Pleasure Boat Studio : A Literary Press

We are glad you stopped by our home on the web. Pleasure Boat Studio: A Literary Press publishes small quantities of high-quality literature, as well as publications from Empty Bowl Press (now a PBS Division), one from Broken Moon Press, and a couple from Storybook Press. We offer books under the imprints of Aequitas Press (non-fiction) and Caravel Books (mysteries). Take a look at our catalog to browse through books that we have published. Or look at a page of our newest books!

Would you like to order one of our books? Please contact us with any questions or comments. We love feedback. And (as you would imagine) we really love orders.

Announcement: We are just about to release a new book by Mary Lou Sanelli, another nonfiction - like her Falling Awake from 2007. This one - Among Friends - is another compelling study of how it feels to be a woman in America today.

"Mary Lou Sanelli says things that matter to me … and when she says them, they sing." —Judith Ryan Hendricks, author of Bread Alone.

To learn more about this book - and the author - go to www.marylousanelli.com.

Here's another very recent book. It's by Mike O'Connor, whose books we've published before. We did a translation of his from Chinese called Setting Out: The Education of Li-Li, as well as a collection of poems and prose called When the Tiger Weeps. This one is quite different. It's a collection of stories about growing up in the fifties in small-town America, specifically in Montesano, Washington.

It's called Unnecessary Talking: The Montesano Stories. ISBN: 978-1-929355-41-9 $16 175 pages. Click here to see what people are saying about this book.

Three other recent books:

Tim McNulty's new Empty Bowl Press chapbook, Cloud Studies: Twenty Poems from Pawtracks (just $8):

and Esther Cohen's collection, God Is a Tree, and Other Middle-Age Prayers (just $10):

We're very proud to add Kevin Miller to our list of esteemed poets.

Home & Away: The Old Town Poems by Kevin Miller

ISBN: 978-1-929355-48-8 / Price: $15 (trade paperback) * 85 pages

In these poems, Kevin Miller drafts people, characters, images and events out of their familiar locations and contexts and weaves them into new situations, creating unexpected connections, original experiences. This new town is the locale of Miller's vital imagination. Probably we all have an old town in us, in our memories or dreams. Miller invites us into his town, shares its truths and textures. And in the generous spirit of the man and poet, these poems are also an invitation to all of us, in whatever way we can, to forge and populate an old town of our own.

More about Kevin? Just click here.

A new offering from Empty Bowl Press:

Andrew Schelling is the author of our first PBS chapbook way back in 1997. We're very pleased to be able to offer this new collection of his work in a full-blown book. Empty Bowl is a Division of Pleasure Boat Studio, in case you're confused. Old Tale Road , Andrew's first full collection of poetry in six years, is a visionary work of crisply detailed language and wide-ranging content. It balances the ecological, mythic, and personal realms, while carrying the flavor of American ballads or blues. There are poems in haibun form, lyric songs, linked-verse, and a Noh play. The personae of Old Tale Road include friends, ghosts, lovers, Buddhist monks, dead poets, mountain spirits, and the strangely named animals of the American West. Schelling is the author or editor of fifteen books, including The Wisdom Anthology of North American Buddhist Poetry and Dropping the Bow: Poems from Ancient India, which received the Academy of American Poets translation award.

ISBN: 978-1-929355-47-1 / Price $15.00 (trade paperback) * 105 pages

Our latest Aequitas (non-fiction) book also available (and you can read it HERE if you want! Read on.)::

Listening to The Rhino: Violence and Healing in a Scientific Age

by Dr. Janet O. Dallett (ISBN: 9781-929355-45-7 / $16 (trade paperback) * 150 pages)

Listening to The Rhino uses stories, myths, and case studies to show the living reality of something deep in the psyche that resembles a large, primordial animal, a creature whose support of human agendas is not entirely reliable. This irrational part of ourselves – call it the autonomous psyche – finds expression in a multitude of contradictory ways in both the lives of individuals and the sweep of world events. Sometimes it is responsible for the miraculous healing of body and soul,; at other times it perpetuates the most horrifying forms of violence. Whether it works primarily for good or for ill depends in large part on how we relate to it.

New! Pleasure Boat Studio is making the PDF of Listening to The Rhino available for download! Check it out.

THIS JUST IN: Good Night, My Darling - written by Sweden's Inger Frimansson and translated by Seattleite Laura Wideburg - has been named BOOK OF THE YEAR for Translations by ForeWord Magazine!! We're very pleased with this award and heartily congratulate both the author and the translator. It's a collaborative process, after all. Way to go!!

More about Inger

CHECK OUT OUR LATEST BOOKS!!!

EMPTY BOWL PRESS, a division of Pleasure Boat Studio: A Literary Press announces the release of WORKING THE WOODS, WORKING THE SEA, edited by Finn Wilcox & Jerry Gorsline

ISBN: 978-1-929355-40-2 / Price: $22.00; soft cover / 376 pages

Working the Woods, Working the Sea is a unique collection of poetry and prose by Gary Snyder, Tom Jay, Holly Hughes, Tim McNulty, Jim Dodge and many more of the North Pacific Coast. Deeply connected to the earth and sea through physical work, these writers speak eloquently of the beauty and power of their environments and of their shared labor and sense of community. With its wit, song and wisdom, this book will take you out to sea and “back to the land.”

As novelist Tom Robbins writes, “These mud-flecked prose lines and skinned-knuckle sweat poems out-sparkle every diamond necklace at Tiffany’s.”

and . . .

The Shadow in the Water

by Inger Frimansson

Translated from the Swedish by Laura Wideburg / $18 (trade paperback) * 332 pages

The Shadow in the Water is the second part of the acclaimed diptych about Justin Dalvik. The first part, Good Night My Darling, was originally published in 1998 and reprinted in an English-language edition in 2007 (see above)..

Summary: Justine Dalvik is back. Six years have passed since Justine Dalvik killed her tormentors. Her life has since then taken a calmer direction and the risk for being discovered should be over. However, the past threatens to catch up with her. In her nightmares, Justine sees the dead body of one of her victims— Berit— coming up to the surface of the water of Mälaren. Meanwhile, friends and relatives of Berit have started to dig into her mysterious death. Also, a stubborn policeman with violent tendencies is becoming interested in several of the already closed investigations. As these people close in on the old stone house by the water of Mälaren in which she lives with her bird and her new lover, Justine Dalvik feels the noose tighten around her neck.

The Shadow in the Water was awarded the Swedish Academy of Crime Writers’ Award in 2005 for Best Swedish Crime Novel of the Year. Good Night My Darling was awarded with the same prize in 1998.

From Publishers Weekly: Frimansson skillfully weaves themes of darkness and light, guilt and innocence, life and death. Not for the faint of heart, this bleak mystery will linger in readers’ minds long after the last page is turned.

To read some reviews of this book, click here.

and

The Woman Who Wrote “King Lear,” And Other Stories

by Louis Phillips

ISBN: 978-1-929355-39-6 / $16 (trade paperback) * 194 pages

In his 3^rd collection of short fiction, Louis Phillips, a widely read author of fiction, poetry, drama, and children’s stories, takes his readers into numerous strange worlds. From the opening story, “Errata,” which lists dozens of strange “mistakes” with a previously published story, to the final piece, “Lee Harvey Oswald’s Can Opener,” one soon discovers oneself visiting an unpredictable consciousness. Phillips, who teaches Introduction to Poetry and The History of Hell at the School of Visual Arts, creates stories which lead the reader to ask what in the world is going on? These were the kinds of questions asked of Kafka, Borges, Barthelme, and Barth as well as so many other authors of imaginary realism, the unusual, and yes, the absurd. As for humor, well, there is plenty of that, too. What is the theme connecting these stories? Madness, perhaps, but not only the madness of single characters. Madness as well of entire communities, the “madness of crowds.” Read these stories ... but be prepared to confront new realities, some of which you may never entirely escape. For more about Phillips' work, click here.

and

Fervor: Poems from the East Village 2005-2007

New work by Zaedryn Meade

ISBN 1-929355-42-6 $10

Fervor: Poems from the East Village is a celebratory exploration of the rituals of love, loss, and desire in relationships. The collection sifts through the inner emotional landscape of the development of romance through chivalry and gender dynamics, following the destruction, mourning, and healing as relationships grow, change, and end. The urban textures of New York both amplify and distance human connection and relation as the city itself becomes a lover. No. 10 in our celebrated Chapbook Series.

to read a poem from "Fervor," AND/OR to listen to Zaedryn read a "duet" with Emily Haines, click here

And also . . .

This Michael Blumenthal novel was chosen by Elie Wiesel, Thomas Kenneally, and Merrill Joan Gerber as winner of Hadassah Magazine’s prestigious Ribelow Prize as Best Jewish Novel of the Year in 1994. In its all-too-short lifespan, it received rave reviews from Kirkus and Publisher’s Weekly and glowing tributes from such writers as Lorrie Moore, Tim O’Brien, Jhumpa Lahiri, Robert Coles, and Leslie Epstein. Unfortunately, just three months after the novel’s publication, its publisher, Zoland Books, was forced to close for economic reasons, and this brilliant novel by one of America ’s finest poets hardly even saw the light of day. It is our great pleasure and privilege to now be able to re-issue this important work for the first time in paperback allowing it a second—really a first—life. Once you read it, I am sure you will agree that it more than deserves the kind of critical and popular attention which—due to the unfortunate circumstances that befell its original publisher—it never received. $18 - for more about this book, click here

AND . . .

The long-awaited new novel by Irving Warner has now been released: The War Journal of Lila Ann Smith is based on a true story of the invasion and subsequent occupation of the Island of Attu by the Japanese during World War II. This action was followed by the removal of the occupants of Attu to another island near Japan . Irving Warner, after 25 years of research, after interviewing as many survivors as possible, developed this novel focusing on the single Caucasian woman who lived through this, a woman whose husband was killed during the invasion and who went to Japan with the native people. Click here for a review from the Fairbanks News-Miner.

Price: $18.00 (softbound) 275 pages / ISBN 978-1-929355-33-4

Learn more about this book at www.lilaannsmith.com

THIS JUST IN: 2008 started in earnest for author, Albert A. Dalia of Pepperell , Massachusetts when he received an email stating that the Online Review of Books & Current Affairs had chosen his medieval Chinese historical fantasy novel, Dream of the Dragon Pool, as their Fiction Book of the Year. An hour later, the author had his novel beautifully summed up when Erik C. Pihl added to Dalia’s mounting collection of rave reviews, which include a considerable number of five-star Amazon picks, by writing:

"To treat a set of ideas or beliefs as more that just a set of ideas or beliefs is difficult. This is especially so when the beliefs in question are not part of one's own cultural heritage. There is both considerable skill in the writing and considerable knowledge used as background necessary to pull something like this off. Albert Dalia succeeds on both counts. The story, although strange from a Westerner's point of view, moves through its changes smoothly, interestedly, and, perhaps more to the point, believably. Granted, this tale involves the "willing suspension of disbelief," but, that done, it is a good story well told, and well worth the read."

Albert Dalia's Dream of the Dragon Pool: A Daoist Quest has been named a Finalist in ForeWord Magazine's Book of the Year Awards, as Best Science Fiction/Fantasy novel.. This book had previously been named a Finalist in the USA Book News Best Books of 2007. It was honored in the category of Fiction/Literature: Fantasy/Science Fiction. We are very proud of these awards, and we heartily congratulate Albert.

Dream of the Dragon Pool – A Daoist Quest is a multifaceted novel woven around the historical fact of the death-sentence exile of China’s best-loved poet-adventurer, Li Bo (also known as Li Bai, 701-762 A.D.). This is an adventure story of magic, myth, and occult powers written as traditional Chinese-style wu-xia (heroic) fiction.

Albert A. Dalia is a China scholar with four decades of study, research, and experience in medieval Chinese history and culture. Twenty years ago, after earning two masters degrees and a Ph.D. in Chinese history and religion, he turned to fiction writing and published a series of short stories and, now, his first novel. For more information, please go to www.aadalia.com.

Price: $13.95 - NEW PRICE!! (softbound) 335 pages / ISBN 978-1-929355-34-1

More about Dream of the Dragon Pool

MORE NEWS!

Dr. Bessie W. Blake's Speak to the Mountain: The Tommie Waites Story was named a Winner in the USA Book News Best Books of 2007. It was honored in the category of Religion: Christianity. We are very proud of this award, and we heartily congratulate Bessie. Speak to the Mountain tells the story of a unique woman, Tommie Waites, who started from direst poverty in the Ark-La-Tex region of the U.S. and overcame one powerful force after another until she emerged as a leading Christian evangelist. The book was released in both hardcover and soft as the first book in our new Aequitas imprint, an imprint focusing on non-fiction with sociological or philosophical themes.

And here's more information about this book and this author.

MORE

Frances Driscoll's The Rape Poems is our best-selling book. We're pleased to announce that it is once again being presented as a dramatic production. It has previously been performed in San Francisco and Edinburgh, and recently in NYC and in Philadelphia. We're very pleased with this and are hoping it will get the kind of reception it deserves. It really SHOULD be produced on every college campus in America. It's that good.

More about Frances and The Rape Poems . . .





	We are glad you stopped by our home on the web. Pleasure Boat Studio: A Literary Press publishes small quantities of high-quality literature, as well as publications from Empty Bowl Press (now a PBS Division), one from Broken Moon Press, and a couple from Storybook Press. We offer books under the imprints of Aequitas Press (non-fiction) and Caravel Books (mysteries). Take a look at our catalog to browse through books that we have published. Or look at a page of our newest books! Would you like to order one of our books? Please contact us with any questions or comments. We love feedback. And (as you would imagine) we really love orders. Announcement: We are just about to release a new book by Mary Lou Sanelli, another nonfiction - like her Falling Awake from 2007. This one - Among Friends - is another compelling study of how it feels to be a woman in America today. "Mary Lou Sanelli says things that matter to me … and when she says them, they sing." —Judith Ryan Hendricks, author of Bread Alone. To learn more about this book - and the author - go to www.marylousanelli.com. Here's another very recent book. It's by Mike O'Connor, whose books we've published before. We did a translation of his from Chinese called Setting Out: The Education of Li-Li, as well as a collection of poems and prose called When the Tiger Weeps. This one is quite different. It's a collection of stories about growing up in the fifties in small-town America, specifically in Montesano, Washington. It's called Unnecessary Talking: The Montesano Stories. ISBN: 978-1-929355-41-9 $16 175 pages. Click here to see what people are saying about this book. Three other recent books: Tim McNulty's new Empty Bowl Press chapbook, Cloud Studies: Twenty Poems from Pawtracks (just $8): and Esther Cohen's collection, God Is a Tree, and Other Middle-Age Prayers (just $10): We're very proud to add Kevin Miller to our list of esteemed poets. Home & Away: *The Old Town Poems* by Kevin Miller ISBN: 978-1-929355-48-8 / Price: $15 (trade paperback) * 85 pages In these poems, Kevin Miller drafts people, characters, images and events out of their familiar locations and contexts and weaves them into new situations, creating unexpected connections, original experiences. This new town is the locale of Miller's vital imagination. Probably we all have an old town in us, in our memories or dreams. Miller invites us into his town, shares its truths and textures. And in the generous spirit of the man and poet, these poems are also an invitation to all of us, in whatever way we can, to forge and populate an old town of our own. More about Kevin? Just click here. A new offering from Empty Bowl Press: Andrew Schelling is the author of our first PBS chapbook way back in 1997. We're very pleased to be able to offer this new collection of his work in a full-blown book. Empty Bowl is a Division of Pleasure Boat Studio, in case you're confused. Old Tale Road , Andrew's first full collection of poetry in six years, is a visionary work of crisply detailed language and wide-ranging content. It balances the ecological, mythic, and personal realms, while carrying the flavor of American ballads or blues. There are poems in haibun form, lyric songs, linked-verse, and a Noh play. The personae of Old Tale Road include friends, ghosts, lovers, Buddhist monks, dead poets, mountain spirits, and the strangely named animals of the American West. Schelling is the author or editor of fifteen books, including The Wisdom Anthology of North American Buddhist Poetry and Dropping the Bow: Poems from Ancient India, which received the Academy of American Poets translation award. ISBN: 978-1-929355-47-1 / Price $15.00 (trade paperback) * 105 pages Our latest Aequitas (non-fiction) book also available (and you can read it HERE if you want! Read on.):: *Listening to The Rhino: Violence and Healing in a Scientific Age* by Dr. Janet O. Dallett (ISBN: 9781-929355-45-7 / *$16 (trade paperback) 150 pages*) Listening to The Rhino* uses stories, myths, and case studies to show the living reality of something deep in the psyche that resembles a large, primordial animal, a creature whose support of human agendas is not entirely reliable. This irrational part of ourselves – call it the autonomous psyche – finds expression in a multitude of contradictory ways in both the lives of individuals and the sweep of world events. Sometimes it is responsible for the miraculous healing of body and soul,; at other times it perpetuates the most horrifying forms of violence. Whether it works primarily for good or for ill depends in large part on how we relate to it. New! Pleasure Boat Studio is making the PDF of Listening to The Rhino available for download! Check it out. THIS JUST IN: Good Night, My Darling - written by Sweden's Inger Frimansson and translated by Seattleite Laura Wideburg - has been named BOOK OF THE YEAR for Translations by ForeWord Magazine!! We're very pleased with this award and heartily congratulate both the author and the translator. It's a collaborative process, after all. Way to go!! More about Inger CHECK OUT OUR LATEST BOOKS!!! EMPTY BOWL PRESS, a division of Pleasure Boat Studio: A Literary Press announces the release of WORKING THE WOODS, WORKING THE *SEA, edited by Finn Wilcox & Jerry Gorsline ISBN: 978-1-929355-40-2 / Price: $22.00; soft cover / 376 pages Working the Woods, Working the Sea* is a unique collection of poetry and prose by Gary Snyder, Tom Jay, Holly Hughes, Tim McNulty, Jim Dodge and many more of the North Pacific Coast. Deeply connected to the earth and sea through physical work, these writers speak eloquently of the beauty and power of their environments and of their shared labor and sense of community. With its wit, song and wisdom, this book will take you out to sea and “back to the land.” As novelist Tom Robbins writes, “These mud-flecked prose lines and skinned-knuckle sweat poems out-sparkle every diamond necklace at Tiffany’s.” and . . . *The Shadow in the Water* by Inger Frimansson Translated from the Swedish by Laura Wideburg / *$18 (trade paperback) 332 pages** The Shadow in the Water is the second part of the acclaimed diptych about Justin Dalvik. The first part, Good Night My Darling, was originally published in 1998 and reprinted in an English-language edition in 2007 (see above).. Summary: Justine Dalvik is back. Six years have passed since Justine Dalvik killed her tormentors. Her life has since then taken a calmer direction and the risk for being discovered should be over. However, the past threatens to catch up with her. In her nightmares, Justine sees the dead body of one of her victims— Berit— coming up to the surface of the water of Mälaren. Meanwhile, friends and relatives of Berit have started to dig into her mysterious death. Also, a stubborn policeman with violent tendencies is becoming interested in several of the already closed investigations. As these people close in on the old stone house by the water of Mälaren in which she lives with her bird and her new lover, Justine Dalvik feels the noose tighten around her neck. The Shadow in the Water was awarded the Swedish Academy of Crime Writers’ Award in 2005 for Best Swedish Crime Novel of the Year. Good Night My Darling was awarded with the same prize in 1998. From Publishers Weekly: Frimansson skillfully weaves themes of darkness and light, guilt and innocence, life and death. Not for the faint of heart, this bleak mystery will linger in readers’ minds long after the last page is turned. To read some reviews of this book, click here. and The Woman Who Wrote “King Lear,” And Other Stories by Louis Phillips ISBN: 978-1-929355-39-6 / $16 (trade paperback) * 194 pages In his 3^rd collection of short fiction, Louis Phillips, a widely read author of fiction, poetry, drama, and children’s stories, takes his readers into numerous strange worlds. From the opening story, “Errata,” which lists dozens of strange “mistakes” with a previously published story, to the final piece, “Lee Harvey Oswald’s Can Opener,” one soon discovers oneself visiting an unpredictable consciousness. Phillips, who teaches Introduction to Poetry and The History of Hell at the School of Visual Arts, creates stories which lead the reader to ask what in the world is going on? These were the kinds of questions asked of Kafka, Borges, Barthelme, and Barth as well as so many other authors of imaginary realism, the unusual, and yes, the absurd. As for humor, well, there is plenty of that, too. What is the theme connecting these stories? Madness, perhaps, but not only the madness of single characters. Madness as well of entire communities, the “madness of crowds.” Read these stories ... but be prepared to confront new realities, some of which you may never entirely escape. For more about Phillips' work, click here. and *Fervor: Poems from the East Village 2005-2007* New work by Zaedryn Meade ISBN 1-929355-42-6 $10 Fervor: Poems from the East Village is a celebratory exploration of the rituals of love, loss, and desire in relationships. The collection sifts through the inner emotional landscape of the development of romance through chivalry and gender dynamics, following the destruction, mourning, and healing as relationships grow, change, and end. The urban textures of New York both amplify and distance human connection and relation as the city itself becomes a lover. No. 10 in our celebrated Chapbook Series. to read a poem from "Fervor," AND/OR to listen to Zaedryn read a "duet" with Emily Haines, click here And also . . . This Michael Blumenthal novel was chosen by Elie Wiesel, Thomas Kenneally, and Merrill Joan Gerber as winner of Hadassah Magazine’s prestigious Ribelow Prize as Best Jewish Novel of the Year in 1994. In its all-too-short lifespan, it received rave reviews from Kirkus and Publisher’s Weekly and glowing tributes from such writers as Lorrie Moore, Tim O’Brien, Jhumpa Lahiri, Robert Coles, and Leslie Epstein. Unfortunately, just three months after the novel’s publication, its publisher, Zoland Books, was forced to close for economic reasons, and this brilliant novel by one of America ’s finest poets hardly even saw the light of day. It is our great pleasure and privilege to now be able to re-issue this important work for the first time in paperback allowing it a second—really a first—life. Once you read it, I am sure you will agree that it more than deserves the kind of critical and popular attention which—due to the unfortunate circumstances that befell its original publisher—it never received. $18 - for more about this book, click here AND . . . The long-awaited new novel by Irving Warner has now been released: *The War Journal of Lila Ann Smith* is based on a true story of the invasion and subsequent occupation of the Island of Attu by the Japanese during World War II. This action was followed by the removal of the occupants of Attu to another island near Japan . Irving Warner, after 25 years of research, after interviewing as many survivors as possible, developed this novel focusing on the single Caucasian woman who lived through this, a woman whose husband was killed during the invasion and who went to Japan with the native people. Click here for a review from the Fairbanks News-Miner. Price: $18.00 (softbound) 275 pages / ISBN 978-1-929355-33-4 Learn more about this book at www.lilaannsmith.com THIS JUST IN: 2008 started in earnest for author, Albert A. Dalia of Pepperell , Massachusetts when he received an email stating that the Online Review of Books & Current Affairs had chosen his medieval Chinese historical fantasy novel, Dream of the Dragon Pool, as their Fiction Book of the Year. An hour later, the author had his novel beautifully summed up when Erik C. Pihl added to Dalia’s mounting collection of rave reviews, which include a considerable number of five-star Amazon picks, by writing: "To treat a set of ideas or beliefs as more that just a set of ideas or beliefs is difficult. This is especially so when the beliefs in question are not part of one's own cultural heritage. There is both considerable skill in the writing and considerable knowledge used as background necessary to pull something like this off. Albert Dalia succeeds on both counts. The story, although strange from a Westerner's point of view, moves through its changes smoothly, interestedly, and, perhaps more to the point, believably. Granted, this tale involves the "willing suspension of disbelief," but, that done, it is a good story well told, and well worth the read." Albert Dalia's *Dream of the Dragon Pool: A Daoist Quest* has been named a Finalist in ForeWord Magazine's Book of the Year Awards, as Best Science Fiction/Fantasy novel.. This book had previously been named a Finalist in the USA Book News Best Books of 2007. It was honored in the category of Fiction/Literature: Fantasy/Science Fiction. We are very proud of these awards, and we heartily congratulate Albert. *Dream of the Dragon Pool – A Daoist Quest* is a multifaceted novel woven around the historical fact of the death-sentence exile of China’s best-loved poet-adventurer, Li Bo (also known as Li Bai, 701-762 A.D.). This is an adventure story of magic, myth, and occult powers written as traditional Chinese-style wu-xia (heroic) fiction. Albert A. Dalia is a China scholar with four decades of study, research, and experience in medieval Chinese history and culture. Twenty years ago, after earning two masters degrees and a Ph.D. in Chinese history and religion, he turned to fiction writing and published a series of short stories and, now, his first novel. For more information, please go to www.aadalia.com. Price: $13.95 - NEW PRICE!! (softbound) 335 pages / ISBN 978-1-929355-34-1 More about Dream of the Dragon Pool MORE NEWS! Dr. Bessie W. Blake's *Speak to the Mountain: The Tommie Waites Story* was named a Winner in the USA Book News Best Books of 2007. It was honored in the category of Religion: Christianity. We are very proud of this award, and we heartily congratulate Bessie. Speak to the Mountain tells the story of a unique woman, Tommie Waites, who started from direst poverty in the Ark-La-Tex region of the U.S. and overcame one powerful force after another until she emerged as a leading Christian evangelist. The book was released in both hardcover and soft as the first book in our new Aequitas imprint, an imprint focusing on non-fiction with sociological or philosophical themes. And here's more information about this book and this author. *MORE* Frances Driscoll's The Rape Poems is our best-selling book. We're pleased to announce that it is once again being presented as a dramatic production. It has previously been performed in San Francisco and Edinburgh, and recently in NYC and in Philadelphia. We're very pleased with this and are hoping it will get the kind of reception it deserves. It really SHOULD be produced on every college campus in America. It's that good. *More about Frances and The Rape Poems* . . . We're proud of our books. And we have new books coming out regularly (we've been averaging about six a year), so please check again soon. We are not accepting any new submissions at this time, so please don't send anything either by regular mail or by email. You should send your work elsewhere, or you should publish it yourself. I wish you the very best of luck in a difficult process. I believe it's important to know that books are not necessarily published according to their quality. Yours may be excellent, but the timing may be wrong. For us, now, the timing is wrong. We need to concentrate on marketing what we have and to finishing our current list of upcoming publications. We take the work seriously, and we'll be back accepting new manuscripts soon, I'm sure. Thanks, and don't get discouraged. Just keep writing. Write for the sheer joy of it. By the way, the best way to help us open up to new submissions would be to purchase some of our books. Small presses need lots of help. AND you can help by writing a reader review for amazon.com or barnesandnoble.com. People really do read those things. Jack Estes, Publisher pleasboat@nyc.rr.com Check out this link to another small but exciting press: http://www.worldaudience.org/links.html And check out these sites (and congratulations to Jerry Faulke for starting this great project):** http://www.poetsencyclopedia.com/emptybowl.shtml

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