Now Available from Cajun Mutt Press: THE CRITIC AND OTHER STORIES by Ólafur Gunnarsson

Ad for THE CRITIC AND OTHER STORIES in the Sunday 6/16/24 Chicago Tribune

THE CRITIC AND OTHER STORIES by Ólafur Gunnarsson

Now available from Cajun Mutt Press!!!

THE CRITIC AND OTHER STORIES is a gripping collection of 13 gritty short stories that will keep you on the edge of your seat! Some readers may even find some of the material disturbing. Each story sparks a different emotion, touching on a wide range of topics. Featuring tales of bitter love, hard life lessons, imminent death, business trip savages, assault on a critic, a serial killer novelist, crime family disputes, religion, politics, and more. Narrated from the point of view of various characters in and around the district of Reykjavík.

This book is translated from Icelandic by David McDuff and the Author except for “The Nazi” by Philip Roughton and “The Wrath of Jehova” by Sola Bjarnadottir O ́Connell. “Death Comes At Daybreak,” and “Into the Fire” are translated by Steven Meyers

The cover art is a painting titled “Head of Medusa” by Caravaggio. Commissioned as a ceremonial shield by Cardinal Francesco Maria Del Monte in 1598.

Brother Ólafur

Ólafur Gunnarsson became a full-time writer after publishing his first novel in 1978. In 1970 he published his first collection of poetry. Later he published an acclaimed trilogy: The Trolls Cathedral 1992. (English translation in 1996, nominated for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award a year later), Potters Field in 1996 and The Winter Journey in 1999. Ólafur went on to write more novels, among them; The Ax and the Earth 2003, for which he received the Icelandic literary prize. Ólafur also wrote a series of children’s books about a whale that can fly. The first one, The Beautiful Flying Whale was published in 1989 and nominated for the Nordic Children‘s Literature Award. Ólafur lives and works a few miles outside of Reykjavik. He is the Icelandic translator of Jack Kerouac. His two-part novel The Painter & Sinner was published in 2012 and 2015. From 2013 – 2018 Olafur was a consultant on the TV show Vikings.

Night Owl Narrative (a Cajun Mutt rag) Issue No.4 Cover Reveal

NON No.4

Adding a few finishing touches to Night Owl Narrative No.4!!! It’ll be available on April 1st. Michael Duckwall did the cover art for this one!! I’ll post some pics when I get my copy. Links to issues 1 – 3 and Brother Duck’s new chapbook 7.2 SkullQuake can be found below. I’ve already started on issue 5, stay tuned for details.

Email submissions to cajunmuttpress@gmail.com for consideration. Please include a bio and author photo. I’m taking artwork, photography, poetry, flash fiction, short stories, columns, articles, interviews, etc. Send me whatever you’ve got — no rules or themes — anything goes.

NON No.4 Contributors:
Grant Goodwine, JDCIV, Kent Fielding, Ron Whitehead, A.L. Locke, Shayna Shanes, Hans Hollestelle, Damon Hubbs, Jaundré van Breda, Barbara Anna Gaiardoni, Jayanta Bhaumik, David Alec Knight, R.M. Engelhardt, Ólafur Gunnarsson, Shane Allison, Katrina Kaye, Joshua Britton, Sagarikaa Das, Joe Kidd, Royal Rhodes, Paige Turner, Gentle Dragona, Richard D. Houff, Merritt Waldon, Sean Hanrahan, Chris Dean, Wilfred Hildonen, T. James Chapman, Mick Parsons, Heller Levinson, Michael Duckwall

Y’all Keep Kicking Ass Out There!
Big Love, Write On,
JDCIV
🤟💀📚
🦉🎟️🦇

NIGHT OWL NARRATIVE No.1:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CQVN1WPW

NIGHT OWL NARRATIVE No.2:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CTCJR9LY

NIGHT OWL NARRATIVE No.3:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CVF469HX

7.2 SkullQuake by Michael Duckwall
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CVG31R8S

Abyssal Recitations by Heller Levinson (Book Promo)

Heller Levinson is a true wordsmith, and The Abyssal Recitations takes you on a submarine dive into the depths of the poet’s mind. The way these poems roll off the tongue is a work of art. This book isn’t simply a collection of poetry, it’s an educational journey into the abyss of wordplay. A beautifully crafted, well-written, and highly recommended read. Heller Levinson and Concrete Mist Press have done us all a great service in bringing it to the surface of the literary fathoms.
—JDCIV, Founder/Editor-in-Chief of Cajun Mutt Press

Cover Design:

A Few Poems:

Amazon Link:

https://www.amazon.com/Abyssal-Recitations-Heller-Levinson/dp/B0CTHK47XD

Praise:

Whatever you think you know about Heller Levinson, guess again. Levinson’s latest book, The Abyssal Recitations, not only requires the suspension of your disbelief, but also requires a complete reorganization of your sensibility. Hallmark and/or AI rubbish does not live here. Look at his poem “Abyssal Reminiscence” in its entirety:

shortfall evanescent repeal

reel pitch flinch
grate grill cultivate
sow sew stitch
foamcoalesce
surface

From beginning to end, Abyssal Recitations reads this way. The best way to enjoy these poems is to forget how you’ve been taught poetry should read and focus intently upon the relationships that Heller’s lexicon creates, especially the vibrations of sounds and senses his words generate. To apprehend the following lines requires readers to actually experience the poet’s linguistic vibrations as they rattle neurons from their slumber:

verbs incinerate incline grief vowels wish you
were here twine thickens straits thru mewling
chaw wipe bibelot courtesies in the company
of balance thistle thrush threshold thicket
cymbal clunk cadaver slaver skins thins (“Abyssal Abject”).

Concrete Mist Press is known for supporting some of the most unique poetry around today, and Heller Levinson surely belongs on this list of fresh voices. Pour yourself a glass of wine, if you like, but hunker down some place where the nonsense of the world isn’t too much with you and feel those neurons rattle like the tail of a Southeastern Diamondback.

—Alan Britt, author Gunpowder for Single-ball Poems
Towson University

“For my money, Levinson is THE most challenging, interesting, frustrating and brilliant writer on the scene today. His books are NOT easy…and they’re not meant to be! This is not bathroom throwaway, stand-up comedy poetry…this stuff’s legit. It takes work. Buy one and see if you’re up to the task!”

—John Yamrus, author of The Street and People (and other bad ideas)

“Only Heller Levinson’s poetry makes my mind feel like it’s moving in all directions at once. I can go inside the words and feel boundless running space for my imagination. It invites dialogue between the page and the gaze. Love it!”

—Jason Moore

Now Available From Cajun Mutt Press

Fear Of Falling Backwards by Ian Mullins

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CJ4F7DW9

The poems in this collection put you in the middle of an internal boxing match between the author and his thoughts. The lines are jabs and uppercuts to the mind. You feel every punch thrown as you go through this book, and they hit hard. Each ring of the bell brings in a new contender, as Ian fights 15 rounds with life itself. Going toe to toe with darkness and light.
—JDCIV Founder/Editor-in-Chief of Cajun Mutt Press, author of Bad Weed Never Dies

Cover Art by JDCIV

“Ian Mullins renders the brutality of being. Like Samuel Beckett, Francis Bacon, William S. Burroughs before him, Mullins chronicles bleakly the human condition. His self crucifixion, lowered sights with little to no expectation, does not lead to a personal resurrection or salvation. Yet in the darkness a radiance is revealed in lines like, “remembering how you love cloudless nights, when even the stars glow cold.” The Fear of Falling Backwards is a journey through darkness. The brilliant poems of Ian Mullins are worth the toll for the road.”
—Ron Whitehead, U.S. National Beat Poet Laureate, author of Adventures of Brain Man

“The poems in Ian Mullins’ book take us to dark places where he pulls off a masterful balancing act between mystery and joy, and futility and impending doom. There are fighting words between these pages and some fine writing too.”
—Mark Berriman, author of Holding the Door for Barbarians

All CMP Titles:
https://cajunmuttpress.com/2021/06/08/cajun-mutt-press-bibliography/

Now Available from Cajun Mutt Press!!!

It’s a day early, but Vital Decay by Timothy Dodd has officially been published!! I thought today was the 16th; Buk’s birthday! I was wrong. That’s why I put the files in final review yesterday. Then I realized I was a day off. Oh well, things always happen for a reason. I’m sure there’s some hidden one behind why things went the way they did with this book. It’ll probably reveal itself later. Or, maybe not. Maybe we will never know. Yet it’s available all the same.

Brother Dodd will have author copies soon! Get in touch with him if you’d like a signed book. Here’s the Amazon link. If y’all do grab a copy, leave a review! Word of mouth is important. People want to know what they’re about to read. Please spread the word by sharing this post if you can’t afford to buy one right now. That helps as well.

Also, I’ve had a few readers from outside of the US contact me to say they’re having a hard time finding our books on their country’s Amazon site. If you go to the book category and type in the ASIN, they usually pop right up!

Vital Decay ASIN:
B0CFCVDK9J

I have a copy on the way as well. Pics will be posted when it gets here.

Love Y’all, Write On,
JDCIV
🤟💀📚

“Timothy Dodd writes with the energy and frenzy of a man being chased by assassins, hell hounds, the police. His words race across busy highways. They jump from tall buildings but land on their feet. They vanish into dead-end alleys as though a door opened in one wall then closed behind him. The poems in this book are vivid descriptions of scenes mixed with meditations on life-meanings and interplays between the sacred and profane. Dodd stares into the abyss and doesn’t blink. Vital Decay is a marvelous collection and a wild ride. Strap yourself down for this one.”
—Ace Boggess, author of The Prisoners and Escape Envy

“Timothy Dodd plays with words, to play with readers’ perception and reception, not unlike Gregory Corso, but at times his observations are also acerbic, not unlike Charles Bukowski. His overall concept of the people populating his poetry as full-blown characters — not mere extensions of himself, the poet — is a semi-biographical approach that reminds somewhat of Edgar Lee Masters. To combine elements of such poets as these in one voice, and then to have a unique voice in the midst of such influences is no mean feat.

VITAL DECAY will push you, as much as pull you along. Some poems lean towards prose, while others are highly imagistic, and some concrete, while others near a blend of magic-realism. This explains lines such as “Like a Halloween mask / she arrived at pavement…”

Dodd namechecks Denton Welch, Vladimir Mayakovsky, and Ronnie James Dio, and you can see their shadows looming over some poems. There is little distinction between high culture and low culture in the inspiration and the references in many of his poems, and in so doing this poet’s voice is less encumbered by the cultural bias and classism, that makes the street poet and the academic poet most easily recognizable, quantifiable, and readily fitted for a label – anything from Camus to Marvel Comics shows up in Dodd’s poems. These approaches encourage a certain unpredictability, that in turn opens one up to being caught off guard, one’s cynicism challenged, coerced into an openness of possibility: one never knows what the next poem will bring.”
—David Alec Knight, author of LEPER MOSH (Cajun Mutt Press, 2022), recipient of The Ted Plantos Memorial Award For Poetry, 2021.