 PORTLAND, OR; January 11, 2022--Protectress is a hybrid poetry-prose novella offering a risky take on the legend of Medusa. With stunning economy of words and a delicate hand, Protectress provokes us to think about the feminist identity and the power of compassion. Readers who fell deeply for Emily Wilson’s translation of The Odyssey, Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad, Madeleine Miller’s Circe, Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven, Maria Dahvana Headley’s translation of Beowulf, and Toby Barlow's Sharp Teeth will find themselves enamoured with Protectress.
About Kendra Preston Leonard Kendra Preston Leonard is a poet, lyricist, and librettist whose work is inspired by the local, historical, and mythopoeic. She is especially interested in addressing issues of social justice, the environment, and disability through poetry. Her first chapbook, Making Mythology, was published in 2020 by Louisiana Literature Press, and her work appears in numerous publications including vox poetica, lunch, These Fragile Lilacs, and Upstart: Out of Sequence: The Sonnets Remixed. Leonard collaborates regularly with composers on works for voice including new operas and song cycles. Her lyrics and libretti have been set by composers including Jessica Rudman, Rosśa Crean, and Allyssa Jones. The author of numerous scholarly books and articles, Leonard is also a musicologist and music theorist, and her academic work focuses on women and music in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries; music and the early modern; and music and screen history. Follow her on Twitter at @K_Leonard_PhD or visit her site at https://kendraprestonleonard.hcommons.org/. ABOUT UNSOLICITED PRESS Unsolicited Press was founded in 2012 and is based in Portland, OR. The press strives to produce exceptional works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from award-winning authors. PROTECTRESS is available on January 11, 2022 as a paperback (208 p.; 978-1-950730-63-6) and e-book (all major retailers). The title is distributed to the trade by Ingram. The author is actively seeking to book readings and speaking opportunities with the media.  “Lucky Ride is a bang-zoom road trip novel with the queasy high-flying pace of Easy Rider and the breakneck prose of On the Road.” – Douglas Cole, author of The White Field “With Lucky Ride, Terry Tierney has written a classic road novel that captures the spirit of the late sixties the way Kerouac did with the fifties . . . an epic story of loss and redemption.” – Henry Hitz, author of Squirrels in the Wall: A Novel in Stories Terry Tierney’s 2020 debut poetry collection, The Poet’s Garage, was a nominee for the Pushcart Prize, and according to the Midwest Poetry Review, “At once both lyrical and metaphysical, the poems . . . are woven together with a lithe descriptive magic peculiar to Tierney’s work, leaving us wanting more of the poet’s proactive and provocative memories as we turn the last page.” Now, Tierney brings that same lyrical touch to his Vietnam-era debut novel, LUCKY RIDE (Unsolicited Press; on-sale December 28, 2021; ISBN: 978-1-950730-93-3).
This is the story of Patrick “Flash” McCarthy, a young man recently back from the Navy, having been stationed on a remote Aleutian Island called Adak. Though the memories of his time in the service are most notable for the marijuana and LSD he and his fellow Seabees took, Flash remembers them fondly as he struggles to settle back into post-war life in Binghamton, New York with his wife Ronnie. When he learns Ronnie has been having an affair with her boss, the revelation, combined with a general sense of restlessness and malaise he can’t shake, propels him to plan a cross country trip to see an old Navy buddy in California. When another Navy comrade, Rick, shows up in Binghamton with an interstate weed delivery and offers him a ride as far as Fort Worth, the die is cast, and the two men set off, each hoping to quiet their own demons on the speed-fueled road trip of a lifetime. As might be expected of a trip between two old friends sharing a not-insignificant quantity of drugs, things quickly go off the rails, and Flash and Rick find themselves dodging a highway stalker. Relieved by the close call, Flash leaves Rick behind in Fort Worth, and begins to hitchhike to California before narrowly escaping being arrested by a Texas Ranger for any number of offenses he has committed on the trip, He catches rides with an array of colorful characters, including two men fleeing an assault charge in Tennessee and a construction foreman having problems with his son, which leads Flash to reflect on his relationship with his own father. A self-styled guru named Joshua and his band of followers take Flash into their marijuana-filled van, but he declines the invitation to join their group, knowing that his destiny lies elsewhere. As the trip progresses cross-country, with nothing but miles of open road and whatever drugs he’s ingested, Flash has plenty of time to reflect. He remembers the early days with Ronnie, when they were two young, free spirits in love, before the realities of the war and real life intruded. In Phoenix, he hooks up with an old friend named Donna, and recalls the wild night he spent with her, her husband Walter, and Ronnie, before realizing that night is best left a memory. Finally arriving in Ventura, California, Flash meets with his friend, Jack Ferro, and begins to contemplate a life away from the failure of his marriage in Binghamton, filled with the carefree vibes of the Cali sunshine. But reality soon intrudes on his California dreaming, and, out of money and unable to find a job, Flash makes the decision to head back to New York. Ronnie offers reconciliation, and Flash must decide if he still trusts the seductive pull of the irresistible campus radical he married or if he prefers the open road, the chance of a new beginning, and another lucky ride. Terry Tierney was born in South Dakota and raised in Minneapolis and Cleveland. After serving in the Seabees, he received a BA and MA in English from SUNY Binghamton, and a PhD in Victorian Literature from Emory University. He taught college composition and creative writing and later survived a series of Silicon Valley startups as a software engineering manager. His stories have appeared in Fiction Pool, Jersey Devil Press, Blue Lake Review, Eunoia Review, Fictive Dreams, Literally Stories, SPANK the CARP, Big Bridge, and other publications. He is the author of the Pushcart Prize-nominated poetry collection, The Poet’s Garage, Lucky Ride, and a forthcoming second novel, The Bridge on Beer River, which will be published in 2023. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. LUCKY RIDE is now available for purchase wherever books are sold. Paperbacks can be purchased directly from the publisher; ebooks are available through all major ebook retail outlets.  PORTLAND, OR; December 14, 2021— The stories in DONA NOBIS PACEM are longing for peace. All are told from a female point of view. The stories are divided into three sections: hostility out in the world, domestic difficulties, and a few new takes on fairy tales. Stories out in the world include reflections of a goddess observing a young man dying, Mary Magdalen mourning Jesus, an older German woman wanting to hide away from the world after World War II, and a young girl liking an outsider peace demonstrator while she is part of a right to life demonstration, among others. The domestic stories deal with neglect, child abuse, fear of being pregnant, and similar complications. The fairy tales all mourn a certain loss of magic in our world.
About the Author Beate Sigriddaughter, www.sigriddaughter.net, was poet laureate of Silver City, New Mexico (Land of Enchantment) from 2017 to 2019. Her work has received several poetry awards. Červená Barva Press published her poetry chapbook Dancing in Santa Fe and other poems in 2019 and Unsolicited Press published her poetry chapbook Emily (February 2020). About Unsolicited Press Unsolicited Press was founded in 2012 and is based in Portland, OR. The press strives to produce exceptional works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from award-winning authors. Learn more at www.unsolicitedpress.com.  PORTLAND, OR; November 23, 2022— What scares you more? The monster under your bed or the one staring back at you in the mirror? Authors C.M. Chapman and Larry Thacker blur the lines between the kinds of monsters that roam the earth in their latest short story collection, EVERYDAY, MONSTERS.
In twenty-one stories, readers encounter monsters ranging from mythological, psychological, maliciously human, and darkly comical. Monsters creep from the deepest parts of humanity, the kind that we are born with, proving that even those with the best senses can overlook shadowy lurking beasts. Chapman and Thacker execute with skill everyday storytelling that leaves readers in a sense of wonder and wondering if what they know is truth or make believe. About the Authors C.M. Chapman’s work has appeared in numerous literary journals, including Cheat River Review, Limestone, Still: The Journal, Dark Mountain Project in the U.K., and the anthology, So It Goes: A Tribute to Kurt Vonnegut. He is the author of the chapbook, Music & Blood, from Latham House Press, and his novel-in-stories, Suicidal Gods, was published by Unsolicited Press in 2019. He is a graduate of the low-residency MFA program at West Virginia Wesleyan College, where he served as The McKinney Teaching Fellow for three years and as an adjunct professor. Larry D. Thacker’s stories can be found in past issues of The Still Journal, Fried Chicken and Coffee, Dime Show Review, Vandalia Journal, and Grotesque Quarterly. His stories have been twice nominated for the Pushcart and once for a Best of the Net recognition. His poetry can be found in over 170 publications, including Still: The Journal, The American Journal of Poetry, Poetry South, Tower Poetry Society, Spillway, The Southern Poetry Anthology, Town Creek Poetry, and Appalachian Heritage. His books are Mountain Mysteries: The Mystic Traditions of Appalachia, the short story collection, Working it Off in Labor County, and the poetry books, Feasts of Evasion, Grave Robber Confessional, Voice Hunting, Memory Train, and Drifting in Awe. His MFA in poetry and fiction is from West Virginia Wesleyan College. He serves as adjunct instructor at Northeast State Community College. Visit: www.larrydthacker.com About Unsolicited Press Unsolicited Press was founded in 2012 and is based in Portland, OR. The press strives to produce exceptional works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from award-winning authors. Learn more at www.unsolicitedpress.com. EVERYDAY, MONSTERS is available on November 23, 2022 as a paperback (284 p.; 978-1-950730-88-9) and e-book (all major retailers). The title is distributed to the trade by Ingram.  PORTLAND, OR; November 23, 2021-- Would you be willing to kidnap your child to save his life and set sail in search of a doctor that may hold the key to his survival when everyone else has given up? When it means you may lose everything regardless of the outcome? Pacific by Trevor J. Houser discovers what a desperate father is willing to do to save his son’s life...even if it means braving deadly storms at home and on the run.
On a remote Puget Sound island, police chief Bell navigates his job and marriage in the wake of his son’s near-death brain surgery. When his wife no longer wants to tempt the fates of experimental medicine he takes matters into his own hands. With the help of his spaced-out fisherman friend, Bell kidnaps his boy and sets sail for Guatemala in search of the mysterious Dr. Haas. On the way, they’ll brave the seventh biggest storm, befriend two behemoth fly-fishing Nords, and try to outrun the ex-Navy captain hired by his wife to find them. Advance Praise for PACIFIC “Very heartfelt and amazing story, loved it.” – Gus Van Sant “If you are a father, or know one, Trevor Houser’s Pacific, is a wild, quixotic ride that will challenge your understanding of what it is to be a parent.” -Larry Colton, author of Southern League and Counting Coup “Poetic. Suspenseful. And at times darkly comic. Get ready for an adventure in heartbreak.” —Michael Mazza, author of That Crazy Perfect Someday About Trevor J. Houser Trevor J. Houser lives with his family in Seattle. He has published stories in Zyzzyva, Story Quarterly and The Doctor TJ Eckleburg Review, among others. Three of his stories were nominated for the Pushcart Prize. About Unsolicited Press Unsolicited Press was founded in 2012 and is based in Portland, OR. The press strives to produce exceptional works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from award-winning authors. Learn more at www.unsolicitedpress.com. PACIFIC is available on November 23, 2021 as a paperback (258 p.; 978-1-950730-84-1) 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 Eric Rancino 619.354.8005 marketing@unsolicitedpress.com For artist interviews, readings, and podcasts: Trevor J. Houser trevorhouser11@gmail.com Poet Brook Bhagat's ONLY FLYING Celebrates Transformation and Rebellion with Striking Determination11/16/2021
 PORTLAND, OR; November 16, 2021— Unsolicited Press announces the release of Only Flying by Brook Bhagat. Only Flying is a collection of surreal free verse and prose poetry that celebrates transformation and paradox, exploring both the silence of the seeker and the outrageous wilderness of the imagination. Thematic threads like rebellion, enlightenment, risk, courage, love, loss, and triumph dance to life with pictures that swing from dark to light, surreal to whimsical, and strange to familiar. There are intimate goddesses here, black widows, buddhas, alley cats, a kangaroo, and magic pants—blacklight-blue Hendrix flares that hang from a fire escape, just waiting for the right person to jump up and steal them. That person is you.
From the Collection ECLIPSE Night after night I climb out the same window, light a cigarette in the snow and look for home. About Brook Bhagat Brook Bhagat’s poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and humor have appeared in Monkeybicycle, Empty Mirror Magazine, Soundings East, Little India, Prometheus Dreaming, Anthem: A Tribute to Leonard Cohen, and other journals and anthologies. She is the 2020 winner of A Story in 100 Words’ nature writing contest and the 2021 winner of Loud Coffee Press’s summer microfiction contest. She and her husband Gaurav created Blue Planet Journal, which she edits and writes for. She holds an MFA from Lindenwood University, is an assistant professor of English at a community college, and is writing a novel. See more at brook-bhagat.com or reach her on Twitter at @BrookBhagat. Praise for ONLY FLYING In this intimate collection of interwoven poetry and prose, the magical and the mundane coexist in an exploration of personal transformation. Whether stealing magic pants off a stranger’s fire escape or unearthing new hands from the soil of a spring garden, Brook Bhagat creates a sensory experience threaded with longing and loss. At the same time, she effortlessly emphasizes the beauty of small things, echoes of ephemeral moments made up of salt and stars, feathers and eggshells. The poet turns inwards in her exploration, folds up like a paper tiger, only to then reemerge transcendent and renewed, unshackled from the gravity of false expectations and desires. In a dizzying dance of imagery and light, Bhagat’s lyricism creates a sense of remembering, a reckoning released on the wings of a wish. --Carina Bissett, award-winning writer and co-editor of Shadow Atlas: Dark Landscapes of the Americas. About Unsolicited Press Unsolicited Press was founded in 2012 and is based in Portland, OR. The press strives to produce exceptional works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from award-winning authors. Learn more at www.unsolicitedpress.com. ONLY FLYING is available on November 16, 2022 as a paperback (96 p.; 978-1-950730-83-4) and e-book (all major retailers). The title is distributed to the trade by Ingram. ### Press only, Unsolicited Press Eric Rancino 619.354.8005 marketing@unsolicitedpress.com For artist interviews, readings, and podcasts: Brook Bhagat https://brook-bhagat.com/contact/  PORTLAND, OR; November 9, 2021— Within the fifteen short stories of STUMBLING TOWARD GRACE, Rosalia Scalia explores how people who love each other struggle to reconnect their fractured relationships in the face of traumas, personal flaws, and unspoken hurts. Many of her stories explore loss and grief with humor and grace as characters navigate their unwise decisions, unexpected deaths, or their resentments polished into gems. Overall this collection offers readers poignant moments about ordinary people striving to survive and thrive in situations reflective of today’s challenges.
From the Book THERE WAS A fourteen-year-old Black boy. There was a twenty-one-year-old White woman. There was a whistle. There were two White men. There was a Crow named Jim. There was a kidnapping. There was a seventy-five-pound cotton gin fan. There was a lesson in colors, meaning that there were two White men who thought they’d teach the Black boy about a lesson in Money, Mississippi. There was a shed. There were cries in the shed over a lesson in colors, meaning the Black boy who whistles—who probably never ever kissed a girl, who called for his mama—learned a hard lesson in color. You just learned how to whistle to call your dog, Champ, but you don’t want to call Champ anymore because the Crow might come instead. Praise for Rosalia Scalia These stories are like a diamond, and Scalia's prose is a fine cut. Her debut sparkles with the energy of its characters -- all of them radiate their hopes, their tragedies, their humanity on the page. Reading this collection is like being given a close, multi-faceted look right into the heart of a city and its people." — Susan Muaddi Darraj Rosalia Scalia is Baltimore’s Flannery O’Connor. She inhabits her disparate characters, warts and all. Not an easy task considering the bigots, religious fanatics, hoarders, alcoholics, drug users, and damaged lives presented here. And yet, like the fictional Father Brown, she refrains from judgments, allowing each a generous shot at redemption. —Richard Peabody, editor/publisher, Gargoyle Magazine About Rosalia Scalia Rosalia Scalia’s fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in The Oklahoma Review, North Atlantic Review, Notre Dame Review, The Portland Review, and Quercus Review, among many others. She holds an MA in writing from Johns Hopkins University and is a Maryland State Arts Council Independent Artist's Award recipient. She won the Editor's Select award from Willow Review and her short story in Pebble Lake was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She lives in Baltimore with her family. About Unsolicited Press Unsolicited Press was founded in 2012 and is based in Portland, OR. The press strives to produce exceptional works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from award-winning authors. Learn more at www.unsolicitedpress.com. STUMBLING TOWARD GRACE is available on November 9, 2021 as a paperback (254 p.; 978-1-950730-82-7) and e-book (all major retailers). The title is distributed to the trade by Ingram. The author is open to speaking opportunities, interviews with the media, and readings. Electronic review copies are available upon request. ### Press only, Unsolicited Press Eric Rancino 619.354.8005 marketing@unsolicitedpress.com For artist interviews, readings, and podcasts: Rosalia Scalia rscalia1@yahoo.com  PORTLAND, OR; November 2, 2021--As your family is bright, so is it dark. Sure, the love and laughter of family lingers in your heart, yet it’s the secrets, pranks, and punishments that haunt your soul. The mothers, fathers, daughters, and sons in Functional Families all seek only love to cure their familial ills, but they often go about it in strange ways. To come to terms with his father’s past and encroaching dementia, Reynold Vasquez takes his father out for one last fancy dinner in “Bird Dog,” while in “Bat Out of Hell,” Margaret abandons her mother at a Tijuana gas station hoping to move on with her life. In “My First War,” young cadet Gilbert Fernandez goes AWOL from a pretend battlefield to be with his pregnant girlfriend on the verge of an abortion, and in “Wheel of Fortune,” Hillary Clinton visits a homegirl fortune teller in Santa Fe, New Mexico. In the end, these disparate souls resolve their desperate actions to return to their nuclei, the only places they can call home.
Families. You can’t pick them, but you can keep them. Or not. About Taylor García Taylor García is the author of the novel Slip Soul, and several short stories and essays. He also writes the weekly column, “Father Time” at the Good Men Project, and holds an MFA from Pacific University Oregon. García is a multi-generational Neomexicano originally from Santa Fé, New Mexico now living in Southern California with his wife and children. About Unsolicited Press Unsolicited Press was founded in 2012 and is based in Portland, OR. The press strives to produce exceptional works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from award-winning authors. FUNCTIONAL FAMILIES is available on November 2, 2021 as a paperback (188 p.; 978-1-950730-87-2) and e-book (all major retailers). The title is distributed to the trade by Ingram.  PORTLAND, OR; October 31, 2021-Crawl Space and Other Stories of Limited Maneuverability addresses how the problems of space reveal disturbing aspects of human nature. It uncovers their realities in city apartments, college campuses, the basements of orphanages, under bridges in Mexico, through miracles in hospital rooms, inside a bullring, at urinals, in the closed world of a Biblical drama, in high chairs, inside the lives of a pearl family, and in the actual crawl space underneath a wood frame house. These are stories that their author had little choice but to write.
About Richard Krause RICHARD KRAUSE'S collection of fiction, Studies in Insignificance, was published by Livingston Press, and Unsolicited Press published his second collection, The Horror of the Ordinary. His epigram collection, Optical Biases, was published by EyeCorner Press in Denmark, and Propertius Press published his second collection, Eye Exams. Fomite Press will publish another collection of his epigrams, Blind Insights into the Writing Process, in January 2022. Krause grew up in the Bronx and on farms in Pennsylvania. He drove a taxi in NYC for five years and taught English for nine years in Japan. Currently, he is retired from teaching at a community college in Kentucky. About Unsolicited Press Unsolicited Press was founded in 2012 and is based in Portland, OR. The press strives to produce exceptional works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from award-winning authors. Crawl Space & Other Stories of Limited Maneuverability is available on October 31, 2021 as a paperback (310 p.; 978-1-950730-81-0) and e-book (all major retailers). The title is distributed to the trade by Ingram.  PORTLAND, OR; October 26, 2021--Salad Days vacillates between youth-driven cultures of mid-nineties era Jersey and early aughts Portland. As the dual story unfolds, we witness the twenty-something protagonist, Ana, as she takes a crack at being an adult, navigating friendships and searching for intimate relationships, maintaining jobs and managing money. All the while, she does her best to repair a broken moral compass without an owner’s manual. "Salad Days is the gritty, moving portrait of a young woman who completely upends her life trying to figure out who she is and what she wants, set against the gray, grungy background of Portland, Oregon, at a time when the city was also in flux. Badalamenti perfectly captures the alluring and maddening impenetrability of Portland for the East Coast transplant."--Cari Luna, Author of The Revolution of Every Day  Frances Badalamenti was raised in Queens, New York and Suburban New Jersey, but she now lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and son. Her essays, stories and interviews appear in The Believer Magazine, Longreads, Vol.1 Brooklyn, Entropy and elsewhere. Salad Days is her second novel. Interviews Growing the Courage, A Conversation with Frances Badalamenti, The Rumpus, 2019 An Interview with Frances Badalamenti, Author of I Don’t Blame You, Entropy, 2019 Praise For Previous Work "Frances Badalamenti proves to be a talented and evocative writer. I Don't Blame You is a powerful, heady, debut novel, gorgeously interweaving the story of grief, acceptance, and love. A must read." - Chloe Caldwell, author of I'll Tell You in Person and Women "I Don't Blame You is a raw, irreverent, wrenching exploration of the trauma and joy of being a daughter and a mother." - Michelle Tea, author of Black Wave, How to Grow Up and Modern Tarot BOOK DETAILS
ISBN: 978-1-950730-39-1 290 pages Fiction October 26, 2021 Paperback: $17.00 Distributor: Ingram Book Group MEDIA CONTACT INFORMATION Publicity Contact: Heather Brown Mind the Bird Media heather@mindthebirdmedia.com California Writer and Mental Health Counselor Pens a Book on the Engine of Anxiety in Everyday Life10/19/2021
PORTLAND, OR; October 19, 2021— SEPARATION ANXIETY is a stunning short story collection that shows how pervasive the disorder can be in everyday lives. In eighteen stories, Coshnear paints separation anxiety as an engine of change while being careful to tend to the delicateness of the disorder's consequences. Readers become intimately acquainted with the captain of a SWAT (team), a mental health case worker who falls deeply in love, an elderly man who is driven to rage when his wife is buried in the wrong hole, and many more.
From the Book At quarter to seven, he has one more hour of sunlight. He wanders the beach and the strip and returns to the beach. His skin, shrunken from the burn, shrinks more now in the cold. His lips look blue in an arcade mirror. The sky bleeds into twilight. There seems to be only one choice. He walks the long, flat, two-lane road back to the highway. He should’ve snatched a towel from the beach to keep warm, but he assures himself that it only takes one ride if you’re lucky, and he must be lucky, because the alternatives are too terrible. He imagines the perfect ride: Mrs. Hagner in her bra. Mrs. Hagner not in her bra. Her brown nipples pointing the way home. He doesn’t need to ponder on this long before he has an embarrassing lump in his shorts, and no one’s going to pick up a boy with an erection. Or maybe someone would, and that could be worse. He forces himself to imagine other perfect rides. Bruce Springsteen in a souped-up Charger with a double order of fries. He sings as he walks and surprises himself, because he knows all the words to “Born to Run” and most of “Thunder Road.” Praise for Daniel Coshnear’s Work “Daniel Coshnear’s stories are glimpses of peoples’ lives, thoughts, relationships…the facts of their lives. He manages to give a clear view of a character’s reality by looking just into ordinary incidents. His characters’ realities are multi-dimensional, and the characters themselves are complex. We perceive their thoughts, their needs and their circumstances through their eyes.” —Anastasia Tsolaki “As a physical object, the book is well-crafted. The stories are not just well-crafted (though they certainly are that) but illuminating and lyrical invocations of hopes and failures.” —Stephen O. Murray “The simplicity of the stories in Dan Coshnear's Occupy and Other Love Stories is deceptive. These are layered, complex stories, many of which examine the angst and the joy endemic to parenting. His narrators and protagonists are Everymen, each making his or her way the best they can through our crazy times. Life and parenting are often perplexing and Dan's careful storytelling and lovely prose, particularly phrases such as "sweet black sleep" make their challenges immediate and real.” —P. Porter “A well-balanced collection of short stories that will sit on my favorite shelf in a permanent position, I have no doubt. While reading, I had this feeling of honor - to be privy to such emotional openness and with such a deft hand.” —Stephanie Freele About Daniel Coshnear Daniel Coshnear lives in Guerneville, California with his wife and two children. He works at a group home for the homeless and mentally ill and teaches writing classes through UC Berkeley Extension. He is the author of Homesick, Redux (Flock 2015), Occupy & Other Love Stories (Kelly's Cove Press 2012) and Jobs & Other Preoccupations (Helicon Nine 2001) winner of the Willa Cather Fiction Award. About Unsolicited Press Unsolicited Press was founded in 2012 and is based in Portland, OR. The press strives to produce exceptional works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from award-winning authors. Learn more at www.unsolicitedpress.com. SEPARATION ANXIETY is available on October 19, 2021 as a paperback (244 p.; 978-1-950730-65-0) and e-book (all major retailers). The title is distributed to the trade by Ingram. The author is open to speaking opportunities, interviews with the media, and readings. Electronic review copies are available upon request. ### Press only, Unsolicited Press Eric Rancino 619.354.8005 marketing@unsolicitedpress.com For artist interviews, readings, and podcasts: Daniel Coshnear coshn@sonic.net  PORTLAND, OR; October 14, 2021— Unsolicited Press announces the release of the moon won’t be dared a poetry collection by award-winning author Anne Leigh Parrish that features artwork by Lydia Selk. In this momentous debut collection, the poet harnesses language to give readers a new vision of nature, the impossible plight of womanhood, love, aging, and beauty. Being a woman in a male-dominated society affords Anne Leigh Parrish the space to witness the world on an uneven keel. Parrish pays tribute to beauty, but also weaves the harsh truths of betrayal and brutality into the filaments holding the collection together.
From the Book pulled back around circle or line? round or straight? what did einstein stay? the universe bends in on itself, or relates only to itself i don’t know but even a lizard remembers and is pulled back around and the memory held in my larger, more deeply folded brain cries to visit its hinterland, its former place as easily as the world circles from one day to the next Advance Praise for Anne Leigh Parrish Anne Leigh Parrish’s poems in the moon won’t be dared are an extended meditation that weaves through time and humanity, injustices and struggles, but with an eye towards love and beauty. These captivating poems carry an underlining ache of loss—past and future—but they are grounded in the present, in beetle and spider, in river and forest, in the windows that look into the yard. Parrish writes we can only burn slowly over time, and we see this book is full of light—fire, streetlight, smokelight, garden light, twilight, starlight, and in fact, darkness/becomes light when the world bears us/along. This is a voice willing to convey what isn’t working in the world, but also to always acknowledge what is—a child of the night/who lived on moonlight and cold sparkle stars. Parrish’s poems feed us, and they will hold us long enough/to tinge the dawn with hope. --Kelli Russell Agodon, author of Dialogues with Rising Tides (Copper Canyon Press). About Anne Leigh Parrish Anne Leigh Parrish is the author of nine previously published books: A Winter Night (Unsolicited Press 2021); What Nell Dreams, a novella & stories (Unsolicited Press, 2020); Maggie’s Ruse, a novel, (Unsolicited Press, 2017); The Amendment, a novel (Unsolicited Press, 2017); Women Within, a novel (Black Rose Writing, 2017); By the Wayside, stories (Unsolicited Press, 2017); What Is Found, What Is Lost, a novel (She Writes Press, 2014); Our Love Could Light The World, stories (She Writes Press, 2013); and All The Roads That Lead From Home, stories (Press 53, 2011). About Lydia Selk Lydia Selk is an artist who resides in the pacific northwest with her sweet husband. She has been creating analog collages for several years. Lydia can often be found in her studio with scalpel in hand, cat sleeping on her lap, and a layer of paper confetti at her feet. you can see more of her work on instagram.com/lydiafairymakesart. About Unsolicited Press Unsolicited Press was founded in 2012 and is based in Portland, OR. The press strives to produce exceptional works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from award-winning authors. Learn more at www.unsolicitedpress.com. THE MOON WON'T BE DARED is available on October 14, 2021 as a paperback (150 p.; 978-1-950730-80-3) and e-book (all major retailers). The title is distributed to the trade by Ingram. ### Press only, Unsolicited Press Eric Rancino 619.354.8005 marketing@unsolicitedpress.com For artist interviews, readings, and podcasts: Anne Leigh Parrish anneleighparrish@comcast.net  PORTLAND, OR; October 12, 2021-- We're set loose, untended, like beings from a menagerie of sorts, one day cooped up, the next fending for ourselves out in the oddness of the world. This is the motif pursued in GATELESS MENAGERIE. We intersect with the wild as well when out roaming, reacquainting with the animal kingdom and it with us. We are one in the same: gateless and viewed. How do the animals see us? How do we appear to them? Are we in harmony or only tolerating one another?
About Larry D. Thacker Larry D. Thacker’s poetry is in over 150 publications including Spillway, Still: The Journal, Valparaiso Poetry Review, Poetry South, The Southern Poetry Anthology, The American Journal of Poetry, The Lake, Illuminations Literary Magazine, and Appalachian Heritage. His books include three full poetry collections, Drifting in Awe, Grave Robber Confessional, and Feasts of Evasion, two chapbooks, Voice Hunting and Memory Train, as well as the folk history, Mountain Mysteries: The Mystic Traditions of Appalachia. His MFA in poetry and fiction is earned from West Virginia Wesleyan College. Visit his website at: www.larrydthacker.com About Unsolicited Press Unsolicited Press was founded in 2012 and is based in Portland, OR. The press strives to produce exceptional works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from award-winning authors. Learn more at www.unsolicitedpress.com. GATELESS MENAGERIE is available on October 12, 2021 as a paperback (102p.; 978-1-950730-79-7) 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. ###  Imagine sailing around Cape Horn in an effort to wrestle some of the world's most treacherous waters and the haunting memories of war. Author Stephen O’Shea and U.S. Navy veteran Taylor Grieger do just that -- the documentary HELL OR HIGH SEAS (https://www.hellorhighseas.com/) follows their journey. But this isn’t the only time that Stephen O’Shea has come face-to-face with a veteran looking for solace. O’Shea, inspired by the impact of war and military life on veterans, wrote From the Land of Genesis (a 2020 Pen Faulkner Award nominee), a profound collection centered on veterans whose lives have been permanently affected by the wars of Afghanistan and Iraq. Based on research and interviews that O’Shea conducted himself, these interwoven stories offer insight to the struggles that veterans face upon returning home. However, the stories also feature glimpses of hope amidst the despairing truths that make for beautiful stories veterans can relate to, and for civilian readers to experience vicariously the extremes of the human condition. Stephen J. O’Shea is a writer, documentarian, and (now) sailor, who tells stories to stay alive. His research for From the Land of Genesis was the catalyst for the sailing expedition around Cape Horn to raise awareness about veteran suicide rates. Having miraculously survived that feat, he's now writing and producing stories through a number of mediums, including literature and film. Initially published in November 2020, the short story collection is being brought back to the spotlight with the release of the documentary, which is now available in select theaters and will begin streaming on October 12th. The documentary, from director Glenn Holsten, producer Chayne Gregg, and executive producer Robert Irvine, is projected to have a remarkable run in the indie film world. We invite members of the media to reach out to the author for interviews, events, readings, and other collaborative media opportunities. Mr. O’Shea can be contacted HERE. From the Land of Genesis is available as a paperback ($17.00; 302p.), ebook, and an audiobook. Ingram Book Group distributes the title to the market. Unsolicited Press was founded in 2012 and is based in Portland, OR. The press strives to produce exceptional works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from award-winning authors. Learn more at www.unsolicitedpress.com.   PORTLAND, OR; September 30, 2021— Who’s Going to Love the Dying Girl? by Bree Rolfe tells the story of a woman diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis who is trying to navigate life and love in a body that is failing. These poems capture the collision of a reckless past and a foreshortened future with unwavering honesty. They confront the title question thrown at her one terrible night.
From the Book You came here for simple things you thought would make everything better-- bathtubs and driveways and backyards. But you never use these things. Never soak in the bath or swing in the hammock or rock in the chair you coveted for years and finally bought. Praise for Bree Rolfe’s WHO’S GOING TO LOVE THE DYING GIRL? “It all unravels, Bree Rolfe announces in the beginning of this confident, self-possessed collection. But these savvy, canny poems don’t concern themselves with re-knitting what’s already unknotted. Instead, they situate themselves right in the big, fat, fucked-up middle of the mess that life makes of us all. These poems are keenly observant, prescient, sardonic, and infused with some of the most unimpeachably glorious gallows humor I’ve ever encountered. But more importantly? They are honest and undisguised. At the center of Who’s Going to Love the Dying Girl? is a heartbreakingly frank examination of that which makes us most human: tangible, mortal loss. Read this book now.” --Jill Alexander Essbaum, author of Would-Land. “Bree Rolfe is an effortlessly beautiful lyricist, and a storyteller of the highest order. The title of her debut collection is sad, and it’s plaintive, and that isn’t a bait and switch — her poems are, too. But beyond sadness and plaintiveness (already fine goals for poems, and Rolfe hits the notes perfectly) the pieces in this collection are something more rare: wholly true. And not like “based on a true story” true, but the sort of conceptual, difficult, real life truth that doesn’t have easy answers. With deftness, Rolfe makes poetic explorations of illness, abuse, codependency and loss as relatable and moving to readers as those of friendship, perseverance and love. This book is a gem. Read it immediately.” --Jessica Piazza, author of Interrobang “Bree Rolfe’s “Who’s Going To Love The Dying Girl?” reminds us of our own mortality, while managing to feed us those heavy truths battered in a combination of sharp, dark humor, bittersweet nostalgia & a type of subtle but profound, omnipresent romance that I’ve rarely encountered in writing. Via reflections on youth, aging, love and loss , Rolfe manages to transport us back to defining moments of her history while firmly cementing her place as a middle aged woman living with “a child’s disease” of cystic fibrosis. --Ceschi Ramos, hip hop artist & owner of Fake Four Records About Bree Rolfe Bree A. Rolfe lives in Austin, TX, where she teaches writing and literature to the mostly reluctant, but always lovable, teenagers at James Bowie High School. She is originally from Boston, Massachusetts, where she worked as a music journalist for 10 years before she decided she wanted to dedicate her life to writing poetry and teaching. Her work has appeared in Saul Williams’s poetry anthology, Chorus: A Literary Mixtape, the Barefoot Muse Anthology, Forgetting Home: Poems About Alzheimer’s, the Redpaint Hill Anthology, Mother is a Verb, and 5AM Magazine. She holds an MFA from the Writing Seminars at Bennington College. Her first chapbook, Who's Going to Love the Dying Girl?, is forthcoming from Unsolicited Press in September of 2021. http://breerolfe.com/ About Unsolicited Press Unsolicited Press was founded in 2012 and is based in Portland, OR. The press strives to produce exceptional works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from award-winning authors. Learn more at www.unsolicitedpress.com. WHO'S GOING TO LOVE THE DYING GIRL? available on September 30, 2021 as a paperback (54 p.; 978-1-950730-77-3) and e-book (all major retailers). The title is distributed to the trade by Ingram. The author is open to speaking opportunities, interviews with the media, and readings. Electronic review copies are available upon request. ### Press only, Unsolicited Press Eric Rancino 619.354.8005 marketing@unsolicitedpress.com For artist interviews, readings, and podcasts: Bree Rolfe breearolfe@gmail.com  PORTLAND, OR; September 29, 2021— Discover the best and worst of what it means to find yourself in the modern world. Transitions by E.A. Johnson, a story told through poetry, follows a troubled adolescent on the verge of both self destruction and self actualization.
When a young man finds himself in that awkward stage between middle and high school, a difficult time for anyone, he begins to understand what it means to find yourself in the modern world. Between navigating life both in school and online, his family begins to crumble around him, and everything he once relied on becomes everything he fears. As the struggles at home and school pile up, he begins to lose the few things he has left until he feels there is nothing left to lose. When he thinks he’s lost everything, the only things left are self-destructive urges. When he finds his father’s pain pills, he thinks he finds a way out of his own pain. Instead, he discovers that when everything looks like the end, if you hold on just a little longer, you might just find a new beginning. Transitions explores some very difficult topics such as bullying, teen and adult addiction, abusive relationships, and suicide. But it also explores the depths of love and support that surround us even when we think we’re alone, leading to the conclusion that even in the darkest moments of our lives there is a way back to the light. About E.A. Johnson E.A. Johnson is a High School English teacher who has had the privilege of working with students in an important transition time in their life. While recently he teaches mostly seniors, he has worked with all grade levels at different times in his 15 year career. When he’s not teaching, he can be found wandering in the woods looking for a good lake to swim in or playing in the back yard with his own children. And while they still get up in the middle of the night— nightmares are real—he wouldn’t change a thing. You can find his previous poetry collection The Conditions We Live published by Unsolicited Press, You can find some of his other poems in The Chaffey Review (Spring 2010), The Battered Suitcase (Winter 2010), and Writing Tomorrow (February 2012). If you’re looking for something a little different, he has also published a choose your own adventure story as an Alexa skill titled “Dreamweaver Unlocked,” and his first full-length novel Under the Shadow’s Eye, book one of the Dreamweaver Diaries. For more information or updates, check out his website: ericjohnsonwriter.com About Unsolicited Press Unsolicited Press was founded in 2012 and is based in Portland, OR. The press strives to produce exceptional works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from award-winning authors. Learn more at www.unsolicitedpress.com. Transitions available on September 29, 2021 as a paperback (166 p.; 978-1-950730-78-0) and e-book (all major retailers). The title is distributed to the trade by Ingram. The author is open to speaking opportunities, interviews with the media, and readings. Electronic review copies are available upon request. ### Press only, Unsolicited Press Eric Rancino 619.354.8005 marketing@unsolicitedpress.com  PORTLAND, OR; September 28, 2021 — Unsolicited Press announces the immediate release of Heather lang-Cassera’s GATHERING BROKEN LIGHT, a haunting and mesmerizing poetry collection. Gathering Broken Light confronts pasts we cannot understand, largely following the October 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas. Anchored in the severity and the beauty of the Mojave Desert landscape, fractured narratives, surrealist repetition, and imagistic lyricism work to contemplate grief, including both overwhelming sorrow and deep love. To those lost by gun violence, a voice yearns, “I wish I could sing the sky to you.”
In a collection that refuses to flatten the horrors of gun violence, both “flashing restless anger” and immense sadness, acknowledging that grief never leaves entirely, these poems also offer small comforts, even hope, as the “century plants continue to bloom // slowly, like stars burn” beneath a “moon as emptiness traced / and brimming with promise / because both can be true.” To those lost, this collection insists, “You deserve to be remembered.” Praise for GATHERING BROKEN LIGHT Heather Lang-Cassera’s Gathering Broken Light is an extended meditation on the shattering legacies of American gun violence. Dedicated to the victims and survivors of the October 1 mass shooting in Las Vegas, Gathering Broken Light grapples with the unspeakable. In lyric, light-infused poems evoking the dramatic beauty of the Mojave Desert, Lang-Cassera repeatedly confronts language’s limitations to represent trauma — “these metaphors attempt to dissociate / or to try to understand, / but nothing in between” or “I took words & placed them on my tongue, / a quiet catapult for what / I cannot say” — while still, nonetheless, insisting on the reparative linguistic rituals of elegy. The untitled poems seamlessly flow from one to another: ekphrastic poems glaze random discarded objects documented in Getty news photographs of the shooting with heartbreakingly tender attention, while recurring poems beginning with the words “in an alphabet of grief” attempt to articulate a lexicon of trauma. Gathering Broken Light is a gorgeous canticle that powerfully catalogues personal and collective griefs within a ruptured and rupturing world. — Lee Ann Roripaugh, author of tsunami vs. the fukushima 50 With the exquisite control of evocative language and the brilliant use of repetition, the intimacy of Gathering Broken Light mirrors the persistence of trauma and resilience. Lang-Cassara guides us through the deepest rooms of grief, both collective and personal, with both stunning and haunting attention to image — “one before the summoning of ghosts, / one before the faces washed pale by floodlights, / one before the eyes wider than the mouths / of oh, holy night.” This lyrical engagement with loss laces together the fragmented and unanswerable questions a community contends with when recovering from a tragedy with such harrowing effects as the October 1 mass shooting. I felt invited to bring my own ache to a collection that renders the reader captivated with a tension and a longing so deeply felt and known that it becomes an offering to both the bereaved and a beloved city, which shimmers, even as it breaks, with belonging. — Jennifer Battisti, author of Off Boulder Highway Let us not forget. Poetry can help us to fulfill that admonition. In the tradition of such testaments as Chris Llewellyn’s Fragments from the Fire, remembering the garment workers killed in the Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire, and Valerie Martínez’s Each and Her, remembering the hundreds of women and girls murdered in Ciudad Juaréz, Heather Lang-Cassera’s Gathering Broken Light remembers to us those killed, those injured, those aggrieved in the 1 October 2017 shooting in Las Vegas. These poems attend to detail: “the abandoned napkin is a collapsed cloud”; “A trampled cup is a deserted snow globe”; “The aluminum can is a failing telescope.” Such careful observation of what was left behind is remembrance of what was taken away. Heather Lang-Cassera’s “alphabet of grief” makes Gathering Broken Light one quiet, wise way of “confronting / pasts we cannot understand.” — H. L. Hix, author of Rain Inscription Book Excerpt The tension above the water glass foreshadows the moon just this once. The mourning dove brushes the sill like a finger on a trigger. About Heather Lang-Cassera Heather Lang-Cassera lives in Las Vegas, Nevada where she served as Clark County Poet Laureate (2019–2021) and was named 2017 “Best Local Writer or Poet” by the readers of Nevada Public Radio’s Desert Companion. Heather holds a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Fairleigh Dickinson University with a Graduate Certificate in Literary Translation. She serves as an Editor for Tolsun Books and World Literature Editor for The Literary Review. Her chapbook, I was the girl with the moon-shaped face, was published by Zeitgeist Press. At Nevada State College, Heather teaches College Success, Composition, and Creative Writing. www.heatherlang.cassera.net About Unsolicited Press Unsolicited Press was founded in 2012 and is based in Portland, OR. The press strives to produce exceptional works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from award-winning authors. Learn more at www.unsolicitedpress.com. GATHERING BROKEN LIGHT is available on September 28, 2021 as a paperback (120 p.; 978–1–950730–91–9) and e-book (all major retailers). The title is distributed to the trade by Ingram. The author is open to speaking opportunities, interviews with the media, and readings. ### Press only, Unsolicited Press Eric Rancino For artist interviews, readings, and podcasts: Heather Lang-Cassera  PORTLAND, OR; September 21, 2021— On the windswept plains of Far West Texas, the town of Rosadero sits at the crossroads of many worlds. Renowned as a capital of postmodern art, the ruins of the Zaldos Pueblo haunt the edge of town with the mystery of a vanished people. In the evenings, unexplained balls of light streak across the prairie, inspiring the imaginations of residents and visitors alike. Home to rancher dynasties and descendants of the Mexican Revolution, the modern realities of the border sweep up all who find themselves in Rosadero. Outlaw drifters with romantic dreams, border agents at war with their consciences, refugees seeking sanctuary, and the family risking everything to provide it—this is where their stories meet.
Into this unlikeliest of settings, Anna Tatevyan travels in search of her missing brother, Jakob. A graduate student obsessed with the relationship between a sitting U.S. Congressman and an international crime syndicate, Jakob has vanished into the high desert without a trace. On her journey for the truth, Anna tries to help another woman also searching for a missing brother: Mariazul Bautista, a woman whose encounter with Anna leads to her arrest by the Border Patrol, an arrest that turns out to be a kidnapping. An anti-Western about the American origins of global violence, Light in Rosadero is a reckoning with the dark legacy of the frontier. Praise for Light in Rosadero “With this fine debut novel, Jay Kristensen Jr. captures the heat and mystery of the great American Southwest. Written in the spirit of Charles Bowden and Luis Alberto Urrea, he gives us a harrowing story rich in history and vulnerable characters. A poignant, well-researched portrait of a place.” —Doc Hubbard, blogger, The Southwest Dude “Bright desert hues mix with dark unknowns…Light in Rosadero peels back layers of generational violence to reveal a frontier where fireball dreams struggle to survive amidst greed and injustice.” —Mick Bennett, author of Beat the Blues and the Belmar Trilogy About Jay Kristensen Jr. Jay Kristensen Jr. was born and raised in Seattle. He has lived around the country and currently resides in Seattle. Light in Rosadero is his debut novel. Learn more at https://www.jaykristensenjr.com/ About Unsolicited Press Unsolicited Press was founded in 2012 and is based in Portland, OR. The press strives to produce exceptional works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from award-winning authors. Learn more at www.unsolicitedpress.com. LIGHT IN ROSADERO is available on September 21, 2021 as a paperback (292 p.; 978-1-950730-71-1) and e-book (all major retailers). The title is distributed to the trade by Ingram. The author is open to speaking opportunities, interviews with the media, and readings. Electronic review copies are available upon request. ### Press only, Unsolicited Press Eric Rancino 619.354.8005 marketing@unsolicitedpress.com For artist interviews, readings, and podcasts: Jay Kristensen Jr. https://www.jaykristensenjr.com/contact  PORTLAND, OR; April 1, 2021--Unsolicited Press releases the print edition of DASH! after having immense success with the ebook release during the summer of 2020. Through this timely collection of short stories for older teens and adults, Irshad Abdal-Haqq unveils the legacy of oppression that countless generations of black Americans have endured. The first story, involving a girl and her tribe who are running for their lives from an evil army that forces female captives into sexual slavery, is reminiscent of a modern-day humanitarian refugee crisis in the Middle East, Africa, or South Asia. In a coming-of-age narrative, a teenaged boy defies law enforcement by fleeing from his rural home in the dark of night after his parents are lynched for seeking fair labor treatment. A third story is the tale of a multiethnic gang of teens who would rather live as a family of outlaws rather than endure the humiliation of racism and poverty. And in yet another, a long-time resident of a gentrifying neighborhood enlists the aid of a newcomer in her quest to fight off eviction for another month.
Action-packed and eloquently expressed, these mesmerizing stories of desperation, hope, and human frailty, will spark the imagination and touch the heart of readers of all backgrounds. And most importantly, they highlight the need for intercultural cooperation against systemic injustices that discount the value of black lives. Distinctive notes at the end of the book provide ample support for educational activities, reading group discussions, and academic study. Irshad Abdal-Haqq writes and promotes fiction and nonfiction that highlight the links between past, present, and evolving intercultural relationships—especially those involving marginalized communities. He is the author of Brotherhood of the Gods, one of the first African American Muslim literary novels. His nonfiction has included scholarly articles and award-winning essays. Irshad’s current literary plans include completion of a memoir, an intercultural dystopian novel, and a unique set of short stories about the African American Muslim experience. A former adjunct associate professor at the University of Virginia and George Mason University Law School, Irshad is a graduate of Amherst College (B.A. Black Studies), Georgetown University Law Center (J.D.), and Antioch School of Law (M.A.T. Clinical Legal Education). Though born in Newark and raised in the Greater New York City area, he now proudly calls Washington, DC home. Dash! is available as a paperback and ebook directly from the publisher and all book retailers. The book is brought to the trade by Ingram. The author is open to media events. Contact Eric at marketing@unsolicitedpress.com Unsolicited Press Announces the Release of Thomas Calder's Debut Novel THE WIND UNDER THE DOOR3/23/2021
 PORTLAND, OR; March 23, 2021—Starting over is always easier among strangers. For Ford Carson, the process meant leaving behind the waves of South Florida in order to forge a new life as a visual artist in the mountains of North Carolina. At the peak of his reinvention, he meets Grace Burnett—a young, wealthy Texas transplant in the midst of her own transformation. A mutual infatuation develops. But when Grace’s estranged husband arrives complications ensue. Matters only worsen when Ford’s own estranged son announces plans to visit for his eighteenth birthday.
Unsolicited Press announces the much-anticipated debut of The Wind Under the Door by Thomas Calder, a debut novel touches on deeply personal family issues and proverbial forks in the road. Advance Praise for THE WIND UNDER THE DOOR The Wind Under the Door is a rare kind of book because it's honest—about the way fathers scar their sons, about the way those sons are doomed to scar themselves, about the generally revolting consequences of indulging one’s narcissism, and of following one’s passions—but it's also brave enough to note the quiet hilariousness of these tragedies. It puts me in mind of Michael Chabon’s novels: concise and taut without being neglectful of the wonderful monsters and crooked angels who populate these pages. Thomas Calder’s is a damn good book. --JP Gritton, author of Wyoming Thomas Calder excavates the everyday to unearth wit and profundity. He knows how to pick out the telling moments in a life and illuminate them. He renders artists and surfers and drifters all with equal compassion. That’s what sets this novel apart: how much Calder cares. A reader can’t help but care deeply about these characters, too. A striking debut, and hopefully the first of many novels to come. --Zach Powers, author of First Cosmic Velocity Calder’s work—about love, loss, art, sex, and fatherhood—is alive with moody, complex feeling, and populated with wonderfully human characters making terribly human mistakes.--Jeni McFarland, author of The House of Deep Water Thomas Calder has written a novel that is reminiscent of certain mid-twentieth century classics and yet utterly grounded in the current moment, reminding us that while the things that surround us—social media, rock bands, art—might develop and change, the drives toward sex and expression and perhaps even something like immortality are very much still in place. The Wind Under the Door is a wise and compassionate novel full of scenes so psychologically astute and viscerally real that they will be lodged in my memory for a good long time. A hell of a debut. --Ian Stansel, author of The Last Cowboys of San Geronimo This isn’t just a novel, but a whole world, alive and crackling with real characters. Calder gives his characters’ lives room to breathe and bend, and tends to both their wounds and their joy in careful, exquisite scenes. This is the journey of a man lost in his own life, with art to make and love to give, searching for somewhere to put it all. When it was over, I missed these characters as though they were my own extended family, living beautiful, messy, and very American lives. --Aja Gabel, author of The Ensemble The Wind Under the Door is a love letter to contemporary Asheville and the North Carolina mountains, but it's also a love letter to our reckless hopeful moments and dangerous impulses. Thomas Calder writes as if James Salter and Gail Godwin had a literary child who grew up listening to Arcade Fire and Future Islands. This is a beautifully nuanced and resonant novel. --Wiley Cash, bestselling author of The Last Ballad and A Land More Kind Than Home Thomas Calder’s The Wind Under the Door is a stunning collage, every page of it layered with richly textured characters trying hard to hold onto their taped-together ideas of themselves. Even as Ford, Grace, JR, Emily, and Bailey trace tragic paths across the edges of memory and loss—their fascinating personal disconnections overlapping, intersecting—Calder gives space to buoyant bouts of humor and hard-won wit, with generous splashes of whiskey, sex, and surfing, to boot. There’s no question about it: this vibrant debut marks the emergence of a daring talent. --Joseph Scapellato, The Made-Up Man About Thomas Calder Thomas Calder’s writing has appeared in Gulf Coast, Miracle Monocle, The Collective Quarterly, and elsewhere. He earned his BA in English from the University of Florida and his MFA in creative writing at the University of Houston. He now lives in Asheville, N.C. with his wife, daughter and dog. About Unsolicited Press Unsolicited Press was founded in 2012 and is based in Portland, OR. The press strives to produce exceptional works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from award-winning authors. THE WIND UNDER THE DOOR is available on March 23, 2021 as a paperback (234 p.; 978-1-950730-64-3) and e-book (all major retailers). The title is distributed to the trade by Ingram.  PORTLAND, OR; March 16, 2021— Unsolicited Press is proud to announce the immediate available of Anne Leigh Parrish's a winter night. Part psychological study and part romantic comedy, A Winter Night reintroduces the fictional Dugan family of upstate New York. Eldest daughter Angie may have found the man of her dreams, but has trouble believing a word he says. Told bluntly yet with tenderness and humor, A Winter Night brings Angie face-to-face with herself, her fears, and her ability to truly love.
Advance Praise for A Winter Night "Anne Leigh Parrish does it once again. In A Winter Night, she brings her signature wisdom and wit to the world of Angie Dugan, a retirement home social worker who spends her days caring for others while yearning to be cared for herself. Part social commentary in the spirit of Jane Austen, and at moments romantic comedy in the vein of Susan Elizabeth Phillips, A Winter Night is ultimately a poignant and powerful novel that delves deep into the meaning of trust, understanding and forgiveness. Anne Leigh Parrish proves the rare writer who can make readers laugh hard while taking them on a serious journey--and this is a journey upon which readers most certainly wish to embark."--Jacob M. Appel, author of Millard Salter's Last Day. “An outstanding, unsentimental portrait of family, love, and unavoidable hardships.” --From the KIRKUS REVIEW (https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/anne-leigh-parrish/a-winter-night/): About Anne Leigh Parrish Anne Leigh Parrish is the author of eight previously published books: What Nell Dreams, a novella & stories (Unsolicited Press, 2020); Maggie’s Ruse, a novel, (Unsolicited Press, 2017); The Amendment, a novel (Unsolicited Press, 2017); Women Within, a novel (Black Rose Writing, 2017); By the Wayside, stories (Unsolicited Press, 2017); What Is Found, What Is Lost, a novel (She Writes Press, 2014); Our Love Could Light The World, stories (She Writes Press, 2013); and All The Roads That Lead From Home, stories (Press 53, 2011). About Unsolicited Press Unsolicited Press was founded in 2012 and is based in Portland, OR. The press strives to produce exceptional works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from award-winning authors. A WINTER NIGHT is available on March 16, 2021 as a paperback (246 p.; 978-1-950730-60-5) and e-book (all major retailers). The title is distributed to the trade by Ingram.  PORTLAND, OR; March 9, 2021—Unsolicited Press announces the immediate release of WHILE THE KETTLE BOILS by S.B. Borgersen, a fervent and economical collection featuring 150 perfectly manicured micro-fictions. Jude Higgins, the event organizer at Bath Flash Fiction, called the collection, “Witty and insightful... Borgersen’s tiny stories have inspired other writers from all over the world.”
Readers will be thrilled to find exclusive reading material at the back of the book. About S.B. Borgersen S.B. Borgersen is a British/Canadian author, of middle England and Hebridean ancestry, whose favoured genres are flash and micro fiction, and poetry. She had a diverse career path, an analyst in a shoe factory, the same thing for a children’s book publisher, teaching art, and filing for the civil service, but mostly she climbed a precarious ladder in the IT industry culminating in strategy and project management, which, by necessity in those days, included writing writing writing mountains of non-fiction — always allowing herself to be slightly creative with proposals, reports, technical and training documentation. Sue turned her back on industry and commerce in the early nineties, escaping the stressful rat-race and finding the simple life and peaceful place she’d always sought to allow for creativity. That place was Nova Scotia where she returned to her skills from art school and made an uncomplicated living as a visual artist and potter. That is, until she got the creative writing bug. Since 2000 her writing has won prizes, been mentioned in Hansard and published internationally in literary journals and anthologies (print and online). The list of publications is extensive and can be found at www.sueborgersen.com. She is a member of both The Society of Authors UK, and The Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia. Sue lives in a crumbling old house on the shores of Nova Scotia with her patient husband and a clutch of lovable rowdy dogs. About Unsolicited Press Unsolicited Press was founded in 2012 and is based in Portland, OR. The press strives to produce exceptional works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from award-winning authors. WHILE THE KETTLE BOILS (978-1-950730-74-2) is available on March 9, 2021 in print and and as ebook through all major retailers and the publisher.  PORTLAND, OR; March 2, 2021—Unsolicited Press announces the debut of A CONTEMPORARY PORTRAIT OF THE SOUTHWEST by Connor M. Bjotvedt.
A CONTEMPORARY PORTRAIT OF THE SOUTHWEST is a love letter to the Southwest. The collection follows the journey of a man named John Whenn who, after accepting his position as an adjunct faculty member at Central Arizona Community College, investigates the Southwest and produces a politically charged collection of op-eds which describe in vivid and lurid detail the landscape, people, and history of the region. Connor M. Bjotvedt received his Master of Fine Arts in Writing from Spalding University. He was awarded the Charles E. Bull Creative Writing Scholarship for Poetry by Northern Arizona University where he received his Bachelor of Arts in English, Literature, and Creative Writing. Connor was a 2018 Pushcart Prize nominee and his work has appeared in Rain Taxi, the Santa Fe Literary Review, the Haiku Journal, Three Line Poetry, catheXis Northwest Press, and The Wayfarer, among others. Unsolicited Press was founded in 2012 and is based in Portland, OR. The press strives to produce exceptional works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from award-winning authors. A CONTEMPORARY PORTRAIT OF THE SOUTHWEST is available on March 2, 2021 as a paperback and e-book (all major retailers). The title is distributed to the trade by Ingram.  PORTLAND, OR; March 23, 2021--Unsolicited Press announces the release of HOUSE OF THE SILVERFISH by Elizabeth Vignali, a poetry collection. HOUSE OF THE SILVERFISH explores the reckoning of inevitable loss on both a personal and global scale, from learning to loosen our hold on children as they grow older to coming to terms with our annihilation of vast swathes of species. The story of an unraveling marriage is interspersed with poems questioning ownership of all kinds—of place, of people, and of time itself.
Elizabeth Vignali is the author of Object Permanence (Finishing Line Press 2015) and Endangered [Animal] (Floating Bridge Press 2019), and coauthor of Your Body A Bullet (Unsolicited Press 2018). Her work has appeared in Willow Springs, Cincinnati Review, Mid-American Review, Tinderbox, The Literary Review, and others. She lives in the Pacific Northwest, where she works as an optician, coproduces the Bellingham Kitchen Session reading series, and serves as poetry editor of Sweet Tree Review. HOUSE OF THE SILVERFISH is available on February 28, 2021 as a paperback (132 p.; 978-1-950730-73-5) and e-book (all major retailers). The title is distributed to the trade by Ingram. Author is available for virtual media events. Unsolicited Press was founded in 2012 and is based in Portland, OR. The press strives to produce exceptional works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from award-winning authors. Learn more at www.unsolicitedpress.com.  PORTLAND, OR; February 23, 2021 — Unsolicited Press announces the immediate release of The Messiah’s Customary Diner Booth, a poetry collection, by Marion Deal. Sit. The Messiah’s Customary Diner Booth welcomes you. Yes, you: no matter what truth you’re spinning, so long as you’re spinning it earnestly. You’ve got a place with these poems cast as an intellectual fossil record of shit and summoners and something that Rimbaud would probably like, poems as a gathering ground for Soviet spies and child prophets, disaffected professors and radiant spinsters. Share a soggy grilled cheese with drifters who could just as easily show up enshrined on a tablet of Sumerian pictograms as lounge in a 50s diner. We’re open all night.
About Marion Deal Marion Deal chases emergent things and poetic beasts from Nepali monasteries to Jim Morrison’s grave, and is currently braiding together psycholinguistics, poetics, and Buddhist scholarship at the University of Rochester to craft an elegant tool of inquiry. Two chapbooks of theirs are forthcoming: Cool Talks, Dead I Guess (Bone & Ink Press, 2019) and The Messiah’s Customary Diner Booth (Unsolicited Press, 2021). Their poetry and essays have appeared or are forthcoming in journals such as The Rumpus, The Doctor T.J. Eckleburg Review, The Seventh Quarry (UK), Chaleur Magazine, Yes Poetry, and FIVE:2:ONE, among others, and have been nationally recognized by the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers and the National YoungArts Foundation. Their translation work was longlisted for the Young Poets Network 2019 translation challenge. They have performed they work in French, Italian, and English at venues from a Shandong Province mountain range to the Baryshnikov Arts Center, and are a proud veteran poetry whore of Paris’ Le Bordel de la Poésie. Unsolicited Press was founded in 2012 and is based in Portland, OR. The press strives to produce exceptional works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from award-winning authors. Learn more at www.unsolicitedpress.com. The Messiah’s Customary Diner Booth is available on February 23, 2021 as a paperback (48 p.; 978-1-950730-68-1) and e-book (all major retailers). The title is distributed to the trade by Ingram. |
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