Book Launch Web Site Face Lift, Poem on Rogue Agent, and Post on Contest Winning at The Next Best Book Club!

Hey everyone! You may notice things look a little different today on the site. Yes, the graphics now reflect the new book graphics. What do you think? Better/worse? Too scary? Do you like the green, or is it off-putting green? Feedback appreciated!

That was to celebrate, of course, that today’s the official launch day of Field Guide to the End of the World. Hooray! It’s good to have something to celebrate after what’s been a very rough year. Please feel free to order a signed copy from me (now with swag magnets!), get it from Amazon, or order it through Moon City Press (distributed through University of Arkansas Press) here. If you want to really make my day, leave a review up at Amazon or Goodreads, or just your blog! Or even a mini-review on Twitter. Every little bit means a lot!

A poem from the book is up at Rogue Agent, a fab journal focused on the body. The poem, “Narcissist’s Apocalypse,” is pretty dark, but actually one of my favorites from the book. It’s a persona poem, yes, but it also reflects the very real feelings that we can experience when our bodies fail us. Also, don’t you love the name “Rogue Agent?”

I also have a post up at the Next Best Book Club on how it felt to win a book contest – on my fifth book – and how winning a contest so far has been different from publishing with indie presses through open submissions. I have to say it was kind of nice to finally win something after all those years (and books!) But as I say there, the most important thing is having a good relationship with the folks at the press.

I’m on my way tonight to Megan Snyder-Camp’s book launch (actually, it’s a double book launch. Does that make me feel lazy?) at the new Hugo House location (which I haven’t been to yet.) We poets have got to support each other, right? My own official launch party and reading (Wine, Poetry, and the End of the World, Sept 18 at 3 PM at Matthews Winery in Woodinville) isn’t for two more weeks, so I’ve still got time to be nervous, prepare, get nervous again, etc. But it’s always fun to see poets out with their new books, especially on a grey rainy day like today. When you think about it, fall is a great time for reading books. I feel I’ve got a ton of reading to catch up on, now that all my bookshelves are built and my boxes of books unpacked!

Last, here is a gratuitous picture of snuggling cats – Sylvia and Shakespeare, our two half-ragdolls.