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MAILING LIST: I just started a mailing list for my publishing company. Will mail out every 2 months and will include excerpts from my Robert’s Roundup columns and other random stuff. MASTADON: https://booktoot.club/@nagletx
Abbreviations: KU means Kindle Unlimited, and APUB means it was published under an Amazon imprint.NYP means “Name Your Price” (that’s an option on Smashwords and other booksellers). If you’d like to submit an ebook to me for review or mention in this column, see my instructions here.
I’ve noticed that several publishers are doing heavy discounts on their backlist titles on Amazon. That includes Mariner Books, Open Road Media, Overlook Press, Grove Press, , Harper Collins Ebooks, Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, Picador, University of Chicago Press, FSG Originals, Milkweed Editions,
Also, I’ve noticed that Amazon is allowing big publishers to discount their titles to 50 or 75 cents.
Indie Author Spotlight
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Under the Radar
Writing on the Wall and other essays by Mary McCarthy. Also caught Collected Novels Vol 2 for a dime.
Night Hawk: Stories by Charles Johnon
River Beyond the World: A Novel by Janet Peery. National Book Award nominee. Set in the Texas/Mexico border country in the years from 1944 to the present, The River Beyond the World is the story of two women on the edge of sexual, moral, political, and spiritual divides. Luisa Cantú is a girl from a Sierra Madre mountain village. After being impregnated in a fertility ritual of ancient origin, she leaves Mexico to work in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas as a housemaid for Mrs. Eddie Hatch, a woman with a strong will and a narrow worldview. Their complex relationship—by turns mystical and pragmatic, serious and comic—reveals the many ways human beings can wound one another, the nature of love and sacrifice, and the possibility of forgiveness.
Because they Wanted to: Stories by Mary Gaitskill
Frequency of Souls by Mary Kay Zuravleff 1996) (RJN: This sounds like such a strange novel). A staid refrigerator designer’s life is changed by a quirky, spiritual female colleague who is obsessed with finding electrical evidence of life after death in this extraordinary debut novel.
In the Shape of a Boar by Lawrence Norfolk.
Wild Surge of Guilty Passion (Novel) by Ron Hansen. Also At the Jim Bridger: Stories.
Dirt Music by Tim Winton
Mutations: Novel by Jorge Comensal, Charles Whittle. Comic novel about a militant atheist and successful lawyer whose attitude on life changes after getting cancer.
Limbo and other places I have lived by Lily Tuck.
Glimpse of Scarlet: and other stories by Roxanna Robinson.
Childhood by Nathalie Sarraute
These Dreams of You by Steve Erickson
Extra Innings (Memoir) by Doris Grumbach. Also the Magician’s Girl (novel).
“Record Collecting For Girls: Unleashing Your Inner Music Nerd, One Album at a Time” ($0.50) by Courtney E. Smith is a fun look at chick music, music culture and how nerdy chicks get into music (2011)
Catch as Catch Can: Collected Stories by Joseph Heller.
Triumph of Human Empire: Verne, Morris and Stevenson at the end of the World by Rosalind Williams.
Innocent and Others (Novel) by Dana Spiotta.
That Self-Forgetful Perfectly Useless Concentration by Alan Shapiro.
Reading, Writing and Leaving Home: Life on the Page by Lynn Freed. Also, I bought and am reading Curse of the Appropriate Man stories.
Gone to the Forest by Katie Kitamura
3 works by Robert Irwin: Limits of Vision, Prayer-Cushions of the Flesh, and Exquisite Corpse.
I am Mary Dunne: A Novel by Brian Moore
Error of Our Ways by David Carkeet
Little Hotel by Christina Stead.
Sukkwan Island: Novella from Legend of a Suicide by David Vann.
Enthusiast by Charlie Hass
The Stylist by Cai Emmons.
Taking Time … A Tale of Physics, Lust and Greed by Mike Murphy.
Robot World by Ray Verola
Emerald Germs of Ireland by Patrick McCabe. 2001 messy, comic and episodic novel about a social misfit and drunk. Writes one reviewer, “Each book by McCabe is a string of adjectives: brilliant, wonderful, funny, tragic, sad, moving, joyous, inventive, imaginative, amazing, heart-rending and silly. The Emerald Germs of Ireland is more of the same. It’s a bit more difficult a read than his previous works, frequently going off into the surrealistic and understandable incomprehensible delusions of the protagonist.”
Separate Kingdoms: Stories by Valerie Laken.
Disturbance in One Place (Novel) by Binnie Kirshenbaum
Thirst by Ken Kalfus.
Further Adventures by Jon Stephen Fink.
First Contact: Or it’s later than you think by Evan Mandery.
Explorers of the New Century by Magnus Mills.
Substance of Shadow: Darkening Trope in Poetic History by John Hollander. Unpublished lectures by the noted American poet.
Against the Current; Vietnamese Boat Person’s Journey by Cuong Tram. A Houston friend of mine wrote a memoir about his escape from Vietnam in the 1970s.
Viviane: A Novel by Julia Deck. French debut novel about a murder mystery and madness.
Abnormal Occurrences: Short Stories by Thomas Berger.
Take Us to a Better Place: Stories (Anthology). Stories about our ecological future.
Golk: A Novel by Richard Stern.
Urban Affair: Novel by Daniel Stern. Also After the War novel. (Too many Sterns!)
At the Shores Novel by Thomas Rogers. Very distinguished author
Glorious Ones (Novel) by Francine Prose.
Enthusiast by Charlie Hass.
2 by Patrick McCabe: Emerald Germs of Ireland (Novel).
First, Body: Stories by Melanie Rae Thon
At the Shores by Thomas Rogers.
Fay Weldon: Collected Novels in 3 volumes (containing 9 novels!) . Also Polaris (short stories).
Cuts by Malcolm Bradbury
Plumbelly: Novel: by Gary S. Maynard.
Great Kisser: Stories by David Evanier
Violated by Vance Bourjaily.
A Place with Promise: Novel by Edward Swift.
Autograph Hound by John Lahr. Fun fact. Lahr was the son of Bert Lahr of Wizard of Oz who also wrote several author bios including Prick Up Your Eyes
Various Academic Titles from U. of Chicago: Kafka’s Law: Trial and American Criminal Justice by Robert P. Burns, Walter Raleigh’s History of the World and the Historical Culture of the Late Renaissance by Nicholas Popper, Comfort Women: Sexual Violence and Postcolonial Memory in Korea and Japan by C. Sarah Soh, Move On Up: Chicago Soul Music and Black Cultural Power by Aaron Cohen, Making of Romantic Love: Longing and Sexuality in Europe, S Asia & Japan 900-1200 CE by William M. Reddy. Palace of Books by Roger Grenier. Also two UC titles which are more creative: Folktales of Ireland edited by Sean O’Sullivan and Hack: stories from a Chicago Cab by Dmitry Samarov.
Folly by Susan Minot.
Two works by B. Traven, the German author in Mexco: Death Ship and Aslan Norval.
Daughters of the House: A Novel by Michele Roberts.
Mount Pleasant: A Novel by Patrice Nganang.
Doing Nothing: History of Loafers, Loungers, Slackers and Bums in America by Tom Lutz.
City of your final destination – novel by Peter Cameron.
Devil I know – novel by Claire Kilroy.
Archilles a novel by Elizabeth Cook.
In Perfect Light a novel by Benjamin Alire Saenz
I am determined to read at least one or two works by Howard Fast (he’s very prolific, so there’s a lot to choose from). Silas Timberman, Hunger and the Trap speculative fiction. General Zapped an Angel — sf, Confession of Joe Cullen, Sally and Patrick Henry and the Frigate’s Keel: And other Stories of a Young Nation.
Bodies in Motion: Stories by Mary Anne Mohanraj — Sri Lanka family saga by former sci fi editor and erotica author. Although I haven’t bought it yet, I’m going to try to read her later work, The Stars Change, a sci fi novel with some naughty bits.
Willow Tree novel by Hubert Selby.
Reflections: The World of Paul Monette. (3 in 1 memoir which includes Becoming a Man which won a National Book Award). Gay writer who documented the 1980s AIDS fight and ultimately succumbed to AIDS himself in the 1990s.
When the War is Over a novel by Stephen Becker.
Return to Night: Mary Renault. This novel about a love affair between a female doctor and her patient won a $150,000 prize in 1948.
High Lonesome by Barry Hannah.
Tarabas: Guest on Earth by Joseph Roth, Early work.
Arrow Keeper’s Song by Kerry Newcomb.
In the Palomar Arms a novel by Hilma Wolitzer. (BTW, heard a delightful podcast interview with Wolitzer, an amazing woman). Also Tunnel of Love a novel .
Night Song novel by John Williams
Correcting the Landscape novel by Marjorie Kowalski Cole.
Waiting for the Dark, Waiting for the Light by Ivan Klima. Czech author who wrote realistic dramas.
Dissertation: Tineblas Book Two by R.K. Koster
Late Great Creature: A novel by Brock Brower. Lost satirical-horror classic.
Hugh: Hero without a novel by David Lawrence.
Symphony of Life by Keith Kelley.
Down the Rabbit Hole: Best friends to lovers erotic fairy tale by Hannah Altagracia
Twisted Planet Book One: scifi anthology by Peter Schinkel.
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Book 1 of this interplanetary settlement trilogy has been widely praised. Can’t wait to read.
Pills and Starships novel by Lydia Millet. YA Scifi by author too good to be slumming in these genres.
Trinity Fields by Bradford Morrow.
New York 1. Tel Aviv 0: Stories: by Shelley Oria.
In Every Woman’s Life by Alix Kates Shulman.
Continent: Stories (Art of the Story) by Jim Crace.
Two by Scott Spencer (who wrote Endless Love): Preservation Hall and Waking the Dead.
Rough Strife: A novel by Lynne Sharon Schwartz. First novel (and 1980 National Book Award finalist ) about a complicated marriage.
Various Antidotes (Stories) by Joanna Scott.
Lesbian Images: Essays by Jane Rule. Literary portrait essays about noted lesbian authors from history. She is also known for her fiction about the lesbian experience.
Heart for the Gods of Mexico by Conrad Aiken. Reportedly about the infidelity in the marriage of his friend Malcolm Lowry. Aiken is best known for his poetry, and although his novels were never quite successful, they were beautifully written.
Far Country: Scenes from American Culture by Franco Moretti. Author of many books of cultural criticism. These are lectures from his days teaching at Stanford.
Two by Padgett Powell: Aliens of Affection (Stories) and
The Naked Year by Boris Pilynak
Next Step in the Dance Novel by Tim Gautreaux.
Age of the Image: Redefining Literacy in a World of Screens by Stephen Apkon. Film criticism.
Girl that he Marries Novel by Rhoda Lerman
Fish in the Water Memoir by Mario Vargas Llosa
Coming of the Night by John Rechy. Explicit gay fiction.
Hurt People Novel by Cote Smith
Beloved Son Novel by Jay Quinn. Also, Back where he started.
A Perfect Divorce Novel by Avery Corman (who wrote screenplays like Kramer vs. Kramer and Oh, God). Also Prized Possessions a novel.
Man who wrote dirty Books by Hal Dresner. A well-known comedy scriptwriter. Seems like an epistolary novel?
Welcome Home: Memoir with Selected Photographs and Letters by Lucia Berlin.
Blink and It’s Gone
The Moth Presents: All these Wonders (Oral stories).
“60 Songs That Explain the ’90s” ($2.99) is a wildly entertaining series of rants from rock critic Rob Harvilla (who does a podcast with the same name). (2023).
Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick
Dangerous Visions Edited by Harlan Ellison. 1.99 . Famous 1967 sci fi anthology now as an ebook.
Welcome Home: A Memoir with Selected Photographs and Letters by Lucia Berlin.
Library Purchases/Printed books
Lumberjanes Graphic Novel. This book about a girl’s summer camp is one I randomly started reading. Very funny and imaginative. (Giving to my 16 year old niece)
World According to Garp by John Iriving (giving to my 18 year old niece).
Metamorphosis by Ovid. Charles Martin translation in verse. I’ve been eying this for a very long time and finally succumbed.
Creative Commons/Freebies
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Literary Articles and Essays
Here’s a nice 5 books listicle about the 5 Best Philip K. Dick books by David Hyde. I could browse through that site forever. Here’s Flora Carr’s recommendations for 5 Best Feminist Historical Novels.
CM Mayo interviews Timothy Heyman on the life and works of the reclusive German author B. Traven. CM Mayo published an introduction to B. Traven by Timothy Heyman on her blog.
Yale Review has published several essays about being a literary critic: Christina Smallwood writes about the material constraints of writing criticism today : After lamenting the abyssmal compensation for critics, she notes:
IF THE CRITICISM I write is always limited by the fact that it is I who am writing it, bounded as I am by material constraints, it is also true that within that limit a profound freedom of thought persists. Sometimes when I read, I do have the sensation of blocking out the immediate physical world, journeying to an entirely different place, losing the sense of my body. It’s not just leaving myself behind that is freeing; it’s discovering myself. Writing a review is the best, maybe the only, way I can discover what I think. I don’t come to reviewing with my ideas already formed; I have to build them, sentence by sentence. For me, writing a review is a way of getting closer to an object, taking it apart to understand how it works. I get closer to and farther away from myself in the process, even as I know that I will inevitably ask questions that betray myself and my interests. The question I am most aware of asking has to do with point of view: I want to understand an object’s way of looking at the world. What would I have to believe about the world in order for this book to be true? This is the kind of question I get most excited about asking.
Rant
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Capsule Book Reviews
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Multimedia/Podcasts, Etc
Really psyched to discover a kickass podcast about storytelling, Why is this Good? hosted by Kristine Gill and J.C. Bronsted of the Naples Writers’ Workshop. I am really enjoying the random episodes I listened to — each episode is about a single short story. One great thing about the podcast is that all episodes are about 25 minutes each… Not too long and not too focused on interpretation and background.
Here’s a delightful video lecture on authors and aging by Lynn Freed.
Here’s an interview with Doris Grumbach on Charlie Rose (15 minutes).
Personville Press Deals
I run Personville Press, a small literary book press where all the ebooks cost less than $4. Prices normally appear highest on Amazon, Apple, Kobo and BN, somewhat lower on Google Play Books and lower on the two DRM-free stores which are Smashwords and Payhip. Personville Press is committed to selling DRM-free ebooks and audio files directly from the Personville Press payhip store or from Smashwords. The prices listed here are the non-discounted price on Amazon. Check the links to see if they are discounted at the moment (it happens often).
- Existential Smut 1: Youthful Indiscretions by Hapax Legomenon. These artsy erotica stories are published on one of Personville Press’s imprints (Ripe Mango Take Two Press). You can buy it on Payhip | Eden Books | Kobo |Google
- Boxes of Time (Stories) by Jack Matthews. 2.99 Stories about messy emotions, troubled families and damaged personalities. 11th Story Collection. Payhip | Google | Kobo |Smashwords | Amazon US | Amazon UK | Apple | BN
- Minor Sketches and Reveries by Alberto Balengo. ($2) Introspective tales involving animals, allegories and the melodrama of everyday life. Payhip | Amazon | Smashwords |Google | BN | Apple | Kobo.
- My Heart For Hostage by Robert S. Hillyer. This tender love story between a young American lieutenant and a French girl in Paris after the first World War was published by poet (and Pulitzer Prize winner) Robert Hillyer in 1942. Out of print for several decades, this novel will be re-released for the first time as a low-cost ebook. A New York Times critic called it a “superbly written book, written perhaps as only a poet with and expert in the discipline of verse could write it.” Includes a critical essay by Robert Nagle. Free download from the publisher’s site, but also available at a nominal price from ebook stores: Payhip | Smashwords | Google Play | BN | Apple | Kobo | Amazon | Amazon UK. You can also read the whole thing online!
- Pre-Pulitzer Poetry by Robert Hillyer. This new poetry collection contains six of Hillyer’s pre-Pulitzer books in their entirety, including a longer narrative poem (Carmus) that is a haunting fairy tale for adults. Amazon US || Amazon UK | Amazon CN || Amazon AUS || Amazon IN || Google Play || Smashwords || Payhip
- Second Death of E.A. Poe and other Stories by Jack Matthews. $2.99. Did Edgar Allen Poe fake his death? That’s what a Baltimore doctor needs to figure out in the title tale for this 11th story collection. Payhip| Smashwords | Google Play |BN | Apple | Kobo | Amazon US | Amazon UK |
- Interview with the Sphinx. By Jack Matthews. ($1.50). Hyperintellectual Tom Stoppard-like play which reads like a novel about a strange interview with the ancient Sphinx character. Freud and Florence Nightingale show up too. I loved this play and even produced an audio version of it which you can buy for $2 on payhip (mp3/m4a) but the script reads well too. The audio book is available from most audiobook streaming services like |Audible $6 | Apple $3 | Google Play $3 |
- A Worker’s Writebook by Jack Matthews . $2.25 Matthews distributed a photocopied version of this writing guide to his Ohio U. creative writing students over the decades.
- Soldier Boys: Tales of the Civil War by Jack Matthews. $1.50 Philosophical Stories Taking place during the US Civil War.
- Abruptions: 3 Minute Stories to Awaken the Mind by Jack Matthews. Flash Fiction. $2.25
- Hanger Stout, Awake (50th Anniversary Edition). by Jack Matthews. Coming of age novel. $3.00
- Three Times Time Story Sampler by Jack Matthews (Always Free!) US Amazon customers can sometimes get it for free, but to make things easier, you can down these files directly without having to register: Epub, Mobi.
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