BROWN PAPER PRESS 6475 EAST PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY, LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA 90814 WWW.BROWNPAPERPRESS.COM Title: Burdens by Water Author: Alan Rifkin Publisher: Brown Paper Press Publication Date: Feb. 23, 2016 Category: Nonfiction ISBN: 978-1-941932-04-9 Format: Trade paperback Pages: 196 Price: $16.99 (print), $10.99 (ebook) Trim: 5x8 Distributor: Ingram Content Group Contact: Wendy Thomas Russell at [email protected]Burdens by Water: An Unintended Memoir By Alan Rifkin
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BROWN PAPER PRESS 6475 EAST PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY, LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA 90814 WWW.BROWNPAPERPRESS.COM
Title: Burdens by Water Author: Alan Rifkin Publisher: Brown Paper Press Publication Date: Feb. 23, 2016 Category: Nonfiction ISBN: 978-1-941932-04-9 Format: Trade paperback Pages: 196 Price: $16.99 (print), $10.99 (ebook) Trim: 5x8 Distributor: Ingram Content Group Contact: Wendy Thomas Russell at [email protected]
BurdensbyWater:AnUnintendedMemoirByAlanRifkin
BROWN PAPER PRESS 6475 EAST PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY, LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA 90814 WWW.BROWNPAPERPRESS.COM
Burdens by Water: An Unintended Memoir By Alan Rifkin Publisher: Brown Paper Press Publication Date: Feb. 23, 2016 Category: Nonfiction ISBN: 978-1-941932-04-9 196 pages; paperback $16.99, e-book $10.99 Distributor: Ingram Content Group
BURDENSBYWATER:ANUNINTENDEDMEMOIRRELEASE DATE: FEBRUARY 23, 2016 LONG BEACH, CALIF. — Ten years ago, author Alan Rifkin wrote a revelatory piece in the Los Angeles Times exploring a literary genre that he dubbed Southern California Dream Realism — a style evident in the works of John Fante, Joan Didion and Nathanael West.
What’s remarkable is that not only did Rifkin define the genre, he has — with his latest body of work — emerged as one of its leading voices.
Burdens by Water: An Unintended Memoir is Rifkin’s long-awaited follow-up to his celebrated debut Signal Hill, which Kirkus Reviews called “exquisite” and the Los Angeles Times Book Review called “hauntingly beautiful.”
A former (or perhaps forever) Valley Boy, Rifkin situates himself squarely amidst the aging of the West Coast experiment. He has fashioned Burdens by Water out of 12 distinct essays and narratives — each of which takes his readers on an existential assignment of sorts. Although all the essays are stand-alone literary accomplishments, taken as a whole, the collection reveals something much deeper — an unintended yet poignant memoir.
Rifkin’s quest, set against a backdrop of the elusive California Dream, is a spiritual one, both ancient and new in Los Angeles. The author chases summer with a pool man, lives with monks in a Santa Barbara monastery, joins a dysfunctional Los Angeles writing club, traces the steps of Otzi the Iceman, emulates a Bible-based marriage, and confronts his mother’s last season in his
BROWN PAPER PRESS 6475 EAST PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY, LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA 90814 WWW.BROWNPAPERPRESS.COM
beloved San Fernando Valley, among other adventures. “During the last three decades,” Rifkin said, “I stumbled through seemingly innumerable
personal dramas that would sometimes break the surface of my stories — new loves and breakups, columns begun and resigned, constant God talk, marriage to a hardline Christian conservative, proud and then bitter exile in suburban Long Beach, home foreclosure in step with the national foreclosure crisis, and the sudden illness of my brilliant oldest son. All this alongside a certain delirious, achy yearning for revelation that, to me, the Southern California landscape has always invited.”
Burdens by Water is published by Brown Paper Press, a boutique publishing house based in Long Beach, Calif., whose mission is to engage readers on topics of contemporary culture through quality writing and thoughtful design. Founded in 2014, the press’ mission is to champion authors with new perspectives, strong voices and original ideas. Its first book, Relax, It’s Just God: How and Why to Talk to your Kids About Religion When You’re Not Religious was called a “gem of a book” by the Library Journal and was featured in an episode of the PBS NewsHour in August.
Burdens by Water will be widely distributed to all major booksellers, including Barnes & Noble, by Ingram Content Group in both paperback and e-book formats beginning Feb. 23, 2016. For more information or to receive an advanced reading copy, please contact Wendy Thomas Russell at 562-656-2771 or via email at [email protected]
BROWN PAPER PRESS 6475 EAST PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY, LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA 90814 WWW.BROWNPAPERPRESS.COM
ABOUTTHEAUTHOR
AlanRifkin teaches creativewriting atCaliforniaStateUniversity,LongBeach.He has been a writer and editor at amultitude of literary journals andalternative weeklies — includingPremiere, L.A. Weekly, Details, LosAngelesTimes,andBlackClock.Followingthe releaseofhis firstbook,SignalHill:Stories,Rifkinwasnamedafinalist for both the PEN Center-USAAward inJournalismandtheSouthernCaliforniaBooksellersAwardinFiction.He has led workshops in magazinewritingandcreativenonfictionatSantaMonica College, Chapman Universityand UCLA. Extension and is the co-authorofWoundstoBind:AMemoirofthe Folk-Rock Revolution (Rowman &Littlefield,2015)
BROWN PAPER PRESS 6475 EAST PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY, LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA 90814 WWW.BROWNPAPERPRESS.COM
BROWN PAPER PRESS 6475 EAST PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY, LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA 90814 WWW.BROWNPAPERPRESS.COM
ABOUTTHECOVER
The cover of Burdens byWaterwasdesigned by DR.ME, an award-winningdesignteammadeupofRyanDoyle (DR) andMark Edwards (ME).AlongsidecreatingartworkforrecordlabelsincludingTriAngleRecordsandYoung Turks, the Manchester,England,studiospentayearcreatingacollageadayforaprojectcalled365DaysofCollage—whichledtoasoloshow called “Choice Cuts” at HOMEManchester.DR.MEisnowauthoringa book called Cut That Out, whichlooks at the use of collage incontemporary graphic design, to bepublishedinAutumn2016byThames&Hudson.Burdens by Water by Alan Rifkin isDR.ME’sfirstcoverdesign.
BROWN PAPER PRESS 6475 EAST PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY, LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA 90814 WWW.BROWNPAPERPRESS.COM
