Cynthia Reeser's New Book

I was honored when asked to write a blurb for Cynthia Reeser's new book of poetry. Now the book by this wonderfully talented writer-artist-editor is available here:

http://www.amazon.com/Light-Trials-Cynthia-Reeser/dp/1599245434/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267282826&sr=1-4

ashowls

http://www.ashowls.com/?p=220

Future Work

I have a number of projects in the works. Some are near completion, some in the middle of being processed, and some just beginning. BeWrite Books is editing the manuscript for my second full-length collection, Heart With a Dirty Windshield; although I have an acceptance in hand, I don't have a contract yet, which makes me, honestly, kind of nervous. In fact, almost all the projects make me nervous in the same way. So many of them seem like promises that might go unfulfilled. Publishing Genius was supposed to publish Love Surrounds You Like a Posse in Bulletproof Vests as an e-chapbook more than a month ago; I was supposed to receive copies of my newest print chapbook, Anomalies, from FootHills Publishing this week. Unh-unh. And neither has posted announcements about the books on their Web sites.

What else? I'm also waiting for a contract from Bedouin Books for Sleeping With the Lights On, a print chapbook (I'm supposed to receive the contract in March; we'll see). Also in March, Shoots & Vines is scheduled to bring out my mini-chapbook, Pain, Sex, & Time. I have another mini-chapbook, Music for Pieces of Wood, scheduled for later this year from ml press. Dale Wisely of Right Hand Pointing is publishing an e-chapbook of my quasi-found poems, Dying Words, sometime this spring (or summer).

I wouldn't be so anxious if I haven't had some disastrous experiences in the past with publishers and editors. Lost or forgotten manuscripts. Acceptances from publications that then shut down (this just happened to me with Radiant Turnstile). Interminable turnaround time from acceptance to publication.

You know how people say they don't mean to complain? Well, I guess I do.

Best Blurb Ever in the History of Blurbs

Jason Cook, editor of the terrific literary journal Ampersand, wrote this blurb for the back of my forthcoming book, Heart With a Dirty Windshield: "Howie Good's poetry punches you in the face and steals your wallet. It sleeps with your wife and hides the remote control. Howie Good's poetry, the reader suspects, works for the Yakuza."