Three Rooms Press

Poets and writers explore the devastation of the cataclysmic 2025 fires in Los Angeles, California, penetrating the unfathomable despair of losing everything, exposing the struggle with the ensuing grief, and, through it all, summoning the courage to rise again.

Fueled by dry conditions and relentless Santa Ana winds rushing over the landscape with speeds upwards of 100 miles per hour, everything bending to the will of the wind, the spark of Los Angeles’s January 2025 fires exploded into an unprecedented gut wrenching apocalypse.

In this superbly curated collection, edited by award-winning L.A. poets S.A. Griffin and Richard Modiano, contemporary poets and writers from L.A. and beyond explore the intense horror of devastating loss, the helplessness of watching from across the country, the grief in the aftermath, and the resolve to rise again together from the ashes.

Contributors include: Susan Auerbach, Lin Nelson Benedek, Mary Anne Berry, Michelle Bitting, Laurel Ann Bogen, Lynne Bronstein, Jeffrey Bryant, Mona Jean Cedar, Teresa Mei Chuc, Jeanette Clough, Brendan Constantine, Iris De Anda, Alexis Rhone Fancher, Rich Ferguson, Kathleen Florence, Land Flowers, Kat Georges, S.A. Griffin, Spencer L. Griffin, Susan Hayden, Steve Hochman, jerry the priest, La Rombé, Tom Laichas, Rick Lupert, Suzanne Lummis, Phoebe MacAdams, Sarah Maclay, kamla maya, Holaday Mason, Ellyn Maybe, Richard Modiano, Bill Mohr, Chris Morris, K.R. Morrison, Majid Naficy, Jim Natal, Harry E. Northup, Cynthia Perello, Puma Perl, Kennon B. Raines, Nicca Ray, Riot Renwick, Marilyn N. Robertson, Beth Ruscio, Cathie Sandstrom, Dan Saucedo, Maryrose Smyth, Mike Sonksen, A.K. Toney, David L. Ulin, jimmy vega, Pam Ward, Dig Wayne, Hilda Weiss, Jessica M. Wilson, Gail Wronsky, and Z.

“A smorgasbord for those who are sick and tired of it.” —Seattle Book Review

“Three Rooms Press doesn’t just preserve Dada—they evolve it . . . In an era dominated by algorithmic taste-making and cautious professionalism, Maintenant stands defiantly outside the gate, throwing ink at the walls and planting flags in dreams.” —Richard Modiano, author, The Forbidden Lunchbox

Politics has taken its turn to arrive at the worst and the creatures involved have become LOLiticians, their every move from either side laughable—that is, if you still believe in truth. In Maintenant 20: A Journal of Contemporary Dada Writing and Art, we examine the concept of “Improperganda,” with 250 contributors from around the world exploring the idea that without truth, there’s no need for disapproval.

The Maintenant Dada series, established in 2008, explores themes of politics, humanity, philosophy, and current concerns from an antiwar, anarchic (and often eye-opening) perspective. Past issues include work by artists Mark Kostabi, Raymond Pettibon, Joel Hubaut, Heide Hatry, Avelino de Araujo, Pawel Kuczynski, Inas Al-Soqi, Giovanni Fontana, Nicole Eisenmann, Syporca Whandal, and Kazunori Murakami; past writers have included Gerard Malanga, Charles Plymell, Andrei Codrescu, Harry E. Northup, Malik Crumpler, Maw Shein Win, and more, with a strong contingent of artist-writers from the world of punk rock, including Thurston Moore, Mike Watt, Bibbe Hansen and more.

In this powerful new biography, the legendary fin-de-siècle adventuress Isabelle Eberhardt emerges as a radically modern figure who lived on her own terms—crossing boundaries of gender, faith, empire, and identity.

In The Immortal Journeys of Isabelle Eberhardt, acclaimed scholar Hédi D. Jaouad offers a bold reexamination of the Swiss-born writer and adventurer whose short life (1877–1904) has long been romanticized, misread, or exoticized. Unlike previous biographies, this book centers the profound relationship between Eberhardt’s writing and the geographies she crossed—revealing how her identity, art, and inner life were shaped not by chronology, but by place. Her story is not one of linear progress, but of dislocation and expansion—where belonging is fluid, and selfhood is constantly rewritten across deserts, ports, souks, and borderlands.

Divided into two parts—“Isabelle Bound” and “Isabelle Unbound”—the book traces Eberhardt’s evolution from a precocious outcast in Geneva to a shape-shifting wanderer in colonial North Africa who lived disguised as an Arab man, converted to Islam, joined a Sufi brotherhood, and fiercely challenged the moral and political boundaries of her time. Jaouad explores how Eberhardt’s spatial existence—dizzyingly mobile, vividly immersive—fueled a kind of life writing that is inseparable from place writing. Her diaries and sketches reveal a philosophy of motion as meaning: to cross into new terrain was, for her, to cross into new dimensions of self.

Sexually ambiguous, spiritually uncontainable, and politically subversive, Eberhardt's life was lived in deliberate defiance of colonial norms and gendered expectations. Yet she remains difficult to categorize—part saint, part scandal, part cipher. Jaouad’s approach, grounded in both literary analysis and postcolonial insight, clears away the myth and restores Eberhardt’s full human intensity. He neither sanitizes her kif-fueled escapades nor sensationalizes her untimely death in a flash flood at Aïn Séfra. Instead, he shows how her lived experience was always tethered to the landscapes she inhabited.

For readers captivated by outsider lives, feminist iconoclasts, and the search for personal sovereignty, The Immortal Journeys of Isabelle Eberhardt is a landmark biography. It lets Eberhardt emerge not as a symbol or mirage, but as a fiercely real figure—forever on the move, and more relevant now than ever.

Aram Saroyan, minimalist poet, author, and son of William Saroyan, reflects on a life shaped by art, fame, and fractured family with a behind-the-scenes view of American cultural life from the 1950s onward, including rare photos and stories of mingling with creative luminaries from Richard Avedon to Marilyn Monroe.

In Before I Forget: A Memoir, Aram Saroyan, traces the highlights of his creative life in Manhattan, Los Angeles, London, and Bolinas. At fourteen he was an after-school apprentice in Richard Avedon's New York studio, taking part in the iconic photographer's fashion and portrait sessions that included Marilyn Monroe. What influences sanctioned his controversial poem “lighght”? An experience after school during high school proves to be an enduring touchstone of his vocation. The son of the beloved author William Saroyan and step-son of Walter Matthau, Saroyan probes the fallout of his father and mother's broken marriage and lessons gleaned in their wake, with memories of his eight-year-old self cast out on the comic sea of Beverly Hills in the fifties. The memoir is capped by two never-before-published minimalist novellas, offering a fictionalized examination of Saroyan's later years. Also included are assorted vintage photos from the author's personal archives.

A bold, unflinching memoir from the front lines of American protest by lifelong activist Nancy Kurshan. “For readers still trying to figure out what the “new left” was about, this is THE book to read.” —Robin Morgan, Author, Activist

In Levitating the Pentagon and Other Uplifting Stories, longtime activist Nancy Kurshan offers a vivid, woman’s-eye view of seven decades of radical social change. From the founding of the Yippies and the theatrical feminist resistance of W.I.T.C.H., to solidarity work with political prisoners and indigenous liberation movements, Kurshan’s life chronicles the evolution of the U.S. Left—from civil rights to antiwar to feminist, abolitionist, and internationalist struggles.

Kurshan was not just a witness—she was a key player. She marched at the first major Vietnam War protest in D.C., co-organized the 1967 "levitation" of the Pentagon, and ran the streets of Chicago during the 1968 Democratic National Convention. She was in court for the Chicago 8 Conspiracy Trial. She traveled to North Vietnam in 1970, and returned four decades later as an honored guest. This insider’s account brings to life a half-century of resistance—from the shadow of McCarthyism to today’s fights for justice. Along the way, Kurshan reflects on the internal tensions of the movements she helped shape—especially the fraught intersection between radical politics and emergent feminist consciousness.

More than a memoir, Levitating the Pentagon is a vital historical document and a passionate call to action, grounded in an ethic of humility and truth. As African revolutionary Amilcar Cabral once said, “Tell no lies and claim no easy victories”—a motto Kurshan lives up to in life, and in this captivating memoir.

Includes a foreword by Bernardine Dohrn (Weather Underground), preface by José López, (Puerto Rican Cultural Center, Chicago), and afterword by Pat Thomas (Jerry Rubin/Yippies biographer).

“A dazzling tie-dye tapestry that brings a well-covered corner of American history to vivid life. It’s a trip.” —Publishers Weekly

When San Francisco gallery owner Freddie Dorn gets rid of the city’s most ruthless drug dealer in the summer of ’69, he becomes an unlikely player in a deadly game—hunted by the mafia, courted by the cops, and risking everything if his hippie friends learn the truth.

The Summer of Love has soured. What was once a utopia of free-spirited idealism has rotted into a crime-ridden nightmare of heroin overdoses and tainted psychedelics. For Freddie, the breaking point comes when a former girlfriend dies from an overdose, and his best friend Van Monk loses his mind to bad acid. Determined to cleanse his neighborhood of the worst drug scourge, he secretly aligns with the SFPD to target the infamous Rat-Man Rathkin. But when their late-night meeting on the Golden Gate Bridge ends with the accidental death of the dealer, Dorn’s life takes a dangerous turn.

The cops are glad to be rid of the dealer. The West Coast Mob is also satisfied—Rathkin owed them a lot of money. But now both the cops and the mob see Dorn as a useful tool. With art sales lagging and rent due, he reluctantly agrees to serve as a “private third eye” for hire, feeding intel to both sides while vowing to only target the most dangerous criminals. But as he navigates a world of undercover detectives, mobsters, and counterculture cults—rescuing a young woman from a cult, dodging the corrupt “Hippie Frankenstein,” and delivering bribe money between criminals—Dorn’s carefully constructed double life starts to unravel.

Juggling a fractured love life with Alison and a fragile friendship with Van Monk, Freddie lives in constant fear of discovery. Because in 1969, nothing is worse than being outed as a narc. And if the wrong people find out, it won’t just be his reputation at stake—it’ll be his life.

Max Talley is the award-winning author of more than 50 short stories and essays, plus several mystery and horror novels, including Santa Fe Psychosis and Yesterday We Forget Tomorrow. He lives in Santa Barbara, CA.

“Think Mean Girls on uppers. By turns savage and sympathetic, Heather Colley’s The Gilded Butterfly Effect skewers the absurd theatre of college life with ferocious wit and style.” —Damian Fowler, author of Falling Through Clouds

Fans of Mona Awad’s Bunny and Ottessa Moshfegh’s My Year of Rest and Relaxation rejoice—your newest “weird girl” antiheroes are finally here.

When introverted loner Penny transfers to a Midwest university in search of the all-American college experience, she finds herself under the intoxicating influence of Stella, a glamorous, damaged sorority girl with a razor-sharp wit and a bottle full of secrets. As their unlikely friendship deepens into obsession, both young women spiral into a hall of mirrors—haunted by frat-house cruelties, prescription drug dependencies, and the brutal expectations of modern femininity.

Narrated in alternating voices, The Gilded Butterfly Effect exposes the glossy absurdities and grim realities of contemporary campus life, exploring themes of body dysmorphia, mental health, sexual assault, and peer manipulation with both ferocity and humor. This acerbic, atmospheric debut asks: how much of ourselves do we lose when trying to belong?

A darkly comic and unflinching feminist campus novel for the age of prescription pills, impossible beauty standards, and weaponized friendships.

“In this fun fantasy novel, a girl explores her sense of identity and purpose in a world where toys come alive.” —Foreword Reviews

In Lies of a Toymaker, a retelling of the classic Pinocchio, Paige, a queer teen and wooden toymaker’s daughter, is slowly turning into wood, and must cross the demonic Land of Toys to stop the evil Deathsprites before they destroy her world.

Award-winning author Kelly Jacobson (Tink and Wendy, Robin and Her Misfits) delivers her latest fairytale retelling in this reimagining of the fairytale classic Pinocchio.

Paige (a queer 18-year-old girl) is a wooden toymaker’s daughter dragged from state to state as her mother, Petta Vitaly, hawks her creations from their caravan. When they finally return to Petta’s hometown, Paige discovers Toy Palace, her family’s animatronic toy business, but she keeps the discovery from her mother—only to find that she has begun to turn into a wooden marionette.

Paige breaks into Toy Palace and discovers a captive fairy in one of the upper rooms of Toy Palace, Prince Alexio, who shows her that an entire realm, the Land of Toys, has been destroyed by fairies called the Deathsprites—and that her family has been using Prince Alexio’s powers to help the evil fairies gain power through the animatronic toys they have been selling for the last eighteen years.

Paige runs away from Toy Palace and the captive prince, only to have her mother rescue him instead. He finds Paige and sneaks her into the Land of Toys, where the Deathsprites have been turning sweet toys into terrible monsters determined to kill everything in their path. With the help of the talking cricket and Paige’s newfound strength as a marionette, the two must cross the realm of piled toy parts and frightful creations to stop the Deathsprites from making a portal to Earth that will bring destruction on that planet, too.

Lies of a Toymaker is a queer feminist YA retelling of the classic that reexamines what it means to “lie” for the benefit of others, and how the lines between truth and fiction are not always as clear as they seem. The book is told from several different perspectives, but follows Paige’s journey most centrally. Many classics from the original story make an appearance, such as the whale, the talking cricket, the fox and the cat, and the Fairy with Azure Hair.

Fifty years after the end of the Vietnam War, literary voices of the Vietnamese-American diaspora as well as Vietnam-based authors speak to the experience of those who left and those who stayed in THE COLORS OF APRIL, a collection of new short fiction curated by award-winning translators and editors Quan Manh Ha and Cab Tran.

For much of the twentieth century, Vietnam played an outsized role on the global stage, charting the destinies of superpowers and reshaping the world’s politics. Now fifty years after the end of the Vietnam War comes an anthology of fiction that finally speaks to the global Vietnamese experience: voices of both those who left and those who stayed, what was gained and lost in the half century since, and—for the generations that followed—what it means to be Vietnamese.

More than two dozen distinct literary voices are featured in this collection, including Viet Thanh Nguyen (Pulitzer Prize winner, The Sympathizer), Andrew Lam (PEN/Beyond Margins Award winner, Perfume Dreams), Barbara Tran (Lannan Foundation Award winner, In the Mynah Bird's Own Words), Vu Tran (Whiting Award winner, Dragonfish) and many more.

The stories are as diverse in style, tone, and subject matter as the ancestral lands of the Vietnamese people. From the rubble of the Ancient Citadel in Quảng Trị to the makeshift orphanages outside Sài Gòn, from Palo Alto to a tony Lincoln Park apartment in Chicago, the narratives straddle continents and generations, the political as well as the personal. But what they share is much greater than their differences. They speak to a common language, to a culture steeped in history and myth and storytelling that vividly captures the enduring spirit of the Vietnamese people.

Editor Quan Manh Ha is Professor of English at the University of Montana and the co-translator of Other Moons: Vietnamese Short Stories of the American War and Its Aftermath, among other titles. Co-editor Cab Tran holds an MFA from University of Michigan’s Helen Zell Writers’ Program. His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in Vagabond: Bulgaria’s English Monthly, Black Warrior Review, The Iconoclast, and elsewhere. He teaches fiction for Gotham Writers Workshop. In 2023, Ha and Tran co-translated and co-edited Bảo Ninh’s Hà Nội at Midnight.

Complete list of contributors in alphabetical order: BẢO Thương, Thuy DINH, ĐỖ Thị Diệu Ngọc, Anvi HOÀNG, HOÀNG Phượng Mai, LẠI Văn Long, Andrew LAM, LÊ Phương Anh, LÊ Vũ Trường Giang, LƯU Vĩ Lân, Vi Khi NAO, NGÔ Thế Vinh, Annhien NGUYEN, NGUYỄN Minh Chuyên, NGUYỄN Huy Cường, NGUYỄN Thị Kim Hòa, NGUYỄN Mỹ Nữ, Phùng NGUYỄN, NGUYỄN Thu Trân, NGUYỄN Đức Tùng, Viet Thanh NGUYEN, Kevin D. PHAM, Tuan PHAN, Gin TO, Barbara TRAN, Elizabeth TRAN, TRẦN Thị Tú Ngọc, Vu TRAN, VĂN Xương, Christina VO, VŨ Cao Phan, and VƯƠNG Tâm

Kalynh Ngô's Vietnamese translation of the critically-acclaimed dual memoir, MY VIETNAM, YOUR VIETNAM, by Christina Vo and her father, Nghia M. Vo. A chronicle of the divergent journeys of a Vietnamese father, who fled his home country in desperation, and his American-born daughter, who ventured to Vietnam as an adult, capturing the stark contrast between their perspectives as they strive to heal the long-term wounds of war. In this captivating, heartfelt dual memoir, Christina Vo and her father, Nghia M. Vo, delve into themes of their identity, heritage, and the tragic multi-generational ordeals of war, with intertwined stories that present a multifaceted portrayal of Vietnam and its profound influence on shaping both familial bonds and individual identities across time.

Một ký sự về những hành trình khác nhau của một người cha, từng trốn khỏi Việt Nam sau chiến tranh trên một chiếc thuyền nhỏ để tìm chốn dung thân ở Hoa Kỳ, và cô con gái của ông, người sinh ra ở Mỹ, đã mạo hiểm đến Việt Nam khi trưởng thành. Hồi ký đồng hành của cha và con ghi lại sự tương phản hoàn toàn trong quan điểm của họ về quê hương Việt Nam, khi họ tìm kiếm sự đồng điệu và một con đường đưa đến sự hàn gắn cho nhau. Kalynh Ngô, Dịch

Washington, DC’s notorious detective, former street denizen Dickie Cornish, faces off with bloodthirsty cops and the justice department in the latest thrilling release by award-winning noir author Christopher Chambers.

In StreetWhys, underground detective Dickie Cornish faces a vindictive murder rap from his past if he doesn’t agree to help prove that the fentanyl ravaging the streets of DC is bankrolled by shadowy donors of a certain former president. Broke and desperate, Cornish soon finds himself on a collision course with shady public defenders and corrupt police officers, forcing him to use his street connections to flip their plan. Or die.

Chambers’s Dickie Cornish series has met with widespread critical acclaim. Publishers Weekly dubbed the series debut, Scavenger, “[A] no-holds-barred crime novel...a 21st-century twist on traditional hardboiled noir.” The Strand Magazine selected Standalone, the second book in the series, as one of the “Top 25 Mystery Novels of the Year,” adding “It’s apparent that the modern heir to Chandler, Woolrich, and Cain is Christopher Chambers, enough said.” And renowned crime author George Pelecanos raves that the series "really nails Washington, DC in the current environment."

Chambers is an award winning author of mystery, noir, pulp, and graphic novels. He sits on the board of the Bouchercon World Mystery Writers Convention and is a judge for Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Awards. He lives in Washington, DC.

Best New Books for Spring 2025! —Bustle

Desperate to find a plot for her second novel, author Mallory Shepard attends her estranged best friend’s wedding in Austin, where she and six friends try to settle old scores—with unexpected deadly consequences—in this debut for fans of Veronica Mars, Tara Isabella Burton, and Tana French.

In PEOPLE ARE TALKING, the debut novel by Amanda Eisenberg, Mallory Shepard has her back against the wall. Her girlfriend dumped her, her landlord wants to evict her and her literary agent is about to drop her—unless she can come up with a compelling follow-up to her debut novel. A book deal would solve her problems, which is why she agrees to attend an estranged college friend’s wedding in Texas. It’ll be the first time she’s seen that friend group since an incident tore them apart nine years earlier, and Mal intends to secretly squeeze her ex-friends for information. The plan is nearly foolproof, except that her still-raw hurt and righteous anger threatens to expose her agenda, as does her weakness for her college nemesis: Andrew Rosen.

Danit Leibowitz is—was Mal’s best friend. Together they transformed the Newts, a secret society, into a group that tracks alleged rapists long after they graduated from the prestigious halls of Weston College. Now a rising lefty political star, Dani is asked to come up with another plan to reinvent the Newts, which Gen Z deems out of touch amid ever-changing gender and sex politics. When she learns Mal will be there, Dani hatches a plan to appease the Newts and win back her friend, all in 72 hours.

Crammed into an Austin rental for the weekend, the six friends seek to settle old scores and win back ex-friends and lovers. But when the Newts infiltrate the wedding, with deadly consequences, Mal and Dani are forced to consider whether they’re willing to separate the personal from the political—even at the expense of protecting the people they love.

The Maintenant series, established in 2008, explores themes of politics, humanity, philosophy, and current concerns from an antiwar, anarchic (and often eye-opening) perspective. Past issues include work by artists Mark Kostabi, Raymond Pettibon, Joel Hubaut, Heide Hatry, Avelino de Araujo, Pawel Kuczynski, Inas Al-Soqi, Giovanni Fontana, Nicole Eisenmann, Syporca Whandal, and Kazunori Murakami; past writers have included Gerard Malanga, Charles Plymell, Andrei Codrescu, Harry E. Northup, Malik Crumpler, Maw Shein Win, and more, with a strong contingent of artist-writers from the world of punk rock, including Thurston Moore, Mike Watt, Bibbe Hanson and more. 

In a small, idyllic town in North Dakota, 17-year-old Ophelia Johnson and five other teens inherit the powers of the ancient gods—Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Artemis, Apollo, and Ares—and embark on a mission from the Vessel of Destiny to find the missing Fates, restore the Codex, and save the ancient world.

Still grieving the recent and mysterious death of her father, Ophelia begins to unravel the secrets woven into her family’s history as she and her friends plunge into the quest of a lifetime. Armed only with powers they don’t totally understand, Ophelia, Roman, Cassius, Olivia, Alessia, and Baxter are soon immersed in a mythical chess match upon which rests the fate of the universe. As they journey into a world of blood pacts and war, the diverse teens find more than they bargained for, and Ophelia discovers a family tie that might mean the ensuing chaos and destruction is her fault. Of Blood and Lightning is a contemporary YA fantasy (age 14-18) with a gripping and fresh twist on Greek mythology as the ancient pantheon of gods inhabit an ensemble of diverse teenaged characters.

Debut author Micki Janae is a writer on a mission. Tired of growing up with sparse representation of young Black women in fantasy, Janae has taken matters into her own hands to craft a compelling novel full of ­intricate world-building, electrifying storytelling, and compelling diverse characters. Of Blood and Lightning will appeal to lovers of Rick Riordan, Alexandria Bracken, and Tracy Deonn.

Unable to afford rent, Mia—a community college student—lives out of her car, cleaning houses of the well-to-do in the LA area to meet her shoestring budget. Then Covid hits, and everything changes.

For people living in houses and apartments, with stay-at-home jobs, the pandemic was inconvenient. For Mia—a student and housekeeper whose budget is so tight she lives in her car—the pandemic destroys the very source of her paltry income. Fortunately, gutsy and funny Mia is a determined survivor. After weeks of cutting her limited spending even further, missing meals along the way, her wealthy employers become desperate for her services again. This time, she’s determined not to let them take advantage of her as they have in the past. Her newfound confidence gives her new hope as she works to escape the shackles of poverty on her own terms. Sally Rooney meets Elizabeth Strout in this brilliant fiction debut.

In MAINTENANT 18, contemporary dada writers and artists from around the world redistribute a wealth of new ideas, to shape public opinion using the theme of PLUTOCRAZY. “Timely and relevant.” —Tribe LA Magazine.  “Proof that dada is not dead.” —MADJAN Magazine (Serbia)

Creativity is the currency here and the amount has no limit. In nearly 250 pages of full color art and incisive writing, MAINTENANT 18 separates Merch and State by forging a non-monetary vision which exposes strategies to achieve socio-political and economic equality and serves against the military-industrialist complex linking warfare with capitalism, shining a light through every crack for “we the people.” Features the work of artist and writers from around the world, including cover art by Molly Crabapple.

A fascinating collection of contemporary dada art and writing from around the world that proves dada continues to be a pertinent artistic response to the madness of modern society. As author Richard Loranger (Mammal) notes: “Three Rooms Press, which has been producing Maintenant since 2008, calls this a journal, but it’s more like a series of pageants, or more to the point, anti-pageants, glorious protest parades that fill the streets with punk and jazz and graffiti and wry ire, pausing before the grandstand only to burn flags, fling mirrors, and enact human realness. And what better time for it!”

The Maintenant series, established in 2008, explores themes of politics, humanity, philosophy, and current concerns from an antiwar, anarchic (and often eye-opening) perspective. Past issues include work by artists Mark Kostabi, Raymond Pettibon, Joel Hubaut, Heide Hatry, Avelino de Araujo, Pawel Kuczynski, Inas Al-Soqi, Giovanni Fontana, Nicole Eisenmann, Syporca Whandal, and Kazunori Murakami; past writers have included Gerard Malanga, Charles Plymell, Andrei Codrescu, Harry E. Northup, Malik Crumpler, Maw Shein Win, and more, with a strong contingent of artist-writers from the world of punk rock, including Thurston Moore, Exene Cervenka, Alice Bag, Mike Watt, Bibbe Hanson and more. 

Complete list of contributors to Maintenant 18:
Derek Adams, Jamika Ajalon, Youssef Alaoui, Linda J. Albertano, Austin Alexis, Joel Allegretti, Maureen Alsop, Santiago Amaya, allison anne, Wayne Atherton, Liz Axelrod, Mahnaz Badihian, David Barnes, Amy Barone, Vittore Baroni, Anthony Bartolla, Gedley Belchior Braga, Regina Lafay Bellamy, C. Mehrl Bennett, Volodymyr Bilyk, Mark Blickley, Jill Blocker, Bob Branaman, Anaïs Bucher, Imanol Buisan, Fork Burke, Mary Campbell, Billy Cancel, Angela Caporaso, Peter Carlaftes, Nick Cash, Mutes César, Neeli Cherkovski, Lynette Clennell, Terese Coe, Giuseppe Colarusso, Chuck Connelly, Jack Cooper, Andrei Cordrescu, Lars Crosby, Malik Crumpler, Rafeal Cruz, Jeffrey Cyphers Wright, Tchello D’Barros, Wer Da, Steve Dalachinsky, Lillian Davies, Allison A. Davis, Holly Day, Avelino De Araujo, Laine Derr, Dario Roberto Dioli, Rachel Dixon, Sam Dodson, Pete Dolack, Gabriel Don, Carol Dorf, Paul Dorn, Sophie Dunér, Nicole Eisenman, Alejandro Escude, Salvatore Esposito, Massimo Fantuzzi, Jeff Farr, Becky Fawcett, Rich Ferguson, Luc Fierens, Maria Filek, Kathleen Florence, Giovanni Fontana, Michael C. Ford, Robert C. Ford, Dorothy Friedman, Thomas Fucaloro, Ignacio Galilea, Sandra Gea, Michael Georg Bregel, Kat Georges, Christian Georgescu, Mimi German, Robert Gibbons, Gordon Gilbert, Allen Ginsberg, Ed Go, Gemma Goette, S.A. Griffin, Fausto Grossi, Egon Guenther, Genco Gulan, Janet Hamill, Bibbe Hansen, Jesper Hasseltoft, Heide Hatry, Robert Hieger, Karen Hildebrand, Mark Hoefer, Bob Holman, Matthew Hupert, Annaliese Jakimides, Marta Janik, Ruud Janssen, Mathais Jansson, Lisa Marie Järlborn, Jerry Johnson, Boni Joi, Colleen Surprise Jones, Milana Juventa, Jerry Kamstra, Suzi Kaplan Olmsted, Marina Kazakova, Linda Kleinbub, Dr. C. Kleinhans, Doug Knott, Ron Kolm, Daniel Kolm, Mark Kostabi, Eleni Kourti, Paweł Kuczyński, Bénédicte Kusendila, D.L. Lang, Wang Lan, Gary Lawless, David Lawton, Serge Lecomte, Jane LeCroy, Sarah Legow, Margaret Leonard, Patricia Leonard, Linda Lerner, Misa Levey, Alexander Limarev, Jon Longhi, Richard Loranger, Mina Loy, Maria Magnetic, Sara Maino, Gio Makyo, Jaan Malin, Sophie Malleret, Robyn Mallery, Jessica Manack, Fred Marchant, Elena Marini, Sofie Matonis, Malak Mattar, Norm Mattox, Bronwyn Mauldin, Jesse McCloskey, Prince McNally, Philip Meersman, Sharon Mesmer, Charles Mingus III, Lois Kagan Mingus, Andriana Minou, Richard Modiano, Mike M. Mollett, Thurston Moore, Luiz Morgadinho, Aleksandar Mrdjen, Carli Munoz, Larry Myers, Uche Nduka, James B. Nicola, Gerald Nicosia, Harry E. Northup, Irina Tall Novikova, Anna O’Meara, Valery Oisteanu, Ruth Oisteanu, Marc Olmsted, Jane Ormerod, Yuko Otomo, Bibiana Padilla-Maltos, Csaba Pal, Ersébet Palásti, Gay Pasley, Giorgia Pavlidou, Puma Perl, Robert Petrick, Raymond Pettibon, Charles Plymell, Kai Pohl, Renaat Ramon, Nicca Ray, Sabine Remy, Mado Reznik, Travis Richardson, Wes Rickert, Walter Robinson, Benjamin Robinson, Edel Rodriguez, Thaddeus Rutkowski, Martina Salisbury, Phil Scalia, William Seaton, Beatriz Seelaender, Jack Seiei, Silvio Severino, Sheree Shatsky, Susan Shup, Bertholdus Sibum, Angela Sloan, Phil Demise Smith, Marina Solé, J. R. Solonche, Orchid Spangiafora, Marilyn Stablein, Gerd Stern, Eva Helene Stern***, Richard Stone, W. K. Stratton, Belinda Subraman, Neal Skooter Taylor, Fred Tomaselli, Zev Torres, John J. Trause, Uzomah Ugwu, Miss Unity, Nico Vassilakis, Jimmy Vega, Bart Verburg, Maggs Vibo, Benito Villa, Lynnea Villanova, Voxx Voltair, Barranca Vos, Matina Voussou, Silvia Wagensberg, Anne Waldman, George Wallace, Scott Wannberg, Carl Watson, Mike Watt, Poul Weile, Ingrid Wendt, Michael Whalen, Ben White, Allison Whittenberg, A. D. Winans, Francine Witte, Yaryan, Lorene Zarou-Zouzounis, Larry Zdeb, Elzbieta Zdunek, Nina Zivancevic, Joanie HF Zosike

“Most Anticipated Feminist Books of 2024” —Ms. Magazine

A chronicle of the divergent journeys of a Vietnamese father, who fled his home country in desperation, and his American-born daughter, who ventured to Vietnam as an adult, capturing the stark contrast between their perspectives as they strive to heal the long-term wounds of war refugees.

In this captivating, heartfelt dual memoir, Christina Vo and her father, Nghia M. Vo, delve into themes of their identity, heritage, and the tragic multi-generational ordeals of war, with intertwined stories that present a multifaceted portrayal of Vietnam and its profound influence on shaping both familial bonds and individual identities across time.

Nghia M. Vo left Vietnam in April 1975 with only the clothes on his back, following the US withdrawal of troops and the fall of Saigon. After a harrowing two month journey, he found himself in a refugee camp outside Harrisburg, Pennsylvania where he began the painful process of reconnecting with his family and rebuilding his life as a medical doctor. Christina Vo, Nghia’s daughter, grew up in the US. As a restless young adult, she felt a longing to connect with her heritage and soon moved to Hanoi in the former North Vietnam—much to her father's distress—to discover a country that had changed dramatically since the war, yet retained many of the ancient traits experienced by her ancestors.

Captivating in its fluid movement and evocative depictions of place, My Vietnam, Your Vietnam offers readers a rich, multilayered exploration of Vietnam through two very distinct voices and perspectives. The memoir's exploration of healing the trauma suffered by war refugees and their families echoes far beyond the personal experience of the two authors, providing a path to discussion of reconciliation and hope.

A whirlwind tour of San Francisco’s fabled queer bohemia in the waning days of the 20th century, as the city’s budget bon vivants work to save their eccentric lifestyles in the face of tech gentrification by LAMBDA award finalist Alvin Orloff.

Harris, San Francisco’s most annoying gay barfly, doesn’t mean to be bitchy, passive aggressive, or insulting. But he’s so bedazzled by his own critical brilliance he feels morally obliged to share his scathing opinions with the world at any and every opportunity. This irritates no one more than his roommate, Maxine, an avant-garde transsexual cabaret singer. When she overhears him badmouthing her on the phone she flies into a rage and expels him from their apartment. This crisis couldn’t come at a worse time. The year is 1999 and the “dot com” boom has rendered cheap housing nonexistent, and Harris, who works as a part-time telemarketer, is—as usual—low on funds. Will he be able to convince one of his eccentric, semi-dysfunctional friends with a rent-controlled apartment to let him move in?

Vulgarian Rhapsody immerses readers in a fading bohemia of queer dive bars, drag clubs, and countercultural cafes. The book’s narrator (a longtime frenemy of Harris who’s every bit as snarky and annoying as he is) tells the story with sadistic relish and an ironist’s eye for the absurd. Anyone feeling sickly from too many uplifting stories of personal empowerment, precious coming-of-age tales, or sugarcoated romances will find the perfect antidote in this hilariously acidic comedy of manners. A must-read for fans of Brontez Purnell, Phillippe Besson, and Ryan O’Connell.

Most Anticipated LGBTQIA+ Books: Young Adult Literature —LAMBDA Literary
Must-Have 2023 Queer Book Releases —The Nerd Daily
Most Anticipated Young Adult Books —LGBTQ Reads
Recommended LGBTQ+ YA —Reads Rainbow

Acclaimed musician Jessamyn Violet’s debut LGBTQA+ novel sizzles with a coming-of-age story set in an industry of ambition, secrets, lies, and utter joy.

Eighteen-year-old Kyla Bell dreams of one day being a professional musician... but gets little to no support from her parents. Still, she practices every day and performs locally, harboring her own secret hopes. One night, her dreams are answered in the form of sultry rocker Ruby Sky, the magnetic frontwoman of her favorite band, Glitter Tears. Ruby hears Kyla perform and asks her to join the band on keys for their upcoming tour.

In order to accept, Kyla must drop out of her Western Massachusetts high school and move to Los Angeles immediately to live with a renowned yet highly volatile producer who has agreed to put her through "rock star boot camp" in a matter of weeks. Blindsided by her emerging feelings for Ruby Sky, Kyla tumbles through the lights and shadows of the 90s music scene in Los Angeles.

“Top 25 Mystery Novels of 2022” —The Strand Magazine

“Chambers makes the smell and harrowing vibe of the mean streets of the nation’s capital come alive.” —Publishers Weekly

Dickie Cornish, Washington, DC street denizen turned unlicensed private investigator, is forced at gunpoint to track down the daughter of an ex-con, setting up a chain of events that unleashes a war within the corrupt police force, exposes shocking conduct in child services, and unearths a secret that threatens to tear the nation’s capital apart.  The second book in the Dickie Cornish mystery series, STANDALONE is a must-read for fans of S. A. Cosby, George Pelecanos, and Joe Ide.

It’s been over year since that bleak Christmas when a rich man peeled homeless, drug-addled Dickie Cornish from a steam grate, cleaned him up, and convinced him to use his street connections to track down his missing property. Now, as the summer sun bakes those same mean streets, the air is thick with crime, contagion, corruption. Dickie struggles with sobriety, anti-psychotic meds, and counseling at the VA, but manages to make a meager living as a private investigator with his sidekick, “Stripe”—until an ex-con named Al-Mayadeen Thomas sticks a gun to Dickie’s forehead and kidnaps him to a grim flophouse—a motel filled with squatters more desperate than the poor souls in the shelters. 

Thomas demands that Dickie find his daughter, missing for years from the motel in a notorious cold case. The other squatters plead for him to find their vanished children as well. Thomas takes his own life to seal Dickie’s help, Police Chief Linda Figgis hauls Dickie in, gives him a Faustian choice: she directs him to help her close the Thomas cold case, but only if he forgets about the other vanished and abused children. To his horror, Dickie finds himself in the middle of a war within the police, with either side closing in for the kill to keep the truth hidden. 

In a small Kentucky college town in 1953, two married women desperately fall in love with each other, until a moment of indiscretion threatens to destroy both their lives.

In her new adult novel, award-winning author Julia Watts creates a compelling, emotional queer tale of power and passion. Colleagues and neighbors of Samuel and Boots are more than willing to accept their married status, even though Samuel “dresses like a boy” and the pair’s relationship is one of convenience that will never be consummated. But when Samuel meets a new professor’s wife, Frances, at a faculty party, she soon falls in love, and learns the difficulty of discretion in a small town—with tragic consequences. LAMBDA award-winning author Julia Watts (Needlework, Quiver) returns to adult fiction in this heartbreaking, yet hopeful novel. Highly recommended for fans of Lauren Groff, Rosie Walsh, and Alexandria Bellefleur.

Finalist, Golden Poppy Award for Best Young Adult Fiction!

“A timeless and triumphant story of courage in the face of opposition.” —Foreword Reviews (starred review)

It’s 1974. Title IX has passed two years ago, but Louisa’s high school still refuses to fund an all girls’ basketball team. After hearing Gloria Steinem speak, Louisa learns an important lesson: “The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off.” Now what can she do but stand up and fight back?

When Louisa asks her principal to start a girls team, she’s soon viciously targeted by male coaches at her school, lied to by the school board, and dismissed as “out of line” as she fights for a fair chance to be an athlete. No Stopping Us Now is a story about finding one’s own voice through the joys of sports, love, and the power of sisterhood. Based on the author's true story, it is a compelling examination of the courage it takes to stand up for what’s right.

Young adult, LGBTQ historical fiction perfect for the 50th anniversary of Title IX.

In his impressive third volume, Peter Carlaftes digs into the beauty—and lunacy—of contemporary culture and its tendency to masque and disrupt the sustainability not just of the planet, but human nature itself.

The poems in Life in the Past Lane are both daring and discreet, ranging from full frontal assaults on political and religious cults to tender, discerning, intimate studies of the challenges of self-faith, relationships and maintaining quiet equilibrium in the noisy space of modern life.

Risk-taking and endlessly innovative, Carlaftes offers poems that dare to ask questions to which there is no answer, and to answer the unasked. It looks at the past clear-eyed, without reverence, and studies the place in the road where we are now, weaving cultural and personal memory with the currency that too-often ignores how we arrived. This extraordinary collection, relentlessly accessible, surprises with the depth of poems and the clarity of the thoughts, concepts, and execution that forged them.

Award-winning author, screenwriter, and editor Gary Phillips gathers his most thrilling, outlandish, and madcap pulp fiction in an 17-story collection that straddles the line between bizarro, science fiction, noir, and superhero classics.

Aztec vampires, astral projecting killers, oxygen stealing bombs, undercover space rangers, aliens occupying Los Angeles, right wing specters haunting the ’hood, masked vigilantes, and mad scientists in their underground lairs plotting world domination populate the stories in this rip-snorting collection. In these pages grindhouse melds with blaxploitation along with strong doses of B movie hardcore drive-in fare.

Phillips, editor of the Anthony Award-winning The Obama Inheritance: Fifteen Stories of Conspiracy Noir, and author of One-Shot Harry and Matthew Henson and the Ice Temple of Harlem, said this about pulp. “The most common definition of pulp is it’s fast-paced, a story containing out there characters and a wild plot. There is that. But certainly, as we’ve now arrived at the era of retro-pulp, these stories have elements of characterization: not just action, but a glimpse behind the steely eyes of these doers of incredible deeds.” As an added bonus, Phillips resurrects Phantasmo, a Golden Age comics character created by Black artist-writer E.C. Stoner in an all-new outing of ethereal doings (includes 4 original illustrations by cover artist Adam Shaw).

“This is hard sci-fi done right.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review). “One of the enduring classics of science fiction.” —George R.R. Martin

Deep in the future, natives of the planet Hydros, an ocean planet whose inhabitants live on artificial floating islands, force the entire human population of the island of Sorve into exile, leaving the outcasts to ponder their fate, their past, and the true purpose of humanity.

After a human offense against the natives of Hydros, the human population of the island of Sorve are ordered to leave. Forbidden on all other islands, in a flotilla of ships they seek the semi-mythical island of the Face of the Waters. During their journey they are forced to learn more about themselves, leading to questions about both religion and the purpose of Man. At the end of the novel Robert Silverberg addresses what it means to be human, and explores what unites and divides humanity.

This new edition of THE FACE OF THE WATERS, published with the author's full support, brings Silverberg’s brilliant novel back into the must-read science-fiction canon, after decades of being out of print.

Most Anticipated LGBTQIA+ Books: Young Adult Literature —LAMBDA Literary
Most Anticipated Young Adult Books —LGBTQ Reads
Recommended LGBTQ+ YA —Reads Rainbow

A roving female gang of fun-loving rebel bikers and street racers, led by Robin, agree to give back to other girls in need of help in this stunning queer mash-up of Robin Hood and Fast and Furious.

Robin and her four Misfits—Little John, White Rabbit, Daisy Chain, and Skillet—have run away from their families in order to live off the grid on their own terms. For a while, they’re hidden, safe, and happy as they commit petty crimes that provide enough to get by. All that matters is keeping their small clan alive. Then, one mission proposed by an unfriendly associate from their past reminds them of their former lives and motivates the group to a new purpose. The five Misfits develop into a league of strong individuals united by a fresh goal: do whatever it takes to help queer girls rise above oppressive laws and attitudes.

Kelly Ann Jacobson, the author of the award-winning LGBTQ+ young adult novel Tink and Wendy, is back with another diverse twist on a popular legend.

DISASTERAMA: Adventures in the Queer Underground 1977 to 1997, is the true story of Alvin Orloff who, as a shy kid from the suburbs of San Francisco, stumbled into the wild, eclectic crowd of Crazy Club Kids, Punk Rock Nutters, Goofy Goofballs, Fashion Victims, Disco Dollies, Happy Hustlers, and Dizzy Twinks of post-Stonewall American queer culture of the late 1970s, only to see the “subterranean lavender twilit shadow world of the gay ghetto” ravished by AIDS in the 1980s. Includes an introduction by Alexander Chee (How to Write an Autobiographical Novel.
In Disasterama, Orloff recalls the delirious adventures of his youth—from San Francisco to Los Angeles to New York—where insane nights, deep friendships with the creatives of the underground, and thrilling bi-coastal living led to a free-spirited life of art, manic performance, high camp antics, and exotic sexual encounters, until AIDS threatened to destroy everything he lived for.
In his introduction, award-winning essayist and novelist Alexander Chee notes, "There’s a strange love I have for these times that can be hard to explain. How can I love what I lived through from a time that was as ‘bad’ as that? But as I read this, and those days came into view again, what I think of that love now is that there was a beauty to the beauty you found then that was made the more fierce by the horror of what was happening. If you could still find the worth of your life, still find sex, love, friendship, your own self-worth amid these attempts by the state at erasure and the ravages of the AIDS epidemic, then it had the strength of something forged in fire."

Orloff looks past the politics of AIDS to the people on the ground, friends of his who did not survive AIDS’ wrath—the boys in black leather jackets and cackling queens in tacky frocks—remembering them not as victims, but as people who loved life, loved fun, and who were a part of the insane jigsaw of Orloff’s friends. Disasterama showcases Orloff's wit and poignancy as he relays the true tale of how a bunch of pathologically flippant kids floundered through a deadly disaster, and, struggled to keep the spirit of camp and radicalism alive, even as their friends lost their lives to the plague.

“In this illuminating debut, Marshall offers an outsider’s look into Japanese culture via its music . . . Throughout, her sharp observations are interspersed with moving moments of introspection . . . This transportive work is a thrilling escape.” —Publishers Weekly

Fulbright and mtvU sponsored scholar Jillian Marshall offers honest and often humorous vignettes that delve far beyond Western stereotypes of Japanese culture to portray a society’s deep relationship with music, and what it means to listen and understand as a cultural outsider.

Following a decade of back-and-forth across the Pacific while researching her doctoral thesis in ethnomusicology, JAPANTHEM author Jillian Marshall reveals contemporary Japan through a prism of magic, serendipity, frustration, unique underground culture, learning life lessons the hard way, and an insatiable curiosity for the human spirit. The book’s twenty vignettes — including what it’s like to be subtly bullied by your Buddhist dance teacher, go to a secret rave in woods near Mt. Fuji, meet a pop star at a basement club while tipsy, and experience a nuclear disaster unfold by the minute — are based off first-hand experience, and illustrate music’s fascinating relationship to (Japanese) society with honesty, intelligence, and humor. JAPANTHEM offers a uniquely nuanced portrayal of life in the Land of the Rising Sun — while encouraging us to listen more deeply in (and to) Japan in the process.

These days you hear a lot about NET ZERO, in reference to steps being taken to combat climate change. NET ZERO refers to the balance between the amount of greenhouse gas produced and the amount removed from the atmosphere. At this time, NET ZERO is an ambition lacking absolute definition as corporate energy titans pledge distant adherence without clear or immediate commitments to act. In fact, these so-called “innovative” scions of wealth seem to not even be able to remove the layer of hot air greenhouse gases spewing from the mouths of the pundits and politicos pushing the affirmation of their endlessly pernicious promises. Enter NYET ZERO.

With NYET ZERO, MAINTENANT 16 makes an artistic power grab using DADA—in the form of original art, poetry, and writing aimed at exposing the hypocrisy of the engine-idle rich on recycled paper. We can change the now with art and thought. Otherwise, the future has NOTENTIAL.

When the corporate powers that be control all of the energy resources, Art Becomes A Necessity!!! Or as Tristen Tzara put it in his Dada Manifesto, “Dada Dada Dada, a roaring of tense colors, and interlacing of opposites and of all contradictions, grotesques, inconsistencies: LIFE!”

For the first time since debuting in 2008,  MAINTENANT 16 includes work from all seven continents on the planet, with more than 250 creators from 35 countries. The MAINTENANT series gathers the work of internationally-renowned contemporary Dada artists and writers. MAINTENANT 16 offers compelling proof that concepts of Dada continue to serve as a catalyst to creators more than a century later.  

Contributors to Maintenant 16 include: Derek Adams • Susan Shoshannah Adler • Jamika Ajalon • Ina Al-soqi • Youssef Alaoui • Linda J. Albertano • Austin Alexis • Joel Allegretti • Santiago Amaya • Avelino de Araujo • Wayne Atherton • Liz Axelrod • Mahnaz Badihian • Amy Barone • Vittore Baroni • Amy Bassin • Brent Bechtel • Peter Beda • Regina Lafay Bellamy • C. Mehrl Bennett • Carla Bertola • Volodymyr Bilyk • József Bíró • Lucy Jane Bledsoe • Mark Blickley • Karen Boissonneault-Gauthier • Clemente Botelho • Bob Branaman • Kathy Bruce • Michael Lane Bruner • Imanol Buisan • Fork Burke • Billy Cancel • Angela Caporaso • Peter Carlaftes • Mutes César • Peter Ciccariello • Hal Citron • Lynette Clennell • Andrei Codrescu • Terese Coe • Roger Conover • Anthony Cox • Lars Crosby • Malik Ameer Crumpler • Tchello d’Barros • Wer Da • Steve Dalachinsky • Allison A. Davis • Heather Dawish • Holly Day • Quỳnh Iris de Prelle • Laylah DeLautréamont • Lily Despic • Sam Dodson • Bruce Louis Dodson • Gabriel Don • Carol Dorf • Robert Duncan • Malcolm Easton • Salvatore Esposito • Jeff Farr • Becky Fawcett • Federico Federici • Rich Ferguson • Cheryl J. Fish • Kathleen Florence • Giovanni Fontana • Robert C. Ford • Kofi Fosu Forson • Patrick Forsythe • Abigail Frankfurt • Dorothy Friedman • Thomas Fucaloro • Ignacio Galilea • Sandra Gea • Kat Georges • Christian Georgescu • Robert Anthony Gibbons • Mark Glista • Gemma Goette • Gustavo Gómez-Mejía • S.A. Griffin • Fausto Grossi • Meghan Grupposo • Egon Guenther • Genco Gulan • Elancharan Gunasekaran • Ana-Maria Guta • Janet Hamill • Bibbe Hansen • Jesper Hasseltoft • Heide Hatry • Erica ESH Henry • Aimee Herman • Jan Herman • Karen Hildebrand • Mark Hoefer • Lawrence Holzworth • Richard Humann • Matthew Hupert • Frie J. Jacobs • Ayushi Jain • Annaliese Jakimides • Mathias Jansson • Jerry T. Johnson • Boni Joi • Milana Juventa • Marina Kazakova • Anthony D. Kelly • Rose Knapp • Doug Knott • Ron Kolm • Mark Kostabi • Eleni Kourti • Hope Kroll • Paweł Kuczyński • Zygimantas Kudirka • Bénédicte Kusendila • David Lawton • Serge Lecomte • Jane LeCroy • Sarah Legow • Patricia Leonard • Linda Lerner • Martin H. Levinson • Alexander Limarev • Richard Loranger • Ruggero Maggi • Sara Maino • Gerard Malanga • Jaan Malin • Sophie Malleret • Mary Rose Manspeaker • Philippe Marcade • Fred Marchant • Eliette Markhbein • Bronwyn Mauldin • Jesse McCloskey • Philip Meersman • Lois Kagan Mingus • Charles Mingus III • Julian Mithra • Richard Modiano • Mike M. Mollett • Thurston Moore • Luiz Morgadinho • Alexander Nderitu • Dustin Nelson • J. D. Nelson • Karen Neuberg • Gerald Nicosia • Lance Nizami • Harry E. Northup • Anna Gabrielle O’Meara • Ruth Oisteanu • Valery Oisteanu • Suzi Kaplan Olmsted • Marc Olmsted • John Olson • Jane Ormerod • Yuko Otomo • Bibiana Padilla Maltos • Csaba Pal • Lisa Panepinto • Pamela Papino-Wood • Gay Pasley • John S. Paul • Oladipo Kehinde Paul • Giorgia Pavlidou • Puma Perl • Raymond Pettibon • Charles Plymell • Renaat Ramon • Nicca Ray • Mado Reznik • Travis Richardson • Wes Rickert • Benjamin Robinson • Radoslav Rochallyi • L. Rose • Alison Ross • Martina Salisbury • William Seaton • Jack Seiei • Silvio Severino • Susan Shup • Bertholdus Sibum • Paul Siegell • Denise Silk-Martelli • Zoltan Simon • Lily Simonson • Neal Skooter Taylor (LA Dada) • Angela Sloan • Valerie Sofranko • Paul Sohar • Pere Sousa • Orchid Spangiafora • Dd. Spungin • Marilyn Stablein • Laurie Steelink • J. J. Steinfeld • Christine Sloan Stoddard • Thomas Stolmar • Rich Stone • W. K. Stratton • Belinda Subraman • Kelly Talbot • Zev Torres • John J. Trause • Ann Firestone Ungar • Yrik-Max Valentonis • Anoek van Praag • Lynnea Villanova • Barbara Vos • Matina Vossou • Silvia Wagensberg • George Wallace • Scott Wannberg • Mike Watt • Poul R. Weile • Syporca Whandal • Brenda Whiteway • Maw Shein Win • A. D. Winans • Tracy Witt • Francine Witte • Jeffrey Cyphers Wright • Yaryan • Gerald Yelle • Karen Romano Young • Andrena Zawinski • Larry Zdeb • Nina Živančević • Joanie HF Zosike

An essential new perspective on Nicholas Ray—legendary Hollywood director of Rebel Without a Cause—by his daughter and namesake Nicca, who examines her father's genius and demons, unraveling myths to illuminate who he really was, what drove him to create, and how his brilliant creativity and his flagrant dark side both affected and inspired his daughter, Nicca Ray.

Nicholas Ray was cinema. The legendary director was an innovative force who dramatically changed the Hollywood landscape. He was also Nicca Ray’s dad, Nick.

After he disappeared from her life in 1964, Nicca began to imagine her father as a hero who would return and whisk her away from a life in LA where she never felt safe. However, the man who finally reappeared was not the legendary figure she dreamed of. Through his movies and letters along with her intimate interviews of family members and Hollywood icons, Nicca stitches together the seemingly disparate pieces of the real Nicholas Ray: A man so devoted to his craft he insisted on spending the last hours of his life surrounded by a film crew; a man who lost everything to drugs and gambling; an absentee father she longed to connect with.

Both well-researched and deeply personal, Ray by Ray: A Daughter's Take on the Legend of Nicholas Ray unravels the lives entangled in Nick’s, including those of Gloria Grahame, Dennis Hopper, John Houseman, and the Ray family itself. Nicca tracks her father’s whereabouts during the years he was missing from her life and works to reconcile his artistry with his persona. In discovering the truth about her father, she navigates her own path beyond the shadows cast by the Golden Age of Hollywood.

An essential new perspective on Nicholas Ray, with more than 50 photos and letters from the author's personal archive, Ray by Ray redefines this legendary figure through the eyes of a daughter searching for the truth about her father.

When a war ends provisionally, the agreement is called a ceasefire. But when peace ends, there is only war. War and peace are co-dependent. Perhaps it is now time for a “Peacefire.” 

In Maintenant 17: A Journal of Contemporary Dada Writing and Art, nearly 250 artists from more than 40 countries explore the concept of the end of both war and peace, exploring provocative outsider ideas as dada has done since its inception. With searing cover art by Uta Kaxniashvili, this issue of the renowned journal elaborates on dada’s original premise as an antiwar movement.

The Maintenant series, established in 2008, explores themes of politics, humanity, philosophy, and current concerns from an antiwar, anarchic (and often eye-opening) perspective. Past issues include work by artists Mark Kostabi, Raymond Pettibon, Joel Hubaut, Heide Hatry, Avelino de Araujo, Pawel Kuczynski, Inas Al-Soqi, Giovanni Fontana, Nicole Eisenmann, Syporca Whandal, and Kazunori Murakami; past writers have included Gerard Malanga, Charles Plymell, Andrei Codrescu, Harry E. Northup, Malik Crumpler, Maw Shein Win, and more, with a strong contingent of artist-writers from the world of punk rock, including Thurston Moore, Mike Watt, Bibbe Hanson and more.

Critics have praised the series since its inception. Seattle Book Review calls Maintenant, “A smorgasbord for those who are sick and tired of it.” Tribe LA dubs the journal, "A compilation of leading Dada-influenced artists from around the world that is timely and relevant.” Serbia's Madjan Magazine proclaims that the Maintenant series proves "Dada is not dead." The Maintenant series is archived in leading institutions worldwide, including Museum of Modern Art New York.

Contributors to Maintenant 17 include: Derek Adams • Mariam Ahmed • Jamika Ajalon • Youssef Alaoui • Linda J. Albertano • Austin Alexis • Joel Allegretti • Daina Almario-Kopp • Hala Alyan • Jim Andrews • Wayne Atherton • Liz Axelrod • Mahnaz Badihian • David Barnes • Amy Barone • Vittore Baroni • Tchello d’ Barros • Gaby Bedetti • Regina Lafay Bellamy • C. Mehrl Bennett • Volodymyr Bilyk • Mark Blickley • Clemente Botelho • Gedley Belchior Braga • Michael Georg Bregel • Kathy A. Bruce • Imanol Buisan • Fork Burke • Billy Cancel • Peter Carlaftes • Wendy Cascade • Nick Cash • Mutes César • Sarah M. Chen • Nguyễn Bá Chung • Hal Citron • Lynette Clennell • Andrei Codrescu • William Cody • Chuck Connelley • Roger Conover • Anothony Cox • Malik Ameer Crumpler • Raf Cruz • Tchello d’Barros • Wer Da • Steve Dalachinsky • Allison A. Davis • Holly Day • Avelino De Araujo • Francesca Dharmakan-Bremner • Natalie DiFusco • Dario Roberto Dioli • Rachel Dixon • Sam Dodson • Carol Dorf • Eric Drooker • Robert Duncan • Salvatore Esposito • Fong Fai • Agenta Falk • Massimo Fantuzzi • Jeff Farr • Becky Fawcett • Rich Ferguson • Maria Filek • Cheryl J. Fish • Kathleen Florence • Robert C. Ford • Dorothy Friedman • Thomas Fucaloro • Ignacio Galilea • Sandra Gea • Kat Georges • Christian Georgescu • Robert Gibbons • Gordon Gilbert • James J. Gleeson • Mark Glista • Ed Go • Gemma Goette • John Goodby • Odeon Grace • S.A. Griffin • Fausto Grossi • Meghan Grupposo • Egon Guenther • Genco Gülan • Ana Maria Guta • Bibbe Hansen • Jesper Hasseltoft • Heide Hatry • Jeffrey Hecker • László 2 Hegedűs • Aimee Herman • Robert Hieger • Karen Hildebrand • Mark Hoefer • Juleigh Howard-Hobson • Matthew Hupert • Frie J. Jacobs • Annaliese Jakimides • Marta Janik • Mathias Jansson • Lisa Marie Jarlborn • Debra Jenks • Dale Jensen • Jerry Johnson • Boni Joi • Milana Juventa • Jerry Kamstra • Suzi Kaplan Olmsted • Christine Karapetian • Adeena Karasick • Uta Kaxniashvili • Marina Kazakova • Oladipo Kehinde • Trần Đăng Khoa • Doug Knott • Kollasch • Daniel Kolm • Gregory Kolm • Ron Kolm • Daina Kopp • Mark Kostabi • Paul Kostabi • Inna Krasnoper • Paweł Kuczyński • Béné Kusendila • Wang Lan • Gary Lawless • Mercedes Lawry • David Lawton • Jane LeCroy • Sarah Legow • Patricia Leonard • Linda Lerner • Martin H. Levinson • Alexander Limarev • Frédéric Lipczynski • Richard Loranger • Mina Loy • Ruggero Maggi • Sara Maino • Gerald Malanga • Jaan Malin • Jessica Manack • Fred Marchant • Marronage • Bronwyn Mauldin • Jesse McCloskey • Pierre Merejkowsky • Ashley Miller • Lois Kagan Mingus • Charles Mingus III • Richard Modiano • Mike M. Mollett • Thurston Moore • Luiz Morgadinho • Karen Neuberg • James B. Nicola • Gerald Nicosia • Lance Nizami • Harry E. Northup • Anna O’Meara • Ruth Oisteanu • Valery Oisteanu • Marc Olmsted • John Olson • Jane Ormerod • Yuko Otomo • Bibiana Padilla Maltos • Csaba Pál • Erzsébet Palásti • Lisa Panepinto • Gay Pasley • John S. Paul • Giorgia Pavlidou • James Penha • Puma Perl • Robert Petrick • Raymond Pettibon • Charles Plymell • Kai Pohl • Leslie Prosterman • Renaat Ramon • Nicca Ray • Mado Reznik • D.M. Rice • Travis Richardson • Wes Rickert • Benjamin Robinson • Bruce Robinson • Edel Rodriguez • Mykyta Ryzhykh • Martina Salisbury • Paulo Sanches • Kellie Scott-Reed • Beatriz Seelaender • Jack Seiei • Silvio Severino • Sheree Shatsky • Susan Shup • Jeff Shutt • Bertholdus Sibum • Denise Silk-Martelli • Zoltán Simon • Angela Sloan • Katherine R. Sloan • Phil Demise Smith • Valerie Sofranko • Paul Sohar • J. R. Solonche • Pere Sousa • Orchid Spangiafora • Dd. Spungin • Marilyn Stablein • Alex Starr • Laurie Steelink • Eva Helene Stern*** • Christine Stoddard • Thomas Stolmar • Rich Stone • W.K. Stratton • Belinda Subraman • Neal Skooter Taylor • Robin Tomens • Zev Torres • John J. Trause • Ann Firestone Ungar • Yrik Max Valentonis • Anoek Van Praag • Nico Vassilakis • Maggs Vibo • Lynnea Villanova • Voxx Voltair • Barbara Vos • Silvia Wagensberg • George Wallace • Scott Wannberg • Mike Watt • Poul R. Weile • Ingrid Wendt • Benjamin B. White • Brenda Whiteway • A. D. Winans • Francine Witte • Yaryan • Gerald Yelle • Andrena Zawinski • Larry Zdeb • Nina Zivancevic • Lorene Zarou-Zouzounis • Joanie HF Zosike

***"Great Reads from Great Places" selection by State of Tennessee for Library of Congress National Book Festival
***Honorable Mention, Foreword Indies award for Young Adult Fiction
***Lambda Literary Recommended LGBTQ+ Young Adult Fiction

In rural Kentucky, 16-year-old Kody loves quilting, cooking, and Dolly Parton and helps his grandma with the challenges of his mother's opioid addiction, until the discovery of a shocking family secret changes everything.

In this captivating LGBTQ+ young adult tale that weaves together the heartwarming authenticity of Phil Stamper's work and the empowering spirit of Aiden Thomas, Kody embarks on a quest for truth, defying societal expectations and embracing his true LGBTQ+ identity. Julia Watts weaves a tender and empowering narrative that celebrates the vibrancy of femme identity, individuality, and the unwavering pursuit of authenticity, even in the face of shocking revelations. Discover the power of resilience, chosen family bonds, and the extraordinary path to self-discovery in the pages of Needlework, a must-read for readers seeking a heartfelt LGBTQ+ tale that captivates with its authenticity, explores the complexities of family dynamics, and reminds us that embracing our true selves can lead to incredible personal growth.

In a glowing review, Publishers Weekly hails Needlework as a "powerful and resonant exploration of identity, family, and self-discovery." This remarkable novel takes readers on a transformative journey, delving deep into the complexities of Kody's life, his unwavering spirit, and the extraordinary strength found within the stitches of love.

Winner, Foreword INDIES Book of the Year: Young Adult Fiction!

In Nigeria-born, America-based author Ebele Chizea’s stunning debut novel, teenager Ada and her mother flee the civil war of their West African home and come to America in 1966, where Ada soon discovers—and blossoms within—the US counterculture movement, developing a drive for anti-war activism which she takes with her back to Nabuka only to uncover new truths about herself as well as family secrets that threaten to shatter her plans for the future.

While protesting the Vietnam war in America, Ada forges friendships with other nonconformist youth: free-spirited Stacey, a boisterous hippie, and Sal, a philosophical wanderlust. Soon she seeks independence from her mother, love on her own terms, as well as sexual autonomy. College provides Ada with opportunities for academic success, personal experimentation, and full independence, as well as heartbreak. Despite loss and grief over a decade, Ada’s heart becomes her own true compass and guides her to fully become the leader and activist she’d always been deep inside.

Chizea's brilliant prose and storytelling skills are fully apparent as she reveals a young woman's struggle to find balance in her life and in herself while straddling physical and social borders of two distinctly different cultures.

HONORABLE MENTION, Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award, Autobiography & Memoir!

Lifelong activist Judy Gumbo, an original member of The Yippies, a 1960s anti-war satirical protest group, offers an insider feminist memoir of her involvement with the Yippies, Black Panthers, women's rights, environmental actions, and a life of activism.

In 1968, a 24-year-old woman moved to Berkeley, California and immediately became enmeshed in the Youth International Party, aka The Yippies, an anti-war satirical protest group. In the next few years, Judy Gumbo (a nickname given her by Eldridge Cleaver), was soon at the center of counter-cultural activity—from protests in People’s Park, to meetings at Black Panther headquarters, to running a pig for President at the raucous Democratic National Convention in Chicago, a protest that devolved into violent attacks by the police and arrests that led to the notorious Chicago Conspiracy Trial.

In this historical account, Gumbo reveals intimate details of—and struggles with—her fellow radicals Jerry Rubin, Anita & Abbie Hoffman, Eldridge Cleaver, Paul Krassner, Stew Albert, and more, detailing their experiences in radical protests. This deep dive into her activism includes details of her organization of a national women's rights group, her visit to North Vietnam during the war, her travels around the globe to promote women's liberation and anti-war protest, and her environmental activism. It also includes extensive excerpts from illegal wiretaps and surveillance by the FBI.

“A welcome addition to the literature of radical activism.” —Kirkus Reviews  “A fun read and a valuable political document, long overdue.” —Counterpunch

Yippie Girl explores Gumbo’s life as a protester to show that, while circumstances always change, protesters can stay loyal to the causes they believe in and remain true to themselves. She also reveals how dogmatism, authoritarianism, and interpersonal conflict can damage those same just causes, offering a timeless and strategic guide for activists today protesting against injustice in all its forms.

A trio of compelling, cutting edge plays on notorious rebels including radical feminist and Warhol attacker Valerie Solanas ("SCUM: The Valerie Solanas Story"), Dada instigator Arthur Cravan ("Art Was Here"), and a twisting tale of Jack the Ripper and T.S. Eliot ("Jack the Rapper"). Playwright Kat Georges paints each of these plays with bold, innovative strokes that expand the boundaries of the theatrical milieu. As compelling to read off the page as to perform, these three plays offer sharp dialogue and prismatic views of their rebellious subjects, casting aside stereotypical bullet-pointed personalities to establish new perspectives on the subjects of each play. 

In THREE SOMEBODIES: Plays About Notorious Dissidents, poet-playwright Kat Georges offers a trio of fascinating, cutting edge plays about notorious dissidents—people who shook up the world— for better or worse, including “SCUM: The Valerie Solanas Story,” “Art Was Here,” inspired by poet-pugilist and Dada precursor Arthur Cravan, and “Jack the Rapper,” a mash-up of Jack the Ripper and T. S. Eliot. 

Shakespeare had his kings and princes. Georges chose royalty of the infamous variety: Valerie Solanas, author of The SCUM Manifesto, who famously shot Andy Warhol. Arthur Cravan—nephew of Oscar Wilde, wild child pugilist and poet—whose legendary antics preceded and influenced the Dada movement. Jack the Ripper as sculpted through the words of Eliot’s poem “Rhapsody on a Windy Night.”

All three plays received their world premieres at San Francisco’s notorious Marilyn Monroe Memorial Theater, known for its focus on “demolished texts, deconstructed classics, and new works.” As such, the plays in THREE SOMEBODIES are not representative of standard “bio-dramas.” rather these are stripped down, twisted, juxtaposed, hard-bent works intensity designed to bring each subjects life three-dimensional portraits, examine particular personas from inside out. They refused be handcuffed by linear drama so they roar in twists shouts, psychedelic tremors, whirlwind ebullience. 

Playwright Georges paints each of these plays with bold, innovative strokes that expand the boundaries of the theatrical milieu. As compelling to read off the page as to perform, these three plays offer sharp dialogue and prismatic views of their rebellious subjects, casting aside stereotypical, bullet-pointed personalities to establish new perspectives on their subjects.