I don’t think many people know that anyone can go to the Internet Archive and access up to three of my poetry collections there and can read, borrow or even download for free one or perhaps even all of these three out of print books of mine. I encourage anyone to do so, especially if you’ve found something I’ve recently published in a magazine of interest but haven’t read any of my books. And THAT (what I just described) is a major problem for me because for example I’ve had 24 different books listed on my Goodreads Author profile for a very long time yet I only have a few hundred ratings and — get this — a mere 20 reviews, less than one per book! (Though a 4.69 overall rating…) I’ve thought about this for a long time, though the answer should have been immediately obvious, but I eventually realized what the main issue is. Most all of my books have actually been out of print for years, some for decades! While I had some name recognition and readers/fans throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, for several reasons I basically dropped out of sight and the whole scene for over a decade, publishing no new collections (though contributing to some anthologies and textbooks) and I’ve returned to publishing various things over the past couple of years (almost 100 stories, poems, essays and theory pieces in the past two years alone!) and some of these have interested a lot of people but no one has read any of my books since they’re out of print and as a result, no new ratings or reviews on Goodreads, Amazon, LibraryThing or other places. And yet, my point is, anyone can snag these three and in some places, there may be ways to find more (not counting my having close to 10 different ones for sale on my website here).

Since it takes me much longer to write anything, including posts like this, these days due to poor health, I’m simply going to end this by posting links to the three Internet Archive collections, and I think also their Goodreads listings, and encourage anyone to check any of them out and to especially considering giving a rating or possibly a review for any of them on Goodreads — I’d be very grateful. I’d also be grateful to find people newer to me and my work finally able to access and read a few of my old poetry collections — something that hasn’t been very easy to do until lately. Thanks so much and cheers!

In chronological order,

1. Grungy Ass Swaying (with Paula Weinman). Grunge City Press, 1993. My first work to enter the Library of Congress, which has always been a bit embarrassing because it it RAUNCHY! There actually is a reason for that but it’s too lengthy for me to explain at the present, but at a minimum the premise is a male protagonist (me) writes a number of poems intentionally misogynistic, if not flat out offensive these days, while a female poet writes responses to each, all largely meant to be sarcastic, if not meant to hold a mirror to the male writer for some now-obvious criticisms. This was the late Weinman’s idea, who approached me about doing it and hence, this is what came out of it. Weinman took care of all the details of the actual chapbook while I agreed to handle distribution since I already had some inroads in that area. Um, became sort of notorious, if for no other reason than a cover (that I never saw until after it was published) that turned out to be, oh, a conversation starter one could say. In any event, it’s one of the few of my works that I have some extra copies so I sell it on this website, the main difference between that and downloading a freebie from Internet Archive being it would be a physical copy, signed by me to anyone ordering one. Just an FYI….

Internet Archive: Grungy Ass Swaying

2. Distant Visions, Again and Again. The Poet Tree, 1994. My (notorious) “mellow” book. Hah! In fact, here are a couple of review excerpts that can be found on my Scott Reviewed page on this Hankrules2011 website:

… some good quiet reflective material…where you can only walk outside and think…and hope this feeling never ends… — Excerpt of review of Distant Visions, Again and Again in Driver’s Side Airbag, 1994.

An introspective, autobiographical glimpse of a working class hero/loner. — Excerpt of review of Distant Visions, Again and Again by Frank Allen, Library Journal, Directory of American Poetry Books.

In fact, late Wormwood Review editor (Bukowski’s biggest magazine publisher) Marvin Malone wrote this: “Scott C. Holstad’s Binge–Modern Classic: Very Highly Recommended.” Wormwood Review, vol. 138. Ed M Malone, 1995, p. 95.

Internet Archive: Distant Visions, Again and Again

3. Places. SterlingHouse, 1995. Here’s part of a review:

• Scott Holstad is a hardworking poet whose [new] book, Places, has just been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in poetry… Holstad’s poems are predominantly voice driven — and that voice is often filled with the anger of moral outrage. Poems such as “let’s give ourselves a round,” “this is what we are” and “just for kicks” express the poet’s disgust with his fellow American’s penchant for mindless violence and excess. But Holstad’s poems are just plain angry. In the poem “smoking,” the poet, having recently quit after ten years expresses a desire to “file [his] teeth / on your forehead.” Places, however, also announces some new directions for Holstad’s work — some poems reveal a quieter, more contemplative aspect of his voice… But this is not to say that Holstad has gone soft–not by any stretch of the imagination. These poems provide relief from a vision of the world which might otherwise prove too bleak for most readers… Ultimately, for Holstad, as for Bukowski, “The poem is the / crutch, the gun, the / good drink.” Need I say more?

— G.P. Lainsbury, VOX vol. 146, University of Calgary, 1996.

Internet Archive: Places

Again, I’d love to make some of my old poetry collections available to new/more potential readers so here is an easy and free way. I’d also be grateful for ratings and reviews, and encourage comments here or elsewhere. Thanks so much!

— Scott Holstad