For the last poem of 2012, be sure to stop by unFold.  To ring in 2013 with a new book, click here to check out the Folded chapbooks and click here to order Folded books.

And we are pleased to congratulate our Poetry Editor, Rose Auslander, on the upcoming release of her chapbook — now in pre-sales from Finishing Line Press.  To order, click here (and for more info on how to fold water, click here ).

We’ll look forward to seeing you next year

Click the photo to join the fun

Join Kevin Griffith, author of 101 KINDS OF IRONY and professor of English at Capital University, to discuss his humorous treatment of this literary concept. Simply log in to your GoodReads account, visit the Folded Word Fan Club, and join the discussion in the “Author Q&A” section. Kevin will be checking in all week to answer your questions. Everyone who attends will be entered into a drawing for a door prize: a signed copy of Kevin Griffith’s 21 KINDS OF IRONY (a print companion chapbook to the full length e-collection).

In addition to the week of interaction, we will include a Live Chat hour where Kevin, along with Folded Word Editor in Chief J.S. Graustein, will be standing by in real time to discuss irony and humor writing. Live Chat will take place 31 October 2012 at 1:00 pm US Eastern time. Perhaps we can all come up with a “Halloween Irony” together:-)

J.S. will be standing by to help resolve technical issues during the live chat. Please email her at foldededitors [at] gmail [dot] com if you can’t find or join the discussion. Hope to “see” you there!

NOTE: Times are given in the author’s time zone, which in this case is US Eastern. Use a time zone conversion tool such as http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock… to calculate the time in your area.

For those whose computers don’t like embedded links:
week-long forum thread + one-hour live chat thread

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1078980-q-a-with-kevin-griffith

Don’t give up. We’re still here.

Due to a dispute with Folded Word’s domain registrar, there may be interrupted service for foldedword.com email addresses for several days to a week while we get things transferred to another provider. We have set up a new gmail account as a back-up. So if you get a bounced email from us in the next little while, please resend to foldededitors@gmail.com and we’ll make sure it gets where it needs to go.

Thanks for your patience and understanding.
~J.S.

1000 #followers on @Twitter! Please RT;-)

We’d like to take a moment to thank our 1000 followers on Twitter. Some you have been with us since 2009, some of you followed us yesterday. We think all of you have excellent taste.

As a token of our appreciation, we’d like to offer all our followers: 1) a free ebook from our backlist and 2) a chance to win a print copy of WOR(L)DS APART from our frontlist. Backlist titles on offer are Jessie Carty’s poetry collection PAPER HOUSE, Mel Bosworth’s novel FREIGHT, and our Twitter-lit anthology ON A NARROW WINDOWSILL.* Want to take us up on our offer?

1.

On Twitter, make sure you are following @foldedword. (Not following us yet? Sneak in a follow by Sunday night and you’re golden.)

2.

Tweet us with one of the following messages, no later than 8:00 PM Pacific on 21 Oct 2012:

• @foldedword I want #paperhouse by @jessiepoet for my [e-reading device/app you use]
• @foldedword I want #freight by @Mel_Bosworth for my [e-reading device/app you use]
• @foldedword I want #narrowwindowsill for my [e-reading device/app you use]

3.

Within 12 hours, we’ll direct message (DM) you with a private Dropbox link so you can download your free ebook. MOBI vs. EPUB file format will be determined by the e-reading device/app you mention when you tweet us. Please keep your link to yourself; we’re trusting you. You will have until Monday, 22 October 2012 at noon Pacific to download your ebook. After that, the links will be disabled.

4.

On Monday, 22 October 2012 at noon (in California), we’ll put the names of everyone who participated into a hat and draw a winner. If you are the winner, we’ll DM you to figure out where to send the print copy of WOR(L)DS APART. We are willing to ship worldwide.

Sound like fun? Then get tweeting;-)

*Such a big Folded fan that you already own all three of these books? DM us and we’ll find an alternative solution.

**In case of DM technical difficulties, please email us at editors [at] foldedword [dot] com and we’ll email you the link. We are willing to extend the giveaway if there are glitches in the system. The joys of trying something new;-)

Pick your favorite brew–we have plenty to choose from.

Raise your glass and join us in toasting our largest batch of new titles to date. Print books, eBooks, chapbooks, poetry online, author Q&A’s…whatever your reading taste, we’ll have you covered by All Hallows Eve.

available now

• Placer Voices Chapbook: RIVERWALKER by Brenda Bowen
• Author Q&A: Dorothee Lang & Smitha Murthy, transcript available on GoodReads
• Poetry Online: unFOLD is back from summer hiatus! Read on Twitter or the archive blog

books coming soon

Follow our book blog to be notified as soon as these titles are available.

• 13 MOUNTAIN by John R. Reed, a spy thriller previously published in 1995 by St. Martin’s Press. To be re-released as a full-length eBook.
• 101 KINDS OF IRONY by Kevin Griffith, a humorous collection of ironic stories about Jim and Bob and beer…and a bomb. To be released as a full-length eBook and print excerpt chapbook.
• NINE AVENUES by Guy Cranswick, a poignant collection of short stories set in Australia. To be released in paperback and eBook.

chapbooks coming soon

Follow our chapbook blog to be notified as soon as these titles are available.

• MITMENSCH by Corey Mesler, poetry, to be released as Green Edition print and eBook.
• ORDINARY THINGS by Jenny Billings Beaver, poetry, to be released as Green Edition print and eBook.

author Q&A’s coming soon

• John R. Reed, with questions from Casey Murphy, to post on this blog mid-October.
• TBD, Author Q&A + Live Chat, to run on GoodReads late-October.

Cheers!
J.S.

Join us to talk about one book and be entered to win another.

We are launching an Author Question and Answer series on our new group at GoodReads. This week, we kick off with Dorothee Lang and Smitha Murthy, authors of WOR[L]DS APART.

Ever wonder what joys/fears come from travelling alone? Are you curious about what it is like to teach English in China? Do you love talking about the way the internet brings people together? Dorothee and Smitha would love to share their experiences and hear about your own. Simply join our group and leave a question or comment here and check back for their reply.

Want to interact with Dorothee and Smitha in real time? We also have a live chat event scheduled at GoodReads. At 18:00 GMT on 25 September 2012, we will open up a new thread in the Author Q&A forum in the Author Q&A thread. Dorothee and Smitha will be standing by for an hour and really hope to see you there. Everyone who attends the live chat will be entered to win a signed copy of the booklet TRANSITION written and crafted by Dorothee. We will also be unveiling the first video excerpt from WOR[L]DS APART during the event.

If you have any problems trying to join either event, please email me at editors [at] foldedword [dot] com. I will be standing by to handle technical difficulties to the best of my ability. Hope to see you this week!

Cheers,
J.S.

For those whose computers don’t like embedded links:

week-long forum thread + one-hour live chat thread

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1039274-q-a-with-dorothee-lang-and-smitha-murthy

details about the one-hour live chat

http://www.goodreads.com/event/show/685904-live-chat-with-dorothee-lang

The Metropolis Case in paperback

For all of you looking for literary summer reading cool enough for the beach, how about the critically-acclaimed novel, The Metropolis Case?  We are delighted to have had the opportunity to talk with its author, Matthew Gallaway (for his website click here ), who kind enough to answer a few questions — enjoy:

 1)     Matt, what was the initial inspiration for The Metropolis Case?  Tristan and Isolde was one of the first operas I saw, and because my partner (who’s a stage director) was working on it, I was lucky enough to see it more than once. Tristan is considered by many to be the first “modern” piece of music because of its atonal elements, and as I listened, I fell in love with it and at times was reminded of some of my favorite bands — the Velvet Underground, My Bloody Valentine — who also combined dissonance and melody in such awesome ways (at least to me). The other noteworthy thing about Tristan is that it was written for a 100-plus piece orchestra, which at the time was unprecedented, and so between the atonal qualities and the sheer “wall of sound,” it was like nothing anybody had heard at the time. I read somewhere that following the world premiere of Tristan — Munich in 1865 — people were diagnosed with a kind of insanity called “Tristania.” In terms of the story, Wagner wrote Tristan as an homage to the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer, a fellow German whose most famous work is The World as Will and Representation.  According to Schopenhauer (a disciple of Immanuel Kant), everyone — and really everything — in the world is driven (often for reasons we don’t understand) by an unknowable force called “the will,” which can be understood as a predecessor to the Freud’s notion of the unconscious. The will as such basically fills us with constant longing for what we don’t have, and with a few exceptions is generally relieved only at rare moments as a result of love, artistic transcendence, or (finally) death. For The Metropolis Case, I tried to develop a structure that would allow me (and readers) to draw parallels between Tristan (with regard both to the music and the underlying philosophy) and contemporary society, which is why the book jumps around between the 1800s and the present. Like many operas, the book uses any number of plot devices are not meant to be realistic (to say the least), so that ideally readers can get more involved in the emotional journeys of the characters. When I first discovered opera — relatively late, I was already 30 — it reignited my love of music. I knew I would never have it in me to compose an actual opera, so I wanted to do something that to me was the next best thing, or to write an “opera with words,” which (i.e., prose) can be understood as a kind of music.  

Author Matthew Gallaway

2)      Did the eventual novel end up significantly different from your initial plans in ways you hadn’t anticipated and, if so, what most surprised you?  I went through a number of revisions with my agent and editor, but nothing changed the overall vision of the book, which I’m sure is why I loved working with both of them.

3)      What considerations that went into the title of the book?  The Metropolis Case (as a title) is an homage to The Makropolus Case, an opera by the Czech composer Leos Janacek. The opera is more satirical, whereas the book focuses on the city, so “metropolis” seemed like a perfect word.

4)      Can you (without cursing) describe the process of narrowing the book from 1,000 pages to its final length?  In terms of trimming the manuscript, I trusted my agent when he offered his opinion that there was a more efficient way to get from point A to point B, and ultimately I think the book is much better for it. Again, none of the cuts compromised the overall vision of the book, and ultimately made it into something that I’m sure was more widely appreciated than it would have been in its longer, draft form.

5)      Is there anything you felt you took away from the process of writing this book that you think will help the next one?  I think the key to writing is consistency and an ability to plow ahead in the drafting stages without spending three hours on every sentence, with the understanding that you’re going to revise the work any number of times down the road before publication. (This opinion is totally subjective, of course.) That said, I also agree with some advice I once read by Margaret Atwood (I think!), who said that writing a novel is like trying to find a path through a thick forest, and if you find that you’re lost, you sometimes have to retrace your steps in order to get reoriented.

6)      Is there anything you’d love to answer that I should have asked?  The most important thing in writing a novel, I think, is to follow your instincts and not to worry about what “the market” may or may not want. In short, write the novel that you would like to read, and let the business side take care of itself. 

Thanks Matt!

 The book is available in paperback and for Kindle.  Click Here. 

We overhauled our website. Check it out:-)

At Folded Word we’ve been so busy lately we forgot to share the great new works we have out, as well as others quickly approaching the shelves.

First off, we have launched a new Christian imprint, Sierra Delta Press, with Abraham by Stan Galloway. This poetry chapbook explores how the biblical figure Abraham was two men in one: Abram before the covenant and Abraham after. It is available as both a signature edition and a green edition.

Last month, Folded Word released the Green Edition chapbook Men Who Understand Girls by Neila Mezynski. This collection of flash fiction delves into the souls of women searching for love with various degrees of success.

Just released this month is our much awaited poetry chapbook On The Humber by Julie L. Corbett. As a native to the Humber River Delta area of Yorkshire, Julie’s intimate knowledge of the river and its communities—both natural and human—give readers an inside glimpse of details beyond the bridge: The North Sea, cliff tops, pavements, and kitchens.

What about paperbacks? Launching in the next fortnight is Worlds Apart by Smitha Murthy and Dorothee Lang. This book-length travel narrative takes pen pals to a whole new level as these two women create a dialogue across continents and cultures, captured in letters that reach from China and India to Germany and the Mediterranean Sea.

Last but certainly not least is Sierra Delta’s first eBook novel, Adam’s Garden. This Christian romance by Dana Sudboro,  set in beautiful Northern California, is slated for a July 2012 release.

We hope you’ll add one or more of these titles to your summer reading list and look forward to your feedback.

Cheers,
Kyle

Kyle Barber is the newest addition to our family. Please welcome him to The Fold:-)

support the press and its authors

As Folded Word has grown, its submissions queue has also grown. In fact it has grown to a point that we need more readers than our free Submittable (Submishmash) account will allow. This has led to the difficult decision to charge a reading fee beginning 1 June 2012 (at 12:01 a.m. Pacific for those thinking of sneaking in one last free submission). Prose and Mosaic book submissions will now require a $5 reading fee, but submitters will receive their choice of any e-book from our list. Chapbook submissions will now require a $7 reading fee, but submitters will receive their choice of any Green Edition (print) chapbook from our list. By supporting our press in this way, you will also be supporting our authors (who will receive royalties when their books are chosen) and facilitating faster response times for everyone who is (or will be) in the submissions queue.

Please note that submissions to unFold, our poetry e-zine, are still free and should be emailed to Rose Auslander at poetry [at] foldedword [dot] com. Complete guidelines for unFold may be found on our website.

As a reminder, our book-length print list is full through 2014. We are still reading for eBooks in our Prose and Mosaic lines. We are also still reading for both print and e- Chapbooks. Complete details for all our projects may be found at:

http://www.foldedword.com/submit.html

Photograph courtesy of Debbie Feller

Thanks to our unFold poets and photographers, our blog is about to bloom. 

As editors, we enjoyed a glorious month of virtual spring, floating (not to say wallowing) in a flood of koi, ducklings, and stolen tulips – so many we ran out of space in our showroom.  We had to narrow our upcoming display down to the following, in alphabetal order by poet – stay tuned:

 Peg Duthie:  “Lickety-split,” “Tacky,” and “The Season So Long” (all with photographs)

Debbie Feller: “Cold Koi,” and “Sacrificed” (both with photographs)

Brigitte Goetze: “Oh, Gorgeous!” and “Picking the Red Gooseberry”

dt. haase:  “haiga III,” “haiga V” and “haiga VIII” (all with images)

Kate Hammerich: “I dreamed of a door,” “Picasso,” and “Insomnia” (all with photographs)

Maude Larke:  “Park (2)” and “Emigration (2)”

Annmarie Lockhart:  “Spring Delinquents” and “Nightmare, Blooming” (both with photographs)

Dorothy Blackcrow Mack:  Two poems, untitled

Nora Nadjarian:  “The Name” and “Two Horses in a Swedish Garden” (both with photographs)

Ben Nardolilli:  “Nothing Else to Trouble Us,” and “Away with the Numb Mask”

Vince O’Connor:  “Anticipation” (with photograph)

Frances Pauli:  “A Koi’s Voice”

Linda Leedy Schneider:  “Eclipse,” “A Red Tulip,” and “A Heron”

Kara Synhorst: “Volunteer”

 Huge thanks to all the wonderful poets and photographers who submitted work for the show!