I’ve got news – it’s our 2 year anniversary! And I’m thrilled. And we’re going to be celebrating.
Guts officially became a UK business in May 2019 but since our first book was published in November 2019, Stories About Penises, we’re celebrating it this month. We're having a little online soirée with readings by our contributors, and I’d love to see you there. It’s tomorrow night, 24 November, at 7pm GMT. To join us, click here: eventbrite.co.uk/e/stories-about-penises-readings-tickets-212447063887
Here’s the lineup:
- Gayelene Carbis – ‘Dicks'
- Alex Carrigan – ‘ How I Lost My Virginity in a Lobster Trap’
- Anthony DiPietro – ‘The Violinist at the Pulitzer Reading’
- Liam Hogan – ‘Better Babies’
- Molly McLellan – ‘Field’
- Thaddeus Rutkowski – ‘Slip of a Knife’
To get myself in mode, over the past week I watched ‘I Love Dick’ and a documentary about Lorena Bobbitt called ‘Lorena’. The former is on the light side and the latter, not so light, but well done and covers an important discussion about domestic abuse. If you’re not familiar with the Lorena Bobbitt story, I’m going to let you google it. Although you can also find out about it in Molly McLellan’s short story ‘Field’ which is loosely based on the story, but with a twist. It’s told from the penises’ point of view.
If you haven’t yet read Stories About Penises, it’s a collection of fiction, nonfiction and poetry about, well, exactly what it sounds like. The tone of each piece varies. Some are light and playful, some address feminist issues, and some are erotic. One is about an emergency circumcision at the age of ten. One is about a mother dealing with her son’s wish to reassign his gender. One is about a seven-foot tall penis costume that didn’t quite hit the right note. In total, there are 21 short stories and poems, each one with a unique perspective.
The Word Bookshop still stocks the anthology and I'll be delivering more copies on Saturday. You can also buy it from Guts Publishing – click here – and get a free ebook. And it’s available from The Book Depository and of course on Amazon worldwide, and from many other online retailers (Waterstones, Foyles, Barnes & Noble, etc).
The past 2 years have been a wild ride. Since then we’ve published six books and over 60 writers. It’s a wild ride that I’m immensely grateful for. Sending huge gratitude to all of our contributors, for your brave stories, your hilarious stories, stories have moved us and will forever be remembered. And, as it is Thanksgiving on Thursday – happy Thanksgiving Americans! – I’d also like to thank our readers. Thank you for buying our books, for loving them, for writing reviews, and for spreading the word about Guts Publishing. We’ll always try to earn your show of faith by publishing the boldest books, and the best writers. Always aiming to push the envelope.
On that note, I’ve been reading submissions and we’re getting closer to selecting our next book. In a perfect world what I’d like to do is select three or four for 2022. Which is going to take some time, but we’re getting there. I’ll keep you posted. In the meantime, keep sending your work. Here’s our submissions page: gutspublishing.com/submissions
Well, that’s about it for now. Hope you’re staying warm and well. I had my Covid booster jab last week which kicked me in the ass, or should I say it was more like a kick in my upper arm as I could barely use it for a day. At any rate, happy that’s done.
Oh yes, and a little reminder about Fish Town and John Gerard Fagan on The Big Scottish Book Club. The episode airs on Sunday December 5th at 10pm on BBC Scotland and will be available on BBC iPlayer afterwards. Can’t wait to watch this!