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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. MASTODON: https://booktoot.club/@nagletx. Here’s a biographical profile of Texas author Robert Nagle.
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. Here is my article about methods and search queries I use to locate ebook deals.
This post is usually a work-in-progress. At the start it will be blank, and I add to it over the weeks. By the way for the month of November, I’ll be focused mainly on the 1965 Project, a look back at cultural gems from that year.
Indie Author Spotlight
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Under the Radar
To Name Those Lost Novel by Rohan Wilson.
The One that Got Away Stories by Zoe Wicomb.
Cutty, One Rock: Low Characters and Strange Places, Gently Explained by August Kleinzahler. (poetry).
Hope Verdad Presents: Short Stories with a Twist by Francesca Flood
In a perfect world by Laura Kasischke. (W)
Moral Underground: How Ordinary Americans subvert an unfair economy by Lisa Dodson.
All Flesh is Grass by Clifford D Simak. (1965).
This is your life novel by John O’Farrell. (W, ) Also The Best a Man Can get. He’s a British humor writer and actor. See his satirical news website Newsbiscuit.
Meander, Spiral, Explod: by Jane Allison.
Go, Went, Gone by Jenny Erpenbeck. German novel about a literature professor who attempts to help refugees.
Flow my Tears, the Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick.
Haitian Trilogy: Plays by Derek Walcott.
Fling: Commanding 21st Century Stories by Justin Taylor. Also, Everything Here is the Best Thing Ever: Stories
One Fell Soup: Or I’m Just a Bug on the Windshield of Life by Roy Blount.
Literary Seductions: Compulsive Writers and Diverted Readers by Frances Wilson.
Beetlebum by Christian Basso.
All at once: Prose Poems by C.K. Williams
Scar Tissue: Poems by Charles Wright.
Walking Backwards: Poems 1966-2016 by John Koethe.
The Swimmer: Poems by John Koethe.
Chickamauga: Poems by Charles Wright. (W) Pulitzer finalist.
Triumph of the Sparrow: Zen Poems by Shinkichi Takahashi.
Thunderstroke: a Poetry Memoir by Terence Ang.
Another Life by Derek Walcott.
Land End’s: New and Selected poems by Gail Mazur.
Two books (which are first of two separate series) by Texas sci fi author E.M. Rensing: Source Code and Lighthouse of Kuiper.
Deviation a Novel by Luce D’Eramo. WW2 memoir of an Italian girl who learns about Nazi atrocities.
My Family and Other Hazards: A Memoir by June Melby.
American Master: A Portrait of Gore Vidal: James Edmonds.
Three Ways to Disappear by Katy Yocom.
Wakefield Novel by Andrei Codrescu.
Land of Steady Habits by Ted Thompson.
Naked Girl by Janna Brooke Wallack. Ignore the misleading title. It’s about a motherless girl in the 1980s Miami beach and capricious father who strive to survive under harrowing circumstances. “Wallack cleverly walks a tightrope in her writing, balancing the horrors with a child’s unwavering imagination and naive sense of wonder…a distinctive and emotionally rich voice delivering succinct observations…An endearing and fascinating perspective on a uniquely volatile and dangerous childhood.” Kirkus.
Dog’s Breakfast by Tom Navratil.
Points of Departure: Stories by Pat Murphy.
Illusions of Time: Selena’s Tale by Sabina Dazdarevic.
First Contact (In Her Name) by Michael R. Hicks.
Gorgeous East: A Novel by Robert Girardi.
American Master: a Portrait of Gore Vidal by James Edmonds.
Devication: Novel by Luce D’Eramo.
AI of the Beholder: Art by Dr. Joshua Cunningham.
Friendly Fire Stories by Alaa Al Aswany.
The Wrong Heaven by Amy Bonnaffons. (I)
You Knew the Price (Vol 2) by Susan Kaye Quinn.
Misadventure of Justin Hearnfield Novel by Dan Elish.
Athenian Women Novel by Alessandro Barbero. Drama set in ancient times written by a classical history scholar.
Book of Jonah by Joshua Max Feldman.
Take me Home Novel by Brian Leung.
Bobcat and other stories by Rebecca Lee.
Examined Life: Excursions with Contemporary Thinkers by Astra Taylor. Book accompanies documentary with same name. (
Blink and it’s Gone
Keepers of the House by Shirley Ann Grau. (1965). Won Pulitzer.
Station Island by Seamus Heaney.
April Fool’s Day Novel by Josif Novakovich.
Insatiable: Porn, a Love Story by Asa Akira.
French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles.
The Fortunate Pilgrim by Mario Puzo.
Julia by Sandra Newman. That’s the retelling of the 1984 novel from the perspective of Winston Smith’s lover Julia Worthing. A brilliant premise.
Library Purchases/Printed Books
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Creative Commons/Freebies
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Literary Articles and Essays
Jessica Pressman talks about electronic literature.
A reddit thread about nonnovelists who write novels. Curiously, even though I love Steve Martin as a comedian, I never have been tempted to read his fiction. I would consider reading novels by John Sayles or John Darnielle (of Mountain Goats). Also Ayoade on Top by Richard Ayoade.
Rant
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Multimedia/Podcasts, Etc.
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
- Existential Smut 2: Shameful Attractions by Hapax Legomenon. Contains stories, essays, memoirs and philosophical dialogues about art, imagination and the erotic life. 2nd volume in the series. You can buy it on Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon CAN | Payhip | Google | Kobo | Apple | Eden Books.
- Boxes of Time (Stories) by Jack Matthews. 0.99 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. ($1.99) 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. $1.25. 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 | Also, now on Spotify Premium.
- 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. $1.50
- 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,
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