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The Accomplices LLC

Civil Coping Mechanisms / Entropy / Writ Large Press

  • About
    • About The Accomplices
  • Books
    • New/Forthcoming
    • Bestsellers
    • All Titles
  • Resources
    • Teaching Guides
    • Where to Submit (Entropy)
    • Trumpwatch (Entropy)
  • Projects
    • Current Projects
    • Past Projects
  • Opportunities
    • Partnership
    • Internships
  • Store
  • Contact

News

Thomas Kelley
BooksNews

#CopingWith: 13 Books You Should Be Teaching

by CCM June 20, 2017
written by CCM

Here are some books you should be teaching in your workshops and classes.

1. Jayy Dodd – “Mannish Tongues” (Platypus Press, 2016)
2. Gabrielle Civil – “Swallow the Fish” (CCM, 2016)
3. Wendy C. Ortiz – “Bruja” (CCM, 2016)
4. Chiwan Choi – “The Yellow House” (CCM, 2016)
5. Michael Schmeltzer – “Blood Song” (Two Sylvias Press, 2016)
6. Kim Hyesoon – “All of the Garbage of the World, Unite!” (Action Books, 2011)
7. Cathy Park Hong – “Engine Empire” (Norton, 2013)
8. Jamaal May – “Hum” (Alice James Books, 2013)
9. Cortney Lamar Charleston – “Telepathologies” (Saturnalia Books, 2017)
10. Lynn Melnick – “If I Should Say I Have Hope” (Yes Yes Book, 2013)
11. Claudia Cortese “Wasp Queen” (Black Lawrence Press, 2016)
12. Srikanth Reddy – “Voyager” (New California Poetry, 2011)
13. Marie NDiaye (translated by Jordan Stump) – “My Heart Hemmed In” (Two Lines Press, 2017)


Joanna C. Valente is a human who lives in Brooklyn, New York, and is the author of Sirs & Madams (Aldrich Press, 2014), The Gods Are Dead (Deadly Chaps Press, 2015), Marys of the Sea (The Operating System, 2017), Xenos (Agape Editions, 2016) and the editor of A Shadow Map: An Anthology by Survivors of Sexual Assault (CCM, 2017). Joanna received a MFA in writing at Sarah Lawrence College, and is also the founder of Yes, Poetry, a managing editor for Luna Luna Magazine and CCM, as well as an instructor at Brooklyn Poets. Some of their writing has appeared, or is forthcoming, in Brooklyn Magazine, Prelude, Apogee, Spork, The Feminist Wire, BUST, and elsewhere.

June 20, 2017
ANNOUNCING THE ACCOMPLICES: WLP + CCM + ENTROPY
News

ANNOUNCING THE ACCOMPLICES: WLP + CCM + ENTROPY

by The Accomplices June 15, 2017
written by The Accomplices

WLP + CCM + ENTROPY

Three independent publishing entities with common goals of publishing vital and exciting literature, building and participating in community, and contributing and promoting good literary citizenship, are joining forces.

THE ACCOMPLICES is made up of Civil Coping Mechanisms: publisher & promoter of kick-ass independent literature, Entropy: a magazine and community of contributors that publishes diverse literary and non-literary content, and Writ Large Press: an indie press that uses literary arts and events to resist, disrupt, and transgress.

Writ Large Press will continue to experiment and push limits with events that engage and bring together the public. On the WLP publishing side: WLP books will publish as an imprint within the CCM catalog with editorial autonomy, WLP’s ‘small print’ chapbook series will remain exactly as it is currently structured, and local publishing projects will continue to be created and presented.

As we go forward, we will join our ideas, talents, and resources to push even harder in the work that each of us have done in the past, without losing our individual identities and without betraying the work we have each done. We vow to not lose the characteristics that have made each of us unique and important.

 

– From The Accomplices—Janice, Michael, Peter, Judeth, and Chiwan: we’re coping.

June 15, 2017
“Readers of Scott Esposito’s Conversational Reading blog already know him to be one of the most perspicacious literary critics in America. But to read The Doubles is to discover something else: that he is as thrillingly insightful about film, and about human experience, as he is about literature. With a bounding intelligence, a tremendous—and seemingly effortless—erudition, with enormous soulfulness, energy and wit, Esposito strains his life through the prism of cinema (or is it the other way around?) and arrives at something magnificent: a work of sustained criticism that is itself a work of high art, and a profound meditation on how the art we see becomes who we are.”
BooksNews

Coping with Scott Esposito, Author of ‘The Doubles’

by CCM June 13, 2017
written by CCM

#CopingWith is CCM’s interview series run by managing editor Joanna C. Valente


Scott Esposito is the author of his forthcoming book “The Doubles,” which will be released this fall. Besides that, however, Esposito is the editor and founder of Conversational Reader and The Quarterly Conversation, as well as the Publicity Director and Senior Editor for Two Lines Press.

Of his book, Mathew Specktor said, “Readers of Scott Esposito’s Conversational Reading blog already know him to be one of the most perspicacious literary critics in America. But to read The Doubles is to discover something else: that he is as thrillingly insightful about film, and about human experience, as he is about literature. With a bounding intelligence, a tremendous—and seemingly effortless—erudition, with enormous soulfulness, energy and wit, Esposito strains his life through the prism of cinema (or is it the other way around?) and arrives at something magnificent: a work of sustained criticism that is itself a work of high art, and a profound meditation on how the art we see becomes who we are.”

Luckily, he talked to me about his favorite gif, meal, and apocalypse plans:

Describe your favorite meal.

What a fantastic question to start with. (I think having good meals, especially with pleasant company, is one of life’s most important things.) I once dined on a rooftop in Athens during the summer, with excellent views of the Parthenon. They kept bringing us various foods—salads, roast peppers, cheeses, moussaka . . . and we had a bottle of red wine. It was about 70 degrees, the ambiance was intimate but also felt very urban, we talked for hours. I think that’s just about perfect.

What music do often you write to, if at all?

It’s almost always either hip-hop or classical, maybe a little jazz sometimes. Something like Future is great to write to: it’s very easy to ignore the lyrics and just let the rhythms inhabit you, the sounds inspire you. The minimalists are also great in that way. But really almost any good hip-hop will do . . . once I get immersed in the focus of what I’m writing, it’s amazing how much ambient sights and sounds my mind will block out.

What are three books that you’ve always identified with?

1984 was probably one of the first “adult” books that I read and understood and found utterly compelling. I wasn’t terribly literate at that age, so something in me must just resonate very much with that book.

I could also say that same thing about 2001, which I discovered at about the same time—first I saw the movie, and then I read the book (which was written concurrently with the making of the movie). The whole idea that that book and movie sets out to embody still utterly fascinates me.

And Água Viva by Clarice Lispector was a book that I discovered very early on, and was compelled by even though it also completely mystified me. Nowadays it mystifies me much less, also still more than virtually any other book, and I mean that in a good way.

Choose one painting that describes who you are. What is it?

Caravaggio’s portrait of Saint Jerome is just about perfect. As a visual aesthetic, an attitude, Caravaggio’s work in general feels very true to me. And in Jerome it reaches something like it’s ideal form. The intricate folds of that red robe he’s wearing, the stark black background, the way he clutches his pencil (I always have a pencil when I read), his focus, that skull to his side to remind him of mortality, that wicked, wispy halo. It’s all just perfect.

Choose a gif that encompasses mornings for you.


I like to start off the day feeling peaceful and inspired. I try to read a few lines of good poetry if I can, otherwise I just sit there and contemplate the day ahead.

Oftentimes things go seriously down from there, but it’s nice to have a good start at least.

What do you imagine the apocalypse is like? How would you want to die?

I think, contrary to popular belief, humanity will find a way to keep propagating itself no matter if we manage to unleash nuclear weapons, or contagions, or evil robots upon ourselves, as seems uncomfortably possible. I think if we end ourselves, it will just be from boredom with the possibilities of being human. Either that or the sun will engulf the Earth, or a catastrophic collision with an extraterrestrial body, and that’ll be it.

I think it would be fascinating to die by drifting into a supermassive black hole. According to what I’ve read, the physics is such that you’d be able to briefly witness the end of the universe, and your own death would be very peaceful.

If you could only watch three films for the rest of your life, what would they be?

I think Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise, to always remember how it is to be young and feel that life is full of possibilities. And Kieslowski’s Double Life of Véronique, because it’s just so mysterious and lovely. And Kiarostami’s Certified Copy, because there are so many layers to it, and it’s a perfect love story.

How would you describe your social media persona/role?

My persona is me, albeit a version of me that’s preternaturally fascinated with books and cats. My role (which I don’t always live up to, but which I do aspire to) is to share information about art and literature, to get people to read books I find amazing, to not let those books be lost in the churn and flow of culture, to inspire people, to be empathetic and encouraging, and of course to also self-promote.

What’s your favorite animal and why?

A lot of animals are very fascinating, or are able to do things that I find quite astonishing, but probably the cat is the only animal that I could manage to co-habitate with, so I think I would have to say that one.

What do you carry with you at all times?

For years I’ve made it a practice to always have a book and a pencil with me whenever I’m out of the house. I fear that’s the boring truth of it.


Scott Esposito has worked in the field of translated literature for over a decade. He specializes in Latin American and Mitteleuropan literature.

Joanna C. Valente is a human who lives in Brooklyn, New York. She is the author of Sirs & Madams (Aldrich Press, 2014), The Gods Are Dead (Deadly Chaps Press, 2015), Marys of the Sea (The Operating System, 2017), & Xenos (2016, Agape Editions). She received her MFA in writing at Sarah Lawrence College. She is also the founder of Yes, Poetry, as well as the managing editor for Luna Luna Magazine and CCM. Some of her writing has appeared in Prelude, The Atlas Review, The Feminist Wire, BUST, Pouch, and elsewhere. She also teaches workshops at Brooklyn Poets.

June 13, 2017
book
BooksNews

#CopingWith: 10 Essays & Interviews That Are a Gift to Your Mind

by CCM June 6, 2017
written by CCM

Just because it’s nearly summer doesn’t mean it’s time for your mind to go on vacation, especially now. Here’s some essays and interviews that you should check out:

1. Julia Fierro – “The Secret to My Success? Antidepressants” (NY Times)
2. Brandon Taylor – “Being Gay vs Being Southern: A False Choice” (Lit Hub)
3. Catherine La Sota – “Late to the Party: Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar” (Electric Literature)
4. Alexis P. Williams – “Interview with Aziza Barnes: A Queer Black Poet’s Quest for Liberation” (Vice)
5. Toni Morrison – “The Work You Do, The Person You Are” (The New Yorker)
6. Kaveh Akbar & Kazim Ali – “Silence and Breath: Kaveh Akbar and Kazim Ali” (Asian Americans Writers Workshop)
7. Brandon Shimoda – “The Night Cafe” (Entropy)
8. Lucie Bonvalet – “The Future of Traumatic Memories” (Catapult)
9. Porochista Khakpour – “How to Write Iranian-America, or The Last Essay” (Catapult)
10. Kate Schapira – “On Political Change, Climate Change, and the Choice to Not Have Children” (Catapult)


Joanna C. Valente is the author of Sirs & Madams, The Gods Are Dead, Marys of the Sea, Xenos,  and the editor of A Shadow Map: An Anthology by Survivors of Sexual Assault.

June 6, 2017
books
BooksNews

#CopingWith: 13 Poems You Should Be Teaching

by CCM May 22, 2017
written by CCM

These are poems that I have either taught or plan to teach in my poetry workshops. If you are an educator, add them to your curriculum. If you aren’t, read them and send them to your friends.

1. Mathias Svalina – “One Night” (Poets.org)
2. Lisa Ciccarello – “At Night, By Marriage” (Poets.org)
3. Tarfia Faizullah – “Aubade Ending with the Death of a Mosquito” (Poetry Foundation)
4. Sherwin Bitsui – “River” (Poetry Foundation)
5. Omar Sakr – “Ghosting the Ghetto” (Cosmonauts Avenue)
6. Sam Sax – “Doctrine” (Poets.org)
7. Nils Michals – “The Key, the Lock” (PANK)
8. Srikanth Reddy – “Four Poems” (Jacket Magazine)
9. Kim Hyesoon – “Three Poems” (Asymptote)
10. Natalie Eilbert – “Imprecation“ (Poetry Society of America)
11. Solmaz Sharif – “Social Skills Training” (Buzzfeed)
12. Charif Shanahan – “Wanting to be White” (Lit Hub)
13. Richard Siken – “Litany in Which Certain Things Are Crossed Out” (Poetry Foundation)


Joanna C. Valente is the author of Sirs & Madams, The Gods Are Dead, Marys of the Sea, Xenos, and the editor of A Shadow Map: An Anthology by Survivors of Sexual Assault.

May 22, 2017
books
BooksNews

#CopingWith: 13 Fiction Pieces You Need To Read

by CCM May 15, 2017
written by CCM

This week, I rounded up some fiction you should read.

1. Ilana Masad – “Hamlet, Claudia, Zanzibar” (Volume 1 Brooklyn)
2. Michelle Lyn King – “Ghosts You Loved More” (Joyland)
3. Rion Amilcar Scott – “The Party” (Joyland)
4. Kamil Ahsan – “The Bare-Bones Facts” (Entropy)
5. Han Yujoo – “The Impossible Fairytale, excerpt” (Cosmonauts Avenue)
6. Henry Hoke – “Genevieve Exists” (Entropy)
7. Bud Smith – “Temporarily Here” (Digging Through the Fat)
8. Celeste Mohammed – “When a White Man Paints Black People” (The Rumpus)
9. Becky Mandelbaum – “Straw House” (The Rumpus)
10. Chavisa Woods – “A New Mohawk” (Lit Hub)
11. Nick Cave – “The Sick Bad Song” (Lit Hub)
12. Kerry Cullen – “Tell Me What to Do” (Luna Luna Magazine)
13. Justin Lawrence Daugherty – “This Is Conquest” (Joyland)


Joanna C. Valente is the author of Sirs & Madams, The Gods Are Dead, Marys of the Sea, Xenos,  and the editor of A Shadow Map: An Anthology by Survivors of Sexual Assault.

May 15, 2017
Aaron Burden
BooksNews

#CopingWith: 13 Nonfiction Essays You Need to Read

by CCM May 8, 2017
written by CCM

If you’re going to read anything, read these.

1. T Kira Madden – “The Feels of Love” (Guernica)
2. Sarah Gerard – “An Incomplete List of My Failures” (Hazlitt)
3. Libby Leonard – “How to Be with Others” (Volume 1 Brooklyn)
4. Morgan Parker – “How to Stay Sane While Black” (NY Times)
5. Mira Ptacin – “What Happens When You’re Pregnant in Prison” (Elle)
6. Esme Wang – “I’m Chronically Ill and Afraid of Being Lazy” (Elle)
7. Porochista Khakpour – “My Life in the New Age” (VQR)
8. Jayy Dodd – “Why I’m Scared of White Women” (The Establishment)
9. Aila Boyd – “My Life as a Trans Woman Teaching High School in a ‘Bathroom Bill’ State” (Broadly)
10. Jenny Zhang – “They Pretend to Be Us While Pretending We Don’t Exist” (Buzzfeed)
11. Kate Moore – “The Forgotten Story of the Radium Girls” (Buzzfeed)
12. Nicole Dennis-Benn – “Growing Up with Miss Jamaica” (Elle)
13. Margaret E. Jacobsen – “I’m Non-Binary, And Here’s How I Talk to My Kids About It” (Romper)


Joanna C. Valente is the author of Sirs & Madams, The Gods Are Dead, Marys of the Sea, Xenos,  and the editor of A Shadow Map: An Anthology by Survivors of Sexual Assault.

May 8, 2017
Introducing CCM Siren Songs, a New Book Imprint
News

Introducing CCM Siren Songs, a New Book Imprint

by CCM April 25, 2017
written by CCM

“Siren Songs is a place where raw, honest explorations of the self are published. I am most interested in publishing work by those who are exploring trauma, pain, identity, gender, and sexuality – especially by those who identify as queer/trans/non-binary, women, and POC. My own poetry focuses on isolating bizarre and absurd moments in the mundane—and explores the unexplainable supernatural world while remaining colloquial. You could say a surreal yet blunt aesthetic is my jam.” –Joanna C. Valente, CCM Managing Editor and editor of CCM Siren Songs

Debuting as part of CCM’s Fall 2017 Catalogue, the first two titles forthcoming from CCM Siren Songs: In this Quiet Church of the Night, I Say Amen by Devin Kelly and DUMBHEART/STUPIDFACE by Cooper Wilhelm.

Available now from CCM Siren Songs, A Shadow Map: An Anthology by Survivors of Sexual Assault.


ABOUT SIREN SONGS EDITOR

Joanna C. Valente is a human who lives in Brooklyn, New York, and is the author of Sirs & Madams (Aldrich Press, 2014), The Gods Are Dead (Deadly Chaps Press, 2015), Marys of the Sea (The Operating System, 2017), Xenos (Agape Editions, 2016) and the editor of A Shadow Map: An Anthology by Survivors of Sexual Assault (CCM, 2017). Joanna received a MFA in writing at Sarah Lawrence College, and is also the founder of Yes, Poetry, a managing editor for Luna Luna Magazine and CCM, as well as an instructor at Brooklyn Poets. Some of Joanna’s writing has appeared, or is forthcoming, in Brooklyn Magazine, Prelude, Apogee, Spork, The Feminist Wire, BUST, and elsewhere.

April 25, 2017
books
News

#CopingWith: 13 Women Poets You Need to Read

by CCM April 19, 2017
written by CCM

We all could stand to read more poetry. I say this as a poet who is immersed in poetry daily. You can never have too much of it–and personally, I don’t understand why more people don’t read poetry more. It’s short, which means you can digest a poem (the first time) anywhere. It’s all very momentary. Of course, this doesn’t mean you can’t go back to the poem later, and reread it with new eyes.

This is why I’m rounding up 13 women-identifying poets whose work I admire. We can always cope with more poetry, am I right?

1. Abigail Welhouse – “Dawson Gets a Haircut” (Brooklyn Poets)
2. Camille Rankine – “History” (Poetry Foundation)
3. Patricia Spears Jones – “What Beauty Does” (Poetry Foundation)
4. Monica Ferrell – “Emma Bovary” (Poets.org)
5. Marisa Crawford – “Manic Panic” (Poets.org)
6. Rachel Eliza Griffiths – “Dear America” (Four Way Review)
7. Nikki Wallschlaeger – “Blue Tuesdays” (The Feminist Wire)
8. Emily Skillings – “Fort Not” (Hyperallergic)
9. Wendy Xu – “The Window Rehearses” (PEN America)
10. Samgen Chin – “After Have They Run Out of Provinces Yet?” (Yes Poetry)
11. Claire Donato – “Dead Meat” (Poor Claudia)
12. Elisabet Velasquez – “New Brooklyn” (Brooklyn Poets)
13. Hannah Lee Jones – “Insomniac Fugue” (Superstition Review)


Joanna C. Valente is a human who lives in Brooklyn, New York, and is the author of Sirs & Madams (Aldrich Press, 2014), The Gods Are Dead (Deadly Chaps Press, 2015), Marys of the Sea (2016, ELJ Publications), & Xenos (2016, Agape Editions) and the editor of “A Shadow Map: An Anthology by Survivors of Sexual Assault” (CCM, 2017). They received their MFA in writing at Sarah Lawrence College. Joanna is also the founder of Yes, Poetry, as well as the managing editor for Luna Luna Magazine and CCM. Some of their writing has appeared in Prelude, Apogee, Spork The Atlas Review, The Feminist Wire, BUST, The James Franco Review, and elsewhere. They also teach workshops at Brooklyn Poets.

April 19, 2017
Coping with Christine Stoddard, Contributor in ‘A Shadow Map’ & Editor of Quail Bell Magazine
BooksNews

Coping with Christine Stoddard, Contributor in ‘A Shadow Map’ & Editor of Quail Bell Magazine

by CCM April 13, 2017
written by CCM

#CopingWith is CCM’s interview series run by managing editor Joanna C. Valente


Christine Stoddard is a contributor in our anthology “A Shadow Map,” which was released on February 22, 2017. Besides that, however, Stoddard is the editor and founder of Quail Bell Magazine.

Luckily, Stoddard talked to me about her favorite gif, meal, and apocalypse plans:

Describe your favorite meal. Really anything that combines spinach, cheese, and tomatoes, whether it’s spinach enchiladas or spinach lasagna. Call me Popeye.

What music do often you write to, if at all? Everything from No Doubt to Debussy.

What are three books that you’ve always identified with? The Velveteen Rabbit, Love in the Time of Cholera, and Anna Karenina.

Choose one painting that describes who you are. What is it? “The Chick” by Frida Kahlo. Some days, I am the chick. Other days, I am the spider.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Choose a gif that encompasses mornings for you.

Disney GIF - Find & Share on GIPHY

(I am such a night owl.)

What do you imagine the apocalypse is like? How would you want to die? There is no art and there is no cheese. I hope I die in my husband’s arms, apocalypse or no apocalypse.

If you could only watch three films for the rest of your life, what would they be? This would be tough for me because I have a voracious film appetite, but I guess I would pick “Amélie,” “The Virgin Suicides,” and “Moonstruck.” My answer might change tomorrow!

How would you describe your social media persona/role? It’s decisively fairy punk.

What’s your favorite animal and why? The quail because I run Quail Bell Magazine. It’s my darling and I can’t thrilled to see how it grows.

What do you carry with you at all times? Literally, a book. Figuratively, my imagination.


joanna valenteJoanna C. Valente is a human who lives in Brooklyn, New York. She is the author of Sirs & Madams (Aldrich Press, 2014), The Gods Are Dead (Deadly Chaps Press, 2015), Marys of the Sea (The Operating System, 2017), & Xenos (2016, Agape Editions). She received her MFA in writing at Sarah Lawrence College. She is also the founder of Yes, Poetry, as well as the managing editor for Luna Luna Magazine and CCM. Some of her writing has appeared in Prelude, The Atlas Review, The Feminist Wire, BUST, Pouch, and elsewhere. She also teaches workshops at Brooklyn Poets.

 

 

Christine Stoddard is a Brooklyn-based writer and visual storyteller who has created or contributed to books, films, museum exhibits, gallery shows, digital campaigns, and more. In 2014, Folio Magazine named her one of the media industry’s top 20 visionaries in their 20s for founding Quail Bell Magazine and Quail Bell Press & Productions.

April 13, 2017
abigail welhouse
BooksNews

Coping with Abigail Welhouse, Author of ‘Bad Baby’ & ‘Too Many Humans of New York’

by CCM March 21, 2017
written by CCM

#CopingWith is CCM’s interview series run by managing editor Joanna C. Valente


Abigail Welhouse is a contributor in our anthology “A Shadow Map,” which was released on February 22, 2017. Besides that, however, Welhouse is the author of several chapbooks, Bad Baby (dancing girl press), Too Many Humans of New York (Bottlecap Press), and Memento Mori (a poem/comic collaboration with Evan Johnston). Of Bad Baby, Alex Crowley has said: “Welhouse’s imagery is lively and she navigates nostalgia without being maudlin, confronting moments of joy and self-doubt in equal measure…cutting as well as lighthearted.”

Luckily, Welhouse talked to me about her favorite gif, meal, and apocalypse plans:

Describe your favorite meal.

Made by someone else.

What music do often you write to, if at all?

Classical or baroque. Bach especially recalibrates my brain.

What are three books that you’ve always identified with?

The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf, Ruin by Cynthia Cruz, and all of the Saddle Club books by Bonnie Bryant.

Choose one painting that describes who you are. What is it?

Madame X. It reminds me to try to be brave about making art that risks offense. I’ve particularly loved that painting since my friend Micharne Cloughney included a song about it in her play The Way We Live.

 

Choose a gif that encompasses mornings for you.

What do you imagine the apocalypse is like? How would you want to die?

I picture someone pressing a button with the power to destroy the world. But I’d rather die in my sleep after knowing in advance for exactly one week.

If you could only watch three films for the rest of your life, what would they be?

The Princess Bride, Casablanca, and The Addams Family.

How would you describe your social media persona/role?

I try to be a resource for job leads, amusement, and supporting friends. When friends–especially longtime friends–write or make something beautiful, I’m so proud of them. Pride is a silly reaction, since I never have anything to do with their accomplishments. Still, I think it’s one of my better qualities. (For example–my longtime friend Rebecca Weaver published this beautiful essay about cleaning and grief recently, and I am so proud.)

What’s your favorite animal and why?

Horses, because they don’t need to listen to humans, but often do.

What do you carry with you at all times?

Altoid mints, wintergreen flavor only.


joanna valenteJoanna C. Valente is a human who lives in Brooklyn, New York. She is the author of Sirs & Madams (Aldrich Press, 2014), The Gods Are Dead (Deadly Chaps Press, 2015), Marys of the Sea (ELJ Publications, 2016), & Xenos (2016, Agape Editions). She received her MFA in writing at Sarah Lawrence College. She is also the founder of Yes, Poetry, as well as the managing editor for Luna Luna Magazine and CCM. Some of her writing has appeared in Prelude, The Atlas Review, The Feminist Wire, BUST, Pouch, and elsewhere. She also teaches workshops at Brooklyn Poets.

 

 

abigail welhouseAbigail Welhouse is the author of Bad Baby (dancing girl press), Too Many Humans of New York (Bottlecap Press), and Memento Mori (a poem/comic collaboration with Evan Johnston). Her writing has been published in The Toast, The Billfold, Ghost Ocean Magazine, the Heavy Feather Review, and elsewhere. Subscribe to her Secret Poems at tinyletter.com/welhouse.

March 21, 2017
Introducing CCM Artistically Declined & Our New Art Director, Ryan W Bradley
News

Introducing CCM Artistically Declined & Our New Art Director, Ryan W Bradley

by CCM March 20, 2017
written by CCM

“Artistically Declined Press released its first book in January of 2010. Over the last seven years there have been changes, stages of evolution, but our goal remained constant: to pair great books with great design. Now the evolution of the Deerbird continues as we become a part of our friends and comrades in arms, Civil Coping Mechanisms. As we evolve with CCM our role in the landscape of independent literature will change. Over the coming years we are excited to shift our focus to nonfiction, with a passion for pop culture, from films to music and beyond. Part of this move includes the ever deepening marriage between CCM and myself. As the co-founder of ADP, I also spent seven years as the sole editor and art director for the press. Going forward I will continue my role as editor of the new look ADP imprint, but I will also take on the role of art director for CCM at large, an extension of my design work for CCM for the last few years. My passion for books remains unchanged and this is a great opportunity to continue that with a press that is known for being one of the hardest working publishers in independent literature. Now let’s go have a drink.” –Ryan W. Bradley, CCM Art Director and editor of CCM Artistically Declined

Now available from CCM ADP:

March 20, 2017
Watch Lynn Melnick Read Her Poems from ‘A Shadow Map’
BooksNews

Watch Lynn Melnick Read Her Poems from ‘A Shadow Map’

by CCM February 28, 2017
written by CCM

#CopingWith is CCM’s interview series run by managing editor Joanna C. Valente


Lynn Melnick is one of our contributors in “A Shadow Map,” which came out on February 22, 2017 from CCM. The essays and poems contained within this anthology are not only compelling but also harrowing stories of sexual assault. None of these pieces were easy to write–and were born out of traumatizing and terrible experiences. CCM believes in providing a safe space within the literary community where we can not only talk about painful experiences and issues but also necessary considering the current political climate.

Watch Lynn read her poems below. Don’t forget to read her full interview here.

Lynn Melnick is the author of Landscape with Sex and Violence (forthcoming, 2017) and If I Should Say I Have Hope (2012), both with YesYes Books, and the co-editor of Please Excuse This Poem: 100 New Poets for the Next Generation (Viking, 2015). She serves on the Executive Board of VIDA: Women in Literary Arts.

 

 

 

joanna valenteJoanna C. Valente is a human who lives in Brooklyn, New York. She is the author of Sirs & Madams (Aldrich Press, 2014), The Gods Are Dead (Deadly Chaps Press, 2015), Marys of the Sea (ELJ Publications, 2016), & Xenos (2016, Agape Editions). She received her MFA in writing at Sarah Lawrence College. She is also the founder of Yes, Poetry, as well as the managing editor for Luna Luna Magazine and CCM. Some of her writing has appeared in Prelude, The Atlas Review, The Feminist Wire, BUST, Pouch, and elsewhere. She also teaches workshops at Brooklyn Poets.

February 28, 2017
News

NOW AVAILABLE: The Winter 2017 CCM Catalogue

by CCM February 22, 2017
written by CCM

“Choi recasts the familial legacy of war and displacement, but also of joy and triumph, into a private spiritual kingdom, where “even after the city is destroyed” he writes, “I will touch you on the surface of everything.” This is poetry as preservation, as an unrelinquished archive of ghosts, but mostly, it arrives, to our luck, as a testament of a self earned and re-earned, like how yellowness, caught in its own dizzying light, turns itself golden. This book is golden.”
—Ocean Vuong, author of Night Sky with Exit Wounds

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

 


“This book is so meticulous and so absorbing, I am in awe. It is declamation, reflection, proposal, documentation, blueprint. Gabrielle Civil is revealed as an artist perfectly poised to speak to how race, gender and sexuality enact embodied performativity. She writes and performs herself into history in ferociously intelligent and relentlessly personal ways. How the specificity of identity mixes with desire to confound, comfort or disrupt public space. As with so many things that I love, I want everyone to read this book.”
—Miguel Gutierrez, performance maker

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads


The essays and poems contained within this anthology are not only compelling but also harrowing stories of sexual assault. None of these pieces were easy to write–and were born out of traumatizing and terrible experiences. CCM believes in providing a safe space within the literary community where we can not only talk about painful experiences and issues but also necessary considering the current political climate.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

 

 

 


“‘Fuck understanding,’ Christopher Higgs writes in his yearlong project, “live in confusion.” For Higgs, the self is not so much a mystery as an opinionated porosity. Though purposely artless, Higgs offers some stunning passages, such as an extended rant about his probable deaths, which makes the ground of reality tremble. Simultaneously superficial and profound—like all worthwhile books—As I Stand Living is a highly-relatable manifesto against relatability.”
—Dodie Bellamy, author of When the Sick Rule the World and The TV Sutras

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

 


“Living in San Francisco, I’ve known of Lorenz’s work for years, and now the secret is out. Here’s an artist whose palette holds the colors beauty and brutality, squalor and tenderness. Lucky for us, he mixes them into literary combinations we’ve never known before. One Way Down (Or Another) might be the best debut I’ve ever read!”
–Joshua Mohr, author of Sirens

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

 

 

 


“Rathore’s writing is exhilarating; funny, daring, and deeply, deeply moving. This collection is one of the best I’ve read all year; it’s a book of rare ambition and scale.”
–Keiran Goddard, author of For The Chorus

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

 

 

 

 

February 22, 2017
Coping with Lynn Melnick, Contributor in ‘A Shadow Map’ & Author of ‘If I Should Say I Have Hope’
BooksNews

Coping with Lynn Melnick, Contributor in ‘A Shadow Map’ & Author of ‘If I Should Say I Have Hope’

by CCM February 20, 2017
written by CCM

#CopingWith is CCM’s interview series run by managing editor Joanna C. Valente


Lynn Melnick is a contributor in our anthology “A Shadow Map,” which is due for release on February 22, 2017 (although it did be launch at AWP this year in DC). Lynn is also the author of the book “If I Should Say I Have Hope” published by YesYes Books in 2012. Of the book, the Matthea Harvey has said, “On the melancholy-go-round of these poems, there’s a swan-seat for sadness but also a tiger called Beauty and a horse called Hope.” Lynn’s second book is due out from YesYes Books, “Landscape with Sex and Violence” (forthcoming October 2017).

Describe your favorite meal.

My favorite meal is an Eastern European Jewish dish made with egg noodles, cottage cheese, and sour cream. (Sadly, I can’t eat dairy anymore so I can no longer eat my favorite meal!)

What music do often you write to, if at all?

I find music distracting when I write.

What are three books that you’ve always identified with?

Hmm. Identified with, as opposed to loved?? Ok. Dancing on the Grave of a Son of a Bitch by Diane Wakoski, It Could Always Be Worse (a Yiddish folktale) by Margot Zemach and The Day of the Locust by Nathanael West

Choose one painting that describes who you are. What is it?
The Storm, 1893 by Edvard Munch

Choose a gif that encompasses mornings for you.

What do you imagine the apocalypse is like? How would you want to die?

I don’t. I want to die knowing my children are safe and happy.

If you could only watch three films for the rest of your life, what would they be?

All About Eve, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and Mulholland Drive

How would you describe your social media persona/role?

Less shy than I am in life.

What’s your favorite animal and why?

Until I was well into adulthood, I thought seahorses were mythological and then one day I saw one.

What do you carry with you at all times?

Worry, doubt and tampons.


Lynn Melnick is the author of Landscape with Sex and Violence (forthcoming, 2017) and If I Should Say I Have Hope (2012), both with YesYes Books, and the co-editor of Please Excuse This Poem: 100 New Poets for the Next Generation (Viking, 2015). She serves on the Executive Board of VIDA: Women in Literary Arts.

 

 

 

joanna valenteJoanna C. Valente is a human who lives in Brooklyn, New York. She is the author of Sirs & Madams (Aldrich Press, 2014), The Gods Are Dead (Deadly Chaps Press, 2015), Marys of the Sea (ELJ Publications, 2016), & Xenos (2016, Agape Editions). She received her MFA in writing at Sarah Lawrence College. She is also the founder of Yes, Poetry, as well as the managing editor for Luna Luna Magazine and CCM. Some of her writing has appeared in Prelude, The Atlas Review, The Feminist Wire, BUST, Pouch, and elsewhere. She also teaches workshops at Brooklyn Poets.

February 20, 2017
wendy c ortiz
BooksNews

Watch Wendy C. Ortiz Read an Excerpt from ‘Bruja’

by CCM February 6, 2017
written by CCM

#CopingWith is CCM’s interview series run by managing editor Joanna C. Valente


Wendy C. Ortiz’s dreamoir, “Bruja,” came out on October 31, 2016 from CCM. Of the book, Roxane Gay has said, “In Bruja, Wendy C. Ortiz deftly navigates the land of dreams in what she calls a dreamoir. By telling us her dreams, by revealing her most unguarded and vulnerable self, Ortiz is, truly, offering readers the most intimate parts of herself–how she loves, how she wants, how she lives, who she is. Bruja is not just a book–it is an enigma and a wonder and utterly entrancing.”

Watch Wendy read a clip below. Don’t forget to read her full interview here.


wendy c ortizWendy C. Ortiz is a Los Angeles native. She is the author of Excavation: A Memoir (Future Tense Books, 2014), Hollywood Notebook (Writ Large Press, 2015), and the forthcoming dreamoir Bruja (Civil Coping Mechanisms, Oct. 31, 2016).

Her work has been profiled or featured in the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Rumpus, and the National Book Critics Circle Small Press Spotlight blog. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Hazlitt, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, The Nervous Breakdown, Fanzine, and a year-long series appeared at McSweeney’s Internet Tendency.

February 6, 2017
dolan morgan
BooksNews

Coping with Dolan Morgan, Author of ‘Insignificana’

by CCM January 30, 2017
written by CCM

#CopingWith is CCM’s interview series run by managing editor Joanna C. Valente


Dolan Morgan’s book, “Insignificana,” came out on March 11, 2016 from CCM. Of the book, Nelly Reifler has said, “Dolan Morgan is eccentric, brilliant, radical, and a bit perverse: that we already knew. In this new collection he is also zealously obsessive. Over and over, organisms and other entities consume, absorb, impregnate, digest, gestate, house, eliminate, birth, and extrude other organisms and entities–or themselves. And the author himself seems to both consume and be consumed by his narrators. Cumulatively, these stories force their readers to submit to the truth: interior and exterior are mere conceits, and all of existence–including puny humans–is already inside out. Dolan Morgan’s writing makes my brain itch in the most pleasant way. Insignificana is an extraordinary book, a thrill ride of temporary madness and irrefutable sense.”

As such, we interviewed him about his book, although instead of asking boring lit questions, our managing editor Joanna C. Valente asked Dolan about everything else instead, like what his favorite meal and apocalypse plans are.

Here’s what he said:

Describe your favorite meal.

Once, many years ago, a friend woke me in the middle of the night to offer me a plate of warm, buttered toast in the dark. I’d been asleep for hours. It was snowing. The city was silent. Blankets were everywhere: around my body, across the apartment, out the window, and into the street. Blankets all the way down. I could barely understand what was happening, but here was a plate of sudden toast. I laughed into my hands and mumbled through impossible mouthfuls of bread, unsure of where I was or what we were doing. The room appeared larger than I remembered amid fever, delirium, and joy; under crumbs, the city, and a dim bedside lamp. I can sense now, more so than I could then, too, that those years of my life were marked by an acute loneliness and uncertainty.

Like most of us, I am often shocked to have emerged from any kind of past into the present moment. After the accident, you step from the vehicle into the street, relieved and unharmed. But when you look back at the car, mangled and unrecognizable, you absorb the fear that should have been there in the first place. I suspect I was very much afraid of something in those years. Or, at least, afraid of something other than the fear that animates me today. I have tried to enjoy the experience of becoming alien to myself. I don’t remember a moment immediately before or after that meal, and can no longer say how that night fits into the surrounding months or years, or when and how that particular loneliness and uncertainty abated (giving way to other types of solitude and confusion, among other innovations), but I do recall standing in rooms, not understanding where to look or what to do with my hands or how to speak to another person. And then: warm midnight toast in a snow-quiet darkness. Until that moment, I didn’t even like toast. Honestly, I still don’t. This is my favorite meal.  

What music do you often write to, if at all?

Lately, it’s been a lot of Mogwai. Another favorite is Steve Reich’s “Music for 18 Musicians.” Anything by Kate Bush will do, especially “Hounds of Love” and “The Dreaming.” But! It’s maybe disingenuous to say I really listen to any of these. That is, if things are going well, I won’t notice when the record ends, and then I’ll be listening to silence/nothing, which is the real goal. Like so many other things in life, I have to fool myself into what I want. Always, you have to walk backwards into nothingness.

What are three books that you’ve always identified with?

“Always” would be a stretch, but for 15-20 years: Slouching Towards Bethlehem, The Bald Soprano, and Sphere.

Choose one painting that describes who you are. What is it?

You remember that time someone tried to retouch and “fix up” an old, fading painting of Jesus? And it ended up looking like a kid’s drawing of a bear or a baboon? That all sounds like me Not the Jesus part, but the obliviousness and earnest failure. I feel like I’m making accidental baboons and bears all of the time while shooting for some big bowl of wonder. And that’s fine. Failure is good, as are bears and baboons. Always. And while we’re on the subject of failure: I also have a painting of Jesus that I drew over. I bought a cheap knockoff version of “The Last Supper” and used a can of gold spray paint to scrawl TRY HARDER across it in huge letters. I look at it every day.

Choose a gif that encompasses mornings for you.

What do you imagine the apocalypse is like? How would you want to die?

I wrote a book about that.

If you could only watch three films for the rest of your life, what would they be?

This is a tough question. Not because I can’t think of three movies that I’d love to watch again and again (of course I can), and not because I’m unable to create a list of movies I’d be happy to never see again (a list which might, by process of elimination, help me better name the films I’d love to be constrained to for the rest of my life). No, my preferences are not the hard part. Rather, the hard part here is submitting to the context. Any world in which I might be forced to watch only three movies sounds like some kind of dystopia. So imagining the answer to the question, “what would they be,” demands starting not from my own tastes but from the premise, constraints, and political climate of that dystopia and the whims of those who preside over it. What would they want us to watch? What would they not want us to watch? This line of thinking immediately leads to more complication–because, it seems easy enough to imagine that they might not want us to watch any of the movies that currently exist at all, nor any of the movies that could reasonably come into existence in the near future.

So, I’d be hard pressed to pick three or even one. Sure, it’s easy enough for me to conceive of a fantastical regime hell-bent on a hyperbolic extension of Walt Disney’s vision for the world (of course), and I can easily enough imagine that citizens in this new society might be broken into groups or classes, and that these groups/classes might each be responsible for watching, understanding, preserving and celebrating three animated films from Disney’s cannon (such that one group gets Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, and Fantasia, while another group gets The Aristocats, Beauty and the Beast, and Frozen, and so on), which they are forced to watch exclusively and extensively between grueling 12-hour maintenance shifts presiding over the nation’s crumbling theme park rides and concession stands, and that they understand their world entirely through the limited lens of these creations and demands (and where they ultimately intersect, the marriage between entertainment and work, forever)–yes, I can Imagine that, but my ability to conceive of this world means nothing for its likelihood (other than that: real terror is usually beyond our initial conceptions, and so any inkling or prediction of terror might be as good a sign as any that it’s unlikely to arrive, but that something much worse and unimaginable is instead barreling toward us).

Which brings me back to your question, which I’ll have to answer in somewhat general terms. If I could only watch three films for the rest of my life, I think those movies would most likely be brand new creations of the dystopian regime’s own design, intended to keep me in line and on track. Probably some kind of propaganda or re-education films, I guess, and no doubt I would be thankful for them, for any kind of wonder or awe or connection.  

What’s your favorite animal and why?

DOG. Is this a trick question? The answer is DOG.

What do you carry with you at all times?

Warm, buttered toast or nothing at all, and usually both.


Dolan Morgan lives in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. He is the author of two story collections: INSIGNIFICANA (2016) and THAT’S WHEN THE KNIVES COME DOWN (2014).

 

 

 

 

joanna valenteJoanna C. Valente is a human who lives in Brooklyn, New York. She is the author of Sirs & Madams (Aldrich Press, 2014), The Gods Are Dead (Deadly Chaps Press, 2015), Marys of the Sea (ELJ Publications, 2016), & Xenos (2016, Agape Editions). She received her MFA in writing at Sarah Lawrence College. She is also the founder of Yes, Poetry, as well as the managing editor for Luna Luna Magazine and CCM. Some of her writing has appeared in Prelude, The Atlas Review, The Feminist Wire, BUST, Pouch, and elsewhere. She also teaches workshops at Brooklyn Poets.

January 30, 2017
stephanie valente
BooksNews

Coping with Stephanie Valente, Contributor in ‘A Shadow Map’ & Author of ‘Hotel Ghost’

by CCM January 24, 2017
written by CCM

#CopingWith is CCM’s interview series run by managing editor Joanna C. Valente


Stephanie Valente is a contributor in our anthology “A Shadow Map,” which is due for release on February 22, 2017 (although it will also be launched at AWP this year in DC). Stephanie is also the authors of a chapbook “Hotel Ghost,” published by Bottlecap Press. Of the chapbook, the press states, “There is a sense of urgency in the relationship between longing and desire. The poems take turns between different ghosts: the acts of dreaming and lingering.”

As such, we interviewed her about her feature and chapbook, although instead of asking boring lit questions, our managing editor Joanna C. Valente asked her about everything else instead, like what her favorite meal and apocalypse plans are.

Describe your favorite meal.
Grilled cheese and tomato soup. Really good seafood, particularly clams. Grilled salmon. Cheeseburgers, of course. Pizza. Cannolis. And always chocolate

What music do often you write to, if at all?
It ranges from classics like the Clash and David Bowie to dreamy vibes like the Cocteau Twins and Aphex Twin. I also like to take long walks and listen to whatever album I’m currently obsessing over to clear my head and get new inspiration.

What are three books that you’ve always identified with?
I always reread these three books and constantly recommend them because they pulled on something deeply within me:

1. Crush by Richard Siken
2. Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson
3. The Anatomy of Being by Shinji Moon

Choose one painting that describes who you are. What is it?
Currently, The Lovers – Rene Magritte.
Choose a gif that encompasses mornings for you.


What do you imagine the apocalypse is like? How would you want to die?
I have a feeling it wouldn’t be half as interesting as all of those novels led me to believe. As for dying, I’m not sure if I want to be around for it or not.

If you could only watch three films for the rest of your life, what would they be?
That’s a tough one.

1. Twin Peaks (a tv show counts, right?)
2. Beetlejuice
3. Romeo + Juliet

How would you describe your social media persona/role?
Funny, curious, dreamy, mysterious.

What’s your favorite animal and why?
Dogs, of course. They’re magical. But, I was always drawn to zebras as a kid. They’re sassy.

What do you carry with you at all times?
A notebook, pen, and nude lipstick.


stephanie valenteStephanie Valente lives in Brooklyn, NY. She has published Hotel Ghost (Bottlecap Press, 2015) and has work included in or forthcoming from Danse Macabre, Nano Fiction, and Black Heart. Sometimes, she feels human. http://stephanievalente.com

 

 

 

joanna valenteJoanna C. Valente is a human who lives in Brooklyn, New York. She is the author of Sirs & Madams (Aldrich Press, 2014), The Gods Are Dead (Deadly Chaps Press, 2015), Marys of the Sea (ELJ Publications, 2016), & Xenos (2016, Agape Editions). She received her MFA in writing at Sarah Lawrence College. She is also the founder of Yes, Poetry, as well as the managing editor for Luna Luna Magazine and CCM. Some of her writing has appeared in Prelude, The Atlas Review, The Feminist Wire, BUST, Pouch, and elsewhere. She also teaches workshops at Brooklyn Poets.

January 24, 2017
tobias carroll
BooksNews

Listen to Tobias Carroll Read an Excerpt of ‘Transitory’

by CCM January 17, 2017
written by CCM

#CopingWith is CCM’s interview series run by managing editor Joanna C. Valente


Tobias Carroll’s book, “Transitory,” came out on August 15, 2016 from CCM. Of the book, Laura van den Berg has said, “Ingenious and mysterious, the stories of Tobias Carroll are spun with quiet loneliness and wild surprise. Transitory is that rare kind of collection where each story stands shining alone and, in the end, forms a beautifully melancholic whole. Tobias Carroll is an original and deeply exciting talent.”

Listen to him read an excerpt below by clicking the link (and you can download it!):

You-In-Reverse_Carroll


tobias carrollTobias Carroll is the author of the short story collection Transitory (Civil Coping Mechanisms, August 15) and the novel Reel (Rare Bird, October 11). He is the managing editor of Vol.1 Brooklyn. His writing has been published by Bookforum, Tin House, Rolling Stone, Hazlitt, Men’s Journal, and more. He grew up in Tinton Falls, NJ and now calls Brooklyn, NY home.

January 17, 2017
henry hoke
BooksNews

Watch Henry Hoke Read an Excerpt from ‘The Book of Endless Sleepovers’

by CCM January 9, 2017
written by CCM

#CopingWith is CCM’s interview series run by managing editor Joanna C. Valente


Henry Hoke’s book,”The Book of Endless Sleepovers” came out on October 31, 2016 from CCM. Of the book, Maggie Nelson has said, “I love how Henry Hoke plays fast and loose with autobiography and genre. The Book of Endless Sleepovers is wry and finely-wrought, a philosophical fever dream studded with the pleasure of proper names and surprising turns of phrase, a lyric page-turner.”

Watch Henry read a clip below. Don’t forget to read his full interview here.


henry hokeHenry Hoke was a child in the South and an adult in New York and California. He authored The Book of Endless Sleepovers (Civil Coping Mechanisms, 2016) and Genevieves(winner of the Subito Press prose contest, forthcoming 2017). Some of his stories appear in The Collagist, PANK, Gigantic and Carve. He co-created and directs Enter>text, a living literary journal.

January 9, 2017
Harold Abramowitz
BooksNews

Coping with Harold Abramowitz, Author of ‘Blind Spot’

by CCM January 3, 2017
written by CCM

#CopingWith is CCM’s interview series run by managing editor Joanna C. Valente


Harold Abramowitz’s book, “Blind Spot,” which came out on August 15, 2016. Of “Blind Spot,” TC Tolbert has said, “It’s one thing to write a novel about trauma – to tell a coherent story, to create (and be comforted by, to whatever extent) a narrative arc of pain and loss. But it’s something else entirely to find oneself inside a series of imagistic and syntactical loops – a Venn diagram of partial thoughts (or dreams or memories) that become more certain and more troubling each time they refuse to relate or resolve. Harold Abramowitz’s Blind Spot is not about anything – about, from the Old English, ‘outside of.’ Instead, it’s a kind of prayer made out of attention (Simone Weil). Incantatory and somatechnic. I fucking love this book. Abramowitz writes the mind and body (in trauma, in everyday life) from the knotted and careful inside.”

As such, we interviewed him about his book, although instead of asking boring lit questions, our managing editor Joanna C. Valente asked him about everything else instead, like what his favorite meal and apocalypse plans are.

Here’s what he said:

Describe your favorite meal. 

My wheel of favorite foods is always spinning. Right now, my favorite meal would be: First course: any kind of vegan tomato soup + the Gracious salad from Cafe Gratitude in Los Angeles: butternut squash, radicchio, cashew mozzarella, garbanzo beans, sun-dried tomato pistachio pesto, brown rice and quinoa slathered with smoky hot sauce. Second course: vegan pizza topped with kimchi and Sriracha.  Third course: a really good hippie cookie.

 

What music do often you write to, if at all? 

I am almost always listening to music, except when I write.  It’s kind of either or for me.

What are three books that you’ve always identified with?

The three books I am schlepping around with me in my bag right now (which is as far back as I can go today) are:

Memory of Fire: Genesis by Eduardo Galeano, Negro League Baseball by Harmony Holiday, and Dingbat 2.0: The Iconic Los Angeles Apartment as Projection of a Metropolis, an anthology, edited by Thurman Grant and Joshua G. Stein

Choose one painting that describes who you are. What is it?

Charred Landscape by Lee Krasner

 Lee Krasner

Lee Krasner

Choose a gif that encompasses mornings for you. 

What do you imagine the apocalypse is like? How would you want to die?

The tough part is deciding what we are going to do next.

If you could only watch three films for the rest of your life, what would they be?

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg by Jacques Demy

Swordsman II by Ching Siu-tung

A Touch of Zen by King Hu

How would you describe your social media persona/role?

I know better. I am a total idiot. This is really important. I know better. I am a total idiot. Why am I doing this? Hey, look at this. I know better. I am a total idiot. Why am I doing this? This is really important. I know better. Hey, you need to see this.

What’s your favorite animal and why?

Hummingbirds are really my best friends.

What do you carry with you at all times? 

An array of pens.  I can’t read my own handwriting anymore, but I love them.  Ballpoints.  I have six of them with me right now: two green, two black, one silver, one blue and white.


Harold Abramowitz is from Los Angeles.  He is author and co-author of books of poetry and prose, including Dear Dearly Departed, Not Blessed, and UNFO Burns A Million Dollars. Harold writes and edits as part of the collaborative projects eohippus labs, SAM OR SAMANTHA YAMS and UNFO.

 

 

joanna valenteJoanna C. Valente is a human who lives in Brooklyn, New York. She is the author of Sirs & Madams (Aldrich Press, 2014), The Gods Are Dead (Deadly Chaps Press, 2015), Marys of the Sea (ELJ Publications, 2016), & Xenos (2016, Agape Editions). She received her MFA in writing at Sarah Lawrence College. She is also the founder of Yes, Poetry, as well as the managing editor for Luna Luna Magazine and CCM. Some of her writing has appeared in Prelude, The Atlas Review, The Feminist Wire, BUST, Pouch, and elsewhere. She also teaches workshops at Brooklyn Poets.

January 3, 2017
a shadow map
BooksNews

Contributors for ‘A Shadow Map’

by CCM December 27, 2016
written by CCM

I’m so pleased to announce the contributors of CCM’s anthology, “A Shadow Map.” These essays and poems are not only just compelling, but harrowing stories of sexual assault. None of these pieces were easy to write–and were born out of traumatizing and terrible experiences. I am beyond amazed by the words of these incredible writers and survivors–and am eternally grateful they shared their stories with the CCM community as a way to connect with others–and help show that there is no one kind of survivor, we are all survivors.

-Joanna C. Valente


Hillary Leftwich is a native of Colorado and currently lives in Denver with her son. She is the co-host for At the Inkwell Reading Series in Denver and serves as the associate editor for The Conium Review. Her writing appears in Hobart, Matter Press, NANO Fiction, WhiskeyPaper, dogzplot, Gone Lawn, decomp magazine, Smokelong Quarterly’s “Why Flash Fiction?” series, the Review Review’s “Views on Publishing,” and other journals. She has a chapbook of poems forthcoming from Mutiny Info Press in 2017.

Prerna Bakshi is a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee and the author of Burnt Rotis, With Love, a debut full-length collection of poetry from Les Éditions du Zaporogue (Denmark), long-listed for the 2015 Erbacce-Press Poetry Award in the UK and cited as one of the ‘9 Poetry Collections That Will Change The Way You See The World’ by Bustle Magazine in the US. Her work has been published widely, most recently in The Ofi Press, Red Wedge Magazine, TRIVIA: Voices of Feminism and Prachya Review: Literature & Art Without Borders. More here: http://prernabakshi.strikingly.com/

Mila Jaroniec is the author of Plastic Vodka Bottle Sleepover (Split Lip Press, 2016). She is the editor of drDOCTOR and her work has appeared in Playboy, LENNY, Hobart, Joyland, Catapult and Vol. 1 Brooklyn, among others. She lives in Ohio with her partner and son.

lauren samblanet is a poet who is working on her m.f.a. at temple university. she is also a writer for thinking dance. her poems have been published in the vassar review, walkabout and adanna, and a dance-radio collaboration with skye hughes was published on colorado public radio’s website.

Erin Taylor is an American writer. Her writing often deals with her own experiences and trauma. It is usually poetry, with some exceptions. She has a chapbook of poetry OOOO out through Bottlecap Press and she’s the interviews editor over at Maudlin House. She is writing a book on loneliness. Her work can be found at erintaylor.tumblr.com and she tweets at @erinisaway.

Stephen Furlong is a graduate student at Southeast Missouri State University located on the Mississippi river. His abuse, at the hands of an older male cousin, happened five times over a three-year period. His current creative project is a manuscript of poetry following the abuse as lensed by the five stages of grief. In addition to receiving nomination for Best New Poets 2016, his poetry and reviews have appeared or are forthcoming in the Chariton Review, Open Minds Quarterly, and Big Muddy, among others.

Lillian Ann Slugocki, founder of BEDLAM, has been nominated twice for the Best of the Web, a Pushcart Prize, and winner of the Gigantic Sequins prize for fiction. She’s been published by Seal Press, Cleis Press, Heinemann Press, Newtown Press, Spuyten Duyvil Press, as well as Bloom/The Millions, Salon, Beatrice, THE FEM Literary Magazine, HerKind/Vida, Deep Water Literary Journal, The Nervous Breakdown, The Dr. T.J. Eckleburg Review, Blue Fifth Review, Non Binary Review, The Manifest-Station, Angels Flight * literary west, Entropy, Volume 1 Brooklyn, Sweatpants and Coffee, and The Daily Beast. She has an MA from NYU in literary theory, and has produced and written for Off-Broadway and National Public Radio. How to Travel With Your Demons, a novella, Spuyten Duyvil Press, 2015, chosen for the Doctor T.J. Eckleburg Book Club. Her other books are The Blue Hours, and The Erotica Project, co-author, Erin Cressida Wilson. Anthologies include Wreckage of Reason 2: Back to the Drawing Board and Dirty Girls.

Sloane Eliot Mariem is a Florida-raised, Brooklyn-based poet exploring trauma, recovery, and the formation of new relationships in the wake of domestic violence. Her work has appeared in Vending Machine Press, Calamity, Electric Cereal, and is forthcoming in The Fem. She has read in NYC as part of the Vapors reading series.

Maggie Queeney reads and writes in Chicago. Her work can be found in Copper Nickel, TYPO, Southern Poetry Review, The Southeast Review, and Conjunctions.

Christopher Morgan is a Lebanese American prose poet who grew up in Detroit, the Bible Belt of Georgia, and the San Francisco Bay Area, where he currently lives and co-manages Nostrovia! Press. The Reviews Coordinator at Alien Mouth, and the author of two chapbooks, “Shadow Songs” (Sad Spell Press 2015) and “Fables with Fangs” (Ghost City Press 2016), he loves hiking in the redwoods, aphorisms, and happy hour margaritas.

Geula Geurts is a Dutch born poet living in Jerusalem. She completed her MFA in Poetry at Bar Ilan University. Her mini-chapbook “Like Any Good Daughter” is forthcoming with Platypus Press. Further work has appeared or is forthcoming in Tinderbox Editions, Rogue Agent, Hermeneutic Chaos, Cactus Heart, Minerva Rising, The Fem and Jellyfish Review. She works as a Foreign Rights Agent at The Deborah Harris Literary Agency.

Sarah Lilius is the author of the chapbooks What Becomes Within (ELJ Editions, 2014) and The Heart Factory (Black Cat Moon Press, 2016). She has a chapbook forthcoming from Dancing Girl Press early next year. Some of her journal publication credits include the Denver Quarterly, Bluestem, Tinderbox, Hermeneutic Chaos, Stirring, Melancholy Hyperbole, Entropy, and Flapperhouse. She lives in Arlington, VA with her husband and two sons. Her website is sarahlilius.com.

Omotara James resides in New York City, where she is an MFA candidate. She is the recipient of Slice magazine’s 2016 Bridging the Gap Award for Emerging Poets, as well as the Nancy P. Schnader Academy of American Poets Award. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Winter Tangerine, Visceral Brooklyn, The Coil, Gnosis, Font, and The Anthology of Young American Poets. She has received scholarships from Cave Canem, the Homeschool and the Garrison Institute. Currently, she is an editor at Visceral Brooklyn and Art of Dharma. You can find out what she’s doing next at https://omotara-james-poet.squarespace.com

Lauren Milici is a Jersey-born, Florida-bred gal who believes the best art is derived from naked honesty. She is currently pursuing an MFA in Poetry at West Virginia University. She posts drafts, sketches, and other trash on her website, laurenemilici.com.

Shannon Elizabeth Hardwick received her MFA from Sarah Lawrence College. Her first full-length book, Before Isadore, is forthcoming from Sundress Publications. She serves as the poetry editor for The Boiler Journal. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in the following: Salt Hill, Stirring, Versal, The Texas Observer, Devil’s Lake, Four Way Review, among others. Hardwick also has chapbooks out with Thrush Press and Mouthfeel Press.

Stephanie Valente lives in Brooklyn, NY. She has published Hotel Ghost (Bottlecap Press, 2015) and has work included in or forthcoming from Danse Macabre, Nano Fiction, and Black Heart. Sometimes, she feels human. http://stephanievalente.com

Isobel O’Hare is a Pushcart-nominated poet and essayist who has dual Irish and American citizenship. O’Hare is the author of the chapbooks Wild Materials (Zoo Cake Press, 2015) and The Garden Inside Her (Ladybox Books, 2016). She is based in Oakland, California and Taos, New Mexico.

Shevaun Brannigan is a graduate of the Bennington Writing Seminars, as well as The Jiménez-Porter Writers’ House at The University of Maryland. Her poems have appeared in such journals as Best New Poets 2012, Rhino, Redivider, and Crab Orchard Review. She is the first place recipient of the 2015 Jan-ai Scholarship through the Winter Poetry and Prose Getaway, and a 2015 recipient of a Barbara Deming Memorial Fund grant. Also in 2015, she was shortlisted for the Booth Poetry Prize, was a finalist for the District Lit Poetry Prize, a finalist for The Tishman Review’s Edna St. Vincent Millay Poetry Prize, and received an honorable mention in The Feminist Wire’s inaugural poetry prize. Her work can be found at shevaunbrannigan.com.

Amy Jo Trier-Walker lives and works on a tree and herb farm in Indiana and is the author of two chapbooks: Trembling Ourselves into Trees (Horse Less Press, 2015) and One Winter Night in the Pines (The Dandelion Review, 2016).  She is the winner of the 2016 Permafrost New Alchemy Contest, and her work can be found in New American Writing, Caliban online, Salt Hill, Tupelo Quarterly, and inter|rupture, among others.

Marty Cain is a poet and video artist. His first book is a long poem called Kids of the Black Hole (Trembling Pillow Press, 2017). His work has appeared (or is forthcoming) in Fence, Jacket2, Tarpaulin Sky, Action Yes, Gigantic Sequins, and other journals. He received an MFA from the University of Mississippi, and presently, is pursuing a PhD in English Literature at Cornell University. Currently, he lives in Ithaca, New York with his partner, the poet Kina Viola; together, they run Garden-Door Press.

Jennifer Maritza McCauley is a writer, teacher and Ph.D. candidate in creative writing at the University of Missouri. She is also an editorial assistant at The Missouri Review, a reviews editor at Fjords Review and an associate editor of Origins Literary Journal. Her most recent work appears or is forthcoming in editions of The Los Angeles Review, Jabberwock Review, LunaLuna, Split this Rock’s “Poem of the Week,” Puerto del Sol, The Feminist Wire and New Delta Review, among other outlets.

Alaina Leary is a Bostonian publishing professional. She serves as a social media assistant for the nonprofit We Need Diverse Books. Her work has been published in Cosmopolitan, Seventeen, Marie Claire, Bustle, Bust, Everyday Feminism, The Establishment, and more. When she’s not reading, you can usually find her spending time with her two cats or covering everything in glitter.

Alexis Groulx’s work has been previously published, or is forthcoming in Blue Lyra Review, Bridge Eight, Gravel, Off the Coast,Sun & Sandstone,The Missing Slate and others.

Patty Paine is the author of Grief & Other Animals (Accents Publishing) The Sounding Machine (Accents Publishing), Feral (Imaginary Friend Press), and co-editor of Gathering the Tide: An Anthology of Contemporary Arabian Gulf Poetry (Ithaca Press) and The Donkey Lady and Other Tales from the Arabian Gulf (Berkshire). Her poems, reviews, and interviews have appeared in Blackbird, Gulf Stream, The Journal, The South Dakota Review, and other publications. She is the founding editor of Diode Poetry Journal, and Diode Editions, and is Director of Liberal Arts & Sciences at Virginia Commonwealth University, Qatar.

Abigail Welhouse is the author of Bad Baby (dancing girl press), Too Many Humans of New York(Bottlecap Press), and Memento Mori (a poem/comic collaboration with Evan Johnston). Her writing has been published in The Toast, The Billfold, Ghost Ocean Magazine, the Heavy Feather Review, and elsewhere. Subscribe to her Secret Poems at tinyletter.com/welhouse.

Stephanie Berger is the founder and CEO of The Poetry Society of New York, a 501(c)3 dedicated to promoting poetry within our culture. She is the creator and Madame of The Poetry Brothel, co-founder and director of The New York City Poetry Festival, and co-creator of The Typewriter Project. Her poetry has appeared in Fence, The Volta, Hyperallergic, Prelude, Bat City Review, and H_NGM_N, among other publications. She published a chapbook of poems, In The Madame’s Hat Box (Dancing Girl Press, 2011) and is the co-author/translator of The Grey Bird (Coconut Books, 2014). She received her MFA in Poetry from The New School and has taught in the English department at Pace University.

jacklyn janeksela is a wolf and a raven, a cluster of stars, &  a direct descent of the divine feminine.  jacklyn janeksela can be found @ Thought Catalog, Luna Magazine, Talking Book, Three Point Press, DumDum Magazine, Visceral Brooklyn, Anti-Heroin Chic, Public Pool, Reality Hands, Mannequin Haus, Velvet-Tail, Requited Journal, The Feminist Wire, Word For/Word, Literary Orphans, Lavender Review, & Pank.  she is in a post-punk band called the velblouds. her baby @ femalefilet.  more art @ artmugre & a clip.  her first book, fitting a witch//hexing the stitch, will be born in 2017 (The Operating System).  she is an energy.  find her @ hermetic hare for herbal astrological readings. 

Christine Stoddard is a Salvadoran-Scottish-American writer and artist who lives in Brooklyn. Her writings have appeared in Marie Claire, The Feminist Wire, Bustle, Teen Vogue, The Huffington Post, Ravishly, So to Speak, Jimson Weed, and beyond. In 2014, Folio Magazine named her one of the top 20 media visionaries in their 20s for founding Quail Bell Magazine. Christine is the author of Hispanic & Latino Heritage in Virginia (The History Press, 2016) and Ova (Dancing Girl Press, 2017.)

Nicole McCarthy is an experimental writer/artist in the MFA program at the University of Washington Bothell. She is also the managing editor of The James Franco Review. Her work has appeared in Punctuate Magazine, The Fem, Ghost Proposal, FLAPPERHOUSE, Crab Fat Magazine, PUBLIC POOL,Tinderbox Poetry, and others. She is working on her first full-length hybrid collection.

Lynn Melnick is the author of Landscape with Sex and Violence (forthcoming, 2017) and If I Should Say I Have Hope (2012), both with YesYes Books, and the co-editor of Please Excuse This Poem: 100 New Poets for the Next Generation (Viking, 2015). She serves on the Executive Board of VIDA: Women in Literary Arts.

Ashley Miranda is a latinx poet from Chicago. Her work has been previously featured in The Denver Quarterly, White Stag, pioneertown, and HOUND lit. She tweets impulse poetry and other ramblings @dustwhispers.

Leza Cantoral is editor of CLASH Media Books and Luna Luna Magazine Print Projects. She is the author of  ‘Cartoons in the Suicide Forest’ published by Bizarro Pulp Press. She lives in New Hampshire with the love of her life and their two cats.

Corinne Manning manages the distinction between desire and longing by wearing wigs while chopping wood on a farm in the PNW.  While currently at work on a novel about a queer family in post-Columbine America, Corinne has a collection, WE HAD NO RULES, flirting with presses; stories from which have appeared in Story Quarterly, Calyx, Vol 1 Brooklyn, Moss, and The Bellingham Review. “Primary Sources” originally appeared in Arts & Letters and is the first piece of writing that freed and transformed Corinne in its production.  Once Upon A Time, Corinne founded a journal called The James Franco Review, dedicated to the visibility of underrepresented artists through reimagining the publishing process.

CAConrad’s childhood included selling cut flowers along the highway for his mother and helping her shoplift. The author of 9 books of poetry and essays, the latest is titled While Standing In Line For Death and is forthcoming from Wave Books (September 2017). He is a Pew Fellow and has also received fellowships from Lannan Foundation, MacDowell Colony, Headlands Center for the Arts, Banff, RADAR, Flying Ojbect and Ucross. For his books, essays, and details on the documentary The Book of Conrad (Delinquent Films 2016), please visit CAConrad.blogspot.com

Danielle Perry graduated with a degree in English Lit and Religious Studies from Guilford College in Greensboro, NC. She now lives in Portland, OR, but will never lose her East Coast charm. She spends probably too much time on Twitter (@jekyllian). Her work has been published in The Toast, FLAPPERHOUSE, and Potluck Magazine, among others. Her chapbook Phases (2015) was published by Sad Spell Press.

Annie Virginia teaches English to high schoolers. She earned her degree in poetry and street vigilantism at Sarah Lawrence College. She worries people by fighting in public with men who need to be fought. Her work was nominated for a Pushcart prize by Broad! magazine and can be found in The Literary Bohemian, Arsenic Lobster, The Legendary, and “The Queer South” by Sibling Rivalry Press.

Claudia Cortese is a poet, essayist, and fiction writer. Her first book, WASP QUEEN (Black Lawrence Press, 2016), explores the privilege and pathology, trauma and brattiness of suburban girlhood. Her work has appeared in Blackbird, Black Warrior Review, Crazyhorse, Gulf Coast Online, and The Offing, among others. The daughter of Neapolitan immigrants, Cortese grew up in Ohio and lives in New Jersey. She also lives at claudia-cortese.com

Kelley O’Brien is a disabled lesbian currently studying social work. She enjoys working in her garden and making jewelry, and hopes to make a little difference in the world.

Jessica Lynn Suchon is a poet, essayist, and women’s rights advocate. She is currently an MFA candidate at Southern Illinois University. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Radar Poetry, decomP, and Rust + Moth, among others. In 2016, she was named an Emerging Writer Fellow by Aspen Words, a partner of the Aspen Institute. She currently lives and writes in Carbondale, Illinois with her boyfriend Josh Myers and their dog Gracie.

HANNAH KUCHARZAK is a poet and visual artist from Chicago. Her poems have been previously published in TYPO, Vagabond City, Requited, Pleiades, Pinwheel, Ghost Proposal, and elsewhere. She is the recipient of the Gwendolyn Brooks Award and the Luminarts Award for Creative Writing.

Sarah Madges is a Brooklyn-based writer with an MFA from The New School Creative Writing Program. She co-curates Handwritten, an online project dedicated to the art and act of handwriting, and runs the monthly poetry reading series, Mental Marginalia. Her writing has appeared in The Village Voice, Killing the Angel, SCOUT: Poetry in Review, and elsewhere.

Staci R. Schoenfeld is a recipient of a 2015 NEA Fellowship for Poetry. She’s a PhD student at University of South Dakota and assistant editor for poetry at South Dakota Review. Recent poems appear in Mid-American Review, Southern Humanities Review, and Thrush Poetry Journal. Her chapbook, The Patient Admits, is forthcoming from dancing girl press in summer 2017.

Alexis Smithers is a queer black writer on the East Coast. Their work can be found in wusgood.black, Glass: Poetry, and Up the Staircase Quarterly and forthcoming in &thriving among others. They work for Monstering Mag, Winter Tangerine Review, Words Dance, and Voicemail Poems. They are a 2015 Pink Door Fellow and 2016 LAMBDA Literary Emerging Writers Fellow. A full list of their work can be found at lexleecom.wordpress.com.
Agnes Vittstrand is a nom de guerre, a feminist activist and author of “Allt som tar plats” (FRF, 2014) a collection of poems on strategies built after having her childhood broken by pedophiles. She has published articles in numerous Swedish feminist magazines and is also a painter of some astute. Her next book is in line for publishing by anarchist press Freke Räihä Förlag.

Freke Räihä is an elderly queer poet, translator and literary curator with more issues than vowels.

Jason Phoebe Rusch is a queer, non-binary writer from the Chicago suburbs. They have a BA in history from Princeton University and an MFA in fiction from University of Michigan, where they were a Zell Fellow and received several Hopwood awards. Their poetry has appeared in Luna Luna, their essays in Bust magazine, World Policy Journal online and The Mighty and their screenplay Banana Rat was a finalist in the 2010 Zoetrope contest.

Leah Mueller is an independent writer from Tacoma, Washington. She is the author of one chapbook, “Queen of Dorksville”, and two full-length books, “Allergic to Everything” and “The Underside of the Snake.” Her work has been published or is forthcoming in Blunderbuss, Memoryhouse, Outlook Springs, Atticus Review, Sadie Girl Press, Origins Journal, Silver Birch Press, Cultured Vultures, Quail Bell, and many others. She was a featured poet at the 2015 New York Poetry Festival, and a runner-up in the 2012 Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry contest.

MW Murphy is a poet and novelist. She is the author of the novel Second Daughter, which was endorsed with cover blurbs by best-selling author Wally Lamb as well as cult author and Yale professor John Crowley. Second Daughter was subsequently picked by NPR’s Faith Middleton as a “shelf-tracker” book of the month, and was also a featured book at R J Julia Booksellers. MW was selected for publication several times in the “Open Weave” poetry anthology published by Curbstone Press / Northwestern University, which also awarded her first place in its Poet Laureate Division. She has a short piece of fiction in the anthology Gathered Light which was published by Three O’ Clock Press in May 2013. MW also has recent poems in the international poetry anthology series “The Art of Being Human – Volume 13, Volume 14, and Volume 15”, all of which were published in 2015. She is currently nearing completion of an urban sci/fi fantasy novel which takes place mostly in Manhattan’s East Village.

Katie Clark is a queer poet & a sophomore at Mount Holyoke. Katie’s poems have been in several kind publications including Nostrovia! and Voicemail Poems. Tweets @octupiwallst

Christoph Paul is an award-winning humor author. He writes non-fiction, YA, Bizarro, horror, and poetry including: The Passion of the Christoph, Great White House Volume 1 and Volume 2, Slasher Camp for Nerd Dorks, and Horror Film Poems. He is an editor for CLASH Media and CLASH Books and edited the anthologies Walk Hand in Hand Into Extinction: Stories Inspired by True Detective and This Book Ain’t Nuttin to Fuck With: A Wu-Tang Tribute Anthology. Under the pen name Mandy De Sandra, he writes Bizarro Erotica that has been covered in VICE, Huffington Post, Jezebel, and AV Club. He is represented by Veronica Park at Corvisiero Literary Agency.

Lora Nouk is a New York-based artist and poet. She works across various mediums including net art, performance, BJD and text. She has presented work at Picture Room, New York; Kodomo/Manila Institute, Brooklyn; Mellow Pages, Brooklyn; MoMA PS1, New York; and David Lewis Gallery, New York, among others. She is the author of Snow Poems (Codette, 2015). She tweets @shad0w_paws

Diane Payne’s most recent publications include: Map Literary Review, Watershed Review, Tishman Review, Whiskey Island, Kudzu House Quarterly, Superstition Review, Burrow Press,Dime Show Review, Lime Hawk, and Cheat River Review.  She has work forthcoming in The Offing, Elke: A little Journal, Souvenir Literary Journal,  Outpost 19.  Diane is the author of Burning Tulips (Red Hen Press) and is the MFA Director at University of Arkansas at Monticello.

EDITOR

Joanna C. Valente is a human who lives in Brooklyn, New York. They are the author of Sirs & Madams (Aldrich Press, 2014), The Gods Are Dead (Deadly Chaps Press, 2015), Marys of the Sea (2016, ELJ Publications) & Xenos (2016, Agape Editions). They received their MFA in writing at Sarah Lawrence College. Joanna is also the founder of Yes, Poetry, as well as the managing editor for Civil Coping Mechanisms and Luna Luna Magazine. Some of their writing has appeared in Prelude, BUST, The Atlas Review, The Feminist Wire, The Huffington Post, Columbia Journal, and elsewhere. Joanna also leads workshops at Brooklyn Poets.

December 27, 2016
Coping with Michael J Seidlinger, CCM Publisher & Author of ‘Falter Kingdom’
BooksNews

Coping with Michael J Seidlinger, CCM Publisher & Author of ‘Falter Kingdom’

by CCM December 27, 2016
written by CCM

#CopingWith is CCM’s interview series run by managing editor Joanna C. Valente


Michael J Seidlinger is CCM’s publisher & editor-in-chief. As many people know, Michael is tirelessly always working, always available, and sincerely dedicated to publishing. Because of his public persona, it is easy to think you know Michael without really knowing him–this is both intrinsic to how social media works, but also ironic in the publishing world that is often built on the publishing of harrowing and compelling narratives.

His latest novel, “Falter Kingdom,” came out this fall from Unnamed Press. Of his book, Garrard Conley has said, “Seidlinger’s riveting book has ‘unpacked’ the classic Holden Caulfield character we know and love and given us a newly complicated misfit to root for. Here we see the boundaries of good and evil, love and hatred, self and other dissipate as the increasingly lovable demon takes possession of us.”

Because of all this, I interviewed him as a way for the CCM community to get to know him a little more. Here’s what he had to say:

What is one piece of advice to writers when dealing with their editors and publishers?

Be honest and up front about your concerns and your curiosities. I’ve seen it all too many times where miscommunication breeds a level of disdain between both author and editor. You have to figure that working with an editor, especially in the indie space, it may very well be just the both of you. Such close proximity could be amazing for collaboration, but only if both parties are on the same page. Editors/publishers are people too—you don’t ever want to elevate or activate a level of demand from them that exceeds what both signed up for. It’s how a publishing dream becomes a nightmare. Trust me, be honest right from the beginning—with both yourself and to your editor; doing so will help later when emotions run high (and they almost always do, be it out of excitement or worry) and you are about to send a five-paragraph email or text message to your editor at 3AM. You really have to treat the publishing relationship as its own sort of relationship, complete with its own boundaries.

What was your first publication?

This could very well be the most frightening question I’ve ever been asked. I just spent like 30 minutes Googling myself trying to find the oldest thing published and I’m coming up empty. I know one of my first was with a Canadian indie press called Crossing Chaos/Enigmatic Ink, where I published an excerpt/fragment from a now-dead novel of mine on their blog, and later published a couple books through the press. I also had stuff published at sites like Metazen (RIP) again coming up empty. The internet is truly ephemeral, your work so quickly lost if you don’t save it elsewhere, so here’s a picture of me looking sad:

PS – Starting to think I always look sad in pictures. Or tired. Or both.

What’s the worst rejection letter you’ve ever gotten? (You don’t have to name names, though.)

Worst one’s got to be from an agent that quite literally emailed back with a single letter, “P.” It was abrupt enough that it took me a couple minutes to figure out what that had meant. Guess the agent didn’t have enough time to write out the word, “pass.” There were no other details given and I never received another response, even after emailing for clarification. Agent’s a hot shot, by the way. One of those big names that foster truly lucrative literary deals. I’m not about money but I like money like anyone else. Well, scratch that—I like the prospect of not having to constantly worry about money. Oh god, tax season is fast approaching. Doing taxes sucks so fucking hard. I don’t know where I’m going with this.

When you get discouraged, what helps you rally through?

This changes a lot. If you know me at all, you know I usually don’t turn away, especially if I’m discouraged. I dive right into the discouragement, the feelings and thoughts brimming with negativity, and I attempt to find some sort of solution. It’s not always the healthiest of reactions and I have been trying to get better at it. Simple things like sipping coffee, closing your eyes, and meditating to ambient music; blasting metal and screaming along to it pretending that I’m still part of a band and am on tour and not drowning in work/deadlines; smoking a cigar while purposefully leaving the phone in another room; rewatching films I’ve seen countless times (like Jiro: Dreams of Sushi); even going back to something I wrote that somehow didn’t suck, flipping through a few pages, trying to get myself to level out and lessen the negative analytical spin. It’s so damn easy to fall into one of those funks, especially when the writing isn’t going well (seemingly every other writing session; depending on the project, it can be every single one). I rally through because there really is no choice not to, and whatever I can do to calm down, it has much to do with letting the mind fess up to those feelings, letting it all sink in and determine precisely the reason for discouragement. Oh and it also helps to talk to someone I’m close to, someone that can figure out by the fourth word what’s bothering me.

What do you love about the lit community?

Best part is the people. Always has been. The community has grown/changed so much with the times but there are people that have always been around, and more importantly been there, for each other over the years, there’s just so much to love about how something skewed to social media/online daily engagement can foster strong friendships and literary collaborations among its masses. CCM/Entropy wouldn’t exist without the community. I wouldn’t be who I am now, wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing, if it weren’t for the community. Don’t let the drama and the social media born depression get to you. There are people here. People that care.

How do you want to change the lit community? What’s your least favorite part of it?

I wish we’d be more considerate of each other’s feelings. Yeah, I know I said above how everyone is so supportive and caring but for all of the good, there is this underlying current that seriously bums people out. I hear from so many writers, so many friends, so many editors, about this general sense of malaise coming from the frustrations of toxic social circles. People gossip and so forth and what should be a safe space becomes something distrustful and downright unsettling. If you ever wonder why the lit community goes through a lot of rise-and-fall eras of activity and then sudden drops in silence, it’s as much to do with the seasons/prevailing cultural influence as it is the people within the community spinning drama.

People need to stop looking at each other as opportunities. People need to check themselves and their reasons for being a part of this.

Favorite item of clothing you own.

A Navy flight/bomber jacket my dad got during his time in the military. He gave to me about five or six years ago and it’s always fit so snugly it almost assuredly gave me a confidence boost whenever I’d wear it. I also like how it has a “Seidlinger” insignia sown right into the fabric. Wish I could wear it in NYC winter but it’s just too damn cold for the jacket.

Just realized I titled this interview “CopingwithSeidlinger” and thought of some old family sitcom like the Brady Bunch or some shit and really a show called Coping with Seidlinger would be pretty much the most horrible thing ever (for the 1-3 viewers and especially for me) because it would be almost 100% me sitting in front of a computer shouting obscenities while intermittently falling asleep, smoking a cigar, drinking a lot of coffee, and forgetting to eat meals.


Michael J. Seidlinger is an Asian American author of a number of novels including The Fun We’ve Had and The Strangest. He serves as director of publicity at Dzanc Books, book reviews editor at Electric Literature, and publisher in chief of Civil Coping Mechanisms, an indie press specializing in innovative fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, where he never sleeps and is forever searching for the next best cup of coffee. You can find him online at michaeljseidlinger.com, on Facebook, and on Twitter (@mjseidlinger).

joanna valenteJoanna C. Valente is a human who lives in Brooklyn, New York. She is the author of Sirs & Madams (Aldrich Press, 2014), The Gods Are Dead (Deadly Chaps Press, 2015), Marys of the Sea (ELJ Publications, 2016), & Xenos (2016, Agape Editions). She received her MFA in writing at Sarah Lawrence College. She is also the founder of Yes, Poetry, as well as the managing editor for Luna Luna Magazine and CCM. Some of her writing has appeared in Prelude, The Atlas Review, The Feminist Wire, BUST, Pouch, and elsewhere. She also teaches workshops at Brooklyn Poets.

December 27, 2016
ashley farmer
BooksNews

Coping with Ashley Farmer, Author of ‘The Women’ & ‘Beside Myself’

by CCM December 19, 2016
written by CCM

#CopingWith is CCM’s interview series run by managing editor Joanna C. Valente


Ashley Farmer’s books, “The Women,” which came out on March 11, 2016, and “Beside Myself,” which came out on September 30, 2016, came out from CCM this year. Of “The Women,” Megan Martin has said, “Reading Ashley Farmer’s The Women is like reading a cubist painting. These scavenged voices collide, contradict, entertain, horrify, and surprise as they create a dizzying and complex conversation about what it means to be a woman at this particular moment in time. In poems that are by turns witty, beautiful, and moving, Farmer investigates the disturbing chasm between how women are seen and how they see themselves. Even as she unapologetically documents the power that systemic oppression has over our daily lives, her women emerge as brave, hungry, and resilient. The Women simultaneously made my blood boil and made me feel less alone.”

ashley farmer

As such, we interviewed her about her books, although instead of asking her boring lit questions, our managing editor Joanna C. Valente asked her about everything else instead, like what her favorite meal and apocalypse plans are.

Describe your favorite meal. 

Green curry tofu. Beautiful, simple sushi that tastes like the sea. Tostadas and tamales from Merced’s in Long Beach. This chicken soup I make for Ryan and me that takes quite a while but is worth it. A very occasional filet. Scallops. Wick’s Pizza in Louisville, KY with a good beer and my friends. Anything I’m eating at my mom’s or my mother-in-law’s houses where there are siblings and babies and grandparents and dogs around.

What music do you often write to, if at all? 

I listen to all kinds of stuff when I write, everything from the Kinks to Elliott Smith to Rachmaninoff to Otis Redding to Sibylle Baier. Right now I listen to Beethoven’s concertos while I write—they make my brain feel alive, but kind of gut me in a good way. I also like driving around, listening to music, and thinking about a writing project I’m working on. I’ll get new ideas that way sometimes.

What are three books that you’ve always identified with?

I’m thinking about this in terms of books I identified with a long time ago that still resonate with me today:

Trout Fishing in America by Richard Brautigan: My grandmother had some Brautigan books at her house and I read Sombrero Fallout one summer when I was maybe twelve. It blew my mind. Brautigan is weird and wild and kindred.

The Awakening by Kate Chopin: I read this in high school and it was frankly the first time I’d been introduced to a “serious book” by and about a woman. That was important to me.

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath: Like she did for other women writers I know, Plath showed me at a very young age that there was a different way of interpreting the world. I just recently went to back her work—almost accidentally—and I’m fascinated by her again.

Choose one painting that describes who you are. What is it?

I work in an art museum, so I love this question. Priscilla Johnson (1966) by Alice Neel is a painting in the Speed Art Museum’s collection in Louisville, KY. I remembered visiting that museum when I was a kid and she stuck with me. It’s a larger painting with a real presence, and I loved that she seemed restless and thoughtful and intense and opinionated. Years later, I had the chance to work at that same museum and see her in person on a regular basis, again and again. I still love her.

Alice Neel

Choose a gif that encompasses mornings for you.

What do you imagine the apocalypse is like? How would you want to die?

I deliberately don’t imagine either of these things, if I can help it.

How would you describe your social media persona/role?

More observer than participant. Effusive liker. Listener. I come to learn and pay attention to people who know more than/differently from me. That feels like my role right now. I also come for bird photos and panda videos and to watch my friends’ babies grow up.

What’s your favorite animal and why?

My cat, Karate. She’s a huge tuxedo cat with a disagreeable personality. She wakes me up every morning and attacks my ankles if I walk past her the wrong way. She once got me in trouble with the TSA when I tried (and failed) to fly her across the country. She barely tolerates me and she won’t let me hold her, but I love her so.

What do you carry with you at all times? 

Pink lipstick, loose change.


ashley farmerAshley Farmer is the author of the women (Civil Coping Mechanisms, 2016), The Farmacist (Jellyfish Highway Press, 2015), beside myself (Pank/Tiny Hardcore Press, 2014), and the chapbook farm town (Rust Belt Bindery, 2012). A former editor for publications like Atomica Magazine, Salt Hill Journal, and others, she currently serves as an editor for Juked. Ashley resides in Salt Lake City, ut with her husband, Ryan Ridge.

 

joanna valenteJoanna C. Valente is a human who lives in Brooklyn, New York. She is the author of Sirs & Madams (Aldrich Press, 2014), The Gods Are Dead (Deadly Chaps Press, 2015), Marys of the Sea (ELJ Publications, 2016), & Xenos (2016, Agape Editions). She received her MFA in writing at Sarah Lawrence College. She is also the founder of Yes, Poetry, as well as the managing editor for Luna Luna Magazine and CCM. Some of her writing has appeared in Prelude, The Atlas Review, The Feminist Wire, BUST, Pouch, and elsewhere. She also teaches workshops at Brooklyn Poets.

December 19, 2016
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