The five sequences of Lift Your Right Arm are minimalist novels of sorts--thought-provoking, mostly deadpan prose that is often darkly humorous. From the stark relationship studies of "Bagatelles" and "Dirty Windows" to the wry observations of "Mr. Deadman" and "A Certain Clarence," the stars of these pieces are Peter Cherches' unique takes on Everyman and Everywoman--dead or alive--navigating a world in which very little is what it seems. The title is taken from a piece that appeared on the website Poetry 180, which has introduced hundreds of thousands of high school students and other readers to Cherches' work over the past decade. For additional related material, visit: liftyourrightarm.wordpress.com

Lift Your Right Arm

Literature & Fiction

Cherches, Peter

Short Stories & Anthologies

Pelekinesis

Petrichor

Fiction. Stevie Ludich stumbles upon a dry lakebed covered in writing that tells the story of a man who goes to a job interview with a weird corporation that seems to know an awful lot about the job candidates. As Stevie dictates the words into an old reel-to-reel, he can't help but wonder who wrote them and why. And that's not the only thing going on in Cartago. The police chief is on the reluctant lookout for biblical signs, a young photographer/waitress is making decisions about her future, and Guy and Jeanne Valleroy have their hands full with the Communal Orgone Accumulator, the mummy of 'Ambrose Bierce?', and the impending arrival of some colorful guests. What excitement will their big event bring? And how will all of these things overlap?

Ewers, David Scott

Contemporary

Stevie Ludich stumbles upon a dry lakebed covered in writing. As he dictates the words into an old reel-to-reel (for the police department, no less!), he can't help but wonder who wrote this, and why. Stevie's friends are little help, more concerned with getting high than... well, than pretty much anything else. And Candy? She's got some decisions to make about her own future. Candy's brother, a police officer, doesn't like Stevie much. Not like the Police Chief. Chief Hill has something going on, something of biblical proportions. He's also the one who got Stevie to dictate the words into the tape machine. The words! The words tell the story of this guy, David Edwards, who goes to a job interview with a weird corporation that knows WAY too much about the job candidates. And they use these gloves to connect to the computer, and these helmets that display the faces of other candidates. But they pay $1000 a day (a DAY!) which will help David get his act together. Maybe. Probably not.  Trying to get a different type of show together are Guy and Jeanne Valleroy. They have their hands full with the Communal Orgone Accumulator, the mummy of 'Ambrose Bierce?', and the impending arrival of some colorful guests. What excitement will their big event bring? And how will all of these things overlap?

David Scott Ewers

Poetry. FOR LACK OF DIAMOND YEARS is an idiosyncratic collection of short poems—most under 20 lines—that are a mixed set of free verse, unabashed counting forms like the Hay(na)ku and the Elfchen, and a very minimalist version of John Cage's mesostic form, along with a small number of poems based on colors, and a few that steal freely from traditional American songs. At its heart, FOR LACK OF DIAMOND YEARS is a quixotic narration between realms of being—from the quotidian into the sometimes numinous, sometimes murky realm of the unknown/unknown, and on into a kind of revamped transcendental—the 'what if' and 'where am I' worlds. There is a thread of praise that runs throughout—an embrace of the joys and sorrows of thinking and feeling, of love and loss.

For Lack of Diamond Years

Beasley-Baker, Caroline

Poetry

California Interest. Art. Music. CROSSED PATHS: DESPERATION SQUAD AND THE AGE OF FORTUITISM is an exploration and documentation of a slice of the underground art and music scene in the Pomona Valley of California, beginning in the early 1980s and moving into the 21st Century with a particular focus on The Desperation Squad. Highlights include stories from The Warped Tour, America's Got Talent, and lead singer Kevin Ausmus' run for mayor of Pomona (the "Rock and Roll Mayor").

Crossed Paths: Desperation Squad and the Age of Fortuitism

Ausmus, Kevin

History & Criticism

Literary Nonfiction. California Interest. Humor. David Allen takes an alphabetical tour through 26 uniquely entertaining aspects of Pomona, California with this delightful series of newspaper columns that first appeared in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin. This 10th Anniversary edition, the first time in paperback, includes updates, commentary, and a new introduction by the author.

Pomona A to Z

Humor & Entertainment

ALLEN, DAVID

Humor

Fiction. This powerful, character-driven tale follows Larry Simmons through several life-changing events as 1957 looms on the horizon. Should he continue his athletic aspirations? Will he be inspired by more poetry? What does high school mean to him? And what is happening with Cameron Mitchell?

Football

Skiles, Don

Literary Nonfiction. Essays. Memoir. CLOSING THE BOOK: TRAVELS IN LIFE, LOSS, AND LITERATURE explores the intersection of literature and life in personal essays about traveling, teaching, reading, writing, living, and dying. Each essay's narrative arc is formed and informed by the act of reading literature that makes a reader feel like the book she's reading was somehow written specifically for her to read in that exact moment. Renstrom relies on science fiction as a catalyst for grief, as well as a means of pushing past grim realities to begin envisioning life reconstructed and to embrace the idea that "there's nothing wrong with rebuilding forever."

Closing the Book: Travels in Life, Loss, and Literature

Renstrom, Joelle

Fiction. The fourteen stories in HEIBERG'S TWITCH were not selected for their resemblance to one another, but for their differences in character, tone, and form. The aim is to deploy imagination and invention to furnish tales about the variety of human conditions, the scope of thought, the diversity of experience. Settings range from a Scandinavian island to ancient Chinese courts, from the streets of Hyde Park in Boston to the galleries of midtown Manhattan, from Southern California to Eastern Europe, from Africa to South America—in one story, both continents at once. The stories are populated by schoolboys and poets, dictators and delinquents, college girls and composers, businessmen and scientists. Each tale conjures its own world, has its own language, aims to illuminate a distinct experience, a unique situation. Like human life, the stories in HEIBERG'S TWITCH are comic sad, pathetic, perplexing, and tragic.

Heiberg's Twitch

Wexelblatt, Robert

United States

Literary Nonfiction. Memoir. Allen Callaci is a librarian, rock and roll singer, and heart transplant recipient. HEART LIKE A STARFISH is his account of that death-defying journey and the healing that follows for both himself and those around him. With illustrations by the author and beautiful cover art by Amy Maloof, this wonderfully chaotic tale is told in a non-linear style that manages to convey the frenetic events and emotions while still embracing the strength and care and security all around. A portion of the proceeds of the book will be donated to Cedars- Sinai Heart Research Institute where the procedure was performed.

Heart Like A Starfish

Biographies & Memoirs

Callaci, Allen

Memoirs

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Books by Pelekinesis

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the Pelekinesis publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Lift Your Right Arm

Petrichor

Petrichor

For Lack of Diamond Years

Crossed Paths: Desperation Squad and the Age of Fortuitism

Pomona A to Z

Football

Closing the Book: Travels in Life, Loss, and Literature

Heiberg's Twitch

Heart Like A Starfish