In-print roundup

Novel inspired by the life and times of pulp writer Robert E. Howard.
Jacket and interior art by Clive Hicks-Jenkins.
Design by Mary-Frances Glover Burt.
Mercer University Press, just out!
More here.
Amazon book info. Find an Indie.
...

"a strange and wonderful book" --editor John Wilson
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"a haunting tale of dark obsessions and transcendent creative fire, 

rendered brilliantly in Youmans' richly poetic prose"  --Midori Snyder. Full review here. 

Dear friends and readers, I am taking a little break from the blog. I leave you with this list of my books in print. (Some of the earlier ones should be back in print soon.) Happy reading to you! Meet you here anon....

Novel. A failed painter chases her muse, and more.
ForeWord Indiefab finalist.
Jacket and interior art by Clive Hicks-Jenkins.
Design by Mary-Frances Glover Burt.
Mercer, 2014
More here.
Amazon. Find an Indie.
...

It’s brilliantly well-written, shockingly raw, and transportingly—sometimes confusingly (but not in a bad way)—weird.... It’s difficult to overstate the emotional effect that Glimmerglass has had on me. This is a beautiful, complex, moving book. Marly Youmans’s prose flows like clear water, and every image is, as Cynthia observes, “full of meaning” (p. 39). --Tom Atherton. Read the complete review here.
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Nature, architecture, dread, thrill, sexual dilemma, and murder echo against Youmans’ gorgeous prose and terrifying romance, which glides like a serpent―without a single extraneous or boring word. Youmans is my favorite storyteller. I come back to her as if to a holy well. --poet Jeffery Beam

    

Novel. A Depression-era orphan, searching for light.
ForeWord BOTYA Silver Award & The Ferrol Sams Award.
Design by Mary-Frances Glover Burt.
Mercer, 2012.
More here.
Amazon. Find an Indie.
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...Its themes and the power of its language, the forceful flow of its storyline and its characters have earned the right to a broad national audience. --John M. Formy-Duval About.com full review here.
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Every page in this book resonates with beautifully crafted language, a "universal melody that sings of deep loss and conciliation," and a moving story of a young boy, who after the death of his beloved younger brother, takes to the rails in Depression-era America. I agree with one reviewer that said this is destined to be an American classic. --Nancy Olsen, Publishers Weekly Bookseller of the Year

Long post-apocalyptic poem with epic, adventure, and novelistic tendencies.
HC Jacket / pb cover and interior art by Clive Hicks-Jenkins.
Design by Elizabeth Adams.
Montreal: Phoenicia Publishing, 2012
Note: The hardcover is available via Phoenicia only.
Paperback via the usual suspects!
More here.
Amazon. Find an Indie.
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...It's a high water-mark of what's possible... It's old school book-crafter perfect. With that book you leapt from being one of my favorite writers to a game-changer. The literary sphere will have to catch up to what I and others have already seen--but there is no doubt it is a remarkable achievement. --James Artimus Owen
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This is a beautiful and powerful book--worth owning, worth reading and rereading. I am so glad that it exists in the world and that I can turn to it, time and again, glorying in the language and the hope. --Rachel Barenblat, "Marly Youmans' Thaliad," from Velveteen Rabbi

And a collection of poems, some very green!
Now in second printing.
Art by Clive Hicks-Jenkins.
Design by Andrew Wakelin.
UK: Stanza Press, 2012.
More here. 
Amazon. Find an Indie.
...
Ben Steelman, The Star News (Wilmington, NC) 9 November 2014
I have been meaning to write for years about “The Foliate Head,” her 2012 poem cycle 
about the Green Man, published in Britain by Stanza Press, which must rank as 
one of the most beautiful books of the 21st century. Notable are the illustrations 
and illuminations by the Welsh artist Clive Hicks-Jenkins.

Another collection of poems, The Throne of Psychewith hc jacket / pb cover art by Clive Hicks-Jenkins
and immaculate design work by Mary-Frances Glover Burt.
Mercer, 2011.
More here.
Amazon. Find an Indie.
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...Youmans is a traditionalist in her use of forms, and her work will delight those who enjoy classical poetry with direction and structure, yet her strong and inventive metaphors and similes evoke an otherness that only Coleridge attained....wholly beautiful and brilliant. Youmans is a writer of rare ability whose works will one day be studied by serious students of poetry. Greg Langley, Books editor,The Baton Rouge Advocate, October 2, 2011

A tour in the South: postcards

At a panel, Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance
trade show, Raleigh, North Carolina.
My events there were Moveable Feast and a panel.

Reading from Maze of Blood at City Lights,
Sylva, North Carolina.
Photo by Ally Vickery.

Putting the mike back on for Q & A
With singer-songwriter Rebekah White,
photographer and designer Ansel Olsen
and our host, painter Mark Sprinkle.
Photo: Tracie Meadows

The Makers Series, Richmond
Photo: Mark E. Sprinkle

Mid-way break, Saturday workshop, Richmond
Photo: Mark E. Sprinkle

Photo: by Mark Sprinkle

Memory, with olives--

detail from Clive Hicks-Jenkins art in Maze of Blood

The five of us--no, we were just four then--stopped at a pizza place in Durham after looking at used cars. Our daughter was probably three, a little blond curly-top. She asked for black olives on the pizza, and the waitress told her that they didn't have black olives. R. didn't say anything, but her eyes filled with tears. But when our pizza came, it was black with olives. The waitress had crossed a busy highway, walked to the grocery on the other side, and bought olives to bring back and put on that pizza.

I wish that I remembered her name. I wish that we were all as kind as that young woman.

The world would be all love and olive branches.

A review from Youmans/Yeomans land--

Marly Youmans

1 min · Edited · 

So fun! Thank you to a fellow Youmans (a far distant cousin of sorts, I trust) for a review of Maze of Blood. I've been surprised by how many writers named Youmans/Yeomans are out there in the world, and I now declare Claire the nicest.

Claire Youmans' Author Blog: Read Maze of Blood -- "a beautiful and important book."

Claire Youmans is an accomplished writer and author of The Toki-Girl and the Sparrow-Boy, Rough Justice and Women Before the Bench all available on Amazon.com.

CLAIREYOUMANSAUTHOR.BLOGSPOT.COM|BY CLAIRE YOUMANS

Debut poetry collection at Lady Word of Mouth

Lisa Mangini, 

Bird Watching at the End of the World.

Go here for quotes, information, and links to sample poems.

Maryann Corbett, "Mid Evil" at LWoM

Lady Word of Mouth is pleased to announce a new page featuring poet Maryann Corbett's book of poems, Mid Evil. The collection came out some months ago, having won the Richard Wilbur Award. See Mid Evil here. The great Lady needs minions, servitors, and willing hearts to share the word!

Waving--

At El Mercadito Taqueria, Sylva, North Carolina--
still on the road but back in New York soon.