Hosho McCreesh's Blog, page 18
October 5, 2019
Spring 2020...
146 Drunk Poems.
37 Voices.
3.5 Hours.
3-discs
1 insanely good time.
September 17, 2019
Shop News...
Get Thee Behind Me, Bumper Sticker!
Just a quick update here: all our original COLLAGES are on sale until the end of the month. Look for the discount code in the banners on this site.
And if that ain’t enough, we’ll soon have the first official KEEP BOOKS DANGEROUS bumper stickers in the house. Pre-order in the webstore today. Both the collages and the new bumper stickers are half off right now…so, I mean, why not, right?
September 2, 2019
Virtual Ownership?!
I saw a few calls recently for a return to physical ownership of products instead of the virtual ownership of media that we all believe we “own" with a purchase. It’s probably just a matter of time before some corporate overlord decides to block us all from accessing whatever stuff we thought we’d bought. After all, isn’t that the unwritten promise of late-stage Capitalism?
It’s hard to overstate the convenience of streaming, of digital downloads of movies, books, and music. We can carry entire libraries in our pockets. I get that…and I’m not opposed to it.
And yet, fail to update a dying machine or lose your back-up drive — and even without the shareholders voting ‘to hell with the customer base’ — what did our money get us?
What is actually ever ours?
These are just a few of the gorgeous, handmade books I’ve been lucky enough to have out. They often come with extras and freebies — from temporary tattoos and stickers to broadsides to original collage covers and laser-etched flasks. They are all things that, should you own one, won’t just up and disappear in the night.
I talk about it only because I have such admiration for the artists behind such creations — folks kind enough to share their tremendous talents with my humble projects. To me, this remains the most amazing thing about the small press — that together we can do things like this.
Yes, there aren’t massive print runs or enough sales to ever rub two nickels together.
No, this stuff is never covered by the powerful promotional engines behind big publishers, or mention much across bookish social media. That’s too bad…because there are those few people and places out there who still do care about such things.
Anyhow, this was just a way to say — if you are one of the people that support such things — thank you. Keep supporting these publishers and people who try harder to go the extra mile.
I promise I’ll keep trying to make the coolest stuff I can.
Until then, I guess all this will remain our little secret…
August 18, 2019
3 Poets Volume 2
It’s go time!
3 Poets Volume 2 is now available — 50 copies
If you don’t yet know the work of either Jose Pepe Arroyo or Mike Mahoney, my two compatriots in the American trio on display here, I suspect you will someday soon. Both have been writing with the passion and insight necessary to carry them over the years, and, to my mind anyways, both are criminally under-published. That puts the folks at East London Press on the cutting edge, and makes this an especially exciting book to be a part of.
The book is described as: "A super slim volume of poetry, letter pressed, hand-sewn, hand bound and pocket sized. Featuring the work of Mike Mahoney, Hosho McCreesh & Jose Arroyo. The books are of such dimensions as to be easily fitted into the back pocket of your jeans. Sexy is what they are and exclusive is what they will always remain.”
Publication date - 30th August 2019. Pre-orders now welcome. £4.99 per book plus P&P
East London Press, and all the gorgeous things they’re getting up to, is yet another outfit in the small but loyal crew of small presses out there working hard to Keep Books Dangerous, all of whom are worthy of whatever support feels right for you. Their books typically sell out, so if you know you want a copy — sooner is better than later. The book’s got a blend of old and new work from me, none of it published anywhere (if I’ve kept my bookkeeping straight), plus a chance to get to know Arroyo and Mahoney.
That’s a whole lotta love for your back pocket!
June 29, 2019
Something Like Forgiveness
Congratulations to Rebecca Schumejda, whose terrific new book is available from Stubborn Mule Press. Rebecca asked me to do some collage for the book, and little did I know the text and the images would pull together so well. It’s really a triumph for her, as she bravely pushes herself into some difficult new poetic territory, writing raw and close to the bone about a recent family tragedy. I consider it an honor to have just a small part in this ferocious and honest book, and encourage anyone reading this to go give it a look. The folks at Stubborn Mule went big, doing beautiful full-color art within the pages of this book-length rumination on potentially forgiving the unforgivable.
June 1, 2019
Deep Surface Fissures...
Way back in 2002, my 3rd collection of poems originally launched. It was a self-published venture, limited to 50 copies, each with ‘fissures’ cut into the black linen stock that glowed like lava when held up to the light with its red vellum endpages. Deep Surface Fissures Revealing a Furious Molten Core... was a proud step towards putting out something beautiful and unique, something I’ve aimed to do throughout these last 19 years or so.
Now I am happy to announce that the book is back in print after well over a decade in limbo…and I have a few copies over in the STORE.
This is all thanks to Ternary Editions, an imprint seeking to unearth and reprint an entire catalog of great small press books otherwise lost to the ages. The re-release saves the book from greater obscurity because, like many small press gems with limited (and collectible!) print-runs, once the initial run has sold out are all but impossible to get a hold of. Ternary aims to keep these gems in print with affordable reading editions available from their store as well as online retail worldwide.
The particulars: Poetry from Ternary Editions (2018), 76 pages, ISBN 1937073785
For a limited time, get a free copy of BLOOD-RED when ordering FISSURES from OUR STORE. (Just mention this offer in the notes of your order!)
May 15, 2019
Taco Fairy CD
FREE with any ol’ order from the STORE (at least for a while) — A CD of yours truly reading the short story “Taco Fairy.”
For those who don’t know it, in “Taco Fairy” we wonder what will $2 get you at a nearby tacqueria?
The answer: A world of stupid trouble.
Many thanks to Jose Arroyo for the glorious woodcut artwork.
May 2, 2019
Handiwork...
If you have been following along here, you may have recognized a trend — I believe in the power of handmade and artisan editions. I submit work to places that push themselves to do more with their productions, and I support presses that take on projects designed to fill in the gaps that exist in publishing. There are tons of under-served readers whose appetites are wildly different than the prevailing winds from big publishing, and more and more those readers are looking to the smaller, independent presses.
It makes perfect sense: these are the only presses where the stakes are manageable enough to truly take risks. If you follow along here, then you already know the usual suspects: X-Ray Book Co., Tangerine Press, Bottle of Smoke Press…but now East London Press is joining the fight. Ibiza, a limited edition beauty from your friend and mine, Joseph Ridgwell continues in the tradition of travel yarns. Like Cuba, Mexico, the drunken hijinxs are sure to be punctuated by the eternal search for elation, and production-wise looks to share the same sensibility than those fine offerings from Pig Ear Press.
The small press is like small batch distillers, local farmers, and auteur filmmakers in that all have fewer hands in the jar and fewer compromises to navigate. The whole damned enterprise is just more self-contained. Chances can be taken. And gorgeous, handmade touches can not only be part of a release, they can be the reason for a new project.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again:
April 3, 2019
-Scare-Devil-
Scare-devil or "You know, words won't scare the devil…"
I’m proud as hell to land on the gorgeous pages of another Tangerine Press project. Scare-devil or "You know, words won't scare the devil…" is described as:
One-off 'chapbook journal' of new poetry; Volume two, issue two in an ongoing series. (Previous issues in the series include: Counterfeit Crank, Judas-hole, Quincunx, Schizzo, and Turpin's Cave if you’ve seen them, you know why I’m so jazzed!)
The release is limited to 100 numbered copies, £13 plus shipping
28 pages. Format approx. 6"/150mm wide x 225mm/9" tall. Handsewn at the Sick Tangerine workshop. Strathmore Grandee balboa blue card covers; front cover artwork embossed in silver; 100% recycled, acid-free, text paper; Fabriano Tiziano white endpapers. And the other contributors? Check out this murderer’s row of talent:
Michelle Storer, Adrian Manning, Anngo Genorga, Meena Kandasamy, Anna Wall, Joan Jobe Smith, Billy Childish, John Dorsey, Ford Dagenham, Jessica Jane Charleston, Hosho McCreesh, Claudia Bierschenk, Aimee Campbell, Paul Hawkins, Howard Cunnell, Karina Bush.
There might be presses somewhere making books as gorgeous as Tangerine Press…but there aren’t any that make them better!
March 24, 2019
Underground Lovers
Abbie Foxton and her friend Russ Daum had an expansive and insightful discussion about Chinese Gucci over at Underground Lovers. It’s a great way to dive a little deeper into the book, considering characters, themes, and choices throughout the book, and they both read the book and its intentions well. Of course, as a writer, it’s really a gift to get to see your book and characters discussed in such a meaningful way…so my deepest thanks to them both for taking the time to put this together.
