Month: January 2013

I recently wrote a piece for The Lit Pub where I gave a non-review review of This Jealous Earth, discussed the mission of MG Press and talked about how and why the Midwest has come to mean so much to me:

“The Midwest is dirty (in parts), dingy, full of hardworking folks — blue-collared, if you will — and I think the history here, the historical devotion to farms and factories, the nitty gritty, our mostly-congenial attitude (with a slight bit of snark), has produced very distinct literature . . . literature that, I believe more than any other region, holds a mirror up to us.”

“What about our rights?”
“What about your wrongs!?”

My god this is brilliant.

Two things: One, I’m a huge fan of British actor Matthew Holness (his Garth Marenghi character/Dark Place series was comedy genius). Two, I love me some crime thrillers. So discovering that Mr. Holness has written/directed a short film about “a pulp fiction writer who decides to avenge his brother’s death at the hands of gangsters,” well…my day is made.

The film, A Gun for George, can be viewed in its seventeen minute entirety at Film4’s website. And while it’s not as humorous as his other outings, it’s a fantastically entertaining piece of work, well worth a viewing (or two).

In late 2010 I co-founded the literary journal Midwestern Gothic with my good friend Jeff Pfaller as a way to highlight the people and writing of this region we call home—one we thought was dangerously overlooked. Sure, there have been famous authors and poets from the Midwest, but our goal was to go one step further: not just highlight the people that, due to their popularity, would eventually belong to the world, but show what the region in general had to offer. It’s uniqueness. It’s rich tapestry of characters and mythology. How it produces writers and writing unlike anywhere else.

In 2012 we decided to take our goals one step further by creating MG Press, a micro-press devoted to publishing novel-length fiction in the hopes that, much like with the journal, it would help shine a spotlight on the region.

And today, through a lot of hard work, I am happy to say our debut publication, the collection This Jealous Earth by Scott Dominic Carpenter, is available to purchase. We are so thrilled that Scott chose us to help guide the publication of his baby, are immensely proud to put our name on it, and are extraordinarily eager to share it with the world.

Pick up a paperback or eBook of This Jealous Earth.