Love with a Twist -- and a Knot in the Stomach

What is this man thinking? Find out here.

Just in time for Valentine's Day, an alternate take on the idea of love.

Yearning, confusion, hope, sorrow, the French and Indian War -- and the origin of Solomon.

Have you ever thought "about somebody so much that they end up becoming part of, just, your makeup, the person that you are"?

This man has. Find out more here.

Tuesday, Dec. 1: An Evening of Music and Literature in Dowtown Alliance

On Tuesday, December 1, J.B. Solomon Editions will co-host a night of music and literature tied to our latest poetry offering, Screaming Freedom by Allen Michael Hines. We hope to see you there!

Here are the details:


Event: Screaming Freedom: A Night of Music and Literature from Northeast Ohio

Time: 7:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 1

Venue: Jupiter Studios, 346 E. Main St., Alliance, Ohio

Readers: Screaming Freedom author and Alliance native Allen Michael Hines will read from his new book of poems. He will be accompanied by poet, fiction writer, and storyteller Bill Johnson    .

Books: Available for purchase/signing at the show.

Musical Guests: Ed Hall, bluesy folk-rock singer-songwriter. Richie Kindler, Eastern-inspired multi-instrumentalist. Aaron Brooks, Simeon Soul Charger front man.


Screaming Freedom has already been getting great press. Here are links to some of the coverage:

Akron Beacon Journal
Youngstown Vindicator
BRsq

To buy the book, go to Lulu. Or, e-mail the author directly at ahines@kent.edu.

Welcome to J.B. Solomon's Cabin of Wonders

Welcome from your friends at J.B. Solomon Editions! As you can see, we're jumping for joy -- even at the beach in January -- about literature, the arts, and Northeast Ohio. That's just how excited we are about our activities and offerings!

On this site, we offer more information about the three titles we have available so far. You can check out reviews and excerpts, and connect to online retailers where you can purchase these books.

First, there is Screaming Freedom, our latest poetry offering, available September 14. Penned by Allen Michael Hines, these poems explore the intricate particularities of a life with cerebral palsy -- and the common humanity that unites us all. This probing book is already causing quite the stir in the Northeast Ohio literary community.

Next, we have last summer's sizzling literary sensation, In the Hardship and the Hoping: Poems of Northeast Ohio. This collection gathers the visions of 19 Northeast Ohio poets, presenting a vibrant collage of love, loss, and life in this neck of the woods. It also marries poetry with photos by award-winning Cleveland photographer Greg Ruffing. Quite a number of its poems were featured last year on the fleet of SARTA buses operating throughout Stark County.

Finally, our inaugural title, Anywhere but Here, which showcases short stories by Tim Bugansky, is still going strong. We're sure you'll enjoy its unique and potently poignant cocktail of sadness, melancholy, yearning, and ill-timed urges to use the bathroom.

So pull up a comfy chair, draw yourself a pint, maybe pack a pipe with your favorite fragrant tobacco. There's always room around the fireside here at J.B. Solomon's place.

Screaming Freedom by Allen Michael Hines -- AVAILABLE SEPT. 14

 


Screaming Freedom, a collection of poems by Allen Michael Hines, marks a quiet milestone in the world of Northeast Ohio poetry. The 32 poems that comprise the collection are spare, thought-provoking, and imbued with a driving desire to understand and be understood. Hines, an Alliance native and Kent State University student who lives with cerebral palsy, seeks “to give a passionate voice to the realities of disability” – and he does so adeptly over the course of this volume. Screaming Freedom contains poems of melancholy, hope, reflection, and the search for unconditional love and acceptance. They are probing, at times political – and always personal and poignant.

While Hines’ poems touch on Northeast Ohio communities, landmarks, and history as they explore the intricacies a life apart from the mainstream, their message is universal. The poems are underscored by a quest for equality, by a desire to examine the realities of the under-represented. They give light to the unique challenges, perspectives, struggles and strengths of those who live with “disabilities.” But Hines’ poems ultimately transcend the topic of disability – and hone in on the humanity in us all.

"In making known the restrictions imposed upon the poet by cerebral palsy, Allen Hines holds a magnifying glass to the yearnings felt by all of us, simultaneously limited and enabled as we are by our embodiment here in time: to speak clearly, to embrace another, to bridge the gap of our separateness. ... I am sure this young poet has many more poems to write ... and an audience waiting to read them, for Hines’ debut collection exhibits a remarkable sense of control and clarity; his wish 'to over-articulate life' has been realized."
          --Alice Cone, author of As If a Leaf Could Be Preserved

***A POETRY READING/BOOK-RELEASE PARTY IS PLANNED FOR 9:30 P.M. TUSDAY, OCT. 6 AT PROFESSORS PUB (110 E. MAIN ST., KENT). ALLEN WILL READ FROM AND SIGN COPIES OF SCREAMING FREEDOM.***

Read excerpts here.

In the Hardship and the Hoping: Poems of Northeast Ohio (2008)

Penned by authors originally from and/or currently living in Northeast Ohio, the poems in this collection reflect a variety of styles and themes, from the traditional to the experimental, from light-hearted takes on everyday life to poignant reflections on love, loss, faith, and change. Many explore local landscapes and landmarks in intimate detail, some celebrate the seasons and the scenery, while others leave Northeast Ohio behind to explore distant locales both real and imagined. But they all, in their unique ways, delve into the geography of human existence and emotions. The authors are as diverse a group as their writing. Included here are poems from professional and spare-time writers alike, from teenagers to retirees. Complimenting the poetry are arresting photos by award-winning Cleveland photographer Greg Ruffing. Taken together, the artists and their works are all voices of reflection and creativity from our collective community, the vibrant patchwork of places and personalities that is Northeast Ohio.

In a unique arts-transit collaboration with SARTA, Stark County's public transit agency, about a dozen of these poems were featured last year on  the fleet of passenger buses operating throughout Stark County.

“Alliance publisher J.B. Solomon Editions is to be commended for their collection In the Hardship and the Hoping: Poems of Northeast Ohio, but also for their promotion and stewardship of the arts.”
          --Barbara McIntyre, The Akron Beacon Journal

Check out this title on Amazon.
Read excerpts here.

Anywhere but Here (2007)

A bitter newspaper reporter holds court in a decrepit bar in a dying Rust Belt town. A peasant family disintegrates within a tropical society on the verge of revolution. A bus driver laments his job during a uniquely monotonous trip through the dreary Midwestern landscape. A shell-shocked war correspondent wanders aimlessly in frigid French Canada. An Ecuadorian woman toils in an American sweatshop, only to return to despair and infidelity at home. These and other characters both ordinary and extraordinary populate Anywhere but Here. Set in a variety of locales -- from Ohio to South America -- the stories and vignettes that comprise this collection raise questions about identity, permanence, and the quiet struggle to find meaning in a seemingly senseless world. In an age of globalization and instant interconnection, Anywhere but Here offers a subtle examination of events and emotions that divide us but, at the same time, unite us in shared isolation.

"In his first collection of short stories, Ohio native and former Tampa Tribune reporter Tim Bugansky explores themes of transition and isolation through a broad cast of characters: an angry bus driver shuttling around college students, an Ecuadorian woman laboring inside an American sweatshop, a Midwest reporter slowly losing his idealism. ... Bugansky is at his best when he's describing the jungles of South America, disintegrating Rust Belt towns and the numbing depression we all share when something inside us is lost."
           --Alex Pickett, Creative Loafing Tampa

Check out this title on Amazon.
Read excerpts here.