Destroy PowerPoint -- Another Festival Plug

Anyone who has read David Gaffney's hilarious, dark, moving and imaginative collection of micro fiction Sawn-Off Tales or who enjoyed his sawn-off operas on The Verb a while back will doubtless want to check out his Fringe show, I reckon. Click the flyer image to go to the Fringe web page for the show.

‘Office life eats itself in witty, profound stories of love and desperation in the workplace.’

About PowerPoint, made in PowerPoint, presented in PowerPoint, micro-fiction writer David Gaffney demonstrates how PowerPoint dominates, destroys, and pollutes workplace communication with his unique, funny, profound tales of a complex corporate world where the spirit thrives despite everything.

Why PowerPoint?
‘I’ve worked in many public service jobs,’ said David, ‘as a debt counselor, a trainer, a funding officer, and a legal consultant, and I’ve been subjected to hundreds of PowerPoint presentations and delivered many as well. I began to wonder about the format - did PowerPoint release creativity within the workforce or stifle it? I wanted to test this out and my specialism being what I call sawn-off tales - micro stories of only a few hundred words long - I wondered what it would be like to use PowerPoint as a format to tell stories. It would be the workplace talking to itself in the only language it knows. The stories would be about people delivering PowerPoint presentations and, in traditional PowerPoint style, every word would appear on the screen.’

Destroy PowerPoint will appeal to anyone who likes good literature, strong original comedy, or is just interested in making fun of the way we communicate at work. Think Daniel Kitson, The Office, Peep Show, Dave Gorman, David Shrigley.

David Gaffney lives in Manchester. He is the author of Sawn-off Tales (2006), Aromabingo, (2007), and Never, Never (2008). Destroy PowerPoint is his first Edinburgh show.

The Importance of Sodium

On Facebook at the moment, you can vote for what you think is the most important book Salt has published. It's a fascinating list. At the moment, Shaindel Beers is way out in front and looking unassailable. (Well done, Shaindel! It is a strong book.)

Of course, importance is deeply subjective but that's half the fun. There's no doubt that The Ambulance Box is the most important Salt book to me personally for a number of reasons, but what is most important in the wider literary sense is a completely different matter. I chose Scales Dog and The Harbour Beyond the Movie. What are your picks? Drop my the Facebook note and add them, comment here or at the Salt Confidential post. The vote closes on 15 September.

Top 20

The front page of Salt's website now carries a top 20 bestsellers list and I'm delighted to say that The Ambulance Box currently comes in at 11, just above Keats (!). Here are the top 10:

1. Tania Hershman, The White Road and Other Stories
2. Chris Agee, Next to Nothing
3. Shaindel Beers, A Brief History of Time
4. Luke Kennard, The Migraine Hotel
5. Marion May Campbell, Fragments from a Paper Witch
6. Siân Hughes, The Missing
7. Andrew Taylor, The Unhaunting
8. Mark Illis, Tender
9. Chrissie Gittins, I’ll Dress One Night As You
10. Anita Heiss, I’m Not Racist, But …

Well done to all the above writers! I'm particularly pleased to see Chris Agee's wonderful, deeply moving book so high up the hit parade. A good strong showing for the poetry list too!

Journey's End, Fair and Squared

There were some strained moments last week on the Ambulance Box tour bus after the driver nearly fell asleep at the wheel in the Swiss Alps and the tour manager's navigation nearly had us in Luxembourg rather than heading Londonward. But nobody has actually fallen out or off and, today, we reach our final stop at fellow Salt poet Anne Berkeley's blog Squared. Drop by to read about opening the book on a monostich; mentoring, colleagues and development; and the future of poetry publishing.

August Offer at Salt

This just in from Salt:

In order to keep Salt on track through the wet British summer, we're offering you another special deal throughout August. All Salt books are available from us at 33% discount yet again. That's a third off all Salt titles, and free shipping on orders with a cover price of over £30 or $30. Offer ends 31 August 2009.

Simply enter the coupon code HU693FB2 when in the store to benefit.

As before, all we ask is two things—

1. Buy one book. Or perhaps another one ... go on.
2. Pass it on. Share this offer with everyone who loves gorgeous books and likes a bargain (whilst saving independent literature).

http://www.saltpublishing.com

Spreading the Sodium

The Bookseller is reporting good news on the Salt front: the press has managed to raise enough money to keep going through 2009 -- as long, that is, as it achieves its budgeted sales for the rest of the year, which is far from a given. Which means all sales and efforts such as this week's benefit reading in Edinburgh are still necessities. There's an exciting diversification programme at Salt too, about which the link above gives a tantalising glimpse. Please help to keep this vibrant and innovative publisher afloat not only for today's readers and writers but for the future.

Out of the Salty Blue

Kevin Cadwallender, editor of Red Squirrel Scotland, has organised an Edinburgh benefit reading for Salt. It's at Out of the Blue arts centre, Dalmeny Street on Thursday July 30th at 7 pm. Poets include JL Williams, Rob A Mackenzie, Colin Donati, Kevin Cadwallender, James Oates, Anita Govan, Steve Urwin, Alistair Robinson and others TBC, all giving their time and raising their voices to raise money for Salt Publishing. Entry is free but donations to the cause are welcome and expected.

I can't be there, sadly. If you can be there, go; if you can spread the word, do. It is important that we keep publishers like Salt afloat.

Extra Tour Date!

Unoccupied as I am and have been, I've added another date to the Ambulance Box virtual tour: on 5 August, I'll be at fellow Salt poet Anne Berkeley's blog Squared.

The Pleasant Sound of Poetry Sales Increasing

A wee while back, I speculated about the preception and truth of poetry sales. This was before the BBC's admirable poetry season and Salt's cash crisis. Now, today, courtesy of Matt Merritt, I found this article on the effect the Beeb's tranche of programmes has had on poetry sales.

Or, to be more precise, the sales of some poetry books. All by dead white poets, though one of them isn't male. Some of the percentages are staggering, and I can't help but wonder whether there was any similar effect on sales for the contemporary poets who featured as talking heads in Owen Sheers's series on BBC4. They each got to read a poem of theirs, but they were largely there to discuss the poet and poem under scrutiny (and a good thing it was too; I'd much rather have fellow poets do that than non-poet academics).

Would a similar run of programmes on living poets have a similar effect on sales of their works? I guess the Beeb might not find it so easy to get hold of knowledgable, articulate, well-known enthusiasts to present flagship programmes for such a season, but it's well worth a shot. (Any commissioning editors reading this?)

In not unconnected news, Chris Hamilton-Emery blogs compellingly about the origins of, and response to, Salt's "Just One Book" campaign. This, like the response to the BBC season, demonstrates that there is a market for poetry*. The problem is 1) tapping it and 2) broadening it. That's where a well-researched, well-produced, well-presented season on contemporary poetry could do the art a world of good. The public, of course, needs a way into any art form, especially when the reality of its practice challenges their perceptions. The Beeb has shown how it can achieve that. The challenge now is to take that into new territory.

*The Ambulance Box is now into its third print run!

Weebles Wobble but How Do They Write?

Lifting the Lid: the Ambulance Box virtual book tour gets under way today over at Our sweet old etcetera ... the blog of the Scottish Poetry Library. Pop by and read about my earliest influences, Weebles, my writing methods and more besides.

Sustainable Development

This latest update on Just One Book comes courtesy of the blog of Salt short story writer Elizabeth Baines:

We’ve been busy campaigning over the last two weeks to save Salt. The business has faced some serious financial difficulties as the recession hit us hard. I’m pleased to say we’ve stabilised the business, but we still need to build our cash reserves to secure our future. We’d like to thank all our customers for supporting us; but more than that, we thought we’d offer everyone a summer treat:—

A THIRD OFF ALL SALT TITLES THROUGHOUT JUNE

We’re now giving you a huge 33% off ALL books till the end of June. Use the coupon code G3SRT453 when in the checkout to benefit. Don't forget if you spend £30 or $30 you get free shipping too.

Please continue to spread the word, and spread news of this offer. Please don't let up. It's been extraordinary, but we're not out of danger yet. Every penny goes into developing Salt's books and services. We want to start a new children's list, and offer more resources to teachers and schools. We want to extend our publishing in new areas including our translations programme, we want to offer you more free magazines online. We want to help develop more support for debuts with the enhancement of our Crashaw and Scott prizes. We're planning audio books, ebooks and new videos for you. We only want to move forward, to develop and expand what we do and deliver great books in new ways to you and yours.

We need your support throughout June. We'll try and organise more readings and promotions with our authors. Virtual book tours. More launches. We'll work with bookstores to bring you short story and poety evenings. Stick with us throughout June and we can do something astonishing. That's the power of Just One Book — we want you to be a part of it. Follow us on Twitter look for #SaltBooks and #JustOneBook. Join our Facebook Group.

And have a giggle at the vid, too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdcTqXaOD2s

Oh, and one last special offer — Catherine Eisner’s magnificent crime novel, Sister Morphine for £7.50 plus P&P, simply enter coupon code EISNER in the UK checkout http://bit.ly/8rHDa

Watch out for more special offers throughout June.

It worked!

I was delighted to read this Facebook status update from Salt's Chris Hamilton-Emery mid afternoon today:

Salt is now commissioning again, including a children's poetry list. Thanks for buying us time & for saving the press.

Tremendous news! Many thanks to everyone who bought books and helped this vital publisher not only continue but push forward. Double helpings of thanks to those of you who bought The Ambulance Box.

Of course, like any business, Salt needs to maintain sales to keep going, so please continue to buy from their great poetry, short story and other lists. As an extra enticement, there's 33% off throughout June. Just use the coupon code G3SRT453 in the checkout of Salt's online store (US store here).

Lifiting the Lid: the Ambulance Box Virtual Book Tour!

From Wednesday next week, I'll be popping up here and there on the blogosphere, subjecting myself to the inquisitions of a varied bunch of bloggers. Here's the full itinerary*:

• 10 June - Our sweet old etcetera ...
• 17 June - The Crafty Writer
• 23 June - One Night Stanzas
• 26 June - Douglas Robertson
• 29 June - Dumbfoundry
• 02 July - Boxologies
• 08 July - Robert Peake
• 15 July - Cadwallender
• 22 July - Poetry Hut
• 29 July - Andrew Shields
• 5 August - Anne Berkeley
  

The links above will magically trasform into permalinks for each post as we progress and the same will happen over at Salt's repository for virtual tours, Cyclone, where you'll also be able to read profiles of participating blogs.

Tag along. Ask questions. Make comments. View the video. Buy the T-shirt**. Most of all, enjoy yourselves.

*The 2, 15 and 22 July dates are still to be confirmed.

**Just kidding about the T-shirt. But then again ...

On Newsnight Review

Well, I almost was: the covers for The Ambulance Box, The Opposite of Cabbage and Ian Gregson's How We Met filled the screen momentarily as a clip from Salt's Just One Book video was played. Priceless advertising! Chris got a few seconds on the campaign, on which you can read the latest here.

You can watch the programme here for the next seven days. It was great to have an edition of Newsnight Review dedicated to poetry. Simon Armitage spoke a lot of sense, to my mind, but most of the panel came over well. The hip-hop artist, whose name escapes me, also impressed me. A pity we didn't hear or see any of his Shakespeare work.

I have to say, hooray for the licence fee! We wouldn't have had a poetry season without it, would we?

Salt Latest

The Just One Book campaign has hit the Guardian books blog here! And that's not all folks: Chris Hamilton-Emery will be on Newsnight Review this Friday. The campaign is working -- 800 orders in the first four days, bringing in £17,000, which is six weeks' cash for Salt -- but Chris, Jen and their stalwart helpers are far from out of the woods yet, so let's keep it up.

Not bought your one book yet? Here's a quick list of Salt poetry titles I've particularly enjoyed over the past few months:

• The Opposite of Cabbage - Rob A Mackenzie
  
• Next to Nothing - Chris Agee
• A Fold in the Map - Isobel Dixon
  
• A Brief History of Time - Shaindel Beers
• Me and the Dead - Katy Evans-Bush
  

And here are several more still waiting to be read:

• Camper Van Blues - Jane Holland
• Goose Music - Andy Brown and John Burnside
• Dear Alice - Tom Pow
  
• Glaciation - Will Stone
• Arrondissements - Douglas Oliver

The Portal

Chris and Jen are marvels. Cash crisis or no, they have just launched Salt Contemporary Writers, the new Salt author portal, a typically stylish web resource with a page for every one of their authors. Here's mine. It seems that they never cease to innovate and push forward. That's one of the reasons why we -- all readers and writers of poetry and fiction, not just the folk on their list -- need Salt to survive.

Increase Your Poetry Emissions!

The good news is that Salt's "Just One Book" campaign is beginning to make a difference. It has even been picked up by the Bookseller, but Chris and Jen are far from out of the woods yet and we need to keep it up. I intend to make a few suggestions for your one book over the coming days/weeks but, meanwhile, here's that spoof advert. (I would embed it, but it overlaps the sidebar if I do. The Ambulance Box appears at about 0:16.)

Reviews

The previous two posts collide in Helena Nelson's generous review ofThe Ambulance Box and Rob A Mackenzie's The Opposite of Cabbage over on the HappenStance blog. It's my first blog review! (Although I've already gained a five-star Amazon customer review!) There are also reviews in the pipline or promised from Matt Merritt, Tony Williams and James W Wood for ONE Magazine.

A Short Piece for a Short Season (and more)

"Wandelvakanties Dicht bij Huis", one of the poems from The Ambulance Box, has just appeared today as part of the short season of other poets Jane Holland is running at the moment on her Raw Light blog. I've updated the sidebar with links to it and several other poems, including one in the wonderful this collection project.

Incidentally, Jane has just become a commissioning editor at Salt. It's part of an exciting development down there, with Ian Gregson also taking the lead in developing Salt's Welsh list. Keep watching that space carefully!

Front Page News

Just spotted that Rob A Mackenzie's The Opposite of Cabbage and my collection The Ambulance Box are both now on the front page of the Salt website. Rob is beneath Keats, and I'm under Vincent De Souza.

Rob also has his first review, at the blog of Tony Williams, whose collection is due out from Salt in the summer.