Dissonance Publishes QTPOC Writers Sustainably
Tax deductible
Dissonance Press brings collective ownerships, sustainable serializations, and nurturing readerships to the publishing world. Our goal is to allow women, queer, trans, and POC writers to pursue the writer's life, in ways that better work with their day-to-days.
Writing a book is a bit like buying a house or starting a business--it requires a huge investment of capital. With houses and businesses, there are installment plans, partnership options, venture capital. However, literature, as currently made and read, gives writers few, if any, of these options. Manuscripts are usually published whole. Authors are expected to work alone. Especially for a new writer, support comes after the book appears, not before. This means that writers must front their costs, alone, until the complete work sees print.
This is like a would-be homeowner not being able to have co-signers, nor get a loan, until after they buy the house.
Dissonance Press will publish writers in installment form, by serializing their novels/collections over a predetermined period. We will pay them by installment, and create a space for them to interact with their readers as they go, so when the book is ready for full release, they have a built-in fanbase. We will publish group work, collaborations, where three, four, eight people might have created a single manuscript. In place of that lone genius, what happens when a group of writers splits their labor to collectively create something no one alone could have created? Let's see!
We will also publish works in overlooked genres, such as prayer books, photo albums, quilts, cookbooks and letters, that help uncover the ingenuity and brilliance of writers whose cultural, religious, economic, and social positions made it difficult or impossible to create work within traditional literary forms.
We hope to host conferences, readings, workshops, and set up contests that call for all of the above, and do what we can to make it possible for more great writers to make great writing.
Finally, please remember that all contributions are tax-deductible (via Beyond Baroque Literary Arts. Check them out--they do lots of good stuff.)
<3
All of Us at Dissonance Press
PS!!! We have merch! Check out these fabulous mugs, totes, and stickers through our new Etsy shop !
https://www.etsy.com/shop/DissonancePress
***At this point, please see the following proof-of-concept projects. It is only a start; with your help, we will do so much more!***
Dissonance Press: 2019
Project 1-Under The Belly Of The Beast: An Anthology
Edited by Cori Bratby-Rudd
Cover Design: Fei Hernandez
Contributors: Wryly McCutchen, Jazmin Papadopoulos, Féi Hernandez, Ryka Aoki
Once upon a time, a group of writers queered the concept of beasts and beauties. Combining these creations into an anthology, forth- coming this July 2019 by Dissonance Press, each compelling piece ranges in topic and dismantles common tropes, villains and heroes in a world not too far from our own. This collection of poetry, prose, and short fiction centers the voices of marginalized communities. From poems that detail a coming-of-age story from the perspective of a black (assigned) girl (at birth) & the beastly notions of black girl- hood & sexuality she is forced to experience, to a fictional story about a beast named Mednick who lives out his life in a zoo, each author took the idea of a beast, and found queerness lurking in its definition.
"I am always excited by transformation. And the single, unmovable tenet of Beauty and the Beast is extreme transformation. It's through such magic that this fairy tale functions, maturely surpassing escapism and avoiding religious morality entirely. The extreme transformations in Beauty and the Beast expose the absurdity of certain rules society prescribes about what our bodies mean. (What does the transformation of the staff into animate objects have to say about the utility of bodies for instance?). If there is a moral to this story at all, it is that you can, with considerable effort and the help of loved ones, be an active agent in the transformations that define your life. That's the stuff that really makes me drool!"
-- Wryly McCutchen, Author of My Ugly and Other Love Snarls
- Cori Bratby-Rudd
I was excited to write for Under the Belly because lately I’ve been excited about the way that ghost stories allow us to talk about the lasting effects of trauma — that which haunts us. Hauntings are often beautiful while being terrifying (anthologies such as Fist of the Spider Woman show how fear can also be titillating and healing). “Beauty and the beast” felt like the perfect prompt through which to explore this oppositional dynamic: beautiful and ugly, history and present, memory and reality, fear and desire, trauma and recovery.
--Jazmin Papadopoulos, poet/videographer
Project 2--Fortune Express
"In a city that never seems to stop driving, Fortune Express gives its readers a place to pull over, rest ones feet, and have a slice of life."
In the late 1990’s. Japanese writers developed a genre called “Iyashikei.” Literally meaning “healing kind,” this genre slowed time down, contemplated, reveled in the significance of the small, even the mundane. Some think the genre responded to events like the Kobe earthquake, while others think it is simply a response to the Japanese culture of overwork. In any case, rather than plot, what drives iyashikei literature is feeling, experience, catharsis. While most short stories will focus on a conflict, the iyashikei might focus on the aftermath of the conflict, where the protagonist or antagonist might sit by a river with an ice cream cone, watch children play, and remember the name of a long-ago friend.
Fortune Express brings this style of story to Los Angeles. We also have a culture that experiences so much fear and uncertainty we often overlook the basic and familiar. Fortune Express itself is an old food truck that shows up in a different part of the city every night. There’s nothing fancy, but there is always something on the menu a character needs to eat, though they may not yet know it.
We will be asking different authors to write to write about a night outside the Fortune Express, a food that was ordered, the emotions they process, and the renewal they ultimately attain.
Project 3-Writing out of the J-Box
Who can even afford to go to a Michelin star restaurant? For this series, we have asked a group of our favorite writers to go to their local fast-food chain and write an earnest review of the dining experience, service, etc.
ALSO-Lambda Litfest Featured Event: Rethinking the Literary Machine September 22nd 4pm
The After School is a monthly work space and test platform for writers who are self-identified queers and people of color. Many of us strive to find great writers and writing wherever it may be. However, the landscape of genres, authorship, contests, publication, excludes many types of writing and writers on basis of culture, time, means of production, and economy. Our goal is to to develop writing projects that subvert or repurpose how literature is made and read. This reading/QA session will both demonstrate and discuss what results from challenging exclusionary concepts of authorship, production, and literary legitimacy.
Tax Deductible!
The After School and Dissonance Press are a program of Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center and as such all donations are 100% tax deductible. Any donation will help make an impact. Thanks in advance for your contribution to this cause that means so much to us!
Funds will go directly to Dissonance Press programing for things such as: acquiring ISBN numbers, printing costs, paying contributors, website platform fees, indesign expenses, cover art and other production costs, PA system for performances and readings, etc.
REWARDS:
As a thank you for donating we will distribute the following rewards (please keep in mind that donations need to have the donor's name listed in order to collect the rewards).
-- $5, Digital Copy of Chapbook Rendition of Under the Belly of the Beast
We created a chapbook rendition of our first anthology and as a thank you to donors, anyone who donates $5 and up will receive a copy of our digital chapbook.
--$15, Digital Copy of Entire Anthology Under the Belly of the Beast
Once completed, we will send all $15 and up donors a digital copy of the complete Under The Belly Of The Beast Anthology.
--$25, Print Copy of Under The Belly of the Beast
Donors who contribute $25 or more will receive a copy of our print anthology.
--$45, Signed Print Copy of Under The Belly of the Beast
Donors who contribute $25 or more will receive a copy of our print anthology, signed by the editor Cori Bratby-Rudd and the director of Dissonance Press Ryka Aoki.
--$100, Copy of All Future 2019 Publications
Donors will receive a physical copy of all print editions we run (plus the signed edition of Under The Belly of the Beast).
--$150, A Dissonance Press Tote Bag, All 2019 Publications, and Signed Edition of Under The Belly of the Beast
--$500, Official Sponsorship
Donors who contribute $500 or more will be listed as an official sponsor on our website, and print copies of this year's future/upcoming publications.
Writing a book is a bit like buying a house or starting a business--it requires a huge investment of capital. With houses and businesses, there are installment plans, partnership options, venture capital. However, literature, as currently made and read, gives writers few, if any, of these options. Manuscripts are usually published whole. Authors are expected to work alone. Especially for a new writer, support comes after the book appears, not before. This means that writers must front their costs, alone, until the complete work sees print.
This is like a would-be homeowner not being able to have co-signers, nor get a loan, until after they buy the house.
Dissonance Press will publish writers in installment form, by serializing their novels/collections over a predetermined period. We will pay them by installment, and create a space for them to interact with their readers as they go, so when the book is ready for full release, they have a built-in fanbase. We will publish group work, collaborations, where three, four, eight people might have created a single manuscript. In place of that lone genius, what happens when a group of writers splits their labor to collectively create something no one alone could have created? Let's see!
We will also publish works in overlooked genres, such as prayer books, photo albums, quilts, cookbooks and letters, that help uncover the ingenuity and brilliance of writers whose cultural, religious, economic, and social positions made it difficult or impossible to create work within traditional literary forms.
We hope to host conferences, readings, workshops, and set up contests that call for all of the above, and do what we can to make it possible for more great writers to make great writing.
Finally, please remember that all contributions are tax-deductible (via Beyond Baroque Literary Arts. Check them out--they do lots of good stuff.)
<3
All of Us at Dissonance Press
PS!!! We have merch! Check out these fabulous mugs, totes, and stickers through our new Etsy shop !
https://www.etsy.com/shop/DissonancePress
***At this point, please see the following proof-of-concept projects. It is only a start; with your help, we will do so much more!***
Dissonance Press: 2019
Project 1-Under The Belly Of The Beast: An Anthology
Edited by Cori Bratby-Rudd
Cover Design: Fei Hernandez
Contributors: Wryly McCutchen, Jazmin Papadopoulos, Féi Hernandez, Ryka Aoki
Once upon a time, a group of writers queered the concept of beasts and beauties. Combining these creations into an anthology, forth- coming this July 2019 by Dissonance Press, each compelling piece ranges in topic and dismantles common tropes, villains and heroes in a world not too far from our own. This collection of poetry, prose, and short fiction centers the voices of marginalized communities. From poems that detail a coming-of-age story from the perspective of a black (assigned) girl (at birth) & the beastly notions of black girl- hood & sexuality she is forced to experience, to a fictional story about a beast named Mednick who lives out his life in a zoo, each author took the idea of a beast, and found queerness lurking in its definition.
"I am always excited by transformation. And the single, unmovable tenet of Beauty and the Beast is extreme transformation. It's through such magic that this fairy tale functions, maturely surpassing escapism and avoiding religious morality entirely. The extreme transformations in Beauty and the Beast expose the absurdity of certain rules society prescribes about what our bodies mean. (What does the transformation of the staff into animate objects have to say about the utility of bodies for instance?). If there is a moral to this story at all, it is that you can, with considerable effort and the help of loved ones, be an active agent in the transformations that define your life. That's the stuff that really makes me drool!"
-- Wryly McCutchen, Author of My Ugly and Other Love Snarls
- Cori Bratby-RuddI was excited to write for Under the Belly because lately I’ve been excited about the way that ghost stories allow us to talk about the lasting effects of trauma — that which haunts us. Hauntings are often beautiful while being terrifying (anthologies such as Fist of the Spider Woman show how fear can also be titillating and healing). “Beauty and the beast” felt like the perfect prompt through which to explore this oppositional dynamic: beautiful and ugly, history and present, memory and reality, fear and desire, trauma and recovery.
--Jazmin Papadopoulos, poet/videographer
Project 2--Fortune Express
"In a city that never seems to stop driving, Fortune Express gives its readers a place to pull over, rest ones feet, and have a slice of life."
In the late 1990’s. Japanese writers developed a genre called “Iyashikei.” Literally meaning “healing kind,” this genre slowed time down, contemplated, reveled in the significance of the small, even the mundane. Some think the genre responded to events like the Kobe earthquake, while others think it is simply a response to the Japanese culture of overwork. In any case, rather than plot, what drives iyashikei literature is feeling, experience, catharsis. While most short stories will focus on a conflict, the iyashikei might focus on the aftermath of the conflict, where the protagonist or antagonist might sit by a river with an ice cream cone, watch children play, and remember the name of a long-ago friend.
Fortune Express brings this style of story to Los Angeles. We also have a culture that experiences so much fear and uncertainty we often overlook the basic and familiar. Fortune Express itself is an old food truck that shows up in a different part of the city every night. There’s nothing fancy, but there is always something on the menu a character needs to eat, though they may not yet know it.
We will be asking different authors to write to write about a night outside the Fortune Express, a food that was ordered, the emotions they process, and the renewal they ultimately attain.
Project 3-Writing out of the J-Box
Who can even afford to go to a Michelin star restaurant? For this series, we have asked a group of our favorite writers to go to their local fast-food chain and write an earnest review of the dining experience, service, etc.
ALSO-Lambda Litfest Featured Event: Rethinking the Literary Machine September 22nd 4pm
The After School is a monthly work space and test platform for writers who are self-identified queers and people of color. Many of us strive to find great writers and writing wherever it may be. However, the landscape of genres, authorship, contests, publication, excludes many types of writing and writers on basis of culture, time, means of production, and economy. Our goal is to to develop writing projects that subvert or repurpose how literature is made and read. This reading/QA session will both demonstrate and discuss what results from challenging exclusionary concepts of authorship, production, and literary legitimacy.
Tax Deductible!
The After School and Dissonance Press are a program of Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center and as such all donations are 100% tax deductible. Any donation will help make an impact. Thanks in advance for your contribution to this cause that means so much to us!
Funds will go directly to Dissonance Press programing for things such as: acquiring ISBN numbers, printing costs, paying contributors, website platform fees, indesign expenses, cover art and other production costs, PA system for performances and readings, etc.
REWARDS:
As a thank you for donating we will distribute the following rewards (please keep in mind that donations need to have the donor's name listed in order to collect the rewards).
-- $5, Digital Copy of Chapbook Rendition of Under the Belly of the Beast
We created a chapbook rendition of our first anthology and as a thank you to donors, anyone who donates $5 and up will receive a copy of our digital chapbook.
--$15, Digital Copy of Entire Anthology Under the Belly of the Beast
Once completed, we will send all $15 and up donors a digital copy of the complete Under The Belly Of The Beast Anthology.
--$25, Print Copy of Under The Belly of the Beast
Donors who contribute $25 or more will receive a copy of our print anthology.
--$45, Signed Print Copy of Under The Belly of the Beast
Donors who contribute $25 or more will receive a copy of our print anthology, signed by the editor Cori Bratby-Rudd and the director of Dissonance Press Ryka Aoki.
--$100, Copy of All Future 2019 Publications
Donors will receive a physical copy of all print editions we run (plus the signed edition of Under The Belly of the Beast).
--$150, A Dissonance Press Tote Bag, All 2019 Publications, and Signed Edition of Under The Belly of the Beast
--$500, Official Sponsorship
Donors who contribute $500 or more will be listed as an official sponsor on our website, and print copies of this year's future/upcoming publications.
Fundraising team: The After School Team (4)
Dissonance Press
Organizer
Los Angeles, CA
Beyond Baroque
Beneficiary
Ryka Aoki
Team member
Cori Bratby-Rudd
Team member
Diana Gutierrez
Team member