Leading Irish Indie Author Orna Ross announces Secret Rose: unique crowdfunded tribute for #Yeats2015

So excited to be traveling to Sligo, Ireland this summer to help celebrate the publication of WB Yeats short stories, The Secret Rose, and Orna Ross’s novel, Her Secret Rose, in a special edition replica of Yeats 1897 publication, which is being created with the help of Yeats fans, including yours truly.

Secret Rose, a crowdfunded tribute to WB Yeats’s fiction by bestselling Irish author Orna Ross, Director of the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi), will launch in Sligo at the Yeats International Summer School 2015. This specially crafted replica of Yeats’s 1897 first edition — blue-cloth bound, intricate gilt impress, printed on laid paper equivalent — will match the original design by Yeats friend and fellow mystic, illustrator and designer Althea Gyles. It’s set to become a must-have souvenir of Yeats2015, Yeats’s 150th anniversary year.

The double book contains Yeats’s short stories from The Secret Rose (1897), and Ross’s long awaited new novel, Her Secret Rose (2015) that tells the story behind those stories, centring on the relationship between the Irish poet and his long time love and muse, Maud Gonne. An amalgamation of in-depth research, Ross’s award-winning writing and her reverence for Yeats’s poetry, drama and fiction (“I’m a super-fan,” she says), Secret Rose will launch at the Summer School at Yeats House, Sligo, on August 3rd 2015 at 5pm.

Says Orna Ross: “As an indie author, I work mainly in digital but for Yeats2015, I wanted to create a special print book and to bring these neglected stories to the attention of Yeats fans. It surprised me in researching the 1897 book’s publishing history to find out that WB Yeats was an indie author too, as we define that at ALLi: working closely with his friend Althea Gyles on the design and seeing himself as the creative director of the book, all the way through the publication process.”

Running until 31 May 2015, Ross’s crowdfunder offers a variety of rewards from £5 to £1,000, to satisfy all Yeats’s fans and book lovers. The project gives readers the opportunity to move closer to Yeats through attendance at the famous International Summer School programme in Sligo, or closer to Ross through her popular creative mentoring program. Also on offer is attendance live or online at the book launch in Yeats House, Sligo; a special night out and dinner with Ross and friends at the house of Damien Brennan, President of The Yeats Society; and a first edition of Yeats original book, with illustrations by his brother, Jack B Yeats. All supporters also receive copies of Secret Rose and a grateful acknowledgement of their contribution in supporting this unique literary project.

“I’m excited to be resuscitating these important stories for a new generation,” Ross says.

Brainy gender bendation in dystopian sci fi warzone: Kameron Hurley's BRUTAL WOMEN

On the prowl for talented indie authors doing art they'd never get away with in the corporate publishing world? This excellent dystopian sci fi short story collection is recommended for HUNGER GAME fans, free-thinkers and adventurous readers of all persuasions. Well-rendered alien environs and the starkest possible circumstances are fertile ground for an experiment in gender reversal.

Think "Apocalypse Now" if Brando and Sheen are on their periods.

Dawn Raffel's scrumtrulescent story collection IN THE YEAR OF LONG DIVISION is out of the vault!

For the second time this year, a book I love has been resurrected and is breathing new life. I had to drop all the plates I was spinning on this ridiculously busy day - just stop and sit still and read for a while - because it's just so damn good.

Dawn Raffel's In the Year of Long Division is a collection of vivid, imagistic vignettes that flow like poetry and stun like an Edward Albee micro-act. Originally published by Knopf in the mid '90s, it's been rereleased as an ebook by the visionaries at Dzanc.

In 1995, the San Francisco Chronicle called it "dreamlike"; Minneapolis City pages said it was "tremendously innovative". I still agree with both (and all the other kudos Raffel got back then), but as I read these stories again today - in an entirely different skin, different millenium, different world - it struck me how perfectly her style plays in the new medium. This book wears its fresh incarnation particularly well. (I really can't say that for the other resurrected book, as much as I loved it.)

I used to have this book on the "shelf of yesness" in my office; that's where I kept books that challenged me as a reader and inspired me as a writer. I'm a huge fan of fearlessness, and Raffel can always be counted on to jump the turnstiles of literary convention, but somehow, amidst the strangeness, she manages to drive these needles of *yes* directly into your heart like a a ninja poet acupuncturist.

Anyhoo, several years ago, in a fit of heatstroke-driven post-Hurricane altruism, I turned my yellow VW bug into a guerrilla book mobile and gave all my books away. I've been trying to rebuild that *yes* section of my library on Kindle and Nook ever since. So a huge thank you to Dzanc for loving this book as much as I did. I'm thrilled to have it back in my hands.

Buy In the Year of Long Division on Kindle.

Buy this Book: The Best Short Stories of Guy de Maupassant

I'm going through a Guy de Maupassant phase this week. I'd almost forgotten how wonderful his short stories are. From "Boule de Suif" (which for my taste is one of top ten short stories of all time):

The woman, who belonged to the courtesan class, was celebrated for an embonpoint unusual for her age, which had earned for her the sobriquet of "Boule de Suif" (Tallow Ball). Short and round, fat as a pig, with puffy fingers constricted at the joints, looking like rows of short sausages; with a shiny, tightly-stretched skin and an enormous bust filling out the bodice of her dress, she was yet attractive and much sought after, owing to her fresh and pleasing appearance. Her face was like a crimson apple, a peony-bud just bursting into bloom; she had two magnificent dark eyes, fringed with thick, heavy lashes, which cast a shadow into their depths; her mouth was small, ripe, kissable, and was furnished with the tiniest of white teeth.

As soon as she was recognized the respectable matrons of the party began to whisper among themselves, and the words "hussy" and "public scandal" were uttered so loudly that Boule de Suif raised her head. She forthwith cast such a challenging, bold look at her neighbors that a sudden silence fell on the company, and all lowered their eyes, with the exception of Loiseau, who watched her with evident interest.

But conversation was soon resumed among the three ladies, whom the presence of this girl had suddenly drawn together in the bonds of friendship--one might almost say in those of intimacy. They decided that they ought to combine, as it were, in their dignity as wives in face of this shameless hussy; for legitimized love always despises its easygoing brother.