ON STARTING UP A NEW REVIEW JOURNAL

Above are just some of the recently-received review copies for Galatea Resurrects (GR).  It’s a markedly different photo from the photo below of only two titles, which are review copies for a start-up review journal that I hope to release next month, The Halo-Halo Review (HHR). HHR which will present reviews and other engagements with Filipino literature in all genres. (More info on HHR to come.)

Part of the start-up phase of a review journal is getting review copies from publishers who don’t know your journal because, duh, it hasn’t been released yet!  I remember stacking GR’s review copies with books I published through my indie press, Meritage Press, and spare copies from my personal library.  With HHR, it helps that I have a track record with GR (forthcoming issue will be the 25^th!) and I’m grateful to the following publishers who’ve sent review copies to a journal whose existence they’ve yet to see: Kaya Press, Black Lawrence Press, Akashic Books, Seren Books, Nightboat Books, Aunt Lute Press and Marsh Hawk Press. Naturally, I also add Meritage Press books as well as spare copies from my personal library.  Here’s HHR's start-up review copy list on one of my worksheet blogs; hopefully that list will grow and reviewers will start engaging with those books, just as they’ve done with GR.

Speaking of books, here's my latest Relished W(h)ines update of recently imbibed books and wines.  As ever, please note that in the Publications section, if you see an asterisk before the title, that means a review copy is available for Galatea Resurrects!  More info on that HERE. 

PUBLICATIONS

SELECTED POEMS OF SALVADOR ESPRIU (powerful. and stellar)

SECRET WEAPON: SELECTED LATE POEMS by Eugen Jebeleanu, trans. from Romanian by Matthew Zapruder and Radu Ioanid with Intro by Andrei Codrescu (FANTABULOUS! LinkedInPoetryRecommendation (LPR) #196) 

A SUDDEN SKY: SELECTED POEMS by Ulrikka S. Gernes, Trans. & Edited by Patrick Friesen and Per Brasik (a welcome discovery)

A FIELD GUIDE TO LOST THINGS, poems by Peter Jaeger (smart and beautiful. LPR #194)

FRUITS AND FLOWERS AND ANIMALS AND SEAS AND LANDS DO OPEN, poems by Michael Leong (as ever, smart; this latest is also nuanced and lyrical. LPR #198)

YOU DA ONE, poetry by Jennifer Tamayo (LPR #191)

WET LAND, poetry by Lucas De Lima (LPR #192)

INTERVENIR / INTERVENE, poems by Dolores Dorante & Rodrigo Flores Sanchez (powerful, multi-layered, ravishing and ravished. LPR #195)

POSES, poems by Genine Lentine with drawings by Richard Diebenkorn (fabulous!)

THAT WINTER THE WOLF CAME, poetry by Juliana Spahr (moving)

*  MORNING RITUAL, poems by Lisa Rogal (charismatic in her obsessiveness)

PIGTAIL DUTY, poems by Melissa Eleftherion (wonderful)

*  THE BURDEN OF BEING BURMESE, poems by Ko Ko Thett (the first full-length book of poetry in English by a Burmese poet)

LOOK BACK, LOOK AHEAD: THE SELECTED POEMS OF SRECKO KOSOVEL, trans. by Ana Jelnikar and Barbara Siegel Carlson w/ Introduction by Richard Jackson

TEN SONGS FROM BULGARIA, poems by Linda Nemec Foster

INCUBATION: A SPACE FOR MONTERS by Bhanu Kapil

*  COURT OF THE DRAGON, poems by Paolo Javier

*  VIA DISSIMULATA, poems by Marisol Limon Martinez

*  TELLS OF THE CRACKLING, poems by Hoa Nguyen

*  OBJECT PERMANENCE, poems by David B. Goldstein

*  THIS AMAZING CAGE OF LIGHT: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS by Martine Bellen (Spuyten Duyvil, New York City, 2015)

*  GOLDBERG-VARIATIONS, poems by Charles Wyatt

*  WHAT ELSE COULD IT BE: EKPHRASTICS AND COLLABORATIONS, poems by Ravi Shankar

*  A GREEN SPRING IN RIVER: POEMS by Matthew Thorburn

*  WHERE WE EXPECT TO SEE YOU SOON, poems by Michael Ford

*  DON’T DRINK POISON, poems by Sarah Anne Wallen

*  FORMS OF LIFE, poems by Eric Hoffman

*  WHERE DRUNK MEN GO, long poem by Richard Hague

*  BEAUTIFUL WALL, poems by Ray Gonzalez

*  I’M NO LONGER TROUBLED BY THE EXTRAVAGANCE, poems by Rick Bursky

*  ANTIDOTE FOR NIGHT, poems by Marsha De La O

from BOOK OF KINGS, poems by Patrick James Dunagan

excerpts from A THOUSAND EYES by Jim Pascual Agustin 

SWAN: POEMS AND PROSE POEMS by Mary Oliver

*  DEAR YOU: A MEMOIR WITH POEMS by Wade Stevenson

MICROCHIPS FOR MILLIONS, poems by Janice Sapigao (in manuscript)

OTHERS WILL ENTER THE GATES: IMMIGRANT POETS ON POETRY, INFLUENCES, AND WRITING IN AMERICA, Edited by Abayomi Animashaun with Introduction by Kazim Ali

POEMELEON: A JOURNAL OF POETRY, Summer 2015, edited by Cati Porter 

HOW TO GROW UP, memoir by Michelle Tea (LPR #193)

HERE COMES THE SUN: A JOURNEY TO ADOPTION IN 8 CHAKRAS, memoir by Leza Lowitz (LPr #197)

BURYING THE TYPEWRITER, memoir by Carmen Bugan

SAINT PETERSBURG NOTEBOOK, journal by Ann Lauterbach

LAST [TRANS]MISSION, art by Trista Musco and wordless story by E. Steen Comer*

THE CHILDREN’S BLIZZARD, history by David Laskin

IN THE COUNTRY, short stories and novella by Mia Alvar

LOOKING FOR ALASKA, memoir by Peter Jenkins

THE BOY AND THE DOG ARE SLEEPING, memoir by Nasdijj

NINETY PERCENT OF EVERYTHING: INSIDE SHIPPING, THE INVISIBLE INDUSTRY THAT PUTS CLOTHES ON YOUR BACK, GAS IN YOUR CAR, AND FOOD ON YOUR PLATE, journalism by Rose George

*

After listing the books I read, I usually go on to list wines I’ve imbibed.  I pause to direct you to Allen Bramhall’s wonderful essay “Winetasting and Mindfulness” before sharing my latest wine list – his essay sheds light on why I share my wine tasting list when I’m addressing poetry. 

WINES

2012 Quivera zinfandel Dry Creek Valley

Mad Hatter in St. Helena Sangria

2012 William Fevre Chablis

OVER-THE-TOP CLAN DRINKING IN 3 STATES TO CELEBRATE SENDING THE KID TO COLLEGE:

2013 The Prisoner

Barbera d’Alba Cortese

Santa Christina Blanco

Nap’s House Sangiovese/Cabernet mix

1990 Soldera Brunello di Montalcino

1996 Bruno Giacosa Asili di Barbaresco

2002 Dom Perignon rose champagne

1998 Solosilo Vermentino Toscana

2008 Mille e una Notte

1982 Petrus

1982 Chevalier Blanc

1982 Lafleur

1982 Le Pin

1982 Trotanoy

1982 L'Evangeline

1975 d'YQuem

1985 Domaine Chambertin Leroy

1999 Corton Charlemagne Louis Latour

1970 Vega Sicilia

1998 Pingus

1996 St Ermita

2002 Screaming Eagle

1092 Le Montrachet Louis Jadot

1992 Chevalier Montrachet Colin-Deleger

1968 BV

1975 La Mission Haur Brion

1990 CNP  Reserve des Celestins

1981 Penfolds Grange Hermitage

1998 Elivi Galea

1990 Conterno Barolo

2011 Connhoff Dellchen Riesling

2001 Sandrone Le Vigne Barolo
Chambers Muscat Rosewood Vineyards Rutherglen

________
* I was recently in New Orleans and, while there, purchased LAST [TRANS]MISSION, a chap with art by Trista Musco and wordless story by E. Steen Comer. I was also blessed to acquire Trista Musco's wonderful painting/drawing: