Hope you’re doing well. I have some news. We’ve already shared this on social media, and you may have heard, but I wanted to let you know right from the horse's mouth that we’re crossing over to the other side: FICTION!

It wasn’t a simple decision, at all. It took a lot of soul searching. Since I started Guts in 2019, I’ve always want to publish nonfiction. Memoirs. Stories of grit and heartbreak and all the traumas and challenges we face as human beings. Nothing more and nothing less. None of this silly fiction stuff. 

Silly fiction stuff? (the audacity of me!) Well, after lots of thinking and lots of reading, in particular reading Shuggie Bain which who can really say or not, but that wonderful book sure does read like nonfiction. And then I started thinking about David Foster Wallace and things he said about how much of himself was in his fiction. And it occurred to me, that you know what, these are still profoundly important stories (Shuggie Bain, Infinite Jest) and I would like to investigate this fiction thing, and maybe even publish it.

And, voila, we’ve crossed over to the other side. Well, let’s be specific, we’re looking to publish literary fiction. Stories that read like nonfiction but are not. And nonfiction is still a priority. It was where we started and where our heart will always be.

So, that’s the news. If you’re a writer and would like to send your work, please take a look at our submissions page with updated guidelines and a new email address for submissions: gutspublishing.com/submissions

Alongside this act of semi-liberation, I would like to wish my American friends a happy 4th of July! I found this photo of a very young Jerry Garcia and wanted to share this with you a) because it’s cool and b) because I have discovered a documentary on the Grateful Dead which is currently on Amazon Prime call ‘Long Strange Trip’. It was produced by Martin Scorsese and is one of the best rock band documentaries I’ve ever seen. Even if you don’t like the music, it's a gritty insider look at life on the road for twenty years. And includes many candid interviews with Jerry, often talking about how Kerouac’s book On the Road profoundly opened up and altered the course of his life. 

It’s good to remember that art matters. That books matter. That books can be so far-reaching, and last for such a long time and even become part of public consciousness. 

I’m a huge Jerry Garcia fan after seeing this documentary. Not that I wasn’t a fan before, but I simply didn’t know how brilliant his mind was. And by the way, during my formative years starting at age 14, I was what they call a Dead Head, and have many stories that one day (time permitting) I would love to share. Stories of coming of age into a psychedelic world of freaks and misfits – a profound experience that at such a young age seems to have imprinted itself on my psyche. Perhaps like Kerouac did for Garcia. Then again, it may have had something to do The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. At any rate, take care and stay well.

xx Julianne