Tag: Two Lines Press

Kinda Cold Out

John Winkelman

Pepper and the books which arrived in the week of October 1, 2022

Woke up one morning, and there was frost on the porch roof and the windshields of nearby cars. That hasn’t happened in a while.

This was an excellent week for the acquisition of books, and Pepper would like to share with you this list.

First up, from my soon-to-end subscription to Two Lines Press, is João Gilberto Noll‘s Hugs and Cuddles, which looks like it will be a great read.

Next is Marissa Lingen‘s chapbook of short stories, Monstrous Bonds. I met Marissa at ConFusion back in 2015, and have enjoyed her fiction, poetry and book reviews for several years.

Next is Duncan Hannah‘s memoir 20th Century Boy. As I wrote back in August, I had not heard of Hannah until reading excerpts from this book in The Paris Review, and when I searched for more info discovered that he had died this past June. How’s that for timing?

Next is Jim C. Hines‘ newest entry in the Janitors of the Post-Apocalypse series, Terminal Peace. I see Jim every year at ConFusion, so I hope to run into him again and, with a little luck, get this book signed.

Last but not least, and fresh from a successful Kickstarter campaign, is Michael J. Sullivan‘s Fairlane, the sequel to Nolyn and the second book of the Rise and Fall series.

In reading news, I have two more issues of The Paris Review left on my stack, and should be finished with them in short order.

In writing news, I have completed nothing cohesive, but am making good progress on the worldbuilding for my NaNoWriMo project. So even if I don’t write 50,000 words in November, I will have a good base to finish the book, no matter how long it takes.

Things Feel Back To Normal, But Are They?

John Winkelman

Newly arrived reading material for the week of September 11, 2022

I don’t know if it is because of collective delusion, or that schools are back in session, or that the zeitgeist is one of collective acceptance/resignation, or simply that I have had a few good nights of sleep this month, but the overall vibe in my life is that things seem to be returning to normal, or at least normalizing around whatever *gestures around at everything* is. Which is to say, at least temporarily, I seem to have found my groove.

Three new books and book-ish things arrived at the house over the past week.

First up is the new issue of The Paris Review, which is likely the last issue I will receive as I continue to let all of my current subscriptions lapse.

Next up are two books from Two Lines Press. The first is Visible, an anthology of poetry and prose in translation, accompanied by some beautiful photographs and artwork. The second is Days Come and Go, written by Cameroon author Hemley Boum and translated from the French by Nchanji Njamnsi.

In reading news, I finished Shadows of Ivory by T L Greylook and Bryce O’Connor. It was good! I gave it 4 stars on the usual sites, though I though it more worthy of 3.5 stars, but when in the middle, always round up. Now I can hold my head up when next I encounter one of the authors and request a signature.

Following up that 400+ page doorstopper of a book, I started and finished the 130-page-long The Convent of the Pure by Sara M. Harvey. I received this a while back as part of my subscription to the catalog of Apex Book Company. It was a light but fun fantasy read. In fact, I finished it in a little over a day of reading, and then read the entirety of its sequel The Labyrinth of the Dead in a single day.

Now I am reading Abahn Sabana David, written by Marguerite Duras, and translated from the French by Kazim Ali. I received this book several years ago as part of my since-lapsed subscription to Open Letter Books. Though only a few pages in already it reminds me of Waiting for Godot, which makes sense as the cover blurb specifically calls out Samuel Beckett.

And my pile of unread issues of The Paris Review is down to the single digits, which means, unless things go sideways over the next two months, I will definitely finish the stack before the end of the year.

In writing news, I have started worldbuilding for two stories I wrote a while back, each of which will work better as full-length books. Each is in its own world and therefore I have two folders created and two sets of characters, histories, maps, names, descriptions, etc.

Another July In the Bag

John Winkelman

New arrivals for the week of July 24, 2022

The first part of 2022 seemed to drag, the days and weeks plodding by as if time itself were feeling an inescapable ennui. Then Memorial Day arrived and all the things which hadn’t happened since 2019 suddenly happened all at once, three years worth of events packed into a couple of months as everyone did everything everywhere. And suddenly July is over and in fifty days Autumn will arrive, suddenly and, given how hot the world is anymore, unnoticed except for the changing of the leaves. I felt no FOMO for two years because there was nothing to miss out on. Now so many things are happening that missing an event seems a luxury.

Thus I am exhausted in the midst of plenty and in desperate need for some quiet time and solitude.

Two new books arrived at the house this week.

First up is K.S. Villoso‘s The Wolf of Oren-Yaro, which I picked up on a whim, as Villoso has been a speaker on several genre podcasts over the past couple of years.

On the right, from Two Lines Press, is Xu  Zechen‘s Running through Beijing, translated from the Chinese by Eric Abrahamsen.

In reading news I burned my way through The Last Emperox, the eminently satisfying conclusion to John Scalzi‘s Interdependency trilogy. I haven’t binged a series like this since last summer, and it felt pretty good.

I rounded out the month with a steady run of The Paris Review, and am slightly less than halfway through my backlog. I just finished the Spring 2018 issue, and expect to be caught up to present around the end of the year.

I still haven’t written anything, but I do have some ideas on how to expand a short story I wrote last fall into a full novel, including sufficient worldbuilding to possibly turn the novel, once completed, into a series. Time will tell. It always does.

Shorter Days Are Also Long Days

John Winkelman

Books which arrived in the week of June 19, 2022

With the summer solstice behind us the days are slowly getting shorter but the work never ends and so I have resigned myself to the sight of the late afternoon shadows lengthening ever so slightly earlier every day. And summer has just begun.

Two new bookish things arrived in the past week. First up, from Two Lines Press, is a special edition bilingual chapbook which contains the first part of Jazmina Barrera‘s Linea Nigra, printed by Impronta Casa Editora. This little book is gorgeous, and has reaffirmed my opinion that chapbooks are absolutely a viable mode of publishing, for prose as well as poetry. The full version of Linea Nigra arrived at the house back in April.

Next is the latest issue of The Paris Review, which will go on the bottom of the stack of my back issues, through which I am steadily reading.

In reading news I am on issue #217 of The Paris Review, with (does the math) [N] more to go until I am caught up to present. The most recent issue came with a note that the Winter 2022 issue will be the last issue of my subscription, and I admit I am conflicted about letting the subscription lapse, if only because, poetry and prose aside, the interviews in The Paris Review are AMAZING!

I am also reading Janelle Monáe’s remarkable The Memory Librarian, and may well have it finished by the time this post goes live. I can’t say enough good things about it. Beautiful queer cyberpunk with a strong helping of bio- and neuro-punk on the side. Highly recommended.

In writing news, nothing to report. Maybe next week.

I’m Reading a Lot of Poetry Lately

John Winkelman

Reading Material from the week of April 17, 2022

This past week was kind of rough, starting with snow on Monday and a touch of something flu-like which hit me Monday evening and lasted until Thursday night. I only missed a day of work, but was housebound for the whole week, which has not happened to me since the downtown office reopened at the beginning of March. This enforced isolation allowed me more time to read and write, but I had no focus or energy so I mostly stared blankly at various screens and slept.

But yesterday the outdoor temperature rose above 80° f, so Z and I journeyed to Holland and spent several hours sitting in a friend’s back yard, talking and enjoying the unseasonably warm and wonderful weather. And that was as healing as any amount of ginger root, lemon juice, and whiskey.

A small yet elegant pile of books arrived at the house in this past week.

First up is the new issue of Peninsula Poets, the bi-annual publication of the Poetry Society of Michigan, of which I have been a member now for several years.

Next are two new books from The Center for the Art of Translation, On Lighthouses and Linea Nigra, both written by Jazmina Barrera and translated by Christina MacSweeney. On Lighthouses is the paperback version of the hardcover which arrived here in late 2020.

In reading news, I am still working my way through my back issues of Poetry Magazine. I have caught up to 2020, which means I have only a little over a year of back issues to read until I catch up to present. Oddly this feels like I am paying off a debt of some kind. I also took a day to read Colleen Alles’ After the 8-Ball, which I picked up last week at her poetry reading at Books and Mortar. It was brilliant! I love being reminded of the vast talent emanating from my group of friends and associates.

In writing news I am still keeping up my pace of a poem a day, though that went from literally a poem a day to a poem a day average when I missed my poems for Thursday and Saturday due to being sick and utterly brain-dead. But I made up the count with a couple of two-poem days, so I will still have thirty new poems to play with at the end of the month.

So Much Poetry

John Winkelman

New arrivals for the week of April 3, 2022

Maybe it’s because the pandemic has faded into the fabric of The Now, but there seems to be a surge in poetry events here in Grand Rapids. Several venues are hosting readings and open mic nights, and new events seem to be popping up every day. it could be confirmation bias, but I feel like the next few months are going to be quite exciting, poetry-wise.

Several new books made their way to the house in the past week.

First up is The Interim, written by Wolfgang Hilbig and translated from the German by Isabel Fargoe Cole. This is a repeat of sorts, as I received the limited edition hardcover of this book from Two Lines Press back in November.

Next up, also from Two Lines Press, is Masatsugu Ono’s At the Edge of the Woods, translated from the Japanese by Juliet Winters Carpenter. Ono previously graces these pages when I received (and read) his excellent Lion Cross Point.

Next, from And Other Stories, is When Women Kill: Four Crimes Retold, written by Alia Trabucco Zerán and  translated from the Spanish by Sophie Hughes.

And last up is the most recent issue of Salvage which, despite being on the right side of the photo, is the left-most of my reading material lately, if you get my meaning.

In reading news, I am quickly working my way through my stack of unread issues of Poetry Magazine.

In writing news, I am keeping up the pace of a poem a day, and some of them have promise, though to achieve the promise of that promise will take more than a little editing. So it goes.

Some Different Points of View

John Winkelman

New books for the week of March 13, 2022

Oh, what a week this was. For reasons not germane to this post, this past week was unproductive and exhausting in the extreme. Suffice to say that, even in the declining days of the pandemic, as the world slowly reawakens after a subjectively excessively long winter, the mundane world continues to exist.

Three new books arrived this past week, and it is indeed a stellar stack.

First up is Coyote and Crow, the core rule book for a new tabletop role-playing game which was funded through an immensely successful Kickstarter campaign. Like so many other Kickstarters over the past couple of years, there were delays and setbacks, but the final product is stunning!

Next up is This Is Us Losing Count, a collection of poems in translation from eight contemporary Russian poets. This anthology is part of the Calico series from the Center for the Art of Translation/Two Lines Press, one of the two publishers with whom I still have a subscription.

And finally we have Mister N, written by Lebanese author Najwá Barakāt and translated by Luke Leafgren. This book arrived from And Other Stories, the other publisher to whom I am still subscribed.

In reading news, I just finished They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us, Hanif Abdurraqib‘s collection of articles and essays about music and its intersection with race and culture. I picked this one up when Zyra and I visited City Lights Books in June 2018. I pulled it down from the shelf when I saw that Abrurraqib will be the guest lecturer for the March 2022 GVSU Arts Celebration hosted by Grand Valley State University.

And in writing news, there was no writing this past week. Too many distractions, disruptions, and sorrows.

The Last Full Week of Winter

John Winkelman

And what a week this past week was. Due to family emergencies, trips to the vet, favors for friends, and the necessities of a new project, I have had almost no time at all to read, write, relax, sleep, or clear my head. My only quiet time was the drive to Jackson from Grand Rapids, in which a visit was cancelled at the last minute, and so I drove a total of over four hours in order to deliver a sandwich.

At this point, after the last twelve months – and tomorrow it will be exactly twelve months since the quarantine really took hold for me – I can’t even get angry about this kind of thing any more. But it is frustrating to see the days grow longer and the weather grow warmer and not be able to enjoy it as I have in years past.

Two bound collections of words arrived at the Library of Winkelman Abbey this week. On the left is Elemental, a collection of stories in translation from Two Lines Press. This is the third anthology published under their wonderful Calico series, which is one of the reasons I am continuing my subscription to their catalog.

On the right is the March 2021 issue of Poetry Magazine. One day I will sit down and read all of the back issues which I have collected over the years, which are regrettably collecting dust on my shelf.

In reading news, things have been going slow though I did finish Deepak Unnikrishnan‘s weird and wonderful Temporary People (Restless Books), and am now about two-thirds through Arno Geiger‘s beautiful The Old King In His Exile (And Other Stories, translated by Stefan Tobler). Geiger’s book is his memoir of taking care of his father, who was suffering from Alzheimer’s, which is a thing which has struck down a few in my immediate and extended family, so it is a…well, I wouldn’t call it a comfort read, exactly, but it is supportive.

In writing news, there is no writing new, other than some journaling. Maybe next week.

So it goes.