In Which Many Things Happen All at Once
So, signing the new book contract with Kitsune, and signed on a final offer for a townhome near Glenn’s work within the same 24 hours. The place needs a little work, but is mostly in good shape. Hope the inspection and appraisal both go okay! Today I talk to my money person to see what stuff we need to get together and by when. It’s been a bizarre process shopping for a house during this so-called buyer’s market – because of the low prices, there’s been very little inventory, and so, very few houses to look at over the past four months that were even close to being okay to live in without needing, say, 75K worth of work. Two interesting web sites for those of you interested in Seattle real estate: the Seattle Bubble blog and The Mortgage Porter, both of which I’ve been reading religiously for about four months along with scouring real estate listing site Redfin. I’m glad I can finally stop reading them all ! This is the last time I want to move for a while.
Now, my National Advanced Poetry Class is starting up in a week or two, plus I’m putting together a proposal this month for a very exciting possible project that I can’t talk about yet but I will ask you guys to cross your fingers for me on…And writing a bunch of reviews. With the writing life, it’s so much about a life of months of waiting, followed by two weeks of hectic opportunities that must be accomplished all at once…
Amid all the excitement, I want to say I’m excited about the upcoming April 4 reading at Hugo House for the persona poetry anthology A Face to Meet the Faces: An Anthology of Contemporary Persona Poetry
; I’ll be reading my own poem included in the anthology, “When Red Becomes the Wolf,” and also Charles Jensen’s “After Oz.” The other readers are all fantastic and I expect it to be a really fun happening.
Unexplained Fevers, my third book, coming out in 2013!!!
Yes, good news to announce today…It’s official! Kitsune Books will publish my third book, “Unexplained Fevers,” in late 2013!!!
This book is especially exciting for me because it will be a collaborative book with Seattle painter Deborah Scott, and will be unusual because it will feature color art plates of her paintings along with my poems! If you take a look at her paintings, you will see why her art and my poems might be a good fit…she has a subversive sense of humor and pop culture influences in her fairy tale paintings that will be fantastic in the book! So I’m super excited!
Did I mention today I put in an offer on a townhouse as well? It’s a day of contracts and excitement. And Happy Luck of the Irish! Since I’m turning 39 next month, there’s this sense of everything coming together right before my 4th decade begins…
My very first book award, a reading report, poetry in translation…
Woke up to a little good news this morning…my book She Returns to the Floating World won a Silver Medal in the 2011 Florida Publishers Association Book Awards. (Thanks Kitsune Books for the nomination! You can read about all the FPA winners here.) Though it is Silver, it is my very first book award, so I am excited, especially as I have felt, well, a little discouraged lately in the poetry arena. Thanks Florida!
The theme of my weekend was poetry in translation, as I went down Friday night to listen to wonderful translator/poets read their work at the Wave Books Translation event at the Henry Art Gallery. My favorite reader was Whiting Award winner Don Mee Choi, who read a beautiful Snow White-inspired work she had translated in Korean. She worked on an anthology of Korean women poets that I’m going to have to look up and buy, I think!
The theme continued at a reading on Saturday…Really enjoyed the Day of the Dead reading at the Lake City Library with other wonderful readers including Judith Roche, John Burgess, Carolyne Wright, Chris Jarmick and host Raul Sanchez. Several poets read their work in both English and Spanish, and it was lovely to think about the sound of poetry and how it translates through language (and what doesn’t.)
Interview with Publisher and Author Anne Petty
I was really excited, as one of my final summer interview series, to get a chance to pose some questions to the editor and publisher of my second book of poetry, She Returns to the Floating World, Anne Petty of Kitsune Books. I hope you all have enjoyed reading the series – I’ve really enjoyed sitting down with some of my favorite people and writers.
Anne Petty writes dark fantasy/horror cross-over fiction, has published three books of literary criticism, and many essays on mythology/folklore, J.R.R. Tolkien, and the craft of writing. She is also a published poet and owns Kitsune Books, which publishes literary fiction, poetry, memoir, and literary commentary.
Anne Petty blogs at http://AnnePetty.blogspot.com/ and her website is www.annepetty.com.
On Twitter: http://twitter.com/KitsuneBooks
On Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Kitsune-Books/185884136898
Jeannine: First of all, why did you decide to start Kitsune Books? What do you think makes your press different than other small presses? I think it’s very interesting how you tackle fiction, non-fiction, and poetry, for instance!
Anne Petty: I have met many talented writers whose work is amazing but doesn’t fit into the commercial mainstream mold. I wanted to create an outlet for those types of works – excellent content that’s slightly “off the beaten path” – and publish them in well-designed books so that the total package becomes a work of art. We relish the give and take of working directly with the authors and artists who create our books, something that’s often missing with larger publishers.
JHG: What would you like to see more of from poets in your submission pile? What would you like to see less of?
AP: My associate editor Lynn and I are always looking for the writer’s voice that “sings” to us, that effortlessly pulls us in from the first few pages. That voice can occur in fiction, poetry, lyrical memoir, or clearly argued literary criticism. I know instantly when I hear it, especially in poetry. I guess it’s a kind of magic where the poet’s obvious skill and facility with language supports but doesn’t override the personal connection of what’s in the poet’s heart and mind. One thing that still irks me is that we keep getting submissions of good material that’s only chapbook length – the Submissions page of our website clearly states that we’re looking for longer, book-length collections. I hate having to tell a poet that we’re interested in their work, but only if they add more and resubmit. Not long ago I had to reject a submission from a New York writer whose visceral, surreal poetry knocked me out and left my jaw hanging. Her collection was about half the length we normally accept, so I practically begged her to write more and try us again later. I hope she does!
JHG: I don’t know if I ever told you this, but part of the reason I decided to send Kitsune Books my manuscript was the twitter feed, which discussed editorial policies as well as anime, Japanese pop music and tea. I felt I had a better handle of the editorial tastes and mind-set and felt better about sending my work because of that. How do you think a small publisher can benefit from social media such as twitter, blogs, Facebook, etc?
AP: Social media marketing can turn into a huge energy vampire if you let it. Not good when your staff is small and overworked to begin with. On the other hand, you ignore it at your peril. Some of us enjoy being online every day, connecting with people in the writing and publishing business, and in that sense I think social media has been a boon to small presses. It provides us with a presence and a voice that would be difficult to generate without the Internet. As you say, making a personal connection with people in your field is one of the beauties of social media. Besides our website, Kitsune Books has a presence on Facebook, Blogspot, WordPress, Twitter, and LinkedIn. I have the most fun on Twitter. I do the Twitter feed for Kitsune and am highly entertained by sharing things that pop up during the day, writing related or not, and seeing how readers respond. I think it’s the immediacy of Twitter I like most.
JHG: You are a writer as well as a publisher. Don’t you have a new critical anthology and a new novel out? Can you tell us a little about those projects?
AP: My writer’s hat comes in two colors – academically oriented material on mythology and Tolkien, and horror/dark fantasy fiction. Last month I was gratified to finally get the hardback edition of Light Beyond All Shadow (Fairleigh-Dickinson Univ. Press), which contains my long essay on light and dark iconography in J.R.R. Tolkien’s works. That anthology has been in the works for several years, with the Tolkien Estate copyright gateway guardians and the university’s change in publication distributors being some major hurdles. I’d given up on ever seeing that essay in print, but finally everything came together and here it is!
On the fiction front, the second novel in my Wandjina series came out August 5, 2011. The first book of the series was Thin Line Between, and this second one is titled Shaman’s Blood. The series got its impetus from the Australian Dreamtime myths and legends I’d studied as a doctoral student with a focus in Mythology/Folklore. Wandjina are part of the Dreamtime pantheon of creation entities associated with rain and wind. The modern-day setting for the series came from my first job out of college – lab assistant in a haunted museum housed in what used to be the old city jail in Tallahassee. Great stuff for an over-active imagination! I’ve always had a taste for the dark side. The very first horror books I read as a child were Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, and the Collected Works of Edgar Allen Poe. Those three books kicked my nine-year-old brain off the rails and into the dark woods of the psyche where it still wanders around and seems to have set up permanent camp.
JHG: Any new books at Kitsune you’re particularly excited about?
AP: Well, I’ll have to list our whole lineup for 2012 in that case! We have another Mythological Dimensions lit-crit volume (focusing on Neil Gaiman this time); award-winner Jesse Millner’s second poetry collection; riveting war poetry from Iraq/Afghanistan vet Jon Shutt; a lyrical “water-color” collection from poet Rachel Dacus; another great middle-grades mystery from K.E.M. Johnston; literary fiction from short story master Paul Graham; and George Drury Smith’s challenging experimental novel, The slant hug o’ time. This last author I must draw extra attention to, because George is the iconic founder of Beyond Baroque Foundation in Venice, CA and editorial guru of The Argonaut newspaper for many years. George is a commanding voice in experimental, avant-garde writing, and I think his novel (scheduled for September 2012) will blow some minds. I’m incredibly thrilled to have him on our roster of authors.
Bonus question: What are you afraid of in real life? Politicians and clowns (not mutually exclusive)
Happy for You: A Few Pieces of Good News for Friends
I have said in the past that when friends of mine get good news, it is almost as good as getting it myself. These writers are both very talented and so I am proud to announce:
–Karen J. Weyant just won the Main Street Rag Chapbook Contest with her collection, Wearing Heels in the Rust Belt. (http://thescrapperpoet.wordpress.com/2011/08/03/wearing-heels-in-the-rust-belt/) Go congratulate her!
–Rachel Dacus has just signed on with Kitsune Books (whom you may know from such books as, I don’t know, She Returns to the Floating World) to publish her third full-length poetry collection, Gods of Water and Air. I’m so pleased to have Rachel as a fellow Kitsune! And look for an upcoming short interview with her here on the subject! For now, go congratulate her at her blog: http://dacusrocket.blogspot.com/2011/08/big-news.html
And a quick shout out to Justin Evans for his kind words here (http://justinevanspoetry.blogspot.com/2011/07/out-on-limb.html) about She Returns to the Floating World, here. Have you gotten your copy yet?
And Oliver de la Paz is featured today on Poetry Daily, here.
A good week for my friends. If you have more good news, please leave some info about it in the comments! Giant hugs and cupcakes to all!
Summer Part I – Ocelot Kittens, Seattleites in the sun, and Book Promos Going Out
The first day in nine months with temperatures over 70 degrees, a cloudless blue sky…and with my grades turned in…Glenn and I took a trip to the Woodland Park Zoo, which we knew was going to be super crowded, but I really wanted to see the new ocelot kitten, (http://www.king5.com/news/local/Woodland-Park-Zoo-ocelot-kitten-to-greet-the-public-121275484.html) who was out and sleeping peacefully, unlike the poor snow leopard, who was panting in the 80+ degree heat, and the jaguar, who was the happiest and most active that I have ever seen. We also enjoyed the snuffling of the arctic fox and red pandas – I wish I could adopt both! I swear, if I ever become a super-rich supervillainess, I am totally going with a wildlife-preserve-for-giant-cats hideout, with foxes and red pandas. Having already made the trip across town, we also made the trek to the super-crowded Golden Gardens park and beach, where many people of various shapes and sizes were walking around without shirts (ah, Seattleites! No California-esque body consciousness for them!) and the brisk wind made the milder seaside temperatures feel even better. I wanted to snuffle around in the grass myself, but it was too crowded to do much more than walk up and down the marina and sidewalk. Then it took us a million hours to get home, because every single person who lives in Seattle was on the street, driving five miles an hour, dazed from the appearance of our giant mountain in the sky and drunk from sunshine. All told, we spent four hours outdoors, which I think is more than we’ve been outside total since we moved back to the Northwest.
Yesterday Kitsune Books sent out little press releases for my new book, which is supposed to be available for pre-order now at Kitsune Books’ web site, and should show up on Amazon next week. I guess this book is really happening! I’m starting to get some readings and visits booked and looking at my travel budget for next year (well, no mystery really, it’s quite small!) I got invited to read in NYC and I would love to go, but a trip out there is $$$. Maybe I will have a grant or a wealthy mystery donor come my aid! A girl (or-supervillainess-in-the-making) can dream, can’t she?
Why I Write About Japan, with links, Part I
When Asked Why I Write Poems About Japanese Mythology
— A letter from the suburbs of Seattle to the suburbs of Tokyo
I will send my voices out over the water
where the same cedars that litter my coast
used to tower over yours. Once green,
your cities have nibbled forests into bonsai.
Our hinoki trees are shipped across the ocean
for your sacred temples now.
Postcards of volcanoes rise from a blue sky
in the background of our homes, we share
zones of tsunami, seasons of weeping cherry.
I read about women’s spirits
haunting peony lanterns in the forest.
Men follow them, fall in love
with women long dead. In shallow graves
rotted with tree roots, they still sing.
And here in pages hammered
from your language into mine,
sometimes with clumsy fists,
I have listened to the bush-warbler
mourn her children, the fox-wife’s eyes
in the darkness have warned me
of the growling of dogs and fire.
And when they disappear in silence,
it is not really silence. Their echoes
burn themselves into stone,
into the living screens of my childhood,
fill my mouth with ghosts.
Ghosts sit in my mouth and sing.
Our grandfathers were at war.
I grew up in the birthplace
of bombs that poisoned children,
burned holes into your sacred earth.
Their poison is part of me.
In the shelter of a shrine, a small girl
holds an umbrella. She becomes a white bird.
She whispers and a thousand cranes,
a thousand burning flowers
pile up inside me, spill out onto these pages.
Forgive me, ghosts, for my hard,
unbeautiful hands, for my tripping tongue,
as you demand a healed future, some untorn prayer.
This poem was written some years ago in response to a question from Marvin Bell about why I decided to write the book, She Returns to the Floating World. It was published in Redactions and will appear in the upcoming book.
The Japanese disaster has weighed on me heavily for the past week or so, and I thought I would write here a little bit about how my life has been tied to Japanese culture since my early childhood. Then I’ll post some links from other sources more useful and possibly more coherent and lovely than my own, including meditations on the quake by Mari L’Esperance and Marie Mutsuki Mockett.
Part I
My father was a robotics expert, and so, as a child living in California and Tennessee in the seventies, we had frequent visitors from Japan, mostly other robotics experts, and family trips to Japan happened on a regular basis – once I had measles so I couldn’t go, another time I had scarlet fever…etc…so although every other member of my family has been to Japan, I never got a chance to go. (This is still true!) My father and brothers would come back with stories, dolls, paintings, new words. I had a collection of Japanese picture books and folk tales, and occasionally, the wives of my father’s business associates would teach me how to make a dessert (I remember something with rice and red bean paste) or teach me how to say a few words in Japanese, or how to sing a Japanese song.
I watched my first Miyazaki movie, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, when I was ten years old, on an ancient primordial version of the Disney Channel. My brother and I sat transfixed, and watched the movie over and over again, its figure of a girl riding on top of giant caterpillars, a boy and girl trapped underneath a poisonous forest in a crystal cavern, frightening war figures and women warriors with metal limbs. This was my first introduction to Japanese pop culture, before we watched Transformers and Voltron and the other imports that would become popular in the eighties. At this same time, I read a terrifying book about the bombing of Hiroshima told from the perspective of a young girl (don’t remember the name of this novel, it was in our school library so I never owned it.)
I started to make the connection between the work done by my father at the neighboring Oak Ridge National Labs as a consultant for nuclear waste disposal methods and the bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima. (In case you’re wondering why I’m anti-nuclear bomb, anti-nuclear power, this set of incidents – watching Nausicaa, the book on Hiroshima, and early fourth-grade era research on nuclear pollution impacts – are probably key. And that grad-level class on Ecotoxicology I took during my Pre-Med days. Plus growing up with a Geiger counter in my basement and helping Dad edit papers on nuclear waste cleanup in high school, pretty bleak stuff in case you’re wondering.)
Part II to come.
Some links:
Marie L’Esperance’s meditation on the quake
Marie Mutsuki Mockett’s meditation on Japan from the NY Times
The Future on Nuclear Energy Around the World
My second book’s publisher, Kitsune Books, is donating a portion of their sales to the Japanese Red Cross
Japan, nuclear disaster, donations, and Marie Howe
I’m sorry to say that the situation in Japan has not gotten better in the last few days. I spent the last couple of years researching the effects of radioactive contamination in my childhood hometown of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, for my third MS, “The Robot Scientist’s Daughter.” The kinds of things – cesium in the body, radioactivity in the food chain – deer, wasps, swallows, increased risks of thyroid cancer and leukemia – that I found make me even more dismayed when I read about the problems with the nuclear reactors in Japan. Exposed rods = very bad. Cesium leaked into the environment now will probably still be there in thirty years. It accumulates in the human body and builds up over time, like many nuclear contaminants like Strontium-90.
I’m going to donate all proceeds from my first book, Becoming the Villainess, sold in the next week or two, to Doctors Without Borders, so if you’d like to order, click here.
I’m trying to write a new dedication for my second book with Kitsune Books, She Returns to the Floating World, to honor the victims and survivors of the terrible events of the last week. I believe Kitsune Books is going to look for a way to donate a portion of the profits to Japanese earthquake disaster charities as well. All my words seem so pitiful and weak in the face of so much devastation and loss. Nothing seems adequate.
Last night I went to see Marie Howe, one of my favorite poets, read in downtown Seattle. I was happy to see some of my poetry friends, and listen to such a wonderful warm poet read her work, which was spunky and funny and direct. Howe’s What the Living Do, about her life in the wake of her brother’s death from AIDS, is a book I’ve read over and over. It embraces the pain, the every-dayness, of surviving. In the end, poetry is something we create as an after-effect of surviving, as a testament to humanity’s ability to observe and survive and create in words some evidence of this.
Here’s a poem about Cesium, one of the nuclear products being released into Japan’s ecosystem as we speak, from Cincinnati Review’s Winter 2010 issue.
Cesium Burns Blue
Copper burns green. Sodium yellow,
strontium red. Watch the flaming lights
that blaze across your skies, America –
there are burning satellites
even now being swallowed by your horizon,
the detritus of space programs long defunct,
the hollowed masterpieces of dead scientists.
Someone is lying on a grassy hill,
counting shooting stars,
wondering what happens
when they hit the ground.
In my back yard, they lit cesium
to measure the glow.
Hold it in your hand:
foxfire, wormwood, glow worm.
Cesium lights the rain,
absorbed in the skin,
unstable, unstable
dancing away, ticking away
in bones, fingernails, brain.
Sick burns through, burns blue.
Christmas Cheer and Thankful Things
Well, readers, it’s really important at this time of year to keep up our Christmas cheer, and so, courtesty of Cute Overload, a tickle puppy! (Santa, can you bring me one for my stocking?)
Links, etc…Book tours, submitting practices, six questions
Ever wonder what it’s like to go on an unfunded 17-day poetry book tour to promote your new book? Me too! Keith Monstesano gives us a blow-by-blow here.
Do you submit your poetry like a girl? Well, stop it. See Kelli’s post here.
Want to ask Kitsune Books’ editor Anne Petty six questions?
I’ve got another tendon injury. This one I can walk with, though I can’t do stairs or curbs, so it’s not as bad as the previous one. Still, I am wondering which tendon spirits I have been angering lately?
I also got my first blurb in. It was beautiful. I feel so grateful to everyone who has ever taken a look at my second book manuscript, to Rene Lynch for permission to use the beautiful cover art, to people willing to say nice things about me and my writing on the back cover of the book, and of course, to the editors at Kitsune. A lot of gratitude.
