Kitty Snacks #3 FREE DOWNLOAD is up now!

Hey everyone,

To get ready for the release of Issue #4 we're offering a free download of Issue #3, which has been sold out for months now. Just click here to begin the download and enjoy.

None of the work featured in Issue #3 may be reprinted without the author's full consent.

Thanks

New Releases We Dig: Begin Again by Kenneth Silverman (John Cage biography)

Also just read No Such Thing As Silence: John Cage's 4'33" by Kyle Gann. Both are worth checking out.

Kitty Snacks #4 coming soon...

Check the cover below and stay tuned.

Come Back, You've Disafeared

by Matthew Salesses

We liked to predict the epidemics on our island before they came. But only one person was ever right. He predicted the epidemic of insomnia and the epidemic of indecision and the epidemic of bad jokes and the epidemic of lost children, though of course he couldn’t predict them all, not even more than two percent. We knew him and once admired him, though recently we’d run him into the hills. He’d developed immunity to the epidemics and that seemed to us why he could predict them. He was not part of them, like we were.


He predicted the epidemic of insomnia before he was immune; those late nights rolling endlessly in our sheets we couldn’t stop thinking of his guess. We thought of it with awe and then anger and we said maybe he’d caused the insomnia and without that to worry us maybe we might sleep. We asked him to predict the next epidemic and we tried hard to catch it, and we felt relieved when he was wrong and it wasn’t an epidemic of kindness, though we had no problem with kindness. We almost forgot about him being right until he was right again.


The second time was after the epidemic of shared dreams when each morning talking to each other we recognized our dreams and felt connected. As the dreams faded he predicted the epidemic of indecision, and indeed we spent months doing nothing, so unable to choose, and the epidemic seemed terrible but also almost nice and lazy and also like it was out of our hands and again we thought maybe it was in his hands.


But another year passed before he predicted the epidemic of bad jokes, as if his joke was to be right again. We thought maybe his prediction was the first joke. Still we enjoyed the epidemic and didn’t blame him—it was good to get all those punch lines off our chests. The children became natural kings and queens of the epidemic and we liked that as well. When they played basketball we called them our court jesters. When they played cards we said they always trumped our hearts. When they played hide and seek we cried, come back, you’ve disafeared!


It seemed the worst joke of all when he predicted the epidemic of lost children, his second right in a row. Then we had to run him up into the hills. He said that he was immune—and we were afraid of him, of him possibly spreading his immunity and of his predictions more prophecy than guess. He said we were all crazy and our children should lose themselves far away, as far as the outside world. But he was supposed to be one of us. After our children reappeared they helped us chase him into the hills and that seemed proof enough that something was wrong with him. The children could sense something wrong.




--------
Matthew Salesses holds an MFA from Emerson, where he is the retiring editor of Redivider. He is the author of a chapbook, We Will Take What We Can Get, and stories in or soon to be in Glimmer Train, Witness, American Short Fiction, The Literary Review, Pleiades, and others.

Kitty Snacks editor, Wilson McBee, has a new story at juked.com

Check out "Kingdoms" by Wilson McBee over at juked.com.

Hey Memphis! Kitty Snacks #3 now for sale at Goner Records

Go by or check out their website.

Gordon Lish talks

Great new interview with Gordon Lish over at BOMBlog.

Excerpt:

"BCE: I know you read DeLillo and McCarthy all the time. Would you be prepared to comment on that?

GL: I am always prepared to comment on DeLillo and McCarthy—much in the same way, if not entirely in the same way as I would be prepared to comment on myself. They are geniuses. My mother and my father wanted for me to be a genius. So did I. When I found out a couple of days ago that I couldn’t be I made up my mind to stick as close as I could to those who were. A feat, a procedure one finds one can accomplish, on the cheap by reading. And by reading. And by reading. So I pick up the books of these two writers every day that I am not otherwise busy with the genius of certain women I know and certain children and grandchildren I’m tickled to have."

Be sure to check out Lish's new book of collected fictions. 

Kitty Snacks contributors (Mary Miller & John Brandon) signing at Square Books in Oxford, Mississippi July 12 & 14

Kevin Sampsell (A Common Pornography) and Claudia Smith (Put Your Head in My Lap) will also be reading with Mary at the event. For more info go here. 

John Brandon will be reading from his new book, Citrus County, on Wednesday, July 14. Joining him will be Jack Pendarvis--both dudes have been published in previous issues of Kitty Snacks magazine. John's book Citrus County was recently picked for the Rumpus Book Club. Check out an interview with John here. 

 

John's book was recently the cover review on the Sunday New York Times Book Review. Read the whole thing here. Listen to a podcast of the above event here. 

Barry Hannah in French

"Things black, things cowboy, things Southern seem to be very special in France now. I have no idea how to market myself, but if I were a real cynic I would probably get on a Lash La Rue outfit, be a cowboy writer, and make a lot of jack. My French reception seems solid. I’ve had good reviews. I’ve only had one book, my last collection, Bats Out of Hell, translated—which took three years. The French translator gave up on about three stories. He thought that they were so Southern that there was no way to idiomize them—which shocked me because I thought I wrote pure American, but I still must be really Southern. I was on the French “Tonight Show,” and my publisher is Gallimard, so I’ve got all the outlines of looking good in France."
-Barry Hannah in an interview with the Mississippi Review (1996)

Barry Hannah vit à Oxford (Mississippi), qui est aussi la ville de Faulkner.

C'est sans doute pour rendre le voisinage encore plus évident qu'en 1973, il remporte le prestigieux prix Faulkner avec son premier roman Geronimo Rex. ... Lire la suite

Et c'est sans doute aussi pour rendre hommage à son glorieux voisin que les quinze nouvelles de La tête à l'envers se déroulent dans le Mississippi, l'Alabama, la Géorgie, l'Arkansas et le Kentucky, comme un panorama de l'horizon sudiste. Rendre compte de quinze nouvelles aussi denses, noires, tordues, d'un existentialisme grimaçant et qui parlent d'une Amérique dont l'héroïsme se réduit à une horde de menteurs et de lâches minés par l'alcoolisme, le vide et le sentiment de n'être jamais à sa place est une gageure qu'il serait vain de relever.

La lecture de La tête à l'envers laisse l'impression d'avoir assisté à une parade de paraboles, une succession de dix mille phrases étranges et merveilleuses où la violence exulte dans une joie et une bonne humeur d'autant plus surprenantes qu'on se demande, lecture faite, comment on a bien pu se laisser aller à rire d'un monde aussi désespérément condamné à une médiocrité quasi surnaturelle. Une telle amertume serait difficile à avaler sans le soutien d'un cordial si l'écriture de Barry Hannah n'était aussi souvent habitée par la grâce, qui drape l'enfer d'un humour féroce séduisant comme une robe de soie doublée de barbelés.

New Releases We Dig: BECKETT photos by Francois-Marie Banier

We support this list!

In response to The New Yorker's "20 under 40" list Dzanc books made their own list of "20 writers to watch." Thanks Dzanc Books for putting this together. Several of the writers mentioned on the list have been published in Kitty Snacks.

Check the list here.

John Brandon's CITRUS COUNTY picked for Rumpus Book Club

Friend and frequent Kitty Snacks contributor, John Brandon's new book from McSweeney's, Citrus County has been selected as the first book for the Rumpus Book Club.

Also! Congrats! to John and Heather on being parents! 

Babies read Kitty Snacks too

Kitty Snacks editor, Michael Bible, reads a story for What To Wear During An Orange Alert podcast episode 10

listen here. buy the chapbook here.

New Releases We Dig: Wyoming: Lost Poems by Terry McDonell, I Was Looking for a Street by Charles Willeford

Yoknapatawpha Arts Council T-Shirt Ball Tonight

Kitty Snacks contributed a hand-drawn design t-shirt for tonight's t-shirt ball. Read more about it and show your support here.

shirt designed by third-redneck, third-frenchman, third-Jew Josh Burwell and David Swider

Kitty Snacks Book Klub! March/April picks!

Announcing the new selections for the Kitty Snacks Book Klub to be read during March and April (we've selected two books because they're both really short):

-A Jello Horse by Matthew Simmons

Here is a review of A Jello Horse from The Believer.

-Tumble Home by Amy Hempel

Here is a review of Tumble Home.

Both books can be purchased at Square Books in the back of the store where the book club selections are. You get a 10% discount if you buy them at Square Books. You can also get A Jello Horse from Publishing Genius, which is linked above. We'll be in touch about meeting up for some beers and a discussion.  Both books are around 10 bucks.

BOOK KLUB MEETING TBA

The Zoo

by Jeff McNeil

My name’s Bunny.  They call me that cause I get around so quick on my scooter.  A scooter is what I call my motorcycle.  I call it that cause one time I was paying a visit to my old lady’s ex-boyfriend and there were some kids riding scooters in the street and I pulled them by a rope and then I pulled my old lady’s ex-boyfriend by a rope through some pretty thick briars.  I guess I call it that because it reminds me of that time.  And it’s kind of funny to call a motorcycle a scooter, mostly because a motorcycle is so much bigger and it gets people expecting something else.  It’s funny if you really think about it.

Two poems by Harrison Smith

You Really Butter My Toast, Sandra Day O'Connor

Pass the goddamn skim milk.
The only reason I'm even here is because
Your senior discount at IHOP is as irresistible
As the creamy mayonnaise skin that covers your bones.
You've been a bitch since '81.
Reagan put shit in your head
And it probably wouldn't hurt if you spilled your drink
And fell two flights headfirst into wicker furniture.


In Support of Ocean's Twelve

I love Don Cheadle.
He is above average.
Slap a high five, Don.

Jason Polan

Sketch artist, Jason Polan, is featured in Kitty Snacks #3 with his drawings of farm animals and a tiger. Here's an article recently published in the LA Times about Jason's quest to draw every citizen in New York City. Be sure to check out his website and see all the different projects that occupy his time. Oh YEAH! He also draws a new picture for Kitty Snacks contributor, Jack Pendarvis, every month over at The Believer.

Barry Hannah (1942-2010)

We here at Kitty Snacks are deeply sad to have lost our hero and friend, Barry Hannah. He was our Captain.

Kitty Snacks editor, Michael Bible, has written something on Barry at htmlgiant.com. Read it here.

We will miss you, Captain.

Gorilla Math by Michael Bible

Kitty Snacks editor, Michael Bible, has a new chapbook out from Greying Ghost Press called Gorilla Math. It looks great. Go here for more info and how to buy it. Only 75 available so get 'em while you can.  Check out Michael's other chapbook, My Second Best Bear Rug, from Achilles Chapbook Series.

"Michael Bible may have hit what a lot of us were trying, a singular new voice for CEO's to slackers. He's so open, so easy, so fluid, you'll smile with joy turning every page of Mr. Bible."

-BARRY HANNAH

Kitty Snacks #3 is out! Party on Friday, March 5!

We are pleased to announce the release of Kitty Snacks #3, a literary magazine based in Oxford, Mississippi. The third issue features stories, poems, photographs, and drawingsby a wide variety of authors and artists.

Kitty Snacks #3 features fiction from University of Mississippi John and Renee Grisham writerin-residence John Brandon, whose novel Arkansas was published by McSweeney’s in 2009. Also featured are Mississippian Mary Miller, author of Big World (Hobart’s Short Flight/Long Drive Press, 2009) ; Deb Olin Unferth, author of Vacation (McSweeney’s, 2008); Rudy Wilson, author of The Red Truck (Ravenna Press, 2010); Kevin Wilson, author of Tunneling to the Center of the Earth (HarperPerennial, 2009); and George Singleton, who has published four collections of stories, two novels, and a book of writing advice and whose latest novel is Work Shirts for Madmen (Harvest, 2008).. The majority of these writers are connected to the South and many were born in or live in Mississippi. Other writers featured in the magazine include P.A. Levy, Ryan Ridge, Andrew Borgstrom, Isadora Bey, Darlin’ Neal, and Jeff McNeil.

Work by three photographers is featured in this issue. Jane Rule Burdine’s book Delta Deep Down was published in 2008 by the University Press of Mississippi. She lives in Taylor, Mississippi. Los Angeles-based photographer Ward Long provided the cover photograph for the issue as well as color photos in the interior. His work has appeared on TheFader.com. John Oliver Hodges has several black-and-white photographs included in the issue. His photos have appeared in The Oxford American andelsewhere.

Jason Polan and Josh Burwell both contributed drawings that appear throughout the magazine. Josh is a 2009 graduate of the University of Mississippi and currently splits his time between Oxford, Mississippi and Paris, France. Jason Polan lives in New York City and draws for Jack Pendarvis’ monthly column in The Believer. Polan is currently working on a project to draw everyone in New York City and once drew every piece of art in the Guggenheim.

Captain Maximus is out of print!

Get Barry Hannah's books back in print!


Dear big and small publishers,

Barry Hannah is one of our favorite writers and it's a shame that some of his books are not in print. Anyone who has read these books that have gone out of print will agree that it's insane.

These books by Hannah are no longer in print:
The Nightwatchmen
Captain Maximus
Hey Jack


SOMEONE PRINT THESE!!!! Or donate the money to Kitty Snacks and we'll do it. 

Kitty Snacks Kegger #3!

Issue #3 release party on Friday, March 5 at 9 p.m.
Location: The Powerhouse in Oxford, MS

Come by after the Oxford Conference for the Book wraps up for the day. Free booze. A raffle with tons of good stuff including signed Barry Hannah books (to celebrate the conference).

Ward Long, John Oliver Hodges, & Jane Rule Burdine will have photos on exhibit.

Stay tuned for a list of readers and performers...

Excerpt from The Big Book of Forgotten Lunatics, Volume 1

by Kevin Wilson 

  

The King of the Sinkholes

Dr. Wesley Partin (1877-1958)

He was born without ears, his skin bone-white.  His mother bled out.  His father, a veteran of the Civil War, his left arm a sleeve of fabric, smothered the newborn baby for seventeen minutes with a wadded-up cloth handkerchief but the child did not perish.

He reportedly called sinkholes “the most vaginal of god’s natural occurrences,” though this has been disputed and is probably a case of mythmaking rather than fact.

Wrapped in a thin mummy of his deceased mother’s dresses, the child developed quickly.  He discovered his first sinkhole at age seven, noting in the letters section of the June 7^th, 1884 edition of the Gainesville Sun the “slumping fenceposts” and “wilting vegetation” of the affected area.  Seven days later, the earth had collapsed, a cone of debris signifying the development.

He once berated an assistant for an error, exclaiming, “This is a goddamned hole, you fool, not a sinkhole.  Just a hole.”

At age ten, he was elected to the Southeastern Topographic and Geologic Society.  At the initiation ceremony, he allowed the vice-president’s wife to touch the places where his ears should have been.  “How do you hear?” she asked.  “My teeth,” he answered, and when she ran her fingertip across his incisors, he winced.

He reportedly called sinkholes “the devil punching holes in the earth with his penis,” though this has been disputed and is probably a case of mythmaking rather than fact.

These Institutions Deserve My Gratitude

by George Singleton

              I would like to acknowledge the support of the National Endowment for the Humanities.  I cannot, but I would like to do so.  Evidently  my plan of action regarding The Curious Life and Difficult Times of Transcendental Meditationalist and Kosher Deli-Owning African-American Leroy Pinckney: Conformity and Rebellion, Fresh Meat and Mantras did not sway the voting committee, or whatever they have up there at the NEH.  I completely understand.  I do not bear a grudge, nor do I wish to exact vengeance on any of the highly-qualified members up there in Washington, D.C.  I read recently that somebody received one of the NEH grants in order to work on the Selected Papers of Reggae Icon Bob Marley.  Selected rolling papers, maybe.  But I understand.  Up until my biography of Leroy Pinckney hits the shelves of every college and university library in America (and Jamaica, I suppose), no one will understand how Leroy’s lynching affected our fast-paced modern day society of men and women, the bigoted and the rational. 

Kitty Snacks Bundle of Kittens!

 

For a limited time we're offering a sweet deal on Kitty Snacks #2 and the upcoming #3 in a crazy bundle. You'll get both issues for 14 bucks plus a small shipping fee (while supplies last). Just click the buy button below.

UPDATE: No longer available. sorry.

Kitty Snacks #3

FREE DOWNLOAD AVAILABLE HERE

UPDATE: SOLD OUT! (stay tuned for a full download of the issue)

OUT NOW in a limited edition of 200 numbered copies featuring our first photography issue in all its full color (sort of) glory.

Featuring work by:
John Brandon, Deb Olin Unferth, Mary Miller, Rudy Wilson, Kevin Wilson, Ward Long, Jane Rule Burdine, Darlin' Neal, Ryan Ridge, Josh Burwell, Jason Polan, P.A. Levy, John Oliver Hodges, and many more.

This is the first issue of Kitty Snacks with photography.

Kitty Snacks #1 available for download NOW! It's FREE!

Hello everyone,

Kitty Snacks #1 is long out of print so to celebrate our fast approaching one year anniversary as well as the soon-to-be-released Kitty Snacks #3 we're offering up a free pdf download of our first issue featuring Jack Pendarvis, Geologist of Animal Collective, Selah Saterstrom, Sam Pink, King Khan, Kent Osborne, and more. Just click here and read away.

Kitty Snacks #3 is almost ready and will be available for pre orders this week.

Kitty Snacks #3 cover photo by Ward Long

Stay tuned for more info and to order your copy!

See more of Ward's work here.

(sorry about the lines on the photo...

they won't be there in the print version)

VOX gears up for new book release!

VOX magazine (our friends and fellow Oxford natives) is getting ready to release a poetry collection by Zachary Bush. More info can be found here.

Issue #3 Update! We're going FULL COLOR...kind of

Kitty Snacks #3 is almost done and will be going to the printer soon.

We're very excited about the list of writers featured in the issue:
Deb Olen Unferth
George Singleton
Rudy Wilson
Mary Miller
John Brandon
Kevin Wilson
and many more...

Photos by Jane Rule Burdine will also be featured along with a few other photographers in all their full-color glory...

Pre sales will start soon so stay tuned.

Barry Hannah and the 2010 Oxford Conference for the Book

So, we here at Kitty Snacks are huge Barry Hannah fans. We're excited about the upcoming book conference.

We just got a look at the schedule for this year's conference. Saturdary, March 6 looks like it will be the place to be. Stay tuned here for upcoming info on the conference.

Here's a sneak peak at the Saturday schedule:

SATURDAY, MARCH 6
Program sessions on Saturday will be at the Overby Center on the University campus. The 6 o’clock book signing and party will be at Off Square Books.

10:30 a.m. “Survivors of Geronimo Rex”
William Dunlap, moderator

Harry Brown, Rae Hederman, Barnett Jones, Horace Newcomb,
Noel Polk, John Quisenberry

Noon
Lunch – picnic celebrating the 40th anniversary of the University Press of Mississippi

2:00 p.m. “Barry Hannah as Teacher”
Tom Franklin, moderator
Anne Rapp, Cynthia Shearer, Jonathan Miles

3:00 p.m. “Teaching Barry Hannah”
Jay Watson, moderator

Donald Kartiganer, George Saunders, Daniel E. Williams

4:00 p.m. “Barry Hannah as Writer”
Richard Howorth, moderator

William Harrison, Amy Hempel, Wells Tower

6:00 p.m.
Marathon Book Signing and Party at Off Square Books



Here are some articles/interviews for now:
-from the Paris Review
-Garden & Gun article written by Wells Tower
-Barry on htmlgiant
-Fiona Maazel interview in BOMB Magazine
-NY Times article

That should tide you over 'til March...

Don Carpenter back in print!

Photographer and friend of Kitty Snacks, Ward Long, recently told us about Don Carpenter's debut novel Hard Rain Falling being back in print by the New York Review of Books. Carpenter was a fascinating character and close friend to one of our favorite writers, Richard Brautigan. This month's issue of The Believer magazine features a great article on Carpenter, his friendship with Brautigan, and his career.

Kitty Snacks Book Klub

Kitty Snacks Book Klub

So, we're starting a book club. Each month we'll pick a new or reprinted book from an independent press, read it, then talk about it (and by talk about it we mean you can post online or we can get together for a beer or something). The books will be available at Square Books and anyone that signs up will get a 10% discount on that month's title. The books will usually be paperback and inexpensive (10-15 bucks). This is a great way to support independent literature and we're looking forward to finding some great titles.

Our first selection, which will be available next week at Square Books, is THE RED TRUCK by Rudy Wilson (Ravenna Press). You can check out their website at http://www.ravennapress.com. Feel free to order from them if you don't live in Oxford or come by Square Books to get the bookclub discount.

This is the first Ravenna Press edition of Wilson's novel, a cult favorite originally published in 1987 by Knopf, with a new Introduction by Marc Kipniss. It is a great piece of evidence in the controversy over the influence of former Knopf editor Gordon Lish (who edited The Red Truck). Lish edited Wilson as he edited Raymond Carver and Barry Hannah, with dazzling results.

To sign up for the bookclub (so we can figure out how many books to order) please respond to this facebook event as "attending" or write in the comments section that you'd like to join. The book will be about $12.




Here's an excerpt from the book:
"Christ"

Teddianne ran out of the house from the backdoor and up over the front yard hill. Parked on the street was Christ. It looked like a red truck.
It sat, facing down the hill.
"It's too big!" she cried. "I can't get in it. It hurts; the truck, it's too big for my heart."
She pressed her hand to her chest.
But then Teddianne fit in it. She got in it. She opened up and got in it.
In the South, in the wintertime, the ground sometimes sparkles with the morning frost. It didn't snow very often and the thin white would be gone by noon. They shot off firecrackers and Roman candles around Christmastime.
One year Teddianne got the flying bird, with the painted face. One winter she got a tattoo put on. It would be there forever. One year she tied a long red ribbon to the wooden gate in the back, down by the shed. And one day, in the winter, when she came outside, she saw a red truck.