Days Passing


Posted at 12:00 on Mar 28th
By Duncan Barlow
It has been a very hectic few weeks for me and the writers of Astrophil Press. As we are all three teaching at colleges, we are prone to the crunch of spring semester, where seniors are frantically trying to get paper work in order, first years are looking for guidance, and late papers come trickling in like a pesky broken water faucet. However, we know the end of the year is coming and so we bow our heads and grade papers with vigor, anticipating that first month of summer break where we can return to our true love, writing. David is currently in England, spending his spring break with friends and working on a new manuscript. Eric is spending his spring break with his lovely wife in the East Bay. I spent my break in Denver playing music with d.biddle, but found myself stranded for an extra couple days due to circumstances beyond my control. However, now I am back in the thick of things and I'm knee deep in working with Keith Abbott's book. We have some delightful photos of Brautigan that most readers have never seen and it's a thrill just to look through them as I format the text!

I've been reading quite a bit lately and hope to free up some time to write reviews. I've read books by: Brian Evenson, Julie Doxsee, Sandy Florian, Peter Straub, Christopher Baer, and I'm reading a couple manuscripts from friends as well (which I won't review, but of which and I am rather enjoying).

Our books are still selling well and we encourage you to tell your friends to pick up copies! We are a small press and word of mouth is everything. Which reminds me, we will be preparing to accept short story submissions soon, so keep an eye on the site for our cal for submissions!

Please contact us if you should have any questions and if you're on Facebook, join our group!

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Spring Break! | England | d.biddle | Books | Brautigan

Featured Books


Downstream from Trout Fishing in America: A Memoir of Richard Brautigan By Keith Abbott

In Downstream from Trout Fishing in America: A Memoir of Richard Brautigan, Keith Abbott paints a portrait of Richard Brautigan as a lovable and whimsical friend. Abbott explains the writer’s dedication to the art of fiction and his quest to break beyond the pop culture, hippie label that haunted him until his suicide in 1984. Brautigan’s tight prose inspired authors such as Haruki Murakami and his experimentation with the line won him accolades from authors like Ishmael Reed, Raymond Carver, and Michael McClure. His work is highly influential and Abbott draws a clear connection between Brautigan’s life and his writing. This book is essential for anyone who is interested in the work of Richard Brautigan. Raymond Carver writes, "Truly the best thing I've ever seen written of the man."


The Procession of Mollusks By Eric Olson

If Fletch took Lovecraft to see a movie and it turned out to be a double feature—'Slugs: muerte viscosa' and 'The Monster that Challenged the World'--this post-genre romp is what might have been extracted from their post-movie dreams. This is a smart, funny, and (most importantly) irreverently weird book.
—Brian Evenson, author of The Open Curtain and The Wavering Knife.


Sleepers' Republic By David Gruber

In David Gruber’s Sleepers’ Republic nature is dreaming, and we are its dreams. Time is slowed down or speeded up: “suddenly, the sun / gives way to stars.” And: “What we knew moves sudden / without warning / throwing us to the ground / an emptiness in the sea / The air above us filled with fruit.” It may be that love “offers the opposite of a kiss,” yet Gruber’s upended universe is nonetheless an exhilarating medium in which the reader can both swim and breathe.
— John Ashbery author of Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror and Notes from the Air




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