Spring News

REVIEWS

"Three Men on the Edge took me unawares and made a huge impression. To me it represents what the Republic of Consciousness Prize is all about - hardcore literary fiction and gorgeous prose from a tiny independent press that's willing to take risks. Denholm, Gus and Martyn are wonderful creations and Michael Loveday renders their world with great skill and empathy and subtlety."

David Collard, chair of the judging panel, Republic of Consciousness Prize 2019

Sample flashes and more information about Three Men on the Edge can also be found here.

"“The Escapologist” contains poems that are warm, conversational in tone and welcoming to read. They wear their craft and musicality lightly, which makes them an engaging read and gives them a depth exploring and exposing family psychologies."
Emma Lee, full review here

For a sample poem, more information or to order a copy of Jinny Fisher's The Escapologist, please click here.

V. Press is also extremely pleased to share the Poetry Book Society pre-publication review of John Lawrence's collection The boy who couldn't say his name, which is out on Mother's Day (31 March) 2019.

"Lawrence presents a thoroughly enjoyable debut collection. Running the full gamut of the comic and the tragic, Lawrence draws upon a diverse array of influences from life in the Salvation Army to performative masculinity in the world of DIY. These are stories in verse, featuring memorable forays into the lives of a host of characters including the poet himself."

Poetry Book Society Spring Bulletin 2019

Poetry Book Society (PBS) members can get 25% off orders of this collection when ordering through the PBS. More info here.

A sample poem and more information about  The boy who couldn't say his name can also be found here.


THE READING ROOM

If you haven't yet had a chance to check out The Reading Room, this is a new initiative to provide resources (and discounts) on V. Press titles for reading groups. Although set up for reading book organisers, the page contains  links to reading notes that may interest any readers and writers wanting to learn more about the background to our titles and their inspiration. The Reading Room also lists titles under potential themes and special interest areas that may be useful if you're looking for poetry or flash on a particular topic... We've already had new notes and listings added since starting the initiative earlier this month. You can read more here!

TOP NOTES

V. Press is very pleased to share Kibriya Mehrban's latest  'Top Notes', for The Escapologist by Jinny Fisher.

"Clinic – Earth Angel

Bon Iver – The Wolves (Act I & II)

Radical Face – Kin

James Morrison – Too Late for Lullabies

Sleeping at Last – Aperture

The first song on this playlist for Jinny Fisher’s The Escapologist  is a recommendation from Jinny herself, Clinic’s song Earth Angel. The first sound when this track begins is that of waves coming up onto the shore, so I immediately linked it to the coastal setting featured in poems like ‘Retrofocus’ and ‘The Always Ireland Holiday’. Listening to the opening bars, you might think this is a feel-good song and yet it surprises with dissonant notes, and lyrics that are at once opaque and ominous. This feels like a musical iteration of a trick that Jinny plays frequently on the reader in The Escapologist, making us think we’re looking at one thing before pulling the rug out from under us with an incongruous detail, some tiny revelation that changes how we see the whole scene. A mother and daughter sing along with a band at a concert and yet there is something uncomfortable in the danger of stepping on a pair of misplaced wellies. A family eat Sunday lunch together but the careful deliberateness of the “chew and swallow” hint at an unspoken tension. A memory of being washed in the sink is probed in a murmur by a disembodied voice… There’s something uncanny about how skilfully Jinny balances the emotions of the reader somewhere between intrigue and trepidation, and for me, the sounds of this track have a great synergy with that experience..."

Kibriya's full Top Notes recommendation, along with some of her photo-quotes for the pamphlet, can be found over on the Chez Nous page here.

EVENTS

Various V. Press launches and readings by V. Press authors are in the pipeline for the coming months. These recent and new poetry titles include Jinny Fisher's The Escapologist, Kathy Gee's Checkout, John Lawrence's The boy who couldn't say his name (31 March),  Natalie Linh Bolderston's The Protection of Ghosts (23 April) and Becky Varley-Winter's Heroines On the Blue Peninsula (7 May),
along with flash fiction pamphlets Midnight Laughter by Paul McDonald and The Neverlands by Damhnait Monaghan (8 April). (More information on forthcoming titles can be found here, and keep an eye on this blogpage for details of the launch events on the publication day blogpost for each of these.)

Martin Zarrop will be reading from Making Waves,with Black Cat Poets at the Victoria Community Centre in Denton (M34 3JG) at 7.30pm tonight (Thursday, 21 March 2019). Open mic slots. Entrance £3.

Also, Michael Loveday, author of Three Men on the Edge (V. Press flash fiction novella) will discuss writing flash fiction and the opportunities for writing a series of stories to create a novella in a Q&A at Bristol Novel Nights on 29 May, 2019. More info on this here.