Soft Skull Librarians

Diana Tixier Herald & Colleen Mondor on "Lonely Werewolf Girl"

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 15:39:00 GMT

Booklist and the Blogosphere agree. Lonely Werewolf Girl? It pretty much rocks ;-) More specifically, Diana Tixier Herald sez: "The MacRinnalch clan of Scottish werewolves is at war with itself. Attacked by his 17-year-old daughter Kalix, the thane has succumbed, leaving the succession in question. Neither eldest son Sarapen nor younger, cross-dressing scion Markus have enough votes in the werewolves Great Council to become thane, and the late thanes mother offers her vote to whomever brings her Kalixs heart. Kalix, despondent over losing her lover to exile, is on the verge of suicide before either bounty hunters or the secret society that hunts werewolves finds her. After shes rescued by college students Moonglow and Daniel, things take a curious turn, to, among other things, her sister Thrix, a werewolf enchantress and couturier for fashion-obsessed fire-elemental warrior queen Malveria. This complex romp features scores of characters, multiple races, enchanting fashion trappings, business, family dynamics, music, sex, enduring love, romance, business, eating disorders, drug addiction, back-alley fights, epic battles, politics, and, most prominently, the contrary nature of werewolves, not to mention 236 (!) chapters. And its so compelling you dont want to it end. The grungy, gory, glorious world that World Fantasy Awardwinner Millar has created is unforgettable." Then Colleen Mondor sez: <a href="http://www.chasingray.com/archives/2008/04/recent_reads_2.html">http://www.chasingray.com/archives/2008/04/recent_reads_2.html</a> "I read a lot of books for my column [the Bookslut YA column] that I think will likely appeal to teenage boys or girls (or even younger) and sometimes I read a book that I think will probably crossover equally to each gender but it is rare that I read a book that I am convinced is perfect for teen readers. I mean they are going to love this. I just finished Lonely Werewolf Girl by Martin Millar and the best way I can describe it is as a werewolf soap opera with subplots involving fashion, music and bloody death of many werewolves. You have moments where the big discussion is how to find more episodes of Sabrina the Teenage Witch on cable followed by a fight that results in multiple bad guys getting pulverized. It's blood and taffeta; frank discussion of Joan Jett followed by the importance of literacy. How in the hell Millar pulls off this off so well is totally beyond me but man, I'd love to be his student. The lynchpin is Kalix, the werewolf girl of the title who had a seriously bad upbringing (we're talking a mother that has no problem pitting one child against another in some epically serious conflict) and tried to kill her father. Everyone is after her and they are going to get her until a couple of humans happen upon her, save her life, and then slowly but surely become her best friends forever. And then a whole bunch of other awesome stuff happens that is funny, scary and poignant and all the people you care about live happily ever after. I completely see why I am not the only one who loved this book. It will be reviewed in my July column - expect a serious rave. (And yes, I still have a duplicate copy if you want to read it - email colleenatchasingraydotcom.)" Millar, Martin (Author) Apr 2008. 560 p. Soft Skull, paperback, $15.95. (9780979663666).

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Mea culpa: correct link for Candy in Action

Thu, 18 Jan 2007 15:54:00 GMT

Very sorry. Bad link. This is the correct one. (Thanks to Beth Gallaway for pointing it out!) <a href="http://www.softskull.com/files/CandyinAction_galley.pdf">http://www.softskull.com/files/CandyinAction_galley.pdf</a> Richard -- To unsubscribe from: Soft Skull Librarians, just follow this link: <a href="http://www.softskull.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi?f=u&l=library&e=example@example.com&p=[pin">http://www.softskull.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi?f=u&l=library&e=example@example.com&p=[pin</a>] Click this link, or copy and paste the address into your browser.

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Bankrupt distributors, eGalleys, and Candy in Action

Wed, 17 Jan 2007 23:45:00 GMT

Dear Library Folk: I was hoping to get to meet many of you again at mid-Winter ALA but, sadly, the bankruptcy filing by our distributor Publishers Group West has left a huge huge hole in our finances, and I have to remain in Brooklyn. I'm writing to let you know about a wonderful YA novel we're publishing in May, but for which we are unlikely to have the money to print many galleys. But we feel we owe it to the author to do everything in our power to get the word out about his book, so we're trying this--posting a PDF of the book on our website. Right here: <a href="http://www.softskull.com/www/files/CandyinAction_galley.pdf">http://www.softskull.com/www/files/CandyinAction_galley.pdf</a> Feel free to pass this link, this e-mail, onto any colleagues, students, teens etc...think of it as a free advance e-Book! Here's some info about it: Candy in Action By Matthue Roth 1-933368-63-2 Hardcover 5 ½ x 8 ½ 224pp. Juvenile Fiction $15.95 May 2007 Candy is just the girl next-door, except with better fashion sense and killer kung-fu skills. But when Candy turns down a date with the wealthy Preston Reign, she suddenly finds herself stalked by a guy who refuses take "no" for an answer. Candy always had a million guys after her. Only, before, they never used GPS tracking and surveillance helicopters. Candy Cohen is just the girl next doorthat is, if the girl next door happens to be a college freshman and a part-time model with a wicked sense of humor. She and her best friend Velma jaunt around the world, flirt with rock stars and power brokers, and party it up in countries that dont even know the meaning of the word. But all that changes one night, when Candy turns down the rich and powerful Preston Reigns invitation to dinner. Suddenly, she finds herself being stalked by a guy who never takes no for a final answer. Drawn into his web, out of control for the first time in her life, Candy is on the rundodging bullets, blowing up buildings, being chased through exotic cities, and fighting back with the only weapons she hasVelma, her natural wit, and her stiletto heels. Candy in Action is about the lonely side of being popular, and the dark side of being the hottest girl in class. Its action, its glamour, and its that best-friends-forever feeling where youre on top of the world and anything could happen. About the author: Matthue Roth is a novelist, performance poet, and student of the medieval commentators on the Babylonian Talmud. He has been a baker, a barista, a translator, and a kosher inspector, and he reads way too many comic books. He is the author of Never Mind the Goldbergs, (Scholastic/PUSH, 2005) and the memoir Yom Kippur a Go-Go (Cleis Press, 2005). He lives with his wife on the open road, and he keeps a secret online journal at www.matthue.com. We also, I have to confess, can't afford to print our catalog right now, either, so if any of you guys want to to check out the Spring 2007 catalog, here that is: <a href="http://www.softskull.com/files/SoftSkullSpr07_frontlist.pdf">http://www.softskull.com/files/SoftSkullSpr07_frontlist.pdf</a> Finally, those if you who are going to Mid-Winter, do drop by the PGW booth and say hello to the troops there, who are passionate about the publishing they do, and would love to chat to you guys, since you guys are the folks who get our books to the readers they need... All the best, Richard Nash -- To unsubscribe from: Soft Skull Librarians, just follow this link: <a href="http://www.softskull.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi?f=u&l=library&e=example@example.com&p=[pin">http://www.softskull.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi?f=u&l=library&e=example@example.com&p=[pin</a>] Click this link, or copy and paste the address into your browser.

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SLJ on Manstealing for Fat Girls...

Mon, 16 Oct 2006 01:37:00 GMT

Kick-ass review from School Library Journal (October 01, 2006) for Manstealing for Fat Girls! Gr 9 Up - Angie, 16, wishes she were thin, so she tries to stop eating, which doesnt work. She wishes her mother wouldnt marry sleazy Rudy, but hes just moved in with all his stuff. She wishes the popular kids would leave her alone, but theyve called her Lezzylard since seventh grade. Her friend, Shelby, is an out lesbian. Only one of their friend Heathers breasts has developed, and her parents are anxious to have her fixed. When Angie finally tells off perfect, popular Mindy, she is sexually assaulted by Mindys boyfriend in the girls room. What follows is a delicious revenge scheme, masterminded by Shelbys older sister, a tornado of rage, snappy comebacks, and hairspray. Every one of Embrees characters is fully realized, complex, and engaging. Angie is disgusted by her body and confused about her sexuality, but never hates herself. Shes alternatively wicked and woeful, and her commentary on everything from sex and drugs to glitter mascara is spot on. The novel is perfectly paced, and Angies thoughtful, gut-tearing, hilarious narrative builds the plot quietly. The author masterfully uses the rednecks, Red Lobsters, Dumpsters, and strip malls of working-class suburbia to create an ugly yet alluring post-punk setting."Johanna Lewis, New York Public Library" Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information. The full expurgated review, cause when they come this good, ya don't nned the pull quotes... But, because theer are some retty good pull-quotes from some other review organs, those are below: "[A]s real and relevant as anything Judy Blume has written."--San Francisco Chronicle "Embree has crafted a very sharp look at adolescent longing and angst."--Publishers Weekly "[A] rare, authentic, and sometimes horrifying view of a high-school misfit's experience. The dialogue and social situations, as well as Angie's narration, are astonishingly realistic, and without sensationalizing, Embree writes in frank, explicit language about her teen characters' friendships, insecurities, first sex, and fantasies, fueled by encounters with porn. Set in 1980s St. Louis, this may attract adults who remember the cultural references, but it's teens, particularly those outside the popular core, who are likely to embrace the book and eagerly pass it on."--Booklist "Embree's debut has roots in the punk-lit undergrounddrugs, disaffection, sex, violence and freakiness aboundbut the weird innocence of its teen narrator makes it read like an uncensored YA novel... Sure to be shoplifted by teen delinquents, but also has a shot at adult cult status."--Kirkus "Cynical yet sweet (but never oversweet) and frequently hilarious, this first novel captures the free-fall, occasionally magical hell of being a freak in high school as well as anything I've ever read. If you ever got called faggot or lezzy on the school bus, you'll find this instantly recognizable. If you didn't, maybe it's time to find out how it felt."--Poppy Z. Brite, author of Liquor "You could say that Michelle Embree's writing is 'fierce' or 'honest' or 'gritty' or you could just cut the bullshit and say that it's really fucking good. This is the new Paula Danziger." Zoe Trope, author of Please Don't Kill the Freshman "Michelle Embree prods the messy, bleeding heart of the teenage wasteland, bringing us a cast of high school misfits, all way too real and full of the brutal smarts and hilarity possessed by resilient outsider kids. I totally loved it."--Michelle Tea, author of The Chelsea Whistle "Michelle Embrees Manstealing for Fat Girls just might be the love child of John Waters and John Hughes. A wickedly brilliant debut that captures picture-perfect the horrors of middle-American teen angst."--Felicia Luna Lemus, author of Trace Elements of Random Tea Parties "Beautifully and honestly written... I wish there were books like this when I was growing up -- books that dealt with issues of class, ethnicity, gender and sexuality, both intelligently and unabashedly, within the contemporary culture."--Michael Turner, author of The Pornographers Poem -- To unsubscribe from: Soft Skull Librarians, just follow this link: <a href="http://www.softskull.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi?f=u&l=library&e=example@example.com&p=[pin">http://www.softskull.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi?f=u&l=library&e=example@example.com&p=[pin</a>] Click this link, or copy and paste the address into your browser.

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Some useful reviews for some delayed books...

Mon, 14 Aug 2006 17:35:00 GMT

Hi Librarian folk! So it sometimes happens that independent publishers fall way way way behind schedule in terms of printing books. And when that happens, the orders you so kindly placed with the wholesalers, when you read a good pre-publication review, eventually cancel. As do the orders the wholesalers place with us. While there's no magic bullet to fix this, I thought I would send to our list o' librarians rviews of some books that feel behind schedule but are finally about ready to ship. (And my apologies for the inconvenience!) Siberia by Nikolai Maslov (1933368039, paper, $19.95) "Maslov's autobiographical graphic novel begins in 1971. Seventeen and leaving school, he first worked construction, then was drafted. He served his stint, came home, worked some more, went to art school, moved to the capital, worked some more, applied to the graphic arts institute but was rejected, became a drunk after that and his brother's death, sobered up at a state hospital, became a building super, and the last page shows him in 2000, fishing with three boys (his sons?). Drab his life seems and surely was, but that it was lived in the imploding Soviet Union provokes interest in it far beyond what a similar life in Manitoba or Nebraska might immediately rouse. Signs of squalid collapse are everywhere in random piles of trash in city and countryside alike. Heavy drinking dissipates every social gathering. Doing a good job goes unrewarded; once, conscientiousness even leads to accidental death. Yet, reflecting Maslov's stated love for his birthplace, his simple pencil drawings render the landscape, although most often flat prairie when glimpsed, with love."Ray Olson, Booklist "The backstory of this graphic novel may be as compelling as the book itself. Maslov, a Muscovite night watchman, handed a visiting French editor some pages from what became this book. Impressed, the editor offered Maslov an advance, enabling the middle-aged artist to finish the book and, for the first time in his life, live as a working artist. This book is the story of Maslov's life. Drawn entirely in soft, impressionistic pencil, it follows his upbringing in Siberia in the 1950s through his army conscription and service in Mongolia, an utterly absurd riff on the tragicomic life of a Soviet soldier in the '70s. These scenes are so strange, so dazed, that they take on a hallucinatory glow. It also tracks his descent into alcoholism and despair, followed by his slow ascent out of that chasm. At times the drawing is stiff and naive, and the translation is spotty, but Maslov's wry, cracked voice always shines through the formal problems. His is a voice from history, and his pencil drawings, which sometimes seem to shift as you look at them, drives that home. Even at his most horrifyingly real, Maslov is a friendly confidant, waving at the audience from what feels like a distant planet."Publishers Weekly H2O by Mark Swartz (1933368195, Paper, $13.00) Swartz portrayed a dangerously alienated loner brooding in Chicago's central library in Instant Karma (2002). Here he zaps forward in time to depict Chicago as a chaotic city-state with a burgeoning homeless population and a failing infrastructure. Tap water is but a cherished memory, so toxic is Lake Michigan. In fact, the earth's entire freshwater supply is imperiled, which is good for the mega corporation Drixa, which is gearing up to produce synthetic water. Or is the fake water fake? Hayden Shivers, a hapless filter and drain engineer who discovered the water-making properties of a rare fungus off the coast of Malta, can't figure out if he is about to be promoted, fired, or worse. Is the African mail-order maid who destroyed his marriage actually an undercover operative? What's up with the beautiful environmental rights protestor, Aqua Bella? Swartz's shrewd, jittery, and noirishly atmospheric speculative tale about a bumbling antihero and dire environmental trauma brings an irreverent and parrying voice to ecofiction and casts a fractured light on follies petty and catastrophic.Donna Seaman, Booklist Tear Down the Mountain by Roger Alan Skipper (1933368349, Paper, $13.95) Poverty and pipe dreams mark the lives of Sid Lore and Janet Hollar, the outsider couple--he, from Tennessee, she, unable to speak in tongues (the mark of a true believer in her Pentecostal church)--at the heart of Skipper's promising debut. A teenager when he moves to West Virginia's Union County, Sid spends the next decade trying to fit in, but a back injury prevents him from finding work that's anything above menial. The balance of power shifts when Janet becomes the breadwinner, emasculating an insecure Sid (her well-meaning anniversary gift to him of a cooking apron doesn't help). After years of struggling, they leave and spend 14 years in an unnamed city, where things are reliably bleak. His marriage on the rocks, Sid returns to Union County (Janet follows later, separately), where SUV-driving yuppies have scooped up cheap land and built luxury homes. Things, of course, end badly. Skipper's earthy prose helps paint a vivid picture of rough-hewn Appalachia, though the dialect can wear thin. This rocky romance will appeal to those who take it dark.--Publishers Weekly Putting the Pieces Together: The Graffiti Model for Indie Filmmaking (1933368462, paper, $20) Get in, hit it, and get out--that's the essence of the graffiti model of guerrilla filmmaking that director Morgan applied to his 2004 film, the underground graffiti parable Quality of Life . As an extension of that aesthetic, this book is more of a scrapbook-style art piece than a linear, making-of look at the movie. But it's packed with heart and information--instant-message interviews between core members of the production team, a meaty DIY film primer, production stills, photos of San Francisco graffiti, and the original screenplay. That said, the book does have some serious problems. As several of the contributors admit, they were on the wrong side of the book's deadline, so some of the material is unfinished, and much of it is unedited. Rife with typos, bratty humor, and distracting chattiness, the IM interviews are particularly rough going. Overall, there are epiphanies in these pages, but you have to dig deep for them. Still, the book is leagues ahead of your typical screenplay release. Like Quality of Life itself, this is an exciting but flawed herald of changes to come. For libraries with large film collections.--Matthew Moyer, Jacksonville P.L., FL (Library Journal) [Though might I add myself, this is also for folks into graffiti culture--and this film was #1 on the MySpace Film Users for 6 weeks ths summer...) Electric Flesh by Claro, translated by Brian Evenson (1933368233, paper, $13) Three story lines fuse and ignite in this brief novel by the French metafiction master who publishes under a single name (which means "clear," "bright" or "fine" in Spanish). As a child, the real-life Harry Houdini develops a crush on Szuszu, a magician's assistant, whom he eventually pursues--along with the craft that pushes his body to its limits--through a sideshow of carnival freaks. Simultaneously, Thomas Edison directs an army of assistants while attempting to invent the electric chair, conducting gruesome experiments with animals, criminals and high voltage frying. In a modern story set in 1996, an unemployed executioner, Howard Hordinary, masturbates and dreams about Houdini's feats, eventually hoping to prove that he, like Gary Gilmore, is the unacknowledged grandson of the great escape artist, the fruit perhaps of Houdini's liaison with Szuszu. Accomplished U.S. novelist Evenson turns syntax inside out attempting to translate Claro's French whirls and dips into an inventive English, but Hordinary's need to connect with Houdini seems little more than a device to bring the history of electricity closer to a century of terror and torture.--Publishers Weekly -- To unsubscribe from: Soft Skull Librarians, just follow this link: <a href="http://www.softskull.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi?f=u&l=library&e=example@example.com&p=[pin">http://www.softskull.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi?f=u&l=library&e=example@example.com&p=[pin</a>] Click this link, or copy and paste the address into your browser.

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February News, Reviews and Freebies from Soft Skull and Red Rattle Books!

Fri, 25 Feb 2005 18:27:00 GMT

It's the usual eclectic developments from Soft Skull Press and our childrens and YA imprint Red Rattle Books. From ARMING AMERICA, which has the dubious honor of moving up one place to #3 on the ALA's List of Most Challenged Books, to great School Library Jounal reviews for HEY KIDZ BUY THIS BOOK and BEND DON'T SHATTER, a great article on Red Rattle Books in the Westchester Journal-News, and our usual We-love-you-would-you-like-some-free-books offers... Thaks to everyone who came by to say hello and Mid-Winter ALA and look forward to seeing you in Chicago... 1. ARMING AMERICA: The Origins of a National Gun Culture. I'm sure the controversy over this book is not news to you, but what might be news is that Soft Skull issued a revised edition of the book, correcting the genuine errors in the book (but not correcting the non-errors!) The author also wrote a pamphlet explaining what he did and did not change which can be downloaded here. <a href="http://www.softskull.com/files/weighed_even_balance.pdf">http://www.softskull.com/files/weighed_even_balance.pdf</a> 2. SLJ on "Hey Kidz, Buy This Book" by Anne Elizabeth Moore School Library Journal (Wednesday, December 01, 2004): Gr 8 Up-Moore believes that "kidz" need to "mediate their media" in order to avoid being sucked into the parallel universe of measured falsehoods and mindless trivia that is commercial communications today. In this funny, feisty, and useful handbook, she begins by simply reminding readers that anytime they see a brand name, in any context, it's an advertisement. Once readers' baseline media-awareness levels have been tweaked, she outlines ways in which advertisers attempt to manipulate people, explaining that advertising certainly isn't "cool," but should not be dismissed as merely an inevitable annoyance. Instead, she suggests that it's a demonstrably negative force in the lives of individuals and society as a whole and provides readers with strategies and resources for fighting back against advertisers and Big Media. As is true with her prose style, her suggested methods for corporate confrontation and consumer consciousness-raising sometimes cross the fine line that separates the lively from the loopy. While many of the activist tactics outlined are prankish, Moore is careful to warn readers about forms of demonstration that might be dangerous or illegal. She's less careful about writing for her audience; unfortunately, her language and humor are not always age-appropriate for preteens. Libraries looking for a more balanced treatment of the topic that's actually suitable for all "kidz" should consider Shari Graydon's Made You Look: How Advertising Works and Why You Should Know (Annick, 2003).-Jeffrey Hastings, Highlander Way Middle School, Howell, MI Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information. 3. SLJ on Bend, Don't Shatter: Poets on the Beginning of Desire, edited by T. Cole Rachel and Rita D. Costello School Library Journal (Saturday , January 01, 2005): Gr 8 Up-Created with the intent of addressing "what it means to come of age as gay, lesbian, transgender, or totally confused and freaked out," this rich collection brings together 59 poems replete with GLBT teenage angst, confusion, fear, titillation, and joy. The style of the poetry varies widely from hip-hop rhythm to more classical cadences, and because these selections were penned by adults (some of whom are well-known poets) relating their adolescent experiences, the quality of the writing is above average for the most part. One disappointment, however, is the underrepresentation of the lesbian voice-only about a third of the offerings were written by women. Still, as is seen in these lines from Ron Palmer's "The Logic of Queerness"-"Finally,/I let all the seeds grow, grow, and grow/Until they kept growing and covered me with ivy so strong/And vibrant and unique that it became my reason for living./The seed that began inside me finally taught me to sing"-many of these poems speak to all queer teens and will be a source of inspiration and empowerment for an often misunderstood and estranged population.-Betty S. Evans, Southwest Missouri State University, Springfield Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information. Perfect for April National Poetry Month! 4. Freebies! Before we launch into telling you what WE have for you for free, let us remind you that March is Small Press Month! To request a free promotional poster, click here: <a href="http://www.smallpress.org/events/spm/default.asp#free">http://www.smallpress.org/events/spm/default.asp#free</a> And for the Small Press Center's Six Things to do for Small Press Month For Bookstores & Libraries, click here: <a href="http://www.smallpress.org/events/spm/suggestions1.asp">http://www.smallpress.org/events/spm/suggestions1.asp</a> OK, so now to Soft Skull Freebies! A. Our tiny indy press marketing budget limits the number of ARC's we can create for a 500pp book, but that 500pp book, "Oh Pure and Radiant Heart," is truly breath-taking. (And it features a librarian as its chief protagonist.) But in order to try to whet folks whistles, we created a mini-ARC, the first 150 pages. Oh Pure and Radiant Heart plucks the three scientists who were key to the invention of the atom bombOppenheimer, Leo Szilard and Enrico Fermias they watch history's first mushroom cloud rise over the desert on July 16th, 1945...and places them down in modern-day Santa Fe. One by one, the scientists are spotted by a shy librarian who becomes convinced of their authenticity. Entranced, bewildered, overwhelmed by their significance as historical markers on the one hand, and their peculiar personalities on the other, she, to the dismay of her husband, devotes herself to them. Soon the scientists acquire a sugar daddya young pothead millionaire from Tokyoas they commence plans (at Szilard's insistence, with Oppenheimer's acquiescence and to the chagrin of Fermi) to launch a new movement for global nuclear disarmament. To request our mini-ARC, e-mail <a href="mailto:publicity@softskull.com">publicity@softskull.com</a> with "OP&RH" in the subject line, and your address in the body of the e-mail. B. A poster for "The Sleeping Father" by Matthew Sharpe, the independent hit of 2004 after it was selected by Susan Isaacs for the TODAY SHOW Book Club. It has been picked by Norwalk and New Canaan CT for a One Book, One Community and we created posters to celebrate this selection. E-mail <a href="mailto:publicity@softskull.com">publicity@softskull.com</a> with "Sleeping Father poster" in the subject line and your address in the body of the text. C. Some more poetry for National Poetry Month: We've released a 10th anniversary edition of Lee Ranaldo's ROAD MOVIES (the Sonic Youth musician's collection of poetry written while touring America and Europe in the 1980's) and have copies of the now out-of-print edition which we'd love to give away. E-mail <a href="mailto:publicity@softskull.com">publicity@softskull.com</a> with "Road Movies" in the subject line and your address in the body of the text. 5. And now for that great article... <<a href="http://www.thejournalnews.com/newsroom/021305/e0413redrattle.html>">http://www.thejournalnews.com/newsroom/021305/e0413redrattle.html&gt</a>; RED DIAPER READERS By M.A. TURNER THE JOURNAL NEWS (Original publication: February 13, 2005) My 15-month-old son and I do not share the exact same literary tastes. He, for instance, feels that if you've read one Austen novel, you've essentially read them all; I feel the same way about barnyard lift-the-flap books. But we're both big fans of a sweet little picture book called "Everywhere Babies." He was hooked the second he plucked it off the bookstore shelf; it features his favorite protagonists (babies) engaging in his favorite pastimes (talking to animals, rubbing food in one's own hair, being naked). I was sold after we got home from the bookstore and gave it a proper read. There, on the page about babies eating, among the illustrations of highchair flingers and sippie-cup spillers, was something I hadn't realized was absent from just about every other baby book until I saw it here: a picture of a mother breastfeeding her baby. Then, on our second read-through (my son is a believer in the immediate encore), I realized that those were two mommies rocking that other little baby. And, a few pages later, in a crowded street scene, those were two men walking arm in arm and, a few feet ahead of them, a white mommy and an Asian daddy cuddling their kid. There was no heavy-handed text about valuing all families or the superiority of "mommy's milk," no jacket copy from the publisher applauding itself for putting out a book celebrating diversity or natural parenting. Just straightforward little images that spoke volumes. Of course some babies have two mommies, or two daddies, it says matter of factly. Of course families don't all have to be the same color. Of course it's normal for women to breastfeed their babies. "Everywhere Babies," I realized, was my son's first politically subversive book (and if you don't think breast-feeding vs. bottle-feeding is a political issue ... well, that's another story). Am I reading too much into this little cardboard-paged book? Maybe. But don't fool yourself: Kids' books are filled with all kinds of cultural messages, starting with messages about the importance of consumerism. (Also another story. Let's just leave it at one title I recently came across in the kids' section: "The M&M's Brand Chocolate Candies Counting Board Book.") Less blatant and, in theory, more palatable are the books that set out to teach that amorphous notion: values. The political, of course, has weighed in, and I'm not just talking about creationist homeschool textbooks or kiddie Bible stories more mainstream titles, like William Bennett's "Children's Book of Virtues" and Lynne Cheney's patriotic-themed books have been big sellers. And for the hybrid-driving, Whole Foods-shopping family, there are the direct descendants of "Free To Be You and Me," touchy-feely books like Katie Couric's "The Brand New Kid" (about "the need for tolerance," in the words of her publisher) and Jamie Lee Curtis' "I'm Gonna Like Me: Letting Off a Little Self-Esteem." (Interestingly, celebrity authors tend to cluster in the self-esteem-boosting genre. Hmm.) The problem is, too often, these books are heavy-handed, cloying, just plain icky. "There are plenty of childrens' book publishers who are producing material that is designed to encourage children to not be racist, to not be homophobic, to respect and acknowledge difference and that sort of thing," says Richard Nash, publisher of the Brooklyn-based Soft Skull Press. "But an awful lot of them are so well-meaning, we thought, as to not be effective." Last year, Soft Skull decided to try to rectify that, with a new children's book imprint called Red Rattle. It was a logical fit: Soft Skull already publishes thought-provoking, politically progressive and socially aware books for adults; Red Rattle aims to do the same for kids and teens. In truth, Soft Skull was reaching young readers before it ever started trying. "We kind of noticed that a number of our books, without any kind of real effort on our part, were actually starting to reach what's called 'young adults,'" says Nash. They included "The Haiku Year," a collection of poetry written by a group of friends (including, it no doubt helped, R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe) and William Upski Wimsatt's "Bomb the Suburbs" and "No More Prisons." The secret of the books' success with young readers, Nash suspects: "We're not trying to publish books to appeal to them. We're just publishing books we like, and out of that particular process, we end up publishing books they like." Red Rattle (the name is a play on "red diaper baby") is more conscious of its target audience because, its mission statement points out, the rest of the media certainly are: "Children are being thrust into society at earlier and earlier ages. They are bombarded by words and images that tell them what to buy, eat, wear, and think. Disney, Nike, Sony and Viacom are all vying for a piece of a child's mind and it is time they were offered the tools to fight back. Red Rattle Books exists to provide today's children with the tools that will enable them to critically examine the society in which they are growing up, a society that threatens to define their identities for them." Red Rattle promises to avoid the traps that many producers of kids' media fall into the virtuous and the vacuous alike like talking down to its audience, drawing with too broad strokes and connecting all the dots for them. Red Rattle vows to entertain, not preach; to "be instructive but not instruct"; to inspire young readers to ask questions rather than feed them answers. "You'll never create an enlightened person by telling them what to think," Nash says. Red Rattle's first release was Brian Gage's "The Saddest Little Robot," whose deceptively simple plot a homely, outcast robot finds adventures in the big world is informed by "1984" and "Brave New World," market theories and the civil rights movement. Finding appropriate works for fiction for Red Rattle is a particular challenge, Nash says. "In a sense, all great children's' fiction is subversive. Roald Dahl is subversive. William Steig is subversive. I think every publisher wants that kind of stuff." It's been somewhat easier to find non-fiction works. Soft Skull tries to distinguish itself from other, older progressive publishers Seven Stories, South End Press by being less orthodox, more practical. The strategy makes even more sense with kids' literature, Nash says. Red Rattle, he notes, could have easily fallen into a predictable trap. "You're not preaching to the choir, because they're not the choir yet. But you're preaching to them like they are the choir. Or you're trying to make them into the choir that you can then preach to. We wanted to be more tool-oriented. A prime example: One of Red Rattle's first nonfiction titles, Anne Elizabeth Moore's "Hey Kidz, Buy This Book!," introduces young readers to the ways big corporations have taken over their lives and suggests practical strategies for fighting back from pirate radio and 'zines to pickets and street theater. Coming up is a how-to book for skateboarders how to deal with anti-skating laws, how to get a skate park built in your town. The idea, Nash says, is to teach kids how to be activists using an issue that's important to them not an issue that well-meaning adults think should be important to them. "Some of them will just use it to create a skate park," he says. "Others might, five years down the road, use it to create a community garden. Others might use it to start a union. Who knows?" -- To unsubscribe from: Soft Skull Librarians, just follow this link: <a href="http://www.softskull.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi?f=u&l=library&e=example@example.com&p=[pin">http://www.softskull.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi?f=u&l=library&e=example@example.com&p=[pin</a>] Click this link, or copy and paste the address into your browser.

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Reviews you can use, from Soft Skull Press and Red Rattle Books

Mon, 25 Oct 2004 20:25:00 GMT

Welcome to the inaugural monthly librarian e-mail from Soft Skull Press! (And immediately I remind you, there's an unsubscribe link at the bottom of this e-mail!) We'll keep these nice and short for you: reviews and ARC offers. To begin with the reviews: MAMAPHONIC: Balancing Motherhood and Other Creative Acts. Soft Skull. Nov. 2004. c.284p. ed. by Bee Lavender & Maia Rossini. illus. ISBN 1-932360-64-6. pap. $14.95. SOC SCI For all our supposed advancement since previous generations, the societal duress implicit in our concept of the "good mother" seems to linger. In perhaps no other career choice is the tension between the self-sacrifice of motherhood and the need for self-actualization felt more strongly than in artistic and literary pursuits. This theme-along with that of the practical obstacles and unexpected inspirations of creating while tending to one child or more-is repeatedly but not repetitiously examined in this collection of essays, practical guides, poetry, and illustrations edited by writer-mamas Lavender and Rossini. The pieces are as varied as the nature of the art created by their authors, including dancers, artists, photographers, writers, singers, and 'zine creators. Still, a sense of honesty, passion and, yes, intense motherly love is apparent throughout. Highly recommended for both family/relationship and arts and literature collections. (LJ, Nov 1st) Plus, we have some ARC's! E-mail <a href="mailto:publicity@softskull.com">publicity@softskull.com</a> with your mailing address. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ GAMERS: Writers, Artists, and Programmers on the Pleasures of Pixels. Soft Skull. Nov. 2004. c.260p. ed. by Shanna Compton. illus. index. ISBN 1-932360-57-3. pap. $14.95. COMPUTERS "In this anthology of original essays, contributors commissioned from a field of writers, artists, poets, programmers, and scholars discuss the growing impact of video games on our culture and what gaming means to them. Some wax nostalgic about their first experiences with games, while others write about the present and future aspects of a burgeoning gaming culture. The essays themselves range from intriguing to entertaining...." But we'll be honets: the punchline of this is "Recommended only for libraries serving avid gamers"...but our thinking is that that is a pretty big group. It's also gotten a nice mention in this month's WIRED, and will be a PC GAMER Holiday Gift recommendation. We think this one will make literate video-game players realize they've got many many friends. Plus, we have some ARC's of this one too, so you can decide for yourself! E-mail <a href="mailto:publicity@softskull.com">publicity@softskull.com</a> with your mailing address. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ KINGS AND QUEENS: Queers at the Prom. Soft Skull. 2004. 160p. ed. by David Boyer. photogs. ISBN 1-932360-24-7. pap. $24.95. SOC SCI Any teen will say that the weeks leading up to the senior prom are filled with anxiety, but being gay makes other worries seem lame in comparison. Freelance writer Boyer has collected almost two dozen stories from gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered youth stretching back over more than 70 years, from the Bronx High School class of 1935 to the graduating class of 2003 at the mostly gay Harvey Milk High. Along the way, we meet such memorable prom attendees as out lesbian Krystal Bennet, proudly voted prom king of her Washington high school in 2001 amid local controversy; Lois and Patrick, the "perfect couple" from the 1980 class of an Albuquerque high school who, years later, came out to each other; and David and Bob, 1970s high school sweethearts who are still together. A "mini mag" insert of prom styles, factoids, and statistics reads like a page-filling afterthought. Although this book is not an essential purchase, readers, both gay and straight, will empathize with the individuals here and may even enjoy reliving that night when their dates stood, corsages in hand, waiting to usher them into adulthood. Recommended for larger public libraries.-Jeff Ingram, Newport P.L., OR Also, the author of KINGS AND QUEENS has a great slide-show presentation. Let us know if your library or school group or any group you know would be intersted in hosting him. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Skels. Soft Skull. 2004. 236p. by Maggie Dubris ISBN 1-932360-24-7. pap. $14.95. Fiction/Mystery Best for last! Dubris' New York has everything and nothing to do with the real world, which is a reminder of something very simple: books don't need to get all pompous about our social disasters in order to make the grandest possible statements about them. On a hot Manhattan night, with hydrants pumping in the streets and the sirens Dopplering off, Orlie's in the same ambulance with the rest of us, unconcerned with being a subject, an object, a woman, a character.-The New York Times Book Review Provocative. Durbis, who spend 20 years as a 911 medic, serves up a heap of those proverbial eight million stories with a smoky nostalgia for pre-sanitized Manhattan.-Kirkus Reviews "Maggie Dubris has saved a thousand lives, not only in the streets of Hell's Kitchen where we worked as paramedics, but in the breathtaking lines of this book. Her compassion is unmatched, tested on the hardest cases. Her poetry shines in the darkest places. My patron saint of suicide notes and crime scene confessions, of anguished letters written in the backs of ambulances." -Joe Connelly, author of Bringing Out the Dead Go ahead - consult the best-seller lists. You might even stumble across something worthwhile, though the odds aren't promising. So once again we're offering an alternative summertime-reading roundup. Take a ride on the seamy side: Skels, by former paramedic Maggie Dubris, is set in the garish, nightmarish world of ambulance drivers and attendants, and imagines that patients carry the consciousness of dead writers.-San Diego Union Tribune A vivid and poetic novel that tells the story of a young EMT plunged into the jungle that is New York City in the steamy summer of 1979. With every call to save a life, Maggie Dubris - who worked as a 911 paramedic in Harlem and Hell's Kitchen throughout the '80s and '90s - enters a different and strange world. A vivid rendering of the lives of New York's poorest and most invisible.-The NY Post Dubris depicts dark scapes of 1979 New York City littered with lurid lullabies, sounded in symphonies of sirens. New York City tenement graffiti becomes primordial-a rosetta stone with which to unlock the city's secrets. Dubris is a modern day cave painter-her words resonate timelessly and should be translated rigorously like the most bewildering of hieroglyphs.-Small Spiral Notebook Highly charged [Dubris] subtle and exquisite handling of the incarnations of Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman creates and balances their anachronisms and her adaptations of their biographies quite aptly, allowing them to settle in the modern era, successfully weaving their presence into her story. She engages them not only as writers but as living beings whose lives are so deeply ingrained in the American psyche Skels succeeds in not only speaking through literature, but about literature in a unique and vibrant manner.-PopMatters Reading guides for SKELS may be downloaded from <a href="http://www.softskull.com/files/skels_readersguide.pdf">http://www.softskull.com/files/skels_readersguide.pdf</a> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ And here's your monthly ARC offer! Deliver Me from Nowhere by Tennessee Jones (March 2005) In 1982, Bruce Springsteen departed from an upbeat rock and roll sound to release Nebraska--a spare, haunting piece of storytelling populated by deadbeats, desperadoes, and the poor souls unfortunate enough to fall in love with them. In Deliver Me from Nowhere, the shadowy folk fables of Springsteen's masterwork are reimagined in starkly beautiful short stories that trace a proud but perilous journey into the racial and sexual badlands of Middle America. An unnamed girl takes a dangerous older lover and is whisked into an interstate killing spree. A transgendered man attempts to go home after years of absence and wonders what his family will think of him. As these restless characters traverse arbitrary borders both internal and external, they question the possibility and even desirability of redemption. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ So that's it from Soft Skull this month. Hope this was useful, and all the best! -- To unsubscribe from: Soft Skull Librarians, just follow this link: <a href="http://www.softskull.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi?f=u&l=library&e=example@example.com&p=[pin">http://www.softskull.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi?f=u&l=library&e=example@example.com&p=[pin</a>] Click this link, or copy and paste the address into your browser.

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