Books You've Gotta Read This September

Christmas was always filled with happy elves and a fat, jolly man spreading Christmas cheer across the globe. Presents came from the bloodied hands of naughty boys and girls. There wasn't a Naught or Nice list -- there was crime followed by swift punishment.

A Christmas Croc stalked little boys and girls who misbehaved. These little children saw the true nature of gift-making. The throes of hell -- only, not even demons would want to visit the North Pole. 

John P. Bourgeois's The Christmas Croc is a haunting holiday tale fit for any reader -- just be warned, it isn't for children who can't handle monsters.

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September is a big month for Unsolicited Press. Four books come out this month! Yes, I said it, four of them. And it wasn't easy. It was pretty stinking difficult. But, hey, we did it to ourselves. This September, we happily welcome Mick Bennett, William Alton, Nicholas Kriefall and John P. Bourgeois into our little family. 

These men are brilliant. They have been darling to work with at all levels -- each with their own quirks. And the beauty is that they each put out a different genre. Bennett with a novel, Alton with a short story collection, Kriefall with poetry, and Bourgeois with an illustrated satire. 

To learn more about these fellas, scroll down. Maybe you'll buy a copy.

Attic Pieces is a short volume of poetry by artist Nicholas Kriefall. We here at Unsolicited Press do not like to summarize poetry. Each poems has invaluable distinction.

Kriefall writes beyond the image and provokes the subconscious to wake up -- to join you on a level on complete presence.

But if we have to tell you something, then we'd say:

Attic Pieces is a debut collection of narrative poems covering a variety of themes set in rural towns as well as big cities, as seen through the eyes of the old and young alike.  To a veteran astronaut unsure of home, to a soldier afraid to leave his, to a fishing town and farmer in their last days; each poem invites the reader into an intimate corner of everyday life.

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Girls is a short story collection. William Alton embodies Raymond Carver and Bukowski all in one collection. 

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Meet Jimmy Hanlon. It’s summer, 1987. Jimmy’s a closeted bisexual in his late forties, nine months removed from a laryngectomy, and in this first part of a trilogy, he’s anxious to find a new identity in his Jersey Shore hometown. He hitches his hopes to a 33 year old lifeguard. The two cruise into summer with an assortment of boardwalk denizens and bar hounds. When they both fall for the same pretty nurse, the ride starts to get bumpy. In Jimmy’s story of redemption, dreams, familial and romantic love, misogamy and prejudice, accommodation and empathy, he discovers that the real victories occur in the small, courageous moments of our lives that overcome societal and personal prejudice.

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