Hosho McCreesh's Blog, page 26

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.

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!

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.

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.

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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.

Drunken Blather... THIS IS NOT A TEST

Michael Phillips, a.k.a. MJP, a man of many talents, invited me to his house for a little (okay, a lot) of Four Roses Bourbon, and a little (okay a lot) of drunken blather. He's turned it into the latest episode of his podcast, THIS IS NOT A TEST. He's described the episode like this:

"An inebriated "interview" with author and artist Hosho McCreesh. Including discussion of telephones, Hot Pockets, the Guerilla Poetics Project, pre-established familiarity, Four Roses bourbon, apology and explanation, leaving your balls at Disneyland, buying fake purses in Juarez, all jobs are lousy, people who use typewriters are assholes, the shrinking world of the aging, binding books with Admiral Kurtz (a.k.a. Bill Roberts), writing running its course, being stuck on a tiny dust mote in a vast emptiness and lack of preparation."

Listen HERE. I guarantee at least 3 chuckles, a giggle or two, if not one or two out & out guffaws.

Happy Birthday to THIRST...

Yes, it's been 2 years to the day that THIRST was first unleashed on the unsuspecting world...what a terrific trip it's been! By my measure, a wildly successful book...one I hope you'll check out if you haven't yet jumped in to the drunken doom and redemption it holds!

In other news: I'm 43. I missed my Henry Miller window -- hoping to get my first novel out by 42. But there's still hope...as Chinese Gucci is submitted, and a Rank Stranger is being worked on. Tonight I raise a glass to all the folks who've supported my writing over the years! Like ol' Buddy Guy says, "You all know you make me feel good, don'tcha?"

You Are Not Alone, You Have Found Otherppl...

Nothing major to report...the first novel sits atop a slushpile awaiting its fate, while I keep tinkering with the 2nd novel. We'll see...

But I wanted to let you all know, on the off chance you didn't already, about a great podcast, Otherppl (Other People) hosted by Brad Listi. Generally speaking, each episode is an hour-long conversation with a writer...many still relatively unknown and published in the small press. If you like writing, and writers, and you don't mind podcasts, this is one you shouldn't miss. 

A Drinkable Feast with Walt Whitman

Join me in celebrating Independence Day with an honest-to-goodness independent American thinker, poet, and barbaric yawper, Uncle Walt. Plus a couple of local beers, and some delish food truck sandwiches from Conchita's Creations, HERE.

The Most Powerful Force In The Universe

Your friend and mine, Ben Tanzer was nice enough to sit through my blather for THIS PODCAST WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE. It was a while ago, and I'm just getting around to posting it (I was off getting hitched!). Anyhow, I enjoyed the chat and wasn't too terribly pedantic.

Or was I?