Black Sabbatical

*Mailings to McSweeney's and Exquisite Corpse readership *Initiative to reach readers of Southern literature through the Oxford American and the Conference for the Book in Oxford, Mississippi *Initiative to reach other readers through Ralph's music fan base. Blurb from well-known folk artist Will Oldham. *Blurb from filmmaker Harmony Korine: "Brett Eugene Ralph can surely write like the dickens and I don't mean Charles. He's a true beast of a man with insight and beauty to spare." *Total season's marketing budget of $18,000; individual book budget of $3,000 *Internet marketing to involve e-mailing announcements to Sarabande listserv and listing title on our Website. Additional review copy mailing to blog reviewers. *Newsletter and catalog feature mailed to entire Sarabande database as well as to Ralph's contacts *2,000 postcards mailed to MFA programs, bookstores, libraries, as well as to Ralph's contacts *Will submit to all qualifying book prizes

A debut collection that sings with gutbucket colloquialisms, hallucinatory interludes, and Kentucky's storytelling tradition.“Reading these absolutely terrific poems, with their southern colloquial drawl and sober Buddhist insight, is a bit like having a sage old sleepy tiger purr in your ear while you lie at the edge of the swamp in back of Billy-Joes's pickup truck.”—Dazed & Confused Magazine “Sustaining, inspiring, even rescuing.”—Will Oldham, musician “A true beast of a man with insight and beauty to spare.”—Harmony Korine, filmmaker “Brett Eugene Ralph can look at a woman dancing alone, ‘eyes closed, lips parted, held aloft / in one hand half a mango, / a gigantic butcher knife / clutched in the other,’ and know immediately that she’s praying.”—Andrew Hudgins Brett Eugene Ralph lives in rural western Kentucky. His country-rock ensemble, Brett Eugene Ralph’s Kentucky Chrome Revue, can be heard in seedy dives throughout the South.