A new book imprint?!? Oh, gee!

I've been so busy with my projects that I hadn't realized how much time had passed me by! In 2011 I finished two novels, so I'm now awaiting word on both of them. To help make my waiting a tad easier, I've decided to create a new LGBT imprint under Handtype Press's aegis: Squares & Rebels. (Go there to learn more about S&R.) And to start things off with a nice kick, I've decided to edit a poetry anthology featuring 20 gay poets from the Upper Midwest. Our call for submissions is below.



A CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: Lesbian and Gay Poetry Anthologies

What does it mean to be lesbian or gay and living in the Upper Midwest (MI, MN, ND, SD, or WI)?

If you’re a LGBT poet in the Upper Midwest, we want to hear from you!

Squares & Rebels, a brand-new LGBT imprint of Handtype Press, plans to bring out two poetry anthologies in the fall of 2012. Our goal is to help foster a sense of community among LGBT writers here in the Upper Midwest as well as showcase their work to the rest of the country. Each anthology will feature only 20 writers with approximately four to five poems each.


SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

Some of your work should address the question of what it’s like to be lesbian or gay in the Upper Midwest.

Send us 5 to 7 unpublished original poems as a Word file (either .rtf or .doc, but not .docx). No simultaneous submissions or reprints, please. No print submissions.

In your email, state the city and state where you reside; a short bio would be helpful. If you’d like to have your personal web site listed on www.squaresandrebels.com, please include it!

Lesbians should submit their work to the editor Kate Lynn Hibbard: hibbarka@gmail.com

Gay men should submit their work to the editor Raymond Luczak: squaresandrebels@gmail.com

Those who get their work accepted in either anthology will be compensated with a copy of the anthology in which they appear.

DEADLINE: Friday, May 18, 2012.


ABOUT THE EDITORS

Kate Lynn Hibbard's first book of poems, SLEEPING UPSIDE DOWN (Silverfish Review Press 2006), won the Gerald Cable Book Award. A second book, SWEET WEIGHT, is forthcoming from Tiger Bark Press in 2012. A recipient of awards from the McKnight Foundation, the Minnesota State Arts Board and the Astrea Foundation, she teaches writing and women's studies at Minneapolis Community and Technical College.

Raymond Luczak is the editor and author of 14 books including ROAD WORK AHEAD (Sibling Rivalry Press 2011), MUTE (A Midsummer Night’s Press 2010), and THIS WAY TO THE ACORNS: POEMS (THE TENTH ANNIVERSARY EDITION) (Handtype Press 2012). He lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His web site is www.raymondluczak.com.


ABOUT SQUARES & REBELS

Squares & Rebels is the new LGBT imprint under the aegis of Handtype Press. We are primarily interested in LGBT poets and writers who live in Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. For more information, please check out www.squaresandrebels.com.

Yayyy! NOTES OF A DEAF GAY WRITER: 20 YEARS LATER is out.

Hello:

Last August my 12th book NOTES OF A DEAF GAY WRITER was published in a very limited edition; I'd said then in my blog that I would have an ebook version out. That has come true today.



If you have an iPad, an iPhone, or an iPod touch, please click on this link to Apple's own iBookstore page featuring my book. Others using different ebook readers are welcome to use this link instead.

A brief video trailer in which I talk about the book will be posted on my YouTube page soon.

May everyone have a most warm holiday season!

Best,

Raymond

OMG! My hearing service dog's lost a lot of weight!

Today I took Rocky to his groomer's for the first time in many months, simply because I had wanted him to keep his coat thick and warm for winter. Well, spring's indeed arrived, so it was time for him to shed his woolly mammoth look. The transformation was so shocking that when I emailed this picture of him to one of my friends, he said: "I don't recognize that dog. What have you done to Rocky? Where is he?"


I'm sure that some of you have paid close attention to the brouhaha over how Amazon.com had "de-ranked" books by GLBT writers this past weekend, so I decided to check whether my books were ranked at all. I was very pleased to see that EYES OF DESIRE 2: A DEAF GLBT READER was still ranked, along with ... what? My novel MEN WITH THEIR HANDS now has its own ISBN number and its publication date of October 2009 listed there. Yayyy! Some folks have asked me when ASSEMBLY REQUIRED: NOTES FROM A DEAF GAY LIFE would be available on Amazon. I'm not even sure when, but for the time being, please support RID Press directly at this link here and get your copy sooner than later! (Thanks.)

In the meantime, I'm getting psyched and ready for my week-long trip back to the East Coast. It'll be so great to catch up with friends in Philadelphia, DC, and New York. I know that I may be a little sad knowing that I won't be seeing Elsa again, but at the same time, I know I'll get to introduce Rocky to all my friends! (And yes, Tom and Jonathan have their own dear miniature daschund named Wendy. I can't wait to meet her!)

OMG! I've got a new video clip about my new book!

As promised, here's my new clip about my new book Assembly Required: Notes from a Deaf Gay Life! Please enjoy.



Thanks!