A raw and unforgettable portrait of life in Arctic Alaska.

Beginning with his parents’ migration to the wilderness of Arctic Alaska and extending to contemporary struggles between subsistence living and sport hunting, Shopping for Porcupine provides an illuminating, unforgettable account of life in the far north.

Memories of an imaginary source of childhood surfeit; a grown man’s appreciation for his young daughter’s unfettered understanding of language; enlightened meditations on the permanence, severity, and grandeur of nature; and finally, elegiac warnings and stirring calls to action—taken together, these essays provide a revealing portrait of the author of the bestselling novel Ordinary Wolves, and of the land he so deeply loves.

Through it all we hear the voice of a true artist. The prose slows and rifles, then leapfrogs and pauses the passage of time, in a landscape unlike any other. Moving, alarming, and utterly beautiful, this collection will further establish Seth Kantner as one of the most original writers in America today.

This book features the largest published collection of Kantner's photography to date.

978-1-57131-301-1 * Milkweed Editions * $28.00 Hardcover


Praise, praise, praise...

"Shopping For Porcupine brings the searing honesty, lyric style, and raw emotional power we've come to anticipate from this home-grown Alaska prodigy." Nick Jans (author of The Last Light Breaking)

"One of the most beautiful books you'll ever read--truthful, raw, and lovely. The photographs make the sparse arctic Alaskan landscape monumentally visible and profound, while Kantner's writing imparts heroic dignity to the lives around him. From a childhood spent in a time when 'Frostbite was a way of life' to an adulthood fiercely lived, the tale of this man's life is original and funny, vivid and touching." Jonis Agee (author of The River Wife)

With Ordinary Wolves, Seth Kantner came streaking up out of the Arctic tundra like a blazing meteor in reverse. If it isn't the best novel to come out of Alaska so far, I don't know what is. Now, with his new collection of autobiographical vignettes and photographs, we get a closer look at the unique upbringing that informs that fine work. He brings us into the wildest scenes as only someone of this place can do. For all the popularity of the recent best sellers and hit movies about Alaska, Shopping for Porcupine comes from a place you haven't seen yet and can hardly imagine." Dan O'Neill (author of The Firecracker Boys)

See Kantner's stunning photographs and find links to his writing at http://kapvikphotography.com/index.htm

Black Flies graces the cover of this week's New York Times Sunday Book Review

Novelist Shannon Burke earned stunning reviews for his debut book, Safelight, and now he returns with the same minimalist intensity in this arresting follow-up.

Black Flies is the story of paramedic Ollie Cross and his first year on the job in mid-'90s New York. It is a ground's eye view of life on the streets: the shoot-outs, the bad cops, unhinged medics, the hopeless patients, the dark humor in bizarre circumstances, and one medic's struggle to balance his desire to help against his own growing callousness.

It is the story of lives that hang in the balance, and of a single job with a misdiagnosed newborn that sends Cross and his partner into a life-changing struggle between good and evil.

Already garnering praise, Black Flies graces this week's cover of the New York Times Sunday Book Review. Hailed as "searing and morally resonant", Liesl Schillinger embraces and applauds the powerful and gritty realism that marks Burke's work.

An excerpt from the New York Times Review:

"Be warned:... many of the most vivid scenes in "Black Flies" make for harrowing reading. Visceral and mercilessly detailed, they are not included for sensational purposes — not as an E.R. version of "war porn." Instead, Burke uses them as shock treatment for the conscience, like the paddles that resuscitate a 12-year-old girl who has been electrocuted. "It was the most eerie, unnatural thing I’d ever witnessed,"says the medic who saves her. "I watched death recede from her." For anyone who has flirted with fashionable jadedness or suffered disappointments that led to a sullen fascination with the darker side of human experience, Burke blows apart the pose."

978-1-59376-191-2 * Soft Skull Press * $16.50 Paper

Further praise...

"[R]aw and fascinating...Burke is a poet of trauma, and his expert, macabre portrayal takes its toll on the reader just as the job takes its toll on Cross." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)


To purchase go to your favourite local bookstore
To order from Amazon online Click Here
To order from Chapters online Click Here

The New Leisure Class?

Andrew Blechman’s first book, the critically acclaimed and commercially successful Pigeons, was a charming look at the much-maligned bird and the quirky subcultures that flock to it. In Leisureville, Blechman investigates another subculture, but one with more significant consequences.

Blechman delves into life in the senior utopia, offering a hilarious first-hand report on all its peculiarities, from ersatz nostalgia and golf-cart mania to manufactured history and the residents’ surprisingly active sex life.

He traces the history of the trend, and travels to Arizona to show what has happened to the pioneering utopias after decades of segregation. Blechman investigates the government of these “instant” cities, attends a builder’s conference, speaks with housing experts, and examines the implications of millions of Americans dropping out of society to live under legal segregation.

A fascinating blend of serious history, social criticism, and hilarious, engaging reportage, Leisureville couldn’t come at a better time!

978-0-87113-981-8 * Grove Press * $27.50 Cloth

Praise

“Andrew Blechman’s account of the rampant unreality that has become the normal condition of life in Florida’s child-free retirement ghettos is fascinating. The generation that enjoyed the greatest economic boom in the history of the world is going out with a bang—the sound of society blowing up in our faces. Blechman has a laser eye for the tragicomic absurdities of all the fun, games, and wild sex in theme-park senior villages where Oz-like control is exercised by the developer and his minions. His mordant report from a strange land is consistently interesting.”—James Howard Kunstler


“Leisureville is like the science fiction of Kurt Vonnegut—except that it is reality. What a great country!”—Andrés Duany, author of Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream

Rogue Economics - Book Trailer

Rogue Economics - Interview

Million Dollar Mischa

Mischa Barton, the former O.C. actress, was photographed last week on the set of her current movie, The Homecoming, holding a copy of Million Dollar Bash: Bob Dylan, The Band, and the Basement Tape by Sid Griffin. It was published last October by Jawbone Press.

Will the recent film I'm Not There along with this star sighting launch the book the same way Posh Spice launched Skinny Bitch to the top of the bestseller lists?

While it may be a boost to sales, Bob Dylan is likely not as big a draw as fad dieting and Posh Spice. We're just happy to see Hollywood stars set examples as avid readers!

Million Dollar Bash by Sid Griffin * Jawbone Press
978-1-906002-05-3 * $21.50 Paper * In stores

How Not To Date - Perfect Anti-Valentine's Day Gift

This hilarious little book covers all the basics:

*How not to date a cheater
*What not to state in a personal ad
*The escalating levels of crazy
*Bad pickup lines
*How not to date a porn star
*And much, much more

Judy McGuire provides a story (either a personal one or from the hundreds submitted to her advice blog) for almost every possible bad date scenario you can think of - from the downright silly to the well.. disgusting, nasty, creepy, and ridiculous.

An excerpt on hygiene:
OOOH, THAT SMELL!
"Ned had messy bleach blond hair, giant bright blue eyes, and the air of a lost puppy . . . . Unfortunately, Ned was also so hygiene-impaired that I regularly made him leave his shoes out on the fire escape when he came for sleepover visits. Ned was a vegan and fancied himself an anarchist punk rocker. Translation: He got all sanctimonious if I dared to eat meat in front of him, and believe me, I dared. Because leather was off limits, he wore vinyl pants instead. Do you have any idea how gnarly sweaty vinyl smells? No? I'll do you a favor and spare you the description."

What a perfect anti-valentine's day gift!

978-1-57061-532-0 * $18.50 paper * Sasquatch Books

Available at fine bookstores everywhere.