CORONA\SAMIZDAT PRESS

rick harsch

corona\samizdat took off into an abnormal orbit beginning in the fall, as we sold more books than expected, obtained the rights to bring back Chandler Brossad, one of the great unheralded writers of the latter half of the last century, surprised ourselves by bringing out the first volume of The anthological novel The Assassination of Olof Palme, and made the Buffalo connection, which is advertised by the photo above: myself center, Phillip Freedenberg left, and Jeff Walton right.

Here we are again:

This descriptive drawning by Jeff Walton provides some explanation of what this is all about. That is indeed the title, thought I have no idea if it is the cover or not, for the novel is by Dr. Freedenberg, which is about a feller waiting for The Manifold Destiny of Eddie Vegas arriving in the mail. The book is projected to come in at about 600 pages, and each of the dozen or so brief excerpts I have read have been brilliant. Professor Walton is immersed in the project as well, and as I understand the process, he and Dr. Freedenberg are intertwined, even if one their basic tasks appear separate. The transmissions have already been sent by Eddie Vegas, as far as I know.

The last publication of the year was Brossard’s Wake up. We’re Almost There, which was introduced brilliantly by Zachary Tanner, the main cover man of c\s, thus the man who came up with this brilliant collage:

The book is probably the most exciting novel written by a US American I’ve read in 40 years or so, harking back to Henry Miller. They differ a great deal yet have three things in common: both understood the roots of the rot of the US culture and rebelled wholly against it, used surrealism in their writings in varying degrees, and subsumed far more than their allotments of freedom, enough so that all readers have in their hands as much as they dare to absorb. Brossard, on top of all that, is extremely funny, one of the funniest I’ve ever read.

So in the new year, we will be publishing America and the Cult of the Cactus Boots: a Diagnostic; Brossards other vast classic, As the Wolf Howls at My Door; and much or the rest of The Assassination of Olof Palme. Several pocket books will be published as well, one by a Canadian, one by Portuguese, and one by a Serbian.

Here is a review of the 13 books published this year in chronologcal order:

1.

1. The Manifold Destiny of Eddie Vegas (20€)
2. Walk Like a Duck, a Season of Little League Baseball in Italy (20)
3. An Angel of Sodom (the first pocket book), by David Vardeman (10€)
4. Skulls of Istria, by Harsch (10)
5. The Driftless Trilogy (Harsch, 16.50€)
6. Sea Above Sun Below, by George Salis (10€)
7. Arjun and the Good Snake, being an ophidiological account of six weeks in India without alchohol (Harsch, 10€)
8. Unidentified man at left of photo, by Jeff Bursey (10 or 11€)

9. Raging Joys, Sublime Violations, Chandler Brossard (10€)

10. Cynicism Management, Bori Praper (12€)

11. The Vardeman Flip Book, two novels, Suddenly This Summer/April is the Cruelest Month (10€)

12. The Assassination of Olof Palme, an anthological novel, by Rick Harsch et al. [70+] (17€)

13. Wake Up. We’re Almost There, Chandler Brossad (23€)

The year exceeded all expections in literary terms. corona\samizdat, an degenerate ephemerae, a subversive press that brought back the pocket book, born to live the life of a mayfly is going to live the absence of a locust. For more on the press we have a website at coronasamizdat.com. The prices here are the listed prices, most of the books have been sold at a discount, given the coronal circumstances, and the general instincts of the tribe.

That’s that for now, we’ll have Zach Tanner and Chander Brossard walk you to the door