The Small Presses and Why We Love Them:

Prick of the Spindle Editors Survey the Small Press Chapbook Scene

"The terms small press, indie publisher, and independent press are often used interchangeably, with "independent press" defined as publishers that are not part of large conglomerates or multinational corporations. Defined this way, these presses make up approximately half of the market share of the book publishing industry. Many small presses rely on specialization in genre fiction, poetry, or limited-edition books or magazines, but there are also thousands that focus on niche non-fiction markets."

—thanks, Wikipedia...

Prick of the Spindle's latest survey of offerings from the little presses includes:

* The National Virginity Pledge by Barry Graham
* Amalie in Orbit by Gloria DeVidas Kirchheimer
* Spring Wanderings by J. H. Martin
* Blue Rooms, Black Holes, White Lights by Belinda Subraman
* Night-Sea by Rachel Moritz
* Letters through Glass by Alexis Vergalla
* Flying for the Window by Charles Coté
* Every Vanish Leaves Its Trace by Elizabeth Aoki
* Big American Trip by Christian Peet
* Finale by Paul A. Toth
* Traveling with Virginia Woolf by Kristina Marie Darling
* Atlanta by James Iredell
* A Field of Colors by Charles Lennox
* Strange Gospels by Kristina Marie Darling


See below for sneak peeks and links to full reviews:

New from Another Sky Press . . .
The National Virginity Pledge by Barry Graham
Another Sky Press, 2009
Reviewed by Kadzi Mutizwa

None of the characters who (dis)grace the pages of Barry Graham’s The NationalVirginity Pledge have taken anything resembling a virginity pledge, but I found myself wishing that at least a few of them had. Maybe that pro-abstinence crowd is onto something. [read more]

From The Wessex Collective . . .
Amalie in Orbit by Gloria DeVidas Kirchheimer
The Wessex Collective, December 2008
Reviewed by Meghan Brinson

Amalie in Orbit is a strange but appropriate title for Gloria DeVidas Kirchheimer’s novel. Amalie Price seems relatively level-headed and goal-oriented even under strange and difficult circumstances, but she sees herself, recent widow of a New York city professor... [read more]

New from Rivers & Lakes Press . . .
Spring Wanderings by J. H. Martin
Rivers & Lakes Press, 2009
Reviewed by Erin McKnight

If Spring Wanderings embodies “an old dusty bowl,” J. H. Martin casts his reader in the shape of “a spoon”—this union between aged vessel and modern interpretation responsible for the “filling with rain” that renders China and its people abidingly venerable and indifferent... [read more]

New from Unlikely Books . . .
Blue Rooms, Black Holes, White Lights by Belinda Subraman
Unlikely Books, 2009
Reviewed by Erin McKnight

As a former hospice nurse who returned home to care for her dying father, Belinda Subraman knows death. Yet, Blue Rooms, Black Holes, White Lights doesn’t serve to explicate the process of dying or glean insight from its impact; instead... [read more]

From New Michigan Press . . .
Night-Sea by Rachel Moritz
New Michigan Press, 2008
Reviewed by Eric Weinstein

Reading Rachel Moritz’s Night-Sea, I couldn’t help but think of Whitman; although Moritz’s line is much shorter than Whitman’s (often only four or five words in length), her poems resonate with a similar subtle, yet powerful emotional salience... [read more]

New from Finishing Line Press . . .
Letters through Glass by Alexis Vergalla
Finishing Line Press, 2009
Reviewed by Cynthia Reeser

Alexis Vergalla’s chapbook, Letters through Glass, is a work that is both introspective and detached. The poet’s use of language evinces an ability to view the personal through an objective lens. Her titular image is strikingly carried through to... [read more]

Flying for the Window by Charles Coté
Finishing Line Press, 2008
Reviewed by Eric Weinstein

The elegy is an old form; it dates back at least as far as Archilochus, a Greek poet born on the island of Paros over two thousand years ago. Although it was not until the mid-eighteenth century that the style found favor with English-speaking audiences in the form of Thomas Gray’s Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard... [read more]

Every Vanish Leaves its Trace by Elizabeth Aoki
Finishing Line Press, 2009
Reviewed by Eric Weinstein

Elizabeth Aoki’s Every Vanish Leaves its Trace is a spare book, comprising only eighteen poems. The poems themselves are somewhat spare as well, even naked, and intimate: in the first, “Speaking Language,” Aoki instructs us to “Listen harder... [read more]

New from Shearsman Books . . .
Big American Trip by Christian Peet
Shearsman Books, March 2009
Reviewed by Cynthia Reeser

Big American Trip is deceptive. Written as a collection of postcards in a non-native voice, the slim volume packs a mighty punch, especially in its exploration of the constrictions and deceptions of, not only the expansive American dream, but also of the English language as an embodiment of... [read more]

New from Raw Dog Screaming Press . . .
Finale by Paul A. Toth
Raw Dog Screaming Press, 2009
Reviewed by Cynthia Reeser

Paul A. Toth’s novel Finale concludes in a surrealist declension, in the sense of both the grammar and plot, which collides with all the fractal possibility and random order of a Jackson Pollock painting. But I get ahead of myself. [read more]

New from Ungovernable Press . . .
Traveling with Virginia Woolf by Kristina Marie Darling
Ungovernable Press, 2009
Reviewed by Jason Hinkley

Kristina Marie Darling's forthcoming e-chap Traveling with Virginia Woolf is a short polemic that uses the travel essay to explore the literary tradition/baggage that falls onto the shoulders of aspiring writers. The narrator employs a trip to a vacant artists' colony... [read more]

New from the Achilles Chapbook Series . . .
Atlanta by James Iredell
Achilles Chapbook Series, January 2009
Reviewed by Eric Weinstein

James Iredell’s Atlanta is a refreshing new collection of prose poems/short fictions; I am not generally a fan of prose poetry, but Iredell’s clear, honest voice and economic style make this compact volume a quick and pleasurable read. [read more]

New from Mud Luscious Press . . .
A Field of Colors by Charles Lennox
Mud Luscious Press, 2009
Reviewed by Cynthia Reeser

Charles Lennox’s slim eight-poem mini-chapbook from Mud Luscious Press can best be described as variations on a field. The narrative poems of A Field of Colors comprise a (roughly octagonal) kaleidoscopic view of a field: what happens there, what doesn’t happen there... [read more]

New from Maverick Duck Press . . .
Strange Gospels by Kristina Marie Darling
Maverick Duck Press, January 2009
Reviewed by Cynthia Reeser

Emerging poet and prose writer Kristina Marie Darling’s collection of comic essays, Strange Gospels, was released in early 2009. The three nonfiction pieces are written as memoirs, but with straightforward, no-holds-barred, salt of the earth reflection. This up-front approach casts... [read more]

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