Triple play from Chance Press (1 Viewer)

mjp

Founding member
A package arrived today with three recent Chance Press titles. What's interesting is how different they all are, yet you can feel that they are from the same press (without looking at the colophon pages, smart ass!).

I first started buying poetry chapbooks in the early 90s, and I can tell you that there was nothing like this out there at that time. Everything seemed to be done as cheaply as possible with little or no aesthetic sensibility, which always struck me as odd, seeing as this is supposed to be a creative endeavor, right?

I don't usually fawn over things that our members bring out because I don't want it to look like anyone is getting any kind of special treatment (and because an endorsement from me might not necessarily be the best thing one could hope for). But jesus christ, there's something about these three books as a group that is just damn compelling. They span a wide range of interests: Joan Jobe Smith nails down the Hollywood that exists only in memory in Sequin Soul, the Abbigail McCracken book nails down an absurdity that I will always appreciate in Acontextual Drawings. and the ethereal, graphic novel(ette?) pages of Stiff Breeze by Barry Lutz put an exclamation point on the whole weird, marvelous thing.

Bill does the same thing, but I guess I've never received three diverse titles from him at the same time before, and David Barker's ghost is also a marvel of the power of creative production...and many other recent publications too. I don't want to leave anyone out (I'm looking at you, Purple Glow Press and MILK).

This is some god damn place, I'll tell you what. I'm glad we're all here at the same time breathing the same air and walking around made up of the same ancient particles.
 
Golly, mjp, I thought maybe you were ignoring "ghost" because it's a silly waste of time (mine and yours) and some of the pages have ink smudges. The scientists say that not only are we all breathing the same air, but we are also breathing dust from the bodies of everyone who ever lived. I think the number was something like "100 atoms from Jesus Christ". And this includes atoms that have escaped buried coffins. Go figure.
I dare you to keep mum when you see some of the weird shit I have waiting in the wings. Mew=heee=haw-haw-haw! (sound of The Shadow laughing maniacally). Thanks for the props, dude.
 
I don't usually fawn over things that our members bring out because I don't want it to look like anyone is getting any kind of special treatment....

Understandable, but fuck it. You like something go Iceberg Slim and pimp that shit. I personally don't think enough is done to get out word about some of the good things going on around here.
 
I agree 100%. I'm always pleased with all the terrific projects the folks here are a part of. And I second what MJP said about the chapbooks of days past...they used to be xeroxed, fold & staple jobs with a wacky colored cheap Kinko's cardstock covers.

What the folks here create is great fun to read & to support--so go on with your bad selves!
 
I want to 2nd the motion, but I'm the girlfriend and I don't want it to look like I'm just coming along for the ride or seem disingenuous, or because of the fact I'm a Chance Press, and now BOSP, publishee... but these guys, and you Milkums, know how to publish some top rate shit! Those 3 that came in the mail the other day from CP were really really cool. I loved the onion skin comix with the colored paper lain between. That was cool. I also loved that milky painted cover under the printed baby with scissors in its mouth. And dig the different type on the colophon on that one too -- very cool. Yet all 3 were special. I felt the love!
 
thanks guys!

i think the main reason why our stuff looks different but somehow the same across all books is because jordan and i take on separate projects: to be more specific, one of us takes the lead and the other offers objective editorial advice. this works really well because it means we don't have to compromise on any of our own style ideas (we do have similar aesthetics but not identical), which is great for me because i'm really stubborn and sulky about getting my own way, and there's always the other person who has some distance from the project and can spot flaws or areas that need improvement.

it's super awesome to feel that what we do is genuinely appreciated. and let me get a bit misty-eyed for a moment and say that neither of me or jordan - but especially me - would be doing ANY of this if it wasn't for buk.net. with the fifth anniversary of this site upon us, i look back at what i was doing 4 years ago when i first signed up here, and i can honestly tell you that i was doing a big fat NOTHING with my free time. the people here opened my eyes to an entire world i never knew existed, and that i fell completely in love with. there is no way i would be co-publishing any kind of books if i hadn't stumbled across this place. bill fucking roberts was such an inspiration (i wish i had a better, less corny word to put there), and still is - i've never met anyone so willing to go out of their way to share their knowledge and assist in any way possible. and all of you guys have supported our press, bought our books and best of all provided us with amazing poetry/prose/art to publish.

ok time to stop, i can hardly see my computer screen through my gushing tears.
 
I haven't seen the three recent CP titles but if they're at all like the previous ones, they must be fantastic.
The quality of everybody's press-work here is amazing and I'm glad to be along for the ride.

And a Happy 5th of BukNet to all :)
 
oh man, you guys are too kind. but we appreciate the plug. i just sent a whole load of prints for abbigail to sign, and then we can get on with the deluxe edition of the book. $20 for the lettered edition (one signed print plus a very cool, very labor intensive handmade color cover) and $75 for the deluxe edition (one copy of the lettered edition plus 8 signed, archival prints, all in a hardcover folder).

justine is still working on the deluxe edition of joan's book - look for that in 2014 (haha LOL love ya babe), and there *gasp* won't be a deluxe of the 'stiff breeze' book, since it is already pretty deluxe as it is, and we didn't want to just cough up a hardcover binding and charge $20 more, given everything else we've got going on right now.
 
Jordan: for the Stiff Breeze book, just say there is "only the deluxe edition" -- that makes it sound even more limited and desirable. Not that I'm any marketing genius...
 
here are some pictures of the deluxe editions of "acontextual drawings" - i'm pretty happy with how they came out! you can order them starting now, but they won't be ready to ship for a couple more weeks while i wait for signed prints to come back from being signed.
P1030248.jpg

P1030249.jpg

P1030247.jpg

P1030246.jpg
 
At first look, I thought that you used bleach on the cover, but then i noticed that it seems to be a white wash. Is that right? Brilliant, really.

Bill
 
it's golden digital ground - it's a special coating for paper that keeps inkjet ink from sinking into the paper. most of the time, people who print on pigment ink printers (us included) buy pre-coated paper, since it is much more professional looking. but, if you want to run a normal sheet of watercolor paper through your printer, you can coat it with this stuff, and it will hold the ink for you, so you get a very high fidelity print. in experimenting with it, i thought it would be cool to use it on colored paper to create a contrast effect (obviously it's really supposed to be used on white watercolor paper and spread evenly around so you can't tell it's there). there's at least one more book in the hopper where we'll use this technique, since i'm really happy with how it came out. plus, part of the disadvantage of inkjet printing is the lack of handwork involved, and so i like this, since every cover has been hand "painted" and then flattened in our homemade book press before being fed through the printer.
 
my hardcover of "acontextual drawings" arrived today and it is just AMAZING!

Really perfect in any way. Congrats!

Is that Bugra paper on the cover of the hardcover?

Bill
 
it's hahnemuhle ingres paper - and inside is either mi-teintes or tiziano, depending on when i made it.

take bill's word for it folks... only two of these babies left to order!
 
Alright you got me, I finally put in my order for the hardcover deluxe edition of Acontextual Drawings, Stiff Breeze, Sequin Soul signed, and Too Powerful a Thing to Reject signed.

Damnit, now I will be glued to the mailbox in anticipation. Shit.
 
one left, y'all!!

fyi, i just finished all of the covers for the deluxe book (the colored translucent things), and i realized that it would have taken me LESS time to bind 26 hardcovers than to make those damn things. it's one of those things that sounded cool in theory but that we will NEVER do again!
 
ok so the hardcover portfolio edition of Acontextual Drawings has SOLD OUT

however, there are plenty of the deluxe editions left - this edition is just the book part of the portfolio, i.e. paper wraps, but the cover has double-layer insert of vellum sheets and comes with a signed print of baby with scissors in her mouth.
 
Got the four of them last week, and not to sound like a broken record, but fuck it, they are damn near perfect, esp. the hardcover portfolio edition of Acontextual Drawings. And Abel's piece made for a nice short read, I'm going to have to pick up the rest of his writings in the near future. And by the way thanks for throwing in the signed Carol Es print, the two of you truly are good people.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top