We don’t talk nearly enough about our collaborative work with Journalstone, specifically in regards to their imprint, Bizarro Pulp Press. We acquire titles and run production for these books, 4-to-6 titles per year, for release under Journalstone’s “Bizarro” outfit. We do this because we love the genre and we love the imprint. Our goal is simple: good books.
Earlier this year, fans of horror poetry were treated to CRIES TO KILL THE CORPSE FLOWER, extending the Bizarro Pulp Press tradition of fostering verse of a darker nature. It is author Ronald J. Murray’s debut and fans of Poe and Dickinson would find a lot to love within its pages. You can buy a copy direct from the publisher HERE.
This month, on August 31st, Karl Fischer’s LEVELS will become available. You can pre-order the paperback via Journalstone and receive a free e-copy of the title at the time of purchase. This seems like it ought to be the default, but there are those who simply must wait for the Amazon release. If that is your particular case, then good news! You can pre-order LEVELS from Amazon, too, and you should. LEVELS is a beautiful book, inside and out!
“Quirky, intellectual, and just a little dark, this fun genre-mashup is a delight.” —Publishers Weekly
“Leonard Marcs is temp-to-hire at the Adventurer’s Guild, and like most of the freelancers in Castaway, he has no memory of coming to this dodgy little town at the bottom of the Multiverse. All he gets are terrible quests, and when he’s not blackout drunk, he’s being accosted by strange entities who seem to know him. His friends think he’s being paranoid, but when Leonard finds a fish nailed to his door, it awakens forgotten memories of a sinister conspiracy, sending him on a reality-shredding voyage across the mysterious Levels.”
We at Rooster Republic think LEVELS is an excellent addition to not only the Bizarro Pulp Press catalog but to the genre as a whole. When reviewing Fischer’s previous book, TOWERS, Cultured Vultures wrote, “Karl Fischer’s Towers is a monstrous love story which epitomizes Bizarro literature perfectly…” and in our humble opinion LEVELS takes everything that Fischer did so well in TOWERS and builds on the promise of that book by leaps and bounds. Top-shelf weird, dear reader.
And there are two more Bizarro Pulp Press titles coming out in 2020: Andrew J. Stone’s THE ULTIMATE DINOSAUR DANCE-OFF and John Bruni’s TALES OF UNSPEAKABLE TASTE. We’ll have more to say about these books closer to their respective release dates. But, again, these are shining examples of the genre, written by two incredibly talented authors whose imaginations are nowhere near tapped out.
Anywaaaaaaaay… we have fulfilled our duties for Bizarro Pulp Press in 2020. However, we have been informed that there is a 2021 looming on the horizon. Observing this inevitability, it occurs to us that we must look for a very, very select few titles to acquire for next year’s roster. We all ready have one title that looks like it is locked in, so that leaves THREE open slots for 2021. We are not considering titles for 2022 at this time.
On September 3rd and 4th, you can submit a logline (25 words max) along with a three-sentence synopsis (250 words max) and manuscript word count to: roosterrepublicpress@gmail.com
ALL THREE OF THE ABOVE ITEMS MUST BE INCLUDED IN ORDER TO BE CONSIDERED.
The following is from Nicholas Day, head of acquisitions for Bizarro Pulp Press:
“Your manuscript must be completed in order to submit, as authors will be contacted in very quick turnaround. These pitches will be read over the 5th and 6th of September and any manuscript requests will be made on the 7th of September. If you are not contacted on the 7th of September, then we have passed on your pitch. If you aren’t ready, do not submit. I cannot stress this enough. No collections. We all ready have a collection in consideration. Works can be as short as 15K and up to 55K words. These are firm numbers. Do not send anything shorter or longer, it will not be considered. Please, familiarize yourself with Bizarro Pulp Press and cross-genre literature. Your submission MUST include a logline, synopsis, and word count. Any submission missing these items will not be considered. Submissions are open to any and all members of the writing community. These submissions are for publication consideration via Bizarro Pulp Press only.“
And there you have it, folks. As always, thanks for reading. Tip your waitstaff.
