Goodreads Giveaway: Win A Free Copy of Interrobang!

Hey all!

If at any point you were interested in procuring a free copy of my poetry collection Interrobang (which, well, of course you are), then this week only you can enter to win one of three free giveaway copies with a single click at Goodreads.

Click here to enter!

Contest Consternation....

Poetry contests are expensive.  Often, the small presses/entities running those contests need the revenue to survive.

Those two statements are equally true, so I realize it might be an unpopular approach for me to grouse about the contest system, and for the most part I don't and don't want to.  But--and this is a big deal for me--I do see a huge problem with the cost of poetry contest entries (poem publication prizes, that is, not book contests) vs. the potential reward.

Lately I've been seeing prizes asking for $20 fees, with rewards as little as $500 and publication in a journal.  I'm not sure how this is a feasible system for poets surviving on the pittance we usually bring in from our adjunct gigs, press jobs and graduate student fellowships.

Certainly, for book contests, a generous fee is necessary.  After all, when the contest is over the winner is not only awarded a decent sum of money, but the press itself must them continue on to *publish a book.*  There are costs associated with that, and almost no likelihood of getting a decent amount of money back from sales.  On top of that, contest readers and judges are reading whole books, which can be a gargantuan task; giving those books real attention takes time and energy most magazines and presses don't have the resources to offer under normal circumstances.  Most importantly, right now there are damn few ways for a first book poet to get published besides contests.  Like the system or not, it's one we have to at least consider participating in (and paying for) if we want to be in this field.

But plain old publication contests?  I don't get it.  The magazine running the contest is going to publish an issue anyway.  They're going to read submissions to the magazine anyway.  It's nice to award something to the poet who does outstanding work, sure, but in general the contest system isn't that far off the everyday journal system.  That's one of the reasons you often see "all poems will be considered for publication" in the contest rules: it's another way of getting submissions.  And if you're good enough to win or place in a contest, likely you're good enough to get published in the journal anyway.  (Though, I know this isn't always true.  Since you're only up against other people who have paid, as opposed to every submitter, there might be a slightly better chance for you to get published via a contest than just regularly.  I do think it's negligible, however.)

Anyway, to be fair, I do agree that a fee system is a good idea.  We live in a world of tiny readership vs. a huge supply of poems from writers who don't bother to (or can't) support the journals to which they submit.  So five bucks, ten bucks...a little something for the editors' trouble to read some extra submissions and a little extra support for the places who keep poetry alive.  I get it.  I'm happy to kick that in, and I wouldn't begrudge support for my fellow writers and those who give us a place to shine.

But seriously, so many of us can't afford these contests anymore, which is sad.  Our industry is floundering in so many ways, and I know none of us are happy with the vicious cycle of poets paying presses to publish poets who don't read what the press publishes.  It's a mess, but I'm really hoping we can figure out a better way.  Because we're stretching ourselves really thin, and maybe that can only last so long.

Interrobang Galleys Have Shipped!

I'm so excited that the Interrobang galleys have shipped, and are already arriving into reviewers' hot little hands even as I type this!

I'm really looking forward to reading the reviews, too.  Good or even not so good, it's just an honor to have people read the work and think about it.  (I sound like an academy award nominee, I know.  But it's sincere.)

Anyway, this is my dream coming true.  So every step is pretty exciting.

"Interrobang" Pre-Ordering Now Available!

A big day, all!

My poetry collection Interrobang is finally available for pre-order. 

You can order directly from Red Hen Press or from Amazon. 

Some reviews:

“Jessica Piazza’s brilliantly conceived debut collection, Interrobang, is a stunning sequence of (primarily) sonnets that unfolds with both a mature formal acuity and a profound philosophical sophistication. It is an absolute tour de force. These poems emerge as reflections of a kaleidoscopic self as they interrogate those fears and desires that drive and haunt us. Whatever the answers might be to these exclamatory questions, the speaker of these beautiful and troubling poems knows she has only one response available to her—to continue regardless, and to persevere.”

—David St. John 

“Jessica Piazza leaps fully-armed from the head (and heady tradition) of linguistic-trickster poets like Father Hopkins and Heather McHugh. Interrobang hits the ground running, lobbing bolts of syntactical lightning, taking the reader hostage to the most dazzling radical harmonies—a word-music that shakes us awake, powers new insights—stands us on the very edge of a rock ‘n’ roll minefield, waving a white flag. We give in! We got it! This is great poetry!”

—Carol Muske-Dukes 

“What an ear, here! Jessica Piazza’s poems are such etched, alive word sculptures, crystal prism poems of love and longing and punch.”

—Aimee Bender

“Jessica Piazza is an heir of Hopkins, a poet engaging generously in metaphysical struggle. In this unusually deft book, she sets out to offer her voice on the altar of iambic pentameter and shares the fears she encounters there with quirky, firm metrical dexterity and breathtakingly succinct wit. Interrobang is a serious accomplishment.”

—Annie Finch 

“Interrobang thrums gorgeously—each page is full-throated and sexy. It’s a yearning yo-yo, a gemlike cutting through our loves and fears. It is a book rabid with life. Piazza’s razor-sharp collection weaves and knots the unknowable with a jubilance and wit too rare in contemporary poetry. Interrobang is fantastic debut collection.”

—Alex Lemon, author of Happy: A Memoir and Fancy Beasts

The Next Big Thing Interview - Kamikaze Style

The Next Big Thing series of interviews are designed to help writers promote, discuss, and generally big up their own in-process work.  Never one to turn down the opportunity to throw my hands in the air and wave them like I care a really really lot, I accepted my pal Tarfia Faizullah's tag and ran away with this particular spoon.

What is the working title of the book? 

The title of the book is Interrobang. Which is this: ‽

It has the word bang in it, which makes me happy because it’s all typewriters and sex. Those things DO NOT go together enough in the pop cultural milieu. Yet. YET.

Where did the idea come from for the book?

The book is primarily about clinical phobias and clinical philias. Which means the idea for the book came from the monster under the bed, the natural disaster that might and will happen, the sweat stains one gets when about to speak to groups of cool kids, and whether you look fat in those pants.

But mostly the idea came from sex and typewriters.

What genre does your book fall under?

It falls under poetry. WAY under.

What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

I always thought that someday there would be an indie biopic of me and that Natasha Lyonne would be cast to play me, but then they’d start filming and I’d go on the set, ostensibly to watch and maybe add a few notes, perhaps coach Natasha on her inflections, but then I’d get insanely jealous and maybe just a little start sabotaging her…first just her acting, like I’d tell her that in my younger years I had a terrible stutter and though it isn’t in the script she should play it that way, but then later maybe there would be marbles and maybe there would be stairs and maybe I’d have to play myself, just because the budget doesn’t give us TIME to recast, don’t you see??!?!

All my poems are about me, even when they're about you.  Even when they're about Natasha Lyonne.  So this is why that.

What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?

YAY Huh?!?!

How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?

How long did it take you to do that thing you’ve been trying to do for a really long time, and then it happened, and then it was weird and you feel like all you can think about is the next thing, but you want to stop and be excited, but it’s hard because of…America?

That long. That’s how long it took me.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

I’m constantly scared and I’m constantly lusty. Do the math.

Also, I can’t do math. That inspires one to write: trust me.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

Did I mention sex and typewriters?  Okay, then.  You need more.  I understand needing more, as a rule.

So, let’s just say that some of the obsessive phobis and philias I cover are: love of things that falsely represent a sentient being, love of being enclosed, fear of a beautiful woman, fear of the immobility of a joint, love of ruin, fear of being oneself, and more.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

Red Hen Press is publishing it this August, 2013.

Red Hen Press, by the way, is the best thing to happen to the literary scene in LA in the last thousandy years. Los Angelenos are not a literary people, friends. There ARE literary people here, but generally there are just nose jobs, and they are on Jennifer Grey, and there are a bunch of us who are all sad about it.  So mostly in Los Angeles we read Barrelhouse Magazine and appreciate its worship of both Jennifer Grey and the magazine's patron saint, Patrick Swayze, and we hope for our letters to line up into words and then sentences, and we also hope that most people's noses stay out of work.

The economy is bad.  There's hope for nose unemployment.  But not so much for poets.  But we're working on it.

My tagged writers for next Wednesday are:

Any writer who hasn't done this yet. Which is no one.

I think I have to start tagging business copywriters. Or the insane people on Venice Beach who scream nonsense words at me.

Anyway, as I said, Tarfia Faizullah tagged me, and you can read her answers here:  Tarfia's version of The Next Big Thing