Forum / Solzhenitsyn Jukebox

• 
  Ann Bogle

  Sep 10, 02:13pm

  http://www.lulu.com/product/ebook/solzhenitsyn-jukebox/12033095

  Solzhenitsyn Jukebox is an ebook by Ann Bogle published by Argotist Ebooks on July 27, 2010. All five stories appeared originally and remain at Fictionaut: Dumb Luck, Fiancee, Car Talk, Solzhenitsyn Jukebox, and Hoss Men. Thanks to Rachel Lisi for the cover and Jeffrey Side the editor.

• 
  Sam Rasnake

  Sep 10, 02:20pm

  Great work, Ann. I really like the cover - but the stories are marvelous reads.

• 
  eamon byrne

  Sep 10, 06:26pm

  I've just downloaded it, and will read it later. Browsing quickly, here is an immediate impression:

  First, kudos to Ann for doing this. I intend to follow her example. The idea of publishing in pdf or similar, enabling free downloading, might be the way of the present. I mean before the web becomes flooded with free pdfs of dubious quality. To put that another way, we obscure writers are too hung up on the ideas of financial reward and print-published fame, ideas which are in most cases idle fantasies. We should get real.

  Ann's idea addresses this problem of dissemination realistically. It's a step beneath the self-print-publishing route. Another very interesting example of this is Marc Lowe's "sui generis and other fictions" (which I highly recommend for download - check Marc's wall for a link). In the print domain, Kane Faucher (a writer I have immense respect for) has been publishing in print using small presses like Enigmatic Ink. I bought a couple of his through Amazon. Unfortunately, these small presses tend (from my limited sampling) to produce rather ordinary artifacts. You can't lay out one of Kane's on a table, for example, because the thing will spring back closed and knock your coffee for six.

  But back to Ann's idea. You can see that the author has maximum control over the text layout, if sensible care is taken. (I'd opine that SJ could be laid out much better - but that's really evidence for my point.) The thing is, the only important thing is, a writer can publish in a way that the text can gain some decent cred, which is important if you think a text should have visual integrity. And certainly far more cred than it would have if it was only leaked out in snippets on web sites, even on good web sites like fictionaut.

• 
  Ann Bogle

  Sep 10, 08:14pm

  Here is the link to Argotist Ebooks published by Jeffrey Side:

  http://www.argotistonline.co.uk/Ebooks%20index.htm

  Last year Jeffrey Side of the UK approached me via internet to publish some of my poems at Argotist Online. I hoped that he might run a prose piece, but he wanted poems. Later, a year later, in July or so, he asked if he could publish an ebook of my work--prose would be fine this time--so I agreed. Solzhenitsyn Jukebox is the result.

  There was an interstate conversation about the hyphen in Juke-Box. Writers in NY and PA and NC and MN conferred. I ended up dropping the hyphen. The story at Fictionaut is still called "Solzhenitsyn Juke-Box." (My earlier attachment to the hyphen stems from my reading of Elizabeth Bishop's Edgar Allan Poe and the Juke-Box.)

  As far as layout goes, I was stunned to see that three of these stories weigh in at under two pages. I didn't do the layout nor did I arrange for the cover art. I'm fond of the cover, indeed. If you look at it closely, you'll see a page from a Russian pornographic fairytale (or something). I need to ask the artist the name of the book.

  What I want besides beauty and quality are two things: portability and accessibility. The ebook is accessible, even free, but it isn't as portable as a paperback.

  Thanks, Sam, and thanks, Eamon for your insightful comments.

• 
  Linda Simoni-Wastila

  Sep 10, 09:33pm

  It's gorgeous Ann. I've just downloaded and will read later. But my quick foray makes me think it's worth 'wasting' a tree and printing out in color. So I will and dig in with my morning coffee. Peace...

• 
  Susan Tepper

  Sep 11, 09:51pm

  Ann, Congratulations, that's wonderful! I remember many of the stories just by the titles, but look forward to reading them again as a collection!

• 
  eamon byrne

  Sep 12, 06:15am

  Just read Car Talk, and Hoss Men right through. I like your work a lot. It's very personal. Also outside the usual conventions of the made-up story. The 'Guidelines (1984-2008)' section of Hoss Men is totally hermetic - it makes me think you write wholly for yourself. If so, that is admirable, if also a poor career tactic. But wtf.

• 
  Darryl Price

  Sep 12, 09:40am

  Ann has always been an interesting and original writer who often surprises the reader with unexpected moments of both beauty and brilliance. Treat yourself.

• 
  Bill Yarrow

  Sep 12, 10:05pm

  Downloaded. Looking forward to reading it as one piece. Congratulations, Ann!

• 
  Gloria Mindock

  Sep 13, 10:38am

  Hey Ann, this is great. I will download it tonight when I get home from work to read.
  Congratulations!!! I look so forward to reading it.

• 
  Ann Bogle

  Sep 13, 08:55pm

  Thanks, all, for your kind expressions, Sam, Linda, Susan, Eamon, Darryl, Bill, and Gloria.

  Eamon, the "guidelines" section of "Hoss Men" [600 words] came about as an exercise -- laid out in the story -- to itemize *what* I actually knew *about the business* in the order in which I knew it. I left out most of my canon studies in English. Still, you see how uncommercial it mostly is. I like the word "hermetic." It changes the way I feel, that the list makes something plain.

• 
  Marcus Speh

  Sep 19, 10:57am

  this is excellent and deserves to be spread widely. thanks for explaining the process and your sentiments around the decision.

• 
  Kathy Fish

  Sep 19, 01:34pm

  Congratulations!

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