Friday, December 31, 2010

Annual assessments of Eco-Libris' planting partners are available now online

photo from the Eco-Libris' planting areas in Panama, courtesy of SHI: Nursery of 2,000 trees including mahogany,cedro espino (Bombacopsis quinata), cedro amargo (Simarouba amara) and chime tree

This is our last post for 2010 and just like we did in 2008 and 2009, we dedicate it to announce that the annual assessments (2009-10) of our
planting partners are now available online!

Here's a little bit more about these assessments: As part of our pledge to quality service to our customers, we decided at the beginning of our operations to conduct annual assessments of our planting partners.The two main goals of these assessments are: 1. to verify the quality of the planting operations and to make sure the high standards we promise to our customers are kept and 2. to provide our customers with details on the tree planting operations they support to balance out their books.

As always, the trees planted by our planting partners provide multiple significant benefits to both the local communities in the areas where they are planted and to the environment. This year we had an example of it in
Guatemala in the tragic circumstances of the tropical storm Agatha that took place in May 2010, causing horrific flooding and mudslides (see photo below, credit: Ann Hallum) that killed at least 145 people, washed away crops and highways, and hundreds of homes. Particularly hard hit was the Department of Chimaltenango where AIR works. Dr. Ann Hallum, the Director of AIR, reports about the difference AIR's trees made then on AIR's assessment:

During the summer of flooding, 2010, I witnessed most dramatically the power of trees (especially pine trees, with their deep tap roots). Over and over again, we saw that where there were no trees, the mudslides occurred, and in areas right next to a slide with trees, the mountainside held together. More than once, we saw a young forest planted by AIR stop the mudslides that would have destroyed small houses below, and a stream. As the AIR technician said, “th
e trees stood against the mud like little soldiers.” We are planting more urgently than ever!

AIR tree nursery; Santa Apolonia; Rebecca Hallum, Anne Hallum, with Luis Iquique and the resident committee, June 2010 (photo: Ann Hallum)

This is the third year we're conducting these assessments. You are invited to read them (see links below) and also visit our planting partners' websites to learn more about them. Links to both the first year's and second year's assessments for each of our planting partners, as well as links to their websites, are available on our planting partners page.

Another example is Malawi, Africa where our partner RIPPLE Africa is working. Their video below shows the effects of deforestation and bush burning in Malawi and also illustrates the woodland conservation program that RIPPLE Africa has initiated there.

This video shows both sides of reality in Malawi - deforestation and frustration on one side and reforestation and hope on the other side, which we're proud to support.



Another video we would like to recommend is
Planting Hope - The Story of Sustainable Harvest International (Video generously filmed & produced by Myriad Media) that provides a closer look at the great work our partner SHI is doing in Central America, including the planting of over 2.7 million trees in countries such Belize, Panama, Nicaragua and Honduras since 1997.




Here are links to the three reports:

AIR's assessment

RIPPLE Africa's assessment

SHI's assessment

We will keep you posted of course with more data, photos and videos from the planting operations! Thanks again to our planting partners and to everyone that was involved in the work on the assessments.

Happy New Year!
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Happy New Year from Eco-Libris!

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Where readers buy their ebooks? Week 4 of our 10-week survey: Google eBookstore? Nada!

This is the fourth week of our ebook experiment. Like all experiment, it begins with a question: Where will readers look to buy their ebooks? Following the launch of Google eBookstore, its relationships with independent bookstores and Amazon's reply, the competition between ebook retailers is getting fierce.

Our assumption is that many readers will look for ebooks using a search engine and will buy from one of the first results in their search. So we randomly chose 10 books of the New York Times’ 100 Notable Books of 2010, opened Google webpage, typed each title with the word ebook and wrote down the first two results we got. We will redo it every Thursday for 10 weeks and see if there are going to be any changes in the search results.

Here are the results for week 4. In brackets you'll see the first week results. If they were the same we just wrote 'same'. And if you click on the titles, you will be forwarded to the first place on the title's search):

1. Girl by the Road at Night by David Rabe
1st place: Simon & Schuster (same)
2nd place: Simon & Schuster (same)

2. The Long Song by Andrea Levy
1st place: Amazon.com (same)
2nd place: Amazon.com (same)

3. The New Yorker Stories by Ann Beattie
1st place: Amazon.com (same)
2nd place: Amazon.com (same)

4. A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
1st place: Amazon.com (same)
2nd place: Simon & Schuster (Random House)

5. Big Girls Don't Cry by Rebecca Traister
1st place: Simon & Schuster (same)
2nd place: Simon & Schuster (same)

6. The Price of Altruism by Oren Harman
1st place: Amazon.com (same)
2nd place: Amazon.com (Kobo)

7. INSECTOPEDIA by Hugh Raffles
1st place: Amazon.com (same)
2nd place: eBooks.com (Random House)

8. Country Driving by Peter Hessler
1st place: Barnes & Noble (same)
2nd place: goodreads (same)

9. The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
1st place:Barnes & Noble (Random House)
2nd place: Random House (B&N)

10. Hitch 22 by Christopher Hitchens
1st place: Amazon.com (same)
2nd place: Barnes & Noble (same)

Here's the summary of the results:

Amazon B&N Publishers Others
1st 2nd 1st 2nd 1st 2nd 1st 2nd
week 1 6 3 1 2 3 4 1
week2 6 4 1 3 3 3 0
week3 6 2 1 2 3 4 2
week4 6 3 2 1 2 4 2


We give 2 points for 1st place and 1 point for 2nd plac
e:



Amazon
B&N
Google
Publishers
Others
week 1
15
4
0
10
1
week 2
16
5
0
9
0
week 3
14
4
0
10
2
week 4
15
5
0
8
2

As you can see we didn't much of a change this week. Amazon and B&N gained one point each and the publishers' websites lost 2 points, although you can see that Simon & Schuster is actually performing better than B&N (the points lost for the publishers were because of Random House). There's still no sign of Google eBookstore at the top ranked search results, but who knows, maybe with the new year coming Google will finally make its first point next week.. See you next Thursday!

Happy New Year,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

How an inspired publishing house is taking on the world with words

Aaspirations Publishing, a committed green publisher based in Canada, is collaborating with Eco-Libris for more than two years, planting with us over 10,000 trees to green up great books such as as "The Micro Meanies", "Where the Buttercups Grow", "Under the Desk" and "I Love to Be Me".

Last September, Aaspirations Publishing suffered the sudden and tragic loss of its founder and CEO, Anjali Sondhi, to Dengue fever while working in India. Now the publishing house is headed by her husband, Anil, who is determined to continuing the committed work of this unique publishing house.

The last newsletter of Inc. 500|5000 dedicated an interesting piece to Aaspirations Publishing and their work that I would like to share with you:

In an age when the book business can seem to be guarded, gilded, and, well, way too digital (admit it, an algorithm recommends more books to you than your friends do), here's an Inc. Community company committed to making book selling a community affair. With offices in New York, Toronto and Delhi, India, Aaspirations Publishing is looking to make the world a better place, one book at a time.

The company was founded based on the vision and passion of writer Anjali Sondhi, with the support of her husband Anil. After their daughter experienced the closed doors of many a publishing house in an effort to publish her children's book, the couple decided to open their own publishing house, one with a clear purpose at heart. Their mission? To support good works in the world through books—their authors, their consumers, and their lessons.

According to Anil, "Every book we publish has an important message for the world." And for each book, Aaspirations supports good works projects associated with that book topic that range from tree-planting to fundraising to children's education programs. For Aaspirations, each book becomes the inspiration and driver for change "for people in pain, for people who want to learn, for people in the world who need things". Aaspirations has a concentration on children's and teens' books, and thus supporting global literacy, learning and awareness seems like an appropriate purpose. They also consider themselves a "green" publishing house—they plant a tree for every children's book they print, and all their teen books are printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper.


Sadly, Aaspirations recently suffered the sudden and tragic loss of their visionary founding CEO, Anjali Sondhi, to Dengue fever while working in India this September. In her memory, Anil says that Aaspirations is carrying on full throttle, growing the business toward the fulfillment of her dream under the guidance of her vision. Anil affirms fervently that her memory helps the Aaspirations team push harder toward its goal of making the world a better place—"her vision was that great, and this was her passion."

In the future, Aaspirations hopes to move on to Anjali's long-time goal of making movies based on the books that it publishes. The first one is due to be finished by the end of next year. The team at Aaspirations remains committed to growing the business to scale without losing sight of its challenging dual mission to succeed as a for-profit company and to make a positive impact in the world. Thus, it's a good thing that the folks at Aaspirations don't do anything in the publishing world by the book.

You can find more information on Aaspirations Publishing on their website at http://www.aaspirationspublishing.com/

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Our Wishful List of Green Lit New Year's Resolutions (from Jeff Bezos to Oprah Winfrey)

This is the time of the year when people are thinking of their New year's resolutions, so we have couple of our own. This time, this is a wishful list of 7 "green" resolutions we hope to hear from important figures in the book industry.

We believe these resolutions will help the book industry to be not only more sustainable but also more prosperous!


Jeff Bezos (Amazon, CEO)
: Amazon will publish a full detailed report on the environmental impacts of the Kindle by June 2011. By 2012, we will make the Kindle the greenest e-reader!

Steve Jobs (Apple, CEO): Apple will reinforce its Supplier Code of Conduct on Foxconn, the manufacturer of the iPad. If Foxconn won't be able to commit to the code, Apple will stop using its services by the end of 2011.

Leonard Riggio (Barnes & Noble, Chairman)
:
Barnes and Noble will follow Indigo and by June 2011 we will provide our customers information online and at the stores on books that are printed on recycled or FSC-certified paper.

Mike Edwards
(Borders, CEO)*: We will come up with a new strategy that will transform our brick and mortar stores back into an asset and enable us to avoid bankruptcy.

Markus Dohle (Random House, Chairman and CEO): One of our planned biggest-selling nonfiction books for 2011 will be printed on paper containing at least 30 percent post-consumer content. Also, one of Stieg Larsson's books will be printed on FSC-certified paper in 2011.

Jonathan Franzen (Author)
: I will work with my publisher to make sure Freedom will be printed on 100% recycled paper in 2011, so if by any chance there's going to be another recall because of printing mistakes or any other problem, it will be at least a tree-free recall.

Oprah Winfrey
: I will launch Oprah's Green Book Club in 2011, which will include only books printed on eco-friendly paper.

* If you wonder why this resolution entered our "green" list, the answer is very simple - for us, sustainability is not just about the environment, but also has economic, social and cultural layers and therefore the ability of a big book retailer to keep itself in business and thrive is for us not just an economic issue but also a sustainability issue.

If you have any other green lit resolutions for 2011 you wish to see please feel free to add them!

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Where readers buy their ebooks? Week 3 of our 10-week survey: still no sign of Google eBookstore

Two weeks ago we started an ebook experiment. Like all experiment, it begins with a question: Where will readers look to buy their ebooks? Following the launch of Google eBookstore, its relationships with independent bookstores and Amazon's reply, the competition between ebook retailers is getting fierce.

Our assumption is that many readers will look for ebooks using a search engine and will buy from one of the first results in their search. So we randomly chose 10 books of the New York Times’ 100 Notable Books of 2010, opened Google webpage, typed each title with the word ebook and wrote down the first two results we got. We will redo it every Thursday for 10 weeks (this week we're a little bit late due to the holiday..) and see if there are going to be any changes in the search results.

Here are the results for week 3. In brackets you'll see the first week results. If they were the same we just wrote 'same'. And if you click on the titles, you will be forwarded to the first place on the title's search):

1. Girl by the Road at Night by David Rabe
1st place: Simon & Schuster (same)
2nd place: Simon & Schuster (same)

2. The Long Song by Andrea Levy
1st place: Amazon.com (same)
2nd place: Amazon.com (same)

3. The New Yorker Stories by Ann Beattie
1st place: Amazon.com (same)
2nd place: Amazon.com (same)

4. A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
1st place: Amazon.com (same)
2nd place: Random House (Barnes & Noble)

5. Big Girls Don't Cry by Rebecca Traister
1st place: Simon & Schuster (same)
2nd place: Simon & Schuster (same)

6. The Price of Altruism by Oren Harman
1st place: Amazon.com (same)
2nd place: Kobo (Amazon)

7. INSECTOPEDIA by Hugh Raffles
1st place: Amazon.com (same)
2nd place: Random House (same)

8. Country Driving by Peter Hessler
1st place: Barnes & Noble (same)
2nd place: goodreads (Amazongoodreads)

9. The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
1st place: Random House (same)
2nd place: Barnes & Noble (same)

10. Hitch 22 by Christopher Hitchens
1st place: Amazon.com (same)
2nd place: Barnes & Noble (same)

Here's the summary of the results:


Amazon B&N Google Publishers Others

1st 2nd 1st 2nd 1st 2nd 1st 2nd 1st 2nd
week 1 6 3 1 2

3 4
1
week2 6 4 1 3

3 3
0
week3 6 2 1 2

3 4
2


We give 2 points for 1st place and 1 point for 2nd plac
e:

Amazon B&N Google Publishers Others
week 1 15 4 0 10 1
week 2 16 5 0 9 0
week 3 14 4 0 10 2

As you can see we didn't much of a change this week. Amazon lost two points, but is still in the first place. It will be interesting to see if this trend will continue next week or if Amazon will manage to continue showing a strong performance. Two more things worth mentioning: 1. There's still no sign of Google eBookstore at the top ranked search results. 2. Kobo is showing for the first time.was quite boring with almost no changes. It will be interesting to see if any efforts made towards this Christmas day will change anything next week. See you next Thursday!

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Thursday, December 23, 2010

How to celebrate a green Christmas and what to do with your Christmas cards?

It's almost Christmas and we would like to wish you happy, peaceful and of course green holidays!

It's also an opportunity to remind you that if you look for tips and ideas how to green your Christmas (and your holidays in general), you should check the great website of our friends Lynn and Corey of Celebrate Green! Here are some great ideas they have on how to celebrate a green Christmas:



And if you're one of those who already got many holiday cards (which means you've got a big family and/or lot of friends..) and don't really know what to do with them other than just throwing them to the recycling bin, here's a video that might be helpful, especially if you're looking for something creative to do with your kids (source: Do The Green Thing):



Happy Holidays,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Plant a tree for every book you read!

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Children's Nature Guide, a new educational website, is collaborating with Eco-Libris

We are happy to announce a new collaboration with Children's Nature Guide, a new website for families and children with the goal of making nature study and environmental stewardship as fun as it is educational. The site was created by Joseph Yurt, environmentalist, author, and nature educator.

The new website was launched on December 1st and includes a bookstore with "green" books for children, such as KK's Hope:
For Humankind and Home by Josef Partners, Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey, Little Bear by Else Holmelund Minarik,Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey and Salamander Room by Anne Mazer.

And now the website's bookstore is joining Eco-Libris bookstores program and will offer the store's customers the opportunity to plant a tree for every book they buy there and receive our "One tree planted for this book" sticker with their new book!

Here is more about Children's Nature Guide:

www.ChildrensNatureGuide.comis a new website for families and children with the goal of making nature study and environmental stewardship as fun as it is educational. The site was created by Joseph Yurt, environmentalist, author, and nature educator.

Kids can interact with the site in various fun ways, including following the diary entries of Ari, a young girl gray squirrel. Children can share their comments with her and email her with nature questions. Parents Pages provide guidance, ideas, books and other resources for creating a nature rich environment for kids in the home and outside.

Interactive experiences also include an Animal Icon Click-on Field Trip, a
JustForKidsLibrary, submissions to KidsWrite, book and website reviews written by adults and kids, KidServe, giving opportunities and Service Grants to help kids make a difference in their community and in the world, and ChildrensNatureGuide Roots & Shoots environmental stewardship group for families.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting Sustainable Reading!

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

How book companies performed on the Greenpeace Boreal Marketplace Review?

Greenpeace published last week its 2010 Boreal Marketplace Performance Review. This study evaluates 23 companies using use forest products from the Boreal Forest on their commitments and concrete actions to protect the Boreal Forest and the endangered woodland caribou.

The review lists 23 companies in four performance categories. The eight criteria that were used to evaluate the performance of these customers were: action on protecting endangered forests, recycling, recycled content and reduction, preference and targets for the uptake of FSC fibre, leadership and advocacy on conservation issues and Boreal Forest protection, labeling and marketing of green products, supplier engagement, communication with conservation organizations and "greenwashing”.

Among the 23 companies there were 5 companies from the book industry, so let's see how they did on this evaluation:

In the top performance category (True Leaders) you can find Indigo Books. In the second best performance category (Positively engaged) you can find Scholastic. The third category (Some small steps) includes Pearson/Penguin and Simon & Schuster and the last performing category (Failing Our Forests) includes Harlequin.

The report doesn't include the companies' performance in each of the 8 categories, but includes some bits of information about some of them:

Other companies such as Simon & Schuster, Pearson/Penguin Books, Capital One, Scholastic and BMR Le Groupe have developed purchasing policies or are in the process of doing so. This is a commitment that Greenpeace supports, so long as the policy contains strong language, clear targets and specific timelines. Lowes, Time Inc. and Transcontinental have also started to engaged directly with their suppliers in relation to their supply, FSC certification, high conservation value forests and caribou habitat.

Several companies are making important strides in this area, and have made efforts to maintain communication with Greenpeace. Unfortunately, other companies have continually ignored our requests for information or had an initial meeting and then stopped communicating. Best Buy, Toys R Us, Harlequin, Xerox, and Boise Cascade are all companies that have NOT been communicative.

There are no details about the Indigo Books, which is the only one of this book list ranked in the top category of True Leaders, but you can learn more on their commitment and their performance (including their support of our Green Books Campaign) on Indigo's environment page.

The full report is available at http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/global/canada/report/2010/12/company-ranking-2010.pdf

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting Sustainable Reading!

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Is the iPad manufactured at a modern sweatshop?

It depends who you're asking and what's your definition of modern sweatshop. last Monday I heard Frederik Balfour, who wrote a lengthy story about Foxconn for Bloomberg Business Week earlier this year, on NPR. He was talking with Melissa Block on 'All Things Considered'.

Block asked him "When you were at the Foxconn plant, you spoke with about two dozen workers, what did they tell you about conditions there? And did it seem to you like they were working essentially in a sweatshop?"

And Balfour replied:

"No. I've visited plenty of sweatshops around the world, from Central America to Vietnam. This is definitely not a sweatshop.

The thing is, though, that these workers are probably under more pressure than anyone else working in China. The supervisors are extremely draconian. There's no margin for error. The sophistication of the process and the products that they're producing means that they're always under the gun. And that, I think, is what contributes to the high stress level at Foxconn."

According to Wikipedia, a sweatshop is (sweat factory) is "a working environment considered to be unacceptably difficult or dangerous — especially by developed countries with high standards of living. However sweatshops may exist in any country. Sweatshop workers often work long hours for unusually low pay, regardless of laws mandating overtime pay or a minimum wage. Child labour laws may be violated. Sweatshops may have hazardous materials and situations. Employees may be subject to employer abuse without an easy way to protect themselves."

So even though Foxconn's employees are paid decent wages in Chinese terms and work in clean and shiny modern building and you won't there child labour, there are still some disturbing similarities between the conditions of work at Foxconn according to Balfour (a plant where the supervisors are extremely draconian, there's no margin for error and workers are always the gun) and Wikipedia's description of sweatshop.

Balfour explains in his article for Bloomberg Business Week that Apple knows about the conditions of work at Foxconn, but has its own reasons not to cut the ties with Foxconn, even though it violates Apple's code of conduct:In his article for Bloomberg Business Week.

"The incident prompted Apple executives to dispatch an audit team to investigate conditions at the Longhua plant. The report, still available on Apple's company website, uncovered several violations of Apple's code of conduct, including excessive overtime, an overly complicated wage structure, and unacceptable living conditions such as triple-decker bunk beds. Foxconn made changes that included an overhaul of its overtime practices.

Although Apple pressured Foxconn, Steve Jobs wasn't about to sever ties with Hon Hai, not with preparations under way for the production of Apple's next big product, the iPhone, which came out the following year. "Steve Jobs' achievements wouldn't be possible without Terry," says Chang Tien-wen, author of the 2005 book The Tiger and The Fox: Terry Gou's Global Competitive Strategy."

Apparently the violation of Apple's code of conduct doesn't stop Apple from continuing its working relationship with Foxconn and only two weeks ago AppleInsider reported that 'Foxconn rumored to ship next-gen iPad in 100 days for April launch'.

The bottom line is that no matter how you define Foxconn, I think the employees there deserve better conditions. It is not a big secret that it's all about the pricing of the product and Foxconn ability to provide it in minimum cost to Apple. Probably manufacturing it elsewhere (or even at Foxconn) in better working conditions will translate to higher costs. Still, doesn't seem right that Apple's financial results should come on the expense of the rights of employees for decent conditions, even if they are in China and even if they work for a powerful company such as Foxconn.

If Apple wants us to take seriously what it describes as its commitment to "the highest standards of social responsibility throughout our supply base" ("Apple is committed to ensuring the highest standards of social responsibility wherever our products are made. We insist that our suppliers provide safe working conditions, treat workers with dignity and respect, and use environmentally responsible manufacturing processes."), something has to change.

What will make this change happren? I have a little faith in Apple's own will to do something about it, but I have more faith in Apple's stakeholders and I hope that a continuous demand of especially of customers will eventually get Apple to do the right thing and make the iPad not just a cool device, but also a one that is manufactured responsibly.

More articles on this issue:

Can the iPad be "green" if it is manufactured in a sweatshop?

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting Sustainable Reading!

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Which Christmas tree is greener - a plastic tree or a real one?

An interesting article of John Collins Rudolf on the New York Times provides somewhat surprising reply: A plastic tree.

This reply is based on a comparative life cycle assessment of artificial vs. natural Christmas tree conducted by Ellipsos, an environmental consulting firm in Montreal. According to the article, Ellipsos found "that an artificial tree would have to be reused for more than 20 years to be greener than buying a fresh-cut tree annually. The calculations included greenhouse gas emissions, use of resources and human health impacts. "

As always the environmental consideration is not the only one, but given that over 50 million artificial Christmas trees will be purchased this season, according to the industry’s main trade group, compared to about 30 million real trees, this is definitely something to take into consideration. Especially when, according to the article, after six to 10 years of use, most of the plastic trees will end up in a landfill.

So if you still consider which tree to buy, read it on the NYT website . Here's also a short video summarizing the article:




Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Plant a tree for every book you read!

Friday, December 17, 2010

Three new books of Write Bloody Publishing are going green with Eco-Libris

We are happy to announce of three new books of Write Bloody Publishing that are going green with Eco-Libris. One tree will be planted for each printed copy of How to Seduce a White Boy in Ten Easy Steps by Laura Yes Yes, 38 Bar Blues by A.V. Avery and The Feature Room by Anis Mojgani.

As mentioned all of these books are
published by Write Bloody Publishing, which is collaborating with Eco-Libris to plant trees for the books it publishes. We already worked with Write Bloody Publishing to plant a tree for every printed copy of the LAST TIME as WE ARE by Taylor Mali and Ceremony for the Choking Ghost by Karen Finneyfrock.

Write Bloody Publishing, which publishes and promotes great books of fiction, poetry and art every year, was started in 2004 by traveling poet and former paratrooper Derrick Brown. Write Bloody is a small press with a snappy look dedicated to quality literature. They have offices in LA, NYC and Murfreesboro, TN.

Here is some more information on the three new books:

How to Seduce a White Boy in Ten Easy Steps by Laura Yes Yes

Laura Yes Yes' sultry, wry first book, How to Seduce a White Boy in Ten Easy Steps, dazzles us with its bold exploration into the politics and metaphysics of identity. From fierce and funny sexual fantasias to cutting observations of interracial dynamics, her work asks us to fully consider what it is to be human in an age of fragmentation and double meanings. There are no easy answers here: the voice of the liberated woman rings clearly as a man-eater in one moment, and shudders under the weight of lost love in the next. Laura skillfully navigates the trauma of being Other while acknowledging the absurdity of our perceptions of race. With precise craft and breathtaking imagery, How to Seduce a White Boy blooms as a ferocious celebration of life.

38 Bar Blues by C.R. Avery
in Gomorrah? When you were still beardless,
and I would oil my hair in the lamp light before seeing
you, when we were young, and blushed with youth
like bruised fruit. Did we care then
what our neighbors did
in the dark?
When our first daughter was born
on the River Jordan, when our second
cracked her pink head from my body
like a promise, did we worry
what our friends might be
doing with their tongues?
What new crevices they found
to lick love into or strange flesh
to push pleasure from, when we
called them Sodomites then,
all we meant by it
was neighbor.
When the angels told us to run
from the city, I went with you,
but even the angels knew
that women always look back.
Let me describe for you, Lot,
what your city looked like burning
since you never turned around to see it.
Sulfur ran its sticky fingers over the skin
of our countrymen. It smelled like burning hair
and rancid eggs. I watched as our friends pulled
chunks of brimstone from their faces. Is any form
of loving this indecent?
Cover your eyes tight,
husband, until you see stars, convince
yourself you are looking at Heaven.
Because any man weak enough to hide his eyes while his neighbors
are punished for the way they love deserves a vengeful god.
I would say these things to you now, Lot,
but an ocean has dried itself on my tongue.
So instead I will stand here, while my body blows itself
grain by grain back over the Land of Canaan.
I will stand here
and I will watch you
run.

38 Bar Blues, is poetry loaded with bar stool musicality and brass knuckle living. Welcome to a clear glimpse into a motel 50 miles outside of town, a window into the life of a modern troubadour. C.R. Avery’s writing flows like a Tennessee Williams stage play, from haiku-size poems to longer erotic tales that sink the reader deeper into backstage smoke of Avery’s worlds. 38 Bar Blues is the perfectly crafted journal of a living legend. Enter the back-room of an old Italian cafe, where dirty-dirty politics, outlaw love, and outrageous beauty are all in the cards.

For a sneak-peek inside 38 Bar Blues click here!

The Feather Room by Anis Mojgani

Science, birds, Billy the Kid, and lots of feathers surround The Feather Room, Anis Mojgani's follow up to his Pushcart-nominated work, Over the Anvil We Stretch. In The Feather Room, Mojgani further explores storytelling in poetic form while traveling farther down the path of magic realism, endowing his tales with a greater sense of fantasy and brightness. The work recounts loss and heartbreak while discovering lightness and beauty on the other side. Throughout the book, Mojgani opens tree trunks to reveal chandeliers. He leads us through the rooms inside himself, using poems to part curtains and paint walls. He is lifting windows to let the fantasy indoors.

Here you can see the author reading one of his poems at the 2008 Austin SLAMOFF finals, at the Long Center for the Performing Arts.



All these books and other great books of Write Bloody Publishing are available at Write Bloody Publishing's store.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Plant a tree for every book you read!