Despite the fact that another hurricane is headed toward Houston, we’re having a launch for Sim Kern’s DEPART, DEPART!, a book about a hurricane that destroys Houston. Yes, it is too on-the-nose, but this is the reality of contemporary climate fiction. We are telling these stories in the spaces between climate crisis events. Click through to see the prizes available at the launch, and to get your tickets.
As a new press still in its first year, we are a small team publishing a select number of books. At this early stage of Stelliform Press’s existence, our readers provide sounding-board conversation and support for the EIC. But that kind of support is informed by the books our readers have loved. We share some of those in this blog post.
With our first two books in print or at-the-printer, and our next two on the decks (surprise! book #4 will be announced soon!), we’re looking to the climate and social justice related books we love, reading them backwards in a ring of fire to conjure up more environment-focused submissions for Stelliform Years 3 and beyond. Just kidding, we’re sharing them here so you can get to know us a little better — what we love and what kinds of stories we’ll likely publish in the future.
Last week Hurricane Laura missed Houston but devastated Louisiana and we postponed the launch for Sim Kern’s trans hurricane novella, DEPART, DEPART! Now, Kern and Stelliform are fundraising for folks impacted by Hurricane Laura — particularly trans, Black and POC folks. We’re giving away 20 ebooks & 5 DEPART, DEPART! sticker packs when you donate to organizations supporting these communities. Read more in this post.
We’ve postponed the contest and launch event for Sim Kern’s DEPART, DEPART!, ironically, because Houston is currently threatened by two incoming hurricanes. Check out this post for updates, and link to Sim Kern’s YouTube channel where they are vlogging their hurricane prep.
We received our beautiful printed books on Friday and spent all weekend packaging and shipping to all who pre-ordered a print copy of Sim Kern’s Depart, Depart! Read for more information on the availability of printed books and some issues with shipping via USPS and Canada Post.
This past month, I (Selena Middleton, Stelliform Publisher and EIC) read Stephen Graham Jones’s The Only Good Indians alongside my friend and invaluable Stelliform helper and fellow English PhD, Kristen Shaw. Since our conversations often fall into fairly nerdy literary analysis, we thought we would share our thoughts about The Only Good Indians in the form of the conversation that we might have had if the pandemic had not prevented an in-person meeting. What follows is our conversation-review of SGJ’s novel, which was published by Saga Press in July 2020.
It’s important to carve out these spaces where the reader can sit for a moment — within a bigger problem always, but for a moment focusing on a small world that the fantastic creates for us. The feelings around climate change are big and oppressive and overwhelming and I’m not entirely interested in recreating that experience in Stelliform books. The world is doing that for us already. Instead, I’ve been delighted to read stories that shape a smaller but still inter-connected experience. Read more about that in this post.
We’re delighted to welcome Cynthia Zhang to the Stelliform family with a debut novel. She comes to us with previous fiction and non-fiction published in Lunch Ticket, Leading Edge, Orca Literary, and Coffin Bell. Read more about After the Dragons in this blog post.
Kathleen Jennings’ Flyaway is an Australian gothic novella that scales up the haunted house trope to encompass a landscape. In this review, I’ll focus on some of the book’s ecological themes which are largely presented to the reader in the form of fairy tales.