Indie Spotlight: Red Lemonade

One of the things I adore about the indie market is how on top of their shit they are! Forever thinking outside the box, indies are unapologetic as they push and mold and shape and redefine the future of publishing.

Red Lemonade is one of those publishers. Come, meet them, and fall in love with the ways in which they challenge the current world of publishing.

The Man Behind it All

Red Lemonade is the brainchild of Richard Nash , an independent publishing entrepreneur, presently launching Cursor, a platform that will power the world’s next 50,000 independent publishers, the first of which, Red Lemonade, launched in May 2011. For most of the past decade, he ran the iconic indie Soft Skull Press for which work he was awarded the Association of American Publishers' Miriam Bass Award for Creativity in Independent Publishing in 2005.

Books he edited and published landed on bestseller lists from the Boston Globe to the Singapore Straits-Times; on Best of the Year lists from The Guardian to the Toronto Globe & Mail to the Los Angeles Times; twice on the cover of the New York Times Book Review; the last book he edited there, Lydia Millet’s Love in Infant Monkeys, was selected as a 2010 Pulitzer Prize finalist.

In 2006, Publishers Weekly picked him as one of the ten editors to watch in the coming decade. Last year the Utne Reader named him one of Fifty Visionaries Changing Your World and Mashable.com picked him as the #1 Twitter User Changing the Shape of Publishing.

Birthing a Publishing Company

Richard explains how it all came to be: "While working at Soft Skull, juggling the little details of running an independent publisher, I became aware that the only thing we knew for sure about what we were doing is that we had to connect writers and readers. Going through the slush pile, speaking with folks who read our reading letters to our writers- it was the interaction of the people around the books as much as, more so than the books on their own. This idea was crystallized in my mind by a comment by a reader in England, commenting on a blog post in The Guardian asking what books got you laid. “Anything published by Soft Skull.” That kind of power comes from more than just thin paper surrounded by cardboard sheets. It’s well known, an oft repeated, that writers are often great readers, but readers are often more than not writers also, it’s a continuum. I realized that that the content provides the energy for the connecting line between all the parties involved in making, producing and reading books.

I left Soft Skull with this idea in mind, surrounded by the rise of technologies on the internet that can facilitate and encourage these kinds of connections without geographical limitations. We all wish we could be part of a group of creative individuals, the Beats in the 50s, Paris in the 20s, Soho in the 70s, and have a meeting place that can facilitate conversation centered around the creative process and the books themselves. My business partner and co-founder Mark Warholak was actively engaging travelers at a major travel site. As we discussed these ideas about connecting and engagement, our company Cursor took shape. Red Lemonade is the first imprint of Cursor, that is an online application and site that provides content to allow for community, people connecting with people. So, Red Lemonade has been percolating a long time from my experiences with readers and writers, but our beta site didn’t go live until May 2011."

Dotting the I and Crossing the T

For Richard, putting it all together - the book production process, the software technology, and the community - is the key. He says, "The means of production, the creation of books is something that our world has spent five hundred years refining and has gotten pretty damn good at, like making chairs and tables. E-books just add more content to the abundance of data. The vastness of supply shows that the desire for books, story, content is not the issue- what’s at issue is the ‘rest of the iceberg’ so to speak, getting all the bits in line, working together with the audience, the folks buying the books, the individuals talking about books, sharing a favorite line, quote or short story from a favorite author. Red Lemonade and Cursor hope to restore the reader-writer equilibrium."

Pulling the Readers into it

In his speeches, Richard shows a slide which is a quote from E.M Forster’s novel Howard’s End: “Only Connect.” Those two words say a lot about what Cursor stands for and believes in. He continues, "As for Red Lemonade, its “edgy alt lit,” literary fiction that takes on questioning cultural assumptions, rethinks memory and examines how we come to understand our understanding. Our first three authors, Kio Stark, Lynne Tillman and Vanessa Veselka flesh and flush out the early gleanings of what we are about and serve as a guidepost for what the community will produce. And that’s been thrilling: it’s one thing to yap about the future of publishing, or post on the blog about how Cursor works, or berate the industry for overlooking the very folks who keep them in business- but to flip the switch and open the doors, terrifying and magical, exhilarating and nerve wracking! Members are joining, they are making comments and they are going into the manuscripts on site and making comments, editing, and asking authors questions—connecting in ways that have gone on for hundreds of years, but now online with easy access.

And we’ve already had our first success. Matthew Battles, whose book, The Sovereignties of Invention will be published this January 2012 by Red Lemonade started as an uploaded manuscript like hundreds of others. Our members liked it—they read it, they commented on it, they asked questions, they suggested re-workings and re-writes, the work ‘gurgled up’ from the community and it was the members of Red Lemonade who selected that title, I simply encouraged and agreed with the “maddening crowd.”

And that’s why other readers and writers and people who like to discuss books, or fans of literary fiction, or even more technical folks interested in online communities are flocking—and will continue to flock to Red Lemonade. And later on, to community specific sites which will generate their own content and their own reader-writer relationships! I'd add, for the sake of clarity, that the value is in the community, because it is uncopiable. You can get content on a torrent site, but to connect around content, you need community. There are lots of tools and online applications out there and I see new publishing platforms almost weekly, but Red Lemonade is founded on the idea of community, even that human connection between book lovers which enlightens your mind makes you question your belief/maybe even helps you get the girl/boy of your dreams."

The Power of Community

Community is such a buzzword, though, that Richard warns, "We have to be extremely careful to live up to what the term promises. Critical in that is to ensure that we can all speak truth, not just to power, but to one another. We have a feedback form, or entry panel on each of the sites pages, and members can easily report issues or make suggestions. Members— I’ve christened them The Fizzy Ones, as Red Lemonade is an actual drink that happens to be carbonated—post comments on people’s work, make announcements about their current projects or ask about current reading material or magazine. We’ve included book tour dates and even interviews with authors. Red Lemonade is reaching out through social media sites like Twitter and Facebook to speak with the world outside; you can easily tweet or like a manuscript right from the page. While we are still in Beta our goal is both help Red Lemonade thrive and provide information, strategy and guidelines for creating further sites on the Cursor platforms."

A Powerful Statement

"...Red Lemonade is not just another indie press, it’s a prototype for publishers to come."

Reviews: Piano Rat and The Chapbook

Read 8/20/11 - 8/21/11

4 Stars - Strongly Recommended

Pgs: 64

Publisher: Curbside Splendor /Oct 2011

Victor David Giron - publisher, editor-in-chief, publicist, author and accountant for Curbside Splendor - sent me an advance PDF of this collection of poems by first time published poet Frankie Elliot. Piano Rats should be available sometime in October.

From page one, her honesty and ability to drop an F-Bomb won my heart. Here is a woman who is no stranger to love - She’s suffered its beauty, its jealousy, and its brutal end. Her poetry is like a mirror hanging on my wall, reflecting my own emotions and thoughts back at me.

She makes me want to scream "Fuck You" to every guy I dated who didn't "get me". She makes me want to get behind the pretty words people throw around, quit beating around the bush, and see things for what they really are. She creates a language of her own, breathing out lines like: "Love sometimes is just another word for jealousy", and "We can't save ourselves from anything that's supposed to happen".

Frankie finds beauty in pain, and I want her to show me how.

Read 8/21/11

3 Stars - Recommended for readers familiar with genre

Pgs: 69

Publisher: Curbside Splendor / 2011

The Chapbook, poems by Charles Bane Jr, is the complete opposite of Frankie's collection (reviewed above). Where Frankie's poems created clear images in my mind, Charles's poetry is much more abstract. Beauty, for him, appears to be in everything. At times it is overwhelming gorgeous. At others, it is so dense and complicated that I admit to not always understanding what he is trying to tell me.

An example of the beauty in his clarity: "I wander the beach sometimes where men stand with pants rolled fishing for a shark. And I think I can find you in the wandering night and set you close and kiss and, as we close our eyes, make another universe in our private dark."

An example of the abstract beauty: ""It must be carried in the hands, this such as never was. Allowed in shadow, a second of nevermore? Out from the shadows this precious, darling lamp".

His poems range from romantic to dedications to moments and memories.

His poems are paired with illustrations (perhaps colored pencil or pastels) by Canadian artist Isabelle Pruneau.

Review: Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter

Read 8/14/11 - 8/20/11

4 Stars - Strongly Recommended

Pgs: 272

Publisher: Harper Perennial 2010

Every once in awhile, I find myself reading a book I would not normally have chosen for myself. Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter is one of those books.

It gained a lot of mainstream buzz prior to its release, and of course, once it hit shelves, I couldn't go very far or long without hearing mention of it. Typically, that's a sign that I should stay far far away from it. My tastes tend to travel off the beaten path, and in the past I've found that I don't usually agree with the general consensus.

In this case, however, fellow blogger and co-creator of "One Book, Two Blogs" (a brand new face-to-face evening book club) Tara and I decided that a mainstream paperback book was needed to kickstart our book club - one that had the potential to draw in some male members, and that also had cross-genre appeal - and we felt that Crooked Letter would fit the bill.

(We all know that not everyone is as passionate about indie literature as I am, nor translated and international literature like Tara. Though you can bet your bottom dollar we will find a way to work both of those into the live book club as the months move on...)

The novel certainly has all the elements of a solid southern story. Spanning over a period of 25 years, author Tom Franklin tenderly deals with friendship, racism, murder, and small town secrets. The characters all speak with that familiar southern twang, simple to detect, filling your head as you read through the novel. While the who-dun-it is easy to determine, it's the atmosphere that draws the reader in, keeping those fingers dancing from page to page. His writing, his use of flashbacks - specifically for Larry Ott, who remains unconscious for most of the novel - keep the characters alive and active in our minds as we follow them along their murky and twisted paths to the truth.

Larry is a character who begs to be loved from the very beginning. From a young age, he suffers an incredibly lonely existence. He reminds me of the kid everyone sees sitting by himself in the cafeteria, feeling badly for him, but not badly enough to invite him over to eat with you. His childhood friend Silas is likable from the start but carries an obvious dark weight around with him. This contrast between the two plays heavily against the plot as the story slowly unwinds itself.

I am looking forward to discussing this novel on September 1st, when the members of "One Book, Two Blogs" met for the first time. I think this is an excellent entry novel for us, and there are unlimited topics we can pull from the book to allow for heady and passionate conversation.

The Party Starts Here: David Maine Blog Tour

Welcome to the first stop on the David Maine Blog Tour!

A long time fan of David's, you can imagine my excitement when I heard he would be releasing a new novel this summer. Unlike the biblical literary novels he is best known for, his new eBook is heavily steeped in Sci-Fi and Fantasy - picture a Lord of the Rings style story with talking animals instead of orcs, elves, and hobbits.

The Gamble of the Godless is a story of Avin - a young farm boy who heads out on a quest to find his older brother, who ran away to join in the war between Man and Wolf. Along the way he befriends an owl who cannot lie, a drug addicted cheetah, the warrior Ax, and the one-armed sorcerer Jocen, among others. All have their own reasons for accompanying our protagonist across the animal territories.

What neither Avin nor his companions yet understand is that the real force behind the Free Plains attack is neither canine nor feline, nor yet crocodile, insect, raptor, bear or shark. Far to the east, in the scorched wasteland known as The Barrens, lives the ragged clan that calls itself The Godless. There, Avin will confront his brother, his companions and himself, and discover two truths: one that changes everything he understands about himself, and another that threatens the balance of the entire world. - jacket copy

To get this blog tour party started,

I am pleased to present you with David Maine's essay on what "Being Indie" means to him.

“Independent” is one of those loaded words. Everybody likes to be independent, right? We fought a war for independence, right? And celebrate Independence Day as a result. Dependence, on the other hand, is a downer. Who wants to be dependent on someone, something, somebody else’s charity? Blecch. And what do you call those diapers for incontinence? Depends. Who wants to wear those? Not me, man. And don’t even get me going on co-dependent.

It’s funny though—when we talk about independent movies, independent record labels, indie rock bands and, increasingly, indie authors and publishers, I rarely stop to think about the other side. What is Random House, then—a dependent publisher? Does Warner Bros make dependent movies? Or maybe dependable ones? (Hell no!) Are bands like Led Zeppelin dependent and therefore less desirable than indie bands like The Coathangers? (Don’t worry—I pulled a completely obscure band out of the darkest recesses of my memory.) My point is, are indie things better just for being indie?

Obviously, the answer is no.

Let me make something clear: I love publishers. Big, New York- or London-based, high-rise-inhabiting, 300-books-a-year publishing, ridiculously-inflated-advances-offering publishing houses like HarperCollins and Knopf and Simon & Schuster have published tons of books—literally tons, as in thousands and thousands of pounds, if you stacked them all on a scale—that I have read and loved over the years. Until this recent small-press and e-publishing wave of the past few years, I could probably have said that every book I ever read (apart from some small-press poetry and theatre stuff in college) was published by a big-name publisher. These are the folks who published the books that made me want to be a writer in the first place. Genre specialists like Del Rey and Tor put out the fantasy/sci-fi stuff I inhaled like oxygen as a teenager, while my mainstream heroes—Flannery O’Connor, Langston Hughes, John Steinbeck—were ably supported by devoted editors at publishing houses like Farrar Strauss.

But times change. These days, publishers are being squeezed from all sides—fewer people read books every year, even as the number of wannabe writers graduating from MFA programs swells. The internet offers plenty of reading matter free of charge, while movies and TV have been joined by video games, social media sites and the likes of YouTube in clamoring for the time and attention of potential book-buyers. Amazon, of course, slashes prices and margins.

From what I can see—and this is only one guy’s perspective—all this has led to an sort of entrenchment in the publishign industry. Years ago, screenwriter William Goldman (Marathon Man, Butch Cassity and the Sundance Kid, The Princess Bride) told a bunch of us students at Oberlin that the movie industry was predicated on fear. Everybody in Hollywood—I’m paraphrasing, but this was the gist—was motivated primarily by a desire to not lose his or her job. This meant that the movies that got greenlighted were the ones most similar to the previous year’s hits. If a movie bombed even though it was a carbon copy of the previous disaster hit or rom-com, well, no one could be blamed. On the other hand, if a movie bombed and it was a unique, one-of-a-kind production with a quirky worldview and a demanding storyline that the audience had to pay attention to—well, that failure could be ascribed to the studio exec who had given the go-ahead. That exec wouldn’t be around long enough to repeat the mistake.

From what I can see, the publishing industrty is moving toward this studio-movie model. If The Da Vinci Code is one year’s surprise hit, you can be sure to see a string of books about Knights Templar and lost prophecies and whatnot. If you like Harry Potter, don’t sweat the end of the series—we’ve got Percy Jackson lined up. If Twilight is your thing, you’ll be happy to peruse through several thousand vampire boks in this aisle over here…

Of course this has been true for a long time, but the pattern is accelerating now, or so it seems.

When I think about “indie” publishing, I see an opportunity, both as a writer and a reader. The opportunity comes from the chance to hear and tell stories that might otherwise get overlooked. Indie books, like indie rocks bands and indie movies, don’t represent a break from traditional patterns of storytelling so much as a return to them—a return to the primacy of character and plot over spectacle, or in the case of music, to musicianship over video posing. Indie hip-hop acts like The Coup and Sage Francis comment on economic theory and socialized health care; indie movies like Winter’s Bone tell stories about actual people who are of little interest to the execs greenlighting Iron Man 2 and Transformers III.

The reason to support indie publishing, then, is the same as the reason to support any writer, anywhere, who is telling a story that you think deserves to be heard: because someone has taken the time to tell you something that you could not hear from anyone else. This is not some blanket admonition to go read obscure self-published books that you don’t like, or to ignore great novels being published these days by traditional publishers (David Mitchell’s The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet was the best book I read last year, and it was put out by Random House). It’s just a gentle reminder that not all stories follow the same route to publication, that some take a little longer than others, or require a little more sweat than others to see the light of day, or maybe demand a little more of their readers than others.

For my own part, I started The Gamble of the Godless over fifteen years ago, and wrote an early version of the sequel three years later. In the intervening years I’ve moved intercontinentally twice, written a bunch of stuff that never got published and then a few books that did—books that inadvertantly got me catergorized in a particular way, as a particular kind of literary writer. Being the short-attention-span kind of guy I am, I knew I wasn’t going to stay happy writing Bible lit forever, but I was surprised at the resistance I found in the industry when I tried to move to another genre. This is a shame, because epic fantasy is what I grew up on, and I humbly submit that The Gamble of the Godless is a pretty great one.

I guess that’s the last reason to throw some support behind indie writers from time to time: because maybe, just maybe, they can be trusted to know their own work, and their own talents, and their own strengths as storytellers, as well as or even better than the editors and marketers in the publishing industry. Are some of us deluded in that regarded? You betcha. Are there editors out there who do good work? Absolutely. As I said before, indie authors aren’t better just because they’re indie. But that said, there are writers out there doing good work, and the indie movement is an unprecedented opportunity in the history of publishing—an opportunity for readers to directly support those authors who are doing work worthy of their attention.

That sounds like the kind of movement I could get behind.

**Be sure to join us tomorrow over at Indie author Steve Himmer's blog for the second stop of the blog tour. **

Get Your Literary Punches

Just another great example of why Independent Publishing rocks my world!

The concept is familiar to us:

Subway, Rita's, too-numerous-to-name coffee shops - they reward their loyal customers with a punch card. Every time you show up and make a purchase, you get a punch. Fill up your card and you get a free drink or ice cream, or your next purchase at a discount.

But the application is entirely new:

Graywolf Press, Coffee House Press and Milkweed, along with Rain Taxi Review of Books and Loft Literary Center, have joined forces in the Twin Cities to offer a Literary Punch Card.

After its Sept 14th launch, attend any literary event at Magers & Quinn in Uptown Minneapolis, and Common Good Books and Micawber's in St Paul, and a present your card for a punch. Buy their featured book and get another punch. When you fill your card, you're rewarded with a $15 gift card.

See the original article here.

Chalk another one up for the indies, ya'll! And now go out and support them!

Better World Books Goes #bookforbook

Alright, guys. Time to step it up! Better World Books, self-dubbed as "the online bookstore with a soul", has initiated a wonderful new project, but they need your help to make it a successful one.

For every book you purchase through them, they will donate one to Books For Africa or Feed the Children. Help promote literacy and fight poverty with words!

Take a look:

Book for Book™ by Better World Books from Better World Books on Vimeo.

Better Word Books was founded back in 2002 by a couple of friends who were selling their textbooks online for some extra cash. They are driven by a sense of social and environmental responsibility. Everything you purchase through them is shipped FREE worldwide.

To see a list of the funds they've raised so far, click here.

Follow their #bookforbook hashtag on twitter. Shop at their online store. Help spread literacy.

David Maine Blog Tour is Nearly Here

After months of organizing and patiently awaiting the eBook release and bound review copies of David Maine's newest novel, The Gamble of the Godless, our blog tour is nearly underway!

Prepare yourselves for a week of all things David Maine - reviews of some of his previous novels, reviews of the much anticipated The Gamble of the Godless, interviews, and guest posts.

I had the honor of meeting David quite a few years ago in NYC under strange circumstances. His generosity, appreciation, and refreshingly humble attitude resonated with me as a reader and a human being. He is the author of the biblical literary novels The Preservationist, Fallen, and The Book of Samson, the 50's B-movie novel Monster 1959, and the book that is bringing us all together, his first eBook release and Sci-Fi Fantasy novel The Gamble of the Godless.

I am extremely excited to be hosting a week-long tour in celebration of David as a writer, teacher, reader, and lover of literature.

Allow me to introduce you to the wonderful folks who shall help bring this blog tour to life:

Sunday 8/21

The TNBBC Blog Tour Kick Off - A guest post from David Maine on "Being Indie"

Monday 8/22

Author Steve Himmer hosts David Maine

Tuesday 8/23

Author and founder of Tiny Toe Press Michael Davidson expresses thoughts on Godless

Wednesday 8/24

Bibliophiliac Blogger Lisa Sumner reviews Fallen

Thursday 8/25

BookSexyReview Blogger Tara Cheesman reviews Godless

Friday 8/26

Author Rena Rossner interviews David Maine

Saturday 8/27

I will post mini-reviews of David's 4 previous novels, and a full review of Godless

Sunday 8/28

David Maine wraps up the blog tour!

We hope you will join us back here this Sunday for the kick-off and take part in the celebration of David Maine and the release of his first eBook The Gamble of the Godless!

Steve Himmer on "Being Indie"

On "Being Indie" is a monthly feature that will be hosted here on TNBBC. It is my hope that we will meet a wide variety of independent authors, publishers, and booksellers as they discuss what being indie means to them.

Meet Steve Himmer, author of exceptional indie hermit tale The Bee-Loud Glade, and quite possibly the most tea-drinking-finger-etiquettely correct man I have ever tweeted with.

His short stories can be found all over the internet, which he has quite neatly collected here for your reading pleasure.

And it is my pleasure to share this essay Steve that has written for us, discussing his take on the term "Indie" and how it is comparable to... skateboarding?? Read on, loyal TNBBCer's. All will become clear. I promise!

After I wondered aloud on Twitter recently if it matters that “indie” has come to describe both small press publishing and self-publishing, Lori invited to think it through here at TNBCC. I said I’d be glad to, but warned it wouldn’t be a polemic — I’m not interested in pitting one group of writers against another or laying claim to words in exclusive ways, and flexibility is more compelling to me than lexical purity.



The truth is, what first comes to mind when I hear the word “independent” is a company that makes skateboard trucks, the metal axles mounted under the board to hold the wheels. There’s no reason for it, because I was a lousy, cowardly skater. I couldn’t convince myself to risk more than an ollie and was persuaded away from rail slides and half-pipes by injuries I could imagine too well. Sure, I might have learned a decent trick or two given time, after plenty of practice guaranteed to be painful, but even the mildest mastery would be hard won, never mind the level of mastery that might interest anyone else. Call it an intuitive risk/reward assessment. Still, my feeble attempts at skateboarding have their legacy, because while I might like to say “independent” calls up something noble like patriotic feelings or romantic notions of art, no, it’s skateboards... and not even skateboards, but the less glamorous hardware that lets the deck get the attention. The delivery system for something ultimately more interesting.



A word like independent and its shortened form “indie” (which of course conjures the archaeologist with his whip and hat) aren’t so different from skateboard trucks. Calling yourself independent isn’t an end but a means, a way of describing the approach a writer takes to delivering their work, albeit a means lacking an agreed upon meaning. In the circles where I’ve done most of my publishing, webjournals and small-run print magazines, indie isn’t a single aesthetic, exactly, but a DIY attitude that often goes hand-in-hand with embracing styles and subjects assumed unlikely to catch the attention of large publishers or audiences. There’s a community ethos, even if that community is fragmented and contentious and multivocal, as the most productive communities are; what better demonstration of that than the group blog HTMLGiant, where posts range from erudite to juvenile to creepy to brilliant often in the course of a couple of hours, and though the comment threads almost always scare me off before I add anything, they’re full of diverse, rewarding ideas. Still, as much as I value the excitement of a community under constant construction, I’ve resisted applying the indie label to my own work because there’s an uncomfortable sense of being judged by the guys at the record store inherent in the term, and perhaps an assumption of eschewing a focus on storytelling in favor of linguistic and formal experimentation that doesn’t quite fit my goals as a writer.



Now that other use I mentioned above seems to be catching on: “indie” as interchangeable with “self-published.” First it was Kirkus Indie, a section devoted to reviewing self-published books. Then IndieReader, which describes itself as “a venue for discriminating book-lovers to find and purchase books published by the people who wrote them,” which seems called for when according to TeleRead, as of April 2011, “28 out of 100 top e-books in Kindle Store are self-published; 11 are in top 50,” and for the most part that’s happened independently of major reviewers. Yet James Frey, about as visible an author as there is and one whose Full Fathom Five fiction factory is as corporate-minded as literature gets, self-published his latest book with international media attention that is anything but indie.



Perhaps because of that flexibility, the question of how much the difference between one definition and another matters seems a non-starter: if someone says they are indie, whether they self-publish or publish with a micropress distributed by hand or an autonomous imprint distributed by Random House, well... how can you prove otherwise? It’s like trying to convince someone they aren’t a nice person. Maybe there’s only one thing being independent requires: something to be independent of, and asking what that something is raises much more interesting questions.



In the small press world, there’s often a degree of pride in not being driven by commercial taste and by the horrifying notion that books are products equivalent to crackers and widgets. That pride is shared in self-publishing, where authors commit to getting their personal vision of literature in front of readers exactly the way they want it to be read, for better or worse, without letting other voices dictate their vision. At their best, self-published books are as carefully edited, designed, and produced as the best of small presses, and the worst of both groups are equally bad. Independence from syntax and spelling and attention to design and detail don’t strike me as freedoms worth fighting for. And as much as I love radical, experimental work that breaks with the canon — and breaks with the assumption there could or should ever be a single canon — it’s awfully hard to read something that makes a total break with traditions of literature and culture and thought. That’s where scary manifestos come from.



What no writer wants to be independent of is audience, whether you aim for wide distribution to general readers or focus on readers (often fellow writers) most likely to get what you’re doing and enter a conversation about it. I worry sometimes that small press writers, myself included, don’t always reach for an audience beyond other writers, the same writers we’re publishing stories beside in journals and on websites and who are already inclined to know where we’re coming from and support it. I worry that having such a community ethos, such an assumption of buying each others books and supporting each other regardless, mitigates the risk of sharing the work at the time it reinforces or normalizes certain types of writing, creating less room for risk and surprise — less room, in other words, for voices independent of the existing conversation.



On the other hand, novelist Ron Tanner wrote recently of what happened when Amazon accidentally offered not the intended sample of his novel Kiss Me, Stranger as a free download, but the whole novel: the book was rated and reviewed at Amazon and Goodreads by readers unlikely to have read it without the error. Readers perhaps unfamiliar with the literary traditions Kiss Me, Stranger is part of, and not necessarily those author and publisher expected. That doesn’t mean those readers should feel unwelcome — far from it — but the risk of reaching unlikely readers when their reviews carry such weight is that those ratings impact the decisions of readers otherwise more inclined to pick up the novel. Not to mention the inevitable flattening of ratings toward the meaningless middle as more reader reviews appear for a book. And if you’re telling stories that are inherently risky, about lives often menaced by mainstream culture, why would you reach out to readers who don’t even acknowledge your right to speak?



Whatever readership you’re aiming at, if being indie is only about style and content and purity of vision, it doesn’t much matter how a book gets distributed as long as it does. But if your version of being indie is political, too — if you’re more Dead Kennedys than Green Day — how you get the book to your readers matters a lot. It’s no secret the big, commercial publishers are tentacles of much larger corporations involved in everything from lightbulbs to biscuits to atomic rayguns (okay, maybe not rayguns), and there are a few writers who refuse to work with big houses because of those things. Would that we all had the choice. Yet the financial ramifications of that choice might mean those writers teach, as I do, at colleges and universities dependent on research funding and institutional support from those same corporations or others like them.



If you do stay away from big houses, online bookstores — Amazon chief among them — are great levellers of access to small and large press books, but how independent is it possible to be when you sell or even publish your books through one of the world’s most powerful companies, one with corporate practices destructive of or indifferent to writers and publishers alike? Yet Kickstarter, one of the most popular tools for requesting financial support to make bigger, bolder projects possible by shifting the financial risk from publisher to would-be reader, invokes that community ethos while using Amazon to accept payments. For that matter, several of the most popular self-publishing options seem to be owned by a single private equity investment firm, and another company refused, at one point, to reveal the name of its CEO. To be clear, my point isn’t that these companies are all up to nefarious things, just that most of the available options for publishing and selling a book inevitably leave you independent of more or less nothing.



A small press or self-published author might choose to avoid bookstores altogether, because as Engine Books noted recently publishers benefit far more from direct sales to readers than from sales via Amazon or even brick and mortar stores, making it easier to remain independent. But if being locally- and community-minded are important aspects of your own indie ethos, as they are mine, you’ll want to shop at a community bookstore. Perhaps through Indiebound, which does terrific work to support and connect those stores. Yet even Indiebound doesn’t extend that focus to independent publishers and writers — not that they don’t sell small press or independent books, but only the biggest of small presses get on the radar of their monthly Next lists or earn a prominent place on their website. Despite decrying behemoths like Amazon, Borders, and Barnes and Noble, Indiebound doesn’t appear so concerned about the even larger behemoths publishing books (though individual Indiebound member stores, in my experience, can be incredibly supportive of small presses and local writers). They decide what being independent means to them, as we all do, to avoid getting paralyzed in that lexical, ethical snarl. And unless you’re printing books with your own press, binding them in the garage, and selling them all hand-to-hand, you’re probably equally tangled in all these overlapping, contradictory choices of what independence is and what you’re willing to do, or not do, to maintain it.



Being indie is like the fear that drove my early abandonment of skateboarding: an assessment of what risks are required to attain what reward. Are you willing to break an arm or a leg to master that trick? Are you willing to wait years or even decades to have that novel published, maybe, by a big house? Writing, like all art, requires risk, whether it’s fearing your story won’t speak to anyone else but telling it anyway, or stripping away the safe, comfortable elements of language to make the mundane become new. Maybe it’s spending your personal savings to publish books you believe in without knowing there’s an audience for them, or spending thousands of a company’s dollars and risking dozens of jobs on a book you sincerely hope and believe will speak to the culture at large. It all requires risk, but it doesn’t require all of us to take the same risks in the same ways.



Small press, big house, or self-published, I don’t think it helps one camp to diminish the others, or to insist on indie meaning only one thing. I’m suspicious of outright dismissals that tell us anything reviewed in the New York Times is automatically bad, or anything not reviewed there isn’t worth reading, or anything self-published is trash. It’s a big tent, literature, with plenty of room, so why not have more conversation across the corners? With all the flexibility and opportunity afforded us by innovations (and collapses) in publishing and distribution, there’s no reason for a one-size-fits-all approach to being a writer or reader. What could be more indie-minded than everyone deciding individually what indie means? And besides, every writer worth reading — every person worth listening to, for that matter — is independent by definition, while sycophants can only be boring.



A few weeks ago, I went to a cocktail party thrown by one of the biggest of the big publishers to promote an upcoming novel. Months before its release the author is traveling the country, meeting booksellers, and building buzz. At first glance I was envious, considering how hard I’ve been working to promote my own small press novel; as enormously supportive and dedicated as my own publisher is, I wondered what I could do with those deeper resources. But I’m not sure I’d want it, not at this stage in my “career,” because the pressure must be intense: if a book that big doesn’t sell right away, it’s a flop, whereas a small book like mine, with no expectations, can build momentum slowly (I hope) while I ease my shy self into the world of promotion. Or it can fail, if it’s going to, in a quiet way hardly noticed by most of the world. It’s a level of risk, and a definition of “writer,” I’m comfortable with at this point, and I’m glad to be working in a cultural moment that gives me any number of options for self-definition and self-direction, and gives those to other writers, to publishers, and to bookstores, too. Some of us shoot for high risk artistic stakes, while others aim for large audiences and big royalty checks. Some want to be the voice of a generation and others just claim the right to have a voice. Like I did on my skateboard — though more bravely, I hope — we can decide for ourselves how much we want to risk and what we value most, and can make our decisions accordingly.



Publishing a book, or just writing one, is a lot like dropping the nose of a skateboard over the lip of a pool or a pipe without knowing if you’ll roll or wreck, trusting that your experience and practice have prepared you for the height of that particular ramp and the risk of the trick you’re attempting, and that you’ve assembled the right hardware beneath you for support. But once you’re ever the edge it’s all up to you and it’s too late for changing your mind. What could be more independent than that?

Reviews: Zazen and Sensation

Read 7/21/11 - 7/29/11

5 Stars - Highly Recommended / The Next Best Book

Pgs: 257

Publisher: Red Lemonade

The first title published under Richard Nash's newest publishing platform is a poetic, obsessive, unsettling novel that details the chaotic small town life of Della, a twenty seven year old waitress dealing with the fear and anxiety of a country on the edge of war.

Zazen, by Vanessa Veselka, is a powerful look at what society could do to itself in uncertain times. In dystopian America, where its remaining citizens wait for the real bombs to inch closer and closer, Della calls in bomb threats to pass the time. But when the businesses she targets with her pranks suddenly begin exploding, she is sucked into a situation that may be very difficult to escape.

An incredible first time novel that knocks the wind out of you, Zazen is unapologetic and honest. Veselka creates a world where emotions appear more real than the actual situations her characters find themselves in. It's a story that ebbs and flows, that's felt rather than read. It's impossible and totally plausible at the same time.

It is, without a doubt, one of the most beautiful novels I've read this year. It was also one of the biggest buzz books within my indie circle (and rightly so). Did you know that I was apparently within shoulder-bumping distance of it's author at one of the BEA after-parties? Neither did I, and I have been smartly kicking myself in my ass since discovering this fact.

Read 7/30/11 - 8/6/11

3.5 Stars - Strongly Recommended to readers familiar with genre

Pgs:198

Publisher: PM Press

Sensation by Nick Mamatas is a first for me in many ways. It's my first encounter with this publishing company, who publish political, edgy fiction and non-fiction. It's my first experience reading the author, who has two previous novels under his belt. AND - probably most importantly - it's the first time I've ever willingly read a novel whose story line revolved around spiders and wasps.

If you are familiar with me and my irrational fears, you'll know that spiders top the chart of things I am terrified of. Thank god the book didn't have one sitting menacingly on the cover, because I don't know if I would have had the courage to look at it, let alone pick it up to read it.

Sensation, like Zazen, is set in a parallel America. In this one, humans are not the only intelligent species - although they think they are. There is an age old war brewing between spiders and wasps, and our unsuspecting characters are about to find themselves smack in the middle of it all.

The story is narrated by the collective consciousness of the spiders, who are walking around amongst the public , spying on them from within the brainpans of men of indeterminate ethnicity. They report on the whereabouts of Julia, a woman who was stung by a wasp - get ready to be grossed out - that laid its eggs in the sting wound. These eggs, which send out certain chemicals that change the behavior of their host, compel Julia to kill a man, which inadvertently begin a nationwide sans nom movement. The spiders, in their human transports, whisk Julia away to the Simulacrum in an effort to contain and protect her. But the movement continues, and with it, so does the war between insect and arachnid.

Many, many times as I read, I found my skin crawling. Just the thought of spiders being these hyper-intelligent super-spies turns my stomach. Every time I see one now, I think - What are you looking at, you little fucker? - right before I smear its guts across the wall.

This novel was, by far, one of the stranger ones I have ever read. Readers must be able to suspend their own realities in order to experience its full effect. It certainly poses the question of free will vs. puppetry. Are the decisions we make truly our own, or are they a result of someone or something else's influence over us?

Which also ties Sensation back to Zazen. Both novels deal, in part, with underground, controversial movements that are started unintentionally by our leading ladies, who then find themselves swept up in the chaotic aftermath.

In Zazen, Della finds herself tied to a group of people who plot setting off small bombs and taking out transmission lines in an attempt to cripple what little parts of their America are still functioning. Her bomb threats appear to be the catalyst for this little group of anarchists, and Della goes along with the group until she realizes just what it is they are after.

For Sensation, it's the message Julia leaves on the side of an unwanted stadium that is still under construction. The message filters through the country slowly, and soon becomes a media and internet movement set on bringing the world down to its knees, sucking Julia back into the fray, whether she likes it or not.

Whether it's bombs or warring spiders and wasps, both novels demonstrate the speed at which humans react and society collapses when left to their own devices. They also show the speed at which people can come together and join forces to make positive impacts as well.

Why Everyone Should Read an Indie

If you know me at all... you know that, about a year ago, I fell hard and fast for Two Dollar Radio. As far as independent publishing goes, they put out some of the best literature I have ever read. They are also leaps and bounds ahead of their sisters and brothers.

Shall I count the ways?

1. They offered up the first ever lifetime subscription to anyone hardcore enough to tattoo their logo on their body. (This rocked the indie world so hard that two other publishing companies attempted to steal their idea and market it as their own.. posers!)

2. Today, after a cool experience with Drag City, they added a recommendation service to their repertoire. Tell them what authors, books, or movies you like, and they will customize a recommendation from their catalogue to best match your tastes. They'll accept requests via twitter, facebook, and their blog.

Yup. I think I can stop counting now.

Go. Do. And be prepared for Two Dollar Radio to become your new favorite publisher.

(And if you don't mind, tell 'em TNBBC sent you!)

Indie Book Buzz: Coffee House Press

Indie Book Buzz is a cool feature here at TNBBC. Over the past couple of weeks, we have been inviting members of the indie publishing houses to share which of their upcoming 2011 releases they are most excited about!

This weeks picks come from Coffee House Press Publisher Chris Fischbach,

and Marketing and Sales Director Jessica Deutsch.

Fall 2011

Christopher's Pick
Glass by Sam Savage

The book I’m most excited about this season, though of course I’m excited about all of them, is Glass by Sam Savage. This is not a book for everybody. The best novels never are. If you want to make a lot of money as a novelist, you should write a compelling novel with an exciting plot filled with significant events and how these characters react to these events, revealing an important “portrait of our time,” etc. etc. You will get great reviews and be very popular. Go to town. Glass is not one of those books. It is, in fact, very much intentionally not one of those books. If you want to read one of those, books, you could also watch many of the excellent television shows available to audiences today. But a novel can be something different than a television show. What can a novel do that a television show can’t? Plenty.

Edna, our narrator, and Sam Savage, our author, directly challenge the “fallacy of significant events”—that great art has to be driven by the remarkable, the tragic, historical moments of catastrophe or confusion. Can you write a great novel with the bare minimum of plot? Of course you can. Ask Nicholson Baker, Sterne, Beckett, Markson, Joyce. Of course such work is not currently in vogue, if it ever was. Read Glass using the same tools you use when you read those authors, and you just might fall in love with Edna, and with Glass.

Edna, who reluctantly agreed to write the preface to a posthumous edition of her late husband’s long-out-of-print novel. This book is her attempt at that preface, but as you’ll see, Edna has a very active mind, and is easily distracted by the tiny details of her isolated, lonely life in a cluttered apartment. What eventually unfolds, as if by accident, is the story of a marriage and a portrait of a mind pushed to its limits. The reader is never quite certain if Edna’s preface is an homage to her late husband or an act of belated revenge. Is she the cultured and hypersensitive victim of a crass and brutally ambitious husband? Or was Clarence the long-suffering caretaker of a neurotic and delusional wife?

Jessica's Pick
Sleight by Kirsten Kaschock

When I first read Sleight by Kirsten Kaschock, I was so excited to read a novel that was not only powerful and intriguing but also, well, truly novel. What is sleight, you might wonder. The only way to know is to read Sleight. In her debut novel, Kaschock has created a fictional art form—and an entire world around it.

Sleight is an interdisciplinary art form that combines elements of dance, architecture, acrobatics, and spoken word; it pushes its participants to the edge of their physical, mental, and emotional limits. As Kaschock tackles the translation of the visual to the written, she describes this art form just enough to let the reader do some of the imagining too. (I’m sure if I drew a picture of what I thought Sleight looked like and what another reader drew, it’d be a fun exercise in comparison. That is if I had any talent in that department at all.) As she boldly invents a grammar and a vocabulary to accommodate the concept of sleight and its characters, Kaschock performs a kind of linguistic gymnastics on the page.

All of this happens as we enter the curious and compelling world of two sisters named Lark and Clef who have spent their lives honing their bodies for sleight. Lark has left the rigors of sleight and now involuntarily “births” what she calls Needs, while Clef has remained fully immersed in the sleight world. After many years of being estranged, the sisters are reunited by a troupe director named West. When a disturbing mass murder involving a group of children makes national headlines, West seizes on the event as inspiration for a new performance. At the heart of the novel lies an exploration of loss, creation, and artistic responsibility.

Sleight blurs the edges of reality. Parts of the novel—the mass murder, Lark’s Needs, the idea of “wicking” (sleightists will often disappear during a performance)—were reminiscent of my most curious dreams and nightmares. It’s as if Kaschock is able to dig into the trenches of our subconscious and weave a story out of the riff raff and detritus. But in Sleight, these whiffs of the horrific and fantastic and unreal are juxtaposed with the tenants of “real life” – family tensions, falling in and out of love, work, and obsessions. Prepare yourself for the world that is Sleight—its unlike anything you’ve ever read before.

About Christopher

Chris Fischbach is the publisher of Coffee House Press, where he started as an intern in 1994. He acquires and edits fiction, poetry, and nonfiction, and has worked closely with Sam Savage, Kao Kalia Yang, Patricia Smith, Anne Waldman, Gilbert Sorrentino, Laird Hunt, Rikki Ducornet, Mary Caponegro, Ron Padgett, Eleni Sikelianos, Wang Ping, and many more.

About Jessica

Jessica Deutsch is the Marketing & Sales Director at Coffee House Press. She lives in Minneapolis. You can find her on Twitter @jessicadeutsch and @coffee_house_.

I've only recently discovered the awesomeness that is Coffee House Press. And I am very happy to be able to showcase the books they are most excited about this fall!!

So what do you think guys? See anything that catches your eye? Which of these books are you most excited to see release? Help TNBBC and Coffee House Press spread the buzz about these books by sharing this post with others!

Indie Spotlight: CCLaP

I've always been fascinated by independent publishing. What's even more fascinating to me is the story of how they each came into being. Each one is conceived differently, born out of different motivation, and performs a unique service to the literary community. But the most fascinating thing of all are the stories of their successes.

As it approaches it's 4 year anniversary, I share with you the success story of CCLaP - Chicago Center for Literature and Photography.

The Starting Point

Owner Jason Pettus shares how middle-age can be a man's best friend, too: "Plans for CCLaP started way back in 2004, when I found myself entering middle-age for the first time and becoming increasingly unhappy with pursuing a career as an artist myself, but wanting to do something next with my life that would still let me use the skills and resources I had put together in my youth.

The main motivation, frankly, was to try to start an organization that would do many of the things I desperately needed a group to do for me back when I was a writer, the things that mostly influenced my quitting writing in the first place -- help independent writers edit and hone their work, help them lick the stamps and fold the envelopes and all the other drudgery that artists themselves never want to take on, just basically act not like a traditional patron but more like an equal partner with these artists, where they do the fun half of the work and CCLaP does the boring half, and we then split whatever money is made from it all."

First Things First

Knowing what you want to do is one thing. Actually being able to DO it it quite another. Jason explains: "The first thing I did when deciding to start CCLaP was to give myself a "self-taught MBA," essentially by reading several hundred books on small business, marketing, entrepreneurialism, time management, and a bunch of other subjects along those lines, by bugging a bunch of small-business bloggers, and by signing up for a mentor with a group called SCORE, an organization of retired senior corporate executives who team up with the Small Business Administration in many cities to provide advice and guidance to beginning entrepreneurs like myself.

It was in these years as well that I wrote CCLaP's first business plan, which originally called for the center to open all at once in this really big way (including a physical space in the city, a gallery, classes and workshops, live events seven nights a week, books, merchandise, and a lot of other stuff), and that needed a business loan of $50,000 to execute; but needless to say, I wasn't able to find anyone willing to loan me that kind of money, nor even $5,000 when I severely shrank the plan in 2006."

Not one to let money stop him from achieving this new vision, Jason changed his tactic: "In 2007, tired of having endlessly discussed CCLaP in theoretical terms only for the last three years, I finally decided to open with a plan that required no upfront money at all, and to just start only with things I could do literally for free (like a podcast, book reviews, electronic publishing, live events at other people's existing venues, etc), and to slowly build from that point using whatever money these no-budget projects brought in. It's safe to say that it means a lot to me personally that CCLaP is celebrating its fourth anniversary this summer."

Reminiscing and Celebrating

Looking back, Jason shares the ever-present doubt of making it last: "There's been a pretty serious question over whether the center was going to survive at all, and even with its successes I've mostly had to wade these four years through an endless series of people wanting to tell me all the ways CCLaP was bound to fail. And that's what makes it so nice professionally as well, because the center is a literal working example, something people can literally point to, when wanting to argue, "Look, here's a person who started literally only with a donated website and $30 in business cards, and he's now published six original books that have been collectively downloaded several thousand times, and has interviewed Pulitzer nominees, and has been featured on Boing Boing twice, and once so rattled a mainstream publisher that they changed the very way they do business."

"You don't have to start with a lot of money or connections to make a big splash; that's something that I and others have been arguing for years, but it's really nice now with CCLaP to have something to literally point to and say, "And this proves it in indisputable black-and-white terms!"

From Digital to Handmade Hardbacks

As publishing company that primarily deals with eBooks, Jason discusses CCLaP's recent addition of bound books: "It's been part of the plan all along; and for those who don't know, I should explain that I'm taking a cue off how a lot of musicians do things now as well, and have decided to completely skip the trade-paperback level of small publishing altogether, and to only have either the electronic version that people can download for free, or the fancy handmade hardback edition that costs a little more than normal.

It was always my contention to use these handmade paper versions to financially offset all the free ebooks we were giving away, just so that author would have as big an audience as possible, so it's gratifying to actually have that aspect of it all up and running now, and to get several more thousands of dollars directly into artists' hands each year than I was before (although to be clear, even the free ebooks tend to generate several hundred dollars apiece in revenue themselves, because of CCLaP's "pay what you want" donation system)."

The Future's So Bright....

"As far as CCLaP's near-future, it's essentially more of what you're seeing these days, which is one of the most important lessons I learned during my self-taught MBA; that it really behooves a small business to first become an expert at everything they're currently offering their customers, before deciding to add something new.

The center's now doing something like seven or eight things on a regular basis, some of which (like the book reviews and podcast) I can do almost in my sleep by now, and some (like the paper books) I'd like to get more experience at before moving on to something else. So, another four original books will be coming from CCLaP in 2012, another two dozen podcast episodes, another 150 book reviews at the blog, and another handful of live events and other get-togethers here in Chicago, although I think it's likely that you'll see a significant increase in retail exposure for CCLaP's stuff in the next year, both in traditional bookstores and in quirky independent giftstore-type boutiques around the country, which frankly I'm more interested in than the bookstores themselves.

In general, I expect most of the growth at CCLaP in 2012 to be behind the scenes (more money, stronger local relationships, etc), so that we'll be ready to launch something brand-new and truly impressive in 2013."

It's a Release-Slash-Anniversary Party

...and everyone's invited! CCLaP is celebrating it's 4th anniversary in style with a quadruple release party on August 10th. The gathering will be held at the popular Beauty Bar in the Bucktown neighborhood in Chicago for drinks, free food, and a half-hour reading from all four featured authors - Mark R Brand, Jason Fisk, Sally Weigel, and TNBBC favorite Ben Tanzer.

The free event will take place from 7 to 9 p.m., the reading itself from 8:00 to 8:30.

All four authors' books will be for sale individually for $20 apiece; or for one night only, attendees can purchase all four in a bundle for only $50.

If you go, be sure to take pictures so I live vicariously through them! And give Ben a hug for me.....

One Book, Two Blogs

Book Sexy Review & TNBBC have joined literary forces! We are very excited to announce the birth of our first ever LIVE book club, appropriately titled....

One Book, Two Blogs

It will be meeting in person for the first time on September 1st at 6:30pm, and will be hosted in the world's oldest book store - Moravian Book Shop - located in Bethlehem, PA!

We will be discussing Tom Franklin's novel

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter

We would love to have you join us! If you live near the Bethlehem area and would like to become part of the One Book, Two Blogs book club, email us at onebooktwoblogs@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter using the hashtag #1B2B. Walk-in's are welcome!

We look forward to discussing literature with you!!

Book Giveaway: Love on the Big Screen

TNBBC has a great new novel up for grabs!

Bill Torgerson's novel Love on the Big Screen

will be featured in September for our Author/Reader discussion.

In order to stimulate discussion, we have 5 books to give away.

4 copies will be given to residents of the US and Canada

1 copy will be given out internationally

Here is the book description as it appears on Goodreads:

Meet Zuke, a college freshman whose understanding of love has been shaped by late-eighties romantic comedies, and who attends a school so strict it's against the rules to go to the movies. Zuke and his buddies, separated from the women on campus and forced to entertain themselves, form a club called the Brothers in Pursuit, which holds weekly meetings during which all the members dress in matching and embroidered boxer shorts, stand at attention to Cyndi Lauper's "True Colors," and report back to one another on their objectives: God, knowledge, compassion, and women. Love on the Big Screen is a novel of friendship, the dangers of romanticized love, the complexities of faith and real life, and what happens to one young man as he finds out that life is nothing like the movies he loves.

The contest will run through August 10th.

Here's how to enter:

1 - Simply comment here stating that you would like to receive a copy of the book. If you have a favorite memory of an 80's band or movie, I encourage you to share it!

2 - Tell us if you are a resident of the US/Canada or if you are international, and leave me a way to contact you.

*If your comment is missing any of this information, it will be considered ineligible.

3- Agree to participate in a group read book discussion that will run during the month of September over at TNBBC on Goodreads. Bill Torgerson has agreed to participate in the discussion and will be available to answer any questions you may have for him.

*If you're comment is chosen as a winner, by accepting the copy you are agreeing to read the book and join the group discussion at TNBBC on Goodreads (the thread for the discussion will be emailed to you at the first of the month).

Winners are chosen randomly

and will be announced here and via email

on August 10th.

Good luck!

Tell Me A Story: Ryan Bradley

Welcome to another installment of TNBBC's Tell Me a Story!

Tell Me a Story is a monthly series that will feature previously unpublished short stories from debut and Indie authors. The request was simple: Stories can be any format, any genre, and any length. And many amazing writers signed up for the challenge.

This month's story comes from the hands of Ryan Bradley. Ryan is the Co-Publisher and Editor of Artistically Declined Press, Creater of Aesthetically Declined Design, and author of the recently published Prize Winners, as well as a poetry chapbook title Aquarium. The story he shares with us today is part of a short story collection he is currently shopping around. I hope you enjoy it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Trench Swimmer

The vapor flare cracks, makes it sound like I’m under a jumbo jet, instead of on a pump station pad in the arctic. The Mud Dog is my truck. Says “Fido” on the driver’s side door. I’m dressed in rain gear, the rubber pants swishing between my thighs. Water’s building up in the north trench and there’s nothing I can do about it.

Danny lumbers back from the 9-hole, a set of port-a-potties enclosed in a shack. We stare over the edge. The trench was twenty-six inches across and four feet deep when we dug it. Now the sides are caving in and the bottom is silting. The electricians won’t be able to lay cable at this rate.

The twelve volt water pump is on the fritz again, and we’re both plumb out of ideas. I grab a bucket out of Fido’s side hatch and toss it to Danny, still looking at his two-day stubble in the ground water reflection.

“You know what to do,” I say over the whip of the flare.

Back at Danny’s side I kneel down and peel off my left boot. A hundred dollars down the trench, I think and dip it into the rising water.

Danny and I dish the water frantically out of the hole, cussing the damn sparkies and their cable.
“I got a cable I’ll lay for ‘em,” Danny says.

When we get back to camp tonight I’ll borrow a company truck and head into the general store in Deadhorse. Buy myself a new pair of boots. Other than that it'll be the same thing tomorrow. Wake up at four, on the bus at five, to the pump station by six. Danny and I'll be driving the Mud Dog, sucking dirt and permafrost to make way for cables, all so we can fill it back in when the electricians are done.

"Dare you to swim it," I say, not even thinking about the words that are coming out of my mouth.

Danny looks up at me with a slack-jaw expression worthy of a steelhead that's just been pulled out of the water. "You losing it?"

"Just trying to break the monotony." Suddenly I'm overwhelmed by the sheer routine of the job.

"You want to break the monotony so bad, why don't you swim it?"

Before he can start his half-chuckle half-smoker's cough, I'm peeling off my other boot, and throwing off the rain gear.

"You have lost it," Danny says, standing up from the edge of the trench.

I don't say a word, just keep stripping until I'm in my gray underwear, goosebumps forming all over my body. I put my hands together over my head like a swimmer you’d see in the Olympics or something and dive in. When I hit the water all these thoughts rush through my head. Like how I'll probably lose my job. Or how I'll always be known as the trench swimmer. It'll become a tall tale. Guys doing this work for years to come will tell the story, each year making it a little bigger, a little more spectacular.

They'll use the story to forget about digging trenches twelve hours a day, seven days a week. I close my eyes against the silt and mud. My skin, my insides, feel like layers of permafrost. It's worth it, I think, wondering how long I can stay under before I'll have to rise to the surface for air.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I want to thank Ryan for participating in TNBBC's Tell Me a Story. If you like what you've read, please support Ryan by checking out his website and books. Help spread the word by sharing this post through your blog, tumblr page, twitter, Google+, and facebook accounts. Every link counts! And be sure to check back with us next month for the next installment....