Midsummer has me thinking about inspiration. Who, in the midst of hot and humid July, couldn’t use a cool dose of it? W.S. Merwin, recently named the 17th U.S. Poet Laureate, is inspired by his Hawaiian hideaway. The 82-year-old poet lives on a former pineapple plantation atop a dormant volcano in Maui, and in his new role as poet laureate, he hopes to emphasize the need for connectedness to the natural world. Copper Canyon Press, a nonprofit publisher of poetry based in Port Townsend, Washington, has released many books by Merwin over the years and now has a form on its homepage where you can send the poet your personal congrats. (Or perhaps a congenial “Aloha”?)

Speaking of poetry, Lynda Barry speaks of poetry in a short documentary on the Poetry Foundation site, The View from Here, describing memorization as the best way to experience poems. She’s particularly inspired by the cadences of Emily Dickinson’s verse (which, she demonstrates, can be sung to the tune of “The Girl From Ipanema”) and her messy handwriting.

Many people were influenced by the late, great Harvey Pekar, who passed away on July 12 at age 70. In an appreciation, collaborator Dean Haspiel, one of the artists who worked on American Splendor, described Pekar as “a certified curmudgeon who became a cultural icon,” as well as a “true-blue mensch.”

For some visual artists, books serve as objects of inspiration. For his series “The Stacks”, artist Paul Octavious arranged his hardcover and paperback books into colorful, slightly precarious sculptures. Meanwhile, artist Brian Dettmer creates amazingly intricate sculptural works with altered books, such as vintage encyclopedias, handyman guides, and history textbooks.

Recently, the literary corners of the Internet were all abuzz about a new website called I Write Like a “statistical analysis tool” where you provide a few paragraphs of your writing (e.g., blog post/comment/journal entry), and then it informs you what author you write like. Developed by a 27-year-old Russian guy who modeled it on software for email spam filters, I Write Like may not be the most reliable analyzer of writing, but hey, it’s fun. (Or well, it was fun…until I found out I write like DAN BROWN! NOO!)

There has also been a lot of buzz about Tin House Books and Tin House magazine’s controversial new policy of requiring anyone who submits unsolicited work between September 1 and December 30, 2010, to include a receipt from a bookstore. Called the “Buy a Book, Save a Bookstore” campaign, Tin House specifies that “Writers who are not able to produce a receipt for a book are encouraged to explain why in 100 words or fewer,” which we assume will prompt some interesting responses. Ann Arbor, MI-based nonprofit publisher Dzanc Books responded this way: “We at Dzanc Books are motivated to reply with what we hope is an alternative solution to one of the issues Tin House seems to be raising; to wit the decline of books being purchased—and purchased at independent bookstores.” Dzanc is offering a program for the month of July where it donates a book to a school/library for each proof of purchase provided of a book bought at an independent bookstore.

On Friday, July 30, in Chicago, the sixth annual Printers’ Ball brings together a myriad of magazines, publishers, printmakers, and Chicago literary organizations. This year’s theme is “Print <3 Digital,” and to inspire attendance, the Chicago Underground Library is offering an online preview of “daily blog-down” to the Printers’ Ball throughout the month of July.

Photo by Flickr user kingdamus

Everyone loves a list. That’s cause they’re:1). a quick read; 2). assertive; 3). curiosity-piquing; 8). logically organized. (Except, of course, when they’re not.) Still, not everyone in the literary world appreciated a list in the New Yorker Summer Fiction issue—“20 Writers Under 40”—in which a score of writers were recognized for capturing “the inventiveness and vitality of contemporary American fiction.” Feeling rivalrous, the Telegraph proposed its own list—“Britain’s 20 Best Novelists Under 40”— and HTML Giant kicked the discussion up a notch (or, refreshingly, down) by offering a list of the “Top 400 Writers Worth Watching Under the Age of 1.” According to HTML Editor Blake Butler, selecting the baby scribes was a difficult process. “Unfortunately there were some fantastic young pen holders who’d just had their first birthday party who we had to cross off the list,” he wrote. “I also crossed off those babies who didn’t quite have that look in their eye. You know what I mean.”

Speaking of HTML Giant, one of the site’s contributors, Ben Spivey, recently co-founded a new small publishing initiative, Blue Square Press. The first release will be Spivey’s novel, Flowing in the Gossamer Fold. Meanwhile, on the Featherproof Books website, you can download new (free!) mini books from Patrick Somerville and Mary Miller. Soon the Chicago-based press will move into a new shared space with Green Lantern Gallery & Press, featuring a bookstore, café/bar, art gallery, offices, and other bells and whistles.

Via Literago: The king of King-Cat Comics, John Porcellino, has more zine and comics available through his mailorder distribution co. Spit and a Half. (Think: Gabrielle Bell, Lilli Carré, and of course, King-Cat Comics and Stories.) In other Midwesternness: Stop Smiling/Melville House Books has released Listen to the Echoes, a collection of Ray Bradbury interviews conducted by biographer Sam Weller, as well as How to Wreck a Nice Beach: The Vocoder from World War II to Hip-Hop, by music journalist Dave Tompkins.

There are books about audio—and then there are audio books. A British writer, Nathan Dunne, is releasing Underwood, a new twice-yearly publication produced as a vinyl LP. “The MP3 has an alien digital gloss,” Dunne told the Telegraph . “It’s streamlined, corporate… Listening to a short story on vinyl is the purest antidote to that.” Also for the record: singer-songwriter Bill Callahan is putting out a new book via Drag City. Titled Letters to Emma Bowlcut, it’s an epistolary novel that’s been years in the making.

The AIGA recently selected the best in book design from 2009. Check out the winning books and covers. There are some real lookers!

The legendary Shakespeare & Company Bookshop is launching a literary publication, Paris Magazine. Edited by Fatema Ahmed, formed ed. of Granta, the magazine will feature fiction, nonfiction, and illustration. The bookstore will also start awarding 10,000 euro (that’s $12, 292!) every two years to the author of the best novella (defined as 20,000–30,000 words). So in other words, writers, time to start stretching those short stories…

Photo by Per on Flickr

About a week ago in San Francisco, a few ambitious writers, editors, and designers (from publications like Dwell and Wired) gathered in the offices of Mother Jones to put together 48 Hour Magazine, an experiment in using crowdsourced tools to erase media’s old limits. The project involved writing, photographing, illustrating, designing, editing, and shipping a glossy magazine in a mere two days, as well as putting forth a transparent funding structure. The theme was, appropriately, hustle, and the inaugural 60-page issue is now available from self-publishing service MagCloud. I love the emphasis on both web-based tools and a printed end product. Hustle over here and get a copy.

Experimentation is alive in other corners of the literary world as well. Erinrose Mager and Ben Segal are assembling a book of blurbs about books that don’t exist, titled The Official Catalog of the Library of Potential Literature. They’re accepting submissions through July 15, so if you’d like to blurb a fake book, now’s your chance. Willows Wept Press will publish the Catalog in a limited edition.

Brooklyn-based indie publisher LoudMouth Press recently released a book based on a project by artists Carla Repice and Geoff Cunningham, titled The Office of Blame Accountability. Beginning in 2007, Repice and Cunningham—acting as Blame Accountants—set up a table, a typewriter, and a red telephone at such places as Ground Zero, Wall Street, and the Republican and Democratic National Conventions. They invited passersby to fill out Blame Forms (I blame:______ for: ______. My role: ______) or voice grievances into the red phone, in hopes that these acts would afford the opportunity for catharsis and reflection—and maybe even inspire action. The book, subtitled A Compendium of American Finger Pointing, collects all kinds of blaming scenarios, from major injustices to everyday minutiae.

Here’s another opportunity for writing something potentially cathartic (or at least fun): the Letters with Character project, in which you compose a letter to your favorite fictional character. The particularly great submissions are published on this here blog. Check out the ones already posted, such as the letter to Gatsby (of The Great Gatsby), to Seymour (A Perfect Day for Bananafish), and to Cathy (Wuthering Heights). They’re clever, hilarious, rambling, succinct, and just generally awesome.

Also in the experimental category (I think I’m just gonna go ahead and declare this National Literary Experiments Month): Independent arts magazine White Fungus recently relocated to Taichung, Taiwan, from Wellington, New Zealand, and released an eye-popping 11th issue. And have you checked out the new(ish) online journal Cerise Press? A collaborative effort between three French and American editors, it features poetry, prose, photos, artwork, reviews, interviews, and translations (with an emphasis on French and Francophone works). C’est magnifique!

Another new journal of poetry and prose, Little Star, was recently born. The first issue gleams with the talents of Seamus Heaney, Paul Muldoon, Lydia Davis, Padget Powell, Mary Jo Salter, among others. Edited by Ann Kjellberg, a former editor of the New York Review of Books, Little Star is poised to have no small impact.

Lastly, if you like to hang out in the Twitterverse, you should definitely follow some famous literary characters. I particularly recommend edgar_allan_poe (sample tweet: My most beloved iPhone app is the one that transmogrifies my phone into a bottle of absinthe.) and halfpintingllas, the Twitter account of Laura Ingalls Wilder (Folks really ought to keep their hands off their blackberries while driving. Leave them in the pail! You can eat them when you get home!). I’m not much of a Twitterer, but I love these little tweets from the prairie and from beyond the grave.

Photo by Flickr user su-lin

Some of the publishers I spoke with were branching out into digital formats, while others aimed to kindle interest in books better than a Kindle™ ever could. Whatever their approach, they all demonstrated a propensity for outside-the-box thinking. I interviewed Jen Loy and Kaya Oakes of the late, great Kitchen Sink magazine; Johnny Temple of the adventurous Akashic Books; and the creative minds behind Small Beer Press, Green Lantern Press, and Mule magazine (among others). I spotlighted the literary magazine and press Tin House, located in Portland and New York, and the Zurich-based publishing house Nieves, which specializes in good-looking limited edition zines and artist books.

Rather than revive that column, I’m preserving the literary theme and launching a new recurring feature, “Pressing Issues,” in which I’ll share a selection of news and notes about small presses, periodicals, and other bookish goings-on. Feel free to chime in: If you have any interesting literary news/notes/events of your own to add, please do so in the Comments section or email me at laura@laura-pearson-net. Onto the pressing issues…

Poised to baffle, muse, and bemuse, the legendary Chicago-based cultural and political magazine, The Baffler, is back. Founded in 1988 and published until 2007, the magazine reemerged in Jan. 2010 with Vol 2, Issue No 1. In this humdinger of an issue, the eds. declare, “…We are losing our faculties of inquiry at precisely the moment when public-minded scrutiny of our institutions is most needed,” going on to promise “a strong dose of our particular brand of scoffing: Strong ideas, elegantly expressed.” Reminds me of George Saunders’ essay, “The Braindead Megaphone,” in which G.S. proposes a remedy for shallow and sensationalistic mass media: “Every well thought-out rebuttal to dogma, every scrap of intelligent logic, every absurdist reduction of some bullying stance is the antidote.” The antidotal issue is available in stores and via subscription. (I got mine at Powell’s.)

Paul Harding just won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his debut novel Tinkers, an elegiac story of a clock repairman on his deathbed. It was published by Bellevue Literary Press, a teeny indie operation located in a tiny office in New York’s Bellevue Hospital Center. It’s the first small press to put out a Pulitzer-winning novel since 1981, when Louisiana State University Press published A Confederacy of Dunces. Turns out that “books at the intersection of the arts and sciences” are just what the doctor (and Pulitzer committee) ordered!

Speaking of small presses, last month was Small Press Month, and in case you missed it, the Chicago Tribune’s book blog, Printers Row, spotlighted a variety of local presses, including Agate, Haymarket, and Flood Editions. Works by these publishers (and tons more) are available for perusal in the newly expanded Publishers Gallery in the lobby of the Chicago Cultural Center.

April is National Poetry Month, and in celebration, CA-based independent bookstore, Diesel, is posting a video poem each day. Palm trees and Rumi, anyone? Meanwhile, the Academy of American Poets has launched Poem on the Range, a collaborative multimedia-mapping project in which people upload and geotag videos of poetic pilgrimages, landmarks, and roadside ephemera. Maybe someone could do a video recitation of Elizabeth Bishop’s “One Art” while standing by the company lost & found. Or how about an Anne of Green Gables-esque recreation of “The Lady of Shalott”? An endless range of possibilities, people.

Moving on…South End Press, formerly based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, moved to a new HQ in Brooklyn. The 32-year-old indie has opened an editorial office at Medgar Evers College (CUNY) and will partner with the school’s Center for Black Literature and the DuBois Bunch Center for Public Policy to sustain and grow SEP publishing initiatives. Also check out SEP’s other cool sustainability effort, Community Supported Publishing.

Other publishers have opted to go digital. According to the Media Bistro blog, eBookNewser, Graywolf Press and Melville House are among some indie presses that plan to release frontlist titles (and a bit of backlist) as eBooks.

David Shields’ collage-y, controversial manifesto Reality Hunger was published by Knopf last month, but did you know that before that, it was serialized in the fledgling literary journal Knee-Jerk? F’reals.

Those hungry for dessert, rather than reality, participated in the Seattle Edible Book Festival on April 10. This idea is so awesome: Participants make literary-themed culinary creations—food like The Bun Also Rises, Curd Vonnegut, and S’more and Peace—and are awarded prizes for “Most Pun-derful,” “Most Appetizing,” etc. My friend Kate, one of the organizers, posted some photos from last year’s fest.

This summer Chicago Artists Resource, a project of the Chicago Dept. of Cultural Affairs (full disclosure: I work for CAR) launches a new literary component, featuring Artist Stories (essays by writers, publishers, and other lit-minded people), informative articles, and links to opportunities and resources. If you live in/around Chicago, consider participating by emailing ideas or submitting an Artist Story. (Email literary@chicagoartistsresource.org).

We just learned the meaning of “hypocorism” and “couvade,” thanks to this list of all the words David Foster Wallace circled in his dictionary. It comes courtesy of the Ransom Center, the research library and museum at The University of Texas at Austin, which now houses the DFW archive. From “Viking Poem,” composed when he was six or seven years old, to obsessively annotated copies of Cormac McCarthy and John Updike books, the archive is sure to foster additional interest in the late writer.

Check back next month for still more pressing issues.

Besides being a gallery owner, Picard is–among other things–a painter, collagist, writer, and bookbinder. By establishing an independent press as part of The Green Lantern (now a 501(c)3 organization), Picard reinforced her desire to work across mediums. The Green Lantern Press publishes limited edition original fiction with an emphasis on “underdressed intelligence.” According to the mission statement, these are works that “relate old dusty books to contemporary experience without a lot of noise and pointing”–works like Nicholas Sarno’s God Bless the Squirrel Cage, Moshe Zvi Marvit’s Urbesque, and A.E. Simn’s Lust and Cashmere. The GLP also publishes Phonebook, a handy guide to alternative art spaces in the U.S.

A unique aspect of the press is its “slow media” approach: Books are printed in small, collector’s editions of 1,500. The first 500 books in each print run feature silkscreened covers designed by local artists. The remaining “no frills” editions are sold at a lower price, allowing the books to reach a larger audience. This is just one way that Picard, and her collaborators at The Green Lantern, approach their publications and projects with imagination and resourcefulness. Picard believes that many Chicagoans have these qualities in spades. “I don’t think I could have started [in any other city],” she says. “There is such a strong DIY tradition here. I was talking to a friend of mine once about how Chicago is like the Wild West, where anyone can come and set up a little shanty, put a sign out, and sell bonds. People will always come to check it out. They buy the bonds and, generally speaking, the bonds are legit. Sometimes they’re fake, and then people stop going…. But how crazy that people are always willing to give you the benefit of the doubt!”

I corresponded with Picard about the origins of The Green Lantern, book publishing as compared to co-op milk production, and future projects.

Laura Pearson: I’m curious about how you started The Green Lantern. Did it begin as an individual project or a collaborative effort?

Caroline Picard: The Green Lantern began years ago in a series of conversations that ebbed and flowed between myself, Nick Sarno, Jason Bacasa, and a handful of others who happened to be in the same bar or coffee shop at the same time. Depending on who was involved in the conversation, it tended to have different emphases, For instance, I remember sitting on a stoop with Moshe [Zvi Marvit] in Washington D.C. He suggested we one day buy a warehouse building and open a bar with live music for our friend, Peter Speer, who runs an independent music label called Colonial Records (at the time an undeveloped idea without a name). Moshe suggested we could fund the press with the bar, offer live music, and hang art on the walls. I believe we had just come from a lecture given by Noam Chomsky, after which Moshe (age 20 at the time) and I (18) shook the man’s hand and informed him that we wanted to start a revolution. Chomsky gave us his card. I think, somehow, opening the bar was tied into the revolution idea, but I can’t be sure.

A few years later, after college, Nick and I were roommates in San Francisco and the idea resurfaced. This time we thought we’d start a literary journal. We did the research, felt daunted by the economic prospects and, in all honesty, didn’t have the money. The house we lived in caught on fire; I moved to Philadelphia, another roommate moved to Florida, and the other two–Nick and Kate–stayed in the city.

Obviously, things don’t turn out the way one expects, though I think this is generally for the better. We’d always been interested in independent venues and culture, and it was probably only a matter of time before one of us set up shop someplace. The literal beginning of The Green Lantern happened somewhat arbitrarily. I had lived in Chicago for a year, house-sitting. I decided I would stay in the city more permanently and needed to find a more permanent place to live. I looked at various apartments–dark garden places with sketchy landlords and high price tags. In the midst of this, I happened to walk past the Singer Sewing Machine Shop. Above it, there was a For Rent sign. I went to look at it and realized that it would be cheaper to run a space than go to grad school. It would also be more efficient to run an apartment gallery than to rent a single apartment and a studio (I was painting at the time). So I took the place. The next day I called Nick and asked him if he wanted to start the press with me. That was it.

LP: Were there other small publishers that you looked to for inspiration?

CP: I don’t know. Featherproof, certainly. McSweeney’s. Even the not-so-indie New Yorker magazine.

We got our business model from Slow Food organizations. I worked for a year at The Cowgirl Creamery, an artisan cheese company in California. For that year I helped make 350 cheeses a day (their production has gone way up since). The Slow Food movement has enabled mom-and-pop dairies to stay open. By becoming organic, they are able to control their price points, and thus thrive outside of the rubric of co-op milk production, which, from what I understand, is a real machine that streamlines production to such an extent as to squeeze out the little guys. I really liked this approach, because it showed how innovation and creative thinking could create new avenues of economy that then liberate the individual within the corporate system. Obviously, The Green Lantern has a long way to go before we get to such a point. I hope we can though.

LP: GLP publications are lovingly designed! I understand you’ve chosen different silkscreeners (Mat Daly, Alana Bailey) to design the covers. Any specific artists you’d like to work with in the future?

CP: This year we’re working with Nick Butcher from Sonnenzimmer. I don’t know who we’ll work with next year, but I like the idea that each year is a kind of screen-printer’s residency.

LP: What’s next for GLP?

CP: I’m working out the exhibition schedule for 2009/2010 this January. We will be publishing a few smaller books, in editions of 100–200, a long prose poem by Devin King that references The Odyssey, a translation of Rimbaud’s "A Season in Hell" by Nick Sarno (the proceeds of which will be donated to a children’s hospital in San Francisco), as well as a reprint of The North Georgia Gazette, a newspaper published in 1821 by a fleet of English sailors who were trapped in the Arctic for nine months. Our edition will include the original manuscript, as well as an excerpt from the Captain’s journal, some annotations kept by the transcriber, Lily Robert-Foley, and contemporary artworks by Jason Dunda, Daniel Anhorn, Rebecca Grady, Deb Sokolow, and Nick Butcher, who will be pressing a 7-inch record. This book–it’s probably our most ambitious project–is due for release in February, in an edition of 250. Nick Butcher is also going to be making the covers.

The next book we’re gearing up for is an original novel by Terri Griffith, due out this spring. Next fall, we’re going to release a book called The Concrete of Tight Places, by Justin Andrews, as well as a collection of short stories by Ashley Murray.

Which, I guess is to say, we’re going to be really busy. In the best way.

LP: In keeping with the final question of my last column, what are three words you’d use to describe your independent publishing experiences in Chicago?

CP: Wide open. Supportive.

Tapp is a freelance designer who, along with Emily Clayton, Chris Roberson, Joseph Shipp, Jennifer Brandel, and Nick Dupey, puts out Mule—a biannual magazine that’s a cross-pollination of Tennessee and Chicago talent. Mule’s mission is to “document and celebrate” creative cultural producers—people who are generating ideas often overlooked by traditional media. Tapp and co. have released five issues, the last of which was free, and they’re currently working on issue #6.

Case, a freelance writer and Assistant Director of the Neighborhood Writing Alliance, is the Managing Editor of a new art magazine called Proximity. The core staff includes Ed Marszewski, Rachael Marszewski, Case, and Michael Freimuth, all of whom work to bring readers into close Proximity with “local and global art ecologies” by thoughtfully mapping various artists and art spaces. The third issue of Proximity hits newsstands in December.

I corresponded with Tapp and Case about the origins of their respective projects and what keeps them inspired in a time when it’s not so easy to publish magazines, much less those of the independent variety. As it turns out, both are pretty sold on Chicago, where, according to Tapp, people are driven not by ego but by the desire “to just be making something,” and where, Case says, “you can bomb one project or want to change your focus, [and] you don’t have to leave town to do it.” Viva la windiest of cities!

Mule MAGAZINE: Mom-as-Springboard

Laura Pearson: So to refresh my memory, Mule began in Tennessee, right? How exactly did the project emerge?

Liz Tapp: We started as a graphic design independent study at the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga. The idea was to just design a magazine, but we started generating real content and selling real ad space. We couldn’t have printed a real run though. Then one day I was bemoaning how expensive it was to print 1,000 copies, and my mom surprised me by giving me the remaining 3/4ths of the money needed to print the first issue. That was the springboard for the whole project.

LP: Did you always plan to continue Mule when you moved to Chicago?

LT: We made two issues in Tennessee and by then I was hooked. I loved trying to come up with interviews and gather content. Chris Roberson and Emily Clayton, who live here in Chicago now, got onboard with issue #2, and so did Joseph Shipp and eventually the lovely Jenn Brandel and Nick Dupey. It’s a joint Chicago/Tennessee project, which is exciting. Our Tennessee collaborators have so much going on that rarely gets shown to the world. Tennessee is a treasure chest of visual art, music, and experimentation. Here in Chicago I’ve found that really talented people are willing to collaborate and volunteer their efforts. I think that’s the beauty of Chicago: It’s a big city, but people do things so egolessly. They get involved just to be making something. I was largely inspired by all of the Terry Plumming and Lumpen efforts as well. They influenced my perspective on how relevant independent publishing can be.

LP: How have you changed and improved Mule since issue #1?

LT: Getting an amazing print rep—like Chris from Westcan—meant we could figure out the most affordable and effective ways to print… Also, we’ve streamlined the design and editing process. Naturally, all of our designers have gotten much faster, post-graduation. Jenn Brandel brought a lot of editing finesse to the table. Plus, we’re slowly growing a consistent advertising base. Our advertisers have been fiercely loyal, and that’s the one thing that’s let us keep getting it out there.

LP: How would you like to see the magazine evolve?

LT: I’d love for it to eventually pay for itself entirely. Right now out-of-pocket money is minimal, considering, but I’d love for it to be less of a struggle to pay for.

I feel really happy with the content, and I always learn from what people submit. I think the content and look of the magazine has been naturally evolving with each issue, so hopefully that will continue and not just plateau. I used to hope for fancier printing quality—perfect-bound, more color pages—but I’ve come to really love the puzzle of making content fit, as well as the varying format. Being [on] recycled paper now is just befitting.

LP: Your last issue, #5, was free. How did you make that happen?

LT: We were having a really hard time collecting money off of sales; so ultimately making it free wasn’t much of a money loss. All of us in the crew are employed and have other personal projects, so we want what little valuable magazine time we have to be used in the creative process… Making the magazine free freed it from sitting on shelves untouched and meant anyone who wants one can have it.

LP: Now, to wrap up in a totally corny way: In three words, how would you describe your independent publishing experiences in Chicago?

LT: Supported. Pushed. Surrounded.

Proximity MAGAZINE: Platforms and Microphones

LP: How did the idea for Proximity originate and who were the originators?

Mairead Case: Proximity originated several years ago at a panel on alt media at the Chicago Cultural Center. Ed Marszewski, our publisher, was on the panel and said he’d offer anyone in the room the chance to create a new publication. He promised to help fund it, but nobody took him up on the offer. Maybe they thought he was kidding! Anyway, several years later—this [past] January—Ed and his wife, Rachael, decided to start the mag themselves. Some friends thought it was a stupid idea and some, a necessary one. Others thought the newly married Marszewskis were blinded by love in the increasingly tough industry of print publishing. But in the end, Ed and Rachael’s horoscopes said they were supposed to publish media together. So they went for it. Right around then, the Marszewskis asked me to edit it and Michael Freimuth to design it. We said yes, found an amazing team of critical and cultural magicians, and went to work. Bless you, Dunkin Donuts at 31st and Halsted.

LP: The magazine is so dense and colorful and beautifully designed! Was this always the plan (density, color), and if I may ask, how do you go about funding it? Does the funding come via the Public Media Institute?

MC: Michael’s an amazing designer. And in our next issue—the third—we’re joined by a new Art Director, Chad Kouri of the Post Family. He’s amazing as well and has brought some great people on board and is really building brilliantly on Michael’s vision. So a lot of that is these rad, experienced people and their equally inspirational friends. That said, we are also fueled by hard work, advertisements, private donations, grants, and contributions from people who attend Public Media Institute events.

LP: What features of the magazine do you think do a particularly nice job of "amplifying discourse on local and global art ecologies"?

MC: It’s interesting that you’d pull that phrase out. We especially like the term "amplify," because our broadest goal is giving platforms and microphones to as many of the new, amazing, and occasionally marginalized art, networks, and techniques as we can…. The only thing we’re creating, really, is the format. So in that sense, it’s less a question of what’s succeeding overall as it is how effectively we are listening…and doing and showing and constructively criticizing.
Personally, though, I always look forward to "Together," Brett Bloom and Salem Collo-Julin’s column on collaborations. I was inspired by Ben Schaafsma’s fine, forward-thinking work. I learn from Erika Mikkalo’s smart black humor. And I admire how people like Charlie Vinz and Nicolas Lampert consistently and effectively mix art and politics in their pieces. There’s a lot more!

LP: The next issue will be distributed at Art Basel Miami Beach. Why was it important for you to be able to distribute Proximity at this event, besides, of course, there being a ton of artists and arts organizations there?

MC: Well, in part we just want to hang out. We are a printed art magazine at a time when that’s a really hard thing to be [with any] sustainability, so we are hoping to meet future collaborators and new audiences…. Also, we want to show that Chicago is a vibrant and exciting place to be, artistically and politically. Finally and personally, I’m stoked that somebody who’s already into Hamburger Eyes might pick us up because of that, and then find out about ACT UP’s protests at Cook County Hospital in the ‘90s. Or vice versa. Or read a reviews section focused on impact instead of product placement. Or how to fund Hamburger Eyes 2 using InCUBATE’s forward-thinking fundraising techniques!

LP: What three words (give or take) would you use to describe your independent publishing experiences in Chicago?

MC: First off, it has been great. Having been in, or near, the city since 2002, I’ve lived many different writing lives, and each time I’ve found a welcoming, reasonably open community. People here let you try new things or consider others. And if you bomb one project or want to change your focus, you don’t have to leave town to do it. New York will always be hot, but I’m pretty sure that Chicago’s a place where you can make work for your whole life, learn to fail better, and be a full person while you do. And can I name three people instead of three words? Dan Sinker, Studs Terkel, Gwendolyn Brooks. Amen.

Interested in Mule? View an issue online, then pick up a real live copy at Quimby’s in Chicago—or any of the others stores listed on the website.

If you’ve ever worked at a tiny bookstore (narrow aisles, teetering piles of overstock, employees generally crashing into one another), perhaps you can relate. Maybe you too have taken refuge in this sense of immensity: all those words, all those worlds captured on all that paper.

When I worked at a little independent bookstore, my favorite task was opening boxes of new books and giving them a pre-shelving perusal, à la Léopold Sfax. I noticed that often the most interesting, most expansive stuff came in small boxes—promising new titles from small indie publishing houses, unadorned by stickers declaring “Now a Major Motion Picture!,” “Oprah’s Book Club,” or “Reading with Ripa.” Admittedly, some of the least interesting lit also arrived in small boxes, but more often than not, the independently published fiction and nonfiction we received and eagerly hand-sold (an effort led by one of my particularly book-savvy coworkers, Javier), crept onto the store’s bestseller list. Thus, while working at a neighborhood book retailer in this Amazon.com-ian age, I took refuge in this fact—that tiny presses can have immense impact.

While unpacking those boxes, I became especially intrigued by a press based in Hoboken, New Jersey, called Melville House Publishing. Their books were wide-ranging in subject matter and dazzlingly well-designed (Simplicity! Originality! French flaps!). I was not surprised to learn that the company had won several AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Artist) Awards for book covers and interior design. When the bookstore hosted a Melville House writer, Benoit Duteurtre, who was on tour for his fascinating novel, The Little Girl and the Cigarette, I took some time to learn about the origins of this fast-rising press.

Melville House was founded by a couple who had no experience in the publishing field: Dennis Loy Johnson, a Pushcart Prize-winning fiction writer and creator of the book blog MobyLives, and Valerie Merians, a sculptor and photographer. At first, the two didn’t intend to form a publishing company; their sole goal was to release a book that responded to the events of September 11, and particularly the U.S. political climate at the time. In 2002, they published Poetry After 9/11: An Anthology of New York Poets, and it attracted major media attention—CNN, NPR, Good Morning, America, etc. In a New York Times article from July 28, 2002, Merians said, “We thought [the book] would be very modest. We would hand-sell it just to area bookstores. You know, an out-of-the-back-of-the-car kind of thing.” But one book led to another, and after publishing a work of literary criticism by B.R. Myers, deciding to incorporate, finding a distributor, and figuring out things like printing costs and royalties, Melville House Publishing was born.

From the beginning, Johnson and Merians wanted to avoid becoming a niche publisher. Many small presses occupy a niche, they reasoned, but releasing books in a range of genres, subjects, and styles would enable them to stand out as a truly independent voice. In an interview with Bookslut, Johnson said, “We want to do what Random House does, but we want to do it right.” True to their mission, Melville House has assembled a catalog that is as wide as it is deep: French novels in translation (as in the aforementioned Duteurtre book and Justine Lévy’s Nothing Serious); classic and contemporary novellas (such as Adair’s The Death of the Author, plus a lot of other sharp, previously unpublished prose narratives); avant-garde fiction (from the likes of Stephen Dixon and Tao Lin); and leftist political reportage (i.e., Who Killed Daniel Pearl? by Bernard-Henri Lévy, and Torture Taxi, by Trevor Paglen and A.C. Thompson). The latter political books made big waves by being ahead of the news. Who Killed Daniel Pearl? was the first source to reveal that US ally Pakistan was trading nuclear technology to Iran and North Korea, and Torture Taxi was the first book to explore the CIA’s rendition program. In fact, the book was being printed at the precise moment President Bush made a public admission of the program’s existence.

Melville House continues its wave-making efforts, but now from a new location in Brooklyn, complete with offices and a sparkling new bookstore. (I’ve seen pictures, and it looks anything but claustrophobic.) Fortunately for the book industry and for readers everywhere, Johnson and Merians show no signs of slowing down. Last year, the press received the Miriam Bass Award for Creativity in Independent Publishing, otherwise known as the Indie Publisher of the Year Award. At his acceptance speech, Johnson reflected, “Valerie and I entered this business with absolutely no background in it… But the fact is that once we had entered the business we quickly found a huge community, both in and out of publishing, who shared a passion for it and supported our approach to it.” He went on to say that in the aftermath of distributor fiascos and in the midst of financial crises, this community has persevered. “There are a lot of publishers out there right now who deserve an award for creativity by simply staying alive,” he said. Here’s hoping that the life of this fresh, fearless publishing company is very long indeed.

“reverse-gentrification of the literary world.” But what exactly do these reverse-gentrifiers publish? And how are they doing their own awesome thing at a time when small presses face the challenge of promoting and distributing books to a dwindling readership in an increasingly corporate-dominated climate, among other pressures?

I knew a bit about Akashic via its Punk Planet imprint and wildly successful noir series, but in an effort to learn more, I spoke with founder Johnny Temple about his free-spirited, wholly independent Little Press That Could.

Temple’s first foray into indie publishing happened in the late nineties when his band, Girls Against Boys, signed to Geffen Records, and he decided—on a whim—to use some of the money from his music career to publish a book. The adventure went well. His debut title, Arthur Nersesian’s The Fuck-Up, was picked up by MTV Books/Simon & Schuster, eventually achieving cult classic status. Following the resounding success of The Fuck-Up, Temple established Akashic Books. Now the press puts out an impressive array of titles, including an urban noir series beginning with the award-winning anthology Brooklyn Noir.  Akashic also prints literary fiction from the Caribbean Islands and political nonfiction.

I spoke with Temple about the origins of Akashic, his involvement in the independent publishing community, and this thing called the Internet. How do I adequately describe his creative and collaborative efforts? Two words to start with are inspiring and unrelenting.

Laura Pearson: When you started the press in ’97, did you anticipate it becoming this productive and eventually being your full-time job?

Johnny Temple: Not at all.

LP: It was just kind of an experiment?

JT: Yeah. It was an experiment.

LP: So how many books are you publishing a year now? Do you have a full-time staff?

JT: About 25 or 26 books per year. We have a paid staff of five people, and we also have two interns.

LP: I know each small press does this differently, but how do you decide what to publish? Are you soliciting submissions from authors you like or are you taking some unsolicited submissions?

JT: We get them from all different directions. We also have areas that we’re particularly interested in—really dark fiction, for example—so we have a certain taste in terms of the stuff that we’re looking for.

What I’m really looking for is a book that, when I read it, it moves my stomach. Or I have some sort of visceral response to it. A book that stays with me and resonates with me. So we’re not marketing-driven in terms of what we’re looking for. Books from the Caribbean, fiction from Jamaica—these are areas of specialty for us, and that’s not some “trendy” angle.

LP: Right. That leads me to a question about the noir anthologies. Because while this series seems like something very in line with your interests, it also has, incidentally, turned into something that readers really gravitate towards. Do you start by picking the cities for these books or do you first find great writers covering particular cities?

JT: It’s a combination. There are some cities where there will be a writer who I know who should absolutely edit the anthology, no doubt about it. A good example of this is George Pelecanos in Washington, DC. He is one of the best crime fiction writers living today, and he’s totally associated with Washington, DC and knows the city inside and out. I was born and raised in DC, so I know the city quite well, and his representation of [it] is one that I’ve always loved and admired. So I approached him and said, “Please give this serious consideration.” I convinced him to do it, and he did an amazing job. So that’s one way that we get the people.

The other way is every single day I’m receiving proposals from people all over the world [asking to edit] the anthology in their respective cities. Now, we work vigorously to maintain our high editorial standards. Our books have to be tight; they have to be sharp; they have to be easy to read and fun to read, and I think we’ve done a good job of that. So most of the people approaching us I have to politely turn away, because we’re looking for the books to be as strong and great as possible. It’s very important to us that we pick the right person to edit a particular city—one of the most important decisions that we make.

LP: Speaking of decision-making, something that has come up a lot in writing this column is: how do small presses decide what role the Internet should play in publishing? It no longer seems like a question of if it should play a role, just to what degree.

JT: Almost every aspect of our business now has a relationship with the online world, whether it’s production, interactions with authors, promotion, or the actual selling of books…. Publishers have to stay up-to-date. Things are changing fast; books are becoming more digitized. And that’s all fine…but I love books in their print form. Still, it would be foolish of me to ignore the digital revolution that’s taking place. So I’m not leading the publishing digital revolution, but I’m following it closely.

LP: I think you can’t really help but participate on some level. And with distribution being such a huge challenge for small presses—I think in that sense, in getting the word out, it’s a useful tool.

I was reading in an interview about some collaboration you’ve done with other small presses, like Seven Stories. Do you have plans for more collaboration in the future?

JT: Sure, yeah. I’m part of the independent publishing community. I’m an active member of it, and I do all sorts of collaborations with my colleagues—fellow publishers. They’re wonderful people, and we help each other out a lot. And sometimes we endeavor yet more formal projects, like when Akashic and Seven Stories actually co-published a book, which was very involved. But there are other things: the Brooklyn Book Festival, for example—our country’s most exciting new book festival, now in its third year. I’m very involved with that, as are a lot of other Brooklyn publishers.

Also, the Brooklyn Public Library has started a program called Brooklyn Independents, which is a collaboration between Akashic and a bunch of other independent publishers. We program a series of events once every month at the Brooklyn Public Library.

LP: Very awesome. When you started Akashic were there certain presses you looked to for inspiration?

JT: Definitely. Presses such as 2.13.61, which was a press run by Henry Rollins, They helped us a lot getting started. There are also presses like Seven Stories Press and Soft Skull Press, both in New York, which started before Akashic and were always an inspiration. And there’s a great British publishing company called Serpent’s Tail. Their list is so strong, and they’re really great people.

As previously reported, the people behind the Chicago Independent Radio Project aren’t ones to sit around and just wait for great radio to happen. Although legislative decisions still need to be made about low power FM, the organization is moving ahead with a more immediate project: launching a web station.

On the CHIRP website, the industrious staff explains their plan: “As we’ve continued with our efforts to make sure we’ll eventually be able to bring a brand new low power FM signal to Chicago, we’ve always assumed that the station’s webstream would be crucial. That’s why we’ve decided to go ahead and launch a web version of CHIRP radio… We’re excited about the prospect of making CHIRP radio a reality even before we get a broadcast license.”

Slated to launch in late summer, the web station will feature “great underappreciated music across genres and eras,” while demonstrating “a true commitment to Chicago’s diverse music and arts scenes.” According to staff member Dustin Drase, the organization is currently working on programming specifics, and the group hopes to have a station launch party sometime this fall.

In another exciting development, CHIRP has found a home for the station in the historic Dank Haus building in Lincoln Square. The organization has been collecting office furniture, supplies, and computer equipment to improve the new digs, but there are still items on the CHIRP wish list. To donate equipment or funds (and stay tuned into upcoming events), visit the official website.

-Laura Pearson

Looking for a specific way to help preserve your independents? South End Press is in the running for a $20,000 grant from the quirky website Ideablob.

The small, social justice-oriented press became a candidate for the grant via its Community Supported Publishing (CSP) Program, designed to promote sustainability in independent publishing. Like Community Supported Agriculture, this effort helps make available a steady crop of quality books. Now the CSP Program is up against seven other “ideas” in Ideablob’s July Showdown, and the winner receives a generous grant.

To help South End Press receive these much-needed funds, visit ideablob.com and cast your vote. Voting closes July 31, 2008.

-Laura Pearson

I asked writers, publishers, booksellers, distributors, teachers, editors, and supporters of independent publishing—some of whom have been featured in this column, some who have not—to provide a list of recommended reads for summer. Their suggestions range from short stories to comic books, from classic fiction to contemporary poetry. There’s a book recommendation for “people who think they’re scared of Shakespeare” and one for people who cook with a cast iron skillet. Other publications feature beautiful illustrations (The Never Mind) and soaring titles (Oh Pure and Radiant Heart). And let’s not forget such vibrant inclusions as World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War (an audio book read by Henry Rollins and Mark Hamill) and Thank You and You’re Welcome (an “entertaining volume of ‘Kanye-isms’” from the humble pen of Kanye West).

Yes, some of the items on the list are simply meant to inspire lighthearted literary recreation during the summer months. But in keeping with the reverential tone of this column, I’d like to give props to all the great stuff included below that was released by small presses on shoestring budgets. In fact, I encouraged participants to mention their own work—zines or books they’ve written, recent titles they’ve released—in hopes that you’ll seek out these fine publishers and publications, for summer reading and beyond!

So enjoy the selections below, and whether you’re embarking on an epic road trip, taking your lunch break in the park, or floating on a raft in the waters of Fiji whilst drinking a piña colada out of a coconut shell, may you never be without good reading material.

Without further ado, the summer reading list:

David Lasky, Comics Artist and Teacher

Don’t Go Where I Can’t Follow, by Anders Nilsen (Drawn and Quarterly)

Escape From Special, by Miss Lasko-Gross (Fantagraphics)

Happiness? An 826 Seattle Comic Book (826 Seattle) — I edited this.

365 Days, by Julie Doucet (Drawn and Quarterly)

Lone Wolf and Cub, Volume 16: Gateway Into Winter, by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima (Dark Horse)

Hunter Clauss, Freelance Journalist and Chicago Public Radio Contributor

Crime, by Alix Lambert

The Killing Joke, by Alan Moore

Y: The Last Man, Volumes 1–10, by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra

Novel of Roy Orbison in Clingfilm, by Ulrich Haarburste

Fantomas, by Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre

Jocelyn Burrell, Editor, South End Press

Books I truly wish I could read again for the first time:

Play It As It Lays, Joan Didion

Incognegro: A Memoir of Exile and Apartheid, by Frank B. Wilderson (South End Press)

The Collected Stories, Leonard Michaels

Ariel, by Sylvia Plath

Sister Outsider, by Audre Lorde

Jonathan Messinger, Co-Owner, featherproof books

The Facts of Winter, by Paul LaFarge

Jamestown, by Matthew Sharpe

Nellcott Is My Darling, by Golda Fried

Oh Pure and Radiant Heart, by Lydia Millet

I Am Death, by Gary Amdahl

Kathryn Lebo, Development Associate, Richard Hugo House

The Real West Marginal Way, Richard Hugo — memoir

The Egg and I, Betty MacDonald — memoir

Set This House in Order, Matt Ruff — fiction

The Cast Iron Skillet Cookbook, Sharon Kramis and Julie Kramis Hearne — cookbook

Dog & Me, Kary Wayson — poetry

Kaya Oakes, Writer and Former Senior Editor, Kitchen Sink magazine

Reading Comics, by Douglas Wolk — An excellent critical overview of both underground and mainstream comics that will be interesting to both comics addicts and laypeople. Newly out in paperback too, for all of us who are too poor to buy hardcovers.

Catching Tigers in Read Weather, by Andrew Demcak — One of the most powerful, kick-ass books of poetry I’ve read in ages (and I wrote one of his cover blurbs!). It’s from a very cool small press called Three Candles.

Shakespeare the Thinker, by A.W. Nuttall — A fascinating analysis of Shakespeare’s—well, thinking, and not too dense or overly academic. Good for people who think they’re scared of Shakespeare.

Anything from the 33 1/3 series of books about albums — Good for a few hours of informative and entertaining music-related reading.

The Braindead Megaphone, by George Saunders — Proves that essays can be entertaining. When people talk about nonfiction being dry or dull, this book is a good counteractive weapon.

Liz Mason, Manager, Quimby’s Bookstore

The Bad Lyrics Project, by me: Liz Mason! — I am very proud of this zine. It’s a sociological study of sorts of rock music lyrics. I personally think it’s very funny and entertaining, but then I’m the author!

Caboose #5: The Health and Recreation Issue, also by me: still Liz Mason! — A look at my adventures in the world of both traditional and alternative medicine with my weirdo undiagnosed illness (which has since been diagnosed as Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a type of cancer, but I’m doing pretty rockin’, all things considered).

The Body Has a Mind of Its Own, by Sandra and Matthew Blaksee — This book is authored by a mother-son science writing team. It’s all about maps in the brain and how they’re affected by what goes on around you. Heavy shit, but they make it light and fun.

Autobiography of a Yogi, by Paramahansa Yogananda — What I like about this book is that occasionally the author has some nice spiritual experiences that make the story juicy, but he learns a lot on the way, which makes him seem like a regular person.

Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex, by Mary Roach — The same author who wrote Stiff (about human cadavers) and Spook (about the afterlife) tackles sexual physiology in a hilarious and PERSONAL research book chronicling what happens during the ol’ in-and-out.

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, by Max Brooks — This is read on CD by a full cast, and the cast rocks! Henry Rollins, Carl Reiner, and a bunch of other folks—even Mark Hamill, who is actually really good. The price ($14.99) is about what you’d pay for the book in soft cover, so you might as well get the CD set. Max Brooks, by the way, is Mel Brooks’ son, in case you’re curious. This book is all about the zombie war that came close to eradicating humanity. Very apocalyptic and dark, but totally compelling.

Mairead Case, Managing Editor, Proximity magazine

Awe, by Dorothea Lasky (Wave Books)

Black Sabbath’s Master of Reality, by John Darnielle (Continuum)

A New Quarantine Will Take My Place, by Johannes Göransson (Apostrophe)

Lust, by Ellen Forney (Fantagraphics)

Kill All Your Darlings, by Luc Sante (Yeti)

Novel of Roy Orbison in Clingfilm, by Ulrich Haarburste (Serapion)

Shoot the Buffalo, by Matt Briggs (Clear Cut)

The Age of Flowers, by Umberto Pasti (Pushkin Modern)

Beauty Talk and Monsters, by Masha Tupitsyn

Any interview Sylvere Lotringer ever did (most on Semiotext(e))

Chronology, by Daniel Birnbaum (Sternberg)

Complete Minimal Poems, by Aram Saroyan (Ugly Duckling)

Selected Poems, by William Bronk (New Directions)

On the Lower Frequencies: A Secret History of the City, by Erick

Lyle (Soft Skull)

Dancing After Hours, by Andre Dubus

Cabinet magazine’s Colors column

Marco Kane Braunschweiler, Co-Owner, Golden Age

The Never Mind, by Robin Cameron — A small limited-edition drawing publication with a lot of funny transcriptions of real and fake conversations.

WON magazine, Volume 1, Issue 2, Autumn 2008 — Featuring: Daniel Wang, Will Sweeney, Aaron Rose, Ken Werner, Mårten Lange, The Changes, Nienke Klunder, Robert Cook, Thobias Fäldt, Amanda Maxwell, Linus Bill, Jeremie Egry, Andrew Long, Thomas Baldischwyler, Ben Barretto, Hoger Czukay, Vernon Treweeke, Deanna Templeton, Matt Wolf, Rosemary Scanlon, and Sarah Larnarch.

Wikipedia Reader, by Various Artists — For this project, the publisher asked artists with varying interests to create a thread of linking Wikipedia articles starting with something they found interest in, and continuing to other topics from links within the page. The results are a group of similar or dissimilar topics that are all linked together linearly. This is a really fresh, tasteful book.

Accounting for Dummies, by Somebody — Seriously, this is really good to read.

Kingsboro Press, Volume 1, Issue 3— Sixty-four pages of Riso printed glory. Features interviews and work with artists like Inka Jarvinen, C.W. Winter, Kim Hiorthoy, Karma International, plus writing from KBoro regulars like Alex Gartenfeld, Yan Yan, and Jonathan Basile.

Martine Syms, Co-Owner, Golden Age

Getting Things Done, by David Allen — For all rippers and rulers.

Modern Typography: An Essay in Critical History, by Robin Kinross — I’ve been trying to get through this all year. Maybe now I’ll finally have a chance.

Appendix Appendix, by Stuart Bailey and Ryan Gander — The perfect conceptual art supplement to marathon TV watching (available at Golden Age).

The Kingsboro Press, Issues 1–3 — My art/design/culture periodical of choice (available at Golden Age).

Thank You and You’re Welcome, by Kanye West — The man, the performer, and the poet graces us with wise words. I got it for free, but it’s still priceless. I’m trying to find a way to make it required reading for my students this summer.

Richard Nash, Publisher, Soft Skull Press

All About Lulu, by Jonathan Evison (Soft Skull)

Black Flies, by Shannon Burke (Soft Skull)

The Good Fairies of New York, by Martin Millar (Soft Skull)

My Zorba, by Danielle Pafunda (Bloof Books)

The Changeling, by Joy Williams (Fairy Tale Review Press)

Zach Dodson, Co-Owner, featherproof books

Bicycle, by Paul Fattaruso (St. George Press) — This clever little book will make you want to ride your bike all summer long.

This Will Go Down on Your Permanent Record, by Susannah Felts (featherproof  books) — Our first young adult novel. Set over a dramatic, nostalgia-drenched Nashville summer.

Paper & Carriage, Issue 3 (Green Lantern) — A beautiful letterpress cover and Henry Darger inside! How could you go wrong with this Chicago-based  “slow media” magazine?

The Order of Odd Fish, by James Kennedy (Delacorte) — Reading this debut young adult novel by Chicago author James Kennedy is better than a nuzzle on the nose from Aznath, the Silver Kitten of Deceit!

boring boring boring boring boring boring boring, by Zach Plague (featherproof books) — I uncomfortably recommend my own book to anyone who is listening.

Mule magazine, Issue 5 — It’s mystical!

The Mayor’s Tongue, by Nathaniel Rich (Riverhead) — It starts off with an awkward sex scene. Need I say more?

Why the Devil Chose New England for His Work, by Jason Brown (Open City) —Save this lachrymose short story collection for a rainy indoor day.

The publication became a program of the Neighbor Lady Community Arts Project, an Oakland-based arts organization. As a result of the staff’s dedication and tendency to broaden—rather than narrow—its themes and content, Kitchen Sink quickly asserted itself as a bright, free-spirited magazine, or, as one journalist described it, a “zine that went to graduate school.” Via grass-roots involvement, various partnerships, and some well-attended parties, the staff worked to make Kitchen Sink more than just a magazine: It was ultimately a tribute to, and enabler of, dynamic community.

It’s these community-forging publications that leave a particularly noticeable void when they cease to exist. Lest the past tense has failed to give it away: Kitchen Sink no longer exists. It too was a casualty of a now-familiar set of factors: a decrease in ad revenue, dwindling subscription numbers, and the dissolution of the Independent Press Association (announced early last year). As you’ve probably read, this unholy trinity of causes has spelled the demise of many independent publications over the past year or so.

It makes one wonder what happens to the people who labored over these publications and the communities that sprang up around them. In some cases, staff members go on to explore other forms of publishing, e.g., blogs and online journals. Others spend time writing or researching different modes of print publishing, such as POD (print on demand). Undoubtedly, some people—especially those who’ve devoted decades of their lives to indie publishing—just need a break from it all.

I caught up with two former Kitchen Sink staffers who shared what they’ve been up to since the magazine ceased publication.

Jen Loy was a founding Editor in Chief at KS, as well as a writer and event coordinator. She was also coproprietor of Mama Buzz, a café and gallery (and former Kitchen Sink clubhouse) in downtown Oakland that has been credited for invigorating the city’s art scene and being a “nexus for all things artistic.” These days, Loy is taking it easy.

“I’m proudest of our success as a creative community,” she says of her friends and former coworkers at Kitchen Sink, describing how they’ve gone on to publish books of poetry and comics, do curatorial and design projects, and start journalism school. “As for me, I’ve learned to say ‘NO.’”

After Kitchen Sink folded, Loy sold Mama Buzz and moved to Richmond. She’s not far from Oakland and other KS alumni but decided to “purposefully withdraw” from collaborative, community-based publishing/art/writing projects.

“I’m currently focused on a professional publishing venture and specializing in health care and labor issues,” Loy says. “I’ve survived a few photography classes and have been challenged by a friend to write creatively again. I’ve written a few art and culture pieces for Bay Area publications, but mostly I’m saying ‘NO,’ which is new for me.”

Kaya Oakes is another KS staffer who’s busy working on individual writing and publishing projects. A former senior editor at the magazine, Oakes is currently writing a book about independent culture, which will be released by Henry Holt sometime in 2009.

When I contacted Oakes, she was about to dive into her chapter on independent publishing, so we discussed current ways of making indie media. Oakes affirmed that the web plays a vital, simplifying role in the way of publication and distribution. “The logistics of mag publishing are just ridiculous, and the cost is getting harder to bear unless people want to keep things very small,” she says. “Even with Kitchen Sink’s initial print run of only 2K, we had a really hard time paying the bills. When this increased to 10K, we were hopelessly in debt all the time.”

Oakes was also quick to add that print publications need to be supported and sustained, but perhaps they need to scale back a bit: “I do continue to believe in print media, of course, but I also think independent print media have to think micro these days to survive… I’m also a firm supporter of POD, which is going to be a method of survival for a lot of small presses.”

Both Loy and Oakes cited examples of indie publishers and publications that have inspired them lately: Ugly Duckling Presse, Action Books, and Flood Editions (all tiny literary presses); Make/Shift, a feminist magazine founded by Kitchen Sink staff writer Jessica Hoffman; Other, the project of another KS affiliate Charlie Anders; and Watchword, a literary journal published by Watchword Press.

Although Kitchen Sink has sunk, its hardworking staff members continue to pursue projects that will no doubt improve and enliven their communities; they’re just approaching them in perhaps quieter, more individual ways. As for her “Just Say No” phase, Loy says, “I predict this will last for about 12 months. And then, who knows? Maybe the world will be ready for another publishing project.”

This latest installment of Preserving Our Independents doesn’t feature an official small publisher (as has been the case in past installments) but rather a small publishing venture. And just like the presses previously featured, this project uses a DIY approach to pursue admirable initiatives.

Are you aware of the incredible adaptations of cephalopods? Or that scientists have discovered a special virus that kills harmful bacteria in hot dogs? Do you know that people use different sets of muscles to create fake smiles and genuine smiles? Maybe these facts are new to you; maybe you learned some of them in school. Or maybe you were riding the train the other day and happened upon a little zine that cleverly explained some of these scientific curiosities.

In the latter case, you might have stumbled upon a publication from the Small Science Collective, a public education project that aims to put scientific information in the hands of non-scientists. The collective accomplishes this by publishing one-page zines and pamphlets on a range of enlightening topics—everything from smiles and cephalopods to stem cells and pheromones—and then distributing them in public spaces: at coffee shops, on park benches, inside the sugar packet containers at restaurants, between the pages of in-flight magazines.

The zines are written and designed by Small Science Collective founder Andrew Yang, as well as fellow scientists, friends, and his students at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where Yang teaches courses in biology and the intersection of art and science. The idea originated when Yang was a student himself, and he kept finding Chick tracts—little illustrated booklets designed to be evangelistic tools—popping up around campus, particularly in the building where he was doing his graduate studies in evolutionary biology.

“I think the cleaning staff might have been putting them around surreptitiously—trying to convert our wayward souls to their view of things,” Yang says. But while he took issue with the content and intent of these booklets, he still considered them interesting on an aesthetic level. “Although the tracts can be pretty ridiculous, I have never picked one up that I haven’t read through. As little comics, they are really compelling and kind of beautiful objects,” Yang says.

Yang already had an interest in zines and handmade brochures as a way of disseminating ideas, but he was frustrated that science information wasn’t being disseminated as widely or earnestly as these religious stories. Yang began discussing these issues with a friend, astrophysicist Jeff Oishi. Both wondered how useful, interesting, and educational science could be communicated. “Science as an institution does a very bad job at educating people about its concerns, its findings, and how science works,” Yang says. “It strikes me as strange that as significant as it is, science doesn’t penetrate the everyday lives we lead, and…is often restricted to very formal venues, like the textbook, the museum, the standardized font.”

For these reasons, Yang eventually started making science zines with his students at the Art Institute. In this way, students who were already adept at combining visual and narrative content and thinking about ideas creatively could learn about science topics by actually communicating about science.

“There is this whole other issue about who gets to communicate science, how experts and teachers appear to be the ones exclusively with that authority,” Yang says. “But that lack of personal agency is so much of the problem of why people don’t engage with science or technology and feel helpless and daunted by it.”

The one-page zines certainly encourage engagement and discovery, and they do so with a sense of wonder and often a sense of humor. Some zines are typed; many are handwritten. Some contain field drawings and illustrated diagrams; others incorporate old sepia-toned photographs, comics, and collage. All of them present facts and scientific tidbits in an entertaining, easy-to-understand format.

There’s a zine about evolutionary biology called Snake Legs and Wisdom Teeth, which was designed to look like one of the aforementioned Chick tracts, and a publication titled simply Ants, which shares facts about such fascinating types of ants as the honeypot ant, leafcutter ant, and weaver ant. The Mini Book of Sexual Selection explains different traits in animals that contribute to their reproductive success, and Hole in Yer Head identifies the various uh, holes in our heads that make sensory experience possible.

Whatever the topic discussed therein, each zine attempts to explain scientific concepts and discoveries to people who might not otherwise be exposed to (or independently pursue) such information. In so doing, the collective hopes that everyone, particularly non-scientists and non-specialists, will feel empowered to learn more. “When folks spot me on the train dropping [the zines] around, it starts conversations and sparks curiosity,” says Yang. “In that sense, it isn’t exclusively an ‘anonymous’ format; it also provides a lot of opportunity to connect with people.”

And that’s what this publishing venture is all about: starting conversation, sparking curiosity. Via simple, easily distributable zines and pamphlets, the Small Science Collective is helping people more actively engage in their world. For copies of the zines, visit the SSC website and simply download, print, and fold the publications of your choice.

Since the radio project relies on ordinary people (as well as some crucial FCC decisions) to help reach its goals, it’s worthwhile to familiarize yourself with the history of CHIRP and learn how the plot has developed thus far. Who knows? Maybe you’ll feel motivated to write to the FCC about the necessity of low power FM stations in places like Chicago. Or maybe you’ll think of ways to establish and support indie radio in other areas. There’s any number of adventures to choose, but all of them begin with choosing to get involved. In so doing, you could help write a new local radio station into existence.

Meet Our Protagonist: Shawn Campbell

The story of the Chicago Independent Radio Project begins with a woman named Shawn Campbell. As long-time program director for community radio station WLUW-a station owned by Loyola University and programmed (for the past five years) under an operating agreement with Chicago Public Radio, Campbell worked tirelessly to build support and listenership, as well as maintain high standards of quality and professionalism in programming.

But after dedicating eight years to WLUW, Campbell lost her job last summer. She was forced out, along with station manager Craig Kois, shortly after Loyola announced its decision to reclaim control of the station, (which officially takes effect in July 2008). The University did not provide much explanation for the decision, nor did Loyola meet with the volunteer staff, comprised of more than 100 students, to describe exactly what the “takeover” would entail.

Understandably, WLUW staff and volunteers, as well as the larger listening community, were angered, disappointed, and confused: Why were Campbell and Kois dismissed if Loyola hoped the station would operate as is for another year? What did the University have planned in the way of programming? Would WLUW maintain its hard-earned reputation as an innovative voice in community radio? The outlook was unclear.

But some things were clear to Campbell: In particular, she knew that Chicago needed a local, noncommercial station like WLUW, but one where the broadcast license was owned by the station itself. “I am a true believer in the mission of community radio,” says Campbell, “And I wanted to make sure that type of programming did not die when Loyola took the station over.”

She decided to create a nonprofit organization called the Chicago Independent Radio Project, with the mission of eventually establishing a low power FM (LPFM) station in the city-one that would continue, and expand upon, the sort of community-based content offered by WLUW. And while this station would certainly draw upon the talents of many WLUW staff and volunteers, it would also make room for new participants and fresh ideas-a powerhouse of independent programming operating at 100 watts or less.

Key Plot Points: LPFM and the FCC

Since Campbell launched CHIRP last fall, the organization has already generated a lot of well-deserved buzz. The nonprofit has hosted a variety of fundraisers; attracted the attention of public radio advocates, politicians, and community members; formed different committees to tackle things like events, partnerships, and design; and launched an amazingly informative website. With the future of WLUW still hanging in the balance, CHIRP has provided people with a way of proactively pursuing new radio programming instead of letting their disappointment over the Loyola decision render them stagnant.

But the main hurdle that CHIRP faces in actually establishing a new station is acquiring a low power FM license. Currently, there are no full power radio stations available in Chicago, and even if one became available, it would come at a ridiculous cost (read: tens of millions of dollars). Although the broadcast radius of low power FM stations is only two to four miles, it is much cheaper to set up LPFM service and, unlike with full power stations, applications are available to underrepresented groups.

Unfortunately, at this point, Congress does not allow the FCC to grant LPFM licenses in metropolitan areas, claiming that these low power stations would crowd the dial, creating interference with full power stations. (Personally, I wouldn’t mind if an LPFM program interfered with the American Top 40 with Ryan Seacrest!) In any case, although the FCC has shown this interference does not occur, the decision to free up signals in urban areas is still pending.

“The most challenging aspect of this project is knowing we are doing everything in our power to get the Local Community Radio Act through Congress [which would bring LPFM to big cities in the U.S.], and to get the FCC to prioritize new low power FM services over what are called “translators,” which are transmitters putting out a distant signal and broadcasting absolutely no local programming-but that, ultimately, it’s beyond our control,” says Campbell. She fears that if the FCC doesn’t make the necessary changes to legislation, then CHIRP might never realize its core mission of launching a station. “We might still be shut out, no matter how deserving our organization might be.”

Photo by Flickr user Poagao

But Campbell and CHIRP vice president Jenny Lisak were recently encouraged by a trip to Washington, D.C. They met with FCC members and politicians as part of Low Power FM Action Days, organized by the Prometheus Radio Project. “I really felt that the FCC staffers we met with listened to what we had to say and asked really good questions,” says Campbell. “And when we met with staff members of Senator Durbin’s and Senator Obama’s offices, as well as staffers from Representatives Emanuel, Schakowsky, and Lipinski’s offices, we found everyone extremely receptive to what we were saying.”

Senator Durbin’s office, and later Senator Obama’s office, agreed to sign on as a co-sponsor to the Local Community Radio Act bill. “It was so gratifying!” Campbell says. “I felt like it was an example of the system working as it should. We went to talk to our elected representatives-or at least their staff members; we made our case about why supporting our bill made sense for their constituencies, and then they signed on.”

The Continuing Story

CHIRP continues to work towards its mission with creativity and commitment. Programming ideas are taking shape, even while the organization pursues a broadcast license. “Our hope is to provide Chicago with an outlet for great music, both local and non-local, that isn’t finding much exposure elsewhere, and [to provide] a venue for the discussion of community issues that are not covered in the mainstream corporate media,” says Campbell. “And of course the whole idea of community radio is that people are not just passive listeners, but that they have a chance to learn to make their own media.”

Campbell also says that she’d like CHIRP to provide on-demand services like podcasts, but that they need to work out the music licensing issues first.

In terms of getting the word out, local DJ and CHIRP volunteer Dustin Drase points to both the website and the upcoming record fair as helping put the organization’s initiatives on the public radar.

“Our website is going to be crucial as we continue our efforts to get an LPFM license,” says Drase. “A lot of what we’re fighting for is completely unknown to the average listener or supporter, and having the website as a spot for information is a definite imperative… Hopefully, it is actually fun to read and attracts folks who believe in what we do.”

Meanwhile, the CHIRP Record Fair (formally the WLUW Record Fair) promises to be an exciting fundraiser. “We’re the only record fair held in Chicago proper, and definitely one of the biggest in the Midwest,” says Drase. “We’ve become an annual tradition here in Chicago that people look forward to.” This year’s fair, which transforms Chicago’s Pulaski Park Fieldhouse into a treasure trove of rare and used vinyl, will take place on April 12 and 13.

Whether you want to contribute to the website, write letters to Congress, or expand your record collection, Campbell encourages anyone with interest in community radio to get involved in shaping CHIRP history-to participate in this story as it unfolds. “It’s been great to see so many members of Chicago’s creative communities willing to help out, whether it’s a club giving us space for a benefit, a band willing to play for us, or a designer helping us poster. Everyone wants to see this thing succeed,” she says. “It’s also gratifying to see the good will we built over the past decade at WLUW translate to this new effort.”

CHIRP: http://chicagoindependentradioproject.org
CHIRP Record Fair: http://chicagoindependentradioproject.org/recordfair
Low Power FM info.: http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/lpfm/index.html
Prometheus Radio Project: http://prometheusradio.org/

I first heard about the Northampton, Massachusetts-based micropublishing house a few years ago when I was working at an independent bookstore. One of my well-read coworkers had hand-sold dozens of copies of a short story collection called Stranger Things Happen, which featured great Vintage Nancy Drew-style cover art and a blurb from Jonathan Lethem describing the author, Kelly Link, as “the exact best and strangest and funniest short story writer on earth that you have never heard of at the exact moment you are reading these words and making them slightly inexact.” It was true: I’d never heard of her, but I became increasingly curious about this book that, at least in our little store, was outselling The Da Vinci Code. So I read these strange and funny stories-stories that, by some special alchemy, imbue everyday events with a fantastical weirdness while treating haunting Brothers Grimm-esque themes like they’re nothing out of the ordinary. After reading, enjoying, and starting to recommend the book myself, I discovered that Link had self-published Stranger Things Happen, or I should say co-published it (with her husband Gavin J. Grant), on Small Beer Press.

Link and Grant founded Small Beer in 2000. In some ways, the evolution of their publishing endeavors can be described as two people working with greater and greater amounts of paper: starting with zines, experimenting with chapbooks, and finally arriving at trade paperbacks. In 1996, while working at Avenue Victor Hugo Bookshop in Boston, they collaborated on publishing a literary zine called Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet. “Gavin had access to a photocopier at his temp job, and we both knew a fair number of writers,” says Link. “After awhile, we put out two chapbooks to experiment, just a bit, with more book-like design and layout… It seemed as if we could probably sell a certain number of books, and having worked in bookstores for years, we really wanted a chance to see what making books would be like.” According to Grant, publishing Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet had already taught them “(in small affordable steps): marketing, distribution, design, how to work to deadlines, and most of all, the importance of professional proofreaders.”

Obviously the experience paid off, because after releasing the two chapbooks, Link and Grant went on to publish two short story collections: Stranger Things Happen and Ray Vukcevich’s Meet Me in the Moon Room. Now, in addition to still releasing the twice-yearly zine, Small Beer Press publishes novels, collections, chapbooks, anthologies, and classic reprints. “Most of the books that we’ve published have had some element of fantasy or strangeness to them,” says Link, “but that wasn’t a conscious decision… We set out to publish books that we loved.” Recent releases include the novels Endless Things, by John Crowley, Water Logic, by Laurie J. Marks, and Generation Loss, by Elizabeth Hand (another book that enchanted my well-read former coworker).

This labor of love isn’t strictly a paper venture. Like other indie publishers, Small Beer uses the Internet, in various imaginative ways, to get the word out. Which leads me back to that free book I mentioned: After Link published her second short story collection, Magic for Beginners, Small Beer made Stranger Things Happen available for free download under a Creative Commons (Attribution-Noncommerical ShareAlike 2.5) license. Not only was this a way of promoting downloadable story-sharing with no Digital Rights Management (DRM) strings attached, but it also served as an expression of gratitude. As Grant and Link explain on their website, “When we published our first two books, we were incredibly lucky and received an incredible amount of support, advice, help, and enthusiasm from readers, publishers, writers, and others across North America and beyond. So this is one way to say thanks, everyone.”

Yet as indie publishers like Small Beer Press continue on-not only holding their ground but even claiming new territory (content-wise, distribution-wise)–it’s we grateful readers who are saying thanks and raising our glasses and toasting: Live well. Live long.

Small Beer Press online

Free Download of Stranger Things Happen

Previously in the Preserving Our Independents series