INDIE PUBLISHING
Articles about Indie Publishing and Literature
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Lit Balm Online Reading
A few weeks ago, I read some new microfiction for The Mercurius Show at the Lit Balm reading series. Lit Balm is an interactive livestream poetry reading series that features readings, panels, and open mics, often held biweekly. LIT BALM is brought to you by Marc Vincenz of MadHat and New American Writing (Magazine), Cassandra… Read more
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Mercurius Launch at Backstory Books in Barcelona
Tomorrow we continue the Mercurius surreal absurd show at Backstory Books in Barcelona. Another round of readings. Another dream map improv. The dream map improv will involve the audience this time. Since there are only three readers (Marcus Silcock, Thomas Helm, Hugh Beim-Steinberg). “The program will feature short readings from poets in the anthology, followed… Read more
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New 21st Century Anthology of Surreal-Absurd Poetry Released
We’re excited to share the release of the first anthology from Mercurius Magazine — a groundbreaking collection of contemporary surrealist and absurdist poetry. Edited by Marcus Silcock, Vik Shirley, Thoman Helm, and Benjamin Niespodziany, this volume brings together over 80 poets whose work challenges conventional form and embraces the strange, the uncanny, and the beautifully unclassifiable. Spanning 370 pages, the anthology offers… Read more
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Laura Wetherington
The Lincoln Review is one of the best new lit mags on the planet. Probably the best in the UK. So yeah. Great new issue over there now and Laura’s poems are terrific! Midwinter’s Day (Bernadette Mayer) meets Lunch Poems (Frank O’Hara) with connections to my book Rides (written on trains forwards and backwards around… Read more
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Luke Palmer Surreal Absurd Sampler
“There’s a freedom and a weightlessness that comes with working alongside another version of yourself.” Surreal pop art with Brad Pitt, Matthew Broderick, Jeff Goldblum, Bruce Forsyth. And more. This week’s surreal-absurd sampler is Luke Palmer. Check em out over at Mercurius. Read more
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Kim Hyesoon Surreal-Absurd Sampler
This week, over at Mercurius, terrific surreal-absurd sampler. South Korean poet Kim Hyesoon (translated by Don Mee Choi). The poems are from I’m Ok, I’m Pig!, her 2014 Bloodaxe collection. Read more
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Glen Armstrong
“I’ve been writing requiems for people I admire lately, some of them fictional, some of them still alive. These folks may have ended up on gum wrappers or Mr. Cobain’s t-shirt or Mr. Zapruder’s movie. They usually share a unique talent that still can’t compensate for a unique and profound sadness. These are a few… Read more
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Mark Russell
“They mine the ways in which we deceive and are deceived; how our pursuit of meaning and intimacy so persistently misfires; how unremitting is the absurdity, and yet how heartily we laugh into it.” Read more
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Charles J. March III
” . . . blame ‘the Other,’ who claims to be an ironic, apocalyptic iconoclast, who had nothing but a deadpan beside him and marijuana garden beneath to piss in whilst swinging from the gallows and birthing this into existence.” – Charles J March III Check out this terrific surreal-absurd sampler of erasure poems from… Read more
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Brian Clifton
“There was a game I used to play as a child. My friends and I would turn off the lights of a room and stare at each other’s faces. Because we could only see vague outlines, our imaginations would fill in the details, would distort the faces we knew until they were strange and stranger.”… Read more
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David Greenslade
“During lockdown I explored the idea of immobility — especially the sessile animal known as the sponge. I began to think of myself as a sessile being.” Read more
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Jeff Alessandrelli
“I attempted to investigate what doesn’t fit and why that unfitting is often more important than that that fits. The songs on the record that I like best are the ones that momentarily skip before righting themselves. But you remember the skip later.” — Jeff Alessandrelli Read more
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Waking Life
Here is a little alien poem from my book Play Yr Kardz Right (Dostoyevsky Wannabe, 2017). The poem is called “Waking Leif.” Read more
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Music & Literature
I’ve started thinking more and more about when to order the paper book and when to order the digital book. In most cases, it seems, I am trying to order the paper books only when the book itself is both a beautiful object and I love the writing. Although sometimes I have ordered an ugly… Read more
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HOT OFF THE PRESS
Super grateful. My debut novel, Never Mind the Beasts, 10 years in the making from many countries, is now available for ordering. You can choose Blackwell’s or Amazon. Waterstone’s, Foyles, and Barnes and Noble will be added as an ordering option soon. Here is a description: Never Mind The Beasts is Marcus Slease’s second book for… Read more
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Dostoyevsky Wannabe Spotlight
A nice spotlight on Dostoyevsky Wannabe over at The London Magazine by Robert Greer. Greer describes the presses radical approach to publishing, in both design, distribution, and content: “With their books retailing at around £5 each, accessibility seems to me an important part of Dostoyevsky Wannabe, and the most obvious comparison for me is the independent record… Read more
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SCARED TO DANCE
indie-pop, post-punk, new wave and sixties music. Scared to Dance. London. Wee interview over at Swimmer’s Club: https://www.all-new.swimmersclub.co.uk/scared-to-dance/ Read more
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THE ALL NEW SWIMMER’S CLUB
The all new swimmer’s club. Now over at the classic indie press Dostoyevsky Wannabe: Read more
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The Dostoyevsky Wannabe Switchboard
Lots of goodies over here: https://switchboard.dostoyevskywannabe.com/ Read more
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KIDDIEPUNK THIS IS YATES
FASCINATING 12 MIN DOCUMENTARY FROM FAYETTEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA “Less a confessional documentary than a mixtape that samples a copious personal archive, “This is Yates” pan-n-scans a wide track of time, running from the near-present back beyond pre-pubescence to home movies of time before birth.” Available over here from the classic indie press Dostoyevsky Wannabe: https://switchboard.dostoyevskywannabe.com/kiddiepunk-this-is-yates/ Read more
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Swimmer’s Club Seven Up
Seven of my current loves over at Swimmer’s Club. It is hard to choose seven. They are only seven. But maybe a good seven. There is the Czech nomadic surrealism of Lukas Tomin, the Canadian surrealism of Guy Maddin. Sun Araw, The Seventh Seal, Leonora Carrington, Chika Sagawa. So many greats. What a life! Check… Read more
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GIRL AT END
https://www.swimmersclub.co.uk/treadingwater/syntax_error FROM GIRL AT END COMING SOON FROM RICHARD BRAMMER AND DOSTOYEVSKY WANNABE EXPERIMENT https://www.swimmersclub.co.uk/treadingwater/syntax_error Read more
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SWIMMER’S CLUB SNEAKY PEEK
Sneaky peek slash preview of some poems from Play Yr Kardz Right coming soon from the fabulous indie press Dostoyevsky Wannabe. Over at Swimmer’s Club: https://www.swimmersclub.co.uk/treadingwater/play_yr_kardz_right Read more
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SLOW CULTURE
I answered some questions about Why I Write over at Slow Culture. A series that continues what George Orwell started over 80 years ago. A wee promo for my upcoming book Play Yr Kardz Right from Dostoyevsky Wannabe. Very shot minimalist answers about nomadic travel, surrealism, psychedelics etc. Trying to define yourself is like to… Read more
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BLUE LIGHT SPECIALS AND PLACENTAS
A short excerpt From my recently finished novel NEVER MIND THE BEASTS. Will be sending it out to publishers/agents soon. Fingers crossed. Never Mind the Beasts is a 1985 coming-of-age story of Henry, a recent immigrant from Portadown, N. Ireland. Told in the style of vignettes, we move inside the mind of Henry as he… Read more
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hardy tree gallery reading
FANTASTIC NIGHT OF READINGS WITH BLART PRESS AND HOME BAKED BOOKS AT HARDY TREE GALLERY FOR MAHU!!! SUNDAY 7TH JUNE 2015 Read more
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QUEEN MOB’S TEAHOUSE
Some of my poems over at Queen Mob’s Teahouse today. Chevron erotics and graveyard aliens. http://queenmobs.com/2015/01/poems-marcus-slease/ Read more
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RIDES LAUNCH
AT XING THE LINE. LONDON. 8TH OCTOBER 2014. A bit of flarf poetry. Of course part of the larger nomadic surrealist project as well. RIDES IS AVAILABLE FROM BLART BOOKS AND AMAZON: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rides-Marcus-Slease/dp/1291923381/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1412958522&sr=8-1&keywords=rides+marcus+slease Read more
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Marcus Slease reading from Tim Atkin’s Petrarch
Crater 27: June 2014. Tim Atkins, Complete Petrarch.All of Petrarch translated / transfigured / transplanted by Tim Atkins – a hallucinogenic, euphoric striptease of a traductory odyssey. 550 odd pages of pure lyric gold. [Not letterpressed.] £16 + p&phttp://www.craterpress.co.uk/Lot’s of London poets reading from Tim Atkin’s Petrarch last Saturday. Terrific night!!! One of the best readings… Read more
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Miles Champion covers Tim Atkins – Petrarch 199
Reminds me of the amazing plays of Kenneth Koch. But with a Tim Atkins twist. It doesn’t get any better than Tim Atkins!!! Amazing launch of his Petrarch at Rich Mix last Saturday. You can get the magnum opus (plays, poetry, outsider art and more) from Crater Press. Freakin brilliant. NY School Poetry meets British… Read more
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THE GOLDEN AGE OF INDIE PUBLISHERS
A great list of indie publishers. Yes. It does seem like a golden age. The big publishers have lost touch, created a vacuum (we know what nature does with vacuums). These publishers are pushing the best shit right now in the English speaking world. There are others that they missed (of course) like Octopus Books/Poor… Read more
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FROM ON FATHERS > ON DAUGHTYRS
One of a handful of mighty mighty good poets who live in the U.K. Here are some of Tim Atkin’s poems from his forthcoming book On Fathers> On Daughtyrs. Now online at Summerstock magazine (edited by Elizabeth Guthrie). Tim Atkins from ON FATHERS > ON DAUGHTYRS http://www.summerstockjournal.com/2013/09/tim-atkins.html Read more
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SOME TRAIN POEMS IN SUMMERSTOCK MAGAZINE
Some of my train poems now published in the Summerstock Magazine. Riding trains forwards and backwards around the U.K. Thank you Elizabeth Guthrie!!! It is part of my manuscript Rides. Many more train rides to come. Forwards and backwards around the U.K. Check it out: http://www.summerstockjournal.com/2013/09/marcus-slease.html Livestock Editions is pleased as huckleberry pie to… Read more
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Enemies Book
The new book of collaborations with SJ Fowler and British and European poets is out now from Penned in the Margins. It’s killar!! Must have!! I have a colloboration with SJ Fowler in there. It’s a poem play. In Kenneth Koch style. Staring Lisa Jarnot. check it out. http://www.pennedinthemargins.co.uk/index.php/2013/09/enemies-2/ SJ Fowler has Enemies. And the… Read more
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THE OTHER ROOM MANCHESTER
READING A WEEK FROM TODAY WED 6TH FEB IN MANCHESTER. AT THE OTHER ROOM READING SERIES. READING FROM SOON TO BE RELEASED NEW BOOK FROM POOR CLAUDIA Mu (so) Dream (window) http://www.poorclaudia.org/details_slease.php COME ON OUT IF YOU ARE IN MANCHESTER!! Read more
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new issue of Rampike Magazine
happy for my work to be in great company. Peter Jaeger, Tim Atkins, Richard Parker, Amy De’Ath, Cathy Wagner, bill bissett, Sachiko Murakami and lots more . . My poem is “Song of the Open Road.” A creative translation of Walt Whitman. lots to explore . . Fantastic issue that opens up possibilities. .… Read more
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new rampike issue
happy for my work to be in great company. Peter Jaeger, Tim Atkins, Richard Parker, Amy De’Ath, Cathy Wagner, bill bissett, Sachiko Murakami and lots more . . My poem is “Song of the Open Road.” A creative translation of Walt Whitman. lots to explore . . Fantastic issue that opens up possibilities. . the… Read more
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my new book available for pre-order
MY NEW BOOK AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER NOW FROM POOR CLAUDIA. SUPER EXCITED. THEY MAKE SUPER HANDSOME HANDMADE LIMITED EDITIONS. It is called Mu (dream) So (Window). Part of my nomadic surrealist life project. No name but love, indeed, for Marcus Slease, in this exciting collection of small, surprising, lyrical poems which continue (very nicely,… Read more
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lovin the new Amling Crush
Very very few places I go for consistently interesting kick ass poetry . . . Poor Claudia is one of them . . check out the latest Amling Crush . . . diggin this Amling . . but right now I am on a loop with “Self Satisfied Vanity” . . What is it with… Read more
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Ordinary Sun, Coeur De Lion, Off Press, Calvert Gallery
The end of week is coming fast. It has been my spring break. I got an HIV test (negative), some blood tests for all sorts of goodies (awaiting), vision test (and a new pair of glasses coming in two weeks), 20 new poems (and revisions). So a health check and writing week. Got two terrific… Read more
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new publication: The Comarade Project
The Comarade Project. Collaborations between U.K. poets. My Collaboration is with one of my favourite all time poets: Tim Atkins. It’s a poetry comic. Available now. Here is the announcement: Delighted to announce the latest limited edition chapbook from The Red Ceilings Press…Maintenant: the Camarade project featuring Tom Jenks & Chris McCabe; Patrick Coyle & Holly Pester; Sam… Read more
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England’s Lane Bookshop
I just purchased a ton of indie poetry books at a massive discount at the bookshop in London called England’s Lane. The bookseller in charge of poetry really knows their stuff. I now have a big hoard of mostly innovative American poetry books. Terrific. Here are some of the poets: Aram Saroyan, Bernadette Mayer, Bill… Read more
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WHAT’S HOT!
I just ate a pig’s ear. I am trying to forget about it. It was chewy and from Bulgaria. A Bulgarian gave it to me. I can still taste it. I will forget soon. Southbank for the day. Books borrowed from the poetry library: 1) The Nancy Book by Joe Brainard (cartoons, narratives, ahhhhhhh boyo… Read more
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New Amy De’Ath Broadside (grab it hot!)
Head’s up! It’s the first Crater of 2010, and it’s a grand little broadside from Amy De’Ath: Andromeda / The World Works for Me. There’s a drawing by her too and it’s fantastic. £4 [£5 ROW]. Letterpressed &c. &c. Praise for Amy: “Amy De’Ath is the new fire for mortals. She peoples space. She plays… Read more
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PAST SIMPLE ISSUE 6
Ladies and Gentlemen, A special issue of Past Simple edited by Marcus Slease and Jim Goar is now available for your viewing and listening pleasure. Innovative British Irish and Scottish poetry. An amazing array. Hurrah! Poetry and some sound from: Karen Eliot Geraldine Monk Peter Manson Tim Atkins Steve Willey Augustus Young Alyson Torns Michael… Read more
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Foetry
All this talk of ethics and contests. I see how a judge could pick someone they knew (given MFA programs and reading circuits and the like) but with money involved I feel more frustrated. The entrance fees supporting the first book of a friend of the judge or press. I like that Foetry is out… Read more
