SamWeb
My Sam
E-mail
Texas Review Press Announces Fall 2014 Release List
Sept. 29, 2014
SHSU Media Contact: Julia May
Texas Review Press, an adjunct of the Sam Houston State University English department, recently announced the titles of a dozen books in their fall lineup.
Headlining the fall 2014 list are three novels, a novella, and an anthology of Southern poetry.
“The Women of Harvard Square” is the third novel the press has published by Michael Lieberman, former chair of pathology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
“The women of Harvard Square are smart, sassy and sexy,” Lieberman said. “We follow their lives, three generations of them, as they pursue their careers, men and sometimes each other.”
“The best cliché I can come up with to describe the book is awesome,” said Paul Ruffin, Texas State University System Regents’ Professor and Distinguished Professor of English.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
In 2012 the press brought out Lieberman’s “Never Surrender, Never Retreat”—lines most Texans recognize— a novel that unflinchingly examines the world of medical politics, and followed that in the spring of 2014 with “The Lobsterman’s Daughter,” a murder mystery.
“When he retired from the distraction of his medical practice, he turned to novels, and I think he’s found a new literary calling,” Ruffin said.
Another novel featured in the fall 2014 lineup is “No Asylum,” a murder mystery by Texas novelist Steve Sherwood, who won TRP’s George Garrett Fiction Prize in 2003 with a novel entitled “Hardwater.”
The third novel is “The Gold Piano,” winner of the 2013 George Garrett Fiction Prize, written by Stephen March, who won TRP’s Clay Reynolds Novella Prize in 2002.
“I learned a few weeks after Steve won our Garrett Prize that he had passed away, so we’ve been working with his widow to make his final book something we can all be proud of,” Ruffin said.
Benjamin Ludwig, of Barrington, New Hampshire, won the 2013 Clay Reynolds Novella Prize with a book called “Sourdough,” a story in which the main character, according to the author, “finds that his soul has become infused with the same untamable character of the sourdough itself.”
Volume VII of the long-running “Southern Poetry Anthology” series features the poets of North Carolina. Ruffin co-edited the book with series editor William Wright, of Atlanta, himself a poet of growing stature.
“Will earned his M.A. in English, with a creative-writing emphasis, at SHSU before going on to the Center for Writers at the University of Southern Mississippi, where he earned his Ph.D.,” Ruffin said. “When the series is complete, each Southern state will have an anthology featuring the best poetry being produced today.
In addition, the press is running a Poetry Breakthrough competition for each Southern state.
“We publish a book of poetry by a poet who at this point in his/her career does not have a full collection in print, giving the author a little career jump-start,” Ruffin said.
“The Garden of the Fugitives, “by Ashley Mace Havird, of Shreveport, Louisiana, was winner of the 2013 X.J. Kennedy Poetry Prize, and William Kelley Woolfitt, of Cleveland, Tennessee, won the Tennessee Poetry Breakthrough Series with “Beauty Strip.”
Joining these books of poetry in the fall lineup are “Constant State of Leaping,” by Karla Morton, the 2010 Texas State Poet Laureate, and an anthology called “Goodbye, Mexico: Poems of Remembrance,” edited by Sarah Cortez, a Houston policewoman by whom TRP has published two other books.
A sequel to Eric Miles Williamson’s “Say It Hot: Essays on American Writers” adds a dimension of literary criticism to the list with “Say It Hot II: Industrial Strength.”
“Whether you agree with Williamson’s assessments of some of America’s most highly acclaimed writers,” Ruffin said, “it’s hard not to pay attention to him, whether he’s shredding one of our literary icons or applauding one. His reviews have appeared in many major American newspapers, and the French regard him as one of our finest fiction writers and critics.”
Rounding out the fall list are a couple of books on the Browning Automatic Rifle and M240, two classic American machine guns, coauthored by Ruffin with vice president of Ohio Ordnance Works Bob Conroy.
“Bob found out I had written some articles on the BAR, and he asked whether I would be willing to write a book on the BAR, incorporating the history of a civilian semi-automatic version that they build,” Ruffin said. “I agreed to do one with him on the BAR and the M240, of which they also build a civilian version.
“A&M University Press usually has great success with their military books, so I thought that these two would likely make money for us for years to come. I’m always looking for ways to expand our lists,” he said.
Founded and directed by Ruffin, TRP publishes 24 books a year, along with an eBook edition of each print book. In addition, the press publishes two issues of The Texas Review, an international journal that focuses on fiction, poetry, nonfiction prose, and reviews.
The press is a member of the Texas Book Consortium, formerly the Texas A&M University Press Consortium.
Their books are sold through the consortium and through online sources such as Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.
- END -
This page maintained by SHSU's Communications Office
Associate Director: Julia May
Manager: Jennifer Gauntt
Located in the 115 Administration Building
Telephone: 936.294.1836; Fax: 936.294.1834
Please send comments, corrections, news tips to Today@Sam.edu.
