Well, let’s get the formalities out of the way and take a look at this new cover for Bizarro Pulp Press and Journalstone’s upcoming TALES OF UNSPEAKABLE TASTE, from the poison pen (tainted typewriter? killer keyboard?) of John Bruni:
Bruni has a sharp eye for really good exploitation narrative, and we mean this in the best way possible. You want characters of ill repute doing gnarly things and sometimes having gnarly things happen to them? I mean, it says it right there on the back of the book, from no less than Brian Goddamn Keene, that Bruni is “…a blend of Edward Lee and Jeremy Robert Johnson.” These stories will mess with you, they will be violent, and they will be gross, but most importantly… BRUNI IS A DAMNED GOOD WRITER. He’s not just spamming fatalities and crafting horrors just for the sake of horror. Bruni is first and foremost a talented storyteller. And if you haven’t picked up any of his previous work, then this collection of short stories is a good place to start.
As for the cover itself, well, we very specifically wanted to emulate two things. First, we wanted a front cover that would look like the book equivalent to old VHS art for movies from notorious distributors, like GORGON and KEY and MEDIA, the type of stuff you’d share with friends and hide from family. Second, we miss the days when publishers slapped a huge black and white photo of an author on the back of a book. Now, every time you’re reading this book and you have to stop because “Who would write something like this?” Well, now you can simply flip this paperback over and SEE the culprit.
There’s no pre-order up as of right now, but when it comes up then we will be sure to share.
Meanwhile… we have narrowed our 2021 Bizarro Pulp Press submissions down to four titles. We hope to announce these titles in the next two or three weeks, but there is some paperwork to take care of on our end before that happens. Rejections and acceptances will be going out this week. Again, thanks to everyone who submitted a manuscript. Reading through some of these has been an absolute pleasure.
Also, 2021 marks the 5th anniversary of Don Noble and Nicholas Day’s ownership and operation of Rooster Republic Press. The last few years have seen a lot of trial and error, but we have seen more successes than we had any right to expect. Mostly, this is due to readers and support from the community. We simply could not do any of this stuff otherwise. And while we haven’t narrowed down exactly what we are doing in 2021, we have a pretty good idea, at least enough to entice folks.
Two very, very limited edition releases? Yes. One will be from Don Noble and the other will be from Nicholas Day.
A new book from a talented up-and-coming author? We sure hope so. Like the situation with our Bizarro Pulp Press titles, there are finer details to hammer out, but hopefully these tentative plans become concrete over the next several weeks.
More about all of these titles and beyond as we cruise into the fall.
DON’T FORGET! If you’re planning on ordering a special edition of either CRADLELAND OF PARASITES or FAIREST FLESH from us, then you only have between now and the end of this Wednesday (Sept 30th) to do so.
Both editions retail for $50 (including shipping within the United States).
International orders can be purchased, but first class international service is an additional $30.
Payments can be made via PayPal: roosterrepublicpress@gmail.com
PLEASE BE SURE TO INCLUDE SHIPPING ADDRESS AND THE ITEM YOU ARE PURCHASING IN THE NOTES!!!
If you do not use PayPal and wish to order from us, contact us via email (roosterrepublicpress@gmail.com) to discuss other arrangements.
Items have begun shipping, though copies may be slow to ship due to unfortunate problems arising from Covid.
Standard trade paperbacks (via Amazon) coming this Halloween for CRADLELAND OF PARASITES. The trade paperback for FAIREST FLESH has been pushed to December.
Okay… now back to making art!
TTFN, folks
