We've had a heck of an exciting week here at the plant.
First, we got some great press from the Long Beach Post and the Long Beach Press-Telegram. Very grateful to have such strong local coverage here in the LBC. Speaking of which: A feature in the Long Beach Business Journal's "Women in Business" section is forthcoming, as well. Because we're women, see. In business. Look for that one March 1.
Then we had a great turnout at Fingerprints Saturday night at the launch for Tim Grobaty's I'm Dyin' Here and Alan Rifkin's Burdens by Water. The authors read passages from their books — making us laugh, cry and think in equal measure. Okay, we really didn't cry. At all. But there was wine. And who needs to cry when there's wine? There also was music — local musician 8 Good Fingers (not his real name, but his real amount of fingers) played for a while. (Really well, too, considering the number of fingers). And Dave Alvin (founding member of the Blaster's who is now on tour with Phil Alvin) sent a super-nice note of support — calling Rifkin "sharp, brave, curious, a touch sarcastic and more than a little wild" — which Rand (the owner of Fingerprints) read aloud.
Following that, on Monday, book critic David Kipen plugged Brown Paper Press and our new releases on an episode of KPCC's Take Two. It was a two-minute bit (the radio equivalent of years), during which Kipen called us "wonderfully quixotic" (We are choosing to take that as a compliment) and even ventured to guess that presses like ours might someday make Manhattan publishing houses hang their heads in shame. (Not gonna hold our breaths on that one, but we sure appreciated the sentiment.) Click here to listen. (Our bit starts at 1:32:35.)
By the way, are the parentheticals in this post driving you crazy yet? (Too bad.)
Which brings us to today — the official publication date for Burdens by Water and I'm Dyin' Here. You can read the excellent Q&As with Rifkin and Grobaty on Deborah Kalb's book blog (click here and here). We'll try to pop back in and give you an update at week's end, but to follow developments in real time, be sure to follow us on Twitter or Facebook. (Oh, and one last parenthetical: Do check out Tim's column about his book in yesterday's PT. Goddamn hilarious.)
As always, thanks for the support. We know it's cliche, but it's true: We couldn't do this without you.