quiet lightning books: zack haber + tupelo hassman!

At the end of August we announced our first book contest: hand-write original work into a QL pocket notebook and hand it in before Halloween. We are proud to announce two winners: Zack Haber and Tupelo Hassman both convinced us to publish their excellent books, which will be released at a special show in April; both authors will read and have the opportunity to curate the rest of the evening.

Zack’s if you want to be one of them playing in the streets… is a collection of poems as playful as it is profound, and Tupelo’s fantasy, Breast Milk, which was “written solely while breastfeeding/nursing, pumping, leaking, dripping, or otherwise expressing breast milk,” is exactly the kind of magic that should be bottled for adults everywhere.

Congratulations to Zack and Tupelo! They’ve each read for Quiet Lightning once (click their names in this graf to watch them). Both books will be printed in partnership with Tiny Splendor — get a feel for what they do (and a load of holiday gifts) at their open house on December 14th and/or 15th; you’ll see why we are thrilled to work with them!

QL has published 47 issues of sparkle + blink in our 48 months. When we first started publishing, we couldn’t even give copies to the authors; we could only afford to make 20 copies, the sales of which paid for the next month’s books. We wondered if that kind of publishing is wrong; we were getting the work out there, and people certainly read it… but we never wanted to be the Who’s Who of American High School Students of literature!

Thanks to everyone who has supported us — by coming to the shows, by purchasing books, by giving us grant money and by giving us beer — we have been able to make better books reach more people. Since July, we’ve given out copies of sparkle + blink to the first 100 people at each show. Sarah Ciston has had a large part in making this possible, and I’d like to thank her for not calling me crazy when I had the idea to do this contest (especially since it was less than a month after we more than quintupled our production). We are beyond proud to be able to publish these books by Zack and Tupelo — the very first two authors of Quiet Lightning Books — not only because it marks a new era for us, but because the books are wonderful and we can’t wait to share them with you.

A big serious thank you to everyone who entered our contest. We know it was a bit strange to ask you to hand-write your entries, but it was an absolute pleasure to read a collection of writings rendered so personally, with illustrations and comics and glitter, and from as far away as Australia, New York, and Ohio. Thank you for entering our contest; for writing; for meaning it enough to sign each word. If you want your book back, follow the asterisk.*

We’re celebrating four years on December 4th and there’s still room in Chicken John’s bus if you want a free ride to Fairfax, dinner and drinks on us (and a ride back, should you decide not to spend the night at Peri’s). Join us — at the drawing board; at the shows.

Beaming directly into you!

Evan Karp
for Quiet Lightning

* If you live in the Bay, you must pick it up at one of our shows (but first you must send us an email (to evan at quietlightning dot org) so we can keep yours safe at home until you’re ready for it); if you live outside CA, please send an email to the same address.