FUTURE TENSE NEWS





April, 2015

Hi friends,
It's funny how sometimes when you try to "take a break" you end up getting even busier than you usually are. Since last fall, we've launched our new eBook series, Instant Future. We started it off with the amazing Litsa Dremousis and her "mini-memoir" Altitude Sickness.
After Litsa's book, we put out the fantastic debut of Zach Ellis, Being. We're about to put out Elissa Washuta's Starvation Mode. We're really excited about this new series, edited by the legendary Matthew Simmons. I hope you'll join us for the ride.

We've also been busy trying to keep up with all the great attention that all of our 2014 releases garnered. From Chelsea Hodson's Pity the Animal (which is already sold out but check out the eBook and her new album on Black Cake!) to Wendy Ortiz's Excavation.
Not to mention my own personal addiction . . . to collaging!


This month, we launch the debut of Troy James Weaver's Witchita Stories. Here's a great review in Revolution John. Troy also has another book out already and started up his first Tumblr. It's always really exciting for us to launch a new author into the world. We think you'll be hearing from Troy for a long time. I mean, what else is he going to do in Kansas but write books!
We're working on our other releases for this year. Stay tuned for news on all of that. But to stay better on top of things, please follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
Thank YOU for reading!

Kevin

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October 10th, 2014

Hey friends,
It was a long, hot summer and I've been busy at work on a new Future Tense venture with the one and only Matthew Simmons (author of books such as Happy Rock and A Jello Horse). It's an e-book series called Instant Future. And you can read all about it on the Instant Future website. We're kicking off this new series with the amazing Litsa Dremousis. Her "mini-memoir" is called Altitude Sickness and it is going to floor you. Watch for its official release on Ocober 23rd, the night she reads at Seattle's Lit Crawl.
After Litsa's book, we have other e-book beauties coming by Zach Ellis, Tara Atkinson, Elissa Washuta, Lily Hoang, and others.

As we get closer to end of the year, I'm also getting more and more hyped for Troy James Weaver's Witchita Stories, which should be out in spring of 2015. Check out a couple of his stories here and here.

Kevin

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July 28th, 2014

Hi friends,
We're so excited for all the success and attention our new trio of Scout Books has been receiving, especially that amazing Chelsea Hodson woman! I think this year's trio may sell out faster than last year's (by Sommer Browning, Aaron Gilbreath, and Melody Owen), which are nearly out. We're also excited that Wendy C. Ortiz's awesome memoir, Excavation, is now officially out and getting some fantastic accolades, most notably from The L.A. Times. Keep up with all her action and readings on her Tumblr. You can also keep up with everyone Future Tense-related, as always, on our Facebook page.

More news updates later this year, including info about a new eBook project we're working on, and the early 2015 release of Troy James Weaver's Witchita Stories. Enjoy the sun and keep reading!!

Kevin





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June 6th, 2014

Hey everyone!
The new Scout Book series trio is out and they are amazing! Next up is Wendy C. Ortiz's powerful memoir, Excavation, out on July 18th. Thank you!!

Kevin





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March 28th, 2014

Hi Friends!
The new Scout Book series trio is now ready to pre-order! They'll be released on May 20th. Thank you!!

Kevin





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December 27th, 2013

Hi Friends!
2013 was a pretty great year for us (and for me personally as well--A new book! Best American Essays! My son graduated high school)! I wanted to say Happy New Year to everyone and let you know that 2014 is going to be so good in Future Tense land. First off, we have the next three Scout Books coming out in the spring (hopefully around May). They will be Girly by May-Lan Tan, Darkmouth Strikes Again by Jay Ponteri, and a not-yet-titled scorcher by Chelsea Hodson. We'll have the pre-order button set up for these beauties in February. Watch for that.

Here's how I discovered these three:
I discovered May-Lan Tan because of her amazing story, Legendary, in Zoetrope Magazine and went hunting for more. Not finding anything else, I found her on-line and started begging for more. That was almost two years ago. I'm excited that we're putting out her first US release. But she does have a whole other book coming out in the UK that we're excited to see soon too.
Jay Ponteri is a Portland author and his memoir, Wedlocked, was one of my favorite books of 2013--and would definitely qualify as the bravest book I read all year.
Chelsea Hodson was someone I initially knew only through her Twitter (haha) but started to read more of when we were scheduled to read at an event together at Word in Brooklyn (just earlier this month!). Her reading electrified my brain and melted my heart and I pestered her in the days after, frantically trying to lure her into the Future Tense family. I was afraid she would sign a giant deal with a major as soon as they also discovered her! Well, they probably will still. In the meantime, I'm very happy to be working with her.
Happy to be working with all three of these awesome artists (because yes, their writing is good enough to be called Art, with a capital A).

After those three, we'll be releasing a memoir in the summer by Wendy C. Ortiz titled Excavation: A Memoir. This book further investigates the intense and illegal relationship that Wendy explored in this essay last year on The Nervous Breakdown. After reading that, I contacted her and wanted to read more. I was floored by it and can't wait to show it to you, dear reader.

Also, in the news, our newest releases by Jamie Iredell and Gary Lutz have been doing great and winning hearts and minds all over. Check out Jamie here and here and here. And on Brad Listi's podcast! And Gary getting some love here and a featured spot on Recommended Reading!

Remember--the best way to keep track of Future Tense news and happenings is by joining our page on Facebook. And hey--we also have a Twitter page now.
Thank you for all your support as usual! And bookstores, you can order up our books at Small Press Distribution. Happy New Year! Onward!!

Kevin





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September 19th, 2013

Things have been a little crazy at FT headquarters. I've been working on several things, including being LitHop PDX (with co-conspirator Jeff Alessandrelli), gearing up for the release of my Tin House novel, Read this cool Vice Magazine interview with Gary by Mr. Blake Butler.

Next up for us--and coming up quick--is Jamie Iredell's essay collection, I Was a Fat Drunk Catholic School Insomniac, which is now available for a special pre-order price on our BOOKS page. This is a big, beautiful book and we're happy to work with Jamie again (we put out his fantastic story creation, The Book of Freaks, a couple of years ago). The official release date of Jamie's book is 11-12-13 (same as my book!) but we will have a few early copies during Wordstock (Jamie will actually be in Portland for this, all the way from Atlanta). He's doing other touring this fall too. More details on that to come. Good times ahead.

Plus--holy crap!! Look at those amazing covers by Bryan Coffelt. So classic. We were laughing out loud while working on Jamie's cover. It's so good on so many levels. (I also want to mention that our new editor, Tina Morgan, did a superb job getting this treasure into tip-top shape)

Thanks everyone for all your support as usual! Bookstores--remember you can order up our books at Small Press Distribution. Viva la Future Tense!
Kevin





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OUR HISTORY

FUTURE TENSE PRESS was born in Spokane, Washington in 1990 on a very lo-fi level. After surviving there and also a brief stint in Fort Smith, Arkansas (don't ask) I moved to Portland in the summer of 1992 and soon flourished in the rainy city's book-friendly environment. Brian Tibbetts, Michael Walsh, Stephen Kurowski, Jeff Meyers, and Melody Jordan were some of the first Portland writers featured by Future Tense. You may also remember a funny little zine passed around for a couple of years called Dead Star- an obituary zine with poems about recently deceased celebs!

On top of that were the many events that Future Tense organized around town like the Future Tense Reading Series at Umbra Penumbra, the Kamikaze Reading Series at The Raindog, the Typing Explosion weekend at the GroundSwell, the Booty Call series at Disjecta, and readings at various bookstores & cafes and gigs featuring both spoken word and music artists. Hell, we even had T-Shirts!
Future Tense has always been dedicated to publishing work by people often thought of as weirdos or outsiders. The contents of these books will make you laugh, sweat, and hallucinate. Most of the titles are stylishly-produced chapbooks but I have published some paperback books as well (believe me- I'd do much more if I had the money or some kind of sugar daddy).

In 1998, the Future Tense web site was launched by Paul Earhart. In 2000, Paul Ash took over the web site and redesigned it into the grand creation it now is (using artwork and lettering by Kurt Eisenlohr). In 2001, we published a book by teen phenom Zoe Trope called Please Don’t Kill the Freshman. The book was written about in several media outlets and gave Future Tense a much bigger audience than before. Zoe’s book was picked up and re-released in longer form by HarperCollins. Shortly after, another book first published by us, Grosse Pointe Girl, by Sarah Grace McCandless, was bought by Simon & Schuster. In 2005, we teamed up with legendary San Francisco publisher Manic D Press for a three-part series of paperback books (called, wouldn’t you know it—The Future Tense series). The first book in this series was an anthology I edited called The Insomniac Reader, followed by Myriam Gurba's award-winning Dahlia Season and Eric Spitznagel's Fast Forward: Confessions of a Porn Screenwriter. Since that series, we've started publishing more and more of our own paperbacks (and limited edition hardcovers), thanks specifically to the great team at Lightning Source printers.

We are very happy that we have found a solid fan base and readership in Portland and other cities and we plan on continuing for many years to come. Thank you all for your support!

Kevin Sampsell
Editor/Publisher