Hosho McCreesh's Blog, page 25
February 3, 2016
5 Questions...
File Under: Blathering
Jared Carnie asked me 5 questions. I blathered on about indignantly about corporate publishing greedheads and bean-counters and the primal insult of work. Enjoy!
File Under: Mad Props
X-Ray Book & Novelty Co.
File Under: Listening
"Mean Old World" - Tina & Ike Turner - Ugh, so good!"
"Old Man Down the Road" - John Fogerty - You DO got to Hidy High-dy Hide!
File Under: Reading
Fierce Bitches - Jedidiah Ayres
Transit of Venus - Nancy Pogue LaTurner
January 30, 2016
Truth or Consequences...
The launch of AND TURNS STILL THE SUN AT DUSK BLOOD-RED gets closer every day. Have you signed up for the GIVEAWAY at GOODREADS? You should. The book wants you to read it as much, if not more, than you do!
In other news...
File Under: Rolling
A weekend getaway to Truth or Consequences, NM
In response to a challenge from the radio quiz show "Truth or Consequences" in 1950, this small New Mexico town changed their name from Hot Springs. Why Hot Springs? Because the town sits over a geothermal hot spring. You can rent kitschy little rooms, some with their own private tubs inside, and spend a weekend walking to a handful of cool restaurants, unique shops, and the like. Rumor has it Geronimo even soaked there...the only time in his life he was unarmed! Maybe not the top of the list for first time NM visitors, but a place worth visiting if you ever get the chance.
File Under: Watching
Tangerine - Great little film shot with 3 iPhones!
Ex Machina - Creepy & cool, Oscar Issac continues a solid run.
Love Streams - Rowlands & Cassavettes - I mean, doesn't anyone make charmingly enjoyable and imperfect movies anymore?
File Under: Bragging
Lori at the Spark, is looking forward to AND TURNS STILL THE SUN AT DUSK BLOOD-RED - Can't wait until you read it, Lori!
Don't forget to sign up for the NOTIFY LIST - your first and best place for info about all things Hosho.
January 17, 2016
BLOOD-RED Giveaway
If you have a Goodreads account, log in and sign-up for the And Turns Still the Sun at Dusk Blood-Red... giveaway (available in the US, the UK, Canada & Australia). It comes to you courtesy of Bottle of Smoke Press and the co-authors (read as: Chris and I). We're offering up 2 copies, and hope they both go to someone like you who'll love 'em! The giveaway ends February 28th, 2016.
Goodreads Book Giveaway
And Turns Still the Sun at Dusk Blood-Red...
by Hosho McCreesh
Giveaway ends February 28, 2016.
See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.
Enter Giveaway
December 22, 2015
'Tis The Season For...
...a cat haunted by his Existential angst; a free-form podcast that's always interesting and always fun; and, of course, loot!
File Under: Watching
Henri, le Chat Noir- ah, but stop watching before the creators sell out to a cat food company!
File Under: Listening
THIS IS NOT A TEST - Podcast by Michael J. Phillips, 52 episodes and counting!
File Under: Free Stuff
Those on my NOTIFY LIST already know that I do the occasional give-away of small press books. If you want to be in the running, all you have to do is join. I pick a random winner from everyone who opens the email. What could be easier?
Thank you for your support, all you beautiful people! Be good, stay safe, & tell your people what the mean to you!
December 4, 2015
File Under...
File Under: Forthcoming
Christopher Cunningham and I are slated to have our new Bottle of Smoke book out in January, 2016.
Also, it looks like I'll have something in THIS.
And maybe even HERE.
File Under: Watching
Belle Du Jour by Luis Buñuel, starring Catherine Deneuve
BoJack Horseman - Season 2
File Under: Listening
Leeches of Lore -
Motel of Infinity
"Nirvana" - a Charles Bukowski poem as read by Tom Waits
File Under: Reading
Belief Is Its Own Kind of Truth, Maybe by Lori Jakiela
How To Get Into The Twin Palms by Karolina Waclawiak
November 21, 2015
A Tough Year For Poets...
I've been gutted, recently, by the loss of some great writing talent -- and I'm still getting used to the idea that there won't be many new books from them. Harry Calhoun, Doug Draime, and Dan Fante all recently passed...all of whom have more than a few books sitting on my shelves.
I knew Harry a little, trading emails, and once even sharing time on a Blogtalk Radio show. Doug was one of my poetry heroes--someone who wrote poems in endless styles, and on endless subjects...all of them running from insightful to profane. Dan Fante, son of legendary writer John Fante, and a damn talented writer in his own right, was a kind supporter of many young writers, and was a man I very much hoped to meet one day.
So, yeah, it's been a tough year for poets.
If I have a take-away from all this, I'd say this is it: Do your best to do beautiful things while you can. It gives tremendous meaning to lives that get foolishly complicated by the more mundane business of living.
Okay fallen poets, you beautiful bastards...I'm about to raise a glass to all the fine thing you did in your years as a hearty thanks for your hard-scrabble living and dying. Slainte.
November 11, 2015
7 Ways to Support Your Favorite Small Presses & Authors (#3 & #7 will shock you!!!)
Okay...okay...apologies for the clickbait headline. I'm not proud of it. But, hell, it's hard out there for the small presses of the world. They get squeezed on all sides, and most small press ventures lose money. But I truly believe that the small press is where the stakes allow for real risk-taking, and that makes them a vital part of publishing. So here's some things you can do (many from the comforts of your own homes) to support them.
1) Buy Their Books
Okay, that's obvious enough. But maybe you didn't know that buying directly from a small press website is the best kind of sale for them? Cutting out the middlemen helps the bottom line, no two ways about it. But buying their books, in whatever ways they've dreamed up to sell them, is what keeps them going.
2) Connect with Small Presses Across Social Networks
It's a quick, easy way to let the folks know their hard work is reaching people. If you're into retweeting and sharing and liking, and posting, then brag up your favorite presses and our favorite books there. Maybe someone new will check them out.
3) Review Their Books on Goodreads and Amazon
Yep...it matters. A lot, as it turns out. It's how algorithms for those sites decide a book is worth promoting. And, basically, it's the only way they decide.
4) If you can't review the books, then at least RATE the books.
It helps, for sure, for the same reasons as above. Log in to your accounts, click the # of stars you give it. Done and done.
5) Pass on Small Press Books You Love to the Folks You Love!
Got a friend who'd love the book you just read? Give it to them! Especially if your shelves are splintering under the weight of all your books!
6) Better Still, Just Buy Them a Copy of Their Own!
Oh, who are we Kidding--we're not giving our books to anyone! But it still should be our duty to spread our favorite literature across the cultural divide. And every small press could use an additional sale to a repeat customer!
7) Tattoo Their Logos on Your Body!
Okay...maybe that's not everyone's bottle of sarsaparilla. But it's usually good for some freebies! to the folks who have MY logo tattooed on them, I'll always send them good stuff!
October 28, 2015
3.7 weeks...
Well, after engaging in some fairly complex calculations based on the survey many of you were nice enough to suffer through, I've determined that the perfect frequency with which to send off a little hi-ho-what'd'ya-know is precisely every 3.7 weeks. So let's call that my tentative schedule then.
So what's new? It looks like the long-awaited Cunningham/McCreesh book from Bottle of Smoke Press, AND TURNS STILL THE SUN AT DUSK BLOOD-RED... is back on like Donkey Kong. It'll be January, 2016, if the lord's willin' and the Creek don't rise... We have been forced to abandon the art aspect of the book, which, honestly, has been hugely problematic. So expect a book of poems -- 52 screamers, if you ask me.
For those who bought one of the 26 hardback copies of SUNLIGHT AT MIDNIGHT, DARKNESS AT NOON (the book of letters) way back when, you've read 2 of the poems...on your double-sided manuscript broadside, a really cool extra we did for you kick-ass collector types. BLOOD-RED is very much a companion book to SUNLIGHT, and those of you paying close attention can find the titles for all 52 poems highlighted in the body of the letters themselves. This one's been a long time coming, and we're dreaming up something tasty for the letterpress covers. As always, we'll look to make the book available in both collector and reader editions, and may even dabble in the black arts of eBook-dom. Stay tuned.
Speaking of: Happy Halloween, ghouls and gals. On a holiday devoted to begging for free stuff, I feel obligated to offer up a free ebook. Decide which of THESE you'd like, and drop me an EMAIL HERE -- I'll get you a free download code.
Okay. Get off them-thar electro-devices and go tell your people you love 'em.
October 14, 2015
AM/FM Magazine...
So, the folks over at AM/FM Magazine were nice enough to run this. I don't know who this McCreech fellow is, but I gotta say, I like the cut of his jib.
September 26, 2015
GPP Declassified!
In 2006, the Guerilla Poetics Project put out it's first few letterpress-printed broadsides, and so began one of the coolest small press ideas I've seen to this day. For 2 and a half years, the GPP was a nameless, faceless, wholly democratic collective that made a little noise while getting 50,000+ broadsides of small press poets out in bookstores and libraries the (mainly English-speaking) world over. For the first time you can peek behind the curtain, and hear a bit about how it worked by listening to Michael J. Phillips' terrific podcast THIS IS NOT A TEST.
