A Decade of Patron Emeritus

Last Sunday marked the first day my first ever full-length collection was made available from FootHills Publishing online. It is a book that would never have been created if not for a series of wonderful events that took almost a decade to bring me to the moment I never thought I would see as a poet. 

Now Available

Happy to report that you can grab a copy of my first full-length poetry collection Patron Emeritus at the Little Free Library in Jamaica Plain.

The Poem I Always Post on Days Like These

First published in Spoonful, later in Patron Emeritus.

Forgot to post this on his birthday.

Bonus!

The Skinny Poetry Journal published my poem "Labor" this week. As an added bonus, they reprinted Dennis Daly's review of my 2013 book, Patron Emeritus. Read it here if you haven't already. It even includes a link to buy it. Thanks, Truth Thomas!

September 16th: Stone Soup Presents...Me?

It's not a hoax, not a misprint. I'll be featuring at Stone Soup this Monday. It's the Monday after Jack Powers' birthday, which means in addition to my new book, I'll be reading a selection of his work from his one and only book Light from Stone. I also invite any one from Stone Soup's "old guard" to read on Jack, or from any of his works, on the open mic. Next week, we resume our slightly irregular programming.

My Book Patron Emeritus Gets Its First Review

Thanks so much to Dennis Daly for the generous review and to Doug Holder for featuring it on his website.  Click here to read it.

Thanks, Fox Chase Review

I appreciate the heads up for my new book on your blog.

It's nice when you see a press release go out about you that you didn't have to write and send yourself.

My Book Patron Emeritus Is Now Available

My first full-length collection of poetry is now available from FootHills Publishing.

Patron Emeritus is  the result of over three years' work.  From writing the poems, to editing the poems with my workshop, to assembling the manuscript with Ron Goba, to working on the important final touches with publisher Michael Czarnecki and my longtime cover artist James Conant (not to mention the great quotes I got from Valerie Loveland and Susan Deer Cloud).  It's finally done and out there for you to purchase and read.

I am especially grateful to FootHills Publishing for their commitment to this book.  In the summer of 2012, Czarnecki lost both his home and his business to a fire.  Despite this devastating event, he resumed his business earlier this year, publishing five more books including mine so far.  I hope you will help me in thanking him for his devotion to poetry by purchasing the book straight from him if you can. You can do so by clicking here.

For my part, I did my best to make sure that both fans of my work and those just discovering me will get the most for their money.  Only a few of the poems are available to the public via web sites.  Others were published in hard to find print journals and anthologies.  Work that may have been published first on my blog has since been radically rewritten.  And finally, I added pieces from my past (also vastly worked over) that none of you will have ever seen before.  I promise there will be surprises galore. 

Thanks to all of you who have so far promised to purchase a copy.  If you live in the Boston area, I do have some copies of my book on me, but not as many as you might think (I have to set some comp copies aside for my cover artist and for archive purposes).  I will likely order more from my publisher as I begin to organize readings to promote the book, but for now, get 'em while you can!  Email me at chadpoetforhire@yahoo.com to let me know if you want to buy from me directly.

Finally Here

From a new undisclosed location...

to my hand.

Patron Emeritus is finally in my hands.  And that's not all.  More coming tonight.

Good News

Copies of my new book, Patron Emeritus, are being sent to me again, this time to a secret and secure address so events from two weeks ago are not repeated.  Even better, there will hopefully be a web page where it can be ordered by those not in Boston.

Author Seeks Stolen Copies of His Book

I posted the following on Facebook back on Tuesday. I'm repeating it here to let people know why things have been a bit quiet even after my Vegas vacation.

If you live in Jamaica Plain and see a book with this cover in the street or in a used bookstore--or MULTIPLE copies of a book with this cover in the street or in a used bookstore--you are looking at a hot item.

Due to an incompetent delivery person (who substituted while my awesome regular mail carrier was doing jury duty), the package with thirty copies of my new book from FootHills Publishing were left outside the main entrance to my apartment building (normally, they go safely inside the locked main door and often are put against my first floor door). This box of books never made it to me and was without a doubt stolen.

It's probably too late given that trash day was this morning, but I figure I post this information in case one of my friends spotted the book in a yard sale and thought to himself "Wow, Chad's getting out there..." Yeah, my book is so out there it's literally out of my hands and beyond my control.

Since then, I've been told I'll be getting my comp copies sent out, and I will let you know either when I get them or when FootHills Publishing is able to post ordering information for my book online.

Cover Drafts for Patron Emeritus, Part Nine

The finished cover.

The book is being printed later this week.  More will be announced.

Thank you, James Conant.

Proof is The Bottom Line for Everone

My proof just came in before the weekend.