INTERN is back at it today, and was relieved to see that the eds hadn't found a perkier, more mentally stable intern in INTERN's absence (the old intern switcheroo apparently happens sometimes: on the train this morning, paranoid fantasies that Nemesis Intern had taken over and would be sitting there licking INTERN's rightful decline envelopes when she got in). All is well.
INTERN has been meaning to make a list of her favorite small presses, and for this particular batch she has whittled it down to:
a) presses whose books were so good and smart and bizarre they reading them was akin to taking a psychoactive substance.
or
b) presses based in Vancouver, BC (INTERN had a Can-lit fetish for a solid 8 years).
and/or
c) presses whose editor or author at some point bought INTERN a misguided beer.
Tsunami Editions: Daring, almost psychotically experimental poetry press associated with Vancouver's Kootenay School of Writing, actively publishing between 1984 and 2001. If you can find a copy of Brixton Fractals by Allen Fischer, read it. It will blow your dome.
LINEbooks: More experimental/political/Language-inspired poetry out of the Vancouver scene. Check out Reg Johansen's Courage, My Love and pretty much everything else they published in 2006.
Anvil Press: Anvil Press publishes a whole whack of books every year, but INTERN always looks forward to when they publish the winner of the International 3-day Novel-Writing contest every year (which is, btw, coming up in September: www.3daynovel.com)
Tuumba Press: Who wouldn't love a small press founded and still edited by, um, Lyn Hejinian? Wait, anyone?
Arsenal Pulp Press: Because they have a book coming out about knitbombing, or something—where vegan hipsters go out at night and knit cozies around city telephone poles. And that's neat.
Muumuu House: Because they randomly sent INTERN a book of poetry in the mail, and it was good. That's enough to make them an instant favorite, in INTERN's books.
Now INTERN has a pile of submissions to read so high its top ms is actually in danger of setting off the sprinkler system.
It will probably only set off the sprinkler system if you set it on fire. Were you thinking of setting it on fire?
ReplyDeleteYay Vancouver!... anyone who had a Can-lit obession is A-OK in my books :-)
ReplyDeleteThe 3-day novel winners look AMAZING! And I can barely keep up with NaNoWriMo. Jeez.
ReplyDeleteWell, Ms. INTERN, I'm glad you still have your job, and that you are being forced back into the drudgery of the publishing business. I hope you have a great week, and thanks for sharing this list of small presses -- I am familiar with zero, so you gave me gems to check out. Merci, and have a good one! :)
ReplyDeleteceli.a: Yes.
ReplyDeleteA misguided beer? Is that what the president drinks?
ReplyDeleteI may never have heard about knitbombing without this post.
ReplyDeleteHow much interaction do you have with small/indie presses via your internship, if any? It's impressive that someone your age even knew enough about publishing in the past to have a specifically Can-lit fetish for 8 years!
ReplyDeleteKeep up the posts, they're great entertainment.