Showing posts with label 39 West Press. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 39 West Press. Show all posts

Tuesday, 24 September 2019

Alliecats: 53 Graphic Tales & Fun Puns About Cats by Allie Kirschner & Ben Stoltzfus

39 West Press is pleased to announce the publication of Alliecats: 53 Graphic Tales & Fun Puns About Cats by Allie Kirschner and Ben Stoltzfus.



Alliecats
53 Graphic Tales & Fun Puns About Cats

illustrations by Allie Kirschner
words and text by Ben Stoltzfus

Overview

Mississippi said to Missouri, “If I put on my New Jersey, what will Delaware?” Virginia replied, “Alaska.” This wordplay on states’ names as vestments resembles the play and ambiguity in Alliecats, a wonderful collection of fifty-three graphic tales that catenate (link) meaning, sound, and likeness into clever puns.

Novelist and literary critic BEN STOLTZFUS penned the introduction and assembled the words. His granddaughter (cater-cousin), ALLIE KIRSCHNER, drew the pictures. You will purr with satisfaction as she romps with feline grace, caterwauling from catalog to Catalina, although not without an occasional cataclysm or catastrophe.

The purrposeful puns of Alliecats will amuse as you slide helplessly into a state of muscular rigidity, or catalepsy, while author and artist cater to your funny bone and make you laugh.

Product Details

Hardcover, Paperback
Publication Date: 24 Sep 2019
ISBN: 978-1-946358-25-7
LoC Control No.: 2019946320
Catalogue No.: 39WP-29
Pages: 82
Dimensions: 7 x 10 inches

Purchase online from one of these retailers:
Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or IndieBound.

Tuesday, 30 July 2019

Tribespotting: Undercover Cult(ure) Stories by Harmon Leon and Keith Knight

39 West Press is pleased to announce the publication of Tribespotting: Undercover Cult(ure) Stories by Harmon Leon and Keith Knight.



Tribespotting
Undercover Cult(ure) Stories

by Harmon Leon
cartoons by Keith Knight

Overview

Legendary infiltration journalist Harmon Leon has gone undercover again and returned with a new book. Gentleman cartoonist Keith Knight provides popular comics that enhance Leon's enlightening narrative.

"This book was eye-opening ..." –David Litt, author of NY Times bestseller Thanks, Obama
 
The United States is a divided country, where two disparate tribes fight to provoke, condemn, and defeat the other. In Tribespotting: Undercover Cult(ure) Stories, Harmon Leon dives directly into the eye of the tribal storm, drastically changing his look and attitude as he goes undercover in an exploration of tribal behavior and its many manifestations in modern culture.

Employing the same inimitable style that he honed while infiltrating extremist groups, Leon introduces readers to a series of vastly different tribes, including a gathering of five thousand assault weapons fanatics, a clan of white supremacists who recruit at Applebee’s, a church of hookers who walk the streets for Jesus, and a meeting of cult members who stare at their leader’s handsome face.
Some of these tribes engage in harmless, hobby-loving fellowship while others revolve around the adulation of charismatic celebrities.

Some of these tribes strive to uplift the individual via religious enlightenment, and a few are actually full-blown cults. But at the root of all these different tribes lies the same psychological need—the desire to be around like-minded people.

With that in mind ... LET'S DO SOME TRIBESPOTTING!

Product Details

Hardcover, Paperback
Publication Date: 30 Jul 2019
ISBN: 978-1-946358-19-6
LoC Control No.: 2019930910
Catalogue No.: 39WP-28
Pages: 206
Dimensions: 6 x 9 inches
Purchase online from one of these retailers:
Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or IndieBound.

Tuesday, 23 April 2019

Isle of the Amazons in the Vermilion Sea by Gregory MacDonald and Judith Palmer

39 West Press is pleased to announce the publication of Isle of the Amazons in the Vermilion Sea by Gregory MacDonald and Judith Palmer.



Isle of the Amazons in the Vermilion Sea

narrated by Gregory MacDonald
illustrated by Judith Palmer

Overview

Myth has it that Baja California was once ruled by a giant queen, Calafia. Her subjects were black Amazon women, and they lived in a land of ferocious griffins, tall mountains, precipitous cliffs, and deep valleys. Baja was also said to be an island of gold and precious stones. Spanish explorers, lured by tales of riches and beautiful women, were drawn to this mythical place. Jesuit priests, adventurers, fishermen, hunters, and the curious soon followed. In Isle of the Amazons in the Vermilion Sea, Gregory MacDonald has assembled a superb collection of excerpts from diaries, letters, field notes, books, and journals. These short impressions give us the sights, smells, sounds, and tastes of mountain hamlets, lush valleys, hot deserts, and blue seas, and together, they create a stunning narrative of the mythology, history, and topology of the Baja land, sea, and people. Montalvo, Cortéz, and Padre Eusebio Kino—in 1400, 1535, and 1701, respectively—describe the flora and fauna of a peninsula untouched by civilization, and in the twentieth century, Bancroft, Cannon, Crosby, Gardner, North, Steinbeck, and Octavio Paz, among others, speak of the fishing, the hunting, and, despite hardships, the pure joy of being. The writers observe fish pileups and feeding-frenzies; suffer insect bites, cactus pricks, and jellyfish stings; and are awed by magical sunsets, the silence of the desert, and the stars. Original illustrations by award-winning printmaker Judith Palmer transform Isle of the Amazons in the Vermilion Sea into a masterpiece.

Product Details

Hardcover, Paperback
Publication Date: 23 April 2019
ISBN: 978-1-946358-14-1
LoC Control No.: 2019930908
Catalogue No.: 39WP-26
Pages: 180
Dimensions: 8 x 10 x 0.6 inches

Purchase online from one of these retailers:
Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or IndieBound.

Tuesday, 9 April 2019

Dumpster, for God's Sake by Ben Stoltzfus

39 West Press is pleased to announce the publication of Dumpster, for God's Sake by Ben Stoltzfus.



Dumpster, for God's Sake

by Ben Stoltzfus

Overview

Equal parts sociological lore and screwball comedy, Dumpster, for God's Sake bends reality into fiction in a uniquely American exploration of the passions that make us human.

"Profoundly dystopian and completely believable." −Dean MacCannell, author of The Tourist

Loviers City believes that cleanliness leads to Godliness. But order quickly descends into chaos when a sighting of the Virgin occurs. Soon, thousands arrive to visit the spot where She appeared. But the pilgrims leave their mark, discarding refuse and besmirching Loviers City's All-America vision.

Suspense mounts as Rudy Squazza, the red-bearded ringleader of the homeless, and Jasmine, a rich teenager working on a high school project, fall in love. He is a dumpster diver and the victim of police brutality. She dresses in black leather, rides a red Ducati Supersport 750, and is known as the “Angel from Hell.”

With compelling prose, canny insight, and artful empathy, Ben Stoltzfus brilliantly examines group behavior in a timely tale of collective zeal and righteous intent that explores a city’s urgent quest for soul.

Product Details

Hardcover, Paperback, eBook
Publication Date: 9 April 2019
ISBN: 978-1-946358-16-5
LoC Control No.: 2019930909
Catalogue No.: 39WP-27
Pages: 244
Dimensions: 6 x 9 x 0.7 inches

Purchase online from one of these retailers:
Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or IndieBound.

Tuesday, 9 January 2018

To Act Is to Do: Six Classes for Teachers and Actors Based on the Uta Hagen Technique by Richard Alan Nichols

39 West Press is pleased to announce the publication of To Act Is to Do by Richard Alan Nichols.



To Act Is to Do
Six Classes for Teachers and Actors Based on the Uta Hagen Technique

by Richard Alan Nichols

Overview

To Act Is to Do by Richard Alan Nichols, who studied as a scholarship student for five years with Uta Hagen at the HB Studio in New York, is the ultimate guide for both actors and teachers. In six informative and interactive class sessions, Nichols details twenty exercises designed to solve most acting problems that arise while working on plays. Also included are eighteen evaluations of work (scenes, monologues, and Hagen exercises) presented by Nichols' students, with each evaluation serving as a model for teachers to follow in order to assist actors in learning how to assess their own work in an honest way. This unique exploration—the personal journey of one actor’s lifelong quest to perfect his craft while in pursuit of becoming a player—will help all actors develop the discipline necessary to fine-tune their acting instruments and discover new behaviors in themselves.

Product Details

Hardcover, Paperback
Publication Date: 9 Jan 2018
ISBN: 978-1-946358-06-6
LoC Control No.: 2017960410
Catalogue No.: 39WP-25
Pages: 180
Dimensions: 6 x 9 inches

Purchase online from one of these retailers:
Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or IndieBound.

Tuesday, 12 December 2017

Romoland by Judith Palmer & Ben Stoltzfus

39 West Press is pleased to announce the publication of Romoland by Judith Palmer (artist) & Ben Stoltzfus.



Romoland
A Pictonovel

by Judith Palmer (artist) & Ben Stoltzfus

Overview

Romoland, a postmodern event conjoining feminist artist Judith Palmer and novelist Ben Stoltzfus, uses twenty-five art works as generative surfaces for a series of dialogues between a man and a woman. The images and the text explore the historical subjection of women by men, their deliverance through art, and the dismantling of cultural codes. Both texts foreground the voice of the Other as it manifests itself in the traces, lines, and cracks of speech—be they visual or verbal. The arabesques of the woman’s sensibilities oppose the squares of man’s authority. Her art speaks and his text sees. Together, they unveil another space between the pictures and the text—the body of bliss and equality—in a way that is ironic, comic, and playful.

Product Details

Hardcover, Paperback
Publication Date: 12 Dec 2017
ISBN: 978-1-946358-12-7
LoC Control No.: 2017962314
Catalogue No.: 39WP-24
Pages: 104
Dimensions: 8 x 8 x 0.4 inches

Purchase online from one of these retailers:
Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or IndieBound.

Meet the Deplorables: Infiltrating Trump America by Harmon Leon and Ted Rall

39 West Press is pleased to announce the publication of Meet the Deplorables: Infiltrating Trump America by Harmon Leon and Ted Rall.



Meet the Deplorables
Infiltrating Trump America

by Harmon Leon and Ted Rall

Overview

Ripped from the headlines, Meet the Deplorables: Infiltrating Trump America ventures deep into Red State territory and explores the current shape of our divided country, providing a fresh, first-hand perspective of right-wing subcultures and the mindsets of the so-called “deplorables” who helped propel Donald J. Trump to the Oval Office.

“A rollicking ride through Trumpland." –Harriet Alexander, The Telegraph

In his inimitable Gonzo-style, infiltration journalist HARMON LEON—whose stories have appeared in VICE, Esquire, The Nation, and National Geographic—dons a variety of disguises and goes undercover into the heart of Trump America where his exploits include canvassing door-to-door as a Trump supporter, hanging out with Trump fanatics as they receive free Donald tattoos, demonstrating how easy it is to purchase an assault weapon on Facebook, visiting an anti-Muslim hate group on the same day as a mass shooting, spending time with anti-choice protesters in front of Planned Parenthood, joining a conversion therapy group that tries to “turn” gay men straight, and many, many more.

Adding an innovative extra dimension to the book, two-time winner of the RFK Journalism Award and Pulitzer Prize finalist TED RALL enhances the carefully crafted narrative—and connects Leon's audacious accounts to the greater Trump phenomena—with his own distinctive full-color cartoons and insightful analysis, including a poignant epilogue.

A necessary read in the time of Trump, this unique collaboration by the formidable team of Harmon Leon and Ted Rall holds up a mirror to modern conservative life and reflects a reality that is outrageous, entertaining, and always illuminating.

Product Details

Hardcover, Paperback, eBook
Publication Date: 12 Dec 2017
ISBN: 978-1-946358-09-7
LoC Control No.: 2017960409
Catalogue No.: 39WP-23
Pages: 244
Dimensions: 6 x 9 inches

Purchase online from one of these retailers:
Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or IndieBound.

Tuesday, 18 July 2017

Where Water Meets the Rock by Lindsey Martin-Bowen

39 West Press is pleased to announce the publication of Where Water Meets the Rock by Lindsey Martin-Bowen.



Where Water Meets the Rock

by Lindsey Martin-Bowen

Overview

In her fourth collection of poetry, Where Water Meets the Rock, Lindsey Martin-Bowen explores loss and recuperation in three sections. "Erosion," the book's elegiac opening sequence, laments a trinity of tragic Greek personas: Pasiphaë, Psyche, and Antigone. The middle section, "Frenzies," a series of zany poems, emulates the ensuing topsy-turvy world that follows deep loss. And finally, "On the Shore" completes the triad, concluding that by re-seeing and re-building life, one can heal the psyche and the spirit. Once again, through the use of her recurring sea-rock metaphor, Martin-Bowen has employed a poetic technique that effectively maintains both a visual and auditory descriptive style, which, according to New Letters editor Robert Stewart, is defined by her "refreshing reliance on imagery and understatement."

Product Details

Paperback
Publication Date: 18 July 2017
ISBN: 978-1-946358-05-9
LoC Control No.: 2017942503
Catalogue No.: 39WP-22
Pages: 100
Dimensions: 6 x 9 x 0.2 inches

Purchase online from one of these retailers:
Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or IndieBound.

Monday, 29 May 2017

The Life and Times of José Calderon by José Faus

39 West Press is pleased to announce the publication of The Life and Times of José Calderon by José Faus.



The Life and Times of José Calderon

by José Faus

Overview

If you would have met José Calderon on the street, you might have wondered if he was all there — not because the man lacked substance but because he blended well with shadows and light. Though tall and imposing, his gait was easy and slight, as if a breeze could carry him away like a scent or a leaf. One friend said of him: "He suffered his life silently to the point of indifference." That is until he found inspiration from an old gypsy woman with young girl's smile and set out to chronicle his life, motivated by "a question life had begun to ask of him."

The Life and Times of José Calderon — compiled from papers he left behind and the cryptic asides he made to the few acquaintances he let into his musty house on Independence Avenue in Anytown, USA, where he lived with a rambunctious cat and a majestic harp — follows This Town Like That, the debut book of poetry by José Faus.

Product Details

Paperback
Publication Date: 30 May 2017
ISBN: 978-0-9908649-8-1
LoC Control No.: 2016953095
Catalogue No.: 39WP-21
Pages: 118
Dimensions: 6 x 9 x 0.2 inches

Purchase online from one of these retailers:
Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or IndieBound.

Tuesday, 25 April 2017

Striking the Black Snake: Poems from Standing Rock by MG Salazar

39 West Press is pleased to announce the publication of Striking the Black Snake: Poems from Standing Rock by MG Salazar.


Striking the Black Snake
Poems from Standing Rock

by MG Salazar

Overview

Striking the Black Snake by MG Salazar, a lifelong activist for equality and justice, is a wild and raw book in equal parts manifesto, testimonial, how-to-manual, and confessional. Written during the winter of 2016-2017 after Salazar's "calling" to travel to the Oceti Sakowin Camp in North Dakota to be a water protector and prevent the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, the poems chronicle the struggles and trials of the protesters, look deeply at those behind the crop dusters and riot gear, and speak to the children of the future, for whom the water must be preserved.

But this book is more than a call to a shared humanity. It is a journal of discovery and purpose in search of a code in which the heart, the voice, and the tears—the primordial gifts of the Creator—can make a being whole, and its poems are a liturgy couched in terms of a personal narrative that investigates the poet themselves: their life-long sense of alienation, their struggles with addiction, the acceptance of their identity, and the need to contribute meaningfully to future generations by standing up for the rights of indigenous peoples and the health of our planet.

Salazar, who was raised Latinx but discovered through genetic analysis their native American lineage, shares with us from the ground their perspective of an important moment in U.S. history, which has its roots in a harrowing youth, a whispered and denied ancestry, and the dogged determination to stand like a pillar of salt in the wake of a social and political system intent on destroying rather than creating. The poet also shares their intimate journey, facilitated by their endeavors at Standing Rock, to reclaim an identity that had been lost to colonialism.

The songs of Striking the Black Snake tell not only Salazar's story but also proudly sing of the strength and endurance of native peoples, who battle daily the dirge of the black snake, the oil, which the current U.S. government and its corporate partners value more than We the People. This book, therefore, represents the culmination of those songs.

Product Details

Paperback
Publication Date: 25 April 2017
ISBN: 978-1-946358-03-5
LoC Control #: 2017934283
Pages: 102
Dimensions: 6 x 9 x 0.2 inches

Purchase online from one of these retailers:
Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or IndieBound.

A Secret History of the Nighttime World by Jason Ryberg

39 West Press is pleased to announce the publication of A Secret History of the Nighttime World by Jason Ryberg.



Overview

Welcome to the world of Jason Ryberg—a world of true crimes and misdemeanors in the American grain—transformed through the poet’s retelling into miniature works of art. Reading Ryberg is like driving a pick-up truck across Kansas on shrooms, and his imagery, as fresh as a midnight S curve, takes the reader on a journey from city streets to wheat fields, navigating through a landscape bright with the "five-battery-flashlight of a moon." A Secret History of the Nighttime World, the twelfth book of poetry by Ryberg, delivers one great breath of fire directly from his heart onto the page.


Product Details

Paperback
Publication Date: 25 April 2017
ISBN: 978-1-946358-04-2
LoC Control #: 2017938920
Pages: 132
Dimensions: 5.5 x 8.5 x 0.3 inches

Purchase online from one of these retailers:
Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or IndieBound.

Tuesday, 21 February 2017

Black Girl Shattered by Sheri Purpose Hall

39 West Press is pleased to announce the publication of Black Girl Shattered by Sheri Purpose Hall.



Overview

Black Girl Shattered, the third book by spoken word artist Sheri Purpose Hall, effortlessly weaves her spirituality, black consciousness, and femininity into a tapestry of fully poetic words that are part memoir, part Black Studies thesis, part feminist manifesto, and part sacred text. By exploring the root causes of misfortunes that have been engineered to break the spirit of every woman—and revealing a path that leads to the beauty of mending—she ministers to all women (and men) while also speaking directly to issues that are both unique and specific to the black woman. This collection of poetry, prose, epistles, and essays is built on the kind of raw honesty designed to reveal, refresh, and uplift.

Product Details

Paperback
Publication Date: 21 February 2017
ISBN: 978-1-946358-01-1
LoC Control #: 2016958895
Pages: 130
Dimensions: 6 x 9 x 0.3 inches

Pre-order from one of these retailers

Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or IndieBound.

Friday, 13 January 2017

Desolate Country: We the Poets, United, Against Trump by Art Uprising

39 West Press is pleased to announce the publication of Desolate Country: We the Poets, United, Against Trump by Art Uprising.

Retail Price: $5.00
Paperback: 96 pages, 6x9
ISBN: 978-1-946358-02-8
LoC Control #: 2017900193
Publication Date: 13 January 2017

Overview:
Now, more than ever, our collective voices (and actions) must stand united in opposition to Donald J. Trump, who—by following the demagogue's playbook—seeks to divide and conquer by turning Christians against Muslims, white folks against people of color, men against women, and straights against LGBTQIAs, thereby creating fear and hate amongst the populace.

While We the People quarrel and vilify each other, Trump, without opposition, slyly invokes his true agenda: the marginalization of the masses and the continued facilitation of the advancement and concentration of wealth of the most affluent members of our society, which is evidenced by his billionaire cabinet nominees and bizarre infatuation with Russian President (and evil dictator) Vladimir Putin.

Desolate Country, therefore, represents an amalgamation of defiant work by established artists and those who, as a result of Trump's election, were inspired to write in protest. It aims to give voice to believers in the power of art as both a spiritual catharsis and a manifestor of change and to those who are morally opposed to saying, "Trump is my President."

Purchase from one of these retailers:
Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or IndieBound.

Tuesday, 29 November 2016

Novel Cliché: Aphorisms by Jeanette Powers

39 West Press is please to announce the publication of Novel Cliché: Aphorisms by Jeanette Powers.

Retail Price: $10.00
Paperback: 72 pages, 4x6
ISBN: 978-1-946358-00-4
LoC Control #: 2016958886
Publication Date: 29 November 2016

Overview:
Poet Jeanette Powers, well-known for her quips, presents her first collection of modern maxims. Novel Cliché: Aphorisms is a book of simple thoughts, or micropoems, that range from humorous to potent to pointing, and each adage is memorably quotable.  

Purchase from one of these retailers:
Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or IndieBound.

Tuesday, 15 November 2016

Corazón y una lengua peregrina by Latino Writers Collective

39 West Press is pleased to announce the publication of Corazón y una lengua peregrina by Latino Writers Collective, edited by Gabriella Gutiérrez y Muhs.

Overview:
Corazón y una lengua peregrina es una antología atípica que recoge en sus páginas a escritores de diferentes meridianos literarios. Es un compendio de historias en que la realidad y la ficción se mezclan para crear un mundo alterno que surge de la problemática social de sus protagonistas.

La escritora Mexicana, Minerva Margarita Villarreal, en su comentario del libro Corazón y una lengua peregrina, hace una apología de la literatura de habla hispana en los Estados Unidos, y como ella misma menciona, es la defensa de “una cultura permanentemente amenazada con la deportación”, añadiendo que la segregación a que se ven sometidos los hispanos indocumentados en los Estados Unidos va acompañada del acoso y el rechazo social, que hace que los inmigrantes se mantengan y experimenten una vida de miedo constante. Por lo tanto, la defensa de la lengua es la defensa de la cultura.

De ahí, la importancia del lanzamiento de esta antología, cuando empieza a hacer carrera en este país, un sentimiento atávico de odio hacia los inmigrantes, que promete criminalizar a los individuos simplemente por su lengua, color o religión; todo ello impulsado por personajes de ingrata recordación, pero que revisten gran importancia en una nación que siempre se calificó como tierra de inmigrantes.

En este libro hay veintiocho poemas de facturas muy diferentes, pero que a pesar de las barreras generacionales de sus autores, conforman un todo homogéneo que nos revela una preocupación universal por nuestra identidad y nuestros orígenes. También encontramos once cuentos, relatos deslumbrantes, que recrean la vida y la muerte, en un transcurrir de disímiles experiencias que nos transportan a la madre tierra. Si bien los poetas de esta antología cuestionan en una reflexión interna y profunda el tipo de sociedad en que vivimos, de igual modo, nos presentan el amor como una consecuencia natural y algunos relatos nos brindan una muestra de brillante humor que nos trae de regreso a la realidad.

Praise for Corazón y una lengua peregrina:
Juan Felipe Herrera, Poeta laureado de Estados Unidos: “Esta antología es un nuevo mar de voces hondas, energías de Rosario Castellanos, Neruda y Borges-añoranzas, micro-historias que nos iluminan. Celebremos estos poetas de infinitos horizontes.”

Minerva Margarita Villarreal, Premio Nacional de Poesía, Aguascalientes, México, 2016: “Esta es la virtud del libro Corazón y una lengua peregrina. La defensa de la escritura en español es la defensa no sólo de la lengua, sino de una cultura permanentemente amenazada con la deportación, una cultura de indocumentados, en la que ser hispano es estar marcado por la segregación y estar condenado a vivir con miedo, bajo el acoso y el estigma. Una cultura en la que el español queda relegado a la vergüenza, como si nuestra lengua fuera útil sólo para el sector terciario, para nombrar comidas y exigir trabajos que implican extenuantes fatigas.”

Duncan Tonatiuh, Premio al mejor Illustrador de Libros Infantiles por el New York Times: “Corazón y una lengua peregrina posee una amplia gama de voces. Refleja la diversidad de los autores Latinos que la conforman. Sin embargo hay un sentimiento que impregna todas sus hojas. Estos escritores se niegan a olvidar sus raíces y se niegan a olvidar las injusticias.”

Purchase from one of these retailers:
Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or IndieBound.

Tuesday, 25 October 2016

Prompts! A Spontaneous Anthology

39 West Press is pleased to announce the publication of Prompts! A Spontaneous Anthology edited by jeanette powers & j.d.tulloch.

Overview:
In June 2016, Jeanette Powers sent out a social media call egging on the artists of Poetic Underground—a whiskey drinking, verbal slinging, raucous and righteous open mic poetry sequence at the Uptown Arts Bar in Kansas City, MO—to contact her and request a prompt: a short, personally crafted phrase intended to be the inspiration for NEW SHIT! to spit at open mic night. Over the next week, she issued over one-hundred prompts, leading to the epic readings of volumes of New Shit! But other folks, many of whom were unable to attend open mic, wanted to be part of the shenanigans; so, the idea of a prompts book was born.

Prompts! A Spontaneous Anthology represents the outpouring of new work by both fledgling and established writers and artists, which was engendered, simply, by the offer of a prompt.

Order from one of these retailers:
Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, IndieBound, or Powell's Books.

Tuesday, 11 October 2016

Ghost Sign by Al Ortolani, Melissa Fite Johnson, Adam Jameson, JT Knoll

39 West Press is pleased to announce the publication of Ghost Sign by Al Ortolani, Melissa Fite Johnson, Adam Jameson, JT Knoll.

Overview:
In the 1920s and 1930s, Pittsburg, KS was a major coal-mining town, attracting various ethnic groups from southeast Europe and beyond. The often belligerent and divisive spirit of the miners--and the unpredictable politics of Southeast Kansas--earned the region the nickname, "The Little Balkans." The four poets (Al Ortolani, Melissa Fite Johnson, Adam Jameson, JT Knoll) appearing in this collection carry forward that same proud, independent spirit. They call themselves White Buffalo, after a now-defunct café in Pittsburg that offered writers, poets, artists, musicians, and friends a place of warmth and community, which in turn fostered an environment of challenge and diversity.

Ghost Sign epitomizes honest work that is both lyrical and painful while simultaneously joyous and sad. It is rooted in folklore and mystery, and its place is informed by powerful imagery: sunlight on the crater of a strip pit, the shadow of an owl at Camp 50, junkyard mechanics, railroad men, and a grandfather at a piano plunking out Methodist hymns. With craft and passion, the Ghost Sign poets, who each know how to remember, resurrect those indomitable, lost places, folks, and ghosts from the forgotten past of Southeast Kansas.

Published in partnership with Spartan Press.

Order from one of these retailers:
Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, IndieBound, or Powell's Books.

Tuesday, 13 September 2016

Nomadic? Rover by Days Singing These Gang Plank Songs of the Ambler by Hugh Merrill

39 West Press is pleased to announce the forthcoming publication of Nomadic? Rover by Days Singing These Gang Plank Songs of the Ambler by Hugh Merrill.

Overview:
Hugh Merrill, the printmaker, has a dirty little secret: for many years, he has been covertly writing … poetry. His debut book of poems, Nomadic? Rover by Days Singing These Gang Plank Songs of the Ambler, reflects the intense and unguarded energy of a vital artist and natural storyteller who has deep connections to both historic and current movements. His subject matter ranges from childhood memories of racial inequality to contemporary ideas of gender fluidity, and his absurd ditties tickle the what the fuck bone in all of us. Littered amongst the poems are moments of prose and snippets of email exchanges between Merrill and his editor, Jeanette Powers. But perhaps the most dynamic aspect of this book is the inclusion of Merrill's original drawings and handwritten notes, which occupy the space around the poems: visual expansions from the poet’s haptic nonce of a squirrelly soul.

Purchase from one of these retailers:
Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, IndieBound, or Powell's Books.

Friday, 1 July 2016

Gender Treason by Ryan Wilks

39 West Press is pleased to announce the publication of Gender Treason by Ryan Wilks.

Overview:
Gender Treason, a series of portrait paintings by Kansas City based artist Ryan Wilks, chronicles his latest exhibition, which debuted at Leedy-Voulkos Art Center on July 1, 2016, and includes interviews with the artist's subjects, providing a rare glimpse into the lives of queer people living in the Midwest. In an effort to transcend sensationalized media stereotypes and portray a more honest perspective into queer existence, Wilks spent a year interviewing, and then painting, queer Kansas City residents.

The series, which focuses on twelve people who span the queer spectrum of gender and sexual identity, offers a vulnerable insight into each individual's life, their common struggles, and the victories that bond them in a shared human condition. Each painting aspires to capture the complexity and truth of its subject by employing bold colors, painterly brush strokes, and hard lines.

Since the Stonewall riots of 1969 sparked the fight for queer liberation, LGBTQIA equality has breached the mainstream, leading to a national conversation that has helped change the minds of many once bigoted people and contributed to positive legislative changes. But equality is just the start. For true compassion to wrap itself around an entire nation and sustain lasting social growth, education on queer realities by queer people must be encouraged. Gender Treason strives to be that brand of education.

Purchase from one of these retailers:
Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Powell's Books, Books-A-Million, or IndieBound.

Tuesday, 10 May 2016

Tiny Chasm by Jeanette Powers

39 West Press is pleased to announce the publication of Jeanette Powers' third book of poetry, Tiny Chasm.

Overview:
Tiny Chasm, the third book of poetry by Jeanette Powers, explores the miniscule openings in our psyches in order to reveal the vast infrastructures of our neuroses, anxieties, and joys. It ponders the responsibilities of self to child and society; the ways we are manipulated and conditioned; the struggles of loss and longing; as well as the pathways into awareness and being present.

These poems challenge societal standards, reveal surprising taboos, and don't hesitate to demand accountability. For example, "Enough Pussyfooting" accuses religious radicals of suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, "Shadow Children" reviles absent fathers, and "Breadbox" bombastically demeans those who don't press criminal charges against violators of children. The finger-pointing, however, turns inward as well, by taking total acerbic (and existential) responsibility for how one moves forward from victimization and abuse.

Yet alongside the vitriol and unabashed lashing out at cultural injustices, the absurdest side of Jeanette frolics in light-hearted pieces about finding happiness and dating yourself ("Things I Learned from Bill Murray" and "Tangible, Peculiar"). The volume also includes a number of previously unpublished slam poems from her controversial tenure with PoUnd SLAM, a selection of prose, and one of her notorious persona poems, "Just Cause," which is written from the voice of an incipient revolution.

Thus, Tiny Chasm is about the value of things that seem insignificant but are intrinsically essential.

Purchase from one of these retailers:
Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Powell's Books, Books-A-Million, or IndieBound.