course, that wasn’t the way it worked. I didn’t feel any different at all, and so realized I’d actually been a “real” writer (whatever that means) the entire time. It was that, I guess, that helped me give myself permission to do things like talk about my writing, set up a website, and the like, all things I wish I’d started long ago. Before I’d imagined that Twitter or the fraud police or whoever would show up and tell me I wasn’t legitimate enough yet. What was an early experience where you learned that language had power? One of my first writing mentors and champions was my high school English teacher, Christine Kindon (she actually sent me a beautiful card after my first book had been published). As my writing grew beyond academic assignments, I wrote an early (awful) story that had a house fire scene. She saw promise in it, and helped me to edit, rewrite, and grow this story, and I remember her helping me to pay careful attention to the fire imagery in that one scene. It was only later she told me she’d survived a house fire that took the life of her daughter, and that reading and working on the scene with me had been, in some strange way, a little cathartic. I was blown away by her confidence, and the fact that something I had created over here in my world, had engendered an emotional response over there, in hers. What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel? I finally read the entirety of Gene Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun last year, and—forget SFF or Dying Earth or whatever—it’s just a staggering piece of literature, period. It’s a shame he isn’t more widely read and appreciated outside and inside the SFF genre. Beyond that, I’d say really any of those books that people tend to deem “commercial,” or “guilty pleasure” books, as if somehow their readability is a literary demerit, or the fact that some of these authors are able to turn a book around in a relatively short time frame automatically means its quality suffers. Sometimes, yeah, maybe that’s true, but I’ve found more often than not many of these books we in the literary community tend to look down upon do many many things brilliantly, and we should be learning from and appreciating them much more than we are. What do you owe the real people upon whom you base your characters? In this case, quite a lot. I have a good friend who is a multiple, and a large part of this project was getting to know them and seeing just how damaging most of our portrayals of DID are. So many stories position DID as the murdery antagonist, and I hated that. So I embarked on this project with my friend in mind (and their blessing), and they were kind enough to read several drafts and offer feedback along the way. How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have? When Fire Splits the Sky is my third attempt at a novel. I also have an almost-finished collection and two works in progress that are still relatively early in the screenplay (mapping) phase of the draft, which I think of as blocking a play. The one is particularly massive though. My first run through of it was something like 730 pages. I think that one will occupy me for quite a while. Like WFSS did at the beginning, it feels like I’m on the edge of myself with that one, working on something I’m not quite sure I’m capable of pulling off. For me, that’s the place I always want to be with a project. What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters from the opposite sex? It’s not something I’m conscious of as I’m writing, because I think the issue is subsumed in the larger question of, “How do I inhabit the psyche of this person who is not me?” which is a profoundly difficult thing to do. As far as writing a character who is differently gendered than me (one of the main characters in When Fire Splits the Sky is a male alter-personality in a female body), it’s actually something I do quite a lot, and I honestly have no idea why that is. I’m married to a woman, and I have daughters, so I suppose I’m always trying to understand the way they exist in the world today, but I don’t think that’s the underlying impulse. All I know is that most of my projects begin with a reach, a gap between my existing ability and the demands of the project, and gradually trying to bridge that. The larger question for me, at least for this book, was the question of whose story is it to tell? In writing half of the story from the perspective of a female trauma survivor with multiple personalities, I didn’t want to tell a story that wasn’t mine. I started with only Ben, her husband, but that version felt incomplete, so I gradually layered in the female perspective as well, laboring to create as truthful and complete a portrayal as I could. What did you edit out of this book? The first draft of When Fire Splits the Sky was actually about twice as long, and had several additional viewpoints. The novel alternates between Ben and Maranda, but the first draft also included chapters by a number of her alters. There were some textual experiments in those that I really loved, but ultimately this isn’t an experimental novel, and they didn’t push it far enough to justify those leaps (for example, one alter’s sections were multi-page outlines), and as many early readers tripped over those sections as did not. Even more importantly though, it really came down to the fact that they were overly expository, and every time you got to these experimental chapters the pacing slowed to a crawl. I ended up weaving the alters’ voices into Maranda’s chapters and scrapping the rest, and that solved a lot of issues. To Drown a Man by Tyler James Russell
$16.00
At once delicate and visceral, the poems in To Drown a Man chronicle the long gauntlet from a life of secrets to a life of intimacy. “The only difference between imprisonment and hiding,” Russell writes, “is who shuts the door.” Exploring the meaning of redemption and shame as related to the personal, the marital, and the spiritual, these are the poems of a soul at war with itself. They read like chunks of ore being burned of their dross. Book Details Genre: poetry ISBN: 978-1-950730-47-6 Publication Date: August 4, 2020 WHEN FIRE SPLITS THE SKY by Tyler James Russell
$17.00
Following Ben’s weekend hunting trip outside Juneau, his wife Maranda—a trauma survivor with multiple personalities—makes a discovery that looks like it will finally put their limping, less-than-a-year marriage out of its misery. But in the morning, when a cataclysmic blast throws the world into chaos, Ben and Maranda find themselves stuck in a car, heading north to Anchorage, on a seemingly hopeless quest to reunite with a missing family member before it’s too late.
Driving for days through the fiery devastation, Ben and Maranda’s marital and personal trauma plays out against what might be a global—or even cosmic—catastrophe. All the while, they are pursued by two men with dark ties to Maranda’s past. To reach Anchorage, Ben and Maranda will be forced to confront their blackest secrets as they decide what any relationship might be worth at the end of the world. Told in alternating chapters from Ben and Maranda’s perspectives, When Fire Splits the Sky is an apocalyptic, psychological, road-trip thriller about the limits of our capacity to endure, change, and survive. BOOK DETAILS Genre: Fiction ISBN:978-1-956692-41-9 Publication Date: November 22, 2022  PORTLAND, OR; November 2, 2022 --It is Norway in 1799 - a time when the kingdom was called Denmark-Norway and Oslo was called Christiana. Gertine’s quiet life as a young farm wife is upended when her mother, Mette, inexplicably calls off her sister’s wedding, only days away. Inspired by a runestone she finds in the woods, Gertine follows clue to clue, one family secret to another, in her need to understand. As she uncovers the story of her mother’s complicated past, she gains so much more than the truth.
Praise for Mari Matthias “I love this story. Its care of characters and details of history will stay with you long after the last chapter.” Jane Kirkpatrick, award-winning author of Beneath the Bending Skies About Mari Matthias Mari Matthias writes for the joy of the story. She gets captured by a tale until it is put on the page. Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, Mari has always had a creative project underway - from putting on neighborhood plays at age six, to teaching English in Japan at age 18, to opening a Spanish language school so her two-year-old would have a community of learners at age 29. She lives with her family in Underwood, Washington, and spends her free time exploring and being creative. The Runestone’s Promise is her first novel. Visit the author’s website at www.marimatthias.com. About Unsolicited Press Unsolicited Press strives to produce exceptional works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from award-winning authors. Unsolicited Press is based out of Portland, Oregon and focuses on the works of the unsung and underrepresented. As a womxn-owned, all-volunteer small publisher that doesn’t worry about profits as much as championing exceptional literature, we have the privilege of partnering with authors skirting the fringes of the lit world. We’ve worked with emerging and award-winning authors such as Shann Ray, Amy Shimshon-Santo, Brook Bhagat, Kris Amos, and John W. Bateman. Learn more at unsolicitedpress.com. Find us on twitter and Instagram, @unsolicitedp. THE RUNESTONE'S PROMISE is available on November 1, 2022, as a paperback (296 p.; 978-1-956692-38-9) and e-book (all major retailers). Retailers, schools, and libraries can order copies through Ingram. The author is open to speaking with the media, holding readings, and engaging in other author opportunities. If you could cook dinner for any author, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you make? This year, I started a substack newsletter about food called Anne’s American Kitchen, and it’s all about home cooking and the power of food to overcome differences. I am really taken by this question! I tend to cook French food when I am home, so I think I would invite French medieval feminist Christine de Pisan over, and I would feed her potage crème de laitue (Lettuce cream soup), saumon braisé à la sancerroise (braised salmon in a rich white wine sauce) , and gâteau aux épices caramélisées (a caramelized spice cake). Needless to say, I would serve champagne, a wine that had not yet been invented yet, and I would watch her reaction to the bubbles. What scares you the most about the writing process? How do you combat your fears? I fight the fear of what conclusions the reader might make about me personally based on what I have written. For instance, in The Bunker Book, I have some poems spoken in the voice of Nazis. For the record, I am not a Nazi, nor am I an apologist for fascism of any kind. However, this discussion of freedom’s battle against authoritarianism needed to include such voices in order to be intelligible. Nothing in my book is autobiographical in any strict sense. The reader won’t know my life’s details, but she or he will know which ideas excite me or worry me. Who is your biggest literary crush, author or character? In The Bunker Book, I actually write about losing my virginity to Rhett Butler, and at the same time, in this same poem, I am Rhett Butler. Clearly, I have issues, but please don’t kink-shame me. What books are on your nightstand? Right now — I have Our Lady of Bewilderment by Alison Pelegrín, Electric Arches by Eve L. Ewing, Millionaire Households and Their Domestic Economy, With Hints Upon Fine Living by Mary Elizabeth Carter (my first title with Unsolicited Press, Polite Occasions, is obsessed with and deconstructs etiquette, so this is an odd pet topic of mine), Constance Fenimore Woolson: Portrait of a Lady Novelist by Anne Boyd Rioux, De Nugis Curialium by Sir Walter Map, a book that contains the shorter book that the Wife of Bath threw in the fire in The Canterbury Tales, and The Bible. I read voraciously. Next month, I anticipating switching out the book by Walter Map for the farces of Georges Feydeaux and a new book by Margaret Atwood. Favorite punctuation mark? Why? I love the finality of a period but distrust its ability to end things. What book were you supposed to read in high school, but never did? Moby Dick was required reading, but despite what all the lovers of that book say about it, I thought it was unpleasant and low-key misogynist. I refused to write the required paper and instead turned in a paper on how most of the female characters in Tennessee Williams’ plays resembled his descriptions of his mother in his memoir. The teacher gave me an A. What inanimate object would you thank in your acknowledgements? I would like to thank the aluminum cup near my head right now filled with ice cubes and Diet Coke. I would like to thank the wedge pillow behind my back. I would like to thank every illuminated manuscript archived in The British Library and all the wine on the wine list of Galatoire’s Restaurant in the Vieux Carré in New Orleans, a veritable pirate’s trove of good drinking. If you could write an inspirational quote on the mirrors of aspiring writers, what would you write? I was fretting over the fact that I recently discovered that someone who was almost a mentor to me 20 years ago was indicted as a bag man for Russian Oligarchs funneling funds to the Trump 2016 campaign, wondering how to understand the shocking deterioration of character in this person I knew years ago. My friend, an Emmy-winning writer, Jane Murphy Shimamoto, wrote me, saying, “Make art. Spare no one.” To write at a time like this — “Make art. Spare no one” is a great motto. We need to tell the truth and do it without flinching. What are common traps for aspiring writers? There are so many! The deadliest one is an overfondness for one’s own words. Write the first draft freely, but then be BRUTAL in your editing. Nobody was ever any good in his or her first draft. Stop stinking up the page. Engage in ruthless editing and re-editing. What is your writing Kryptonite? I am vaporizing my Kryptonite right now. I am working on a memoir about my very dysfunctional and adventurous life. It’s absolutely terrifying, but I am doing it. Have you ever gotten reader’s block? There are books so tediously conventional, I can’t finish them. The antidote to reader’s block is reading something else. Do you think someone could be a writer if they don’t feel emotions strongly? The object of the writer is to make the reader feel or think. I can’t imagine a dispassionate poet, but theoretically, he or she must exist. After all, Wallace Stevens worked as an insurance executive, and they are not as a group prone to wild fits of passion. What other authors are you friends with, and how do they help you become a better writer? Because I am part of the editorial team for Peauxdunque Review and am president of The Women’s National Book Association of New Orleans, I hang out with writers frequently. I count among my friends and acquaintances authors and poets like Maurice Carlos Ruffin, Melinda Palacio, Julie Kane, Elizabeth Tran, Peter and Nicole Cooley, Constance Adler, Cornelius Eady, Anne Boyd Rioux, Marilyn Hacker (my mentor), Gerry LaFemina, whom I have known forever, Karisma Price, whom I only met last year, and so very many others — thank God! In New Orleans, I think we are experiencing a time like the Harlem Renaissance, the Algonquin Roundtable, or the Beat scene at City Lights Books — the town is jumping with the very best writers in America today. We are creating a new way of talking about the South, what matters in Southern History and the future in the South. The magnificent New Orleans writers also know how to mix a cocktail and laugh at a joke, making our gatherings lots of fun. These writers I know make me a better writer the way that jamming with Louis Armstrong might make one a better drummer or clarinetist. We are all getting better together by sharing work with each other and talking to each other about grand ideas of who we might become as a nation. I dreamt as a high school student of finding my way to a group of writers that was teeming with ideas and new modes of expression. Here I am, hallelujah! Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book? I really do mean for people to read the books in a stand-alone fashion, but I have recurrent themes:
What was the best money you ever spent as a writer? I bought a plane ticket to Berlin to watch the Wall fall and to dance in its rubble. What was an early experience where you learned that language had power? I struggled to read Genesis as a bored five year-old in a King James Bible placed by the Gideons in a hotel room in London as my parents slept off their jet lag. I didn’t understand all of it, but I understood that God created the universe with words and that when Abel gets murdered, his blood speaks to God from the ground. What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel? Lady Susan by Jane Austen is marvelous because a woman behaves very badly in Regency England and gets away with it. As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal? Isn’t every author’s avatar that old-school Microsoft paperclip icon? What do you owe the real people upon whom you base your characters? Shhh! I told them I made up everything without inspiration from them! How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have? I have two — a memoir I am writing about my adventurous but completely messed up life, and a half-finished novel about the divided state of America entitled Emma Jo’s Prayer Blog. What does literary success look like to you? This. Plus, I would like to win the Pulitzer, please. What’s the best way to market your books? I go to bookstores and leave them on consignment. I hold readings. I write for other kinds of publications. What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters from the opposite sex? I seem to have to pay them thirty percent more than the female characters. Is that a hard and fast rule? What did you edit out of this book? I’ll never tell. Anne Babson is the author of THE BUNKER BOOK and POLITE OCCASIONS.
 PORTLAND, OR; October 31, 2022-- The Paper Boy & The Winter War is an intimate collection of short stories that carries the reader through childhood tragedy and into the unexpected self-reflection of an alcoholic. The characters in these thirty-two stories struggle with loss, love and addiction. In Penny Candy, Simon is an ordinary boy whose family suffers a terrible tragedy. Their grief is palpable under the spectral menace of the tallboy. In Clean Meat, something as mundane as a cow transforms an evocative, gothic village. The locals play off each other in an attempt to decide the bovine's fate. The Last Defender hews the not so subtle economic divide in our culture, reflecting on two lives that merge in a singular tragic moment. In Direct TV, a father receives a satellite signal in his head. The signal floods his brain with the contents of whatever channel his family decides and his wife and daughter end up using him and his newfound knowledge. Slum Flower follows the journey of a young nurse from employment, to living under a bridge. Her attempts to get clean and return to a normal life—however shaky—are both genuine and tenuous. Through each story’s intimate journey, the characters in The Paper Boy & Winter War divulge specific truths about what it means to suffer loss, and how these losses affect one's relationship with themselves.
About R.E. Hengsterman R.E. HENGSTERMAN is a former emergency room nurse. Born in Virginia and raised in New York, he holds masters' degrees from Appalachian State University and the University of North Carolina Wilmington, where he took up short story writing. He currently lives in North Carolina with the family and occasionally wears pants. Visit www.rehengsterman.com or @robhengsterman for more. About Unsolicited Press Unsolicited Press, based out of Portland, Oregon, strives to produce exceptional works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from award-winning and emerging authors such as Shann Ray, Amy Shimshon-Santo, Brook Bhagat, Kris Amos, and John W. Bateman. We believe in championing the books of the unsung and underrepresented. As a womxn-owned, all-volunteer small publisher, we focus on exceptional writing, not profits. We have the privilege of partnering with authors skirting the fringes of the lit world. Learn more at unsolicitedpress.com. Find us on Twitter and Instagram: @unsolicitedp. The Paper Boy & The Winter War is available as a paperback (204 p.; 978-1-956692-37-2) and e-book (all major retailers). The title is distributed to the trade by Ingram. The author is open to speaking with the media, holding readings, and engaging in other author opportunities. ### Press only, Unsolicited Press 619.354.8005 marketing@unsolicitedpress.com For artist interviews, readings, and podcasts: R.E. Hengsterman  If you could cook dinner for any author, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you make? Tolstoy. Borscht.
What books are on your nightstand? Always - Montaigne’s Essays. Favorite punctuation mark? Why? Question mark."Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers" - Voltaire What inanimate object would you thank in your acknowledgements? My chair. Does writing energize or exhaust you? It can energize me, but only until it exhausts me. What is your writing Kryptonite? An untroubled mind and a quiet morning. Have you ever gotten reader’s block? Yes, yes, and yes. Do you think someone could be a writer if they don’t feel emotions strongly? Of non-fiction. Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book? I’ll tell you when I finish my second novel. What was the best money you ever spent as a writer? Professional editors. What do you owe the real people upon whom you base your characters? Well, there are only two characters in the book that have a direct resemblance to a real person. The rest are either composites or wholly created. The main character resembles me, and I owe myself honesty. The other character is Lauren who is a direct take on a young woman I knew back then. She read the novel and really loved it. Unfortunately, she passed away in late 2020. How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have? One, and many more false starts. What scares you the most about the writing process? How do you combat your fears?
For me, the actual writing is magical and it is a space I love to be in. What scares me the most is my own internal editor. It takes me a long time to bring poems to this side of me because she has the power to completely take the magic out of poem. Just as I can get lost in writing the poem, in a good way, she can get lost in the editing process. She listens, too much sometimes, to what others say it should be, and she’s not always good with boundaries. She likes to tell me all the ways that something could be misunderstood, so I can’t always give in to her. I’ve found the best way is to give her limits and clear directions. Who is your biggest literary crush, author or character? Virginia Woolf. I actually had not read any of her work until my senior year in college, when I took a senior seminar on her work. What struck me is how the poetry of her words carried me along and how she infused existential questions into quotidian experiences. I love how she pulls me in and I am right there in her world, delving into the existential observations, the beauty of it all, and the connectivity. She integrated so much in her work, art, philosophy, psychology, life, and she’s not afraid to confront complexity. What books are on your nightstand? How Humans Learn by Joshua Eyler, Whereabouts by Jhumpa Lahiri, Playing in the Dark by Toni Morrison, The Way of Tanka by Naomi Beth Wakan, Leaving Church by Barbara Brown Taylor, Partakers of the Divine: Contemplation and the Practice of Philosophy by Jacob Holsinger Sherman Favorite punctuation mark? Why? The em-dash. My first draft of any prose that I write contains these extensively long convoluted sentences, because that makes sense to me. Existence doesn’t come in neatly packaged individual steps, its all connected and cyclical, and the em-dash approximates that; it gives us space to build connections, to continue on. Does writing energize or exhaust you? Oh it energizes me. The part that is difficult is coming out of writing mode, back into the world. I’ve never been one to transition my attention well. I get hyperfocused very easily. What is your writing Kryptonite? Spreadsheets. In addition to being an adjunct instructor, I also do some contract work with managing data and administration of a tutoring program. Once I start managing the pivot tables, writing formulas, or analyzing data, the poetic network in my brain closes up shop for the day and that doesn’t reopen unless I’m able to do some effective meditation and give it plenty of nature time. The great conundrum though is that I really do enjoy using my analytical problem-solving skills for this, and I would miss it if I wasn’t doing it. Have you ever gotten reader’s block? Before I had kids, I used to hang out at bookstores and libraries all the time. Sometimes, the sheer volume of words and ideas would get so overwhelming, and I would just have to put all the books back and just start writing myself. I think it is easy to forget how powerful the act of reading can be, and it is important to allow ourselves time to process and pause as we experience that—to glean the value out of it and manage that power. Do you think someone could be a writer if they don’t feel emotions strongly? That’s a hard question, because I only have being me as a point of reference. I have no idea how much other people feel anything. It’s possible that not feeling emotions as strongly enables you to put words out into the world more easily. What was the best money you ever spent as a writer? When my grandmother passed on, she left a small amount to each of her grandchildren. When I got that check, I was mom to three kids under 5, living far away from extended family, so carving out writing time was very challenging. I took this money, hired a babysitter and took a writing class. I reconnected with my writing self in that space and it made all the difference. It gave me a space to be something other than an exhausted mom on the playground for awhile. It reminded me that it made the experience of my family so much more lovely and amazing. What authors did you dislike at first but grew into? In my MFA program, I took an international poetry class and I saw on the reading list was this book of ancient Japanese love poems, The Ink Dark Moon. This is a collection of poems by Ono no Komachi and Izumi Shikibu, translated by Jane Hirshfield and Mariko Aratani. I got the book and I remember being completely annoyed because I wasn’t in this for sappy love poems. When we got to this book though and I began reading the translation of ancient Japanese tanka, I was completely blown away. The integration of artistry, philosophy, nature, and the feminine was life-changing for me. I felt a kinship with these women through the translation of their words. Here I was, separated from them by over a thousand years, by language, and half-way around the world. This is what makes poetry amazing. What was an early experience where you learned that language had power? When I was in second or third grade, I was upset by something that was happening with my classmates at school. I felt very misunderstood and as if the more I tried to say, the more my words were turned around. I was in tears and could not explain the depth of my angst to my mom, so she sat with me and we wrote a story together. I learned in this moment that the act of writing impacts our internal lives. It gives us tools to manage and develop who we are, and the act of sharing that writing makes a difference in our connections to others. What does literary success look like to you? As I was preparing to enter a local poetry contest, I was trying to decide what poems to submit. I read the top contenders to my family to get their input. After I read “Fibonacci Wake,” the one that ended up winning second place, my oldest daughter said “That one, Mom. It sounds like you.” I think for me, it is those small moments that acknowledge the poem makes an authentic connection, that it’s more than words on a page, it's an interaction. What scares you the most about the writing process? How do you combat your fears? The marketing; I’m not much for social media. (I’ll do it, she says, swallowing the lump in her throat.)
Who is your biggest literary crush, author or character? The intrepid Anne Shirley What books are on your nightstand? The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin, Astoria by Peter Stark, Tacky’s Revolt by Vincent Brown, The Candy House by Jennifer Egan, and Rosaura a las diez by Marco Denevi Favorite punctuation mark? Why? Although I think it’s variety that makes it fun, I’d have to favor the good ol’ period. Just end it already. What inanimate object would you thank in your acknowledgements? A mug of chai latte If you could write an inspirational quote on the mirrors of aspiring writers, what would you write? One bite at a time. And chew well before swallowing. Does writing energize or exhaust you? Energizing when it’s going well, exhausting when it’s not. What is your writing Kryptonite? When my writing group takes a break I’m predictably less disciplined about actually getting anything done. Turns out I need deadlines! Have you ever gotten reader’s block? That enigma called busyness. Do you think someone could be a writer if they don’t feel emotions strongly? Sure. A person could be an acute observer or a wit with a flair for wordsmithing even if they’re not an emotional roller-coaster. Though a bit of mania could bring extra spark, wink. Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book? I don’t have a rule about this. So far each book is a stand-alone project. I suppose what they have in common is how different they are from each other, particularly in place and time. (But I wouldn’t rule out sequels or spin-offs!) How did publishing your first book change your process of writing? Once I secured a publishing contract with Unsolicited Press, I took working on the next project more seriously. I devoted more time and brain space to it. What was an early experience where you learned that language had power? One day, on my walk home from school with a neighbor girl, somehow in our conversation I used a swear word. The girl rushed to my house, to tattle. My dad was outside, and she declared, “Mari said the F word!” I was (at age 6 and an acute rule-follower), of course, horrified. Dad said, “You mean family? Fun? Friends?” He knew what was up and wouldn’t let her have that power over the situation. What a hero! What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel? Iceland’s Bell by Halldór Laxness As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal? Oh, the tortoise, of course. Calm and steady. (And I wish I had a thicker shell!) How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have? Since writing The Runestone’s Promise, I have completed a novel set in and around Portland, Oregon, called Cleah’s Bequest (yet to be published) and am working on my third, The Stolen Watch, which takes place in Ecuador.  PORTLAND, OR; October 11, 2022 -- Next year, 2023, will mark the half century of the first 9/11; an event that shocked the world and ended with the thousand-days of Allende's autochthon peaceful Chilean way to socialism, “and turned my world upside down forever,” Torres recalls. Looking back into his memories, the author continues: “In a few months the dreams of a more just society were smashed into bloody pieces ... The dreams were shattered but not destroyed … an underground Resistance Movement spread throughout the country spearheaded mostly by women, relatives of the prisoners and of those who disappeared. One year after my first 9/11, I re-joined the Revolutionary Student Front … ”
Walks Through Memories of Oblivion is a collection of short stories and essays about resistance, prison, and exile; a creative nonfiction narrative based on true events. This is a debut book by Fernando Andres Torres, who at 18 y-o was a political prisoner during the military regime that, with the help of the United States, overthrew democracy and established a brutal civic-military dictatorship (1973-90) in Chile. Praise for Fernando Andres Torres “... delicious piece of satire, rich with symbolism and pathos.” Vimbai Shire Beyond White Space Ltd. “Fernando Torres makes the past present in powerful stories of political repression, unfathomable cruelty, and transcendent solidarity. The filtered light of memory illuminates with deep reflection in Walks Through Memories of Oblivion. Written against the vast burials of history in human terms, this book insists on exhuming what rarely emerges from the routine of lying silence. No history of Chile -- or of the world as a whole -- can be anywhere near complete without the truths that Torres intensely reveals in these pages.” Norman Solomon Journalist Executive Director, IPA Institute for Public Accuracy Washington DC “...powerful. Moving... has depth... it is important. Must not be forgotten. The scenes give me a taste, make me want to know more about each of these guys and what they went through, make me want hear them talk and joke around the table. The contrast between their pasts, which is always there, and their present conversations is very poignant. They reinforce each other … you have a SPECIAL book.” Daniel Rudman Playwright Berkeley, Ca. About Fernando Andres Torres Fernando Andres Torres is a short-story writer, poet, musician and a freelance journalist currently contributing in English and Spanish to various San Francisco Bay Area media, including La Opinión de La Bahía, San Francisco Bay Guardian, El Tecolote, La Voz de Richmond, El Reportero, and Radio Bilingue. He is volunteer associate editor and U.S. correspondent for the web magazine Dilemas, and editor of the blog LatinOpen.wordpress.com. Under the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet, Torres joined the Chilean resistance and in 1975 he was arrested by the regime’s secret police. While imprisoned, he recited poetry and hand-wrote messages with quotes about optimism and hope to pass among fellow prisoners. After being expelled from Chile and exiled in 1977, Torres continued to write poetry and short stories. His first book of poetry, co-authored with Victoria Miranda; On the Edges of a Countryless Weariness, was published under his pseudonym Camilo Feñini by Ism Press in 1986. Some of Torres fiction and non-fiction stories have been published in many magazines including ME: Multicultural Echoes, the magazine of the Department of International Languages, Literatures and Cultures of Chico's California State University. Torres has also been awarded fellowships by the New America Media in San Francisco. In 2018 his story Head Stew was selected as The Best New Writing 2018 by Hopewell Publications. In 2019, Scenes of Exile, a story based on Torres' exile, was published by The Bare Life Review Magazine, a journal of Immigrant and Refugees Literature. Other literary works by Mr. Torres have been published by Somos en Escrito Weebly; by Nobrow Fiction (2020); and by Lonely Cryptid Media (2020). Currently he is a member of the Advisory Board of ExposeFacts.org, and of the review panel of The Intrepid News Fund. As a composer and musician, Torres was a founding member of Latin American music ensemble Grupo Raiz, and have collaborated with many international musicians such as David Byrne, and shared the stage with American jewels like Pete Seeger and Holly Near. About Unsolicited Press Unsolicited Press strives to produce exceptional works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from award-winning authors. Unsolicited Press based out of Portland, Oregon and focuses on the works of the unsung and underrepresented. As a womxn-owned, all-volunteer small publisher that doesn’t worry about profits as much as championing exceptional literature, we have the privilege of partnering with authors skirting the fringes of the lit world. We’ve worked with emerging and award-winning authors such as Shann Ray, Amy Shimshon-Santo, Brook Bhagat, Kris Amos, and John W. Bateman. Learn more at unsolicitedpress.com. Find us on twitter and Instagram, @unsolicitedp. WALKS THROUGH MEMORIES OF OBLIVION is available on October 11, 2022, as a paperback (172 p.; 978-1-956692-35-8) and e-book (all major retailers). Retailers, schools, and libraries can order copies through Ingram. The author is open to speaking with the media, holding readings, and engaging in other author opportunities.  The best way to end September is to finish the month with an evening featuring three of the smartest women we know. On September 28, 2022 at 5:30PM (Pacific) via Zoom, we have the pleasure of listening to a combination of poetry, memoir, and fiction. Please join us. And before you do, take a minute to learn a bit about our featured writers.  Lizz Schumer is the senior staff writer for Good Housekeeping, Prevention, and Woman’s Day and her freelance work has appeared in The New York Times, HuffPo, Bon Appetit, The Spruce, VinePair, SELF, and others. She holds an MFA in creative nonfiction from Goddard College and is also the author of Buffalo Steel (Black Rose Writing 2013). Her essays, poetry, fiction, and hybrid text have appeared in Punchnel’s, Wordgathering, Ploughshares.com, Ghost City Review, Entropy Mag, and elsewhere. She teaches journalism and communications courses as an adjunct professor at the New York University School of Professional Studies and as a writing consultant at the NYC Writer’s Room. BIOGRAPHY OF A BODY is a lyrical meander through the development of a messy, flawed, imperfect human and what it means to live in a society that both pulls a person into itself and fiercely pushes back. In personal essays and snippets of verse that shift back and forth through time and place, it fidgets with the puzzle pieces of a life that are at once starkly unique and glaringly obvious. The narrator probes the influence of religion on a person’s psychological development, how the legacy of traditional femininity works their way under her skin, and the many pitfalls of living in a body that doesn’t always conform to expectations, both from within and the world pressing on it.  Tara Stillions Whitehead is a filmmaker and multi-genre writer living in Central Pennsylvania. Graduate of University of Southern California’s School of Cinema-Television Production and San Diego State University’s Creative Writing MFA Program, her writing and films work to subvert the toxic cultural narratives endorsed by popular media and the institutions that profit from stigmatizing and disadvantaging marginalized and historically oppressed groups. Her writing was included in the 2021 Wigleaf Top 50 and has been nominated for various awards, including Best of the Net, Best Small Fictions, AWP Intro Journal Awards, and the Pushcart Prize. A former DGA assistant director for television, she is currently Assistant Professor of Film, Video, and Digital Media Production at Messiah University, where she serves as production faculty for narrative filmmaking. Her hybrid chapbook/concept album, Blood Histories, was published by Galileo Press in 2021. A 2023 Aspen Words Literary Prize Nominee, The Year of the Monster (2022) explores American culture as commodity and comorbidity. From black holes and animal extinctions to death row trauma porn and the redacted scripts of Hollywood abuses: these sixteen stories subvert traditional notions of justice, challenge vulnerable characters to survive in transgressive spaces. Mixing traditional prose with screenplay and script-hybrid, and certainly not without hope, The Year of the Monster encourages close examination of how American media and our complicity in its marriage of violence and culture perpetuate the human and environmental crises.  Jennifer Sparkman is an expert in the film industry as well as a profession al writer and magazine publisher. Her chapbook LET'S BREAKUP was released in 2018 and explores the aftermath of profound loss.
 PORTLAND, OR; September 27, 2022-- The Year of the Monster explores American culture as commodity and comorbidity. From black holes and animal extinctions to death row trauma porn and the redacted scripts of Hollywood abuses: these sixteen stories subvert traditional notions of justice, challenge vulnerable characters to survive in transgressive spaces. Mixing traditional prose with screenplay and script-hybrid, and certainly not without hope, The Year of the Monster encourages close examination of how American media and our complicity in its marriage of violence and culture perpetuate the human and environmental crises.
Praise for Tara Stillions Whitehead “If you mix a cocktail of Octavia Butler, Mary Robison, and early Jayne Anne Phillips, you might get something approaching Tara Stillions Whitehead’s style. Yet her style is highly original and all her own: shape-shifting and subtle. Her language packs real power. The stories in The Year of the Monster deal with love and unlove, math and physics, deception, truth, and loss – – both personal and cultural. As they navigate life’s obstacles – both spiritual and societal -- her characters show resilience and stamina even when darkness looms. “God and Laundry” is one of the best short stories I’ve read in years. But read them all, every story – from cover to cover. The entire collection sparkles.” —Larry Fondation, Martyrs and Holymen “With a deftness and economy of language that calls to mind Etgar Keret, and a tender veil of grit and glamor reminiscent of the late Eve Babitz, Tara Stillions Whitehead’s The Year of the Monster is cinematic, and captivating. In sixteen stories, ranging from a jarring back-and-forth between movie execs, and an intimate, sultry portrayal of a community ripped apart and renewed by a tornado, Stillions Whitehead’s writing demonstrates an unending capacity for humanity, the kind that is necessary right now. It has to be said: The Year of the Monster is officially required reading.” —Shannon Wolf, Green Card Girl "The stories in The Year of the Monster are tender, truthful, fiery and finely wrought. Tara Stillions Whitehead has built a collection that leaves little doubt as to her range and mastery as a storyteller. This book could be studied at the level of language alone as her sentences are both elegant and exacting. The people who inhabit these stories have been through some things and there are no easy answers, but let this book serve as a short course in self-acceptance, grit, honesty, and survival. I'm in awe of Whitehead's intelligence and heart, fully on display in these pages. I know she has many more books ahead of her. I can't wait to read every one of them." —Kathy Fish, author of Wild Life: Collected Works “Not all black holes are the size of suns or weigh as much as a galaxy” writes Tara Stillions Whitehead in the title story of her potent, hypnotic hybrid collection The Year of The Monster, “Some are small, microscopic, atomic-sized holes.” Freckle-sized black hole on the inner thigh, deleted scene, trauma, alienation, addiction, grief–such invisible centers of gravity litter the landscapes of these stories, drawing their narrators toward transgressions and obliterations, to which they are simultaneously attracted and repelled. But they, and we, are repelled even more forcefully by the casual brutality of Hollywood plotlines, American dreams, the casualties of apocalypse and empire. In language of glitter and grit, paralyzing twilights, and prismatic undertows, Stillions Whitehead resists resolution, expanding the narrative universe, defying both genre and gravity. What survives a black hole? The answer isn’t an end but an action: just turn the page and surrender to the irresistible pull of the next utterly absorbing story.” —Erin Rodini, And if the Woods Carry You “The Year of the Monster by Tara Stillions Whitehead is a must read! Stillions Whitehead writes with beautiful, razor-sharp language about the lingering darkness shadowed by the glitz of Hollywood. Whitehead takes us beyond the spotlights, the gossip, and the fandom to capture photographically and emotionally the people behind the scenes. In this vision of Los Angeles, we see the dreamers, the schemers, and the day workers who are fighting for their lives. The prose is fierce with each line an escalation, and an opportunity to see the world washed in sepia tones given a full-color blush on the big screen. Stillions Whitehead is a star, and this book shines brilliantly due to her ability to put the reader into odd, but meaningful moments of suspension as we're caught up in the lives of these unique characters. These stories will break you into pieces, and then soothe you back together. A Triumph.” —Tommy Dean, Hollows About Tara Stillions Whitehead Tara Stillions Whitehead is a filmmaker and multi-genre writer living in Central Pennsylvania. Graduate of University of Southern California’s School of Cinema-Television Production and San Diego State University’s Creative Writing MFA Program, her writing and films work to subvert the toxic cultural narratives endorsed by popular media and the institutions that profit from stigmatizing and disadvantaging marginalized and historically oppressed groups. Her writing was included in the 2021 Wigleaf Top 50 and has been nominated for various awards, including Best of the Net, Best Small Fictions, AWP Intro Journal Awards, and the Pushcart Prize. A former DGA assistant director for television, she is currently Assistant Professor of Film, Video, and Digital Media Production at Messiah University, where she serves as production faculty for narrative filmmaking. Her hybrid chapbook/concept album, Blood Histories, was published by Galileo Press in 2021. About Unsolicited Press Unsolicited Press strives to produce exceptional works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from award-winning authors. Unsolicited Press based out of Portland, Oregon and focuses on the works of the unsung and underrepresented. As a womxn-owned, all-volunteer small publisher that doesn’t worry about profits as much as championing exceptional literature, we have the privilege of partnering with authors skirting the fringes of the lit world. We’ve worked with emerging and award-winning authors such as Shann Ray, Amy Shimshon-Santo, Brook Bhagat, Kris Amos, and John W. Bateman. Learn more at unsolicitedpress.com. Find us on twitter and Instagram, @unsolicitedp. The Year of the Monster is available on September 27, 2022 as a paperback (202 p.; 978-1-956692-33-4) and e-book (all major retailers). Retailers, schools, and libraries can order copies through Ingram. The author is open to speaking with the media, holding readings, and engaging in other author opportunities. ### Press only, Unsolicited Press 619.354.8005 marketing@unsolicitedpress.com For artist interviews, readings, and podcasts: Tara Stillions Whitehead  PORTLAND, OR; September 20, 2022--“I Still Go to Bed with Water” sets its readers loose and untended, like the wild critters from a menagerie of collected memories. One day cooped up, the next fending for themselves in oddness. But oddness and strange intimacy is the resting temperature of this collection. Each poem is a type of pit stop – from childhood solitude to foreign corners and over to heartbreak – where we glimpse from the road what once was and how it becomes something entirely different in the rearview. Embracing humor and gratitude – and even Burt Lancaster – the language here is at turns cryptic, precise, sometimes German, and other times nodding to the flowers of the Romantics. “I Still Go to Bed with Water” is an ode to the resounding perfection of imperfect memory.
ADVANCE PRAISE FOR MELANIE SEVCENKO “Melanie Sevcenko is a luminous poet. Her work is deft and revealing, gorgeous with texture. I Still Go To Bed With Water is deeply moving, both tender and dark, soft as silk and jagged as broken glass.”--Victoria Gosling, author of Before the Ruins ABOUT MELANIE SEVCENKO Melanie Sevcenko is a poet, radio producer, and recovering bohemian. She moved to Portland, Oregon by way of Berlin, Germany, where she lived for almost a decade and hustled as a film critic and reporter for various outlets. Her poems have appeared in Permafrost Magazine, Poetry Quarterly, Verse Daily, Black Heart Magazine, apt, The Fourth River, and more. She is quite proud of the title of her poetry chapbook, We Slept in Body Bags, Just in Case, which was published in 2013 by Finishing Line Press. She’s also an Irish and Canadian citizen and is probably a distant relative of Ukrainian writer Taras Shevchenko. These days, Melanie works in public radio and podcasting and has contributed to NPR, The Guardian, and Marketplace, amongst others. In her off-time, she can be found lighting bonfires in backyards or buried under her 16-pound orange tabby. ABOUT UNSOLICITED PRESS Unsolicited Press strives to produce exceptional works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from award-winning authors. Unsolicited Press based out of Portland, Oregon and focuses on the works of the unsung and underrepresented. As a womxn-owned, all-volunteer small publisher that doesn’t worry about profits as much as championing exceptional literature, we have the privilege of partnering with authors skirting the fringes of the lit world. We’ve worked with emerging and award-winning authors such as Shann Ray, Amy Shimshon-Santo, Brook Bhagat, Kris Amos, and John W. Bateman. Learn more at unsolicitedpress.com. Find us on twitter and Instagram, @unsolicitedp. I STILL GO TO BED WITH WATER is available on September 20, 2022 as a paperback (130 p.; 978-1-956692-32-7), e-book, and audiobook. Retailers and libraries can order copies through Ingram.  Anne Leigh Parrish is the author of ten previously published books including the moon won’t be dared, poetry; a winter night, a novel ; what nells dreams, a novella & stories; maggie’s ruse, a novel; the amendment, a novel; and by the wayside, stories. She lives in the South Sound Region of Washington State. ABOUT "AN OPEN DOOR" It's 1948 and the freedom granted women by the Second World War is gone. Edith Sloan, earning her doctorate, is told by her law student husband to cancel her academic plans. His bright future requires a certain kind of wife, one in the kitchen making dinner for important guests. Frustrated and defiant, Edith leaves him but returns when his begging letters become too much. Trapped by marriage and her husband's ambition, Edith struggles to find her footing and the means to her own survival. T.K. LEE is an award-winning member of the Dramatists Guild of America, the Society for Stage Directors and Choreographers, and the Association of Writers and Writing Programs, among others. In addition to poetry and drama, he has also crafted prize-winning short fiction and is core faculty in the nationally ranked MFA programs in Creative Writing as well as in Theatre Education, at the historic Mississippi University for Women, the nation’s first public academic institution for women, in Columbus, Mississippi. Scapegoat, by T.K. Lee, is his second collection of poetry, and in it, Lee continues deepening his artistic voice by centering the same unnamed narrator, introduced in his first collection, in more intimate and recognizable moments of vulnerability: Having Love and Having Loved. Far from what one might call love poetry, Lee effectively teases out the traditional tropes in this second collection, branching into experimental forms, at times. Yet, even in his playful and innovative approaches, he doesn’t allow his subject to grow maudlin or overly sentimental, The poems in Scapegoat thematically ebb and flow, catching and releasing the reader along with the narrator, as he struggles to learn the hardest truth of natural law: That to fully live, one must finally leave…whether that may mean a job, a home, or a marriage. Which he does, in each case, and fails, each time, and like the prodigal son, he gives in and returns to his childhood home, resigned at last to wait it out, until something becomes familiar again. But Fate is waiting for him there, to make sure he doesn’t miss the bigger lesson: That giving in is not the same as giving up. To join the event, head to our EVENTS page and select the reading. The link is in the description.
  Melanie Sevcenko is a poet, radio producer, and recovering bohemian. She moved to Portland, Oregon by way of Berlin, Germany, where she lived for almost a decade and hustled as a film critic and reporter for various outlets. Her poems have appeared in Permafrost Magazine, Poetry Quarterly, Verse Daily, Black Heart Magazine, apt, The Fourth River, and more. She is quite proud of the title of her poetry chapbook, We Slept in Body Bags, Just in Case, which was published in 2013 by Finishing Line Press. She’s also an Irish and Canadian citizen and is probably a distant relative of Ukrainian writer Taras Shevchenko. These days, Melanie works in public radio and podcasting and contributes to NPR, The Guardian, and Marketplace, amongst others. In her off-time, she can be found cooking plant-based meals, lighting bonfires in backyards, or buried under her 16-pound orange tabby.  “I Still Go to Bed with Water” sets its readers loose and untended, like the wild critters from a menagerie of collected memories. One day cooped up, the next fending for themselves in oddness. But oddness and strange intimacy is the resting temperature of this collection. Each poem is a type of pit stop – from childhood solitude to foreign corners and over to heartbreak – where we glimpse from the road what once was and how it becomes something entirely different in the rearview. Embracing humor and gratitude – and even Burt Lancaster – the language here is at turns cryptic, precise, sometimes German, and other times nodding to the flowers of the Romantics. “I Still Go to Bed with Water” is an ode to the resounding perfection of imperfect memory.  Kayla Jeswald is a writer based in Youngstown, Ohio. She holds an master’s in Creative Writing from Youngstown State University, and currently teaches composition.  Stages of Blue is a nonfiction collection that deals with the harrowing effects of mental illness. Jeswald digs deep. Through poetry, short stories, and flash fiction, Jeswald opens a window so readers can witness the struggle of living with anxiety, bipolar disorder and severe depression. The collection is emotional and riveting. To join this free reading, head to our EVENTS page and find the date. Click the event to access the zoom link.
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