Schaffner Press News

What's in a Name?

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 13:32:00 -0400

Recently word came to me that Publisher’s Weekly had made an announcement of my upcoming book, ACID CHRIST: Ken Kesey, LSD and the Politics of Ecstasy by Mark Christensen, in their Fall Books issue, June 28th.

Ironically, however, they had misspelled my name, so that instead of Schaffner Press it was written as Shaffner Press. This minor typo bounced my listing to the top of the page right above Simon & Schuster (with their announcement of a memoir by David Eisenhower/250,000 copy first printing) and across the page from U of California Press’s listing for the Autobiography of Mark Twain, Vol. 1 (to be published as per his instructions one hundred years after his death): now that’s a publishing event!

I consider this happy accident an auspicious event as we look forward to the upcoming publication of ACID CHRIST in October. For more news from the real Schaffner Press, go to www.schaffnerpress.com or the Schaffner Press Facebook and subscribe to the Schaffner Press newsletter with monthly updates. And, don’t forget the “c”!

So with the mere slip of a key, my identity was changed, and ACID CHRIST found itself bumping shoulders with the ghosts of Ike and Samuel Clemens! Let us know what fortuitous and unforseen events have occurred in your world as a result of a misspelling in your name!

Summer Sizzles at Schaffner Press

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 16:59:58 -0400

As temperatures in Tucson hover over 104 degrees, activity is heating up at Schaffner Press. In true independent spirit, we continue to swim against the tide of mainstream publishing, offering new titles that provoke, excite, and invite discussion on a broad variety of topics of social import in both fiction and non-fiction.

Visit schaffnerpress.com, and Schaffner Press on facebook for more information and updates…also subscribe to the Schaffner Press newsletter, sent to you directly each month to provide news and links on new and upcoming titles and authors…

Schaffner Press News: April-May 2009

Sun, 10 May 2009 14:39:38 -0400

THESE PAST WEEKS have seen a flurry of activity for Schaffner Press and most notably authors Marc Blatte (HUMPTY DUMPTY WAS PUSHED) and Katherine Dunn (ONE RING CIRCUS: Dispatches from the World of Boxing).

Both authors attended the Los Angeles Festival of Books held on the UCLA campus April 24-26, at which over a hundred and fifty thousand book lovers congregated over the course of two beautiful and breezy days. Marc Blatte held forth and signed books for BookSoup and Mystery Bookstore while Katherine Dunn signed at BookSoup and then, later in the day, took part in a panel discussion moderated by radio pundit Michael Silverblatt on the topic “Changing Directions.”

Here is what one enthusiastic blogger had to say about the event: ” Listening to Michael Silverblatt, Pico Iyer, Katherine Dunn, Bernard Cooper and Geoff Dyer talk about … well, nearly everything, in one of the most capacious and thoughtful panels of its kind we’ve ever seen. We suspect this one will enter the pantheon of greats, a panel that those who were there will always look back on reverently. (The nominal topic was intersections of fiction and non-fiction but Silverblatt slipped the surly bonds of the rubric and the panel soared.)”

Continuing on his success at the Fair, Marc Blatte held a reading/signing at Barnes and Noble the Following Monday, April 27th and then made an appearance at the Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore in San Diego on Tuesday, the 28th before heading back to New York. Further reading and signing events for HUMPTY DUMPTY WAS PUSHED are planned for several venues in New York, the East Coast and the Hamptons. New dates and venues will be posted on this blog in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile Katherine Dunn has a hometown welcoming in store for her at Powell’s City of Books (www.powell’s.com) on Wednesday, May 13th at which she will give a reading and signing.

More to come soon…

Dancing at The River's Edge: Webisode (Ken Browne Productions)

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 14:13:00 -0500

"If I Could Write A Kindle"

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 11:42:19 -0500

The book world is once again abuzz over the latest innovation in digital download technology known as the Kindle Book or Kindle 2, its arrival and Amazon’s head Jeff Bezos’ aggressive attempts to strongarm the publishing industry.

As an independent book publisher I am grappling with the dilemna surrounding Kindle and its ilk—ebooks digital downloads, etc. Certainly I can see their uses for storage of large amounts of material for research and mass consumption of text. An agent in New York totes one for just this purpose: it’s easier on the shoulders than lugging all those manuscripts home on the subway every night. And a friend pointed out that it minimizes one’s luggage and hassle with extra weight at the airport. Deciding which books to bring and where they go in my luggage—whether suitcase or carry-on—or jacket pocket is an important aspect of packing, I’ve always felt.

But, regardless of how handy, convenient, streamlined or “user-friendly” the new Kindle purports to be, the fact that it is very expensive to produce, that the downloaded books are priced unfairly low compared to current real book prices, and the fact that it puts independent publishers and booksellers in a financial and ethical bind is really the point.

Granted, I am at this moment looking into ways to adapt my books for digital download, but I resent that this is something that is all of a sudden being so de rigueur as to be almost compulsory for a publisher. Given that sales of this gadget make up only 1%-3% of the total market, according to recent industry reports, how necessary is it? Are we just being hornswoggled into another brand-name marketing gambit by Amazon which in another decade would have been IBM, Microsoft or Xerox? Is Kindle just another Swindle?

Regardless, of marketing and financial concerns, I have several personal and asthetic concerns about this gizmo of the month. And, since we’ve had enough people getting in line to extoll the virtues of the Kindle and all the wonderful things it can do, I thought it useful to list a few things it can’t do, or that you can’t do with it. So, below, I give you ten things you can’t do with a Kindle.

1) Yes, you can take a Kindle to the beach; but can you take it to the bath? If you drop a book in the water, you fish it out and put it on the shelf to dry. The ink may run and the pages might be a bit crinkly, but it’s still readable. And you have a good story to tell your friends about what happened to the book.

2) It may saves space in your luggage; but what are suitcases for then? You may be able to take it to exotic places, but can it take you away in your imagination the way a timeless tome can?

3) You can’t spill food or your favorite beverage on them. Some of my books retain the Proustian stains and aromas of bygone chinese meals and spaghetti eaten while simultaneously consuming the words of a beloved author.

4) Kindles don’t smell. There’s nothing like the smell of a newly printed book, or an old musty book either.

5) Kindles have none of the tactile memory sensation that a beloved book gives off—the feel of the pages, the well-worn spine, the cover especially. Kindles have no covers.

6) Kindles have no personality, no individuality, and evoke no memory of pleasurable and at times life-changing moments reading a particular book—you know where you were, what you were doing, who you were with, how old you were, what you were experiencing emotionally—all these fragments of your life that are reborn when you hold that book.

7) You can’t store little tidbits of notes, phone numbers, restaurant cards, movie ticket stubs, love letters, plane tickets or illicit substances in a Kindle. My brother once carved out a square hole within the pages of Mark TWain’s “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court” in order to conceal his stash. I heard recently how a group of young gentlemen traveling in the Caribbean were saved from arrest thanks to a book in hand that quickly became a hiding place for a joint during a police search.

8) Can you use a Kindle for a pillow? I have used paperback novels for pillows on occasion when sleeping in a bus or trainstation.

9) You can’t use a Kindle as a sunshade, or umbrella, or as a weapon. You can”t “throw the Kindle” at somebody, can you. Someone once threw a book at me. The spine hit me above the eye, and it hurt and left a mark—but I could still read the book.

10) You can’t autograph a Kindle.

Lastly, I leave you with these thoughts. Several years hence, when the book has gone the way of the polar bear and the rhinoceros, will its meaning have vanished as well? Surely the act of reading is more than just the consumption of information. Reading is a journey, an exploration, an adventure into the author’s mind and world. Will this experience still be the same when delivered on a black and white screen?

February 2nd: Greetings for the New Year!

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 23:21:24 -0500

This is a New Year’s greeting posted almost a month after the actual New Year’s celebration; but, it seems that there are a lot of things in the wind right now that signal it’s being more of a new year to me than there were on January 1.

To begin with, of course, we are now a country with a new president, Barack Obama;that alone is cause to break out the champagne on almost a daily basis.

But, on a more local level vis a vis Schaffner Press, there is much that is new and much to celebrate. Firstly, there was the wonderful article that appeared in last week’s Publisher’s Weekly concerning myself, the press and the wonderful authors I have had the honor to work with thus far, and all the great books I have been involved in these last seven years.

I am looking forward to some exciting publishing moments this year, and have already enjoyed a couple in just this last month. Here are some of the highlights:

DANCING AT THE RIVER’S EDGE: A Patient and Her Doctor Negotiate Life with Chronic Illness was just released in hardcover early last month, and has already sold 1,000 copies. Thanks to my brother Valentine of the Nabi Gallery who co-hosted the event, we had a hugely successful launch party in New York on Friday, January 9th. There were well over 100 people in a attendance and over 90 books were sold. In addition, earlier that afternoon, Ken Browne of Ken Browne Productions conducted interviews with the authors Alida Brill and Michael D. Lockshin individually and together.He is at work on editing this down to a three-minute webisode that will be featured on this site as well as the Schaffner Press website, Dancing at the River’s Edge. com, Alida Brill.com and many other sites as well.

HUMPTY DUMPTY WAS PUSHED/ Marc Blatte. This “first truly wonderful hip-hop noir” has been getting a lot of advance acclaim, and reviews have appeared last month in Publisher’s Weekly and Library Journal where is was dubbed “an entertaining mystery.”It also received a rave review from “Mystery Scene” Magazine (see below)

“SMALL PRESS
Reviewing the Independents
by Betty Webb, Mystery Scene Winter Issue #108,Feb.2009

Forget about the groundhog’s prediction. Just warm yourself with the following cache of crime capers, fem-jeps, suspense novels, cozies, and blood-drenched noirs.

To maximize your pleasure, begin your midwinter read-a-thon with Humpty Dumpty Was Pushed, by Marc Blatte (Schaffner Press. $24.95). In this dark, witty, and often brilliant novel, Pashko Gazivoda, an Albanian immigrant employed as a nightclub bouncer, is found murdered near a trendy lower Manhattan hot spot. When his cousin Vooko, also a bouncer, vows revenge, the mayhem begins. As Vooko rampages his way through Manhattan, the body count skyrockets. Confronting Vooko’s rage are Proof Positive, a rising hip-hop group; Black Sallie Blue Eyes, a homicide detective carrying a torch for his ex-wife; Lady Panther, a female wrestler; and a fleet of “big money maggots.” No angels inhabit this grimly funny book, just a series of flawed human beings, some a little less wicked than others. Author Blatte makes a smart choice by telling his story through various characters’ points of view, thus serving up a savory goulash of homicidal thoughts and crackling dialogue, ranging from Vooko’s hilarious malapropisms and Proof Positive’s gangsta riffs, to the sublime musings on the finer points of contemporary music production by a heard-it-all-before recording engineer. Humpty Dumpty Was Pushed is such shocking good fun that you won’t even feel guilty about laughing at all the carnage.

A dark, witty, and often brilliant novel. Humpty Dumpty Was Pushed is such shocking good fun, you won’t feel guilty about laughing at all the carnage.
Betty Webb, Mystery Scene; Winter Issue (Feb. 2009)”

ONE RING CIRCUS: Dispatches from the World of Boxing/Katherine Dunn

We have also had a lot of terrific advance reviews on this title, and blurbs from Bert Sugar Boxing Hall of Fame Journalist and Historian, Nebula-Award winning writer Lucius Shepard and Thom Jones, the acclaimed author of “The Pugilist at Rest”

Most recently the CyberBoxingZone.com website posted a review of the book (see below):”

Dunn’s collection is a great addition to your boxing library that illuminates and glorifies this misunderstood and maddening sport, one of those rigorous disciplines that “offer us greatness and hurl us deeper into life by their drama and beauty.”

A game fringed with bagmen and bloviators, shysters and showoffs, has finally got the wise, lucid spokesman it needs and deserves.”David Gianfriddo, Staff Writer

So, all told, we’re off to a great start, and no doubt February will bring forth new surprises and unlooked for rewards!

Schaffner's Way (Article from Publisher's Weekly)

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 21:25:33 -0500

Schaffner Press: Publishing as Improvisation

by Edward Nawotka — Publishers Weekly, 1/26/2009

Tim Schaffner’s hobby, jazz drumming, put him on a roundabout path to independent publishing. “I got involved with Artt Frank. He played with Chet Baker and has been my teacher and mentor,” said Schaffner. “We put together a book for jazz drummers—Essentials for the Be Bop Drummer [by Artt Frank and Pete Swan, 2005]. That led to a memoir by a jazz musician in L.A. who had been a convict at Folsom Prison for 10 years—Hope to Die [by Verdi Woodward, 2006]—and that led to The Snow Angel [by Michael Graham, 2006]; that was my first hardcover.”

Publishing is in Schaffner’s blood. The son of a literary agent—whose clients included Ray Bradbury, Maxine Hong Kingston and James Beard—Tim took over his father’s agency when his father died in 1983 and ran it until 1995, first in New York City and then in Tucson, Ariz., where he moved in 1990. After closing the agency, Schaffner taught high school English and English as a second language, and drummed.

Initially, Schaffner, now 48, founded his eponymous press to revive out-of-print titles. “That had always been my dream,” Schaffner said. Among his first books were Sisters on the Bridge of Fire (2002) by Debra Denker, a Central Asia travelogue that was originally published in 1993 by Burning Gate Press; Barbara Guest’s 1994 Doubleday biography Herself Defined: H.D. and Her World, which Schaffner republished in 2003; and Sylvia Plath: Method and Madness by Edward Butscher, a Seabury Press hardcover in 1976 and a Schaffner Press paperback in 2004.

Schaffner signed on with IPG in 2005 for distribution. This, along with keeping print runs low—typically a few thousand copies—has enabled him to continue publishing while slowly building a higher profile. There have even been some critical and sales successes: the Plath bio and The Lost Childhood by Yehuda Nir, a memoir of life in Warsaw during WWII that Schaffner reprinted in 2007, have gone into second printings. Father Michael’s Lottery by Johan Steyn, a fictional account of doctors battling AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa that Schaffner bought from KwaZulu Natal University Press, was blurbed by Ian McEwan and Margaret Drabble, and was a Book Sense notable book in January 2008.

The year 2009 will be the biggest year yet for the press, which has a handful of new titles scheduled for publication, including the just-released Dancing at the River’s Edge by Alida Brill and Michael D. Lockshin, a dual memoir by a doctor and his patient documenting a chronic illness, and Humpty Dumpty Was Pushed, a hip-hop–inspired mystery by Marc Blatte due in March. The book, slated for a 3,000-copy first printing in hardcover, is picking up buzz; the author—a Grammy Award–nominated songwriter—is already scheduled to appear at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books.

The press’s highest-profile book this year is likely to be One Ring Circus, an anthology of 25 years’ of boxing journalism written by Katherine Dunn, author of the acclaimed novel Geek Love. The book, coming in April, is likely to attract some of Dunn’s cultish fan base.

Serendipity again played a role in this acquisition: Dunn was introduced to Schaffner through a friend, the film critic D.K. Holm, who is working on a book about filmmaker Richard Linklater for Schaffner.

“I had the idea for a collection in the back of my mind, but hadn’t put any work into it until I was introduced to Tim,” Dunn said. Her agent, Richard Pine at Inkwell Management, negotiated a modest contract for the book.
“He was understanding of the situation,” said Schaffner, “and in fact seemed quite pleased that someone had taken note of this side of her.”

So far, Dunn said, she is delighted to be working with a small press: “Tim is both editor and publisher, so there’s no disconnect there like there can be with a larger house.” She added, “It’s been educational and revealing to me about what’s taken place in American publishing. Here’s an example of an indie press taking up slack from the conglomerate publishers. Working with Tim has been wonderful.”

Other forthcoming Schaffner Press books include the aforementioned look at Richard Linklater, as well as bios of Ken Kesey and John D. MacDonald. And while the list is eclectic, it isn’t quite as improvised as it appears: “If you look at my list, the underlying theme is social issues and the concerns of our society,” said Schaffner. “I’m interested in books that come from a person immersed in a world that don’t necessarily tell a story in a chronological order, and also address something larger than the subject itself. I have several books under contract that reflect that.”

Press Release re. DANCING AT THE RIVER'S EDGE: A Patient and Her Doctor Negotiate Life with Chronic Illness

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 18:52:00 -0500

SCHAFFNER PRESS KICKS OFF 2009 BY TAKING THE MEMOIR FORM TO NEW HEIGHTS WITH ALIDA BRILL’S AND MICHAEL D. LOCKSHIN’S PROVOCATIVE MEMOIR DANCING AT THE RIVER’S EDGE:A PATIENT AND HER DOCTOR NEGOTIATE LIFE WITH CHRONIC ILLNESS

LOS ANGELES, CA- DECEMBER 10, 2008-Schaffner Press will publish Dancing at the River’s Edge: A Patient and Her Doctor Negotiate Life with Chronic Illness January 8, 2009 in hardcover for an SRP of $23.99. The book will be supported by a series of signings, lectures and a radio tour starting in New York in early January, and rolling out across the country with emphasis on the east and west coast.

The dual memoir is a personal look inside the world of the doctor/patient relationship, as the reader learns of the day-to-day struggles endured by a patient with chronic illness, as well as the deep concerns and conflicts of the doctor who is engaged in the ongoing decisions to help his patients maintain a reasonably “normal” and full life. The book is an intimate portrait of the delicate balance between doctor and patient, and will help people who struggle with chronic illness, and the friends and family who support them. All topics are discussed, ranging from sex and suicide, to careers, fears and loneliness.

Publisher Tim Schaffner exclaims: “ This book is a revealing and original look at chronic illness and the medical world. I am proud to publish this truly original dual memoir, and hope that it helps to bring comfort and understanding to all those living with, or caring for, a person struggling and living with a chronic illness.”

The book is already gaining momentum and buzz in all spheres of influence, “DATRE is an extraordinary meditation on illness,….” says Dave Isay, Executive Director, StoryCorps and editor of the bestseller Listening is an Act of Love.”   Film Producer (You’ve Got Mail, The X Men trilogy) and Lupus patient, Lauren Shuler Donner says of the book,” it delves into the intricacies and intimacy of chronic illness…..It illuminates the spirit…..” and Paul Volcker states “Dancing at the River’s Edge….is about the trials and tribulations of chronic disease. I have been able to read it in advance and I tell you—I get no royalties from these books, but you ought to get a copy and read it. You won’t be able to put it down once you pick it up……”

Alida Brill is a social critic, essayist and author of several non-fiction books, including, Dimensions of Tolerance, Nobody’s Business and A Rising Public Voice. She lives in New York City.

Michael Lockshin, M.D., is one of the country’s leading experts in the long-term care of chronically ill patients. He is the Director of the Barbara Volcker for Women and Rheumatic Disease at the Hospital for Special Surgery and a professor of medicine and obstetrics/gynecology at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University. He lives iin New York.

Schaffner Press, Inc. is an independent small press publisher in Tucson, Az., specializing in provocative and socially-conscious works of fiction and non-fiction, both reprints and originals whose books are distributed for the trade by IPG: 312-337-0747 (www.ipgbook.com). For further information on DANCING AT THE RIVER’S EDGE, visit the website at www.schaffnerpress.com or the following blogsites: news.schaffnerpress.com and dancingattheriver’sedge.com. Also for further information about the authors, visit these websites, www.AlidaBrill.com and www.MichaelLockshin.
.

# # #
PRESS CONTACT                                             SCHAFFNER PRESS
Joshua Jason Public Relations               Tim Schaffner
323.933.5716                        520.743.1836
jjprltd@yahoo.com                tim@schaffnerpress.com

Welcome to the News at Schaffner Press Blogsite

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 13:50:00 -0500

Greetings!

I am pleased to announce that we are now up and running with this new blogsite,”news.schaffnerpress.com” on which we will be posting news, clips,events, insights and random profundities related to the press, its authors, books and publishing in general. For additional information on particular titles, to download a complete catalog, or buy directly online, click on the highlighted links. All titles from Schaffner Press, Inc. are distributed by Independent Publishers Group (IPG), so you can visit their site at www.ipgbook.com. Also, while being reconstructed at the moment, the website www.schaffnerpress.com will also be up and running shortly.

A brief statement to lead off: Schaffner Press is an independent publisher dedicated to bringing out books that deal with crucial issues of our times, whether in fiction or non-fiction, hardcover original or trade paperback. Our goal is to continue to publish works of lasting quality and significance that will serve to open up dialogues, discussions, introspection and yes, maybe even change. This is what I have always believed is the inherent power of the written word. And as an independent publisher, this is my mandate.

OK, enough said. Here’s some news:

Coming in January, the dual memoir DANCING AT THE RIVER’S EDGE: A Patient and Her Doctor Negotiate Life with Chronic Illness (ISBN: 978-0-9801394-0-2) by Alida Brill and Michael Lockshin, is about to hit the stores nationally. Raves from advance readers of this revealing and honest account of both a doctor and a patient’s point of view of the world of the chronically ill have come in from such eminent figures as Finance Czar Paul Volcker, Philanthropist Robert Wood Johnson, Award- winning journalist Dave Isay, Hollywood producer Lauren Shuler Donner and many others. This is a book that is certain to enliven the debate about healthcare and treatment for the chronically ill as well as to empower the millions who suffer daily and thier families and loved ones as well. To learn more about this book visit dancingattheriver’sedge.com or www.ipgbook.com and search by title in the fall 2008 catalog.

March ‘09 will see the much-awaited publication of the hip-hop urban noir novel, HUMPTY DUMPTY WAS PUSHED by Marc Blatte (ISBN: 978-0-9801394-1-9), a hilarious, satirical mystery set in the downtown hip-hop clubs of New York, the tenements of Far Rockaway and Pelham Bay, the mansions of the Hamptons—a veritable schmjorgasbord of post 9/11 NYC society—and a brilliant, morally astute detective named Black Sallie Blue Eyes to lead the chase in this “unique, hip, urban whodunit that ushers in a new voice to the mystery genre.” Check out more on this exciting new writer at humptydumptywaspushedthebook.com, marcblatte.com, ipgbook.com and the upcoming publisher’s website schaffnerpress.com .

May ‘09 ushers in the fascinating and provocative collection of essays on the sport of boxing, ONE RING CIRCUS: Dispatches from the World of Boxing by Katherine Dunn(ISBN:978-0-9801394-2-6). This represents the first published collection of her essays and reportage on the sport from National Book Award nominated fiction writer and novelist (GEEK LOVE) and afficonado of boxing, Katherine Dunn, who has contributed her stories of the “sweet science” to such publications as Vogue, Sports Illustrated, Playboy, Mother Jones as well as newspapers and online journals. This will certain to appeal to both fans of her fiction and boxing enthusiasts. Lucius Shepard, acclaimed novelist, proclaims: “The mastery of pain, both physical and emotional, is the mystery at the heart of combat sports, and Katherine Dunn illuminates that mystery in these twenty-four pieces as no one before her––proof that one of our finest novelists is also hands-down the best boxing journalist working today.” for further information, visit schaffnerpress.com or www.ipgbook.com (Spring ‘09 Catalog).

Stay tuned for more news coming from Schaffner Press, Inc., including new titles for fall 2009 and 2010.

Tim Schaffner