City Lights Strikes Again: New Buk Collection for 2010 - Absence of the Hero

G

Garrett

Hello friends:

This is Garrett Caples, editor here at City Lights. I'm extremely pleased to announced that, based on the success of Portions from a Wine-Stained Notebook, City Lights will publish a second book of uncollected/unpublished Bukowski stories and essays, in the Spring of 2010. As ever, I wanted you guys to be the first to know.

The new collection is called Absence of the Hero and it is filled with various goodies. There's around five of his earliest published stories, including "Cacoethes Scribendi" (about which I saw some scuttlebutt on a thread below), a couple of unpublished essays, and at least four unpublished stories ("The Invader," "Christ with BBQ Sauce," "Absence of the Hero," and "The Bully") possibly 1 or 2 more. There's more uncollected Dirty Old Man columns and some high-quality short fiction like "Vern's Wife," "Cat in the Closet," "The Gambler," "The Ladies Man of East Hollywood," "Fly the Friendly Skies," and many more. A couple of classic stories of his public performances ("The Big Dope Reading," "I Just Write Poetry So I Can Go to Bed with Girls") and much else.

I feel like this book is easily as good as Portions. What it lacks in historical markers (first essay, first story, first Notes, etc. as in Portions) it makes up for in unpublished material.

I'll keep you all posted on developments; feel free to post any questions or comments about the new book!

Best,

Garrett Caples
Editor
City Lights Books
 
Bukfan

Bukfan

"The law is wrong; I am right"
That's great news! I'm looking forward to reading it. Thanks for keeping us informed, Garrett!
 
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1fsh2fsh

1fsh2fsh

I think that I think too much
Founding member
Good news Garrett. Keep them coming. and I may as well be the first to ask... Hard Covers?
 
bospress.net

bospress.net

www.bospress.net
I was in City Lights and they still had some on the shelves, but hopefully they sold a TON of them.

Of course, Garrett, I'm always willing to bind in hardcovers; 1000 copies for you from the paperback copies. Just let me know!

Bill
 
LickTheStar

LickTheStar

Sad Flower in the Sand
Awesome news. I really enjoyed the Portions collection. It seems especially good as Ecco seems to have little interest in stories and non-fiction pieces... Can't wait!
 
Erik

Erik

If u don't know the poetry u don't know Bukowski
Founding member
Great!:)
If its nearly as good as Portions we're in for a treat.

By the way: you mention that Portions was successful, could you give us some details on how successful? How many copies have been sold so far.
Were the foreign sales good?
I at least got our local library here to order one!
 
Rekrab

Rekrab

Usually wrong.
It sounds like a good collection, although the title is a bit on the dull side. How about "Christ with BBQ Sauce"? Now that would leap off the shelf.
 
james

james

Rekrab, you stole the thoughts right outta my brain!!! if i saw a book titled "Christ with BBQ Sauce" on the shelf, i would just have to buy that!
 
Hosh

Hosh

hoshomccreesh.com
You were being sacrcobvious.

& in vegan neo-con heaven the streets are paved with soybeans...
 
Rekrab

Rekrab

Usually wrong.
To clarify, "Absence of the Hero" is a fine title for one piece but it's not strong enough to carry a whole collection. Not enough weight, no madness to it. It's a quiet, forgettable title. Just my dumb opinion.
 
G

Garrett

Hey guys:

Just to let you know, there will be a limited edition hardcover of the book. We're not sure how many copies just yet. The collapse of the economy between the last volume and this one obviously affects the publishing industry like everything else--hence there are a few hardbacks of Portions left (note to collectors--snap 'em up). So there'll be a smaller run of the hardcover than for Portions.

Christ with BBQ Sauce is an excellent title, yes, but unfortunately not one that will get your book prominently displayed in a bookstore (which, if you intend to keep publishing books, is a factor).

To respond to Erik: I can't give out specific figures but I can say that it's been a very successful title for us. The foreign rights for the first book sold splendidly everywhere from Japan to Serbia. (In fact, as I was typing this, someone just handed me the Czech edition of Portions, which is the first foreign translation actually published so far--apparently my name in Czech is Garrettu Caplesovi.)

Right now it looks like the book is scheduled for April. It also looks like we'll be placing an unpublished piece in the March issue of Playboy, so again, collectors take note.

As an editor, I feel like this is a great collection; again, not as many historical milestones as Portions, but more unpublished material, so hopefully there's a lot here even for the assiduous collector.

Any more questions/comments, please post 'em and I'll try to get to them as soon as possible.

Best,

Garrett
 
bospress.net

bospress.net

www.bospress.net
Limited edition HB is cool. Those of us that are fans/readers/collectors will snap them up. Maybe you can start holding copies? If so, please put me down for one. I know that you can get a bunch of reservations and even prepaid orders if you can guarantee us a copy...

Bill
 
bospress.net

bospress.net

www.bospress.net
Garrett,
Why not let us vote on the title? As long as we DON'T pick the BBQ sauce one? It would be non-binding, of course, but maybe we'd hit on a title that may work a little better....

Also, You guys sold a book that had "Erections, Ejaculations" in the title. Of course, it was a different time....

Bill
 
Rekrab

Rekrab

Usually wrong.
Bill: you read my mind on both points. "Christ with BBQ Sauce is an excellent title, yes, but unfortunately not one that will get your book prominently displayed in a bookstore..." makes a certain humdrum business sort of sense until you remember this is the company that once had the balls to publish "Erections, Ejaculations and General Tales of Ordinary Madness." Now which title will get a book displayed, and which will attract new readers to Bukowski? "Erections..." or "Absence..."? Has City Lights lost it's nerve? Won't a gutsy title sell these days?

I bet a vote of fans here would get less than 50% favoring "Absence of a Hero." That is simply a dull title.

Me too, I'll buy the hardcover.

Thanks, Garrett, for the news.
 
bospress.net

bospress.net

www.bospress.net
jesusbbq.jpg
 
jordan

jordan

lothario speedwagon
this thread is great. if i were a publishing exec, i would marvel at how garrett is "leveraging the assets of web 2.0" by taking advantage of a "ready-made focus group of core enthusiasts" and using it to "drive publicity and fuel development from inception to production."

nice work, i mean.
 
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