Dzanc Books

Over at the Emerging Writers Network, Dan Wickett has announced Dzanc Books' first title. All Over, by the estimable Roy Kesey, will be published in October 2007. If you remember my post from a few days back, Mr. Kesey's novella, Nothing in the World, is on its way to my house as I type.

If you don't know who Roy Kesey is, head on over to his website, find his bio, and click on the links to a few of his stories. You will be thrilled that you did. Also, go check out his blog on his myspace page. It's pretty entertaining--his stories about his kids are so damn cute they make me wish--for, oh, about twelve seconds or so--that I had a couple of my own. Kids, that is. Not his stories about his kids.
* * *
Dzanc Books, if I remember correctly from the press' announcement, is going to publish both short story collections and novels. I think it's wicked cool, of course, that their inaugural book is going to be stories. On Sunday, while I was cleaning the house and had nothing better to do with my brain as I scrubbed the toilets and mopped the floors, I was thinking about how great it would be if some press devoted itself wholly to publishing short fiction.

I know, the market says this would be a losing enterprise, but still, I wonder what would happen if a publisher marketed itself as the publisher of short fiction. They could do paperback originals, like the old Vintage Contemporaries, and make them pretty, and have a diverse catalog and all that. If I had a bundle of money that I didn't mind losing just sitting around, I'd like to give it a try, just to see what would happen.