The Talking of Hands: Unpublished Writing by New Rivers Press Authors

Editors' Note: Several years ago, we realized at New Rivers Press that our thirtieth anniversary was fast approaching, and that if we wanted to celebrate the event appropriately-given the time lag endemic to small press publishing-we would have to begin arranging for it with all due haste. What to do? We mulled over the question, thinking first of an anthology drawn from the many books new Rivers has published over the years-but to be honest, the task of going through all these publications, and choosing material to fit within three hundred pages (our self-imposed limit, the weight of a good-sized book on one's lap), was too daunting to face.

And, on the other hand, the notion of putting out a call for manuscripts, without any constraint save a sense of celebration, was too daunting as well, since from past experience we were familiar with the massive number of submissions that would likely land on our doorstep. So we figured that we could, to set a manageable limit, approach only people who had published a book with New Rivers, and ask each of them for a submission. Furthermore, we determined that we would be asking these writers for previously unpublished work only, thereby stressing the "new" in our name: nothing warmed-over in this collection.

As a result of this solicitation, we received prose and poetry from over a hundred authors. It's a testament to Publisher Truesdale's good taste over the years that we had the unfathomably hard time we did rationing our acceptances to fit into three hundred pages. Even given our preselection process-book-length authors only need apply-we editors fought each other tooth and claw over what to include, what to leave out. However, the cost and weight of paper was something that like Atlas we had to balance on our shoulders, and you are left, dear readers one and all, with what you now hold in your hands.

Speaking for all of the staff at New Rivers, we editors wish you good reading. Indeed, we wish you thirty more years of good reading. And another thirty beyond that. Shortly thereafter, God willing (as grandmothers are wont to say), New Rivers Press will celebrate its centennial.

Now there's a daunting thought.