Payseur & Schmidt

New Deal Recession Sale!!!!

2009-03-30T11:12:00.001-07:00

We here at Payseur & Schmidt remember keenly the difficult years of the Great Depression, when the cost of ink and paper very nearly stopped our presses. Wisconsin winters were cold back then, and all we could hope for was that the fiery heat of the words in our books would warm hearts and minds, if not frostbitten toes. Plus, binding glue made a pretty good soup base in a pinch.

The current economy is biting us all in some mighty sensitive areas, and we want to do our part to ease the sting. We know our books are a bit pricier than the crappy, disposable paper blocks you can buy at big box stores. Everything we publish--from authors and artists like Nicola Griffith, John Clute, Paul Di Filippo, Jim Woodring, and more--is meant to be a work of art that you will give a place of honor on your bookshelf. But tough times call for extreme measures. So, we hereby announce...

The Payseur & Schmidt Mailing List-Only New Deal Book Sale!

Take a nice chunk off our regular retail prices from now until midnight on tax day, April 15th, 2009. The following deals can be had:

Cosmocopia, by Paul DiFilippo/Jim Woodring
Reg. Price: $65 + $10 shipping
SALE Price: $40 + $10 shipping!

And Now We Are Going to Have a Party, by Nicola Griffith
Reg. Price: $50 + $7 shipping
SALE Price: $35 + $7 shipping

The Darkening Garden, by John Clute
Reg. Price: $35 + $5 shipping
SALE Price: $25 + $5 shipping

Here's how to take advantage of our insanity:

1. Visit our web site: www.payseurandschmidt.com to remind yourself why you fell in love with Payseur & Schmidt the first time.

2. If you're interested in any of the sale items (listed above), send the appropriate amount of moolah (including shipping - domestic listed above, international may be extra) directly via paypal to orders@payseurandschmidt.com. We, as of yet, have not mastered the internets and have no easy way to implement sales via our website - please forgive.

3. You will get a confirmation from us and we'll ship out a delivery of bookish awesomeness to you pronto.

4. Sit back and wait for the goodness to arrive on your doorstep.

It's that easy. Give yourself the gift of words, art, and music to slake your thirst for something great. Take care, and don't forget that when the whiskey's all gone, Payseur & Schmidt stand strong.

As always, any questions can be sent to orders@payseurandschmidt.com as well. Please don't reply to this mailing list email, as we may not get it.

Happy Recession/Depression from the kids at Payseur & Schmidt

Alice Schmidt
Therese Littleton
Jacob McMurray

Cosmocopia is in the final stretch!

2008-08-18T13:05:00.001-07:00

For all you Paul DiFilippo and Jim Woodring fans:

Cosmocopia, in all of it's complex glory, is off to the printer. We'd posted below some comps and reference images for each component of the project. We hope that you'll enjoy it!

We're having an opening party for Cosmocopia at the Fantagraphics Store in the Georgetown neighborhood of Seattle on October 11, 2008. In attendance will be Jim Woodring and Paul DiFilippo, and the first physical copies of Cosmocopia. If you're local (or even if you're not) you should try and stop by!

Note: due to the complexity and deluxeishness of the project, we're raising the release price to $65. The pre-order price of $50 will still be in effect until October 11, 2008, so if you want to save some cash, order up now! (Pre-orders will have priority on the lower release numbers).

Check out Paul's recent interview and what he says about the project.

Project Specifications:

*513-piece jigsaw puzzle of Jim Woodring's "The Artist's Eye".
*132-page hardcover of Paul DiFilippo's short novel Cosmocopia.
*Bound-in advertisement postcard
*Pulp-style Cosmocopia print
*Jigsaw puzzle box
*Printed sash/box enclosure/limitation page
*Limited edition of 500 numbered sets signed by the author and artist.

Check out the pics:

The Box Top (showing placement of the enclosing sash):

The Box Bottom (showing placement of the enclosing sash):

The Pulp-style print:

Book cover (front):

Book Cover (back):

Bound-in postcard:

Thomas Disch and Winter Journey

2008-08-18T12:57:00.000-07:00

Hopefully this isn't news to anyone by this time, but we at Payseur & Schmidt have been having a summer of silence after the news of Thomas M. Disch's passing. A lengthy period of depression (after the death of his long-time part partner Charles Naylor) ended in his unfortunate suicide on July 5, 2008.

Payseur & Schmidt is forever indebted to Tom for his support and contributions. We couldn't have started P&S without him. We will be publishing his Winter Journey project (along with a documentary film by Eric Solstein) at the end of this year, right after Cosmocopia.

Nicola Griffith and ANWAGTHAP wins the Lambda!

2008-06-01T22:49:00.001-07:00

Congrats to Nicola Griffith for winning the 2008 Lambda Award for best Women's Memoir/Biography for her P&S extravaganza: And Now We Are Going to Have a Party.

Check out Nicola talking about her memoir at her recent Richard Hugo House talk:

Part 1 of 2:

Part 2 of 2:

Project Update: Cosmocopia

2008-05-04T23:49:00.001-07:00

We are now accepting pre-orders for Paul DiFilippo's Cosmocopia! Paul's lurid and surreal short novel is accompanied by a 513-piece surprise jigsaw puzzle by non other than Jim Woodring! Paul's delivered the text, Jim's delivered the art (a detail of the jigsaw puzzle box is above -- the jigsaw puzzle itself is an entirely different piece of Woodring coolness), now we just need to get everything in motion! Pre-order now and get shipping for free! Check it out our Cosmocopia pre-order page.

More soon!

Appearance: Nicola Griffith at Hugo House

2008-04-30T22:44:00.000-07:00

Nicola reads from her Lambda-nominated ANWAGTHAP in Seattle on May 6!

The details:

Tuesday, May 6
7:00 pm
Richard Hugo House
1634 Eleventh Ave
Seattle

Nicola will read with Corrina Wycoff, finalist in the Lesbian Debut Fiction category.

Payseur & Schmidt will be filming the event for posterity. Please come!!!

Award News: Nicola Griffith's ANWAGTHAP is a finalist for the Lambda

2008-04-15T15:30:00.000-07:00

Nicola Griffith and her Payseur & Schmidt-published memoir, And Now We Are Going to Have a Party, is a finalist for a Lambda Award for best "Women's Memoir/Biography." Yay for Nicola!!!

Appearance: P&S at the Hugo House, Seattle

2008-04-15T15:15:00.000-07:00

Our intern Jacob McMurray is going to be a part of a small press panel tonight at the Hugo House in Seattle. Check out below for more details:

The Hugo House InPrint Series presents:

Why Publish With an Independent or Small Press?
An Evening with Northwest Independent Press Publishers

Tuesday, April 15th, 2008, 7:00 – 9:00 Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave. Seattle Admission $3 members/$5 non-members

Why Publish With an Independent or Small Press? The Northwest features a handful of excellent independent press publishers who are producing interesting work and attracting positive critical attention and awards. Tonight editors and publishers from several publishers will be on hand to explain the advantages of publishing with an independent small press and how to go about it. Our speakers will cover the editing and business side of small press, from queries and pitches to editorial preferences and distribution. Small press publishers can serve audiences that aren’t normally served by larger publishers who can only publish very commercial work, allowing them to get away from publishing only work that appeals to the largest common denominator of readers. Once books have been published and received positive reviews, they often attract the attention of larger publishers for broader distribution. All of your questions will be answered and you’ll come away with valuable information and contacts for publishing.

OUR PANEL:

Black Heron Press: Jerry Gold, publisher and editor-in-chief Black Heron Press is one of the oldest literary presses in the Pacific Northwest. It specializes in literary fiction. Its books have been reviewed in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Stranger, Booklist, Publishers Weekly and other newspapers and journals. Several books it has published have won national or regional awards. Black Heron Press leans toward books that make a philosophical or moral statement, as well as being well-written. Since 1996, it has given the Black Heron Press Award for Social Fiction.

Chin Music Press: Bruce Rutledge, journalist and author - Chin Music Press resurrects some of the best practices of publishing in past centuries in books that tell decidedly modern stories. As a reporter and writer living in Japan during the 1990s, Rutledge was struck at how US news media was devoting less and less space to international news. Chin Music Press was founded to catch those fascinating and insightful stories about our world that were being ignored by an increasingly myopic and profit-driven media.

Copper Canyon Press: Copper Canyon Press is a nonprofit publisher that believes poetry is vital to language and living. Since 1972, the Press has published poetry exclusively and has established an international reputation for its commitment to authors, editorial acumen, and dedication to the poetry audience. Copper Canyon has published more than 300 titles, including works by Nobel Laureates Pablo Neruda, Odysseas Elytis, Octavio Paz, Vincente Aleixandre, and Rabindranath Tagore.

Fantagraphics: Eric Reynolds, editor - Fantagraphics authors have garnered more favorable press attention than any publisher’s in the history of the medium of graphic novels and comics. Recent books alone have received significant, positive coverage in TIME, Newsweek, Entertainment Weekly, Spin, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, The Nation, and others. Fantagraphics was ranked among the top five most influential publishers in the history of comics in a recent p oll by an industry trade newspaper; it was the only independent publisher on the list, and the only contemporary publisher named alongside corporate behemoths Marvel and DC.

Aqueduct Press: L. Timmel Duchamp, author, publisher and editor – Aqueduct Press dedicates itself to publishing challenging, feminist science fiction that stretches the imagination and stimulates thought. Acqueduct Press authors include award-winning British authors Gwyneth Jones and Nicola Griffith, as well as Northwest authors Ursula K. Le Guin, Nisi Shawl, and Kelley Eskridge.

Payseur and Schmidt: Jacob McMurray, publisher - Payseur and Schmidt resides in the lacunae between art and genre, producing literary-based art projects with ridiculous packaging. The Payseur & Schmidt stable of awesomeness includes works from Thomas M. Disch, Nicola Griffith, Art Chantry, John Clute, and Marvin Bell. www.payseurandschmidt.com
Wood Works Press: Paul Hunter, publisher and editor - Recently featured on The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, Paul Hunter has published fine letterpress poetry under the imprint of Wood Works for the past 14 years, currently including 24 books and 55 broadsides. The press seeks to offer the best in contemporary poetry and poetry in translation, in an attractive, durable, inexpensive format. Three of his titles have been finalists for the Washington State and Colorado Book Awards.

The InPrint Series is a quarterly forum designed to connect writers with agents, publishers and publishing industry experts. The mission of Richard Hugo House is to build a vital learning community that develops and sustains practicing writers doing essential work. (206) 322-7030 www.hugohouse.org

Project Update: Cosmocopia

2008-04-11T00:54:00.000-07:00

I'm sure you are all so reeling from the fact that we have this new awesome website (as designed by the talented Joan Li and Brian Lodis), that it's hard to believe that we have more news to tell you.

Well, Cosmocopia, the new project by Paul DiFilippo and Jim Woodring is making progress, and with luck, will be released in early summer. As is the Payseur & Schmidt way, we've been a bit behind our target date, but we just hope that makes the end product that much sweeter.

In any case, we've received the jigsaw puzzle samples (yes, you heard right: jigsaw puzzle) and box diagrams, and we're moving forward with the box art and book layout. And believe me, the finished product will look tons better than the amazingly scary puzzle and box samples that we received.

Now that you're freaking out, wondering what crazy thing that DiFilippo and Woodring are going to be doing, we're going to have to sign off for tonight. Don't worry: we'll be adding a new project to the catalog for preorders soon.

Welcome to the new Payseur & Schmidt website

2008-04-08T20:15:00.000-07:00

PURCHASE OUR NEWEST RELEASES:

And Now We Are Going to Have a Party

by Nicola Griffith

The Darkening Garden

by John Clute and a host of talented visual artists

IN THE FUTURE:
Projects by Paul DiFilippo, Jim Woodring and Jeff VanderMeer