One Thing That Meant the World to Me.

I'm pretty excited. We're going to be publishing a first novel by this writer named Joshua Mohr, a terrificly talented new voice.

The title alone packs a wallop: Some Things That Meant the World to Me.

Stephen Elliott, author of Happy Baby said this about the book: "A startling debut. Joshua Mohr takes us to a different city, but a city we know, populated by the dark side of ourselves."

Feast on this first paragraph from the novel:
I’d like to brag about the night I saved a hooker’s life. Like to tell you how quiet everything else in the world was while I helped her. This was in San Francisco. Late 2007. I’d been drinking in Damascus, my favorite dive bar, which was painted entirely black—floor, walls, and ceiling. Being surrounded by all that darkness had this slowing effect on time, like a shunned astronaut meandering in space.

It's sharp, it's potent, it will make you swoon.

Erotomania/Levy in the LA Times Book Review.

In a very discouraging piece of news, it was revealed earlier this week that the Los Angeles Times will discontinue it's standalone Book Review. The final supplement will appear in this Sunday's issue.

I was very happy to discover that in this past Sunday's issue (7/20 -- second to last issue ... ever), Richard Rayner reviewed Francis Levy's Erotomania: A Romance in his monthly "Paperback Writers" section.

This is what he had to say:
"[Levy's] excellent too, like Miller and Bukowski, on the mechanics and energy and animal filth of rumpy-pumpy, bringing to his sex scenes all the humor they need. There's a hilarious sequence in which the lovers use art criticism as a sex aid. Readers will never think of Robert Hughes or the abstract Expressionists in quite the same way. Sex is familiar, but it's perennial, and Levy makes it fresh."

The Los Angeles Times has been very supportive of our titles so far this year, but even had they not been, I'd be sad to see the Book Review go. I realized this when I randomly told my two-year-old daughter (jokingly), "You'll never know the Los Angeles Times Book Review in your lifetime," and I stopped because I imagined the lack of appreciation of the literary arts in the mainstream media, and where things could go during her lifetime. Something has to change.

The Neugeboren Train Keeps On Rollin'.

Steven Kellman, a greatly respected reviewer, contributed his insightful take on Jay Neugeboren's 1940 on The Huffington Post this past week.

There was this particularly convincing passage:

"The wisdom of Neugeboren's novel comes from its recognition that final solutions evade without answering questions. Bloch rejects facile attempts to explain Hitler and subdue Daniel. The advice he quotes from Rainer Maria Rilke, "to have patience with everything unresolved and to try to love the questions themselves," is as valuable in 2008 as it is in 1940."

Rudolph Wurlitzer Interviewed by Michael Silverblatt.

Rudolph Wurlitzer was interviewed by Michael Silverblatt on KCRW's Bookworm radio program.

The interview was broadcast in Los Angeles on July 24, and is available for download, podcast, or in other related mediums through KCRW's website.

Silverblatt provides a very focused, engaged forum for author's to discuss their work, and his take is always extremely thoughtful, prepared, and passionate.

This is worth checking out for anyone interested in the dynamics behind The Drop Edge of Yonder and background to the book.

1940 Review in Washington Post.

The Washington Post ran a wonderful review of Jay Neugeboren's masterful novel, 1940, in today's issue of the paper.

Tova Reich, author of the novel My Holocaust, wrote the review, titled "Diagnosing Hitler." Reich called 1940 "Intelligent and absorbing."

Also, excerpted from the review:
"Complexity is the underlying motif of Neugeboren's subtle and affecting novel -- the complexity of the human hearts Elisabeth draws, of the subway system her father helped create, of the subterranean world under the city streets that so attracts Daniel, and, most important, of the roots of evil hidden in Bloch's memories of Hitler."

Add to that, a splendid write-up in the Summer Issue of the Jewish Book World, which declared that "this well written ... novel merits a wide, appreciative audience."

Rudy Wurlitzer Blogs at Maud Newton!

Rudy Wurlitzer has succumbed to the digital age and contributed a guest blog at MaudNewton.com.

The really fascinating piece tackles Rudy's history in publishing and Hollywood, and is called "Rudy Wurlitzer regretfully declines the invitation to tap dance on your rubber raft."

You Know Neil.

In 2006, marking the launch of Two Dollar Radio con distribucion - a significant milestone in the history of our company - we released Anthony Neil Smith's second novel, The Drummer.

What makes the memory that much sweeter is that it happened with an amazingly talented author who also happens to be a great person.

In May, The Neil celebrated the release of his third novel, Yellow Medicine, with Bleak House Books.

Publishers Weekly called the book "well-written ... contemporary noir," and Booklist says "Smith has a powerful voice and delivers quite a romp."

Ch-ch-check it out.

Nog, the first novel by Rudolph Wurlitzer.

I have an uncontrollable erection as I type this: We're happy to annouce that we will be re-releasing Rudolph Wurlitzer's first novel, Nog, in 2009.

Nog was originally published in 1969 by Random House, and, throughout the years, has survived several incarnations. (Despite someone, somewhere dubbing it a "headventure". Ummmm.)

Here's what people said about Nog when it was first released:
"The Novel of Bullshit is dead. Rudolph Wurlitzer is really, really good." -Thomas Pynchon.

"Nog is to literature what Dylan is to lyrics." -Jack Newfield, Village Voice.

Plenty more to follow, so stay privy.

Crust the Hot Topic.

On Boston Globe's Brainiac Blog, Joshua Glenn has written a piece on Lawrence Shainberg's "hotly anticipated novel "Crust".

The Opening to the Article: "It's finally here! I'm talking, of course, about "Crust," the hotly anticipated novella by Lawrence Shainberg, author of "Memories of Amnesia" (a neurosurgically acute piece of fiction in which a brain reports on its own deterioration), not to mention one of the most entertaining books I've ever read about Zen Buddhism, "Ambivalent Zen." The literati have been buzzing about this book for a couple of years now, so I almost thought it was an April Fool's joke when it arrived in the mail.

"Published by Two Dollar Radio, Shainberg's footnote-laden, Vonnegut-worthy satire recounts how one Walker Linchak, a highly decorated but bored author in his late 40s, accidentally helps pioneer and promote a Scientology-like movement that combines science, philosophy, psychology, anthropology, and theology. The movement is called Nasalism, for reasons which immediately become obvious, and George W. Bush is one of its fervent adherents. In the book, I mean; I don't know where the president comes down on this issue in real life."

And in Closing: "But what the book really satirizes is American culture and media -- the way trends are conjured out of nothing, thanks to a few blog posts here, a tenure-track academic looking for a hot topic to theorize about there, and of course, newspapers like this one.

"I can't reveal any more, at this time, because the book is embargoed until October. But let me just add my two cents to the excited blurbs contributed by the novelists Jonathan Lethem ("One of the most perverse and single-minded satires I've ever read") and Norman Mailer ("It's wild as sin and revolting as vomit and as exceptional as the lower reaches of insanity itself"). I think that Two Dollar Radio has picked a real winner."

Fun @ Pilcrow

We had a blast at the first inaugural Pilcrow Lit Fest in Chicago.

Here are some good folks whose acquaintance we made over the Memorial Day weekend: author Jami Attenberg, Zach and Jonathan at Featherproof Books, the future of books Kevin Sampsell, Jennifer and Willy of Impetus Press, Jon Resh of Undaunted design, author Timothy Schaffert, Lauren Cerand, among others. Be sure to check out their work.

Also, a sincere virtual congratulations to Amy Guth and Leah Jones, the masterminds behind Pilcrow who managed to raise $4,000 in support of the New Orleans Public Library. We should all be so inspired.

The Shanghai Gesture - New Gary Indiana Novel

We're pretty stoked (and I don't use that word lightly - I would never use that word lightly) to be publishing Gary Indiana's new novel, The Shanghai Gesture.

The acclaimed author of Do Everything in the Dark, Depraved Indifference, Let It Bleed, Resentment, Gone Tomorrow, and Rent Boy (among many others) returns with a modern take on Fu Manchu (beware!) that crackles with the sharp wit, nihilistic vision, and utterly original voice that have become lynchpins of the author's career.

When we know more, you'll know more.

PW Cover!

Publishers Weekly did a story in their May 5 issue on us, for a continuing series they're doing on 50 individuals involved in book publishing under the age of 40. The tag for this series is "50 Under 40".

In the 5/5 issue, they placed those profiled in this series to-date on their cover. Eliza and I happened to be the fortunate ones profiled in this particular issue.

We thank Lynn Andriani for the wonderful article and the graphics department for allowing us to use a picture where I'm wearing a lei.

The opening to the article: "Far from the cubicles of corporate Manhattan publishing, Eric Obenauf, 26, and Eliza Jane Wood, 28, run a publishing outfit called Two Dollar Radio out of their home in Granville, Ohio. The husband and wife sport tattoos of the company logo on their wrists. They put photos of their two-year-old daughter, Rio, and their dogs, Hoon and Scarlet, in their book catalogues. They both work second jobs: he waits tables and manages a restaurant; she proofreads textbooks. They used to live in New York, but the cost of living and running a business was too high, so they moved to Ohio, near family. “We have grass and stuff,” says Obenauf. They also have a fledgling publishing company that's on the verge of busting out from tiny to an official small press."

1940 update.

It all happened within a week (or little more than a week).

In it's May issue, Library Journal gave 1940 a glowing, Starred Review, saying: "This tautly constructed, utterly readable book raises questions the reader must answer. Highly recommended."

The Los Angeles Times published an absolutely marvelous review by Tim Rutten that couldn't have been more positive - which has, subsequently, been picked up by everyone from the Orlando Sentinel and the Chicago Tribune to Today's Zaman (the largest English-language newspaper in Turkey). Here is what Mr. Rutten had to say about the book:

"Jay Neugeboren traverses the Hitlerian tightrope with all the skill and formal daring that have made him one of our most honored writers of literary fiction and masterful nonfiction. This new book is, at once, a beautifully realized work of imagined history, a rich and varied character study and a subtly layered novel of ideas, all wrapped in a propulsively readable story. Neugeboren is marvelous. Part of the power of this intelligently and finely wrought novel is that... thoughts and questions arise unforced from the story, as though from life itself."

To complete the trifecta, Commonweal also bestowed praise upon 1940: "Jay Neugeboren's 1940 is a taut, nuanced, beautifully written novel that captures an anxious and uncertain time in ways that a straight rendering of facts and dates could never achieve. Neugeboren casts a spell on the first page of his novel that never goes away. This memorable work of historical fiction is to be contemplated as well as savored."

That's the latest, but, as always, there is rumor abound that there is plenty more to come.

Drop Edge of Yonder update.

Because this is part of a concerted effort to more consistently update our blog and provide web-viewers with the latest information, we begin with The Drop Edge of Yonder:

The Los Angeles Times Book Review called the book "A picaresque American Book of the Dead... in the tradition of Thomas Pynchon, Joseph Heller, Kurt Vonnegut and Terry Southern."

Arthur Magazine featured a substantial and wonderful 5-page article and interview by Joe O'Brien with author Rudolph Wurlitzer that covers everything from the publication of Rudy's first novel, Nog, to his Oscar-worthy acting stints in several scripts he wrote.

Mark Athitakis says, in a review of the book in the Washington City Paper, "In his hero, Zebulon Shook, Wurlitzer has invented a funny, acerbic, hugely compelling representative of American heroism... This is that rare story that improves as it expands, not unlike another rambling picaresque, Don Quixote."

Rudy just completed a radio interview with Bookworm's Michael Silverblatt in early May in New York City. Stay tuned for air date of the interview.

Pilcrow Lit Fest: Believe it.

MAY 22 – 25 IS INDEPENDENTS’ WEEKEND AS NEW HOMEGROWN LITERARY FESTIVAL CELEBRATES CHICAGO’S INDIE SCENE

Inaugural Pilcrow Lit Fest To Highlight Very Best Small, Independent Publishers

CHICAGO, February 11— Pilcrow Lit Fest, a new literary festival named after a semi-obscure editing term, today announced its forming line-up for its debut May 22-25, 2008, in Lakeview. Designed to honor the vibrant, vital independent streak in American culture, Pilcrow Lit Fest will feature authors from small presses via literary readings, informative panels and social events.

Pilcrow Lit Fest opens on Thursday, May 22, with a launch event at The Fixx, continuing with a party at Baby Atlas on Friday night, and followed by a full day of panels, workshops and readings at various Lakeview venues. Confirmed participants so far include Jami Attenberg, who went from distributing her short stories as DIY ‘zines on the subway to mainstream success with her debut novel, The Kept Man (Riverhead Books, January 2008), cultural critics Peter Bebergal and Scott Korb (co-authors of The Faith Between Us), novelist Timothy Schaffert (Devils in the Sugar Shop, Unbridled Books), Eric Obenauf and Eliza Jane Wood, co-founders of Midwest-based Two Dollar Radio, publishers of edgy, breakout fiction including Hollywood screenwriter Rudolph Wurlitzer’s new novel, The Drop Edge of Yonder (April 1), praised by rock icon Patti Smith as “a book you watch as you read, cast the film as you reread, and create a sequel as you sleep,” plus local playwrights, poets, writers, editors and literary impresarios.

On Saturday, May 24, the evening will be dedicated to a fundraiser for the New Orleans Public Libraries, which are still recovering from Hurricane Katrina today. The event is centered on Rebuilt Books, commissioned following a national call for authors and publishers to destroy and recreate their own book as art to be auctioned as part of the evening’s fundraising efforts. NOPL director Ronald Biava will be on hand to personally accept the proceeds.

Sunday promises a joint event created in collaboration with Sunday Salon Chicago and more. Local independent, The Book Cellar, will be the official bookseller throughout the festival.

“Chicago's book lovers almost have it all,” notes Pilcrow Lit Fest founder and creative director Amy Guth, herself a debut novelist published by an independent press (Three Fallen Women, So New Media). “The city has great independent bookstores, literature and poetry reading series and the Printer's Row Book Fair, but until now we did not have a literary festival to call our own. After speaking at lit festivals in New Orleans, Omaha and Atlanta that all were so focused on community-building, I really felt like their philosophies would translate well in Chicago."

For the latest updates on events, participants and more, please visit www.PilcrowLitFest.com.