Shakeup at Perseus
Written byPosted on May 10, 2007
Filed Under AMS Bankruptcy
The Counterpoint news was just the tip of the iceberg. Publishers Weekly’s Jim Milliot reports: “As part of its integration of the Avalon Publishing Group, the Perseus Books Group has formed six publishing divisions, an action that will result in the elimination of at least 12 positions and the phasing out of the Carroll & Graf and Thunder’s Mouth imprints. As many as 33 other employees could lose their jobs if they are not willing to relocate or take on new roles. In addition, Perseus will sell its Counterpoint Press imprint to Charlie Winton (see related story). William Strachan, editor-in-chief of Thunder’s Mouth and Carroll & Graf, and C&G senior editor Don Weise are among the editors being let go.”
This is terrible news. I disagree with Perseus Books Group President David Steinberger’s pronouncement that these two imprints didn’t have interesting identities. Carroll & Graf published ambitious literary novels, such as Paul Anderson’s Hunger’s Brides. And Thunder’s Mouth was a dependable press for quirky collections of B-sides from the likes of Jonathan Ames and Rudy Rucker. The closing of these two imprints suggests that idiosyncratic distinctiveness along these lines isn’t part of the Perseus future. Sure, it’s possible that these sorts of titles might be part of other imprints. And okay, the books from these imprints may not have sold. Publishing is, after all, an industry.
But the question, and perhaps the dependable Milliott might investigate this for us, is whether Perseus gave Carroll & Graf and Thunder’s Mouth the kind of resources they devoted to their stronger-selling imprints.
[UPDATE: More from Jeremy Lassen, who calls this "sad, scary news for genre publishing," including a link to this letter to Avalon employees. Sarah observes that this is bad news for mysteries too. More at Galleycat.]
[UPDATE 2: Levi Asher: "No distinct identity? Absolute bullshit. Thunder's Mouth covered the counter-culture with both new publications and essential reprints, and in this capacity they represent no insignificant part of my book collection. It's sad that the corporate parent is dissolving this great company, and it's offensive that they're pretending it's no big deal. Apparently Thunder's Mouth had no distinct profits, but that doesn't mean they had no distinct identity. For readers like me, Thunder's Mouth is -- was -- a trusted and beloved brand."]
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Books To Jump Up and Down Over
Beyond Heaving Bosoms by Sarah Wendell and Candy Tan. The famed writers behind Smart Bitches, Trashy Books have written a very funny and thoughtful volume about romances, both Old Skool and New Skool. Here is a book that any smug and humorless literary manboy beating his flabby passive chest over Banville or Bolano should probably read pronto, if only for the distant possibility that he might get over himself. While the Choose Your Own Adventure segment at the end caused me to have a very disturbing dream involving Shelley Long (don't ask), Sarah and Candy did have me rethinking many of my own misperceptions when I wasn't busy laughing. They're not afraid to take on the New York Times Bok Review or even the groupthink within certain sectors of the romance community.
Alice Fantastic by Maggie Estep. This wild and highly enjoyable narrative involves two sisters (presumably, the third one was still being rented out by Chekhov), a hippie ex-junkie mother who lives with seventeen dogs, a murder, gambling, and libidinous Hollywood actresses who live in Woodstock. But this is the wonderful Maggie Estep we're talking here. And what seems at first like a quirky yarn becomes something unexpectedly moving about connectivity. What I love about Estep's work is the way that she'll juxtapose an extremely astute observation (now that you mention it, why do cab drivers always have somebody to talk with on the phone past midnight?) with an often outrageous story development.
Generosity by Richard Powers. It doesn't come out until September 29th, but Richard Powers's latest will have anyone committed to books reconsidering their literary fervor. I foresee some animosity from the vanilla critics hostile to idea-driven novels, but book bloggers, YouTube chroniclers, and MFAs would do well to plunge into this chance-taking narrative, which introduces vital questions about what the reader's relationship is with media, scientific dissection, and "creative nonfiction." Are we rats fleeing to happy cities? Or can we find the humanism within the purported plague?
Pieces for the Left Hand by J. Robert Lennon. Lennon is one of the most underrated fiction writers working today. Much as On the Night Plain proved that Lennon had a lot more in the toolbox than heartfelt (and often very funny) suburban satire, this slim but fascinating volume juxtaposes 100 small-town anecdotes -- arranged by category -- in a manner that reads, at times, like Nicholson Baker's passions for minutiae and, at other times, Stewart O'Nan's concern for psychological detail. The result is fiction that makes us wonder about whether one person's subjective view of particulars can entirely be trusted. This book never found a publisher in 2005. But thankfully, Graywolf has released it in the United States, along with Lennon's latest novel, The Castle.
Wonderful World by Javier Calvo. This wonderfully raucous volume has been completely ignored by the Washington Post, the New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times. But it's probably one of the most delightful reading experiences I've had this year. Calvo cavalierly mashes up multiple genres and manages to mix up familial subtext with larger-than-life, almost cartoonish characters. (Indeed, one might argue that one mobster's penis is a character of its own in this sprawling novel.). This is not an easy thing to pull off, but Calvo makes it work. And it's helped immeasurably by Mara Faye Lethem's idiom-specific translation. (See longer post.)
The Means of Reproduction, Michelle Goldberg This thoughtful book tackles the complicated (and little discussed) subject of reproductive rights from numerous angles, which includes a number of unpleasant but necessary ones. The upshot is that there isn't a quick fix solution for declining birth rates and fundamentalist abuses. Just about every political faction has contributed to the friction. But you'll want to read this book anyway to refamiliarize yourself with the topic, but also to understand just what's occurred during the past several decades to get us where we are today. (See also podcast interview with Goldberg.)
This is AWFUL. I just interviewed Don Weise and he was clearly so passionate about his job.
On the upside, Shoemaker & Hoard will sort of continue to exist, which I wasn’t expecting to happen.
I think Melville House is in Perseus too. Johnson had been linked at Bookninja recently.
Melville House was distributed by Consortium, which Perseus bought, but that’s not part of this shake up. Melville House is still Melville House. Perseus just distributes their books.
Neil Ortenberg is in the process of getting the Thunder’s Mouth name back. Mostly symbolically, I have no idea if he will return to publishing…he’s busy getting his doc film on Barney Rossett out there.
Blue Moon, which has published 20 of my books, seems to be dead.
Counterpoint just bought Soft Skull. I have one book with them. Last year Soft Skull tried to buy Blue Moon but that didn’t go down.