June Paper Boat
Summer has started summering, whether we are fully on board with it or not. I’ve spent the past couple days in 90 degree plus Chicago tucked in front of the window AC unit working on some poetry critiques and my own writing, in addition to a couple upcoming dgp books. In between, there are frosty coconut-heavy drinks whipped in the blender, iced tea, and summer treats like strawberries and watermelon. I always feel like summer gets away from me. Or more that it seems like it takes forever to get here, but then slides very quickly away, especially once you hit the 4th of July.
This past months creatively have brought final edits on the new collection of poems, as well as putting the finishing touches on the newest play (well the most recently finished longer one—I’ve also been puttering away on two others and finished up a shorty one for a local festival deadline. I do intend to get back to poems, though, especially since I planned to use the bulk of the summer for the latest Greek-inspired project, HERE BE MONSTERS. I am still in gathering mode and may push off the deep dive on the project into August as soon as I work out a good first draft of the two plays in progress. One is about teenage girl angst and diet culture, the other inspired by cicada cycles, both of which feel like very good summer projects. There is also the eco-gothic anthology layout, which is close to sending out author proofs in the next couple week, plus an inbox that already, only one month in, is lush with potential manuscripts for the 26-27 season. I will be digging in next week to begin making the very first decisions.
Until July—
Kristy
MARRY KISS KILL
The final proofs have been approved and the first round of copies ordered. You can make a claim on one of the first signed editions HERE.
Filled with blood-thick poems about early American vampires, Bluebeard’s wife, murderess gothic heroines, winged swamp sirens, and more, this collection spans centuries of domestic and matrimonial horrors both real and imagined.
PLAYS
The newest play script has already been posted up over at the New Play Exchange where you can read it if you’re a member over there. Or, you can get a peak at an electronic version if you subscribe to my Patreon digital tier for only $3/month. It’s a bloody re-imagining of Shakespeare’s Macbeth from the point of view of its famous weird sisters, with Lady Macbeth placed at the center of the narrative This project feels more indebted to poetry than prose, a line that I am trying to span with these recent plays, and feels a little more experimental than the the narrative arc of what I am working on currently.
SOMETHING NEW
I was recently talking to an author whose book I am working on (Kate Falvey’s CRONEVILLE) and we were talking about illustrations and artwork possibilities. She suggested I should write a children’s picture book, to which my laughing response was that my style is a little more spooky and adult for kids, but it got me thinking of some fun Gorey-style story lines and collage images I started playing with, so this may be something I would love to work on. I’ve done many poem/image hybrid projects, but never something written in picture book style. I did a couple collages that may lead to something, including the one below, so stay tuned for possibly more on that.
BOOKISH BLIND BOXES
In the shop, I recently swapped out our simple mix-tape with new Bookish Blind Boxes, which include 5 randomly chosen DGP titles along with other fun offerings like mini-prints, postcards, bookmarks, pencils, stickers, and more. This is great way to get a sampling of what we publish and a fun way to support the press if you’re not certain where to start among our shop offerings.
ON THE BLOG THIS MONTH
Notes on mid-career poeting, liminal horror, writing plays vs. poems, and women as monsters.