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ForeWord Magazine singles out Memoirs of a Shape-Shifter at Small Press Center's 18th Annual Small Book Fair in NYC

from Eugene G. Schwartz, Editor at Large, ForeWord Magazine, ForeWord This Week 12.07.05/"Publishing: Hands-On and With Full Heart (Annual Small Press Center book fair dazzles our editor) "

". . . There are also always a number of plucky first book authors at the show, whose first novels merit attention and can be a good read. Three that I would mention are [ . . .] and Memoirs of a Shape Shifter by Thomas Kaplan-Maxfield, a contemporary love story that takes the reader back to magic and warfare in 1690’s New England and Celtic and Druid lore, www.keplerpress.com. . . ."

more from Schwartz's ForeWord Magazine review [12.07.05]:

"There is no book fair in this writer’s view that, for vitality, diversity and surprise, beats the SPC annual book fair (this was the 18th) held in the 1899 renaissance and beaux arts General Society for Mechanics and Tradesmen building (www.generalsociety.org) just down West 44th Street in Manhattan from the historic Algonquin Hotel.

"Organized by the Small Press Center (www.smallpress.org) each year, you can begin anywhere on the three floors of presentations (plus the balcony level of the four book-stack-tiered main floor library) and absorb yourself in the array of titles and in the stories of the publishers, editors and writers who will talk to you about how they came to be there. And books are all up for sale.

"The more than a hundred independent publishers of all sizes and genres at the fair loaded up display tables with thousands of new and backlist titles ranging through original fiction, new editions of old classics in pulp fiction and classic literature, social protest, elegant pictorials, counter-culture erotica, fine as well as rough-hewn hand made editions, children’s books, poetry, literary journals and ingenious non-book surrogate formats. And that is just a taste of a cornucopia bursting with offerings.

"They treated thousands of New Yorkers and visitors to a Christmas and holiday season launch with author readings throughout the day, panel discussions, an on-site eatery and more than enough browsing material to fill the two-day weekend allotted for the event."

. . . .

"There are also always a number of plucky first book authors at the show, whose first novels merit attention and can be a good read. Three that I would mention are Just Going Through Some Things, the first of a trilogy 'about the trials and tribulations that young women go through,' by De Ann Lain, www.flavorbooks.net; Bearing Witness: Not so Crazy in Alabama, by Carla Thompson, adventures of 'a Harlem native, transplanted in California, landed in Montgomery Alabama,' www.cwritesabook.com; and Memoirs of a Shape Shifter by Thomas Kaplan-Maxfield, a contemporary love story that takes the reader back to magic and warfare in 1690’s New England and Celtic and Druid lore, www.keplerpress.com."

. . . .

"Karin Taylor, SPC Executive Director and her staff and volunteers mounted a well-run and busy show. Whitney North Seymour and other SPC directors were always present, connecting with exhibitors and keeping spirits up. The third floor eatery circulated with food trays from time to time to keep the appetites fed. Despite its good turnout and support, the fair is worthy of even more notice and attendance. The fair presents independent publishing at its best and most diverse, in an informal and personal setting – showing books, most well done, all well intended, offered with enthusiasm, affection and conviction by their creators and producers."

--Eugene G. Schwartz, Editor at Large, ForeWord Magazine, ForeWord This Week 12.07.05

 


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