Matthew Simmons Wrote About MLKNG SCKLS (plus an addition to yesterday's post)

Hey, Matthew Simmons wrote some really smart stuff about MLKNG SCKLS. Check it out here. My favorite part is the first paragraph, where he says,

The language is not dense, but it has a deep and impressive lyricism. Sirois has
a gift for lyrical writing that in no way seems forced. The alliteration and
internal rhymes that occur in the well-constructed sentences work in ways
they don't in a lot of prose lyricism. He is restrained, picking the right
spots to deploy a rhetorical figure to advantage.

With regard to Matthew's book, A Jello Horse, there are plans in the work to add a sort of coda. So it'll be a little longer. Pre-sales for the new edition will start soon.

And yesterday I neglected to mention the great interview between Matt DeBenedictis and Jamie Iredell at The Chapbook Review. Sorry Jamie! Sorry people! It is a great interview and you should read it to find out what's behind those detailed and precise short fictions that Jamie writes.

A Jello Horse on Goodreads

Matthew Simmons originally sent his manuscript of A Jello Horse for consideration in This PDF Chapbook. At first read I was skeptical; it took me a couple tries to get through the strange opening paragraphs. (When facing a deep submissions pile, I tend to skim through several different manuscripts until one grabs me.)

When I finally got past those initial paragraphs, during which a lion crashed through my house and I took hold of his thick fur and was lifted out through the roof, I quickly caught on to the emotional complexity of what Matthew had written. I read it at work. At one point I felt a little bit like crying.

So I told Matthew I loved the story but it was too long to run in This PDF Chapbook. I wanted to figure something out. That is when I decided I could afford to print 4-5 short books a year, and Matt's book could work for that.

So we did it, and now it's done. I have received the printed book and for pre-orderers, your copy will mail this week.


Give it an add.
Give it a win.
Give it a buy.
Give it a listen to.

A Jello Horse contest

Don't forget to somehow make a picture of something about pinball and send it to Matthew Simmons for the contest to win one of two limited edition hardcover books. The cover for said book will look something like this:
FRONT

BACK and SPINE

ALL TOGETHER NOW

A Jello Horse: Bonus Package

One person has ordered the Bonus Package for A Jello Horse. Here is what she will receive:

A Jello Horse in a special envelope
The first draft manuscript of A Jello Horse which was submitted to PGP, with my editorial comments and "Tracked Changes"
Christopher Higgs's story Colorless Green Ideas Sleep Furiously from This PDF Chapbook
A tee shirt iron-on related to the book (will it be a pinball machine? A jackalope? A phone?)
And also Typewriter, by Jimmy Chen, from Magic Helicopter Press

The deal is still open. For the most part, this is what the bonus package will consist of -- just the extra small press book will be different each time (probably).

Did you people read Matthew's story, "Underlings: a rebuke" in elimae? Freakin' wow.

Pre-Order A Jello Horse (or Win It)

Matthew Simmons's book, A Jello Horse will be shipping at the middle/end of May. It will be 76 pages long, including the cover. Of the book, which is a novella, the great Michael Kimball said:
“Matthew Simmons has found a beautiful and extraordinary way to tell a story about the sweetness of sadness and the aloneness of loneliness.”

and the revered Leni Zumas said, nicely, that:
"A Jello Horse does not tell us what we already know; it shows us, instead, some things we don't. Such as the House of 2000 Telephones -- and how a boy can be swallowed by a giant desert tortoise -- and how a boy can cause cancer in a girl. Matthew Simmons writes deft, bracing sentences that stay in the ear. We are lucky to listen."

You can preorder the book here -- it costs $8, shipping included if you buy it from the website now.

Shipping Location

US, Canada $8.00 Everywhere Else $13.00 Bonus Package $20.00

If you buy it in stores later or something it will cost $600. You can have the book tattooed onto your body for probably $15,000.

Additionally, Matthew Simmons is having a contest to win a limited edition hardcover edition of the book (A Jello Horse LE). Here are the details -- basically you have to create some sort of image of yourself playing pinball, I'm thinking about doing it with Google Earth. I am currently in the design phase. You can also win a copy by singing a song. Read Matthew's awesome blog to get all the required info, whaddaya say, huh.