Indie Publisher Releases FREE Essay Collection on Protest: THE BOOK OF EVERYDAY RESISTANCE

 Riverdale Avenue Books, the award-winning Bronx indie publisher, has collected essays, editorial cartoons, and poetry from best-selling authors, journalists, teachers, firefighters, and parents about how they are finding sanity and community through everyday acts of resistance.

Riverdale Avenue Books’ Publisher Lori Perkins, a former NYU professor of journalism, wondered how she could do more to resist the policies that were being enacted and the attitudes that were being expressed under the new regime. She realized that she was actively participating in resistance every day in both subtle and larger ways, and she was sure there were many just like her.

Said Perkins, “Hopefully, with this book we will inspire each other and give each other ideas about how to resist those forces that seek to shut down our efforts toward a more progressive, inclusive society. The purpose of this book is to let us all know we are not alone, and that we are part of a large community of common purpose.”

THE BOOK OF EVERYDAY RESISTANCE  is available FREE in digital form on Amazon, iTunes, Kobo, Google+, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords and wherever ebooks are uploaded (including your local library). A trade paperback edition will be available in bookstores and online for $20.99.

The book will be updated periodically. New essays and/or editorial cartoons can be sent to Perkins at lori@riverdaleavebooks.com.

 

About the Editor

Lori Perkins has been a newspaper editor, a literary agent, a book editor, a professor and an author for four decades. She considers herself a “word-slinger” because words are the ammunition that we all have.  She encourages you all to use your power and fight the good fight.

Deadline Extended to Feb 23rd for THE BIG BOOK OF EVERYDAY RESISTANCE

 We have a great book, but it’s not big enough, so we’re extending the deadline to

February 23^rd, and are hoping to publish March 1^st, which is the anniversary of the establishment of the US Constitution.

 

We have a lot of professionals and people working in politics who have shared their daily resistance, but I’d really like to include teachers, librarians, health care workers, etc. Share your stories of personal boycotts and blackouts and not giving up.

 

So many of us are apprehensive about what is coming and what we can possibly do to not acquiesce. 

 

I was frozen in my feeling of powerlessness, and then I remembered that there are many small  things I do that are everyday means of protest.

 

As I tried to write an article about the ways in which I disagree, I realized that there must be many of us who do the same.

 

I posted on social media: Someone should do a BIG BOOK OF EVERYDAY RESISTANCE  (hoping that some bigshot journalist with a huge following would say they were working on it) and someone who loves me wrote back- “Don’t you own a publishing company?”

 

So here we are

 

Call for Essays

THE BIG BOOK OF EVERYDAY RESISTANCE

 

2025 and beyond is going to be a trying experience for those of us who did not vote for this president and the direction in which the country is now headed.

 

I was asking myself, “What can I really do?” and realized there are already things I do every day that are  acts of “resistance”:

• boycotting companies
• sharing information on how to live a more inclusive and progressive life
• speaking up and not remaining silent–even when it is safer to be quiet

 

Most importantly, through my work in publishing I am creating and supporting art that speaks of a different approach or examines the perils of where we are headed.

 

I realized I am actively participating in resistance every day.

 

And I am sure you are, too.

 

THE BIG BOOK OF EVERYDAY RESISTANCE  will be a collection of essays (anywhere from 250 to 1,000 words) about what you do to resist, how you resist, and why you resist. I am hoping to publish this as a digital book for FREE on March 1 to ensure that everyone can access this information. Because it will be a free book, I am not offering payment to authors, and do not expect to make money on its publication.

 

The purpose of this book is to let us all know we are not alone, and that we are part of a large community of common purpose. Hopefully, with this book we will inspire each other and give each other ideas about how to resist those forces that seek to shut down our efforts toward a more progressive, inclusive society. However, I am not interested in, nor do I condone any calls for violence. 

 

Please send your work as a Word doc or a jpeg for black and white editorial cartoons to submissions@riverdaleavebooks.com ASAP, and tell your friends and share this with like-minded peeps. I will need your contribution by February 23rd at the very latest.

 

Include your email address and phone number. If we use your piece, you will be sent an agreement to give us permission to publish. If you wish to publish anonymously, we can do that, but I must know who you are. Previously published material is allowed, as long as you have the rights.

 

Also, if you have ideas or suggestions, want to volunteer to edit, proof, or do publicity or marketing, please email me at lori@riverdaleavebooks.com.

 

We do hope to update the book throughout the year, but the deadline for submission is February 23rd (but sooner is better!).

 

 

 

 

Call for Essays for THE BIG BOOK OF EVERYDAY RESISTANCE

 

Call for Essays

THE BIG BOOK OF EVERYDAY RESISTANCE

 

2025 and beyond is going to be a trying experience for those of us who did not vote for this president and the direction in which the country is now headed.

 

I was asking myself, “What can I really do?” and realized there are already things I do every day that are  acts of “resistance”:

• boycotting companies
• sharing information on how to live a more inclusive and progressive life
• speaking up and not remaining silent–even when it is safer to be quiet

 

Most importantly, through my work in publishing I am creating and supporting art that speaks of a different approach or examines the perils of where we are headed.

 

I realized I am actively participating in resistance every day.

 

And I am sure you are, too.

 

THE BIG BOOK OF EVERYDAY RESISTANCE  will be a collection of essays (anywhere from 250 to 1,000 words) about what you do to resist, how you resist, and why you resist. I am hoping to publish this as a digital book for FREE on Jan. 20^th, to ensure that everyone can access this information. Because it will be a free book, I am not offering payment to authors, and do not expect to make money on its publication.

 

The purpose of this book is to let us all know we are not alone, and that we are part of a large community of common purpose. Hopefully, with this book we will inspire each other and give each other ideas about how to resist those forces that seek to shut down our efforts toward a more progressive, inclusive society. However, I am not interested in, nor do I condone any calls for violence. 

 

Please send your work as a Word doc or a jpeg for black and white editorial cartoons to submissions@riverdaleavebooks.com ASAP, and tell your friends and share this with like-minded peeps. I will need your contribution by January 13^th at the very latest.

 

Include your email address and phone number. If we use your piece, you will be sent an agreement to give us permission to publish. If you wish to publish anonymously, we can do that, but I must know who you are. Previously published material is allowed, as long as you have the rights.

 

Also, if you have ideas or suggestions, want to volunteer to edit, proof, or do publicity or marketing, please email me at lori@riverdaleavebooks.com.

 

We do hope to update the book throughout the year, but the deadline for submission is January 13 (but sooner is better!).

 

 

Lori Perkins

Publisher

Powerful Native Debut Novel RESERVATION HIGH Pubs Over Thanksgiving Holiday

 

To our readers,

I want to tell you about this amazing book we just published to tie in with the Thanksgiving holiday.

This summer I read a photojournalism article in the New York Times by Judith Surber about the toll addiction took on her Native American Family and at the end of the article (which was nominated for a Pulitzer fellowship), I saw that she had written and self-published a novel, RESERVATION HIGH.

I asked her if she might want to do a second edition with a publisher and she was thrilled to be working with an editor and we crafted what I believe is a powerful, poignant, beautiful second edition of this story about addiction within a Native American family. It is a Native story, an inter-generational story, a love story, and most of all, an American story. There is just nothing else like it out there.

So I am hoping that you will want to curl up with this family saga (also a love story) at this time of year to contemplate what we are as Americans, how we got here, and what it all means.

From Lori Perkins, Editor and Publisher

Cult Classic Fantasy Novel The Only Criminal by Tim Lucas Published After 25 Years

 

“Compulsively, enviably superb. THE ONLY CRIMINAL is a marvel! 

Lucas brilliantly weaves wit, romance and 

glorious wisdoms with maestro cool.”

- R.C. Matheson (Savages)

 

 

New York, NY: (October 3, 2024) “I tried to sell this book as a New York literary agent for over two decades, but publishers just didn't get it.  They said it was a prose version of a graphic novel. But it was ahead of its time,” explained Riverdale Avenue Publisher Lori Perkins.  “It has haunted me for years and when I finally had my own publishing company, I was thrilled to be the one to bring it out into the world.”

 

The premise of this surreal novel is that in an alternate, naïve world, there is only one mythic, larger-than-life criminal, who is the subject of all the world’s daily news, and somehow involved in all its art and entertainment. No one has ever see his face and lived. The story is told through the eyes of Dr. Paul Vaguely, a psychologist who analyzes The Only Criminal’s deeds and counsels his victims. One day, The Only Criminal disappears without explanation and it becomes apparent that this world can’t survive without him.

 

“THE ONLY CRIMINAL has been incubating in me since early 1977,” author Tim Lucas explained. “I’ve finished it many times but it was never quite complete; even as it went through the final proofreading stages, it continued to evolve right through the final pass. Maybe it took this long for the time to be right for it. It makes sense now in more ways than it would have done 40, 30, 20 or even 10 years ago.”

 

He continued, “Today I’m holding the finished product in my hands for the first time. Writing it, seeing it come to fruition, has been one of the great adventures of my life. It’s a fable about obsessive-compulsive people who live in fear and isolation, a fantasy that’s very pertinent to the world we live in, the world we’ve inherited. It’s dark, it’s funny, and also a love story, and there are many ways it can be interpreted. I hope it finds its audience and stimulates a lot of discussion, or even debate.”

 

About the Author

TIM LUCAS is the author of four well-received novels: Throat Sprockets (1994), The Book of Renfield: A Gospel of Dracula (2005, revised 2023), The Secret Life of Love Songs (2021) and The Man with Kaleidoscope Eyes (2022). Throat Sprockets, which is included in Jones & Newman’s Horror: Another 100 Best Books and was selected by Rue Morgue as one of 50 essential alternative horror novels, is set to be published in an expanded 30th anniversary edition by Valancourt Books. The revised edition of The Book of Renfield, published by Riverdale Avenue Books, won the 2023 Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award for Best Classic Monster Fiction.

 

The Binge Watcher’s Guide to The West Wing Published to Tie-In with the DNC; 25^th Anniversary of the Show

 

 

As all eyes turn to the Democratic National Convention, Riverdale Avenue Books has released The Binge Watchers' Guide to the West Wing. The 10^th book in Riverdale’s innovative Binge Watchers series looks back at the classic television show as it celebrates its 25th anniversary, as well as how the political ethics and situations can be viewed through today’s political prism.

 

Aaron Sorkin's political drama had an enormous influence on American politics. The show is a time capsule from the political moment after the Berlin Wall fell, but before 9/11. it also influenced political dramas including Shonda Rhimes' Scandal and even sitcoms such as Parks and Recreation.

 

This volume focuses on the first two seasons, examining how the television show explains political issues, scandals, and vision. The West Wing was a show about political optimism, something that just might be returning to the current political landscape with the nomination of Kamala Harris.

 

The author, Joshua Stein, Ph.D., said he has been working on this book for nearly a decade. “I wanted to write this book because The West Wing is an opportunity to explore what politics should be, and what it isn’t.” He also shared that he cut his political teeth by watching the show with his own father who worked on Al Gore’s Presidential campaign when Stein was a child and later ran for City Council in Oakland California. Stein added, “The West Wing…was the way my dad taught me about politics and values. The show was optimistic that politics could improve the lives of the most vulnerable in our society, provide for common good, and engage publicly with the moral issues of our time.”

Call for stories for the First Annual SantaCon Anthology

 

Everyone knows about SantaCon, the annual celebration, in which people dressed in Santa Claus costumes or as other Christmas characters, parade in hundreds of cities around the world every December.  The most famous SantaCon is the one held in New York City, where up to 200,000 people dressed as Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus, Elves and Reindeers take over Manhattan.

 

In addition to a glorious day of absurd celebration through the streets of major cities, SantaCon also raises funds for charity. It brings together people who would never have met otherwise, has saved lives, made marriages (and probably caused a few divorces too).

 

Riverdale Avenue Books has partnered with SantaCon to put together an anthology of the most creative stories that could conceivably take place during or around SantaCon – romances, mysteries, horror (Krampus anyone?), even science fiction, time travel, literary fiction, you name it.  The SantaCon setting is a tinderbox for creative inspiration.  Light that match!

 

We will be publishing the anthology, in hardcover, trade paperback and ebooks the day after Thanksgiving, and it will available in book stores and online wherever books are sold.

 

We are looking for short stories of 2,000 to 5,000 words in all genres and categories.  Authors will be paid a $10 fee, and receive a copy of each edition of the book.

 

Other revenue derived from the sale of the book will be provided to SantaCon, which will donate proceeds to the charity of their choice.

 

If you would like to send us your stories, please send them to submissions@riverdaleavebooks.com, lori@riverdaleavebooks.com or david@riverdaleavebooks with the subject “SantaCon 2024.” After which, we will send you confirmation that we received your submission. If you do not receive a confirmation from either of those three emails, you may follow up with an email requesting confirmation.

 

Submissions will be open from now until August  15^st. After August 30^h, we will begin sending out acceptance or rejection emails for your submitted short stories. Please, do not follow up on whether your story has been accepted.

 

Riverdale Avenue Books is an award winning, innovative hybrid publisher at the leading edge of the changes in the publishing industry.  We publish e-books and print books under 15 imprints: Afraid, a horror imprint; The Binge Watchers Guides examining TV and film; Circlet, the latest incarnation of the classic sci-fi and fantasy erotica imprint; Desire, an erotica/erotic romance imprint; Magnus, the award-winning nonfiction imprint of LGBTQ titles; Magnus Lit, our LGBTQ fiction imprint; Pop featuring pop culture titles; Quest, a science fiction fantasy line; Truth, an erotic memoir line; Dagger, a mystery thriller imprint; Sports and Gaming featuring sports and gaming titles; Verve featuring lifestyle titles; Hera, featuring both the true and fictional lives and loves of women aged 35 and up and 120 Days, a reprint imprint for LGB classics. Started in 2012 by industry veteran Lori Perkins, visit us at www.RiverdaleAveBooks.com.