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We’ve been going through it since our last update.  Lots of trauma not even related to horrific election results and change of administration that, as I type this, happens tomorrow. 

First, the bad news.  We were already late in updating the site to be “open” for submissions/queries (more on that in a sec) and in finishing Elizabeth Shvarts’ chapbook (Soft Animals) for publication/release (ditto), so we glided through the Holidays in a post-election stupor.  (It seemed easier at the time.)  The “plan,” then, was to re-engage around the New Year.  Now before all this, my personal laptop had died suddenly.  Luckily, I didn’t have anything important stored on it.  But I did use that laptop for press-related communication and updates to the website.  So, back to the New Year, when my flash drive started giving me access errors.  I was slow to respond and when I finally started rescuing files from it, I lost all access.  This drive had all press-related files, as well as lots of personal files and every poem I’d typed up for at least 15 years (including multiple ongoing projects).  I went through most of the five stages of grief while I consulted with a couple data-recovery services.  And then I opted to try a paid data-recovery program, which had mixed results.  It basically recovered a lot of older files that matched what I’d been able to “rescue” myself.  The stuff I “lost” was most of the stuff from the last five years or so.  I have proofs and covers in the GBP email (as they’d been sent to authors), but I can’t print from the proofs as they exist; I’d have to recreate them in Publisher . . . which I’m not jazzed about doing.  In a pinch, I can disassemble a printed copy (if I have one), scan/save the pages, and reprint from the scan.  Not ideal, but I’ve done it.  Anyway, I’m still going through files and seeing what copies I have on hand.  For some titles, I have several printed copies, and this won’t be an issue.  But some of the more “popular” titles didn’t sit around long enough to gather stock, so I might not have anything on hand.  New laptop, new flash drive, more duplication/redundancy.  

Anyway . . . onward and upward.  We’ve update the Submissions page to show that we’re open for queries (first) until around February 14.  Check that page for details, and let us know if you have questions.

And Elizabeth’s chapbook, after many stops and starts, is finally ready for publication around the end of the month.  There probably won’t be another “warning” update; it’ll likely just appear.  We’re excited that this collection is finally going to be out in the world.  

You may have noticed that that our previously announced chapbook from Elizabeth Shvarts (Soft Animals) did not come out as promised.  We had a last-minute delay and are completing some final changes before going into production.  All the decisions are made . . . just waiting to get things wrapped up.  Considering everything seems to move in slow motion around here sometimes, I’m reluctant to set a release date, but it’s looking to be in mid-November or early December.  (Thanksgiving right in the middle, so we’ll avoid releasing that week, for sure.)

Speaking of schedules, we’ve annually kicked off an “open reading period” (now query first) on Halloween, but that will be postponed.  This is due to wrapping up Elizabeth’s chapbook and also, if I’m being totally honest, the election.  Being full of anxiety and doomscrolling constantly, I’m not sure I have the emotional bandwidth to get a chapbook ready for production while also giving adequate attention to incoming poetry queries.  We’ll make an announcement on the date our “Submission” page will be officially updated . . . probably around mid-November.

We’ve spent most of the Summer getting chapbook orders out (some of them bulk orders) and celebrating the successes of some of our authors.  Earlier this Summer, Jennifer Martelli’s Dear Justice got a write-up in the Boston Globe, which helped launch a lot of copies out into the world.  And Jessica Purdy’s chapbook The Adorable Knife is going to be featured in the gift shop at the Rocks in Bethlehem, NH, which is the location of the renovated Summer home of Frances Glessner Lee (whose work provided the inspiration for the chapbook).  

Next up (in the coming weeks) is the long-awaited chapbook from Elizabeth Shvarts, Soft Animals.  We’ve been working on this one for several months now, and it’s almost ready to go to print!

As far as promotion goes, we’ll be doing same (but better?) haphazard social media approach, but we’ll no longer be posting on the fascist wet dream that is Twitter/X.  We’ll keep reposting updates on our Facebook page, but we’ve also (slowly) launched an Instagram (@greybookpress).  There, we’ll keep bouncing between new releases and highlighting some older and/or fun historical poetry artifacts.  

Our first chapbook (since last Summer) is Dear Justice by Jennifer Martelli.  This collection is a series of epistles, including pieces directed to each of the six conservative justices of the U.S. Supreme Court.  There is also a piece directly addressing the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and another written to Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.  You may be saying to yourself that this all sounds very political, and you’d be right.  But these poems are not political screeds but are, rather, poems interwoven with very personal narratives.  For example, the piece addressed to Amy Coney Barrett deals with a very personal health-care procedure.  

We try not to be shy about our political leanings here at GBP, but not every political (or “political”) manuscript we receive balances the political vs. the personal in a way that is interesting.  This collection does that, showing that, for many of us, all politics are personal.  And, here, Jennifer is addressing, through poetry, how one branch of our government is making decisions that have very direct, real-world consequences.  

From “Dear Clarence Thomas,”

                          “When I say
I loved my father, what I mean is: I have no other father.  When I say,
I love my husband or my country, I have no other husband, no other country.
Sometimes, love like this is painful.”

 

This one is now available on the Titles page.  

 There was a time when the press went inactive for the Summer . . . for no good reason, other than me (personally) not liking the Summer.  More recently, we’ve been stumbling through a “year-round” schedule.  However, due to a promotion at (real) work in January, my time has been much more limited, so we’ve been SLOOOOOWWWWLY moving forward with two different chapbooks.  But we’re finally (FINALLY!) almost ready to launch our next project.  

Those of you who have been here for a while know that we don’t really pick publication/launch/release dates months in advance, like a press might for a real book (and we’ve done two real books!).  What fun is that?  No, we get 80 to 90% through the editorial/pre-production process and then pick a date a week or two away.  Because we can.  Is that unprofessional?  Who’s to say?

Anyway, May 20 will see the release of our latest chapbook from GBP veteran Jennifer Martelli, titled Dear Justice.  It’s timely for a number of reasons and you’re going to want a copy.  

I mentioned we had two projects in the works.  Yes, we’re looking at a second chapbook to come out this Summer.  Stay tuned!

Note:  We’ve had a production delay due to the May 10 tornadoes that hit Tallahassee, which limited our access to some printing capabilities.  Launch will be delayed a few days.

Now that we’re through the Holidays, it’s time for my “busy” time of year at work (non-press work).  With two chapbooks lined up for the coming months (details soon), and a pile of queries and manuscripts to go through, we’ll be shutting the door to all queries and submissions until late Summer/early Fall.  Anything in the inbox before February 1 will receive a response.  

Just a quick Holiday update from GBP headquarters.  No new chapbooks to announce, but work continues on getting some things finalized. 

We’re still reading and responding to queries.  Once we have a few manuscripts chosen for production, we’ll likely close for submissions until the “backlog” is cleared.

Thanks to everyone who has submitted and, obviously, to everyone who continues to purchase copies.  You’re the best.  

See you next year!

As we welcome Autumn, you may notice that there’s been no post about an upcoming Open Reading Period.  I know we’ve announced those around this time the past several years, but we’re taking a break from that (for now).  Instead, we’re going to rely on solicitations and submissions from appropriate queries.  For the latter, we’ll post guidelines to the Submissions page in the next week.  I know, I know . . . that was promised by the end of September but, hey, what’re you gonna do . . ?  (I blame Oktoberfest.)

In other news, we already have a chapbook to announce for the beginning of 2024.  We’ll have more details on that next month.  

In the meantime, I would like to thank all of the poets we’ve published recently for their work, and all of you who’ve made purchases.

The final chapbook from our 2022/2023 Open Reading Period is The Adorable Knife by Jessica Purdy.  The poems in this collection revel in a kind of ekphrasis, exploring miniature crime scenes.  In fact, each of the poems (except for the opening sestina) is based on a diorama created by Frances Glessner Lee, a forensic scientist.  Lee’s 20 dollhouse-scale dioramas—collected in Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death—were used to train homicide investigators.  Purdy’s poems animate the scenes, adding personality and hints of narrative.

I was attracted to the way the stories of the dioramas unfold.  Sometimes from Lee’s perspective, sometimes an investigator, and sometimes the perpetrator or victim.  (Sometimes from the “outside” and sometimes from the “inside.”)  The miniature scenes come to life in vivid detail—in language as painstakingly precise as Lee’s creations.

From “Living Room”:

“Your stint in jail didn’t leave a mark.
You love to confess if only I had married D instead,
bring me roses and I am consoled.
I still pet your chin hairs
chain smoke Marlboro Lights
go barefoot in my swirly skirts.
I hope your engine dies mid-air.
My blackened eye fades to yellow
like the sunset from your pilot’s chair
and the stair scrubbed of blood
blooms again with spatter.”

The Adorable Knife is now available on the Titles page.

A flurry of activity here at GBP central.  We’ve set August 31 as the launch date for our next chapbook (The Adorable Knife by Jessica Purdy), Hell or high water.  Which is what we might get with Hurricane Idalia bearing down on us.  Not to be overly dramatic, but we are in the North Florida Panhandle and remember the last time a hurricane rushed through the Gulf of Mexico, gaining strength much faster than anticipated.  We lost power for days with Hurricane Michael and it hit further away from us then Idalia is forecast to hit this time.  Anyway, lots of unknowns.  But production on Jessican’s chapbook has started.  The link to purchase copies should be posted tomorrow, with the official “launch post” set for Thursday . . . or as soon as we have access to power and/or Wifi.  

The other news, now that we’ll very soon have no outstanding manuscripts to publish, is we’re going to switch up our submission policy.  We’ve decided not to do an “open reading” this Fall.  Instead, we’ll take rolling solicitations with sample poems up front.  Exact guidelines will be posted in September.  

See you on the other side (of the storm).