4.7.2005

Plum Ruby Review would like to apologize for the seemingly long hiatus. There are many reasons, but the main one is a nasty taxicab accident our webmaster was in (moral of the story--buckle up when you trust your life to someone else). But rest assured, we haven't been steered quite off track. In fact, we are working on some exciting changes including a new look and feel for Plum Ruby Review.

So bear with us. We have some exciting prose and poetry ready to send your way in the near future!
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5.5.2004

Congratulations to Plum Ruby Review Contributor Janet I. Buck

From the release sent by the author:

Janet Buck's third print collection, Beckoned By The Reckoning, is now available from PoetWorks Press. The book is 118 pages in length and 25 of the poems, recorded in the author's own voice, are also available on CD. Of course, you can order either the book or CD separately. The cover illustration for this collection was done by the reknowned artist Dee Rimbaud, in Scotland. PoetWorks Press did a fantastic design and layout job.

Topical choices for Beckoned By The Reckoning include: love lost & found; small town life; our recent experiences at war, disability, and that albatross of unavoidable grief that catches up with all of us, the passing of loved ones.

For a preview of the cover and ordering information, see:

http://www.poetworks.com/titles2.html

http://members.aol.com/jbuck22874/beckoned.html

Congratulations Janet!

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4.7.2004

It's National Poetry Month

And what better way to celebrate than with a new issue of Plum Ruby Review? This is our best issue yet, featuring not only exciting poetry by the likes of Jared Carter and Kenneth Pobo but also the imaginative artwork of A.R. Menne and Stephen Mead. Take a "trip" down memory lane with a wonderful nonfiction work by Aaron Stueve and enjoy fiction by Tom Sheehan, as well as many other fine authors and poets.

One bit of interesting Plum Ruby News is that we're now registered with the Library of Congress and easily searchable by a wide variety of library networks and other research sources.

Also, be on the lookout for the Spring issue of Bitter Oleander, which apparently will be devoted to a 92 page interview with Duane Locke and will include a large selection of his poems. Duane Locke, one of the most prolific and published poets of our time, was one of the first to grace the pages of Plum Ruby Review.

One of Plum Ruby's favorite journals, Small Spiral Notebook, is celebrating the publication of its first anthology. The book, which is now available for purchase, features several Plum Ruby contributors, including Tom Sheehan, Paul A. Toth and Janet Buck.

And do yourself a favor...really celebrate National Poetry Month and get to a reading! Support your local and visiting poets. Pick up a book of poetry by an unfamiliar name. Read a poem aloud to a friend, your lover, your children. Or find an old classic and enjoy.
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2.17.2004

Plum Ruby Review would like to strongly urge you to read the following press release and sign the petition.

Book, Library Groups Launch Petition Drive to Restore Privacy Safeguards to USA PATRIOT Act

(NEW YORK - Feb. 17, 2004) Groups representing booksellers, librarians and writers today launched a nationwide effort to obtain one million signatures in support of legislation to amend Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act. The groups hope to persuade Congress to restore safeguards for the privacy of bookstore and library records that were eliminated by the Act.

The Campaign for Reader Privacy - sponsored by the American Booksellers Association, the American Library Association and PEN American Center - will gather signatures in bookstores, libraries and on a new Web site, www.readerprivacy.org. Over the last year, Republicans, Democrats and Independents have joined to sponsor a number of bills to amend Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act, including the Freedom to Read Protection Act (H.R. 1157) and the Security and Freedom Ensured (SAFE) Act, S. 1709.

"Booksellers are deeply concerned about the chilling effect of Section 215 and President Bush's stated intent to seek blanket reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act," said ABA Chief Operating Officer Oren Teicher.

Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act amended the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to give the FBI vastly expanded
authority to search business records, including the records of bookstores and libraries: the FBI may request the records secretly; it is not required to prove that there is "probable cause" to believe the person whose records are being sought has committed a crime; and the bookseller or librarian who receives an order is prohibited from revealing it to anyone except those whose help is needed to produce the records.

Read the full press release and sign the petition here.
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2.2.2004

Plum Ruby Review would like to congratulate Pamela MacIsaac! Pamela's story, "St. Augustine's Mother," published in the December 2003 edition of The Plum Ruby Review, has been nominated for the storySouth Million Writers Award for Fiction. Best of luck!
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2.1.2004

Welcome to the second issue of Plum Ruby Review!

Our first issue of the new year begins with a bang, with our featured poet, Erin Noteboom. Noteboom talks to PRR about her book of poetry, Ghost Maps, Poems for Carl Hruska, which won the CBC Canadian Literary Award in 2001. We think you will find her work as enchanting as we do--her lush, evocative words leap off the page to startle and delight the reader. We invite you to read about Ghost Maps, learn more about Noteboom and to revel in the poems we feature this issue.

This month's featured artist, Mikey Cofer, also graces our pages this issue, with images that both refresh and inspire.

Plum Ruby will be unveiling a bookstore in the coming weeks, so please check back to find out more about how you can help support the artists whose work you read and enjoy in our pages.

Additionally, we hope to feature timely news about the literary and arts world as well as information about Plum Ruby contributors.

The Latest

Join PRR contributor Paul A. Toth as he reads from and discusses his novel Fizz on New York public radio's 'Everything goes?' WNYE-FM (91.5), Friday, February 20, 6:00 - 6:30 p.m.

Publishers go Green
45 U.S. publishing houses voluntarily commit to printing more earth-sensitive products.

Plum Ruby Review Book Recommend: The Practice of Poetry. A distinctive collection of more than 90 effective poetry-writing exercises combined with corresponding essays to inspire writers of all levels. Inspiring for both new and established poets.

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