Tag Archives: Andrei Codrescu

Limited Edition: Jacks Or Better

Limited Editions, Modern Poetry, Non-fiction, Poetry, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Jacks Or Better

by Pat Nolan

Jacks Or Better is a travel journal (kikobun) in the tradition of Basho’s Narrow Roads To Far Off Places.  The narrow road followed in this journal is the iron road, from San Francisco to rural Florida with stops in New Orleans and Baton Rouge.  It is a poet’s journey expressed as haibun in which descriptive or expressionistic prose is capped by a haiku-like poem that continues the thread, elucidates it, or offers a disparate juxtaposition.  Published by Egret Moon Press in 2011 in a limited edition of 36 copies. 38 pages hand-bound with Japanese stitching between grey repurposed paper covers, 7×7.25 inches (18x19cm).

 

jobfcvrfrom Jacks Or Better 

Although this is my first trip to New Orleans, I’ve taken trains across country before and have always found that if you’re on a schedule they are the last place to be.  But if you’re not in a hurry, they enforce a leisurely pace that is fast becoming antique. My final destination is Florida where I will visit with my parents.  The first leg will take most of three days. This trip is ostensibly about the anatomy of a friendship and the relationship between generations.  I will visit with Andrei Codrescu in New Orleans and lecture to his MA classes at Louisiana State University. 

Baton Rouge
“only place in America named
         after a dog’s dick”

 

 To view a pdf facsimile click JACKS OR BETTER 2011

Limited Edition: Boxes & Chairs

Limited Editions, Modern Poetry, Non-fiction, Poetry, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Boxes & Chairs

By Gail King

BCFBoxes & Chairs was originally published in 2006 as a handmade limited gift edition of twenty five for family and friends. The covers were printed on heavy weight Reeves print stock with Japanese silkscreen end papers and binding strips. The book was bound in the traditional Japanese four-hole binding style. Illustrations accompanying the poems are reproductions of kuchi-e, woodblock prints that were used to illustrate short stories in Meiji era magazines and journals of late 19th Century Japan.

Subsequently an unlimited ‘people’s’ edition was issued with a plain cover but with the original text and illustrations intact.

People's Edition
People’s Edition

Gail King has been active in writing and publishing in the Russian River area since the mid 70’s. A Northern California native, she writes stories of growing up in the East Bay (Oakland/ San Leandro) as well as poetry focusing on the California landscape. She was the publisher of Doris Green Editions, a small literary press active in the ‘70’s and ‘80’s. Boxes & Chairs, published by What Leaf Press, is her second collection of poems. A more comprehensive selection of her poems is slated for publication by Nualláin House, Publishers, in the Fall of 2013 which will include the entirety of Boxes & Chairs.

Praise for Boxes & Chairs:

“Gail King’s poems celebrate the change and deep pleasures in tracking transformation. With a sinuous and penetrating wit King remembers her life via alarm, humor and love: a night ago the wind/ and rain let us in on a secret/ our forts are temporary/ no rest inside the box.”
— Keith Kumasen Abbott

“Reading Gail King has always been one of my great poetry pleasures. Her inimitable voice narrates the world with humor and tenderness, a world of beauty and occasional sorrow. Her work has healing effects.”
— Andrei Codrescu

“. . .a lovely lovely book. . .with direct beauty of what actually happens. [The poems] are all about SOMETHING, not just states of mind mired in ‘language’.”
— Joanne Kyger

Click to view a pdf facsimile of the limited gift edition of  Boxes & Chairs

Limited Edition: Ah Bolinas!

Limited Editions, Modern Poetry, Non-fiction, Poetry, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Ah Bolinas!
A Travel Journal

by Pat Nolan
    

In the late fall of 1984, Pat Nolan was invited by Joanne Kyger to read his poetry as part of a reading series held at the Bolinas Library.  Nolan later memorialized the event in a Japanese style travel diary(nikki) similar to those written by Basho on his various journeys to visit other poets and collaborate on linked verse (haikai no renga). It was originally published in Andrei Codrescu’s Exquisite Corpse in 2000 as To Bolinas And Back.  As published in  limited edition, the prose and poems in Ah Bolinas! are organized in a manner similar to those found in the Japanese form, haibun.  

In 2010 Not My Hat Press issued the travel journal now titled Ah Bolinas! in a limited edition of 26 signed copies, lettered A through Z and accompanied by four original linoleum block prints.  The covers are printed on a heavy weight mulberry washi with Japanese silk screen end papers and bound in the Japanese four hole style.  The blocks were carved by the author and printed with the generous assistance of master printer Les Ferriss of Healdsburg, CA.   4×5.63 (10.2×14.1 cm) 

To view a pdf facsimile, please click AH BOLINAS 2010

Terms, Conditions & Categories

Crime Fiction, Fiction, Limited Editions, Modern Poetry, Non-fiction, Poetry, Western, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Nualláin − (pronounced Noo-al-ayne) Celtic for the family name, Nolan, meaning noble or famous.  The Irish writer Brian O’Nualláin was also known as Brian O’Nolan, as well as by his most famous pseudonym, Flann O’Brien, author of At Swim-Two-Birds, The Third Policeman and The Dalkey Archives.
House – a business organization of like minded folk, kindred in their interest in the creative, bringing together years of experience in writing, self-publishing, book design, and book selling under one roof, peaked, in the shape of an open book (see logo on the masthead).
Publishers – a business or profession intent on making available literature of a particular genre, be it fiction, poetry or non-fiction, and often entered into more for personal satisfaction than financial gain.  The year 2011 marked the centennial of Brian O’Nualláin’s birth, a fitting beginning for Nualláin House, Publishers, and the publication of ON THE ROAD TO LAS CRUCES, A Novel Account of The Last Day In The Life of A Legendary Western Lawman by Pat Nolan (November, 2011).  Nualláin House, Publishers, will proceed on the assumption that what appeals to the editors might well appeal to other reasonably literate, intellectually curious readers.
Fiction – that which is made up, imaginatively, under the assumptions of possibility more than its probability irrespective of the truth; in short, fanciful lies.  Under the heading of fanciful lies, coming soon: THE LAST RESORT, A Lee Malone Adventure by Pat Nolan (August, 2012).
Poetry – the evil of banality.
Non-Fiction – not fiction.
Whimsy – capricious, eccentric, unpredictable and erratic (see Quirky).
Quirky – an abrupt twist or curve, idiosyncratic (see Whimsy).
Future – that which has the potential of occurring but has yet to occur and which will come to pass through the present however at a point in time yet to be determined.  Or to repurpose Rabelais’ last words, the “vast perhaps.”  Future titles from Nualláin House, Publishers in the crime fiction/ neo-pulp genre include BLACK MASK, A Detective Story, A GOOD LOOKING CORPSE, GONE MISSING, and PH FACTOR.  Also under the “vast perhaps” heading, selected, collected poems, and limited editions.  All titles will eventually be issued as eBooks.  Blog posts of reviews, interviews and commentary by noted authors will be a feature of the Nualláin House, Publishers site as well.
eBooks – at present, the eBook format taxes the technologically challenged and DIY mentality of Nualláin House, Publishers’ production designer.  Suffice it to say, all titles will eventually be issued as eBooks (see Future).  In the meantime, pdf files of sample chapters and limited edition poetry books will be made available on a regular basis with the compliments of Nualláin House, Publishers (see Future, Sample Chapters, and Limited Editions).
Comments – while this site encourages feedback, the comments feature has been disabled.  If readers wish to register feedback and/or commentary, their responses are more than welcome via email or snail mail (see Contact).
Manuscripts – unsolicited manuscripts are discouraged.
Contact – nuallainhousepublishers@gmail.com or Nualláin House, Publishers  Box 798 Monte Rio, CA 95462
Sample Chapters – sample chapters will be available as posts and as a feature of that title’s page.
Expectations – Great.  However, many years of experience in the literary world (see House) has demonstrated the need for caution in this category.
Facebook – Nualláin House, Publishers has a Facebook page.  Tell your Facebook friends.
Limited Editions – In the months to come (see Future), Nualláin House, Publishers will make available pdf files of rare and limited editions of poetry books from such presses as Re:Issue Press, On The Fly Press, Last Cookie Press, Editions de Jacob, Bamboo Studio, Empty Head Press, Egret Moon, and Not My Hat Press featuring such titles as Fly By Night, Later, Carbon Data, Intellectual Pretensions, Thin Wings, Untouched By Rain, Ah Bolinas!, Exile In Paradise, and Jacks Or Better.
POS – the Nualláin House, Publishers site remains the primary point of sale.  Titles are available at their advertised price plus $5 shipping & handling.  Institutional, bookstore, and cash discounts are available upon inquiry.  Orders can be placed through email or via the postal address (see Contact).  Make checks or money orders payable to ‘Pat Nolan.’
Copyright – all material on the Nualláin House, Publishers site is copyright © byNualláin House, Publishers or by its specific authors and may not be used or reproduced without the express permission of the copyright holder.

 

 

 

 

 

ON THE ROAD TO LAS CRUCES

Fiction, Western, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

ON THE ROAD TO LAS CRUCES; Being A Novel Account of The Last Day In The Life of A Legendary Western Lawman

by Pat Nolan

Available Now from Nualláin House, Publishers  Box 798 Monte Rio, CA 95462   $16.99 + $5.00 shipping and handling

Pat Nolan’s first published novel, On The Road To Last Cruces; Being A Novel Account of The Last Day In The Life of A Legendary Western Lawman is the story of youthful bravado and an old man’s regret, and as much a dusty tale of buffalo hunts and shoot-outs as a politically driven “whodunit.”

Steeped in the lore of Western radio dramas, cliff-hanging serials, B Oaters, pulp shoot-em ups, and a steady diet of prime-time horse operas, it seems only fitting that Pat Nolan would have distilled his adolescent exposure into a seminal prose of understatement.  The violence in a man’s life, linked by subtle segues, passes as something not particularly unusual.  The consequences are not always evident on a path drawn by blind fate.  Nor is the identity of the Western lawman immediately apparent, as is obviously the author’s intent.  For those familiar with gunfighter sagas, catching the drift will be easy.

Pat Nolan starts right off by telling us what is going to happen, he then lays out the circumstances to what is about to happen, and finally we are privy to the last moment and its irresolution. Along the way, when the tools of law include deadly force, there are bound to be killings.  However there are no showdowns, no heroics, no fancy horsemanship, no arduous adversity, merely pain and regret, bitterness and rancor, and the consequences of another misstep.  It is a tragedy that lends itself to allegory.  It is lament as well as praise for a misunderstood legend of the Southwest.

            On The Road To Las Cruces is a work of fiction tethered loosely to historical fact.  It is the story of the relationship between two men, one garrulous, the other taciturn, the Mutt and Jeff of the old Southwest, and the tradition of storytelling and the authoring of ‘true’ accounts.  What is related on the road to Las Cruces is as much a retelling of some history as it is how such a retelling might come about, and is represented in the manner of a tall tale, the deadpan details of a crime story, melodrama, and a conspiracy to murder.

November, 2011 ~ $16.99 ~ 154 pages ~  978-0-9840310-1-6

Sample Chapters On The Road To Las Cruces Chapter 6  On The Road To Las Cruces Chapter 21   Author’s Note                       

“. . . a real old-fashioned Western.  Page-turner.  There are all sorts of funny sly mixes in the story, good Nolan humor, great repartee. . . .”
– Andrei Codrescu, NPR commentator and author of Whatever Gets You Through The Night.

“Pat Nolan is not only one of our finest living poets. . . but now surprises with a prose paean to the West.  Whatever Pat writes deserves to be read and remembered.”
– Barry Gifford, author of Wild At Heart and Sailor And Lula               

“. . . delight in the narrative style.  [T]ruly vivid. . . .  The book is damn good.”
– Eric Johnson, poet and master printer, Iota Press

“Pat Nolan has added a fresh chapter to our Western lore with this fine, crackling tale.”
– Bart Schneider, author of Nameless Dame and The Man In The Blizzard

“On the Road to Las Cruces takes us on a twilight journey through frontier history.  Nolan’s adroit and stylish prose intertwines death, betrayal, greed and conspiracy as each claims its victims.”
– Keith Abbott, author of Downstream From Trout Fishing In America