boost house

hi this is steve !! with an update on the state of Boost House:

first, the exciting and positive thing: Boost House has just finally released the book MACRO: An Anthology of Image Macros, with over 120 contributors, edited by penny goring and michael hessel-mial. it is nearly 300 pages of full-color, image-based poetry. it has sooo much great stuff in it, and i highly recommend getting a copy for $20 at boost-house.com !! now!! today!!! do it please !!!

second: some stuff about Boost House as a vegan co-op house and physical space. earlier this year, one of our editors and residents, EE, decided they would move away this summer to austin, texas, with their amazing partner Dane. the rest of us were initially planning to still live together in tucson, arizona, and to keep up a vegan co-op house space here. then two of our other residents, Ray and Alexandra, decided to split off and live in a smaller space together, too. this left me and one other resident, Joseph, to decide what to do after the BH lease ended. for the time being, Joseph and i have decided to move into a 2-bedroom space, which cannot really be called Boost House in all honesty. so, Boost House as a physical space does not exist right now. it is quite possible that i will re-launch Boost House as a physical space, or another vegan co-op house, in 2017 (?), but right now i am unsure about those details.

third: what does this mean for Boost House as a publisher? initially we were thinking that our original team (ee, ray, and i) would continue working together on more books, long-distance. but for several reasons, including other full-time work commitments, our editing/publishing team has decided to cease working together on future BH books. this has left me (steve) with a decision about whether i want to continue publishing books as the sole editor of Boost House, or not. after a couple years of experience with it, i feel unsure if publishing is actually an effective and efficient route for me to promote other peoples' work, or if honestly it's a better use of my time to just feature poets in my videos, podcasts, and live shows. i've also come to feel disconnected from much of the poetry world in 2016, and i feel less interested in building poetry-based community than when i started Boost House a few years ago. however (!), i do still get urges to publish certain people whose writing i really love. i'm giving myself some time to decide what i will do exactly in terms of future publishing. in any case, the books we've published so far will stay in print, and i will keep doing some work to promote them.

so, Boost House is in a strange time. we've just published MACRO which is a huge accomplishment and yall should get it !!! but also the future is very uncertain.

if you want to hear more about the story of Boost House, how/why it started, and also about difficulties we've had, things i've learned in the process, and more, you can listen to episode 7 of my Plant Liker podcast, which i recorded this April: plantliker.com/podcast/7

MACRO, edited by penny goring and michael hessel-mial, now available for preorder! The second anthology to be released by Boost House, this book includes images macros by 125 artists, printed in full color. Preorders are now up on our website! The actual print books should be here in late March or April: 

Raul Alvarez - “It’s Important to Be Happy About How Sad You Are”

Announcing The Best Thing Ever by Laura Theobald, a short book of poems written using the predictive text on an iPhone iOS 8.3 !! very funny very poignant, the winner of all literary awards !! all of them!!

from the poem "its important to be happy about how sad you are" by Raul Alvarez

if you're interested and realistically able to live with us at Boost House in Tucson, AZ, anytime in 2015 or early 2016, for at least a month or two, preferably longer, we are accepting resident apps again!

we have 2 bedrooms open RIGht NOW! if you've applied as a resident in the past and you'd be interested for this upcoming time period too, just let us kno and we will consider your app from before, yeaaah!

this month we are releasing There Is So Much Beautiful Left by Raul Alvarez. Raul’s first poetry collection ! this book engages subjects such as mental illness, family, religion, and the connection between joy and grief. his poetry believes in people, in hope, and in celebrating through pain. 

please let us know if you’re interested in reviewing this book for some publication !!! that would be awesome. email us: [email protected]

boost house is pleased to announce MACRO: an anthology of image macros to be released in full color at the end of this year.

we believe that the image macro can redefine poetry outside of canons and boundaries.

MACRO will serve as both a historical document, collecting the medium’s earliest classics, and a picture of where the form is heading.

people currently or formerly associated with Internet Poetry, alt lit, net art, weird facebook and related subgroups, tumblr-based art and poetry, New Hive and all other digital culture communities are encouraged to look through their digital archives and submit their work.

edited by Michael Hessel-Mial and Penny Goring, MACRO will bring the internet from your screen to your coffee table.

please submit your word-image works in a digital file to [email protected] by june 30, 2015. There is no limit on what you can submit, however we suggest 5-20 pieces.