News from this week's Communiqué
On a family vacation to Martha's Vineyard this past weekend, President Obama and his girls made a surprise visit to Bunch of Grapes Bookstore. What was in the shopping bag? None other than a copy of Paul Harding's Tinkers, as well as an advance copy of Freedom by Jonathan Franzen. Salon.com covered the story on August 20. Following its Pulitzer win, Tinkers has been on the New York Times bestseller list for seventeen weeks, as well as the bestseller lists of the Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, IndieBound, and eight of the nine regional bookseller associations.
Tinkers
Paul Harding | Bellevue Literary Press | 9781934137123 | January 2009 | $14.95 | Trade Paper
Julia Holmes' Meeks was chosen as a New York Times Book Review editor's choice for the September 5 issue. The debut novel will also receive a rave review in the August 29 issue: "Meeks is a wild, woolly, sly, gentle and wry first novel. . . . It contains worlds. . . . One of the most original and readable novels that's come my way in a long time."
Meeks
Julia Holmes | Small Beer Press | 9781931520652 | August 2010 | $16.00 | Trade Paper
Karen Shanor and Jagmeet Kanwal, the authors of Bats Sing, Mice Giggle: The Surprising Science of Animals' Inner Lives, are embarking on a tour of nationally syndicated radio shows in September. Animal Radio, a show on the Animal Radio Network that airs in over ninety markets to two hundred and fifty thousand listeners, will interview the authors on September 18. National Geographic Weekend on the Salem Radio Network will host the authors on September 9. On September 14, the Westwood One Radio Network's America in the Morning will do a feature on the book. Later in the month Something You Should Know, a program syndicated on 160 radio stations, will spotlight the book.
Bats Sing, Mice Giggle: The Surprising Science of Animals' Inner Lives
Karen Shanor and Jagmeet Kanwal | Totem Books | 9781848311978 | September 2010 | $17.95 | Trade Cloth
Two Haymarket Books authors have made national television appearances this week. Sherry Wolf, author of Sexuality and Socialism: History, Politics, and Theory of LGBT Liberation, was a guest on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews on August 23. On August 27, Democracy Now!'s award-winning host Amy Goodman, author of Breaking the Sound Barrier, appeared on CNN's John King, USA.
Sexuality and Socialism: History, Politics, and Theory of LGBT Liberation
Sherry Wolf | Haymarket Books | 9781931859790 | June 2009 | $12.00 | Trade Paper
Breaking the Sound Barrier
Amy Goodman | Haymarket Books | 9781931859998 | October 2009 | $16.00 | Trade Paper
W.S. Merwin will be profiled in a Los Angeles Times Magazine cover story, to run at the end of August. Merwin was named the 2010-2011 US poet laureate on July 1. His latest book, The Shadow of Sirius, was published by Copper Canyon Press.
The Shadow of Sirius
W.S. Merwin | Copper Canyon Press | 9781556593109 | October 2009 | $16.00 | Trade Paper
The groundbreaking Japanese animator Satoshi Kon has passed away after a battle with pancreatic cancer. Kon made his debut as director in 1997 with the critically acclaimed Perfect Blue and continued to win high praise throughout his life for pictures including Millenium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers, Paranoia Agent, and Paprika. In 2009, Stone Bridge Press published Andrew Osmond's biography of the director, Satoshi Kon: The Illusionist. Kon's creative spirit and fantastical stories will no doubt be missed.
Satoshi Kon: The Illusionist
Andrew Osmond | Stone Bridge Press | 9781933330747 | December 2009 | $18.95 | Trade Paper
On August 25, the Academy of American Poets announced Michael Dickman's forthcoming collection Flies (Copper Canyon Press) was chosen to receive the 2010 James Laughlin Award. The award will be presented at the Academy's awards ceremony on October 29. The committee commented: "Hilarity transfiguring all that dread, manic overflow of powerful feeling, zero at the bone—Flies renders its desolation with singular invention and focus and figuration: the making of these poems makes them exhilarating." Dickman's most recent collection is The End of the West.
The End of the West
Michael Dickman | Copper Canyon Press | 9781556592898 | April 2009 | $15.00 | Trade Paper
The following Akashic Books authors have been nominated for the Shamus Award for Best Short Story: Brendan DuBois, for "The Dark Island" from Boston Noir, and Gary Phillips for "Blazin' on Broadway" from Phoenix Noir. The winners will be announced at the Private Eye Writers of America banquet on October 15, 2010, at Bouchercon in San Francisco, CA.
Boston Noir
Edited by Dennis Lehane | Akashic Books | 9781933354910 | November 2009 | $15.95 | Trade Paper
Phoenix Noir
Edited by Patrick Millikin | Akashic Books | 9781933354859 | November 2009 | $15.95 | Trade Paper
Publishers Weekly, August 23, 2010
Collusion | Stuart Neville | Soho Press | 9781569478554 | October 2010 | $25.00 | Trade Cloth
"Neville follows his stunning debut, The Ghosts of Belfast, with an even more powerful tale of revenge, violence, and redemption. . . . Neville rides the perfect Celtic storm in an action-packed, cerebral thriller with fully realized characters and an insider's view of the ever-shifting politics of Northern Ireland."
The Boston Globe, August 22, 2010
The Magician's Accomplice | Michael Genelin | Soho Press | 9781569476260 | July 2010 | $25.00 | Trade Cloth
"Genelin, like a consummate conjurer himself, effectively deploys a complex story and massive cast of characters to dazzle the reader and pull more than a few rabbits out of his hat."
The Wall Street Journal, August 12, 2010
Globalisation Fractures: How Major Nations' Interests Are Now In Conflict | Charles Dumas | Profile Books | 9781846684241 | November 2010 | $22.95 | Trade Paper
"The suspicion that this scenario [of global financial imbalance] is unlikely to change significantly leads economist Charles Dumas to a depressing conclusion in his new book, Globalisation Fractures."
The Boston Globe, August 22, 2010
Black Life | Dorothea Lasky | Wave Books | 9781933517438 | April 2010 | $14.00 | Trade Paper
"It takes a poet of toughness and dexterity to work profitably with the first person, but Lasky rises to the occasion with what often feels like an epic intimacy."
TheAtlantic.com, James Fallows' Column, August 23, 2010
The Thunder and the Sunshine | Gary Hart | Fulcrum Publishing | 9781555917395 | September 2010 | $25.00 | Trade Cloth
"Gary Hart's memoir has just come out. . . . If you are interested in politics and policy, you will find it absorbing and instructive."
PsychologyToday.com, August 18, 2010
Daddy On Board: Parenting Roles for the 21st Century | Dottie Lamm | Fulcrum Publishing | 9781555916312 | November 2007 | $14.95 | Trade Cloth
"Dads are definitely getting more involved with their children. . . . After having been 'blown away' with the way in which her son and son-in-law were so involved with their new babies, compared to their own dads back in the sixties and seventies, [Dottie Lamm] wrote Daddy on Board: Parenting Roles for the 21st Century."
BookPage, September 2010
Rag and Bone | James R. Benn | Soho Press | 9781569478493 | September 2010 | $25.00 | Trade Cloth
"Graceful plotting, a strong supporting cast, and a modern take on '40s dialogue all come together to make the Billy Boyle series one of the finest---perhaps the finest---of contemporary period mysteries."
HTMLGiant.com, August 20, 2010
The Orange Eats Creeps | Grace Krilanovich | Two Dollar Radio | 9780982015186 | September 2010 | $16.00 | Trade Paper
"I kind of want to marry [the book] for its description alone."
TheRoot.com, August 21, 2010
Floodlines: Community and Resistance from Katrina to the Jena Six | Jordan Flaherty | Haymarket Books | 9781608460656 | September 2010 | $16.00 | Trade Paper
"These authors present must-read portraits of the diverse people rebuilding lives five years after Hurricane Katrina."
Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 2010
The Siren | Allison Bruce | Soho Press | 9781569476055 | October 2010 | $25.00 | Trade Cloth
"A satisfyingly meaty procedural."
Publishers Weekly, August 23, 2010
The 500 Years of Resistance Comic Book | Gord Hill | Arsenal Pulp Press | 9781551523606 | October 2010 | $11.95 | Trade Paper
"A brief and exceedingly grim look at the history of the indigenous populations of North and South America in the half-millennium since Europeans first discovered the New World . . . [Hill's] raw images convey the events depicted effectively."
Publishers Weekly, August 23, 2010
Dirk Quigby's Guide to the Afterlife | E. E. King | Exterminating Angel Press | 9781935259084 | October 2010 | $15.00 | Trade Paper
"This ecumenically snarky review of postlife paradises spares no religion--large (Roman Catholicism) or small (Zoroastrianism), venerable (ancient Greek) or modern (Scientology)--in its attempts to rate their various comforts and costs . . . Not for the easily offended of any faith."
Concord Monitor & Nashua Telegraph, August 22, 2010
Tinkers | Paul Harding | Bellevue Literary Press | 9781934137192 | January 2009 | $25.00 | Trade Cloth
Tinkers | Paul Harding | Bellevue Literary Press | 9781934137123 | January 2009 | $14.95 | Trade Paper
"Few contemporary writers have [Harding's] gift for uniting language and nature through a powerful imagination. Tinkers is a father-son story told with skill, depth and beauty."
The Portsmouth Herald, August 22, 2010
The Steam Pig | James McClure | Soho Press | 9781569476529 | July 2010 | $14.00 | Trade Paper
The Caterpillar Cop | James McClure | Soho Press | 9781569476536 | August 2010 | $14.00 | Trade Paper
"Highly recommended."
Night Owl Reviews, August 21, 2010
Empty Mile | Matthew Stokoe | Akashic Books | 9781936070121 | July 2010 | $16.95 | Trade Paper
"4.5 out of 5 stars: The star-crossed lovers and the broken families will break your heart and you won't be able to stop reading until the end."
DissidentVoice.org, August 19, 2010
Ecology and Socialism: Solutions to Capitalist Ecological Crisis | Chris Williams | Haymarket Books | 9781608460915 | September 2010 | $14.00 | Trade Paper
"Ecology and Socialism provides a cogent and accessible look at one of today's pressing social issues through the viewpoint of socialist activists and thinkers."
FPIF.org (Foreign Policy in Focus), August 2010
The American Way of War | Tom Engelhardt | Haymarket Books | 9781608460717 | June 2010 | $16.95 | Trade Paper
"Demonstrating Engelhardt's experience as a professional editor, he avoids the overly strident or self-righteous condescension that characterizes too much online political writing, instead using clear and unvarnished prose to attack the fundamental principles of the post-September 11 mindset."
Midwest Book Review, August 2010
Mr. Mendoza's Paintbrush | Luis Alberto Urrea; Illustrated by Christopher Cardinale | Cinco Puntos Press | 9781933693231 | June 2010 | $18.50 | Trade Paper
"Mr Mendoza's Paintbrush is a stunningly illustrated life story that absolutely transcends into great art myth at the end."
The Guardian, July 31, 2010
Lorca: Selected Poems | Federico García Lorcal; Translated by J.L. Gili | Anvil Press Poetry | 9780856463884 | June 2010 | $18.95 | Trade Paper
"Here's a concise, accessible selection from one of the giants of 20th-century Spanish literature. The translations are in clear, unobtrusive prose at the foot of each page, allowing the focus to remain on the poetry in its original language... Most of Lorca's poetic career is represented here."