Ghost County, a debut poetry collection that “never stops opening up.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact
Robert James Russell or Jeff Pfaller
PO Box 4341
Des Plaines, IL 60016
847-531-0786
MGP@midwestgothic.com
http://www.midwestgothic.com/mg-press

Ghost County, a debut poetry collection that “never stops opening up.”

John McCarthy’s debut poetry collection, Ghost County, forthcoming from MG Press in March 2016, explores how lifetimes are spent traveling in pickup trucks across the Midwest, exploring spaces between love and its imperfect manifestations.

Advance praise and reviews have already been pouring in:

“In John McCarthy’s arresting debut, the middle of America reveals itself to be a belly full of opportunities and frustrations.”
—Adrian Matejka, author of The Big Smoke

“[I]n these gritty poems, McCarthy exposes a grimmer reality tainted by drugs, alcohol, poverty, and violence. [T]his is a hardscrabble life where time stretches past into future, back into the past, and all seems predetermined to remain the same. McCarthy’s poems pay close attention to a darker middle life, and they do not flinch.”
—Sandy Longhorn, author of The Alchemy of My Mortal Form

“The poems in Ghost County marvelously articulate the strange, fluctuating space between the real and the imagined…Impassioned and insightful, this is a book that travels between those very real places not found on any map: memory, disappointment, and hope.”
—Charlotte Pence, author of Many Small Fires and The Branches, the Axe, the Missing

Ghost County…is a book that never stops opening up.”
—Adam Clay, Stranger and Hotel Lobby at the Edge of the World

“The way [McCarthy] imagines and executes these lyric Midwestern narratives renders the place both familiar and strange, humdrum and ethereal. McCarthy has the craft and vision of someone who’s been at this for a very long time.”
—Chad Simpson, author of Tell Everyone I Said Hi

Download Ghost County Press Kit

About Ghost County

Paperback 5″ x 8″
ISBN: 978-0-9882013-9-2
Languages: English
Page count: 99
Genre: Poetry
Formats: Print, PDF, ePub, .mobi

Description
In John McCarthy’s debut collection, lifetimes are spent traveling in pickup trucks across the Midwest, exploring spaces between love and its imperfect manifestations. Ghost County drives blue-collar back roads and guides readers through personal meditations about heritage, loss, and the desire to reimagine the past and future. Dateless baseball trophies, the world’s largest catsup bottle, and swivel set televisions illustrate a Midwest that is recognizable and echoes with its own poetry, affirming the traditions and experiences that bind this region to self and self to region.

To request a print, PDF, mobi or ePub advance review copy, email MGP@midwestgothic.com

Where to Buy
List price: $12 Print / $4.99 eBook
Release Date: March 29, 2014

Ghost County can be reserved for $1 preorder at 20% off the list price.

Distribution
Ingram, Amazon, Lulu, iBooks, Kindle Books, Nook Books.

All purchasing information and links can be found at
http://midwestgothic.com/2011/01/ghost-county-by-john-mc-carthy/

About the Author
John McCarthy’s work has appeared in Best New Poets 2015, The Pinch, RHINO, the minnesota review, and Redivdier. He edited the anthology [Ex]tinguished & [Ex]tinct (Twelve Winters Press, 2014). John is the Managing Editor of Quiddity. He currently lives in southern Illinois.

For a hi-res author headshot, email MGP@midwestgothic.com

About MG Press
MG Press is a publisher devoted to a select number of titles each year. An extension of the literary journal Midwestern Gothic, MG Press retains the same core values: shining a spotlight on Midwest authors by focusing on works that showcase all aspects of life—good, bad, or ugly.

The authors and books chosen exemplify these traits; they are representatives of the Midwest, and aim to celebrate what makes the Midwest such a unique place, highlighting our mythologies, stories, and culture that the world may be missing out on.

MG Press is based out of Chicago, Illinois.

About the Founders
Robert James Russell is the author of the novels Mesilla (Dock Street Press) and Sea of Trees (Winter Goose Publishing), and the chapbook Don’t Ask Me to Spell It Out (WhiskeyPaper Press). Nominated three times for the Pushcart Prize, his work has appeared in numerous publications, both print and online. You can find him online at robertjamesrussell.com.

Jeff Pfaller is a co-founder and fiction editor for Midwestern Gothic, a quarterly literary journal focused on celebrating Midwestern writing and authors. His short fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in James Gunn’s Ad Astra, Jupiter, North Chicago Review, and Fiction on the Web. His short story, “The Cellar Door,” earned an honorable mention from L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future Contest.

For more information, visit http://www.midwestgothic.com/mg-press or email MGP@midwestgothic.com

To request a print, PDF, mobi or ePub advance review copy, email MGP@midwestgothic.com

Leave a Reply