Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Mrs. P rides again in "unabashedly political" Working Words anthology from Coffee House Press

Word came yesterday that Coffee House Press has released the anthology "Working Words: Punching the Clock and Kicking Out the Jams," edited by Detroit's M.L. Liebler. It includes one of my stories set in Cheyenne. M.L. has been to Wyoming several times. I still remember fondly (and with some disbelief) the 2002 poetry and music performance by M.L. and Country Joe MacDonald at the old Zen's Coffee House on Lincolnway. M.L. may travel this way again soon -- stay tuned). Check out the book at http://www.coffeehousepress.org/working-words.asp.

The Detroit Metro Times had this to say about the book

“Unabashedly political. Tea-partiers beware. Working Words delivers more than 500 pages of unadulterated and unabridged working-class word art. . . . A heavy anthology . . . which suits the mission of Working Words just fine.”
The story, "The Problem with Mrs. P," was in my first collection, "The Weight of a Body," from Ghost Road Press.

2 comments:

RobertP said...

Mike, very nice. The Problem With Mrs. P was the story that bothered me the most from your book, which is I think the sign of a good story. Good taste by M.L.

Now, you dog, you did not tell me that you had Country Joe out your way performing-I expect to hear immediately if that happens again. I am now inspired to go get my Country Joe and The Fish albums out and play on my new turntable. I even still have the Fish Board Game.

Congrats on the story and as it is unabashedly political I will have to check out M.L.'s anthology. Which reminds me, I will also get out my MC5 Kick out the jams album.

Bob

Michael Shay said...

Bob:

Looks as if M.L. will be coming to Cheyenne in late February with a special musical guest. Not Country Joe this time, but someone else from the era. MC5! "Kick out the Jams." M.L. grew up in Detroit. I wonder if that's what he had in mind with the book's sub-title? Have to ask. He knows some of the surviving MC5 crew.