Erin McKnight is a Scottish writer now living in Dallas, and is Fiction Editor for Prick of the Spindle. Her writing has been widely published online and in print, in venues including flashquake, Ginosko Literary Journal, and PRECIPICe. Her short nonfiction has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and inclusion in W.W. Norton’s The Best Creative Nonfiction, Volume 3. Erin holds an MFA in creative writing with a specialization in fiction, and is currently at work on an MA in literary linguistics.
The Small Presses and Why We Love Them:
Prick of the Spindle Editors Survey the Small Press Chapbook Scene
"The terms small press, indie publisher, and independent press are often used interchangeably, with "independent press" defined as publishers that are not part of large conglomerates or multinational corporations. Defined this way, these presses make up approximately half of the market share of the book publishing industry. Many small presses rely on specialization in genre fiction, poetry, or limited-edition books or magazines, but there are also thousands that focus on niche non-fiction markets."
—thanks, Wikipedia...
Prick of the Spindle's latest survey of offerings from the little presses includes:
* ____(Want/Need) by C.L. Bledsoe
* Horrific Confection by Juliet Cook
* Ginnungagap by Lightsey Darst
* Dying Unfinished by Maria Espinosa
* The Torturer's Horse by Howie Good
* Moths Mail the House by Michael Kriesel
* What Apocalypse? by Marc McKee
* Going Home: A Horror Story by Lawrence Millman
* Beast, to Be Your Friend by Jennifer Moss
See below for sneak peeks and links to full reviews:
New from New Michigan Press . . .
What Apocalypse? by Marc McKee
New Michigan Press, 2008
Reviewed by Eric Weinstein
There are a few collections of poetry in print today that are near-perfectly titled; Marc McKee’s What Apocalypse? is one of them. McKee’s well-honed sense of irony and impressive wit cut through each poem... [read more]
Beast, to Be Your Friend
by Jennifer Moss
New Michigan Press, 2009
Reviewed by Eric Weinstein
Jennifer Moss calls forth a full menagerie in her new chapbook, Beast, to Be Your Friend: birds, goats, cows, octopi, and others populate a landscape in which the line between human and animal is artfully blurred. Wonderfully concise, her poems anthropomorphize their subjects in unexpected ways... [read more]
New from Sunnyoutside Press . . .
Moths Mail the House by Michael Kriesel
sunnyoutside, 2008
Reviewed by Cynthia Reeser
Michael Kriesel is a Wisconsin poet of my recent discovery who sheds new light on poetry as a fine art form. The philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer maintained that poetry is “the true mirror of the real nature of the world and life,” and this holds true for Kriesel’s work... [read more]
Going Home: A Horror Story by Lawrence Millman
sunnyoutside, 2009
Reviewed by Cynthia Reeser
Lawrence Millman, mycologist and author of recent publications such as Last Places and A Kayak Full of Ghosts, has received praise from Annie Dillard for his most recent work from sunnyoutside, Going Home: A Horror Story... [read more]
New from Plan B Press . . .
____(Want/Need) by C.L. Bledsoe
Plan B Press, 2008
Reviewed by Eric Weinstein
C.L. Bledsoe’s ____(Want/Need) is divided into four sections, each of which appears to be part of a middle school English test: “Fill in the Blank,” “Multiple Choice,” “Crossword Puzzle,” and “Answer Key.” Although this unambiguous format lends structure to the collection as a whole, it ultimately damages and detracts from the power of the book by... [read more]
New from BlazeVOX . . .
Horrific Confection by Juliet Cook
BlazeVOX e-books, 2008
Reviewed by Cynthia Reeser
Even what is sweet becomes menacing in Juliet Cook’s latest work, Horrific Confection. Cook is an Associated Content writer, poet and DIY publisher who runs Blood Pudding Press. Not so much sickly sweet as stringently lovely, Cook’s poems always contain a purposefully-placed granule somewhere within the confection... [read more]
New from Red Dragonfly Press . . .
Ginnungagap by Lightsey Darst
Red Dragonfly Press, 2009
Reviewed by Erin McKnight
Staying true to its mythic origins, Ginnungagap articulates the primordial space between creation and dissolution. Measured in units of grief, lost innocence, untruth, and abeyance, Lightsey Darst’s “alley of the unforgiven” is suspended over a Nordic ocean of potentiality churning with a catastrophic creative energy... [read more]
New from Wings Press . . .
Dying Unfinished by Maria Espinosa
Wings Press, 2009
Reviewed by Scott Bowen
In Maria Espinosa’s latest novel, Dying Unfinished, we follow the lives of Eleanor and her daughter Rosa, a character first gleaned in Espinosa’s American Book Award winner, Longing. We are exposed early on to the tethered ends of the Bernstein family... [read more]
New from recycled karma press . . .
The Torturer's Horse by Howie Good
recycled karma press, 2009
Reviewed by Erin McKnight
Charged as a beast of burden, The Torturer’s Horse breathes raw, merciless prose from nostrils intent on dispersing the fog of despair that has settled over a battleground littered with the corpses of purpose, civility, and progress... [read more]
© 2009 prickofthespindle.com
Scott Bowen is Assistant Fiction Editor for Prick of the Spindle, and currently resides in eastern North Carolina. He occupies his time writing both novel-length and short fiction concerning a prophet of his own design, playing house husband, and taking a stab at Native American crafts. He is currently working on his BA in English at East Carolina University.
© Christy Call, Pirouette
Prick of the Spindle Poetry Editor Eric Weinstein recently graduated magna cum laude from Duke University with an AB in English and Philosophy. His writing has previously appeared in a variety of online and print publications, including The Archive,Wheelhouse Magazine, Prick of the Spindle, and Rainy Day. His poetry hasbeen nominated for inclusion in Pushcart Prize XXXIII: Best of the SmallPresses (2009). A native of New Hampshire, he currently lives in Hoboken, New Jersey.
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