A call for evolution.

Literature isn't dead in Canada.

It's been co-opted, subsidised and corporatised to serve a fiscal agenda.  Only by returning to the roots of publishing independence is rejection of this illegitimate shadow regime possible.  Reject all so-called independent companies or businesses enabled by unaccountable government subsidies.  Reject the so-called literary art promoted by them.  Reject any practitioner, business or politician supporting their continued funding.

This is a call to evolution, not arms.

For time as ever calls for relentless change.

Solitary Press is dedicated to serving writers seeking independence.  As one of its founders, I’m also pleased to reveal our dedication to the above stated principles and talented writers sharing the same commitment.

All others should return to previously scheduled programming.

Solitary Press does not take money from any government.  We are an independent POD (Print On Demand) publisher.  Solitary Press is an imprint owned by a privately held Canadian corporation and a business operating for profit.  We neither pursue nor accept grants or financial assistance made available via the shadow world of political insiders popularly identified as arts funding organisations.

Inspired by the decades-long independent music career of the man from Harwill, the Solitary Press works for change in the world of professional arts in Canada.  Effective immediately, we call for immediate dismantling of the unaccountable government bureaucracy annually siphoning hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars into multi-national and small business purveyors of so-called Canadian culture.  These backroom operators, accountable to none but the privileged cliques controlling them, must at long last be denied.

For many decades, forces of cronyism and nepotism have controlled the shape of public and private discourse concerning not only literature but the entirety of Canadian arts.  Now, with the twenty-first century well underway and a generational moment of change at hand, the time has come to deny these privileged few this unearned and illegitimate access to virtually unlimited taxpayer funding.

As result of the worldwide rise of Amazon and their KDP publishing services, we now have technology necessary to rebuild the literary arts scene in Canada via an independent and tax-funding-free model most beneficial to artists.  For what was old is new again, and independent POD publishing offers freedom to pursue a supporting public without relying on tax dollars to make it happen.  This return to the democratic roots of publishing presents an opportunity to free artists and taxpayers from an unrecognised but incredibly destructive and creatively stunting burden.

As ever, we acknowledge that nothing is perfect all the time.  But to continue doing the same thing while expecting a different result is a widely accepted definition of insanity.  So, if you’re looking for someone to underwrite your expenses while doodling self-indulgent peons to individual interest, we’re not the publisher for you.  However, if a sounding board for artistic literary ideas, an editorial review of your work or help with the myriad details associating with publishing independently is what you’re after, we might be able to help.

Beware however, as a for-profit business, our assistance comes with conditions.  Though we’re certain they’re more generous than anything you’ll find elsewhere as our services are based on a percentage of sales of the books we publish.  Here’s the five-cent tour.  First, to engage our service does not require a cash transaction.  We instead require a six-month exclusive publishing term from which we derive whatever fees due to us and upon which we have mutually agreed.  After the six-month period ends, you can do what you like with your book, including leaving it with us to manage any ongoing record-keeping and future royalty distributions, once again based on a percentage of sales to which we have mutually agreed.  No matter if we earn anything publishing your book or not, by terms of this agreement you retain ownership of your work and its copyright.  Solitary Press serves strictly as the POD publisher, providing itemised accounting of all transactions annually as well as on demand.

If you’re a writer interested in knowing more or perhaps getting involved changing the world of Canadian publishing, drop me a line here or DM me on Instagram @tfprudenthewriter.

Meantime, thanks for sharing and watch for my latest novel ‘Where Some Roads End’ soon available on Solitary Press.

-          TFP

February 9, 2020

Solitary Press ~ an independent publisher's POD imprint.

Welcome and thanks for visiting.

Even by the usual standard, I've been busy, and some time has passed since my last post here.  To those who read along through the thirty-four-week serial publication of 'The Recalcitrant P.I.' I offer congratulations.  I hope your patience sorting through my postmodern experiment with the hard-boiled detective novel was rewarded.

As usual, amidst the madness I've managed to keep writing.

And though readily apparent to the author, it's perhaps worth recalling I've plied my trade as working artist most of my life and claim no interest in the practice of blogging.  Indeed, beyond its utility as internet platform hosting information about my novels, I've little interest in sharing opinions here or anywhere else aside from those found in my work.

I'm a writer.  I'm not a philosopher, and neither journalist nor politician.  As result, I much prefer keeping my own counsel.  For every keystroke provides opportunity to express the views I consider pertinent to most anything about this world we share.  And like most in the so-called democratic west, I'm provided a regular chance to make my feelings known come election time.

No matter which side might win or lose however, between elections a man does his best to mind his own business, keep the peace and live according to the rule of law.

As the writer meantime, I'm also free to choose the mediums in which my talents are deployed, and the novel remains for me the ultimate literary artistic form.  When writing, the tendency here is to avoid ~ as much as reason allows ~ contact with the world outside that alternate universe inhabited until its eventual completion.  And for this anti-social habit, I request no quarter from the now social-media driven world.  For it has long been my privilege to serve the demanding muse, and I hope most to continue doing so until my end.

This work has ever occupied much of my time as result, while most of that leftover is devoted to earning the daily bread.

Life as independent publisher while educational meanwhile, has also proven a resource and management challenge greater than imagined.  With launch of the Solitary Press imprint, publication of my next novel ~ number five for those counting ~ is assured.  In addition to the new book, I'm also hopeful release of 2nd Edition printings of the back catalogue ~ some with new covers ~ generates renewed interest and helps the fledgling indie press get off the ground.

By the time this posts, you should be able to check out the new 2nd Editions on Amazon, and perhaps add them to your personal library.

As shareholder in the new venture, my first step into a slightly more formal publishing environment has so far been a thrill.  Here's hoping it leads to adventures worthy of those encountered getting here, because I've started work on what will be my sixth novel with the comfort of knowing it has a receptive home awaiting its eventual arrival.

In the meantime, this month my latest tome will be released on Solitary Press in Paperback and Kindle eBook everywhere via Amazon KDP.  An allegorical fable with which I'm extremely pleased titled 'Where Some Roads End', I can't wait to share it.

Watch here or follow me on Instagram @tfpruden for more details coming soon and thanks for sharing the news.

And as ever, thanks kindly for being here.

TFP

February 1, 2019

RIP Mr. Koko Pruden, December 5, 2002 - February 11, 2019

After a brief illness, with great sadness I must report the passing of my adorable, Mr. Koko Pruden.
The resolute dog has left the building.
A little man in a hair suit made completely of love, Mr. Koko was my best friend, ever and always. The last of the actual road dogs, Mr. Koko stood guard for Harwill at over 1500 show stops and traveled more than a million kilometers from coast-to-coast and throughout North America. We spent the best days of our lives together and my baby boy gave love to the end before passing away in the arms of his papa.
Beloved by all before circumstance brought him to live with me at age two, throughout his life Mr. Koko also found great joy loving and caring for his original and extended families. For the life we shared and all I learned from him, there can be no recompense other than to report he taught me how to live. The subject of 2015 #1 hit song 'I love my dog (the ballad of Mr. Koko)' on the US Americana charts, there never was, nor could there ever be, another like him.
Though our tears must fall, the love and wisdom of his teachings lives in our hearts forever.
So long pard, it's been good to know you.


- TFP
   Feb 11, 2019

The gift.

This month’s note emerges from the bottom of what appears to be a deep hole, out of which with diligent shoveling I continue trying to extricate myself.

At this writing, my efforts have resulted in little more than increasing the distance between the top of a deepening cavern and the floor upon which I stand.  No matter the hours invested, only more distance appears between where I am and where I would seek to be in response to what has proven more than less continuous exertion.

Meanwhile, though a man’s fascination with digging seems only to increase, what remains unclear is whether that’s despite or because of the results.

From within such ordinary maelstroms, this writer’s work is completed.

Also, let it not be said a man did not suffer for his art.  Recall instead long years keeping alight a flame known of by few and cared for by less.  Remember too, in such crusades most writers toil, seeking not immortality but release from the relentless grasp of an undying compulsion.

Life after all, remains neither more nor less than what you choose to make it.

This writer has, and ever will a man would suppose, always appreciated that fact most.

As the end draws undeniably nearer, the joy received from what has proven a daily grind advances despite the increasing moan of old age’s infirmity.  While not an unwelcome surprise, with the vigor of youth but receding memory a man is doubtless best-off spending as much time looking ahead as he is back.

Despite knowing what’s left behind most often defines the way forward.

It has been this writer’s intent to describe with his work a continuous discourse upon a singular experience.  Using a variety of forms and media, from poetry and prose to music and acting, from CD and mp3 through assorted journals, ezines, blogs, indie films, the Kindle and at last paperback, documenting everyday happenstance was the first goal.

As result, a fictional account of life among those either less fortunate or not famous might in time be constructed.

The record of an enrichment otherwise unknown, by his own hand and those of his fellows, could thus also be documented.  As factually as fiction allowed, under the fiercest of editorial restrictions should the writer produce his record.  By careful alteration and inconsistent addition, using incoherent sequencing and unreliable subtraction, the routine and unbelievable circumstance of experience would be reconstructed into a series of near recognizable literary landscapes.

From building blocks of existential philosophy and metaphor, with equal parts sarcasm and symbolism, tales of heartrending adventure, bold farce and tragic romance are told, each within the framework of fictional memoir.  Found there, is entertainment, distraction, perhaps an insight or two, and with luck, a brief respite from the temporal confines in which all of us here are ever trapped.

No more, and nothing less.

As mentioned on near countless occasions, the contents of these notes much like the writer’s works are intended to momentarily distract.  Neither this man nor the writer have interest in leveraging either the work or the site as a platform from which to espouse personal political opinions.

For to this belief the writer holds: the greatest gift an artist can give is that of entertainment.

That does not mean a man is either unaware or ignorant to the societal divisions now running amok around the world and here at home.  For the first time since the turbulent nineteen sixties of my early childhood, the evil forces of racism and bigotry take to the streets, publicly inciting the always simmering fuse of privately repressed intolerance, ignorance and hate.  From the despicable rhetoric spewing from the highest political office of our closest geographic neighbor to the deplorable anti-Semitic rants of regional right-wing municipal politicians, current public discourse demonstrates both populist bigotry and systemic racism at levels unseen since World War II.

As a less-visible member of a historically repressed minority group in my own country, a man is disappointed by the situation to say the least, and concerned for the future of progressive society if pushed to say more.

To those interested in such matters meanwhile, it’s unmistakeably clear that left-leaning and progressive ideology govern in these parts.  If these facts arrive as news to you after reading or hearing any of my work, you must at once consider occupying yourself with less challenging intellectual pursuits.  For in the writer’s opinion, it could scarce be more obvious.

Despite and whatever our differences might be however, a shared commitment to live and let live is what allows our democracy to work.

Besides, that’s not the point of either this site or its contents.

The site is devoted to literary entertainment and the pursuit of insight about the human condition.  If you’re in search of an argument, look elsewhere.  As not only in fact but also by intent, a man has neither time nor patience for the vast ignorance driving much of the vicious anger now threatening the peace and freedom of our democracy.

Even less when confronted by endless work and ever-lessening time in which to complete it.

For to this man at least, the attempt is everything.  Around here, honor is believed located in commitment to a task considered ethically just, not its completion.  As such and in most cases, neither success nor failure can be properly apportioned by reviewing apparent results.

Thus, in every writer’s work is found a secret.

It has of course, been left for the reader to decipher with but a simple caution: nothing is as it seems, and you must look inside to discover each person’s story.

On that note, we turn to the all-important local literary news.

With the calendar showing no sign of slowing down, the struggle to complete proof reading the manuscript of third novel ‘One Fate Befalls’ while awaiting a formatting date continues.  With any luck, the novel arrives before the holidays and the fast approaching end of another year.

Watch the site for news.

Thanks for sharing the blog.

• TFP
  October 14, 2017