They're Here!
Welcome October with three new titles from Alan Squire Publishing now available for order.
It's time! ASP's three 2019 books are finally ready to order from your favorite online booksellers (including Alan Squire Publishing *wink*).
And don't forget that you are cordially invited to our book launch party at The Writer's Center in Bethesda. There will be refreshments, curated snacks for every dietary restriction and prescription, a whole lot of celebrating, mingling, and book signing, poetry readings, introductions by friends like MD Poet Laureate Grace Cavalieri and Cave Canem alum Brandon D. Johnson. And, of course, readings from Reuben Jackson, Joanna Biggar, and Linda Watanabe McFerrin. We will see you there!
If you want to sign up for our email list or just have a question, feel free to email us at alansquirepr@gmail.com.
PRAISE
“Joanna Biggar explored Paris as a post-adolescent during the distant Age of Kennedy in That Paris Year. Now she explores the backwaters of American revolutionary culture during the so-called Summer of Love in Melanie’s Song. With wit and aplomb, Biggar reminds readers that love may be free but has its consequences. A poet and journalist, when she turns her talents to storytelling, the result is a page-turning novel where mystery meets self-invention. Voila! C’est formidable!”
—David Downie, author of A Passion for Paris and The Gardener of Eden
“In Melanie’s Song, Joanna Biggar takes you on an amazing ride of mystery and suspense. Personal turbulence is masterfully set against the reality of the politics of the 1960s and ’70s in the USA. Her writing, both crisp and lyrical, draws you into each scene with tempting detail. Of course, there are those earlier memories of Paris. It’s quite a trip.”
—Diane LeBow, President Emerita, Bay Area Travel Writers
“[Melanie's Song] is like a sweetly familiar refrain from the not-so-distant past. Nostalgic, redolent with the sights and sounds of the 1960s and ’70s, it is a tale of broken hearts, healing friendships, and the tender yet powerful bonds that friendships forge. It is a bittersweet delight.”
—Patricia Bracewell, author of Shadow on the Crown and The Price of Blood
“Reuben Jackson’s marvelous poems map the poles between ode and lamentation, politics and intimacy, sagacity and audacity. He writes for everyday neighbors, folkloric brothers, and imaginary sisters. He writes for Trayvon Martin as well as Frank Sinatra. He nimbly charts the broad spectrum of our lives and loves. I have admired Reuben Jackson’s work for over twenty years. Scattered Clouds will alert old and new poetry fans to his fine, abiding talent.”
—Terrance Hayes, author of American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin
“Like Lucille Clifton before him, Reuben Jackson has a gift for understatement and for writing sly, unadorned poems that can move you in less than a page. These clear-eyed poems offer social witness to the crisis of living in America. They are peopled poems, poems that witness not only injustice, but also genius, beauty, and survival. This long-awaited collection is a gift.”
—Melissa Tuckey, co-founder of Split this Rock, editor of Ghost Fishing: An Eco-Justice Poetry Anthology
“Reading this collection is like going to a concert: the whole orchestra is here and each poem is a solo that fits perfectly into the pocket. The songs played are homage and memory, are jazz and R&B and rock and roll, are commentary and rebellion. Reuben Jackson is a conductor who understands how to keep time, every movement of his baton carrying a world in it, taking readers on a journey they will want to replay again and again, so they can feel and dance and sing along.”
—Sami Miranda, Secretary and Curator, The American Poetry Museum, author of Departure and We Is
“A stunning collection, not only for the range of its preoccupations but for the beauty that courses through these writings. Linda Watanabe McFerrin invites us to ponder, to pay attention, and, above all, to savor life.”
—Jasmin Darznik, Author of Song of a Captive Bird
“Poetry like burnished steel and prose that reads like poetry. The most captivating and rewarding book I’ve read this year.”
—Tim Cahill, Author of Jaguars Ripped My Flesh, A Wolverine Is Eating My Leg, and Pass the Butterworms
“I have loved everything I’ve ever read by Linda Watanabe McFerrin. Her prose and poetry are filled with amazing women, charm, wisdom, and light. She is both soulful and precise, eloquent and full of life.”
—Anne Lamott, author of Bird by Bird and Hallelujah, Anyway
“Reading Linda’s work is like being mesmerized by a snake before it swallows you whole. The words shimmer, creating a dreamscape where the story unfolds and draws you in while strange, sometimes bizarre, encounters play out in minutely described detail. You ‘emerge’ from her stories rather than ‘finish’ them. The poems are spare, elegant and evocative, stirring deep emotions even while not ostensibly emotional. This is a beautiful book by a writer who has honed her writing skills and knows precisely how to wield them.”
—Maureen Wheeler, Co-Founder of Lonely Planet Publications