Author: Angelle Barbazon

Author Ann Marie Ackermann, German mayor will present the reward in May.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Gaithersburg, MARYLAND – A year after releasing her debut true crime book, “Death of an Assassin,” author Ann Marie Ackermann will be joined by special guests at the Gaithersburg Book Festival in Maryland on May 19 to present a reward that has remained unpaid for 146 years. The recipients are the American descendants of a man who solved the assassination of a German mayor in 1835. Two of the descendants, Jennifer Manion and Patricia Beisner, live in Gaithersburg, Md. Descendant Robert Humphreys lives in Clarkston, Ga., and Richard Humphreys lives in Fanwood, NJ. All four will be attending the May 19 event.

Ackermann’s book, released by Kent State University Press in 2017, tracked the never-before-told story of the assassin, Gottlob Rueb, who fled Germany and later died in Mexico defending Robert E. Lee’s position in battle during the Mexican-American War. Frederick Rupp, a German immigrant in Washington, D.C., provided the crucial tip in 1872 that solved the murder, but the reward was never paid after the city council minutes recording the decision to offer the prize were misfiled and archived.

“I believe this is the oldest reward for solving a murder to have ever been paid out – a case, perhaps, for the Guinness Book of World Records,” said Ackermann.

The current mayor of Bönnigheim, Germany, Kornelius Bamberger, and Gaithersburg Mayor and Book Festival Founder Jud Ashman will accompany Ackermann on May 19 to finally bestow the long-lost reward of €1,000 to members of the family of the man who originally solved the case.

“Over the past eight years the Gaithersburg Book Festival has played host to many wonderful stories,” said Mayor Ashman, “but I don’t recall one quite as intriguing as this one.”

“The reward ceremony will bring a 180-year-old cold case to its closure,” said Ackermann. “That man did our city an incredible favor 146 years ago and Bönnigheim owes its descendants the recognition. They are town heroes in Germany.”

About Ann Marie Ackermann and The Gaithersburg Book Festival

Ann Marie Ackermann is a former attorney with focuses on criminal and medical law. Eighteen years ago, she moved to Bönnigheim, Germany, the town in which the assassination occurred, and is a member of its historical society. Ackermann’s intimate knowledge of the town and of the German language enabled her to bring the German and American sides of this story together. She has a number of academic publications in law, ornithology, and history.

The Gaithersburg Book Festival is an annual all-day celebration of books, writers and literary excellence. Quickly becoming one of the premier literary events in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, the 2018 Festival is scheduled for Saturday, May 19, on the grounds of Gaithersburg City Hall, in Olde Towne Gaithersburg, Md. Activities will include author appearances, discussions and book signings; writing workshops; a Children’s Village; onsite sales of new and used books; literary exhibitors and food, drink, ice cream and more. FREE admission and accessible shuttle will be available from Shady Grove Metro and Lakeforest Mall. The Gaithersburg Book Festival also hosts author events in Montgomery County throughout the year as a way to encourage continued appreciation for all things literary. For more information please visit www.gaithersburgbookfestival.orgor follow on Twitter @GburgBookFest.

About the Book:

“Death of an Assassin”
Ann Marie Ackermann | September 1, 2017 | Kent State University Press
ISBN: 978-1606353042
Historical True Crime

The first volunteer killed defending Robert E. Lee’s position in battle was really a German assassin. After fleeing to the United States to escape prosecution for murder, the assassin enlisted in a German company of the Pennsylvania Volunteers in the Mexican-American War and died defending Lee’s battery at the Siege of Veracruz in 1847. Lee wrote a letter home, praising this unnamed fallen volunteer defender. Military records identify him, but none of the Americans knew about his past life of crime.

Before fighting with the Americans, Lee’s defender had assassinated Johann Heinrich Rieber, mayor of Bönnigheim, Germany, in 1835. Rieber’s assassination became 19th-century Germany’s coldest case ever solved outside of a confession and the only 19th-century German murder ever solved in the United States. Thirty-seven years later, another suspect in the assassination who had also fled to America found evidence in Washington, D.C. that would clear his own name, and he forwarded it to Germany. The German prosecutor Ernst von Hochstetter corroborated the story and closed the case file in 1872, naming Lee’s defender as Rieber’s murderer.

An Interview with Ann Marie Ackermann

How did you discover this case chronicled in “Death of an Assassin?”
In a 19th century forester’s diary detailing the murder, committed in 1835, and the solution in 1872 from Washington, D.C. It was highly unusual for a cold case that old to be solved in the 19th century. That piqued my interest. The assassin had fled to the USA and I started tracking him through the American archives. When the trail led me to Robert E. Lee – the assassin had died at his feet and Lee had written a letter about him – I knew this was more than just a German true crime story. It’s also American history.

What obstacles did you encounter in your international research?
Learning to read the old script you find in the German archives was daunting. I had to wade through nearly 800 pages of it in the original investigative file. I also hired a talented archivist to help me with research in the American archives because I couldn’t afford to fly over the pond every time I had a question.

Why did the original reward for solving this case never get paid?
The city minutes authorizing the reward got misfiled in the state archives. I suspect the city couldn’t find the minutes when the murder was finally solved and was hence unauthorized to pay out the money.

How in the world did you track down the descendants of the man who solved this case?
Gail McCormick, an American archivist and genealogist who helped me with American archival research for this book, helped track them down.

That must have been a bizarre experience for the family, to hear that their ancestor provided the information that identified a German assassin and there was a long-lost reward. What was their reaction when you told them about all of this?
At first they thought it was a hoax! Only after I sent them a copy of my book and my German mayor wrote their mayors did they believe us.

When did you move to Germany from the United States?
1996. I married a German.

For people who have never visited, what is Bönnigheim, Germany, like?
A rural town with a 1,200-year-old history nestled among the rolling vineyards of southwest Germany.

What’s next for you?
So many Germans want to read the story too! Kent State University Press and I are looking for a German publisher. In the meantime, I lead crime scene tours about this case, both in English and German.

www.JKSCommunications.com
237 Old Hickory Blvd., Suite 201, Nashville, TN 37221
Ellen Whitfield
(616) 258-5537
ellen@jkscommunications.com

Angelle Barbazon

Angelle joined the Books Forward team in 2014, and her experience and dedication has led to her being named our lead publicist. Her distinct pitching style and effective research has secured media coverage for our authors and their books in Vanity Fair, Buzzfeed, The Associated Press, The New York Times and USA Today, as well as countless regional media outlets.

Our authors love Angelle’s meticulous attention to detail and unwavering commitment to their vision and their books. Other publicists frequently spend time learning from her — how to ask probing questions, find the right person to contact and craft a successful pitch.

She began her professional career at news outlets across the country before surrendering to her love of books. An award-winning journalist whose own work has appeared in local and national publications, including NPR, she is tenacious in finding the right angles to utilize for each campaign and connecting with the right reporter for the job.

Angelle can usually be found at a concert, working on Mardi Gras costumes or taking photos of random cats that she meets wandering around New Orleans.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Recognized for her bold commentary and fresh perspective, Karen Stefano is a JD/MBA with more than 20 years of litigation experience, the first eight of which were spent defending men and women accused of some of the most heinous crimes imaginable. She will soon release a true crime memoir, “Vigilance: An Autobiography of Fear.” In the book, Stefano chronicles her terrifying encounter with a man who assaulted her at knifepoint blocks away from the UC Berkeley campus, her jagged road of survival and the years of trauma that followed. She hosts the literary podcast “The Karen Stefano Radio Show” on Rare Bird Radio where she speaks with authors of all genres about their writing craft.

In interviews and as a guest speaker at events, Karen can fluently discuss:

• The everlasting effects of assault on survivors
• Becoming a defense lawyer after surviving a violent assault where her own attacker ultimately walked free
• Living with PTSD and how it impacts relationships of all types, from family to friends to significant others
• The constant struggle of women losing and regaining power
• Her forthcoming memoir, “Vigalance: An Autobiography of Fear”

For more information, please visit http://stefanokaren.com

www.JKSCommunications.com
237 Old Hickory Blvd., Suite 201, Nashville, TN 37221

Angelle Barbazon

Angelle joined the Books Forward team in 2014, and her experience and dedication has led to her being named our lead publicist. Her distinct pitching style and effective research has secured media coverage for our authors and their books in Vanity Fair, Buzzfeed, The Associated Press, The New York Times and USA Today, as well as countless regional media outlets.

Our authors love Angelle’s meticulous attention to detail and unwavering commitment to their vision and their books. Other publicists frequently spend time learning from her — how to ask probing questions, find the right person to contact and craft a successful pitch.

She began her professional career at news outlets across the country before surrendering to her love of books. An award-winning journalist whose own work has appeared in local and national publications, including NPR, she is tenacious in finding the right angles to utilize for each campaign and connecting with the right reporter for the job.

Angelle can usually be found at a concert, working on Mardi Gras costumes or taking photos of random cats that she meets wandering around New Orleans.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

From the Author of the #1 Bestseller “How to Launch a Brand” comes “Bigger Than This”
Renowned Brand Strategist Fabian Geyrhalter wants to empower any venture to turn into an admired brand, regardless of their product or service offering

LOS ANGELES, CA –– What do brands like Planet Fitness, Everlane, and Bombas all have in common? They’re capturing peoples’ emotions and winning customers’ hearts. And they are based on commodity products or services.

Following the success of his #1 bestselling book, “How to Launch a Brand,” acclaimed brand strategist Fabian Geyrhalter is back with an enlightening new book that digs deep into today’s new world of brand creation. “Bigger Than This” challenges companies – from startups to Fortune 100s – to (re)discover their spark and connect with today’s consumers on a deeper level.

In “Bigger Than This,” Geyrhalter analyzes brands that are based on commodity products – watches, socks, shoes, fish – yet they quickly turn into beloved brands. He emphasizes the importance of storytelling, encouraging brands to embrace 8 simple traits these brands showcase and offers specific, actionable commandments that any brand can implement – story, belief, cause, heritage, delight, transparency, solidarity and individuality. Instead of playing “dress-up,” he wants businesses to uncover the roots of their ventures and share honest, empathetic stories that resonate with consumers, creating a loyal following that leads to strong, successful brands.

Delightfully concise and refreshing, Geyrhalter draws on his personal experience of having helped shape over 60 brands, and intentionally (and noticeably) steps away from marketing fluff and business lingo that often clouds the integrity of marketing books.

Fabian Geyrhalter is a renowned brand strategist and the founder and Principal of FINIEN, a Los Angeles-based consultancy specializing in turning ventures into brands. Geyrhalter is also a columnist for Inc and Forbes, and he has been published by the likes of The Washington Post, Mashable, Entrepreneur and The Huffington Post. He is an advisory board member of Santa Monica College and has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California and Art Center College of Design. A frequent speaker and mentor to entrepreneurs worldwide, he is a “Global 100” mentor at the Founder Institute, and his book “How to Launch a Brand” is a #1 Amazon Bestseller. His newest book is “Bigger Than This.” He lives and works in Long Beach, California and is a graduate of Art Center College of Design.

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About the book

“Fabian Geyrhalter quickly moves beyond the clichés, identifying key building blocks of an authentic brand and specific ways to leverage them. Brands need not be radically new to inspire passion, he argues, but thoughtful and honest in finding, telling and embracing their story. Perhaps most refreshingly, Geyrhalter’s impatience for marketing fluff and business-speak keeps him focused on sharing insights for action. Bigger Than This is no collection of philosophical musings, but rather a guidebook for finding the potential in even the most mundane product or service.”
– David Glaze, Creative Director, Amazon

An Interview with Fabian Geyrhalter

www.JKSCommunications.com
2819 Vaulx Lane, Nashville, TN 37204
Angelle Barbazon
(615) 928-2462
angelle@jkscommunications.com

Angelle Barbazon

Angelle joined the Books Forward team in 2014, and her experience and dedication has led to her being named our lead publicist. Her distinct pitching style and effective research has secured media coverage for our authors and their books in Vanity Fair, Buzzfeed, The Associated Press, The New York Times and USA Today, as well as countless regional media outlets.

Our authors love Angelle’s meticulous attention to detail and unwavering commitment to their vision and their books. Other publicists frequently spend time learning from her — how to ask probing questions, find the right person to contact and craft a successful pitch.

She began her professional career at news outlets across the country before surrendering to her love of books. An award-winning journalist whose own work has appeared in local and national publications, including NPR, she is tenacious in finding the right angles to utilize for each campaign and connecting with the right reporter for the job.

Angelle can usually be found at a concert, working on Mardi Gras costumes or taking photos of random cats that she meets wandering around New Orleans.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEW YORK – With 2017 marking the 525th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ journey to the New World, author Andrew Rowen is releasing a new historical novel, “Encounters Unforeseen: 1492 Retold,” on Nov. 8, 2017 that dramatically recasts the epic voyage that has shaped cultures, religions and ideologies for centuries.

Most literature relating the history of Columbus’ voyage and first encounters with Native Americans focuses principally — whether pro- or anti-Columbus — on Columbus and the European perspective. Rowen’s historical novel now dramatizes these events from a bicultural perspective. It fictionalizes the beliefs, thoughts, and actions of the Native Americans who met Columbus and places their viewpoints alongside those of the explorer himself and other Europeans, all based on a close reading of Columbus’ “Journal,” other primary sources, and modern anthropological studies.

“Encounters Unforeseen” gives insight into the mindsets and backgrounds of key Taíno and European protagonists, including Columbus, Spain’s Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand, three historic Taíno chieftains — Caonabó, Guacanagarí, and Guarionex — and a Taíno captive seized by Columbus. Rowen’s portrayals of the Taíno protagonists presents them as neither victims nor statistics, but as personalities and actors comparable to the Europeans. Their side of the story is forcefully told.

Rowen also explores stark social differences between Taínos and Europeans, including their religions, slavery, and notions of private property, and dramatizes the collision of Taíno spirits with Christ and the Virgin Mary. The novel carefully depicts conversations that primary sources indicate occurred, and Rowen weaves fascinating stories around documented incidents. “Encounters Unforeseen” presents a remarkably insightful and fresh look at one of the seminal events that reshaped the course of world history.

Andrew Rowen is a U.C. Berkeley and Harvard Law graduate who practiced law as a partner of a major New York City law firm for almost 30 years prior to retiring to write his first novel, “Encounters Unforeseen: 1492 Retold.” He devoted six years to research and traveled to nearly all the Caribbean, European and Atlantic locations where the book’s action takes place, including the archaeological sites where the Taíno chieftains lived in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. He has long been interested in the roots of religious intolerance.

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About the book

Encounters Unforeseen: 1492 Retold
Andrew Rowen | Nov. 8, 2017 | All Persons Press
$32.95 (hardcover) $12.99 (ebook)
ISBN: 978-0-9991961-0-6 (hardcover)
ISBN: 978-0-9991961-1-3 (ebook)
Historical Fiction

Advance Praise

“Amazing! The lives, loves, victories and defeats of the Taíno Indians are just as meticulously and poignantly brought to life as Columbus, his famous voyage and Queen Isabel’s court. A sprawling, globe-trotting, all-consuming tour de force illuminating all sides of the epic cultural clash that created the New World.” – Trey Ellis, Platitudes, Home Repairs, Right Here, Right Now

“The encounter of Columbus and Native Caribbean peoples set in motion events that created the modern world. History books provide brief accounts, but what was the Encounter really like, what did it mean, how was it expressed, in simple, human terms?  Andrew Rowen transports us to this moment of creation, and does so by tracing the lives of the main protagonists. This is a fascinating story of enmeshed lives, and the consequences of new worlds. It is written with scrupulous detail to historical accuracy, and, even knowing how it will end, the prose is an imaginative and entertaining portrait of a past we could not otherwise experience.” – William F. Keegan, Curator of Caribbean Archaeology, Florida Museum of Natural History, Talking Taíno, Taíno Indian Myth and Practice, The People Who Discovered Columbus, forthcoming Columbus was a Cannibal (and so are we)

An Interview with Andrew Rowen

The 525th anniversary of Columbus’ historic voyage is this year. Why should people reflect on it today, and what does “Encounters Unforeseen: 1492 Retold” add to our understanding of it?
The voyage and ensuing encounters dramatically altered the course of world history by initiating and influencing the subsequent European settlement of the Americas, which molded the religious, social, and cultural fabric of the New World we live in today. All school children are taught about Columbus and the voyage; a day and countless places — cities, towns, streets, plazas, etc. — are named in his honor; he’s praised by many for being self-taught and self-made, his courage and incredible perseverance through adversity, and his astonishing ability as a mariner; and he’s reviled by Native Americans and many others for the atrocities he committed and the centuries of oppression he initiated. Most of us have thought about the voyage at some time as we try to understand how we as a people became who we are.

As they say, history is told by the conquerors, and most of us have been taught the story of the voyage from the conquering European perspective. “Encounters Unforeseen” attempts to recount what actually happened and how that was understood from both the conquerors’ and the conquered’s perspectives, considering primary sources closely and letting the reader decide among viewpoints.

Understanding the conquereds’ viewpoint pushes us to remember the tragedy that continues to haunt Native Americans and to consider our society as an outsider would. More fundamentally, “Encounters Unforeseen” forces us to confront the disturbing possibility that modernity doesn’t necessarily involve improvement in all aspects of the human condition, as the civility and tolerance of the society and religion conquered are now often lacking in the modern societies and religions we have inherited.

What kind of research went into writing “Encounters Unforeseen?” Did you discover anything unexpected?
I spent six years researching the history leading to the voyage in primary and secondary sources. My Spanish is rudimentary, but sufficient to labor through texts not translated into English.

I believe that understanding the physical environment where events took place is important to their comprehension, providing clues as to what people might have thought or felt five centuries prior. Standing at the beaches of Bord de Mer de Limonade, Haiti, or on San Salvador’s west coast; in the open field at the Corral de los Indios in San Juan de la Maguana, Dominican Republic; atop the western cliffs of Porto Santo, Portugal; or on the quay in the tiny harbor at San Sebastian, Gomera, Canary Islands, has shaped my depiction of those thoughts and feelings.

Although I was familiar with some indigenous societies and polytheistic religions prior to commencing my research, Taíno society and religion and the Taíno protagonists were entirely new to me and a fascinating subject to explore.

But the “surprises” came mostly from learning things about Columbus and the voyage which I never knew or had forgotten. Prior to 1492, he sailed to Greece and Africa — where he would have witnessed slave trading of both European and non-European peoples — and possibly London and Iceland. Isabella and Ferdinand’s key advisors who reviewed or promoted the voyage were “conversos,” Christians whose ancestors had converted from Judaism — and then the target of the Spanish Inquisition. The Pinta deserted the voyage off Cuba. There were lots of others, many included in the book.

Why did you choose this period of history to focus on in your first book?
There’s a lot of historical literature which presents in the same book both European and Native American voices, mostly commencing with the 17th century and with some selections in prior eras. But there aren’t many such works focused on Columbus’ voyage, so I thought there was a need to write one. More importantly, I’ve always been interested in the roots of religious intolerance, and the Spanish history of the time period — including the Inquisition, the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, and the subjugation and Christianization of the Canary Islands, all closely prelude to Columbus’ voyage — and then the Christianization of the New World commencing with Columbus, drew me to write about it.

How does this book stray from traditional Columbus narratives?
While others may disagree, I believe “Encounters Unforeseen” generally incorporates a traditional academic view of what happened on the European side, following for the most part histories written by Samuel Eliot Morison, Paolo Emilio Taviani, and others. Historians disagree among themselves about what happened, and the primary sources leave much unknown or in doubt even on the European side, and I have had to make choices to decide what to depict. “Encounters Unforeseen” is researched historical fiction, dramatizing events with a specificity that the historical record simply doesn’t support — but in a manner I believe consistent with the historical record.

The larger difference between “Encounters Unforeseen” and traditional Columbus narratives is the bicultural approach and the inclusion of a speculative Taíno history. The Taínos had no written history, and the only contemporaneous written accounts of their society are by their conquerors, reflecting the conquerors’ knowledge and perspective and sometimes lacking credibility.

The novel’s Taíno stories depict both events known to have occurred (e.g., the chieftains’ ascensions to power, a prophecy of genocide, the captive’s baptism in Spain) and known practices or experiences (e.g., hunting, inter-island canoe travel, a hurricane, a Caribe wife raid, a batey game). The stories are fictionalized based on descriptions of Taíno culture in the writings of contemporary Europeans (such as Peter Martyr d’Anghera, Bartolomé de Las Casas, Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo, Ramón Pané, and Columbus himself) and 21st century anthropologists, archaeologists, and linguists. Commencing Oct. 12, 1492, the stories are constructed by extrapolating from the conquerors’ day-to-day accounts of the encounter (to the extent credible), including Columbus’ “Journal,” the biography written by his son Ferdinand, and Las Casas’ “Historia de las Indias,” what the Taínos then experienced — fictionalizing the conquered’s account to mirror the conquerors’.

Similar to European historians, Taíno anthropologists and other experts also disagree among themselves as to how the Taínos lived, and here, too, I’ve also had to make choices in what to depict.

Is this a pro- or anti-Columbus book? What is your opinion of Columbus?
As many of us, my boyhood education focused mostly on Columbus’ great perseverance and exceptional ability as a navigator and discoverer, not his treatment of Native Americans. I’ve tried hard to shed this overarching perspective and, through book research, reconstruct him piece by piece by identifying facts or probable facts in the historic record that can be relied upon. As all the protagonists in “Encounters Unforeseen,” I’ve researched his life and writings through his death, and seen that — as most of us — his outlook and temperament changed over his lifetime. Above all, I’ve tried hard not to care whether particular scenes in the book show him to be good or bad. As with each character, my goal has been to depict validly what he did and thought at various points of his life — be it good or bad — as I determine the record most likely supports.

“Encounters Unforeseen” ends in 1493, largely before Columbus commits the atrocities in his treatment of Native Americans. The book thus depicts many of the admirable qualities many see in Columbus, while at the same time showing his thoughts to embody the concepts underlying the European subjugation of Native Americans over the next centuries.

Do you have plans to write more books?
Yes. I’ve completed most of the research for sequels dealing with Columbus’ subjugation of the Taíno homeland, and the protagonists introduced in “Encounters Unforeseen” will be followed through their deaths. The sequels will explore — from a bicultural view, of course — the horrific story of the slaughter, religious contempt, servitude, and slavery that ensued.

What eventually happened to the Taino people, and are there still traces of their culture in the Caribbean?
The Taíno people largely suffered genocide other than in isolated areas, but their blood, culture, and spirit has survived through intermarriage. Throughout the Caribbean, there has been a reawakening that many people have varying degrees of Taíno ancestry.

What sparked your interest in religious intolerance?
As a boy, I always found the biblical requirement to worship one true God suspicious, perhaps designed more for a religion’s benefit than my own. I think that suspicion matured to an interest in the more general question whether religious doctrine itself is one of the roots of religious intolerance. From a practical perspective, I’m interested in the question whether religious beliefs themselves motivate military or political aims or religious justifications are merely used to support military or political aims — it’s hard to open a newspaper these days without asking that. I see both, and both are depicted in “Encounters Unforeseen.”

Did you feel drawn to one particular figure in your book?
While I’ve tried hard not to, the captive, who has a plight barely describable.

If you could be a fly on the wall at any event in your book, which would you choose?
When Guacanagarí hosts Columbus in his bohío on December 28, 1492 (with the captive translating), when perhaps the first friendship between a Native American chieftain and European explorer is formed — a moment soon tragically lost to history. If only things had proceeded differently thereafter.

What will history buffs, teachers, and academics enjoy about this book?
It’s a historic novel, closely researched, and they will appreciate that it gives both a rounded explanation of the European and Atlantic world history, as well as reasoned speculation as to the Taíno.

The Isabella and Ferdinand stories include their establishment of the Inquisition, subjugation and Christianization of the Canary Islands, completion of the Reconquista, and expulsion of the Jews from Spain, illustrating European doctrines of conquest, enslavement, and involuntary conversion and how the sovereigns ruled over Old World peoples before encountering Native Americans. The Columbus stories portray his pre-1492 sailing experiences and the evolution of his world outlook. Stark societal differences are illustrated, with the Europeans practicing slavery and the Taínos sharing food as communal property. The narrative carefully dramatizes conversations that Columbus or Bartolomé de Las Casas indicate occurred.

The narrative often incorporates text from primary sources, and a “Sources” section provides citations. It also briefly discusses interpretations of historians, anthropologists, and others contrary to my presentation and issues of academic disagreement.

“Encounters Unforeseen” also reflects some historical information infrequently focused on, such as: the identity of all the Taínos taken to Europe and their known survival and activities; and the Taíno chieftains’ encounters with the Pinta’s crew, which arrives in Haiti/the Dominican Republic prior to Columbus, discussed by witnesses in the Columbian lawsuits. The book’s Atlantic world perspective integrates African themes and events.

www.JKSCommunications.com
2819 Vaulx Lane, Nashville, TN 37204
Angelle Barbazon
(615) 928-2462
angelle@jkscommunications.com

Angelle Barbazon

Angelle joined the Books Forward team in 2014, and her experience and dedication has led to her being named our lead publicist. Her distinct pitching style and effective research has secured media coverage for our authors and their books in Vanity Fair, Buzzfeed, The Associated Press, The New York Times and USA Today, as well as countless regional media outlets.

Our authors love Angelle’s meticulous attention to detail and unwavering commitment to their vision and their books. Other publicists frequently spend time learning from her — how to ask probing questions, find the right person to contact and craft a successful pitch.

She began her professional career at news outlets across the country before surrendering to her love of books. An award-winning journalist whose own work has appeared in local and national publications, including NPR, she is tenacious in finding the right angles to utilize for each campaign and connecting with the right reporter for the job.

Angelle can usually be found at a concert, working on Mardi Gras costumes or taking photos of random cats that she meets wandering around New Orleans.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FRESNO, Cal. – Never cosied up to modern poetry? Loved choose-your-own adventures as a child? Aaron Poochigian has blended the best of both to create an absolute masterpiece that’s accessible to poetry’s newcomers with language rich enough to intrigue even the most devout poetry reader. A poetry epic for the modern age, “Mr. Either/Or” (Etruscan Press, Oct. 10, 2017) sweeps you away with atmospheric rhythms into a story where you, the reader, are the hero.

About the Book: In a world made of rhythms and rhymes you are a government spy undercover as an NYU undergrad—today, you’re cutting classes: Bureau Director One has ordered you to bring in the Dragon’s Claw, a jade box which, according to Chinese legend, contains the apocalypse. Will you recover the artifact from the reclusive Heinrik Van Raadsel before Maoist gangsters known as The Righteous Fists of Harmony unleash its catastrophic power on New York City?

Li-ling Levine, young but cantankerous curator of the Met Museum’s Asian Wing, knows everything, including how to neutralize the threat, but can you endure her haughtiness? Do opposites repel or attract? The answers are out there but, to find them, you must survive an erotic massage parlor, a gang war in Harlem, subway tunnels lousy with mole-men, and the nighttime secrets of the Met Museum.

About the Author: Aaron Poochigian earned a PhD in Classics from the University of Minnesota and an MFA in Poetry from Columbia University. His book of translations from Sappho, “Stung With Love,” was published by Penguin Classics in 2009, and his translation of Apollonius’ “Jason and the Argonauts” was released October 2014. For his work in translation he was awarded a 2010-2011 Grant by the National Endowment for the Arts. His first book of original poetry, “The Cosmic Purr” (Able Muse Press), was published in 2012 and, winner of the 2016 Able Muse Poetry Prize, his second book “Manhattanite” will be out in the Fall of 2017. His thriller in verse, “Mr. Either/Or,” will be released by Etruscan Press in Fall of 2017. His work has appeared in such journals as “The Guardian,” “POETRY” and “The Times Literary Supplement.”

Poochigian is creating poetry intended for all readers, and his new campaign #SavePoetry, serves to get poetry back into the hearts and minds of readers everywhere. Follow along @Poochigian on Twitter.

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About the book

Mr. Either/Or
Aaron Poochigian | Oct. 10, 2017 | Etruscan Press
Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9977455-2-8 | Price: $15.00
Poetry | Literary | Thriller

“Mr. Either/Or” is an ingenious debut, melding American mythology, Noir thriller and Classical epic in language in which gritty rhythms, foreboding overtones and groovy jams surround you like an atmosphere. Imagine Byron’s Don Juan on a high-stakes romp through a Raymond Chandler novel. Think Hamlet in Manhattan with a license to kill.

Advance Praise

“Aaron Poochigian’s ‘Mr. Either/Or’ is the most significant verse novel since at least Vikram Seth’s best-selling ‘The Golden Gate’ of three decades ago, although Poochigian’s prosody and plotlines are more innovative than Seth’s. A kaleidoscopic fusion of the masterful verse of Richard Wilbur and the hipster wryness of Douglas Adams, this book combines multiple genres, high culture with pop culture, and grimness with exuberance. It is a memorable, challenging and entertaining read. —A.M. Juster, author of “The BIlly Collins Experience

“Welcome to Apollo’s Dinerette, where high and low alliterate and rhyme. Think of a Gen X Ovid channeling Dashiell Hammett in a hard-boiled Choose-Your-Own-Adventure, without the illusion of choice. Here we find periods Miltonic and Byronic, gleefully seething with cartoon villainy, pratfalls, B-movie clichés, and vivid brutality. ‘Mr. Either/Or’ is a pop art symphony — sprezzatura on the tongue, melisma in the mind — and a Zoroastrian epic of kitsch and contradiction, aware that “tension alone can keep the world in balance.” Also, it’s funny as hell. The bro-tastic Keanu of a protagonist may face many choices in these pages, but for you, there can be only one. Don’t choose poorly — read it!” —Chris Childers, poet and critic

“Mr Either/Or’ is like nothing else you will have read. You have to imagine Raymond Chandler, Edgar Rice Burroughs, H. P. Lovecraft, the script-writers of The Sopranos, Robert Browning and the author of Beowulf all being miraculously melded into one supremely talented writer, with a gift for rhyme, for metrical verse and for extravagant but spot-on metaphors. The story is entertaining, fast-moving and delightfully over-the-top. We move from mysterious Eastern legends of ‘The Dragon’s Claw’ (shades of Modesty Blaise?) to espionage-fiction with shades of gritty hardboiled, and finally to an imaginative parody of apocalyptic science-fiction. It all takes place in contemporary New York, which is described with a loving but acutely sardonic eye, from the gingko trees of Washington Square to Trump’s Palace poking ‘its crenellated top / over boutiques and consulates,’ from the ‘slick / avenues of primordial goo’ of the sewer system (complete with army of subterranean ‘troglodytes with dirt/ for skin, sporadic teeth and vermin eyes’), to the halls and galleries of the Metropolitan Museum, all culminating in a surreal grand finale with lizard-like invaders assaulting the mast on the roof of the New York Times Building. Poochigian alternates action-scenes in superbly handled alliterative verse in Anglo-Saxon style (scenes of gang-warfare, of fights with aliens, chases through the subway, through the galleries of the Met and across Manhattan by car) with deft narrative and dialogue in rhyming iambic pentameter. There is no other voice quite like this in contemporary fiction or contemporary poetry: ranging from coolly colloquial to wittily literate and, when called-for, straightforwardly thrilling. Poochigian is enjoying himself. Read this book and you will enjoy yourself too. That’s a guarantee.” —Gregory Dowling, author of the “Alvise Marangon Mystery” series

An Interview with Aaron Poochigian

What inspired you to write this hybridization of modern poetry, epic, and thriller?
I want to find a broad audience for poetry, and snappy, un-put-down-able narrative verse is, I think, the best way to do it. Poets often complain that no one reads poetry anymore but, as I see it, the lack of interest is primarily the fault of the poets themselves who tend to alienate readers in various ways, rather than giving them something engaging and exciting. That’s what inspired me to write “Mr. Either/Or.” The novel brings together all of my great loves—epic poetry, genre fiction (noir and thriller), action films and Americana. I really don’t know what to call it—sometimes I call it a thriller, sometimes urban fantasy, sometimes an epic poem. The “action” mode was appealing to me for a number of reasons. First, because it is the opposite of most of the poetry that is being written today—it is not static, observational, meditative. Second, the adventures of the hero gave me, I confess, a purely escapist pleasure.

For someone who is inexperienced reading poetry, how would you recommend they approach the book, and why is this book more accessible than others?
Think of the book in terms of a “first-person shooter” video game and of an action film. First off, the hero of the novel is “you”—“you” are an undercover spy in New York City. You encounter the world through his eyes, as in a video game or in those “Choose-Your-Own-Adventure” books I read when I was a kid. Second, in being like an action film, “Mr. Either/Or” is an “upgrade” to prose fiction in that the poetry provides a sound-track as in a film by alternating between free-rhymed lines for the exposition and the pounding rhythms of Beowulf for the action scenes.

How has this book differed from your previous work in poetry, and how has it grown your writing?
“Mr. Either/Or” is different from my other work in that it is narrative and action-oriented. Because the hero “you” is a twenty-something, I had to charge up the book with his slang and idioms—with living language, the language of today and tomorrow, and his way of thinking and speaking brought my whole poetic style up to date. “Mr. Either/Or” taught me that poetry can be about anything—anything from shopping at Walgreens, to molemen living in subway tunnels, to alien invaders.

How does writing the book in second person change the narrative style and reader experience?
The reader gets to escape not only into the sensory experiences of the character but into his quirky mindset. Female readers get to learn what it is like to see the world as a male, and all readers get to have the adventures they always dreamed of having. In this sense, the book is similar to the film “Total Recall.”

What was your mindset in developing the music and rhythm of the book? What were you trying to convey with the atmosphere you created?
I just re-watched the film “The Matrix” the other night, and I was struck by the music in that film. The music and rhythms of “Mr. Either/Or” work in a similar way—the movements of the characters are not so much everyday movements as choreography. The whole poem is like a dance from beginning to end, like the fight scenes in “The Matrix.” This dance, when joined with the noir atmosphere, combine to make the book a unique sort of urban fantasy set in New York City—the sort of world I dreamed about while living there.

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Angelle Barbazon

Angelle joined the Books Forward team in 2014, and her experience and dedication has led to her being named our lead publicist. Her distinct pitching style and effective research has secured media coverage for our authors and their books in Vanity Fair, Buzzfeed, The Associated Press, The New York Times and USA Today, as well as countless regional media outlets.

Our authors love Angelle’s meticulous attention to detail and unwavering commitment to their vision and their books. Other publicists frequently spend time learning from her — how to ask probing questions, find the right person to contact and craft a successful pitch.

She began her professional career at news outlets across the country before surrendering to her love of books. An award-winning journalist whose own work has appeared in local and national publications, including NPR, she is tenacious in finding the right angles to utilize for each campaign and connecting with the right reporter for the job.

Angelle can usually be found at a concert, working on Mardi Gras costumes or taking photos of random cats that she meets wandering around New Orleans.