Sarasota News and Books

Deep in Michigan, a state renowned for its contributions to the automotive industry, a dark magic lurks, bringing the dreams and nightmares of a number of literary magicians to life. Some are well-known and critically acclaimed, some seem to have sprung full-grown from the shadows. The place where all of this happens is a small publisher called Subterranean Press, and it’s been happening since 1995.Almost all of the publisher’s books fit in the horror, mystery, fantasy, or science fiction genres, although not always neatly. For example, Joe R. Lansdale’s work often combines elements of fantasy, horror, mystery, and even westerns. Lansdale publishes a number of his unreleased stories in limited editions through the press, although most titles are sold out as of this writing. [»]

What do Noam Chomsky, Jimmy Carter, Thomas Edison, ad Madonna have in common? They’re all protagonists (or at least central charactersour sympathy for them is sometimes in question) in Lydia Millet’s wondrous new collection, Love in Infant Monkeys. The title comes from the celebrities’ curious co-stars: a collection of animals ranging from hamster and rabbits to elephants and giraffes.The Pulitzer Committee praised Millet’s book for “underscoring the human folly of longing for significance while chasing trifles.” Millet has never been nominated before, but did win a PEN-USA Award for another novel of human folly: 2002′s My Happy Life. The narrator of this book is an unnamed woman trapped in an abandoned mental asylum, who writes her life story on her prison walls. [»]

All across America, independent booksellers keep the spirit of the free presses alive. While selling books of all kinds, these stores manage to make a name for themselves in the way that larger franchises can’t.

• City Lights (San Francisco, California): City Lights was founded in 1953 by Beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti. The building used to be a religious revival center, but under Ferlinghetti’s hand became known as a meeting place of off-beat literary icons. Today, the seller also functions as a publisher, with Ferlinghetti still playing a leading role.
• Powell’s Books (Portland, Oregon): Powell’s is an independent chain with its headquarters rumored to be the largest independent bookstore in the world. The original Portland location was founded in 1971. You can find “new, used, and rare books” at the store and its online site, where you can also enter contests and read reviews. [»]