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| A New Novel by Peter Skinner |
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√Newest&Forthcoming Titles
Over the 25 years of BBP's publishing history,
we have attempted to share with readers the
work of the most intriguing writers and artists
we could find--without consideration of how
well their books or art might sell. Here are a few
of the newest examples of this continuing
search: some of these books are in print, others
are in production or in manuscripts.
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"Poetry is simply literature reduced to the essence of its
active principle. It is purged of idols of every kind, of
realistic illusions, of any conceivable equivocation
between the language of 'truth' and the language of
'creation.' " -- Paul Valery
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Contents: 1/Newest Titles. 2/Forthcoming Titles
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1/≈Newest Titles≈
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THE BELLS OF MOSES HENRY, by Peter Skinner
By the author of the widely admired novel, White Buffalo (published
earlier by Birch Brook Press), Skinner's new novel is picaresque in
scope, rich with drama, humor, insight, and is peopled by a
lively cast of credible, often endearing characters whom Willie
Graves, a mulatto boy, follows from whore houses to railroad
boxcars to the homes of southern folk in search of security,
redemption, understanding, and love. "A warm, gripping, human
story..."--Peter Walpole, Author/National Public Radio Essayist.
"Skinner's latest work is an exciting and generous novel which
tours Virginia from Charlottesville to the mountains to
Chesapeake Bay. It's a pleasure to see, hear, and feel his
array of characters, some up to no good and some doing the
right thing against heavy odds..."--John D. Casey, Author.
"With shimmering scenes and memorable characters, all
overseen by the University of Virginia's old bell-ringer, the
hard truths that can keep people apart are wrestled with..."
--Donovan Webster, Journalist/Author. "This story plays out
with an utterly fascinating and entertaining writing style.
For fans of literary fiction or just those searching for a look
into the soul of Virginia, 'The Bells of Moses Henry' is a top
pick."--MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW. "A lovely book. Like a
little Southern gothic Dos Passos."--Elizabeth Kiem,
Member, National Book Critics Circle. "'Moses Henry'
not only tells a mesmerizing story, but has a cast of
disparate characters whose lives blend together in a
deceptively simple way...Skinner has the gift--as do all
good writers--of creating sentences that linger long after
after they've been read..."--Barbara Rich, THE DAILY
PROGRESS. 366 pages. Trade paper: $24.95.
ISBN: 9780978997458. Hardcover: $34.95.
ISBN: 9780978997441.
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THE ALCHEMY OF WORDS by Edward Francisco.
In this exquisite collection of poetry, the poet-alchemist casts
his keen eye and ear over a broad palette of human experience
in search of the precise words to transmute everyday life into
the golden language of understanding: from the terrifying kudzu
vine to John the Baptist waiting for Christ to sitting in the gaze
of the Man of Tao to reading Shelley with Gabriel to the irony in
sending a Valentine's card to Emily Dickinson. "Francisco is a
skillful poet. As a student of Zen he seems to have found that
deep silence within, a silence that is filled with paradox and
inconclusiveness..."--Gail Varney, INSPIRIT LITERARY JOURNAL.
"All of the poems in this book are in some way concerned with
the power of language to heal us and make us whole." --
OAKRIDGER. "Francisco's most comfortable following tangents,
but wherever his mind wanders, he speaks in an elegant style"--
Kevin Crowe, METRO IMPULSE. "Francisco reflects on his fellow
creatures (human and not), solitude, the inadequacy of language,
the scratch and itch of poetry--all with dry humor and a steady
hand..."--Phil Wagner, THE ICONOCLAST. "These poems aren't
obscure or elusive, but a kind of salvation..."--APPLACHIAN
HERITAGE. "Francisco writes with intelligence & insight about
the unseen world that exists beneath the surface..."--PRESA.
Alchemy has been selected by SMALL PRESS REVIEW as one of
its Best Selections of the year. 56 pages. Letterpress soft-
cover: $13. ISBN: 978-0-9789974-1-0.
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CONFESSIONS OF A RATIONAL LUNATIC, by
Marcus Rome. This fifth collection of poetry by a NYC
psychoanalyst grips and holds onto the reader's psyche
through an urgent, seductive, sometimes terrifying voice
just beneath the surface of every line. The rhythms and
refrains might be likened to the throbbing of blood through
the brain as the poet leads us through winding, dark
corridors of the mind in search of love and security. . .
Wood engravings by Frank C. Eckmair. 96 pages.
Letterpress softcover: $16. ISBN: 9780913559987.
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HUMAN/NATURE, by Lance Lee. The poet's latest
collection "bears witness to a lyricism rare in much of today's
writing. His 'Actaeon' is a monumental poem, weaving ancient
myth and modern angst with a robust command of language,
evidence of a master at work"--Jackson Wheeler, Editor, SOLO.
"Lee's great strength is his ability to look with unflinching
honesty at the condition of being human . . ." --Myra Schneider,
author, Insisting on Yellow . . . " Brings voices as diverse as
Hannibal, Rembrandt, Orpheus and Eurydice into the modern
world."--Martin Bax, Editor, AMBIT. "Browning pushed his
impulse to write large, and this author follows suit..."--
David Castleman, THE NEW FORMALIST. 120 pages.
Trade paper: $16.95. ISBN: 9780913559994.
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JACK'S BEANS, by Tom Smith. Poetry presented in the
unique, compelling format of a five-year diary. "This work builds
upon itself eloquently, allowing the reader to explore, hand-in-hand
with Smith, domesticity and decadence, the consumptive and
restorative yearnings of youth, love and that which thwarts it..."
--Yvonne Daly, Prof., San Francisco State University... "By turns
sad, profound, funny, incisive, poetic and moving". . .
--George Drury Smith, founder/editor, BEYOND BAROQUE.
Striking cover art by Anita Lobel. 372 pages. Softcover offset
edition: $29.95. ISBN: 978-0135599-70.
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THE SEA-CROSSING OF ST. BRENDAN, by Matthew Brennan
A classic of Irish literature: a sparkling new verse version of this great sea
adventure which originally appeared in Latin prose. The tale centers
around St. Brendan the Navigator's seven-year search for the isle known
as the "Land of Saints," and in the course of which a giant fish lifts his ship
on its back. "Brennan's rendering uses an adaptation of alliterative meter
tempered by some effects of more familiar verse forms. This achieves a
swift-moving and eminently readable text full of concrete details and
direct action that should strongly appeal both to students and to more
general readers."--W.D. Snodgrass, poet. "Brennan offers an invention
worthy of Borges, and the result is an enchanting tale in which the real
and spiritual worlds blend as convincingly as its diverse linguistic
elements do."--Timothy Steele, author, Toward the Winter Solstice.
"I liked SEA-CROSSING because it's adventurous and involves a
bygone era of great belief and simplicity..."--Indianapolis Star.
"SEA-CROSSING is highly readable, and very approachable..."
--SOUTH CAROLINA REVIEW. Original art by Trish Romano. 64 pages.
Softcover letterpress edition printed on 70 lb. Cool White Vellum.
$15. ISBN: 9780978997-43-4
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WHERE THINGS ARE WHEN YOU LOSE THEM, by
Martin Golan. This tightly written collection of twelve short
stories by a veteran journalist confronts contemporary issues in
relationships, and the nature of loss, with the keen eye of a reporter,
a poet's ear for language, and the insights of one who has "been there."
As Golan leads us through a landscape of loss, he doesn't merely
illuminate these moments but seems to celebrate them: "Loss," he
says, "comes with being human, with any life lived fully and well."
"Golan writes of contemporary marriage with humor and reckless
candor. He voices our marital anxieties, its frustrations, losses and
joys. Somewhere between the lies we tell each other and those we tell
ourselves, Golan finds a vast human neediness for romantic love."
--Ken Kalfus, author, A Disorder Peculiar to the Country. "A novel is
like a marriage," says Golan in THE MONTCLAIR TIMES. "A short story
is like a brief but intense affair. And a poem is like a one-night stand."
"Precisely written stories which shimmer with humanity..."--
CERVENA BARVA NEWSLETTER. Stories include these intriguing titles:
"The Shape of Water," "The Loneliness of Men," "Intimacy," "The
Cicadas are Throbbing," "Nora, Standing Naked," "The Perfect Woman."
Published in a handsome trade paperback, featuring cover photography
by Peter Jacobs. 175 pages. $18.95. ISBN: 9780978997427.
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WOODSTOVES & RAVENS, by Robert Farmer.
A wild-land sojourn with woodstoves and ravens in the boreal forest on
the Canadian north shore of Lake Superior, near Thunder Bay. The
author, a forest-ecologist, distills two decades of back-country living
into tight, lyrical poems--on wildness, the mind's seasonal darkness,
relationships with plants, animals and, occasionally, people.
Grounded in Tang Dynasty poetry and Buddhist philosophy, his work
moves beyond description to focus on the irony and agony of self-
awareness. These poems reflect the author's deep fondness for northern
wild lands and life in remote regions. Seven original artworks by
Alanna Marohnic, a resident of Ontario. "Farmer's meditative poetry on
some twenty years of life on a homestead near Ferguson Creek is like an
extended visit with the best of tour guides--one who knows when to tell
you about some feature you might have missed; and one who knows
when to shut up and let you simply take it all in...."--Peter Fergus-Moore,
THUNDER BAY CHRONICLE-JOURNAL. "Thoreau and Frost would be
pleased with this book's natural softness of aura..."--David Castleman,
THE NEW FORMALIST. "Depicts in broad brushstrokes a scene or
moment whose ultimate meaning may be transitional, decisive, or
eternal..."--Phil Wagner, THE ICONOCLAST. Letterpress softcover:
$16. (U.S.) $20. (Canada) 88 pages. ISBN: 978-0-9789974-0-3.
Ship/pack: $4.50 (U.S.) $6.00 (Canada).
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IN THE GARDEN OF DETRITUS, by Stanley Nelson.
A handset, handbound letterpress-printed chapbook
from the author of 15 previous books of poetry, including
the brilliant four-volume epic poem, IMMIGRANT, also
published by Birch Brook Press. Through staggered lines
and rhythms and internal rhymes In the Garden of Detritus
wanders through the nature of and relationship between
dreams and memory, unveiling "vapors" of reality in a
garden of statues and artificers. Original cover wood
engraving by Frank C. Eckmair. $12. Ship/pack: $4.50
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WIND & WATER, by Osmond Beckwith
An engaging collection of poetry which invokes classical
allusions while immersing itself in the land the poet loves,
echoing early days in Michigan growing up on a farm, or
listening to the wind soughing the pines through a screen
door in Maine, or even as he absords the tableau of Manhattan's
streets. But no matter where the poet observes human and
natural life, his ambition remains the same: to become one
with the wind, to remember the rain. Original wood engraving
by Michael McCurdy. $15. + $4.50 shipping/packing. 56 pages.
ISBN: 978-7-913559-92-4
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2/≈Forthcoming Titles≈
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NORTH OF EASIE, by Robert J. Romano, Jr. The author of two previous
non-fiction books published by Birch Brook Press, Fishing With Faeries, and
Shadows in the Stream, will make his first hike into fiction with this lively novel.
As in his previous two books, Romano's characters hover about flyfishing
streams, but in this new book other delightful sports also surface, including
love. Cover will feature art by the extraordinary outdoor artist, John Swan.
Anticipated publication date is summer, 2009.
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