Come say hullo! and pick up a copy of Austerity Pleasures, or a limited “Last-Last” edition of our ostensibly out-of-print first release,  Assuming Size. Gift-giving season harks upon us….

In other news, as a new facet of Monster House Press, we will be releasing an as of yet untitled series of zines to be released in conjunction with our bigger, more infrequent chapbook and book releases.

In the works is a split zine of comics by Aaron Miller and writing by Ryan Starinsky. And more to follow!

Check out our new “WHERE” page for places that carry us.

And, I suppose, we may have uploaded this release onto Issuu, for those more digitally adept readers…

A chapbook by James Payne

• First published in a limited run of 200 copies, March 2011 (MHP – 002)
• Thirty poems in forty-three pages
• 5.5″ x 5.5″ pages, screen printed covers by Shout Out Loud Prints

Selections from the Chapbook

Previously published in differing versions at the following locations:

• “666etwood Mac” and “Practical Mathematics” at Haggard and Halloo
• “Poem for Sitting in Panera” and “Occupy Everything” at Metazen
• “A Bedtime Prayer” “Andy Gardner’s Milk” and “Nature Morte” at New Wave Vomit
• “Books of Love” and “Ice Cream Etiquette” at Slingshot Litareview

Press

Official reader’s Guide to Allusions, References, and Word Usage
An audio Version of the Austerity Pleasures, as read by the author

Reviews

“I like it when poetry traditionally formatted (which I usually can’t get through) is transformed into something special by a serious sense of wordplayfulness and a grim outlook. Payne’s Austerity Pleasures can do that, it’s stubborn and good.” – Edie Fake

“These poems caused me to think more about economic class and about what I own versus what I need. The poems also re-excited me about simple things in my life that I don’t always stop to appreciate. ‘Austerity Pleasures’ is proof that good things come out of struggle.” – Dan Tarnowski

“It’s really nice to see something so well put together that, at the same time, doesn’t take itself too seriously. And Austerity Pleasures, by the way, is in fact well put together. Literally. A well constructed, little chapbook that’s nice to hold in your hands.” – Literary Chicago

“One of my favorite pieces is “Andy Gardner’s Milk”, and in it you get a sense of the pattern that Payne feels caught in. It is a cycle of wake, do nothing, sleep, wake. There is underlying ambition that flickers and fades. Through out the collection there is this feeling of wanting more but wanting nothing at all.” – Chicago Subtext

*Want to write a review or do an interview?  Send an email to richard@monsterhousepress.com

To purchase for $4 ppd, click below:

James Payne writes about what to do while reading Sartre in Dunkin’ Donuts.  James Payne writes about champipple.  About class and us out of N. America.  About the difficulty of the miscegenation of politik und love.  About the internet and cultural (and “normal,” ravenous) capital.

An excerpt from “As with Earlier Periods*” :

Yet it all seems so clear:

There are people who can think and speak but they just can’t seem to hear.

And we’re still here.
And we’re still here.
And we’re still here.
And we’re still here.
And we’re still here.

_

Austerity Pleasures (MHP-002) by James Payne, a chapbook of thirty poems, to-be-released late March by Monster House Press.

Joining us in editing, decisions, art direction, and all other monstrous things will be fellow Columbusites: Josh Kleinberg, Ryan J. Eilbeck, & Jack Ramunni.  The new group plans to release several, if not many, new books of poetry and other relevant texts from local and regional poets and writers.  Be on the lookout for new things from us.

Hint, hint:  Forthcoming titles from James Payne and Josh Kleinberg are already in the works!

May the new year bring you much hope and wonder.

-Richard

ft. reading from Jordan Castro, Richard Wehrenberg, Jr., Lisa Mirkovich, & Brett Olsen.

7PM, Free.

Poetry from Jordan Castro, James Payne, Ryan J., & Richard Wehrenberg, Jr., first published October 2010.

• Published by Monster House Press in October 2010
• 11 poems, twenty pages
• 4.25″ x 5.5″ pages with screen-printed covers from Shout Out Loud Prints

Poems from the Chapbook

Press

Interview w/ Richard, James, & Jordan @ Some Moths
Audio of the authors reading at the release of Assuming Size
James Payne reads the entirety of Assuming Size
Interview w/ Richard at Radioactive Moat

Reviews

“Assuming Size successfully manages to present the work of four very different voices in a chapbook that never feels like it is overextending itself…[the chapbook] pushes readers back and forth between moments of ‘light humor,’ ‘poignancy,’ and ‘despair’ in a manner that manages to never come off as overbearing in one direction or the other.” — Stephen McGouldrick

“Assuming Size is a nicely realized collection by four young poets, and an inspiring example of do-it-yourself publishing. I think readers old and young will see the value in this.” — Dan Tarnowski at On Lives

“The first collection of poems appears to be a list of personal affirmations. Second collection includes a poem about Facebook (?).” — Katie Dunne at Razorcake