Dearest readers:
I’ve had many inquiries about the status of Narcissus Resists, my chapbook sequence which won the 2007 Beauty/Truth Chapbook Contest. To be honest I had been hoping by this point to be announcing its release. In keeping with the spirit of the sequence, it was going to be an e-book, the PDF available via download from the Beauty/Truth website. There was even a lovely wrap-around cover featuring artwork by my friend Connie Brady.
Unfortunately the Beauty/Truth website has disappeared within the last week. Perhaps the site is just down temporarily, but the editors (James Gapinski and Annabel Rauch) have been maintaining radio silence in recent months; James has not replied to any of my emails since March when we last discussed final tweaks to the cover, so I have no idea what the current status is. They sent an email out to their mailing list back in late March outlining the reasons for the delay in their Spring/Summer issue, but made no mention of NR. To my knowledge I don’t believe the Spring/Summer issue was ever released (I’d be curious to know from any of its contributors as, prior to its disappearance this past week, their website had not been updated since February).
We are now fast approaching the anniversary (September 18th) of their announcement that NR had won their first (and only? no announcement about the contest for 2008) chapbook contest. The original release date was November 1st of last year (ambitious, I know), then December 1st, and then after a brief delay in communication, March 1st. I’d be okay with the delays if I were kept in the loop about them and had some assurance that the project was going to be released. It’s frustrating as the text had been proofed and set and the cover was just about done.
Though the site is down and their emails no longer work, I do have their physical address and am considering writing a letter to withdraw the manuscript in hopes that another press would be interested in publishing it.
So that’s the latest. Writing this has made me realize what a patient person I am. Perhaps too patient. If you have any advice for my situation, feel free to write.
Cheers-
Matthew
Linda said…
What finally happened? (I submitted some poems for a proposed anthology. The magazine and editors disappeared with no explanation after that.) I am curious as to how things turned out for you.
Sunday, June 28, 2009 6:15:00 AM EDT
Matthew said…
Hi Linda. I still have never heard back from the editors at Beauty/Truth. Duotrope’s Digest, which helps writers keep track of their submissions and monitors journals and submission calls and such, has listed them as a “dead market” for a while now, meaning they have also been unsuccessful in making any contact with the editors.
I ultimately sent Beauty/Truth a letter withdrawing my manuscript and then shopped it around to some other presses who do chapbooks, all of whom were interested but uneasy publishing it without a go-ahead from the editors at Beauty/Truth, even though I had never signed a contract with them. One press even attempted to contact them asking permission to publish it and never heard anything back. Didi Menendez at MiPOesias came to the rescue and published it under her GOSS183 imprint, so it’s out in the world now. But still a mystery as to what happened to Beauty/Truth Press and all their planned projects like that anthology.
Sunday, June 28, 2009 9:31:00 AM EDT
Linda said…
I’m glad that things worked out re publication. I certainly don’t understand the lack of response from Beauty/Truth especially in light of the fact that he (James Gapinski)communicated often in the past, when he published a few of my poems in the magazine and, as you noted, when there were some delays later on. Out of curiosity I looked him up today and, unless there is some other James Gapinski who writes poetry, he is still around. See here…http://justsuppositions.wordpress.com/ Mysterious indeed.
Sunday, June 28, 2009 4:06:00 PM EDT