Hosho McCreesh's Blog, page 22

The Twisted Mash-Up

Despite being relatively new to it, I'm a huge fan of collage. The twisted mash-up of found images and ideas speaks directly to my inner provocateur, and I love the process of finding great source material and hand-making these little gems.

To help fund some future publishing endeavors, I've decided to put some of my originals up for sale. I think everyone should have original art on their walls, so I price things accordingly. Anyone interested, feel free to shop my STORE for the pieces currently on offer. As some sell, I will replace them with others -- so check back every so often.

Holy & Intoxicated

There is, in All of Us...

Unlucky

Holy & Intoxicated, a double-sided broadside series out of the UK, was nice enough to include me in their most recent release. I'm not certain what I will do with my copies but until I do decide I figure any order from the STORE might just get one on the cuff.

Work continues on many fronts, including an UNABRIDGED audio version of A DEEP & GORGEOUS THIRST, and some exciting early planning on my first novel, CHINESE GUCCI. No release dates for either, as there's lots left to do on both...but they're certainly getting my free hours and attention!

The other thing I've been enjoying is collage. I finished this one today:

Bomb-y Dearest

I have a grip of collage set up as a gallery HERE. If you're interested in purchasing an original, feel to DROP ME A LINE.

State of the Avocation

First order of business: Some Congratulations to Rebecca Schumejda, a tremendous poet you should all be reading, and the winner of the KEEP BOOKS DANGEROUS totebag giveaway. 

Now, if you're truly heartbroken over not winning, just know that you can get a totebag of your very own over at my Society6 page HERE.

You didn't know there was a giveaway going on? There's really only one explanation: you haven't joined my NOTIFY LIST...often the ONLY place to get word of things like this, plus advance warning for any limited print run/special editions of any new projects. If you wanna be one of the cool kids too, you can sign up HERE.

Now, as for the State of the Avocation: 2017 was a rough year here at Hosho McCreesh HQ. I invested a lot of time banging my head against the wall of a traditional publishing route (read as: searching for an agent) in hopes of finding an industry advocate for my first novel, Chinese Gucci. It didn't go well...which, when you've written exactly the book you set out to write, feels shocking. Of course, the book isn't for everyone -- something I have made my peace with. Still I thought it might be for someone...

In the hard, cold, and sober light of dawn (merits of the book aside) I begrudgingly admit it's not an easy sell...which, in my enthusiasm, I neglected to consider. Because traditional publishing is built around sales, around that fetid corpse of multi-quadrant pictures and cross-promotional whatever-the-hells. The business of this art isn't art, it's business...selling selling selling. In fact, André Schffrin wrote this all down following his ouster from Pantheon years ago. The business of publishing is, now more than ever, only concerned with bottom lines, and bean-counting. There aren't too many folks in New York (save THESE FOLKS, and surely a few others) publishing books for art's sake.

I get it. Times are tough. The competition for peoples' attention is ferocious -- with books (and the hours it takes to read them) going toe-to-toe with Network TV Shows, Cable TV shows, Superbowls, Binge Netflix-and-Chilling, Podcasts, movies in the theater, movies at home, or or or or or... Still part of me dies a little when I think of how important books have been for the civilization of mankind (present uncivilized version aside), and the fact that not everyone is invested in their future survival. 

So what am I on and on about here? Just the future of publishing. Not publishing publishing...but publishing for me. 

There are beautiful things out there to discover, made by people who still absolutely care.

Here's some. 
More.
More still.
Here's some more.
And more.
Mas.
One more.

These are, for me, the things that matter. These are the things I want to be involved in making. So the future of publishing (for me) is a lot more hands-on, a lot more limited in scope, and I truly believe it'll be a lot more rewarding. I will certainly keep publishing with folks like the aforementioned whenever opportunities arise, but I will also look to bring back out some of my out-of-print stuff, and doing so in a manner more befitting the tastes of small press connoisseurs like you all. After all, this is the thing that small presses can do far better than any big press -- and that's limited, artisan, hand-made projects with personal touches on each and every copy.

For me, it's the only thing that makes sense. I don't want to paint, or make collage that is concerned with margins and bottom lines, market appeal or strong genre indicators. I don't want to write books for everyone. I want to write books for all of you. And I want whatever mad vision I had for each book to be free from the compromise and uglier trappings of commerce. I want to make it, then make it available -- and never have to twist anyone's arm over it.

So, anyway, that's this year's State of a Avocation. No I just need to figure out how to do it all!

Papa's Got a Brand New Bagazine...

Bagazine #7

That's right folks...a new Bagazine is due out directly...and, for the first time ever, I managed to place a piece in it! For those who don't know, Bagazine is "Assemblage - Bagism - Happening"...so, a kick-ass conglomeration of all manner of "chapbooks, mini comics, broadsides, photographs, collage, drawings, interviews, printmaking, letterpress, xerox, gocco, stencil, woodcuts, etc." and they "strongly encourage emphasis on hand-made NOT machine-made" pieces. If this sounds even remotely cool to you, check out their gorgeous GALLERIES of past issues -- you won't regret it. Giselle and Johnny Brewton are the mad folks behind this truly unique approach to an art and lit mag, and I guarantee you'll recognize more than a few names in the ranks. Placing work with them has long been on my publishing dream list, and I couldn't be happier with the piece I made: a shrinky-dink of van Gogh's severed ear.

[image error]

"Suffer For Art Like van Gogh" for Bagazine #7

So if you're wondering what to do with that $50 Granny gave you, and just happen to love original, handmade ephemera from lots of interesting, creative personalities -- well, now you know!

Permalink

Three New Poems (Rusty Truck)

I know what you're thinking: "What, McCreesh...you still write poems?"

Okay, I deserved that. In all fairness, I write them...I just don't submit them anywhere...hence they rarely get out there (I know, I know -- shame on me).

Still, if you want to check out a few new ones, they're HERE at our old friends driving that Rusty Truck.

And don't forget -- POSTCARDS!

Okay, my battery is dying...

That's not a metaphor...I'm literally running out of juice. So I'll cut this short.

Slackers and Procrastinators Rejoice!

Once again, you've paid no heavy price for your cavalier disregard for timelines and limitations!

If you missed out on reserving a copy of "Puerto Penasco" -- you're in luck. The STORE has a few. But, really though, this is it.

If you're out the ol' European way, you can still get a copy of the paperback from PIG EAR PRESS directly (that's them there in the foreground) -- which might be easier. They're sold out of hardbacks in Gozo (those tall drinks of water in the back row -- don't be shy, boys, say 'hello!') but I have ONE copy.

So it's like my 6th grade math teacher used to say, "A hint, to the wise, is sufficient..."

Permalink

Did You Reserve a Copy of Puerto Penasco?

An update for all who have reserved copies of Puerto Penasco via Pig Ear Press:

Good news! You should be contacted in the coming weeks by the mysterious Mr. Lally of Gozo containing particulars. Soon after, the downright gorgeous books should begin landing in their (your) respective boxes. Barring a miracle (or a cancellation), the hardbacks are all spoken for -- but there remain a few paperbacks up for grabs.

So dig out the change from the couch cushions, and reserve a copy if you haven't already.

Permalink

Judas-hole or the Poet's Betrayal

Judas-hole

It's wrong to say Tangerine Press has become a beast, because it absolutely started out as one, and has only gotten stronger. A quick flip through their back catalog, and you can quickly see what they've been doing, and glimpse just how high they're aiming in the future. So it goes without saying, when I see a call for submissions, I gather up some of my best.

And I was recently lucky enough to place a poem in Judas-Hole, or the Poet's Betrayal -- a glorious project available now. It's touted as a "chapbook journal of new writing" -- issue four in an ongoing series that includes Counterfeit Crank, Quincunx, Turpin's Cave. As with most of my favorite things, this is a limited edition -- only 53 numbered copies made -- hand-sewn by editor/publisher/designer Michael Curran.

And the contributors? Claudia Bierschenk, Billy Childish, Ford Dagenham, John Dorsey, Howie Good, Geoff Hattersley, Lyn Lifshin, Hosho McCreesh, Adrian Manning, Marc Olmsted, Joan Jobe Smith, and Fred Voss. Now, I don't know about that McCreesh fellow, but there rest of these folks really know how to string a sentence together.

So if you are a collector of rare and beautiful things, need a few good, hard, and true lines to get you through, or just have a few bucks burning a hole in your pocket, give it a look. I doubt you'll regret it.

Puerto Penasco and the Wildman of Gozo...

As promised, my short story PUERTO PEÑASCO has been done up proper, with a letterpress cover PIG EAR PRESS style...on fine papers with an extra or two to taunt and tantalize.

As for what the story is about: A new dad drives the late-night city streets, dreaming of his old life while hoping to get his new baby to fall sleep; trademark, atmospheric McCreesh-ean hi-jinks ensue.

The edition consists of:

10 Hardbacks - (Update: As per the Wildman of Gozo, Mr. Lally at Pig Ear Press HQ in Malta: ALL HARDBACKS HAVE BEEN RESERVED)
26 Paperbacks - £7 (includes P&P)

So, to anyone who missed out on a hardback, let me first say, "Hey, thanks for being interested!," followed by an, "I'm really sorry..." and finally a, "You know, the best way to get advance notice of new books is to join my MAILING LIST!" -- an opt-in sign-up form that keeps you in the loop and (occasionally) lands you a freebie.

Now, if a paperback is in the budget (or if it's not but you gotta have it anyway) I encourage you to reserve your copy by either E-MAILING MR. LALLY or using his CONTACT FORM on the PIG EAR PRESS website. Again, there are only so many copies to be had, so if you're interested, don't miss out.

Okay, okay...keep answering the bell,
Hosh

 

Permalink

Death of the Author

 

So, this is fun:

Okay, so, the author no longer exists once the work is published and out there in the world -- to be read and interpreted.

Heck, even the writing of the book (which was seemingly an original act) is suspect because everything the author has ever read, seen, or experienced potentially informed the work, and it's merely a slap-dash combination of all these influences that produced it.

Furthermore, without the author there to walk each and every reader through the text (and probably even if the author WAS there to do it), the reading becomes a kind of attempt to decode its meaning...

But, of course, meaning isn't the meaning of the text, but rather whatever meaning the text offers the individual reader, what is memorable about the text to that reader, what the story becomes, the lessons that stick -- if even any!

And the process is every bit as ephemeral and individual for each and every reader...of each and every book! All of it filtered through our own perceptions (-aka- prejudices and predispositions)

So there you have it, writers and readers: none of it matters, and nothing is real!

Considering the current state of affairs, I find this all very comforting! It dovetails nicely with my "pale blue dot" philosophy/approach to living...which is to say most of what we do doesn't matter beyond whatever tiny little circle of folks we have, that everything we do has value only in the doing, and in the giving of it, rarely beyond that, and that chances are all human effort, save whatever space-junk we blast beyond our tiny galaxy, will eventually be devoured by the expanding, exploding sun...(if not by humanity before that!)...so...let's be as happy as we can, do our best to live lives we can be proud of, love as many people as well as we can, and do our level best to try not to worry too much!

Now go watch THIS, and laugh! And think.