Casperian Books Blog

Flooding Granite got an honorable mention in the Guide to Outdoor Literature’s Best Books of 2011 and Marina Melee has been nominated in the Underground Book Reviews’ Summer Reading List Contest. Please take a minute to vote for it if you are so inclined!

Lavinia Ludlow and Nathan Holic in conversation at Curbside Splendor, Part I and Part II.

Casperian Books is pleased to announce the release of Jesse Jordan’s debut novel, Gospel Hollow.

One evening in 1995, Tommy Hull’s mother put him to bed, kissed him goodnight, and walked downstairs. She has not been seen since. Now a twenty-six-year-old bartender self-medicating his debilitating panic attacks with booze and Xanax, Tommy thinks he may have found a way to discover what happened to her. But to do so he’ll have to gather together the violent, damaged men of his past for one night and force from them the truth he believes lies hidden within.

Set during five days of a punishing Chicago blizzard, Gospel Hollow follows the clumsy and desperate investigation of Tommy Hull as he digs through the lies and silence of his remaining family to get the answer to the most pressing question of his life: what happened to Alice Hull on that cool September night fourteen years ago?

“Gospel Hollow is a white-knuckled, Midwestern, modern-day thriller, riveting in its pace, and masterful in its tone. Mr. Jordan’s exploration of the deadly ensnarements of family bonds and the impossibility of memory is highly thoughtful and daringly original.” — Joe Meno, author of Hairstyles of the Damned and The Boy Detective Fails

Click here to read the first chapter of Gospel Hollow.

There is a new review of Cemetery Bird on the Missouri River Regional Library’s Book Challenge Team blog, and a new review of alt.punk on the Pank Magazine’s blog.

There is a new review of Enter Oblivion at Out in Print: Queer Book Reviews and a new review of Fame & Madness in America at The Open End.

Since I’m halfway through getting last year’s books ready for the accountant, here are some statistics:

• 51% of 2011 receipts were payments from our wholesaler

• 23% of 2011 receipts were direct sales through our website
• 26% of 2011 receipts were what we euphemistically term “cash & check payments,” i.e. payment for purchase orders from books stores and educational institutions, receipts from direct sales through Amazon, payments from library fulfillment services and book clubs, etc.

There is a new review of Marina Melee up at Underground Book Reviews.

Lots of activity these past few days! alt.punk has got a lot of shout-outs for the Best of 2011, including from Ben Tanzer at TNBBC’s The Next Best Book Blog, the folks at The Word Zombie, DK at Banners of Death, and the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography, which also called out The Rage of Achilles in the same list.

Meanwhile, Bridget Bufford has a new interview up at Q. Kelly’s Author Website and there’s a new review of Cemetery Bird here.

Finally, Ian Woollen has a new story up in The Atticus Review.

A half-hour-long radio interview Bridget gave to The Next Frontier program earlier this month is available for listening to online at Living the Autism Maze.

Red Fez Entertainment has posted a review of Fame & Madness in America, and there’s also a very nice little write-up of The Rage of Achilles at the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography.

There is a new review of Flooding Granite and an interview with Tom Mahony in Paddling Life.

Casperian Books is please to announce the release of Garrett Socol’s debut novel, Fame & Madness in America.

When Brenda Bernstein poisons her husband of four days, little does she know that she is about to set off a media circus the likes of which haven’t been seen since O.J. got into a white Ford Bronco.

Brenda becomes an overnight tabloid sensation-and so does everyone she has ever come in contact with, from her grade-school nemesis to her 90-year-old grandmother. As the notoriety of her trial gathers momentum, her erstwhile brother-in-law is courted by reality TV show producers to host their newest dating game show, “Mating After Murder,” and her friend Veronica screen-tests for a remake of Body Heat, while the presiding judge at her trial wisely invests in a complete makeover for the benefit of the cameras infesting the courtroom. And let’s not forget Brenda’s mother, who is so thrilled to see her daughter gracing the cover of Time, she buys all copies of the magazine from her local newsstand.

Told in vignettes from the various important (and not-so-important) players’ points of view, Fame & Madness in America is a wildly entertaining romp that explores the world of fleeting popularity in a culture that worships celebrities.

Click here to read the first chapter of Fame & Madness in America.

There’s a new interview with Bridget Bufford up at the KBIA website and alt.punk has been named as one of the Top 10 Indie Picks of 2011 by Lori Hettler at the BookPage blog.

Rock Dance is going out of print at the end of this month. We have a couple of copies left in stock here, so this is your last chance to buy the book!

There’s a new review of Hoosier Life & Casualty up at the Books, Personally blog.

We are pleased to announce the release of Tom Mahony’s second novel, Flooding Granite.

Zack Pruitt is a river guide long on skill but short on nerve: he dropped out of college, quit his job, and abandoned his girlfriend and young son when things got tough.

Back in the Sierra Nevada, Zack signs on for a high-water river trip with three other guides and eleven clients. As the flotilla careens toward Gallows–a brutal rapid that’s always terrorized him–events spin out of control. A near-fatal accident coupled with a rush of snowmelt leave the guides and clients fighting for survival, and Zack discovers that for once running is not an option.

“River guide Zack Pruitt and his clients get more excitement than they bargained for in this gripping account of three days on the water battling nature, each other, and their own demons. Tightly wrought tension crests to life-threatening levels as Mahony takes readers on a ride filled with unexpected twists and turns. Flooding Granite offers nail-chomping suspense on every page.” –Robin Stratton, Boston Literary Magazine

“Tom Mahony knows how to tell a story and, as a scientist, understands the natural environment. In Flooding Granite, he demonstrates both of these skills with an intelligent action tale that grabs you by the collar and doesn’t let go. More than a man-battles-nature story, Flooding Granite is layered with a human element that will have you rooting for Zack and caring for him despite, and maybe because of, his flaws.” –Wayne Scheer, author of Revealing Moments

Click here to read the first chapter of Flooding Granite.

The first review of Flooding Granite is up at Small Press Reviews.

Nathan Holic, the man behind the front cover of alt.punk, has done a comic of one section of the book. You can read it here at Smalldoggies Magazine.

There’s a new writeup of Cemetery Bird in Vox Magazine.

There’s a new review of alt.punk up at Smalldoggies Magazine.