Editing, Random

Gratitude

Fracture opened for submissions a little over one year ago, and this Thanksgiving, I wanted to take the opportunity to express my gratitude toward those who have helped support the project.

I have to start with Taylor Brorby, my co-editor, since this book simply would not exist without him. The concept was his idea, and I am so grateful that he invited me to join him in taking this book from concept to reality.

Of course, Steve Semken of Ice Cube Press was the one who said yes when we pitched the idea, and Taylor and I are both so thankful to Steve for believing in us and in Fracture. The publishing world needs more people like Steve, and I’m honored to continue working with him.

Without all of our contributors, Taylor and I would have a pretty slim volume, and I am grateful for each of them as well as everyone else who submitted their work to Fracture. Thanks also to Samantha Futhey, a brilliant poet, wonderful person, and Ice Cube Press intern for her help with final copyedits.

Many thanks to Pam Houston for agreeing to write an introduction to the book and to everyone who gave us their endorsements (which can be found here on the Ice Cube Press website).

We are indebted to Bruce J. Miller of Miller Book Trade Marketing, who is the Ice Cube Press sales rep, for his support of the project. And thanks also to our distributors, all the book sellers, and the professors who are teaching Fracture in their college classes. Without them, Fracture would be a tree falling in the forest without anyone around to hear it.

Thanks to our partners at 350.org and Orion, to everyone who has pre-ordered a copy of Fracture, and to everyone else who eagerly awaits its release. Thanks to all of my friends, family, and colleagues that have supported me thought this project.

To the environmental writers and activists who came before us, to those who will come after us, to all who have the courage to speak: thank you.

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Creative Writing, Poetry

Ten November

The SS Edmund Fitzgerald sank forty years ago today. Here’s a poem about it.

thisweekinpoetry's avatarThis Week in Poetry

by Stefanie Brook Trout

“Remember, remember, the 10th of November”-Adam de Pencier, National Post

There is no James Cameron blockbuster, no
Jack and Rose, no never-let-go scene to cement this ship-
wreck into our collective Hollywood consciousness.

What commemorates Big Fitz: an elegy crooned
to a melody Lightfoot cribbed from old Irish folk
songs, a stage play reprised each fall at the local
high school, watercolor likenesses on canvas,
reprints on postcards, throw pillows, etc.

I once saw my sister act in the play. “Saw” is a stretch—
I remember more the map-drawing book that held my
attention during the show: I admired the variety of compass
rose designs, steadied my hands so my contour lines didn’t run
together, asked my mom, in a stage whisper, if we had any tea
bags at home so I could give my map a quasi-authentic stain—
but so is “act” since my…

View original post 65 more words

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Editing, Random

Updates Forthcoming

Thank you to those of you who follow this crazy little thing called my author website, and a big welcome to those of you who are visiting for the first time. I’ve been curating online resources for readers and writers, so you may experience some minor changes to the website as I make room for these new pages over the next few months.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted, but that isn’t because things are quiet over here in my pond. Defending my thesis, finishing my MFA, moving back to Michigan, and the Great Job Search of 2015 have kept me busy. At the same time, I have had plenty of writerly developments, and you can expect me to backdate some posts about those here soon.

web-page-fracture-coverAnd you’ll definitely get plenty of updates (as both new and backdated posts) about Fracture soon too. If you don’t know yet, Fracture: Essays, Poems, and Stories on Fracking in America is a new Ice Cube Press anthology that I am editing with Taylor Brorby, a colleague of mine from Iowa State University who was recently named the Reviews Editor for Orion Magazine. With an introduction by Pam Houston, Fracture features work from dozens of contributors and will be the first literary collection to focus on hydraulic fracturing. I’ll put that contributor list up here with a link to their websites before December end.

What are people saying about Fracture? Let’s have a little preview, shall we?

Symphonic in form, euphoric in heart, this volume brings together a great, sometimes-desperate chorus that ought to be heard world-over, wherever there is oil and gas-rich shale below, and living things above. The politics and economics of fossil fuels has never been a pretty thing, but the ingenious barbarity of fracking against a vulnerable and increasingly debauched planet may be the ugliest of all extractive methods. From memory to musings, in facts and fictions, in reason and rhyme, these assembled pieces offer acutely aware and knowledgeable perspectives on a disastrously flawed practice. Listen before it’s too late.

Lynn StegnerBecause a Fire Was in My Head

Fracture officially releases February 14, 2016, but you can read more advance reviews and preorder copies now on the Ice Cube Press website.

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