the return of girl show
One of September's Patreon perks is the deluxe hardcover version of EXOTICA, which I am putting the final touches on as we speak. At the same time, in the interest of the coming month bringing a sideshow vibe, I've also been tinkering the past few days on a re-release of GIRL SHOW in a free electronic version. Not only will digital subscribers get access to this title, but it's expanded with more artwork from the original collage series that the Black Lawrence cover was taken from. While not exactly sequels, these do feel like companion books of sorts, since the two books revel in carnival and sideshow history and research, touch on similar themes, and have a similar feel.
While GIRL SHOW is more about the allure of running away to this romanticized view of travelling shows, EXOTICA is more the reality of carny life, with most of its poems set on the road or during the off months. There is a poem called "exotica" in the former that sets the tone for the second. Certain figures crop up in both. I've also been working on another small series of sideshow poems more recently, and they may in fact be a third piece in the puzzle, though these focus more on 19th century carnival life than the early 20th century one of the other two books. This one will be an e-zine project I am still working out the logistics of. Not a trilogy per se, but three sibling books in the same universe. All three have artistic components--the paper collages which you will see more of in GIRL SHOW. The fauxtographs of EXOTICA. The diorama-like pieces of the Victorian project.
I'm excited to bring a little more eyes to the original, especially since the Black Lawrence edition recently went out of print and can be hard to find these days unless secondhand (I do have a few more copies on hand, so hit me up if you'd like one of those.) It was by far my most-selling book of all three BLP titles, so that are quite a few floating around out in the world in libraries and such.
Comments