Review of ALL SKATE in Belt Mag

“Jakiela is a master of an essay form that is distinctly her own, a kind of integrated collage style that brings together her background as a journalist and the author of collections of poetry, weaving together quotes, facts, musings, digressions, and stories, pulling us in with opening lines like, “One mid-pandemic day, because I love my daughter and because I have what my mother said is the common sense of a doorknob, I found myself sprawled on a tennis court trying not to pass out.””

 

So grateful to author Nancy McCabe and BELT Magazine Editor Ed Simon for this sweet and thoughtful review of ALL SKATE. Read the full review here >> https://beltmag.com/skating-with-lori-jakiela/

 

Snag a copy direct from the fantabulous Roadside Press at https://www.magicaljeep.com/product/all-skate/186

Excerpts from ALL SKATE: TRUE STORIES FROM MIDDLE LIFE by Lori Jakiela

“The Art of the Take-Off” and “The Art of the Carry On” from All Skate: True Stories from Middle Life by Lori Jakiela are published in Littsburgh here 

“Of the Wolf” from All Skate in Belt Mag here

snag your copy at magicaljeep.com

Kerry Trautman reviews Danny Shot’s Night Bird Flying

“It’s been said of my people, the Jews, that we are endlessly fascinated by all things concerning the Jews. It’s that way with me. I am forever fascinated by all things concerning me.” This, from the story “What a Wonderful World,” hints at a hubris that does not, in fact, ever rear its head in the stories in Night Bird Flying. Rather these stories are less about the author than they are about the people and places that have been important in the author’s life. Whether describing the death of a parent or friend, or recounting details of a drunken sexcapade, the speaker in these stories is straightforward and unflinchingly open. While the stories are primarily told in first-person, it is unclear which are memoir, which fiction, and which might be some mélange of the two.

From what one might already know about Danny Shot (full disclosure: I do know him personally,) and/or what can easily be found out online, much of this book is based on true events in the author’s life. So what do we do with the bits which are not, or which fall somewhere on a spectrum between memoir and fiction? It is unclear whether the author has purposefully backed away from sharing certain areas, or whether some essays were simply written/published at different times in the author’s career, and their perspective was not edited when compiling this full manuscript, which is primarily autobiographical.

The first piece in the book, “Ich bin ein New Yorker,” discusses the author’s conflicting identity as someone currently from New Jersey rather than New York—or someone who is formerly from New York, or as someone who is simultaneously from both New Jersey and New York (“dual citizenship” the author describes). We are where we live. We are all of the places we have lived. So who are we, if folks around us identify us differently than we see ourselves? “Even though I was born in the Bronx, and lived a number of years in the East Village, because I have committed the unpardonable sin of living much of my life in New Jersey, I will never be accepted as a New Yorker.”

The second piece, “72 Scars,” also autobiographical, describes in horrifying detail various physical and emotional injuries inflicted upon the author’s body during a particular pivotal timeframe in his adolescence. “There were at least five types of scars I accumulated during the 1972-73 year.” Scar II, was a serious case of acne which often became infected, needing various medical interventions, recounted with striking detail and humility. Scar II and III—a broken nose and heel surgery. Scar IV describes a spirit broken over the death of a friend, and well a thumb broken after punching a door in grief. Scar V was the result of witnessing his father’s death: “…all I heard was a rattling sound, sort of like snoring but coming from his throat. His eyes were open but unseeing and his skin was cold.” Shot tells us willingly, and somewhat matter-of-factly about these incidents—their proximity, piling onto one another in layers of physical and emotional pain—then ends the chapter with the simple statement, “It’s gonna be okay.” He may be talking to us here, or perhaps to himself.

Then comes the third story, “And We Drown…,” still written in the first-person, but with a more typical short-story structure, and a narrator whose voice feels distinct from the author of the prior stories. Though the narrator also hails from Dumont, NJ, like Shot, he is never called by name by any of the other characters in the story, so it is unclear whether the story is autobiographical. Somehow I held the story at arms-length, wondering who is telling me this story, and why? After the intimacy and immediacy of the first two stories, I found it difficult to connect with the shenanigans of unknown youngsters in this one.

Next in “What a Wonderful World,” we’re pulled back into a real-life story in which the author, “being uncharacteristically candid,” in direct conversation with the reader, describes a tumultuous relationship with a former lover who wrestled with addiction. “I’ll let you in on a personal secret,” he says. “I really don’t like to talk about this one. I guess I have to because I brought you along this far.” Not only is the author bearing his soul in this tragic tale, but he is acutely aware of the act of bearing it, and he makes sure we readers are, too—like someone staring deep into your eyes as they kiss you or punch you in the gut.

As we catch our breaths, the story “Big Dick” protrudes right from the middle of the book. Obviously, a piece of fiction, the story makes itself as conspicuous as an erection in 7th-grade phys-ed class—it’s even the only title in all-caps in the table of contents. Perhaps its intent was as comic relief after the heart-wrenching material before it, and the pathos after in “A South Bronx Tale.” Perhaps the author was providing a moment to recuperate—either for the reader or for himself. But somehow the untruth of this story feels unwelcome, as if a stranger pulled up a seat to my Thanksgiving dinner table.

The assumption is that “Ginsberg Lives,” “Mom,” “Maestro,” and “Death of a Poet” are autobiographical, rounding out the book with heartbreak, nostalgia, and personal reflection. “I understand that it’s not a tragedy when the parent of a middle-aged man dies. Yet, when it comes to my mom, I still feel like a little boy.” I became more engrossed in these stories than “And We Drown…” or “Big Dick,” knowing for sure that they are “real.” I’m not sure why the notion of “reality” mattered to me while reading this book, and whether it would matter in the same way if I did not know Danny Shot personally to a degree. Perhaps I am drawn to the open wound of confession, the humanity in the hurt.

But true or not, the narrators in all of the book’s stories are unconcerned with currying favor with the reader or knighting themselves within the kingdom of Literature—unlike many memoirs which cast their authors in only the most favorable light. Instead, they are satisfied to tell their stories for the record, to commemorate their time on their streets, in their homes, with friends and family, in their schools and neighborhoods. Like Brighton Beach Memoirs, Sex and the City, or A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, the landscapes of Night Bird Flying—mainly New Jersey and New York City—are inescapable backdrops that flavor the narratives and situate the characters in place and time. However, there are no rose-colored glasses to be found, no dousing the reader with condescending waves of Wisdom. There are just unpretentious portrayals of moments in a particular life, in a particular region of the US, at a particular time. The stories say: this is who I am, who I have been, where I have been, and these are the folks I’ve cared for along the way.


Ohio born and raised, Kerry Trautman is a founder of ToledoPoet.com and the “Toledo Poetry Museum” page on Facebook, which promote Northwest Ohio poetry. Her work has appeared in dozens of anthologies and journals, including Slippery Elm, Free State Review, Mock Turtle Zine, Paper & Ink, Disappointed Housewife, Limp Wrist, Midwestern Gothic, and Gasconade Review. Kerry’s books are Things That Come in Boxes (King Craft Press 2012,) To Have Hoped (Finishing Line Press 2015,) Artifacts (NightBallet Press 2017,) To be Nonchalantly Alive (Kelsay Books 2020,) and Marilyn: Self-Portrait, Oil on Canvas (Gutter Snob Books 2022.)

Purchase Night Bird Flying here https://www.magicaljeep.com/product/night/184

Danny Shot Releases New Collection, Night Bird Flying, Today

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Danny Shot Releases New Collection, Night Bird Flying, Today

February 12, 2025 — Esteemed poet and writer Danny Shot unveils his latest work, Night Bird Flying, a compelling collection of autobiographical stories that traverse the landscapes of New Jersey and New York. Published by Roadside Press, this release offers readers an intimate glimpse into Shot’s experiences and reflections.

Night Bird Flying comprises ten autobiographical vignettes, capturing Shot’s journey from his high school years to the present. The collection delves into themes of identity, belonging, and resilience, painting a vivid picture of life straddling the Hudson River. In the opening essay, “Ich bin ein New Yorker,” Shot grapples with his dual identity, asserting, “As much as I might wish to the contrary, there’s no denying I’m a Jersey guy. But there’s also no denying I’m a New Yorker too. I’ve paid my dues.”

Early reviews have lauded the collection’s depth and authenticity. Ryan Mathews in Beatdom remarked, “There are parts of Night Bird Flying that made me laugh out loud, parts that made me tear up, and a lot of parts that caused me to nod and smile.”

Similarly, Richard Modiano in Sensitive Skin Magazine described the work as “a fierce and poignant collection that captures the grit and tenderness of life on the fringes.”

Danny Shot, co-founder of Long Shot literary magazine and former NYC public high school teacher, brings decades of literary and educational experience to this collection. His previous works have been featured in notable anthologies, including Aloud: Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe and The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry.

Night Bird Flying is now available for purchase through Roadside Press and other major book retailers.

About Danny Shot

Danny Shot is a poet, writer, and editor based in Hoboken, NJ. He co-founded Long Shot literary magazine and has taught in various NYC public high schools. His work has appeared in numerous anthologies and journals, reflecting his deep connection to the New Jersey/New York metropolitan area.

About Roadside Press

Roadside Press is dedicated to publishing authentic voices that capture the diverse experiences of contemporary life. Committed to literary excellence, the press showcases works that resonate with readers seeking depth and insight.

For media inquiries, please contact:

Michele McDannold
Publisher
roadsidepress01@gmail.com

Michael T. Fournier reviews Dave Newman’s SHE THROWS HERSELF FORWARD TO STOP THE FALL

She Throws Herself Forward to Stop the Fall By Dave Newman, 192 pgs.

Sep 19, 2024

I’ve been following Dave Newman’s work for years. His depictions of America’s working class are stark in their honesty without ever pandering or slipping into schmaltz. The characters that inhabit his world are always a bad break away from losing everything, whether that break is cosmic or (often) self-inflicted. In She Throws Herself Forward to Stop the Fall, school is the commonality as Newman’s cast, mostly women, tries to cobble together better lives for themselves. One ekes out a meager living teaching adjunct college sections, another works food service while taking night classes, yet another continues to hope her boyfriend has turned his life around and that this will be the last time she has to pick him up at a crack house in the middle of the night.

Newman’s juxtaposition of tragedy and humor incorporates so many small details and big swings that each short story is a self-contained world, gripping and convincing. I keep reviewing his stuff here because he’s such a great writer, one I think Razorcake readers would dig. You know what? Fuck that—one that readers would dig, period. This one’s a banger, a heartbreaker laced with the odd beam of pure sunlight. –Michael T. Fournier

this review first appeared in Razorcake at https://razorcake.org/she-throws-herself-forward-to-stop-the-fall-by-dave-newman-192-pgs/

Cover Reveal & Pre-order: CLOUD WATCHING IN THE INFERNO by Westley Heine

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Cover Reveal & Pre-Order Announcement: Cloud Watching in the Inferno by Westley Heine

Roadside Press is thrilled to unveil the cover for Cloud Watching in the Inferno, the latest work by acclaimed author Westley Heine. Featuring striking cover art by Daniel Stine, this highly anticipated collection is set for release on April 20, 2025. Readers can now pre-order signed copies at Magical Jeep and reserve their place for this compelling new book.

About the Book:
Cloud Watching in the Inferno brings together Heine’s best works from 2022 to 2024, blending poetry and short fiction with surreal imagery and dark humor. This collection captures the existential angst of modern life through narratives that span the past and future, featuring unforgettable characters and themes of heartbreak, AI, sex, death, America, insecurity, poverty, religion, ecological collapse, disease, alcoholism, madness, and space travel.

About the Author:
Westley Heine is the author of Busking Blues: Recollections of a Chicago Street Musician and Squatter (Roadside Press, 2022), the short story collection 12 Chicago Cabbies (2021), and the poetry collection The Trail of Quetzalcoatl (2016). His latest poetry collection, Street Corner Spirits, is now available, with audio excerpts streaming on most platforms under the same title.

Heine has performed twice at the Green Mill Poetry Slam in Uptown Chicago and is now the host of the poetry open mic at The Gallery Cabaret in Bucktown, held every 4th Saturday. With a background as diverse as his writing—ranging from taxi dispatcher to filmmaker—Heine brings a raw, unfiltered perspective to his work.

Praise for Cloud Watching in the Inferno:

“Searing counterculture literature in this age of extinction. Heine chronicles tragic and comedic dysfunction, capturing the raw beauty of contemporary life with hard-boiled observations.”—Mike Zone, author of Skull My Daisy and The Earth was Shaking for Days

“A love-making session gone off the bed into the unknown. Heine’s poetry cracks the illusion of the soul with sharp visions of colorful reality.”—Cathleen Schandelmeier, author of Tattoo Screams of Love and Chicago Phoenix

“Raw and unfiltered, Heine’s collection captures the aching beauty of longing, the absurdity of modern existence, and the fleeting connections that define us.”—Richard Modiano, Director Emeritus, Beyond Baroque Literary/Arts Center Los Angeles

“Westley Heine reminds me of Sherwood Anderson, viewing the loneliness and rage of current-day America. He respects humanity’s endurance while exposing the rottenness of the world.”—Zak Mucha, LCSW, author of Swimming to the Horizon: Crack, Psychosis, and Street-Corner Social Work

“A wild ride of style and diction. Buckle up.”—Donna Vorreyer, author of Unrivered and Every Love Story is an Apocalypse Story

“A compelling quest to understand the self—Heine’s words move, enlighten, provoke, and delight.”—Sarah Rae, author of Someplace Else

“Brilliant storytelling infused with blues-inflected poetry—this collection stays with you.”—David Alec Knight, author of LEPER MOSH and The Heart is a Hollow Organ

Reserve Your Signed Copy Today!
Pre-order now at Magical Jeep and be among the first to experience Cloud Watching in the Inferno upon its release on April 20, 2025.

For media inquiries, review copies, or interview requests, please contact Roadside Press.

Follow Westley Heine on Instagram: @westleyheine

Alan Catlin reviews Dave Newman’s She Throws Herself Forward to Stop the Fall

first published in http://misfitmagazine.net/

Dave Newman, She Throws Herself Forward to Stop the Fall, Roadside Press, Magical Jeep Distribution, available on Amazon, 200 pages, 2024

Poet and prose master Newman scores big in this collection of seven tight stories. While these people don’t know each other, they probably would make instant connections. Most of them are at an age, pushing 30, unmarried, working loser jobs, half-heartedly finishing college degrees in something  with a vague dream of bettering their lives at some, unidentifiable point. They are invariably women, though not always, neither really good looking or unattractive, casual drug users, alcohol abusing, one-night standers or in nowhere relationships.  They are increasingly aware this life is going to offer them nothing if they don’t get their asses in gear and yet… And yet they lack motivation, the will to do so.  These people are not hopeless or particularly exceptional, they are just, well, people, people I have known, hell, I might even  have been one of those. Once a book I wrote based on real-life experiences was rejected with a scathing rebuke among the many, often right, alas, observations was the main character has no plans. ( I cut that part out and it became the book I wanted it to be so it wasn’t a complete loss) He has children, degrees, a crappy job but he has no real plans, well, sweetheart if you were draft eligible during the early 70s with a family or not, you’d be lucky to have a crappy job, because no one would hire you and only the government could provide the much-needed assistance to see you through to the next crappy paycheck… Newman’s people could be my children. They are not, but they could be. Read Newman, he knows of what he speaks.

—Alan Catlin, Editor misfitmagazine.net

She Throws Herself Forward to Stop the Fall by Dave Newman is available at https://www.magicaljeep.com/product/throws/168

Alan Catlin reviews Karl Koweski’s Abandoned by All Things

first published in http://misfitmagazine.net/

Karl Koweski, Abandoned by All Things, Roadside Press
Distributed by Magical Jeep Distribution, available on Amazon, 2024, 136 pages $15-

Koweski’s journey in life travels from the Midwest to the deep South. He observes Alabama’s barely sentient senator Tommy Tuberville as “the mostly evil, largely senseless/senator of Alabama” whose modest credentials for elective office,  (to us Northerners, who could give a rat’s ass about college football,) was as a relatively successful coach at Auburn.  Koweski’s musings about life are from the point of view of a guy who never completely “straightened out and flew right” as a football coach would demand. In fact, he was what you would call a fuck-up, but one who became an unpretentious, regular guy. He’s a stand-up dad and husband who remains a devoted Chicago Cubs fan, which once was, until recently, the ultimate exercise in futility. One could argue lifelong Cubs fans know loyalty beyond the boundaries of common sense (a sentiment Red Sox fans can appreciate) but ultimately paid off. The Cubs are and continue to be, an extension of the family, one could argue, which makes the poem for the late Ron Santo, a symbol of hardnosed, unflinching toughness as a player that transferred to his life and a fatal battle with a disease that claimed parts of his body piece by piece, until he died.  Fittingly, a fantasy poem describes how the poet is faced with a choice by the deity who governs the afterlife, “Cubbies winning the World Series/or Trump losing the presidential election…”(of 2016) Of course, the poet chooses the Cubbies winning  the World Series.  Somewhere Ernie Banks is smiling…As Koweski mused, “how batshit crazy could Trump/truly be?” Alas, we are finding out now…The bottom line was, remains, it was an impossible choice and you had to choose something. The lady or the tiger? Koweski is a poet for the reader who grooves on the stuff of everyday life.

Abandoned by All Things by Karl Koweski is available at https://www.magicaljeep.com/product/abandon/164

Other Books by Karl Koweski:
Under Normal Conditions (poetry)
Thrift Store Jackets (stories)

Cover Reveal and Pre-Order—ALL SKATE: True Stories from Middle Life by Lori Jakiela

ALL SKATE: True Stories from Middle Life will resonate with anyone who has ever wondered what comes next and how to face it with humor, love, and strength. Don’t miss this masterful new release from Lori Jakiela, available March 14, 2025.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Cover Reveal and Pre-Order Announcement: ALL SKATE: True Stories from Middle Life by Lori Jakiela

Cover Art by Lou Ickes

Pre-Order Now: https://www.magicaljeep.com/product/all-skate/186

Release Date: March 14, 2025
Publisher: Roadside Press

ALL SKATE: True Stories from Middle Life is a series of musings from one mid-life woman, wife, and mother on what it means to grow old in a country obsessed with TikTok, Instagram influencers, and that creepy Elon Musk and his Mars-bound robots. “What will you do / with your one wild and precious life?” the poet Mary Oliver asked, and the answer here is “everything.” From grade-school crushes to pandemic roller-skating disasters, from the dread of bathing suit season to the embrace of flawed and beautifully fragile bodies, from the uncomfortable joy of Swedish death-cleaning to the easy joy of holding on to the tiniest moments that matter, All Skate is one woman’s testimony to the eternal powers of humor, love, and kindness.

In this poignant and laugh-out-loud series of reflections, Jakiela invites readers into her world: from the heartbreak and hilarity of grade-school crushes to the pandemic roller-skating fiascos; from the dreaded anticipation of bathing suit season to the joyful embrace of flawed and fragile bodies. She takes on the challenges of Swedish death-cleaning with wit and delves into the smallest, most profound moments of human connection—testifying to the eternal power of humor, love, and kindness.

About the Author
Lori Jakiela is the author of seven books, most recently a memoir, They Write Your Name on a Grain of Rice: On Cancer, Love, and Living Even So (Atticus Books). Another memoir, Belief Is Its Own Kind of Truth, Maybe (Autumn House Press), received the Saroyan Prize for International Literature from Stanford University. Lori’s essay collection, Portrait of the Artist as a Bingo Worker: On Work and the Writing Life (Bottom Dog Press), has been adopted as a common text at Westmoreland Community College for the past two years. Many of the essays in All Skate: True Stories from Mid-Life have been published in places like Pittsburgh Magazine, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Washington Post, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, Journal of the Plague Years, Pulse, and more. Lori’s other work has appeared in The New York Times/Modern Love column, The Chicago Tribune, Brevity/Creative Nonfiction, Full Grown People, The Rumpus, and more. Her author website is http://lorijakiela.net.

Pre-Order Your Copy Today
Be among the first to own this heartfelt and hilarious tribute to the power of aging with grace, grit, and gratitude. Pre-order ALL SKATE: True Stories from Middle Life now at: https://www.magicaljeep.com/product/all-skate/186.

Media Contact:
Michele McDannold
Publisher
roadsidepress01@gmail.com

Two Roadside Press titles are reviewed in Rain Taxi Review of Books

Gregory Corso: Ten Times a Poet, edited by Leon Horton and Michele McDannold is reviewed by Patrick James Dunagan

The pressure of fame mixed with a hidden yet inherent shyness drove poet Gregory Corso to adopt a bad-boy persona, fueled by a heroin habit he never could kick and only resisted with the steady aid of alcohol. Unsure of his ability to meet the high expectations held by his audience, Corso remained until the end the louche raconteur of the Beats. Yet contributors to Gregory Corso: Ten Times a Poet make it clear that despite Corso’s personal faults and endless antics, his undeniably impish charm and sharp intellect readily won them over.”

Zack Kopp gives us the lowdown on She Throws Herself Forward to Stop the Fall by Dave Newman

“Dave Newman’s writing was once described as a “deranged cross between Charles Bukowski and William Wordsworth”—derivative of neither while equally evocative of both, and drawing “strength from both traditions” (Tears in the Fence, March 2014). Newman’s work has also been compared to Denis Johnson’s famed 1992 collection Jesus’ Son. His latest collection, She Throws Herself Forward to Stop the Fall, shows Newman holding steady among the rank of American authors who represent contemporary fiction’s latest upheavals of convention.”

Read the full reviews and more … Print edition available for purchase at https://raintaxi.com/rain-taxi-review/print-edition/