We're pleased to announce the publication of the first three titles in the Street Smart Series of Short Fiction for People on the Go! This series features short fiction of “novelette” length (between 10,000 to 20,000 words – a work that is longer than a short story, but shorter than a novella).  Presented in a handy 5-by-7-inch format, these works are long enough to tell a good story, but brief enough to be read on a short train journey or long commute. They feature contemporary urban settings, well-drawn characters, and  engaging plots. 

Street Smart Series #1 is Jean-Bernard Pouy's Full Fare -- a translation of his Plein Tarif, originally published in France in the 1990s. The series of short fictions made available to read in train stations in France  provided the inspiration for this series from Frayed Edge Press. Pouy is a well-known author of a popular detective series in France; this is the first English translation of his work. In Full Fare, government officials create a novel plan to prevent deaths of the homeless: house them in disused train cars on the outskirts of the city. This unintentionally creates a social and political experiment that leads to a new form of society—and causes the police and authorities to clash with the homeless train dwellers and the anarchists who’ve come to support them.

In Street Smart Series #2, Down and Out in Paris, with Cat, by R. A. Bolo, an American ex-patriot leads a life that many would envy: living and working in Paris. But all is not well for him in the beautiful “city of lights”—his French girlfriend has left him, he’s fallen off the wagon after decades of sobriety, and a homeless cat is now tugging at his heartstrings.

Street Smart Series #3 is The Accidental Anarchist by A. R. Melnik. Middle-aged English professor Caroline Wilson has a good job and a good husband in Philadelphia, but a restless need for a change of scene and a little excitement has her impulsively boarding a commuter bus to New York one morning. A turn down a New York City alley unexpectedly plunges her into a world she never could have imagined, where young anarchists are battling against human traffickers—and they need Caroline’s help.

Look for more titles in the Street Smart Series coming soon! Learn more about number one through 3, and get a special deal when you buy all three!  https://www.frayededgepress.com/street-smart-series.html

Shelly Brivic's experimental novel, Stealing: A Novel in Dreams is now available as an eBook. You can purchase the Kindle edition through Amazon now, at the discounted price of US$4.99. But wait, there's more! Kindle Unlimited members can read this title for FREE, as can members of the Kindle Owners Lending Library. 

Enjoy this thought-provoking novel at a discounted rate via the convenience of reading on your phone, e-reader, or tablet!

More information about this title is available here: 
​https://www.frayededgepress.com/stealing.html

Rape Jokes, a new adult novel by Louise MacGregor is now available from Frayed Edge Press.

Don't let the title fool you! We know that rape isn't funny--but having a sense of humor after the fact can help. This novels follows Edie, a record label talent scout, in the aftermath of date rape. Navigating sex, pleasure, work, friends, and her forever-changed mental state after of her assault is hard enough. But when the perfect guy turns up at the worst possible time, Edie has to figure out what romance and sex mean to her now. This offbeat feminist romantic comedy moves beyond “girl meets guy,” dealing with sexual dysfunction, the ubiquity of rape culture, and what recovery looks like in a world filled with reminders of your assault.

"Rape Jokes is, without question, the best portrayal of the aftermath of a rape that I have ever read in a novel."–Goodreads

"Rape Jokes was an intense but rewarding read. First off, let me forewarn that, unsurprisingly, this book can be triggering. But, as a survivor, I can also attest that I found it deeply relateable and empowering."–LibraryThing

Find out more here: https://www.frayededgepress.com/rape-jokes.html 

Penn Book Center announces: 

Please join us for a reading and discussion
with two great authors from two of our favorite local presses:

Shelly Brivic, author of STEALING: A NOVEL IN DREAMS (Frayed Edge Press)
&
Barbara Barrow, author of THE QUELLING (Lanternfish Press)

Event date: 
Friday, March 15, 2019 - 6:00pm to 7:30pm

Event address: 
Penn Book Center
130 S. 34th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104

Frayed Edge Press author Shelly Brivic will be reading from his novel, Stealing: A Novel in Dreams on February 28, 2019, from 2:00 to 4:00 pm in the 6th floor lounge of Anderson Hall at Temple University's main campus. Refreshments will be served and copies of the book will be available for sale.

This event is sponsored by Temple's English Department. Dr. Brivic is recently retired as a professor in this department, and has long been recognized as a leading scholar of literary Modernism with a specialization in the writings of James Joyce. While he has published a vast number of academic journal articles and scholarly books, Stealing is his first work of fiction. 

This event is free and open to the public. Bring ID to check in at the Anderson Hall security desk and to be directed to the venue.

To learn more about Stealing, visit: https://www.frayededgepress.com/stealing.html

The cover for Louise MacGregor's new adult novel, Rape Jokes is here! 

No, rape isn't funny – but having a sense of humor does help in dealing with the aftermath. When Edie, a record label talent scout, is raped by her date, she has no idea what her post-rape future will look like. Navigating sex, pleasure, work, friends, and her forever-changed mental state in the aftermath of her assault is hard enough. But when the perfect guy turns up at the worst possible time, Edie has to figure out what romance and sex mean to her after her assault. This offbeat feminist romantic comedy moves beyond “girl meets guy,” dealing with sexual dysfunction, the ubiquity of rape culture, and what recovery looks like in a world filled with reminders of your assault.

Louise MacGregor is an internationally-published writer of fiction, pop culture criticism, and feminist social commentary. A graduate of journalism and history from the University of Stirling, Louise brings her passion for women-centric stories to both her fiction and non-fiction. As well as running the long-standing pop cultural blog The Cutprice Guignol and film criticism outlet No But Listen, Louise has written boundary-pushing, genre-defying works such as Ruthless and Trouble Clef under her pen name, Kara Lowndes. She resides in Glasgow, Scotland, with her partner and her cat. 

Rape Jokes is now available at a special price of 20% off list price. For all the details, see: 
​https://www.frayededgepress.com/rape-jokes.html

We're pleased to announce the publication of Stealing: A Novel in Dreams, the first work of fiction from renowned James Joyce scholar, Shelly Brivic. This experimental novel explores the interactions of the minds of two Jewish brothers as they  navigate a toxic home environment headed by an emotionally abusive father and an unhappy mother, beginning in 1950s Bronx. Joseph McElroy has called the work "looping, original, anxiously funny…a tangle of yearning & frustration and vivid, bold appetite.”

Writing in the Journal of Modern Literature blog, Janina Levin says, "Stealing can be read as a realistic novel about a dysfunctional family and as a work of experimental fiction in the modernist tradition, elevating the trials of ordinary people into a narrative about freedom and consciousness through art."

Shelly Brivic is an internationally recognized James Joyce scholar and a retired university professor. He has written extensively on Joyce and other modernists from the perspective of Lacanian psychology. His most recent scholarly book is Revolutionary Damnation: Badiou and Irish Fiction from Joyce to Enright, from Syracuse University Press. Stealing: A Novel in Dreams is his first work of fiction.

See all the purchasing options here: https://www.frayededgepress.com/stealing.html 

We're excited to present the cover for Shelly Brivic's experimental novel, Stealing: A Novel in Dreams, due to be published in mid-November, 2018. We think the cover perfectly conveys the complex relationships in this hypnotic family drama. Now available at a special pre-publication sales price of 20% off!

In Stealing, two Jewish brothers growing up in the 1950s Bronx navigate a toxic home environment headed by an emotionally abusive father and an unhappy mother. One brother eventually finds escape through academic achievement and a new life on the west coast, while the other brother remains entangled in the darkness of his existence, his life and mind slowly unraveling. By presenting the conscious and unconscious connections between family members, this experimental novel explores the concept of individuality, the psychological influences of family, and the very nature of reality.

For more information, see:
​ https://www.frayededgepress.com/stealing.html

Seeking short fiction (10,000 to 20,000 words) with a contemporary urban setting for the Street Smart Series from Frayed Edge Press. 

For this series, we’re looking for manuscripts of 10,000 to 20,000 words – long enough to involve the reader in a good story, but brief enough to be read on a short train journey or long commute. This size manuscript is essentially a “novelette” – a work that is longer than a short story, but shorter than a novella. 

Your story should have a contemporary urban setting, well-drawn characters, and an engaging plot. Action, suspense, and even some sex and violence are great, but not mandatory. Humor is a plus and diverse characters are an expectation. We’re open to various genres as well as cross-over, multi-genre works. Some good models to think about are: hard-boiled detective stories, noir fiction, street lit, and urban fantasy. Elements of mystery, horror, SF, and/or some romance are also fine – but please, no “cozy” mysteries or anything that is primarily romance. Everything published in this series will have a dark underbelly and some grit to it.

See the Frayed Edge Press guidelines for fiction for more information: 
https://www.frayededgepress.com/fiction.html