Coming August 23, 2022, from Small Beer Press.
Final Cover for The Silverberg Business
Category: Books
Interview with Undiscovered Territories Cover Artist
New interview I did with Undiscovered Territories cover artist Chris Roberts, for the PS Publishing newsletter.
From the intro to the interview: “I was introduced to the art of Chris Roberts while working on page design and layout for Seb Doubinsky’s 2009 PS novel The Babylonian Trilogy, an insanely creative work that still affects my subconscious (Aside from writing fiction, I also design books, mainly interiors, and have been working with PS since 2003.). The interview is available online here.
First Undiscovered Territories Review
Publisher’s Weekly has some things to say, some good, some not, which is what I would expect from a collection that has a lot of stylistic variety. Collections can’t please everyone. For example: “Weaker pieces rely on repetitive motifs and uncanny concepts stretched too-thin” but “The strongest entries allow Wexler’s accomplished prose ample elbow room.” I don’t agree with the part about weaker pieces, yet, obviously the reviewer is correct on the praising bits. Full review here.
Radio Interview
Back in 2003, when my first book, In Springdale Town, came out, I did my first radio interview, with Vick Mickunas for his program The Book Nook, at WYSO, public radio for the Miami Valley etc. etc. The experience was an experience and not my favorite experience. In August 2021, before my reading to celebrate the release of The Painting and the City paperback/ebook, Vick had me back on his show. The shows used to be live but are now taped in advance, which is less stressful. I had fun this time, and I think it came out okay. Not that I plan to listen to it. But here’s the link to the archive.
The building shown above is the former Yellow Springs high school turned Village offices turned miscellaneous rentals turned future radio station plus offices for Dave Chappelle’s Iron Table Holdings.
Undiscovered Territories is ready for pre-order
Taking a break from end of summer pickling to say that it’s time to pre-order my new short story collection, Undiscovered Territories.
Book Release Day
Which is a followup from the previous stack of books post.
Today is the official release day for the paperback and ebook editions of my novel, The Painting and the City. The book originally came out in 2009 as a limited edition hardback from PS Publishing. This new edition is brought to you by Steve Connell of Verse Chorus Press and his new imprint The Visible Spectrum. Paperbacks are available from independent stores everywhere, Bookshop.org and Amazon, and ebooks from various places.
I will read from the novel Tuesday, August 10, 7 pm, at the Emporium in Yellow Springs, with guitar accompaniment by Kurt Miyazaki. We’ll be doing a live stream from the Emporium’s Facebook page.
Local store Dark Star books will sell copies at the event.
The Painting and the City
New Paperback Edition Coming in July
This has been in process for a long time, but I can finally announce that The Visible Spectrum, a new imprint of Verse Chorus Press, is publishing the first U.S. and first paperback edition of my novel, The Painting and the City, set for a July 20, 2021 release. The book came out from PS Publishing in 2009, in two editions, a 100 copy slipcased hardback signed by myself and the introducer (Jeffrey Ford) and a 350 copy regular hardback signed by me. These were expensive and available in few stores.
I’m excited to have this new paperback (and ebook) coming out. I’ll post more as it gets closer to the release date.
In addition, my new short story collection (announced here or scroll down) should be coming out in September 2021.
“An unusual, haunting tale from a distinctive new voice.”—Lisa Tuttle, Sunday Times (London)
New Book
Tom Reamy’s Blind Voices.
I’m pretty thrilled to announce that I have a contract from PS Publishing for a short story collection. The title is Undiscovered Territories, publication tentatively late 2020. The collection will have over 98,000 words of my short fiction, including the novella, In Springdale Town, which came out in book form from PS in 2003.
Chris Roberts will be creating cover art and possibly some interior illustrations for part title pages.
Here’s a blurb from Steve Rasnic Tem (a shortened version will appear on the back cover):
“Writers who work in fantasy and science fiction often feel the need to adjust their raw imaginings to the expectations of genre. My experience of Robert Freeman Wexler’s work in Undiscovered Territories is that he has largely been able to avoid that compromise, creating emotionally and stylistically complex literary fairy tales which do not fit within the standard genres. Neither are they “realistic” in the conventional sense. In Wexler’s fiction bread sings and narrates its autobiography, a four-armed giant slips and tells a story while lying flat in the snow, and a vision of a rain forest appears on the wall of an urban building. As far-fetched as these metaphors may seem, they achieve an unexpected realism through Wexler’s manipulation of fragmented texts (an art history, a series of government proclamations, etc.) and a style which mimics such familiar modes as the adventure story and the travel journal. The result is at times reminiscent of a Jonathan Swift or a Jorge Luis Borges, and in all ways, fantastic. “
—Steve Rasnic Tem, author of Figures Unseen: Selected Stories and The Night Doctor And Other Tales
Laconic Writer 