New & Noteworthy Books

All Standing

The Remarkable Story of the Jeanie Johnston,
The Legendary Irish Famine Ship

Nonfiction by Kathryn Miles

The Free Press, January 2013

ISBN-13: 978-1451610130

Hardcover: 256pp; $26.00

All Standing recounts the journeys of a famous ship, her heroic crew, and the immigrants who were ferried between Ireland and North America in an attempt to flee the Irish famine. More than one hundred thousand of them would die aboard one of the five thousand aptly named “coffin ships.” But in the face of horrific losses, a small ship named the Jeanie Johnston never lost a passenger. Why did these individuals succeed when so many others failed? Using newspaper accounts, rare archival documents, and her own experience sailing as an apprentice aboard the recently re-created Jeanie Johnston, Kathryn Miles tells the story of these extraordinary people and the revolutionary milieu in which they set sail.

Black Crow Dress

Poetry by Roxanne Beth Johnson

Alice James Books, January 2013

ISBN-13: 978-1882295951

Paperback: 80pp; $15.95

A haunting collection of lyrically intense persona poems, Black Crow Dress is at once about the emancipation of slaves in their myriad voices as well as a meditation on the self. The collection’s lush imagery takes us from churchyard to church, chanting the old spirituals, as Roxane Beth Johnson seeks to embody the spirits of the dead: Clea, Caroline, and Zebedee.

Diadem

Selected Poems

Poetry by Marosa di Giorgio

Adam Giannelli - Spanish

BOA Editions, November 2012

ISBN-13: 978-1-934414-97-2

Paperback: 170pp; $16.00

Marosa di Giorgio has one of the most distinct and recognizable voices in Latin American poetry. Her surreal and fable-like prose poems invite comparison to Franz Kafka, Julio Cortázar, or even contemporary American poets Russell Edson and Charles Simic. But di Giorgio’s voice, imagery, and themes—childhood, the Uruguayan countryside, a perception of the sacred—are her own. Previously written off as “the mad woman of Uruguayan letters,” di Giorgio’s reputation has blossomed in recent years. Translator Adam Giannelli’s careful selection of poems spans the enormous output of di Giorgio’s career to help further introduce English-language readers to this vibrant and original poet.

For the Star that May Have Died

Poetry by Nicole Andonov

NYQ Books, November 2012

ISBN-13: 978-1-935520-73-3

Paperback: 106pp; $14.95

For the Star that May Have Died is Nicole Andonov’s first full-length book. Collecting numerous chapbooks and 81 years of life experience this book shares intimate moments of her life as an immigrant and an American as well as her reactions to chaotic events that have touched us all, from 9/11 to climate change. Using a variety of styles but a singular, strong voice, she snapshots her way through this lived life with wonder, irreverence, and occasional sadness.

Goldfish and Rose

Poetry by Robert Hershon

Hanging Loose Press, March 2013

ISBN-13: 978-1934909300

Paperback: 80pp; $18.00

This is Robert Hershon’s thirteenth poetry collection, his other most recent titles being Calls from the Outside World and The German Lunatic. His work has appeared in American Poetry Review, The Brooklyn Rail, Vanitas, The Nation, and The Recluse, among many others, and he has written for the websites of The Poetry Foundation and Best American Poetry.

Little Oblivion

Poetry by Susan Allspaw

Elixir Press, March 2013

ISBN-13: 978-1932418477

Paperback: 104pp; $17.00

Winner of the Judge’s Prize from the Elixir Press 12th Annual Poetry Awards, Susan J. Allspaw’s debut collection brims with exquisitely textured poems that capture the essence of Antarctica’s stark beauty. In Little Oblivion, we find a place saturated with such whiteness that “the sky bleeds into the earth / so that a whole body becomes a palindrome.” These luminous poems sweep panoramically across mesmerizing landscapes while meditating on the human condition through deep and reverent encounters with the natural world. “White will follow me everywhere,” says the speaker in one of the poems. After reading Little Oblivion, white will follow us, too.

Paranoia

Fiction by Victor Martinovich

Translated from the Russian by Diane Nemec Ignashev

Northwestern University Press, March 2013

ISBN-13: 978-0-8101-2876-7

Paperback: 296pp; $21.95

Banned in Belarus two days after it was published, Paranoia is a harrowing journey into one of the world’s last closed societies. The book never mentions Belarus or its capital, Minsk, but the setting is unmistakable. Paranoia is a timeless story of doomed romance between a young man, Anatoly, and a mysterious young woman he notices at a café. Their whirlwind romance draws Anatoly into a world of privilege and danger, as he discovers that the third party in their love triangle is the omnipotent and omniscient head of state security.

The President in Her Towers

Fiction by Tom Whalen

Ellipsis Press, February 2013

ISBN-13: 978-0-9637536-7-0

Paperback: 176pp; $14.00

Through the corridors of the university’s Humanities and Sciences Towers, rumors are swirling about the President: her bizarre decrees, her midnight meetings, her strange projects (the Head-in-Progress, the Activated Eye, the Gestation Chamber). The President’s dedicated personal assistant, Thomas (a.k.a. Herr Abjectus), is charged with investigating and reporting on these and other matters, but it won’t be easy—especially since the President has disappeared. And now there is a new rumor: that she has been marked for assassination.

Wally

Fiction by Don Peteroy

Burrow Press, October 2012

ISBN-13: 978-0-9849538-1-3

Paperback: 206pp; $12.00

Charming, manic Wally Tiparoy has done something awful to his wife, Elizabeth, and he’s determined to prevent it from happening again. Knowing that his problem is too big for medication or psychoanalysts, Wally takes Elizabeth’s Honda and puts all his faith in a therapeutic road trip from Cincinnati to Inuvik, the northernmost town on the continent.