Reverend America, mon amour
Singing in a space between Flannery O’Connor and Carl Hiaasen, Reverend America mixes the old with the new. A kicking and spitting true-to-life tale that is Saknussemm’s most heart-rending to date.
Advance Praise for Reverend America
“Dangerous, hilarious, wildly imagined, weird as a carnival midway, and real and tragic as blues harmonica. Reverend America is blisteringly good. Kris Saknussemm is red-hot and smoking.” – Janet Fitch, author of WHITE OLEANDER (Oprah Book Club Pick)
“On the one hand, Reverend America is an impressive virtuoso comic tour de force, yet within the same remarkable novel is the sad and moving story of a world that moment by moment is losing itself.” – Jonathan Baumbach, author of DREAMS OF MOLLY and B: A NOVEL
“Saknussemm is a rare visionary of American culture, a fearless artist with his very own skew on the western world. Reverend America is brilliant!” – Jonathan Evison, New York Times best-selling author of WEST OF HERE
"One is hard pressed, while reading him, to recall the existence of any other reality." - The Boston Review
The League of Somebodies by Samuel Sattin - Release Date: 11/2012
“Sam Sattin is an extravagantly talented young writer and his debut novel, The League of Somebodies, is a dazzling investigation into masculinity and hero-making. It’s also a rollicking good time, and his characters--crazy, troubled, hilarious, endearing--are truly unforgettable." - Cristina Garcia, author of Dreaming in Cuban
We at DCP welcome our newest addition to the team, Samuel Sattin! Samuel Sattin is a graduate of the Mills College creative writing MFA in Oakland, California. He has appeared in Cent Magazine, Generations Literary Review, and elsewhere. Sam is a genre-bending nutcase that has provided us with a wonderful literary superhero folk story that is as profound as it is hilarious.
League of Somebodies will be due out from DCP next year. Here is an early synopsis to whet ye old palate:
Lenard Sikophsky has been fed plutonium since the age of six. Fearghas Murdoch Sikophsky, t he protagonist’s father, is intent on making him into the world’s very first superhero. Spanning the grimescape of 1960’s Massachusetts to the contemporary Colorado prairie -- even the year 2021 comes into play -- this odd and brazenly dark satire scours the foundations of American masculinity.
Pathologically shy and physically debilitated Lenard has never enjoyed the carefree childhood oth
ers have in his broken down stomping ground of Milton, Massachusetts. His father, a Jewish, Polish, Scottish émigré of mysterious, possibly jail-bound origins, and his itinerant, glass-eyed assistant, Argyll, poorly keep his son’s destiny a secret, all while teaching, with indelible integrity, the importance of a sacred book passed down through their family for generations: The Manaton.
The Manaton, other than a tome of great significance to the Sikophsky bloodline, is a rulebook instructing on the proper way to be male, from concepts as simple as growing attractive chest hair to the nasty business of wrestling lions. Along with the plutonium, it is from this book that Lenard's Super-training will take stake. Throughout his adolescent instruction--which involves fleeing from trains, battling wild beasts, and the unintentional ingesting of psychotropic drugs--Lenard is introduced to his all-too-likely destiny as a vigilante, all while falling in love with the beautiful (and compulsively suicidal) Laura Rabinowitz, who is bound to him, of all things, by contract.
In this whirlwind of confused masculinity, a violent entity called ‘THEY’ is hot on Lenard's trail. He can change his name, elude them best he can, but twenty years later, when his own son, Nemo, is introduced to the same destiny as his father, the danger becomes more real than he would like.
Stay tuned for more information on Sam Sattin’s debut The League of Somebodies forthcoming 2012!
Swell Book Release Party + Other Dates This Weekend!
Mark your calendars for the Seattle book release party for Corwin Ericson’s Swell. Cory will be reading in person, plus some excellent locals readers, a band, and booze. You know how we do by now. They just keep getting better and we are so excited to throw this Swell party. More information available at www.swellthenovel.com.
Get Your Fill of Swell Reviews, Blogs, Excerpts and More
The release of Swell by Corwin Ericson is in full swing. Here are some quick links for favorable reviews, guest blogs by the author, and online excerpts for your reading pleasure!
SWELL by Corwin Ericson out now!
The day has come folks! Swell by Corwin Ericson hits bookstores today! We are so proud of this title. Please stop by your local bookseller or online and pick yourself up a copy today! If you haven't heard, here is some summary and advanced praise info, as well as links to pursue your thirst for knowledge of all things Swell. Corwin will be GUEST BLOGGING at Powell's bookstore's blog all week. Check out his hilarious story The Conference up now!
And be sure to make your way over to www.swellthenovel.com for more info!
Advanced praise for Swell:
A raucous roller-coaster ride . . . the writer deconstructs all things New England to hilarious effect. Ericson's tale reveals strong flavors of Tom Robbins, but there is also a splash of Douglas Adams in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Just sit back and enjoy the long strange trip. - Shelf Awareness
This delightfully loopy debut combines Down East deadpan with elements of Nordic mythology and Pynchonesque pyrotechnics. Ericson's Maine coastal setting lies at the edge of the surreal. - Publishers Weekly
Jaunty, playful, hilarious, and eminently readable, Swell is much more than an auspicious debut, it's that rarest of birds, a good old-fashioned reading pleasure. - Jonathan Evison, author of West of Here and All About Lulu
Orange himself reads like Pynchon’s Doc Sportello. Add a splash of Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, too . . . A superbly crafted mixture of humor and observations of modern life, a combination of barely-noticeable detective fiction and magical realism, something uniquely its own and, in the end, a truly good read. Swell is a fantastic novel. - Line Zero
SWELL is a masterpiece of the comic novel...If you’ve ever hoped there would be just one more Douglas Adams novel…I love this book and it's hell trying to convey that in a few sentences. - Jeff Battis City Light's Bookstore
The humor builds as the story progresses and Orange becomes entangled in stranger and stranger circumstances, while all he wants to do is waste time, acquire more beer, and get home to his cat, hopefully without being thrown overboard (again) - Emily Adams Third Place Books
Two Year Anniversary Party, Join us at The Backdoor @ Roxys!
To all wonderful friends and allies of Dark Coast Press:
For the past two years I have been publishing books in the city of Seattle. I would not have been able to do this without the support and help from all of you. So I found the perfect cocktail bar called The Backdoor @ Roxy's in Fremont (where the Rain City Video used to be) and met the perfect bartender for a DCP event named Jayson and booked the place for the night. We are just going to enjoy the two years of life with some cocktails and good company. Please stop by and hang out! This is open to the literary community at large - so bring some friends. Below are the party details. SEE YOU THERE!
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Saturday, September 10 at 7:00pm - September 11 at 12:00am |
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462 N 36th St Seattle, WA |
Silence & Communication Reading in Capitol Hill this Thursday
Silence & Communication
@ Sole Repair, Capitol Hill, Seattle
September 1st, 2011
7:00 PM | $5
On Thursday, September 1st, we are hosting a large-scale group reading and performance at the event space Sole Repair on Capitol Hill in Seattle. The event will feature 22 writers of different backgrounds and disciplines, as well as a host of local publishers and presses, all under one roof.
Our theme for the night is "Silence & Communication," and is most immediately inspired by the works of John Cage. Each presenter receives a period of two minutes to respond to the theme in whatever mode they see fit. Rather than use a stage and podium, our readers will form a circle around the audience. As the performance moves sequentially, the audience will shift in relation to each reader, creating a dynamic dance in perspective. Additional viewing space is available on the balcony for those who cannot fit inside the circle.
The featured performers are: Joe Milutis, Matthew Simmons, M Thompson, Lisa Wells, Crystal Curry, Nico Vassilakis, Cristin Miller, Paul Nelson, Alex Bleecker, Jarret Middleton, Jeremy Springsteed, Laura Wachs, Robert Mittenthal, Greg Bem, Jason Conger, Willie Fitzgerald, Graham Isaac, Summer Robinson, Jesse Minkert, Ian Ettinger, Gregory Laynor, and Melanie Noel.
The following literary presses will be selling their latest issues: PageBoy, Hoarse, Pilot Books Old Stock, Wave Books, and Dark Coast Press.
Kris Saknussemm Seattle Dates
Author Kris Saknussemm will be in Seattle for a reading from a recently released collection of great American road stories!
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2ND 2011
7:00 PM Free
ELLIOT BAY BOOK COMPANY
Seattle, WA
He will also be supporting his upcoming Dark Coast release Reverend America, as well as his recently released short story collection Sinister Miniatures, at reading events in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, and dates across the country. Stay tuned for dates and times!
Head on over to the newly launched book page for Swell by Corwin Ericson at www.swellthenovel.com! The site is packed with the latest info on Swell, including news update, facebook and twitter feeds, author video, sneak peak excerpts from the book, ordering info, and more!
Jennifer Natalya Fink seminar and reading at Lannan Center in Georgetown
The award-winning author of the story collecton Thirteen Fugues (DCP 2011) will be hosting a seminar and reading at the renowed Lannan Center for Poetics & Social Practice. If you are not in the D.C. area and cannot make it to this event, do yourself a favor and get acquainted with Thirteen Fugues and all of Ms. Fink's other ground-breaking works of fiction!
September 13, 2011
Seminar: 5:30 PM | Lannan Center (New North 408)
Reading: 8:00 PM | Copley Formal Lounge
Dark Coast Press new releases featured in The Stranger
From East Coast to Dark Coast: How an Editor and a Writer Came to Seattle to Found a Publishing Company
"Dark Coast published Middleton's debut novel, An Dantomine Eerly, a surrealistic stream-of-consciousness narrative about the end of a poet's life, in early 2010. Here's what I said about it in the April 1 issue of The Stranger: "Eerly calls back to centuries of Irish literary tradition, from the aisling (a patriotic lyric poem from the 17th century with dozens of bizarre constraints) to James Joyce's giddy molestation of language." It was a flawed-but-ambitious launch for the publisher, the sort of uncompromising debut that makes you anxious to see what they'll do next. This month, Dark Coast finally published its next two books—Thirteen Fugues by Jennifer Natalya Fink and Elynia by David Michael Belczyk—and while three titles isn't enough to accurately triangulate Dark Coast's entire publishing plan, its organizational flavor is now a bit clearer."
Elynia by David Michael Belczyk OUT NOW!
Storms come and go and in our apocalyptic era grow monstrous. In Elynia, Belczyk's lyric voice and poignant portraits reconnect us to a perpetual shelter that's closer than we'd ever imagined. Paul Nelson, author of A Time Before Slaughter
Hear the voices coming up from the storm of hope and suffering.
An immigrant cobbler sees his son wrongly arrested by a man whose shoes he shines. The memory of a child's deceased mother is betrayed as boyhood friends use her makeup for a prank. A waitress loves a quiet man who atones for his troubled past by meticulously refurbishing an old house. The footsteps of a lost love haunt a man as he retraces them across the floor of his empty apartment. A storm looms on the edge of each character's world, culminating the intensely colored portraits of Elynia into one lyrical, exalted mosaic.
Thirteen Fugues by Jennifer Natalya Fink OUT NOW!
"Reading Fink is like having access to the subconscious mind of a stranger who may well be mad.
Part of you may not want to listen, but the desire to know what comes next is too strong." Publishers Weekly
Dark Coast and Two Dollar Radio Sponsor Readings in March
NEW LITERATURE WILDERNESS EXPLORATION GROUP
Grace Krilanovich and Jarret Middleton Relay Shocking New Discoveries
Spend an evening with two fiction authors whose new books are out on new presses you should know about! Grace Krilanovich and Jarret Middleton will read from their debut novels, and talk with the audience about the future of fiction, getting published on an indie press, death, food, the woods, and more! Enjoy a bizarre book-themed gift-basket raffle, booze, and more talk and fun carried to a nearby bar after the event.
The Orange Eats Creeps follows a band of teen hobo vampire junkies through the 90's Pacific Northwest. Grace Krilanovich has been a MacDowell Colony fellow, and was named one of the National Book Foundation's 5 Under 35 for 2010.
An Dantomine Eerly chronicles the last thoughts and surreal recollections of the Irish-American poet Dallin as he lies dying. Jarret Middleton is the co-founder and editor of Dark Coast Press, an independent literary house in Seattle.
Events sponsored by the independent publishers Two Dollar Radio and Dark Coast Press in honor of Small Press Month.
Reverend America by Kris Saknussemm
Swell by Corwin Ericson
Hold onto your hats, we’ve got two brand new titles in the works! Dark Coast Press is proud to present the signing of Reverend America by Kris Saknussem and Swell by Corwin Ericson.
Reverend America is a darkly comic carnival of a novel that follows an albino preacher named Casper through his alienated and gifted life in the American south. Kris Saknussemm is the renowned author of Zanesville and Private Midnight. More info here.
Swell is a tall literary tale about the island-based exploits of Orange Whippey, his friends, lovers, and boatmates, the bizarre history of his kin on the island of Bismuth, and a cell-phone network made out of whales. Fans of writers as far ranging as John Barth to Neil Gaiman are going to want to dive face first into this one. Corwin Ericson is the former managing editor of the Massachusetts Review, Swell is his first novel.
Both of these astoundingly good novels will be available next year. Stay tuned for more info, excerpts, and order information regarding these and all the newest books from Dark Coast.
Jennifer Fink featured at ABA Conference in Washington, D.C.
Supporting her May 2011 release of Thirteen Fugues with DCP, Jennifer Fink will be featured at this years American Booksellers Association's conference in Washington, D.C. in January. Everyone in attendance will have the chance first hand to meet Ms. Fink and get their first sample of Thirteen Fugues. Congratulations Jennifer!
Thursday, January 20th 5:45 pm – 8:00pm
Crystal Gateway Marriott
Hotel Ballroom
1700 Jefferson Davis Highway
Arlington, VA 22202
http://www.bookweb.org/events/institute/wi6schedule.html
Reading in Chicago
Jennifer Fink will be reading from her new novel The Mikvah Queen (Rebel Satori, 2010) December 10th at the Women and Children First Bookstore in Chicago, IL. Come see this wonderful author read if you’re in the Chicago area, friends.
Just a reminder, Jennifer Fink’s Thirteen Fugues comes out from yours truly this coming May! Keep an eye out for more of her beautiful literature. More info visit www.jennifernfink.com.
Jonathan Evison on The Warren Report
The indomitable Jonathan Evison got some things to say about the state of literary fiction, publishing, and who's writing the good stuff so far in 2010. He also gave Dark Coast some love on this episode of local book-culture television show The Warren Report.
Please, please check out Jonathan’s forthcoming MONSTER of a book, WEST OF HERE, from Algonquin Books February 15th. Pre-order your copy of WEST OF HERE today!
December of Readings | Happy Holidays!
Readings galore throughout Seattle and the Northwest this holiday season. Come see us friends; have one, wear a sweater, say hello! Happy Holidays!
December 3rd is Plethora! Jarret Middleton reads from An Dantomine Eerly (DCP 2010) at Empire Espresso in Columbia City, Seattle. Starts at 7pm, with readers Mary Call and Evan Peterson. FREE
December 12th is SPLAB Literary Salon Series at Doe Bay on Orcas Island! Jarret will be a featured author. Hosted by Greg Bem + open mic afterwards. FREE
December 18th is the Plop! Literary Series hosted by the wonderful Josie Davis in Beacon Hill Seattle. Jarret will be featured there as well. Plus some great readers, musicians, drinks, and pie. Holiday pie. That get's underway at 7pm. More details TBA. ($)
New Dark Coast Editor
We're proud to announce the newest addition to the Dark Coast Press team: Jared Bowers has officially joined our little family as assistant editor!
Jared is a bearded human who writes reviews and interviews for Lush Beat. He is a lover of music and the odd and fantastic in literature. He resides near Cincinnati, Ohio, previously hailing from various cities on the eastern half of the US. He makes a great addition to the team. Congrats! Check back for plenty of updates soon, including new friends, new readings & events, new titles. . . .
The Novel: Live! October 11 - 16th
Dark Coast Press is a proud sponsor of The Novel: Live!
TN:L! has officially begun! Please visit www.thenovellive.org for LIVE STREAMING of the novel being written and webcam view of the live scene at Richard Hugo House!
Jarret Middleton (An Dantomine Eerly) will take the stage WEDNESDAY OCT 13TH 8-10PM (late night happy hour!). Please come and visit us!!!
Jarret is the author of An Dantomine Eerly, a surreal debut novel that chronicles the death of an Irish-American poet named Dallin. Please visit the book page to purchase a copy!
Three Guys One Book features DCP
Why We Love What We Do - Aaron Talwar - Dark Coast Press
"Dark Coast goes after titles that are seriously inventive and adhere to the responsibilities of the craft that make books both readable and works of art. If one part of that equation is off a project feels imbalanced. A book that is too experimental isn’t palatable or interesting for a wide range of readers. And books that depend on generic language and simplistic devices bore us to death. The genius is there when those tendencies of both form and content, tone and structure, meaning and delivery, all come together at once. That is what we are always striving to find, and oh, how we cry with joy when we do." from Why We Love What We Do [. . .]
Jarret Middleton on SPLAB! Radio
Dark Coast author Jarret Middleton recently did a radio interview with Seattle-based SPLAB! (Spoken Word Lab). He talks about his debut An Dantomine Eerly, literature, Irish mythology, working in factories, living on islands, and your very own Dark Coast Press. Interviewed by renowed local poet Paul Nelson. Check them out at www.splab.org.
The Novel: Live! October 11 - 16th, 2010 Seattle
36 Authors. 6 Days. 1 Blockbuster Novel. That is The Novel: Live! A literacy fund-raising event taking place at Richard Hugo House in Capitol Hill from October 11 - 16th. Featuring authors such as Garth Stein, Jennie Shortridge, Erik Larson, Dave Boling, Kevin O'Brien, Sean Beaudoin, Karen Finneyfrock, Stacey Levine, and Dark Coast's own Jarret Middleton. The authors will complete a full-length 60,000 word novel! All writing sessions from authors will be streamed live on thenovellive.org. You'll see DCP publisher Aaron around with a clipboard, engaging some managerial duties throughout the week. All proceeds go to charity. We are excited to a part of this event - please come out!
More info avaialable at: thenovellive.org | Seattle7writers.org | hugohouse.org
DCP Books Go Out To Bruins Foundation Charity
Happy Anniversary! Dark Coast Press turns one!
Dark Coast is proud to announce our one year anniversary! This has been a truly amazing year in so many respects. We want to thank everyone in the book community of Seattle who we have befriended or worked with in some way over the last year. And thank you to all our supporters everywhere. We couldn't have done this without a lot of help and hard work from everyone involved. We're busy working on more books for the beginning of Year 2 - so, keep a look out! More books, more stories, more work, more love. Onward!
This Man Is Dying, Folks: East Coast Reading Tour August 12 - 21! Dates in NYC, NJ, Boston, Portsmouth NH, and ME
Dark Coast is throwing a little shindig composed of multiple shindigs in the northeast throughout the middle of August. Featuring DCP author Jarret Middleton reading from An Dantomine Eerly, and fellow DCP'er Jennifer Natalya Fink (select date) reading from her upcoming The Mikvah Queen and 13 Fugues (forthcoming, DCP 2011), along with a host of other amazing writers and musicians. Details listed below! *IF YOU LIVE ON THE EAST COAST, PLEASE MAKE IT OUT TO THESE DATES!*
▪ Fri 8/13: @ Bowery Poetry Club w/ Jennifer Natalya Fink (V, Burn, The Mikvah Queen)
833 Bowery, Manhattan, New York 5 - 7pm. FREE
▪ Sat 8/14: @ The Raconteur Bookstore w/ Pedro Angel Serrano + Jon Andrew acoustic
431 Main Street, Metuchen, NJ. 8pm. FREE
▪ Tue 8/17: @ RiverRun Books w/ Tim Johnston (Irish Girl, Never So Green)
20 Congress Street Portsmouth, NH. 7pm. FREE.
▪ Fri 8/20: @ "Living Room Reading" Boston, MA w/ guests
115 Fischer Ave., Unit 1, Jamaica Plain, MA. 8pm. FREE. BYOB!
▪ Sat 8/21: @ "Living Room Reading" Caretaker's Barn (Hamilton House) w/ Tim Horvath (Ciruclation) +
40 Vaughn's Lane, South Berwick, ME. 7pm - late. FREE. BYOB!
Read the Publisher's column at TNB
Dark Coast Press publisher Aaron Talwar has his very own column about the trials, tribulations, and joys of the independent publishing world. Aaron will consistently cover topics of a literary nature every couple of weeks, so be sure to follow his antics! Check out his first installment entitled, "The Apparent Insanity of Ambition, or, How I Started An Indie Press" now at The Nervous Breakdown! Congratulations, Aaron!
New reviews on Middleton's debut An Dantomine Eerly
Seattle's resident poet and prose author John Olson wrote this excellent, poetry-laden review of ADE. Implore you, read it!
“Identities are never fully clear in this Gothic tale of romance and sex. The language that provides clues as to their appearance and character shines and shifts with something larger than beings of skin and bone. Its language is a liminal one, haunting the borders of life and death, ideas and reality, with a mournful, incendiary resonance. At the heart of this book is a deep romanticism, a dusky tenuity that thwarts and lures, conceals and reveals, confusing actuality with hallucination . . . [An Dantomine Eerly] sounds as if Charles Bukowski had suddenly been possessed by the spirit of Matthew Arnold. As if Dover Beach suddenly became Venice Beach, and the acerbic barfly a quixotic scholar gypsy. As if they could somehow be both, in the same body.” John Olson, author of Souls of Wind and The Nothing That Is
Also, the blog Rundpinne wrote a nice brief review of ADE, check it out HERE
Official Book Trailer An Dantomine Eerly by Jarret Middleton
