Eat, drink, & be merry (and read!)

Cris Mazza is reading at Curbside!

Charlatan: New and Selected Stories has been officially released, and we’re celebrating! Cris Mazza will be reading from her new collection this Friday, accompanied by the saxophonist Mark Rasmussen. Festivities start at 6:00 at Curbside Books & Records. Check out our facebook event or online calendar for more information.

Can’t make the shindig? Catch Mazza on the 19th at Riverview Tavern for an encore performance as part of the Sunday Salon Prose Reading Series. Details can be found here.
 

“After long fearing I’d slipped into this profession with fake credentials, I’ve now realized my charlatan-complex was sustained for the wrong reason. My original assumption: that I’d been published and continued to be published only by luck or fluke, that soon the literary world would realize I had no talent and nothing to say. But my disguise, the role I played, the impostor that I am, has not been that I am a writer.”
— Cris Mazza

“I write as a Charlatan”

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Coming up at Curbside

 

Now – December 31st

The Third Annual Wild Onion Novella Contest is live now! Got a manuscript burning a hole through your computer? Submit it to us! Submissions will be accepted to our submittable page and judged by writer Tim Kinsella. Kinsella is the author of two novels, Let Go and Go On and On  (2014, Curbside Splendor) and The Karaoke Singer’s Guide to Self-Defense (2011, Featherproof Books) and one book of non-fiction All Over and Over (2015, Joyful Noise / Featherproof Books). In 2014 he became the publisher and editor at Featherproof Books.

Saturday November 18th

Revise the Psalm editor Quraysh Ali Lansana will be giving a gallery talk at the American Writer’s Museum in their new exhibit, Captured Stories. Lansana will be joined by Nancy Sindelar of The Ernest Hemingway Foundation. Click here for more.

Undead Deals on Spooky Boo(k)s!

Our annual Halloween sale has risen from the dead! Crawl into the horror of Halloween with a truly spooky new read. All of our Dark House Press titles will be 50% off now until the very stroke of midnight on Halloween! Titles covering everything from murder and disease to the post-apocalyptic world, these books are sure to keep you on the edge of your seat. Check out this deal before it disappears!

Dark House Press aims to publish neo-noir, speculative novels, short story collections and anthologies with a literary bent. It is an imprint of Curbside Splendor Publishing.

sold out

The New Black: A Neo-Noir Anthology

sold out

Scratch

sold out

Echo Lake

sold out

Vile Men

sold out

The Doors You Mark Are Your Own

sold out

Paper Tigers

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Exigencies

The Third Annual Wild Onion Novella Contest, Judged by Tim Kinsella!

We're happy to announce that the third annual Wild Onion Novella Contest will be judged by Tim Kinsella. 

We are seeking novella submissions between 20,000 and 40,000 words that exemplify the best of Curbside's style — work that is gritty, experimental, speculative, weird, humorous, or any compelling combination of the above. And as always, we're looking for diverse, extraordinary voices.

Tim Kinsella is the author of two novels, Let Go and Go On and On  (2014, Curbside Splendor) and The Karaoke Singer’s Guide to Self-Defense (2011, Featherproof Books) and one book of non-fiction All Over and Over (2015, Joyful Noise / Featherproof Books). In 2014 he became the publisher and editor at Featherproof Books.

Since 1996 his band Joan of Arc and its related projects have released dozens of albums and they continue to tour internationally on a regular basis. He is a regular collaborator with the experimental theater group Every house has a door. In 2015 he was both the Artist-in-Residence at Joyful Noise Records and the Visiting Writer at Roosevelt University, as well as serving on the programming committee at Chicago Filmmakers. His life and creative work are the subjects of the Noisey / Vice feature documentary "Your War (I'm One of You).” 

Submissions will be accepted to our submittable page from October 15 to December 15. Previous winners include Joan Mycology for her debut novel Mycology and T. Sean Steele's Tacky Goblin. Keep an eye on our website for more details.

Halle Butler Nominated for Five Under 35!

We’re thrilled to announce that Halle Butler has been named one of the National Book Foundation’s Five Under 35 for her first work, Jillian. 

The award goes to “debut fiction writers… whose work promises to leave a lasting impression on the literary landscape.” We can’t help but agree. Get the full story here and pick up a copy of Jillian in our online store here for only $9.99 on out online store throughout October!

Congratulations, Halle!

PRAISE FOR JILLIAN:
"[Jillian] offers up its characters for hatred and ridicule with such energy, obsessive detail and hopelessness that the reader can't help but read on, through exasperating flinches of sympathy and recognition. A novel that reads like rubbernecking or a junk-food binge, compelling a horrified fascination and bleak laughter in the face of outrageously painted everyday sadness."
—Kirkus Reviews

"Butler’s aim is perfect, and her touch deft."
—Publishers Weekly

Ars Botanica for your sanity

In a year full of political and social turmoil, it’s easy to forget some of the good things that have happened this year, such as all the amazing literature published. The folks at The Rumpus compiled a list of their favorite books so far, including Tim Taranto’s Ars Botanica.

The Rumpus staff states, these are “the books that have kept us sane, challenged us to work harder and think bigger, and kept us dreaming and hopeful despite, well, everything else.”

We’re honored to have Ars Botanica included in this list and to help retain some sanity. We certainly need it now.

You can read the full list here!