The Chelsea Whistle Sibylle Berg: By the Way, Did I Ever Tell You... (Hapax)
Trade Paper
by Michelle Tea
Trade Paper
by Sibylle Berg
Bicycle
Trade Paper
by Paul Fattaruso

Small press recommendations from those in the know: some of Portland's finest small press authors pass along their favorite books.

Kimberly Warner-Cohen (author of Sex, Blood and Rock 'n' Roll):
Playing Right Field I recommend Playing Right Field: A Jew Grows in Greenwich (Soft Skull). It's a smart, laugh-out-loud memoir by punk veteran and 9/11 health activist George Tabb.

Keith Rosson (Avow zine):
Tender as Hellfire Any of Joe Meno's books (Akashic Press). The guy's unstoppable. I'm currently reading his re-released first novel, Tender as Hellfire, written when the bastard was only 23 years old. Jealousy ensues.

Jeremy Robert Johnson (author of Angel Dust Apocalypse):
Falling from the Sky I think the anthology Falling from the Sky (Another Sky Press) is wonderful. It's got a truly diverse range of stories (I'm talking bizarre experimentation to straightforward poignant lit); it brings together a global array of authors (with Portland being very well represented); and, I really dig the forward-thinking vision of the people behind the press.

Kate Lopresti (author of The Constant Rider Omnibus):
Pedal Power Pedal Power: A Legal Guide for Oregon Bicyclists (Bicycle Transportation Alliance) by Ray Thomas. If you ride in Oregon you should know the rules, and this book is an excellent resource.

Carlton Mellick, III (author of several books, including Punk Land):
The Ballad of a Slow Poisoner The Ballad of a Slow Poisoner by Andrew Goldfarb (Eraserhead Press). It's like if Dr. Seuss, Roald Dahl, and Edward Gorey collaborated on an adult novel with chapters that are only one paragraph long.

Mary Rechner (author of Hot Springs):
Clown Girl Clown Girl by Monica Drake (Hawthorne Books) is imaginative and fun. I also loved Oh Pure and Radiant Heart by Lydia Millet (Soft Skull). It's smart, philosophical, and haunting.

Erica Schreiner (The Way Things Used to Be zine):
Emma Emma by Howard Zinn (South End Press). At the time, thought of as "the most dangerous woman in America," Emma Goldman's life reflected her beliefs in a way that can be an inspiration and an example for us all to live by. Howard Zinn's play is an excellent expression of Goldman's playful personality and passionate fight.

Geronimo Tagatac (author of The Weight of the Sun):
Bacacay Archipelago Books' translation (by Bill Johnston) of Witold Gombrowicz's novel Bacacay.
 

General

The Zinester's Guide to Portland (2007): A Low/No Budget Guide to Visiting and Living in Portland, Oregon
by Shawn Granton and Nate Beaty

Publisher Comments
Shawn Granton (Ten Foot Rule) and Nate Beaty (Brainfag Comics) edited a really comprehensive guide of things to do in Portland, OR. Features tons of information on various neighborhoods, bridges, eateries, hangouts, bars, places that sell zines, and how... (read more)
 
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Zines

Partial List of People To Bleach
by Gary Lutz

Review
"Despite its brevity and zine-ish format, Gary Lutz's bold and original new story collection feels like one of the season's biggest books....This thin chapbook is currently the best way to get a lump of Lutz. Savor it." Michael Miller, Time... (read more)
 
Your Price $6.00
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Fiction and Prose

The Chelsea Whistle
by Michelle Tea

Publisher Comments
In this gritty, confessional memoir, Michelle Tea takes the reader back to the city of her childhood: Chelsea, Massachusetts--a place where time and hope are spent on things not getting any worse. Told in Tea's trademark loose-tongued, lyrical style... (read more)
 
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Poetry

Sky Position
by Tom Blood

Recommended
award winner by our staff
Powells.com Staff Pick
Blood's poems stand tall, arms wide apart, offering to embrace or engulf you. His words flutter and get stuck in your hair like static electricity. A delicate, abstract, and mysterious little book. Recommended by Kevin, Powells... (read more)
 
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Featured Titles

Creamy Bullets
by Kevin Sampsell

Publisher Comments
Kevin Sampsell's largest and most ambitious collection to date, Creamy Bullets, captures the Portland author at the top of his game. Collecting everything from stunning flash fiction to his hilarious and intense longer stories, Sampsell's latest is a... (read more)
 
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Literary and Poetry Journals

McSweeney's Quarterly Concern #15: McSweeney's Quarterly Concern Issue 15
by Mcsweeneys

Publisher Comments
Issue 15 is also known as the "Icelandic Issue." Printed in Iceland, half of the stories are written by actual Icelandic writers. And the kicker? It also comes with an Icelandic tabloid mini-mag filled with words you won't understand and images that... (read more)
 
List Price $24.00
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Manic D Press

In Me Own Words: The Autobiography of Bigfoot
by Graham Roumieu

Recommended
by independent booksellers
Publisher Comments
Roumieu, whose illustrations have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Progressive, reveals the hairy hominids's brave struggles with eating disorders, casual cannibalism, and philosophical quandaries ("Me once... (read more)
 
Your Price $12.95
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Subcultural Studies

You Are Being Lied to: The Disinformation Guide to Media Distortion, Historical Whitewashes and Cultural Myths
by Russell Kick

Recommended
award winner by independent booksellers
Publisher Comments
You Are Being Lied Tois a massive collection of articles that ruthlessly destroy the distortions, myths, and outright lies that are fed to us by the government, the media, corporations, history books, organized religion, science and medicine, and society... (read more)
 
Your Price $9.95
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Top Ten

Wednesday May 14, 2008

  1. Bitch 30 by Fun & Games
  2. Partial List of People To Bleach by Gary Lutz
  3. Moonlight Chronicles 63 by Dan Price
  4. Yeti Five by Mike Mcgonical
  5. Story of the Eye by Georges Bataille
  6. I $ You by Chelsea Martin
  7. Post It Diaries Memos From the Unreal Wo by Amy Adoyzie
  8. Eeeee Eee Eeee by Tao Lin
  9. Girls Like Us Lesbian Quarterly 7 by Spring 2008
  10. Rad Dad 9 by Tomas Moniz

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Sale Books

69 Things to Do with a Dead Princess 69 Things to Do with a Dead Princess
by Stewart Home

Publisher Comments
This is where the novel has a nervous breakdown. Anna Noon is a twenty-year-old student with a taste for perverse sex involving an enigmatic older man and a ventriloquist's dummy. Anna lives in Aberdeen, Scotland, and her sex life revolves around the... (read more)
 
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Used Books

Hiding Out Hiding Out
by Jonathan Messinger

Publisher Comments
Hiding Out is a collection of hilarious, sparkling stories about people avoiding the consequences of their poor decisions. A jilted lover dresses as a robot to win back the heart of an ex-girlfriend. A man builds a time machine to embrace the identity he... (read more)
 
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Signed Editions

Tender as Hellfire Signed
by Joe Meno

Publisher Comments
"Features some of the liveliest characters that one is apt to meet in a contemporary novel. Vividly described."-Publishers Weekly "Extremely vivid. . . . Any number of novels have been written about unhappy childhoods and bizarre families, but this one... (read more)
 
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Sale Books

Shock Treatment
by Karen Finley

Publisher Comments
Shock Treatment includes Karen Finley's most provocative and acclaimed performance monologues, essays, and poems, with "The Constant State of Desire,""We Keep Our Victims Ready,""It's Only Art,"and "The Black Sheep."Excoriating misogyny, homophobia... (read more)
 
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Fringe Lit and Poetry

Blue Mesa Review #16
by Julie Shigekuni

Publisher Comments
Fiction, poetry, and essays exploring the relationship between art and the viewer.... (read more)
 
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Oversized

Memoirs of a Sword Swallower (Photo Illustrat)
by Daniel P Mannix

Publisher Comments
Memoirs of a Sword Swallower is Daniel P. Mannix's autobiography as a sword-swallower with a traveling sideshow, illustrated with photos from the 30s and 40s taken by the author. An example of Classic Americana, this book offers a portrayal of a vanished... (read more)
 
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Mini Chapbooks

Bear Stories
by J Lyn Chapman

Synopsis
Bear Stories is a series of investigations into the violences of erotic love, where violence is figured as a natural consequence of the body's vulnerability. These "stories" seek to describe, implore, and seduce their audience. But they are also the mind... (read more)
 
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Locked Case

McSweeney's Issues One Through Three
by Dave Eggers

Publisher Comments
Dave Eggers launched Timothy McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern in 1998 as an outlet for writings by himself and his friends, such as David Foster Wallace, who had been rejected by other, established journals. Eggers’ irreverent approach included... (read more)
 
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