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Well, I have been through two disasters when it comes to small press genre publishing. I don’t bring them up to pour salt on anybody’s wound, but to simply point out how happy I was to see Needfire publish Barry Napier’s “A Mouth For Picket Fences.” My history with Barry is rather simple. One day, while reading for a poetry anthology, I opened up my email to see a submission from him. I never talked or interacted with him before. It was the first time I ever saw his name. I seriously considered the poem for a moment, and then typed out a kind rejection. Then, I tried to go on my way. For some reason, his poem lingered for awhile, even if it didn’t fit the guidelines I was operating under. Basically, the poem was written in a very contemporary way, which sometimes is a highly rare thing when it comes to horror and poetry. So, I wrote him back and asked for him to seriously consider sending me something else. He did, and both poems easily became my two favorite poems in Death in Common. So, began, via email, to twist his arm into writing a book of poetry. He seemed interested, so I applied more pressure to twisted arm. Then, the floor fell out from the publishing arrangement that I had at the time, and then it also crumbled around the follow up attempt to publish that anothology. With those set backs came the sinking realization that I was harassing a guy into writing a book, and then had no means to publish it. That changed with my new relationship with Belfire Press and its Needfire imprint. And, I’m very glad I was able to stick with Barry and see it through to the end, wherever that end took us. A Mouth For Picket Fences is a really, really good book. I’m honored that I was able to facilitate Barry’s interest in every way that I could.
Oh, and yeah, it’s available on Amazon. I highly recommend it.
Specifically: Wood Life, Death in Common, Into the Cruel Sea, growing up overseas, and my problems with “horror poetry.”
A fragmented (but very readable) book about the messy psychology of a serial killer
Well, if I’m starting a new blog — one separate from the scrapbooking I do at Strange Latitudes — I figure I need to include this link. It’s detailed description of the torturing –AHEM!!!– editing process that occured with one of Death In Common’s contributors. Scott worked really hard on his poem, and I commend him for it. The truth is, no matter how much I may have encouraged, poked, prodded, and harrassed him along, he had the vivid imagination. I was just the facilitator. However, that old blog post is also interesting for a number of reasons. For one, I think it demonstrates that poetry is not as easy to write as some on the internet would have you beleive. And also, sometimes the role of an editor is that educational-jargon word I just used, facilitator.
Rich Ristow 