Alternative Publishing in the West

Abstract

G E R A L D H A S L A M Sonoma State University Alternative Publishing in the West Small Press Review was founded by Len Fulton in the spring of 1967. The initial issue featured a long tribute to Alan Swallow written by Martha H. Hume, a symbolic linking of the old western small press scene and the new. “Alan Swallow worked night and day. It was not labor, but a con­ tinuing romance with publishing,” wrote Hume. The same could be said about a contemporary western publisher such as Art Cuelho of Seven Buffaloes Press, a farmer who fell in love with letters and who works out of his home, night and day, living on what his books realize plus whatever gainful employment he can find, and who continues scouting for promising writers. Theirs — Swallow’s and Cuelho’s — is a labor of love, a romance in the noblest sense. Despite the overwhelming rise in numbers of alternative publishing outlets, at the core of the movement remain dedicated individuals such as Swallow and Cuelho, John R. Milton, Glena Luschei, Albert F. Gegenheimer , Margaret Hartley, and Marvin Malone, the best of them tough as well as talented, for they must buck seemingly overwhelming financial odds, as well as popular tastes, in their continuing quest for excellence. Nonetheless, it is the very number of alternative publishers that is most astounding. The current issue of Fulton and Ellen Ferber’s The International Directory of Little Magazines and Small Presses is nearly 600 pages long and features over 4000 entries such as: SCREE, Duck Down Press, Kirk Robertson, PO Box 1047, Fallon NV 89406, 702-423-6643. 1973. Poetry, fiction, articles, art, photos, cartoons, interviews, satire, reviews, letters, parts-of-novels, longpoems , collages, concrete art. “Prospective contributors should send 5-7 poems, 1-2 stories, or a sampling of artwork/photos and must include a S.A.S.E. if they want a reply. Interested in: work related to the visual arts — 86 Western American Literature photography, collage, etc.; material from oral traditions; work that speaks strongly of the author’s place — internal or external. Some contributors: A1 Masasrik, Charles Bukowski, Ted Kooser, Charles Potts, Art Cuelho, Charles Plymell, Bern Porter, Wayne Ude, Michael Hogan, Richard Shelton, Bill Fox, Dave Ether, Albert Drake, Tom Clark, etc., etc.” circ. 1M. 2 issues (4#s) /yr. Pub’d 2 issues in 1982; expects 2 issues in 1983, 2 issues in 1984. Sub. price: $8.50 . . . Reporting time: 2 weeks or so. Payment: copies and $ if possible. Copyrighted, reverts to author. Pub’s reviews: 60-100 in 1982. Ads: inquire. CCLM. Despite the growth and considerable vitality of alternative publishing, one occasionally reads in mainstream journals articles such as one that appeared not long ago in The New York Times: “Lit Mags are Revived,” blared the headline, and the story went on to discuss the proposed resur­ rection of The Evergreen Review, a “respectable” literary magazine with establishment support. A headline in The Wall Street Journal — “Nation’s Small Presses Prefer Literary Values to Commercial Success” — was closer to the truth because out in the country, where America really lives, literally thousands of magazines have emerged since the sixties, some to die, others to thrive, evidencing the considerable distance between assumptions about the nature of publishing in America and the reality. Observes James Sallis, “for many years the little magazines were our literary underground; now they are close to becoming our only ground.” “Small presses are the primary access to publishing for most new novelists and poets,” explains Len Randolph, who headed the National Endowment for the Arts’ literature program during the 1970s when alternative publishing burgeoned. “Their contribution to literature can’t be overstated. About 99% of the time this is purely an act of love.” Adds James Camp of Burning Deck Press, “The advantage of a small press is that it will very often take chances. The history of much recent poetry reflects this.” Perhaps an even more telling comment on the state of America’s traditional publishing industry comes from William Abrahams, senior editor at Holt, Rinehart and Winston. “The gulf is widening . . . between the good and serious book aimed at...