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Framework of the Human Body Virtual Launch

by Framework of the Human Body

Join us on February 11 for an online reading to launch the Framework of the Human Body anthology!

Saturday, February 11, at 2pm PST
Online via Zoom
Register to attend the event here:

Get event access link

Readings by:

Jessica Lee McMillan, Desiree Jung, J.W. Wood, Kali Meister, Dawn Macdonald, Alejo Rovira Goldner, Catherine Mwitta, Rachel Lachmansingh, Emma Kvetna

About Framework of the Human Body:

An anthology of writing about the human body and what it carries

This anthology is about the untold stories we carry on our skin and in our bones: a shoulder blade, a brain, a womb… At some point in our lives, we look in the mirror and suddenly notice our bodies in a sort of visceral way. 

The writers in this collection tell stories of these moments. From fiction about an AI nanny with Alzheimer’s disease, to an essay about reading Andre Dubus II during postpartum depression. From a poem about food diaries, to a script about slowly vanishing body parts. The range of storytelling in Framework of the Human Body all connects with the physical oddity of bodies and the sacrifices we make to keep them intact.

Fiction | Non-fiction | Poetry | Scripts
5.25 x 8 inches | 172 pages
Trade paperback | ISBN 978-1-7387167-1-5
November 2022

Buy Now
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Rituals Virtual Launch

by RItuals

Join us on February 4 for an online reading to launch the Rituals anthology!

Saturday, February 4, at 4pm PST
Online via Zoom
Register to attend the event here:

Get event access link

Readings by:

Toti O’Brien, Karuna Mistry, Angela Acosta, Livia Meneghin, Eileen Dolan, Jane Rosenberg LaForge, Gabby Gilliam, Julie Fleming Wickham, Valerie Anne Burns, Summer Christiansen, Alex Carrigan, Brianna Cunliffe, Sarah E. Azizi

About Rituals:

An anthology of poetry and nonfiction exploring the presence and significance of ritual

Grinding beans for a morning cup of coffee, taking your medicine, or reciting a prayer—rituals are the clockwork meditations in our lives. The writers of this anthology explore what it means to participate in this act, which can range from a tuned-out meditation or a deeply thoughtful engagement with your body and mind.

Whether sacred or secular, the stories in Rituals provide a point of connection to the world beyond us, and invite us deeper into ourselves: a poem about greeting an acquaintance at Target while dealing with grief, or an essay about taking testosterone every Sunday. When we take a step back and examine our lives, we find that our existence is woven together by rituals: the simple acts that ground us through the constant flux of being human. 

Rituals cover

Poetry | Non-fiction
5.25 x 8 inches | 108 pages
Trade paperback | ISBN 978-0-9948127-7-3
November 2022

Buy Now
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A closer look at FUTURES – part 2

by BooksFutures

"Commune" by Claire Sosienski Smith

"we will look after each other's children
as an extension of looking after
ourselves and each other."

Claire Sosienski Smith, "Commune"

“Commune” is a poem that presents a simple and loving visual of a future built around communal care. It’s a thoughtful glimpse at friendship that gives and takes without complication. This poem reads like a gift you could pass along to a friend, like a shared meal or a story read aloud. 

Claire Sosienski Smith is based in London and spends a lot of time thinking about poetry, prison abolition and Phoebe Bridgers.

"Orbital Decay"
by Shannon Bryan

"Each time I saw a red light in the sky felt like the first. A pull to wonder I refused. Because I thought there was no choice."

Shannon Bryan, "Orbital Decay"

A space freight driver and a rogue AI have an unlikely encounter on an interstellar delivery truck. These two strangers connect despite their differences, and share their stories. In each other, they find hints of hope and the possibility of a future they both thought they’d be unable to find.

Shannon Bryan is a Canadian writer of speculative fiction. When not busy with work or writing, Shannon can be found crocheting, playing D&D, or perusing the shelves of indie bookstores. “Orbital Decay” is Shannon’s first published work.

"October" by Judith Skillman

"You pine for
the limelights, instead re-
cieve the applause of a-
corns falling on wooden
decks, and diagnoses."

Judith Skillman, "October"

The turning of the season in the month of October ignites thoughts of change, movement, past, and future. This beautifully reflective poem talks through the season against the closing frame of an unnamed diagnosis.

Judith Skillman is a resident of Newcastle, Washington,  and a dual citizen of US and Canada. She is the author of twenty full-length poetry collections, and recipient of awards from Academy of American Poets and Artist Trust. Her new book, A Landscaped Garden for the Addict, is forthcoming from Shanti Arts midsummer 2021. Visit www.judithskillman.com.

"If You Are Boxed-In Know That They Too Tear Down" by Shayna Gee

"I understood ma when she said these walls will tear down."

Shayna Gee, "If You Are Boxed-In Know That They Too Tear Down"

This moving prose poem begins from a mother’s preparations for the possibility of a big earthquake, from removing the doors to steadying the dishes. It is told through the eyes of her adult child, even as she moves out and contemplates her own walls.

Shayna Gee (she/they) is a writer born and raised in San Francisco. They’re the author of Mushrooms At The E-Grave (Ghost City Press, 2021 Summer Series). Their work has appeared or is forthcoming in Write Now! SF Bay Anthology, Stone of Madness Press, West Trestle Review, and elsewhere. They read prose and chapbook submissions for
Homology Lit and the winnow magazine. You can find Shayna on Twitter @sgeewrites.

"A Sky Made Black" by Daniel James Clark

"As I open my eyes, a spark from my fire makes a circle, one a bit too perfect to be part of the natural order of things. It's time to go back home."

Daniel James Clark, "A Sky Made Black"

Cinder, an end-of-days AI, walks through a ruined planet, climbing the tower and taking their long-prepared final steps, as this, and the other surrounding 12 stars, collapse into the Darkness. Completing one last task, Cinder contemplates their own purpose and their only remaining point of contact, a fellow AI on a far-off star.

2021 Pushcart Prize nominee

Daniel James Clark attended college at the University of Nevada, Reno, where he received a Bachelor of Arts Degree with an emphasis in photography, and a minor in journalism. He lives in Henderson, Nevada, with his family where he spends his time as a homemaker, photographing news events, maintaining a nonprofit website, and writing stories.
@danjclarkphoto

Illustrations of “A Sky Made Black” by Daniel James Clark (click to enlarge):

Reach
Black Hole
Climb
Robot Wreath
Sunset

Read these stories and more in Futures:

The Knot books

A closer look at THE KNOT WOUND ROUND YOUR FINGER – part 1

by BooksThe Knot Wound Round Your Finger

"A Photograph of My Mother"

"In 1958, Grandad stole my mother. I know, stole might be too strong a word, but from where I’m standing, what took place was theft."

Emma Prior

This short creative nonfiction piece delves into the details of a single photograph of the speaker’s mother when she was a child, and all that was lost when she was taken from her home and culture in Singapore. From the very first line, a story emerges, and in a short space Emma Prior captures an immense feeling of loss.

Emma Prior lives in Liverpool where she runs grassroots, community-building projects. Her writing has been published in several independent anthologies, and she’s currently working on her first novel. Twitter: @emmavprior

"The Library"

"As soon as I was alone, I was running my fingers across the stacks, feeling the hardness of the pages without opening the books yet. The walls had fallen away, and the sun shone directly into the space. The racks were giant trees, and the books were their rich, colourful leaves."

Ibrahim Babátúndé Ibrahim

In this funny and moving nonfiction story, a broken sandal and a helpful friend lead the narrator to discovering the joyful depths of the school library. It’s a quiet moment of being lost in words amid the ups and downs of school at Nigerian Federal Government College in the ’90s.

Ibrahim Babátúndé Ibrahim took 20 years to find his way back to his passion after he was forcibly sent to science class in high school. In 2019, he left a successful ten-year career in media & entertainment to become a writer.

Since that time, his work has been accepted for publication in JMWW, Door is a Jar Magazine, Ake Review, Agbowó Magazine, Landlocked Magazine, The Chaffin Journal, The Decolonial Passage, and more. He finished as a finalist in Goge Africa’s #GogeAfrica20 Writing Contest, and Ibua Journal’s Packlight Series. He was longlisted for the 2020 Dzanc Diverse Voices Prize. He has also been nominated for the Pushcart Prize.

Ibrahim’s work explores the human experience from an African perspective. He’s @heemthewriter across social media.

"Tea Break" by Shereen Hussain

"The temperatures are so high that they can smell the heat. But everyone craves that treacherous tea regardless. Wise elders know how chai drinking has a cooling effect through perspiration. The colonials take this secret back to England with their jewels and even learn of a meal called High Tea. Mini kebabs, dainty colonized cucumber sandwiches, crunchy samosas, and fish cutlets."

Shereen Hussain

The memory of a tea party and joyful family gatherings mixes with the colonial violence surrounding tea and the history of the East India Company in this vivid and impactful flash fiction story.

Shereen Hussain was born in India and raised in the U.K., but later moved to California. She has a degree in French and English Literature from the University of London and one in Education from San Francisco State University. Shereen was a teacher for many years and then entered the field of international business. However, writing has been a lifelong passion.

Her short stories have been published by Freedom Voices in San Francisco, Lascaux Review, and by a publisher in the U.K. Her play, Inventing the Truth has been performed in a high school in California and a community theater in Illinois. It is about the invention of the ice cream cone by a Syrian immigrant.

"Violence in the Calm" by NC Hernandez

"I felt both like an intruder and a relative as I tried not to miss a word the old man said. Nearly seventy years after the violence I came to ask him about, I sensed that even the small privileges I had in California were, no matter how obscure, magnified here, and partly a result of his life."

NC Hernandez

In “Violence in the Calm,” the author visits relatives in Mexico to learn about a violent event in their childhood and how it has changed their lives since.

It is a powerful reflection on family history and on a moment of violence that unspools across decades of anger, an anger that lives in memory, in lingering injury, and in a desire for revenge. This is beautifully written nonfiction that settles on striking imagery and meditates on the echoes of the past. 

2021 Pushcart Prize nominee

NC Hernandez is a Chicano writer from southern California, temporarily living in San Francisco since 2010 with his partner and two cats. He has worked as a behaviorist for children with autism, a touring musician, and an immigrant rights activist who led the first visitation program in California for federally imprisoned immigrants. He currently works in a non-profit organization, spends part of the year in Mexico City, and invents his own cocktails. Hernandez writes socio-political essays about male violence, music, and classic menswear.

"Horizontal Recruiters" by Mark Blickley

"It suddenly dawned on me that the signs admonishing me to behave in a certain way weren’t so much to insure proper respect for the dead, but a kind of recruitment poster for potential future servicemen. In my mind the phrase eternal rest suddenly turned into parade rest, the military term for being at ease while still in a military formation."

Mark Blickley

In this essay, Mark Blickley visits the Arlington National Cemetery and ruminates on how even in death, soldiers still work as silent recruiters for the military. Through the story of this historic site, Mark investigates how the treatment of the dead has a political impact on the living.

Mark Blickley is a New York based, widely published and produced, author of fiction, nonfiction, drama, poetry, and experimental video, and a proud member of the Dramatists Guild and PEN American Center. His multi-genre collaborations with artist Amy Bassin include Weathered Reports: Trump Surrogate Quotes from the Underground (Moira Books) and the text-based art collaboration Dream Streams (Clare Songbirds Publishing House). His videos, “Speaking in Bootongue” and “Widow’s Peek: The Kiss of Death,” represented the United States in the 2020 year-long international world tour of Time Is Love: Universal Feelings: Myths & Conjunctions, organized by esteemed Togolese-French curator, Kisito Assangni.

Read these stories and more in The Knot Wound Round Your Finger:

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A closer look at FUTURES – part 1

by BooksFutures

"shangri la" by Amlanjyoti Goswami

"shangri la was behind the bus stop. the last line, after which no one asked what or where."

Amlanjyoti Goswami, "shangri la"

“shangri la” is a poem about the idea that joy and happiness is always a possibility, always just hiding around the corner. It’s a hopeful poem for a future filled with beauty.

This poem is the first thing you’ll read in Futures. It’s the perfect opening that invites you into a new world with anticipation and surprise.

Amlanjyoti Goswami‘s recent collection of poems River Wedding (Poetrywala) has been widely reviewed. His poetry has been published in journals and anthologies around the world. Publications include The Poetry Review, Penguin Random House, Acumen, Shearsman, Southword, IQ: The Indian Quarterly, Temz Review, Amsterdam Quarterly and The Lumiere Review among others. A Best of the Net nominee, his poems have also appeared on street walls in Christchurch, exhibitions in Johannesburg, an e-gallery in Brighton and buses in Philadelphia. He has read in various places, including New York, Delhi and Boston. He grew up in Guwahati, Assam and lives in Delhi

"The Ash in the Sea" by Madi Whaley

"Each flutter of the heart a discovery, every missed kiss a deep loss. She spent the night tracing words onto May's back and shoulders, writing a story of the future. One with fire and laughter and bees and humming and oceans that met shores with an undying fondness and a girl from the sea who kept coming to the rocks."

Madi Whaley, "The Ash in the Sea"

A love story of a witch and a selkie that is set against the backdrop of a world ravaged by wildfires. “The Ash in the Sea” is a global warming cautionary tale told with beauty and feeling, with characters you root for from the start and yearn that they will find happiness. Despite the relentless emergencies, it’s also a setting where people endure, love, and find the capacity to create. Madi Whaley creates an immersive world in the span of just 25 pages.

2021 Pushcart Prize nominee

Madi Whaley is an organic farmer and as of fall 2021, will be pursuing their master’s in Gender & Women’s Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and residing on Ho-Chunk lands. Originally from Sacramento, California on Miwok lands, they are inspired by the ecologies they grew up with and the ones they’re coming to know. They enjoy lake swimming, big bunches of herbs, petting dogs, and feeding their loved ones. They are a strong believer in the power of fantasies and folktales to give us wisdom for our current realities and open doors to better futures.

"Tantalus, a Shade" by Meg Sipos

"I do not breathe when I take in the tantalizing memories of a life once lived. Fading like the shades fade into the abyss."

Meg Sipos, "Tantalus, a Shade"

A poem about yearning and the struggle for a life just out of grasp. “Tantalus, a Shade” takes inspiration from the Tantalus myth.

Tantus, the king of Sipylus, was punished for attempting to serve his own son at a feast with the gods. His fate was to stand in a pool of water, almost within reach of a fruit tree, but forever to go hungry and thirsty.

Meg Sipos holds both a BFA and MFA in creative writing. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in MoonPark Review, Lammergeier Magazine, The Ghost Story, Quantum Shorts, Bath Flash Fiction, Liminality: A Magazine of Speculative Poetry, 21st Century Ghost Stories: Vol. II, and Dark Hearts: Tales of Twisted Love. She recently co-founded The Other Folk, a blog about the many faces of horror in film, art, music, and literature. You can follow her on Twitter @meg_sipos.

"Dandelion Wishes" by JJ Borkowski

"A dandelion flourishes in untilled areas and wastelands. The globe of parachute seeds is called a "clock" like it's only a matter of time."

JJ Borkowski, "Dandelion Wishes"

“Dandelion Wishes” is a short nonfiction piece that tells of a childhood memory of a wish and a hope, amid the harsh cruelty found at home. The speaker sends a balloon off into the sky and attaches their address, with the foolhardy dream that a reply will come back from afar. But will they receive a response?

 

JJ Borkowski is a graduate student in nonfiction creative writing at University of New Orleans and has a small smattering of publications. She resides in New Orleans with her two chihuahuas.

"More Than a Sanctuary" by Max Turner

"It wasn't that he didn't want to help people, but helping others meant less for yourself, or in his case, less for your kids. It meant being vulnerable, and that was something he was never going to be again."

Max Turner, "More than a Sanctuary"

A post-apocalyptic story about a trangender man and his two children who seek out a rumoured sanctuary in a destroyed world. Will they find it and who will they encounter along the way?

“More Than a Sanctuary” is full of heavy emotion but still leaves you with a deep breath of hope. It is a meaningful portrait of a family who have struggled together and who yearn for something more: a future where they can be safe and no longer have to hide.

Max Turner is a gay transgender man based in the United Kingdom. He is also a parent, nerd, intersectional feminist and coffee addict. Max writes speculative and science fiction, fantasy, urban fantasy, gothic horror and LGBTQ+ romance, and more often than not, combinations thereof.

Read these stories and more in Futures: