This remains one of my favorite of our EAP themes, this one this summer, so do have a look at what inspired it, the intense Stripped and Despoiled, by Charles S. Kraszewski. Also there’s Into the Underworld and Beyond, where Bruce Thompson takes issue with Joseph Campbell (and why not?), as well as the (as usual) supremely eccentric Devils Curve, by EAP favorites Marie Davis and Margaret Hultz. We love that it’s four hands at a single creative task. And then there’s my very favorite for this issue: Tim J. Myers and The Gift of Pleasure. Made my day, Tim, thanks.
Also, don’t forget to have a look at the poem that amounts to an EAP daily prayer: #171, by Chris Farago. (Thanks, Chris!)
Meanwhile, you out there may or may not know that EAP is located in the Pacific Northwest, in what we call Cascadia…and is a partner in Cascadia Publishers, a venture of about 30 independent publishers from the region. This year we’ve been gifted with a nice little infrastructure of what was formerly a local book and author fair in the town of Ashland, nestled in the foothills of Oregon. Renamed the “Ashland Literary Arts Festival,” it’s happening for the first time this year, Saturday, October 28, from 10 to 4, at Hannon Library, our partner, on the Southern Oregon University campus, in beautiful Ashland, Oregon. We’re celebrating independent voices, and independent publishing—and independent all things literary: books, poetry, film, comics, ideas—because our own feeling is the culture needs independent thought now more than ever.
Many things are planned. About twenty independent publishers will take the main floor. We’ll have a couple of independent films with panels. EAP’s own Mike Madrid will be on hand to discuss the independence of comics, and we’ll have a Wonder Woman costume contest. Willamette Writers and Timberline Review will showcase grassroots writing. Poetry will hold an entire floor, and you can take a selfie with Shakespeare (aka Geoff Ridden in a doublet) in the library’s special Shakespeare collections room. I’ll be there, running like a mad thing to and fro, but the main things I’ll be seated for are a panel I’ll moderate on Anarchy in the USA, and a talk with local Mail Tribune food writer Sarah Lemon on the importance of writing about…what else? …food! I’m hoping to be able to announce a special guest for that one soon.
So if you’re in the neighborhood that day, or even if you get a yen to come to Ashland in the autumn when it is arguably at its best, come on by. Join in. Be independent. Support independent. And let’s get those new ideas on the move.
Welcome back.