Zines Zines Zines
I’ve been going hard all summer, trying to get the press in a decent place before the school year consumes me. I’ll never be all the way caught up, but I have got a lot done. Joshua Trent Brown’s big old manuscript looks like a real book now, and somehow I got 99,000 words to fit on about 310 pages. All the books for this year are printed, or printing. I’ll probably get an email any day now about The Barre Incidents being shipped. And today I picked up 100 signed copies of Vi Khi Nao’s new collection, My Ardent Love for the Pencil.
We also have three new zines!
The first one I’m going to plug might not be a zine, or it might only be a zine if you take the time to print it out, which you’re allowed to do of course. This is volume 2 of The Grift, our semi-regular PDF-only zine we sell to make a little un-earmarked (as in, we don’t owe royalties to anyone if it sells) money for the press. We’re going to do this once a year from now on. The new issue features stories and poems from Jacquelyn Bengfort, Zachary Kocanda, Christopher Stevenson, Neil Willcox , Dereck Heckman, Craig Rodgers, Ivy Grimes, Xavier Garcia, Jay Parr, Samuel Day Wharton, and Justin Carter. It is fun and weird and only $5.
The Grift
Coming out October 1, but hitting a lot of mailboxes before then, we have Hellarkey volume 4. Hellarkey is a horror-themed magazine published by Malarkey every October. Each summer, mystical editors Lauren Bolger, Eric Williams, and OF Cieri join forces to conjure the best in undergroundworld horror writing. This year we are proud to bring you work by ten fiendish writers, most of whom are brand new to Malarkey. This issue offers chills, it offers thrills—and it offers an escape from the hell that is our reality. This issue features work by Francesco Levato, Katherine Souza, Dee Holloway, William Couper, K.A. Roy, Ivy Grimes, Adam Sleper, Ilyn Welch, Hawk Williams, and Brendan Faux.
Hellarkey 4
Coming out in September, although copies will start to go out next week, we have the 24th issue of King Ludd’s Rag. This one has stories by Tori Rego and J. Edward Gregal. This issue also introduces a new wrinkle: a column by me, Good Reads, in which I write about something I’m reading. For the first print version it’s going to be about a poem that was published in Taco Bell Quarterly. I’m in the middle of laying this issue out now and I’m sorry but I don’t have the cover up yet and I need to get this posted now but don’t want to rush the cover, so it’s going on sale before the cover is in place. The cover is not that important anyway; it’s the words we care about.
King Ludd’s Rag 24
You can buy any or all of these. That would be great. You can also get them free. We’re not giving away The Grift with anything but if someone emails wanting a copy but they can’t afford to buy it we would reply with a PDF. We are giving copies of Hellarkey 4 away with Lauren Bolger’s new novel, The Barre Incidents, which comes out October 1. Once it’s out, possibly before if we run out of copies, we will have to stop giving Hellarkey out for free. But if you preorder Lauren’s book now or pretty soon we will make sure you get a signed first edition copy of that book and a copy of Hellarkey. Lauren is also sending out free bookmarks.
The Barre Incidents + Hellarkey
You can get KLR 24 for free if you order any in-stock book other than The Barre Incidents or Detective Novel, the reason being those, for now, are being shipped straight from the authors. But have a browse through the rest of our books and if you see something you look it’ll also come with KLR 24, and probably KLR 23, since we have some sitting around. Might I suggest ordering a copy of Vi Khi Nao’s book? We have a few signed copies left up for grabs.
My Ardent Love for the Pencil + KLR 24
Most orders at the moment are also shipping with a copy of a short story by LJ Pemberton called “The Deserving” and a short poetry zine by Leigh Chadwick. And stickers.
The Grift volume 2 pairs well with any or all of the above texts, too, and if you haven’t checked out the first issue of The Grift, well here’s the link: The Grift volume 1.
And a pitch to join the book club: you get books, you get zines, you get that good feeling, and if you join now you can also get a free t-shirt.