MERRITT K AND NIINA POLLARI, TWO OF TODAY'S MOST UNIQUE AND VITAL VOICES, COME TOGETHER TO CREATE ONE TOPICAL, ELECTRIC POETRY COLLECTION
NEW YORK, NY — TigerBee Press's first release of 2017 is Total Mood Killer, a pairing of the newest work by Niina Pollari (Dead Horse) with merritt k's (Videogames For Humans) poetry debut to vivid, visceral effect. In this collection, two distinct and irreplaceable poets converge in their shared faith in black humor and a relentless, intelligent deconstruction of our modern condition. Written as entirely separate manuscripts, k and Pollari almost eerily echo one another's anxieties and interests: in memory, theft, bathrooms, eating, alienation from one's own body, and Instagram. Fiercely funny yet deadly serious, this potent book asks loaded questions ("Why can't we see that we're living in a golden age?") and makes bad propositions ("sext: this/is a terrible idea/but the engine is/already running") It's essential reading for anyone who appreciates canny honesty, gallows humor, and good writing.
merritt k is a writer and podcaster. Her first book, Videogames for Humans, is an exploration of contemporary interactive fiction and was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award for Best LGBT Anthology. She is co-author of 3 Conversations (TigerBee Press, 2016) and featured in the anthology On Balance (TigerBee Press, 2016.) She hosts the podcasts Woodland Secrets and dadfeelings, and can be found on Twitter at @merrittk.
Niina Pollari is the author of Dead Horse (Birds, LLC/Emily Books, 2015) and the translator of Tytti Heikkinen's The Warmth of the Taxidermied Animal (Action Books 2012).
Contact: Charlotte Shane, [email protected]
merritt k is a writer and podcaster. Her first book, Videogames for Humans, is an exploration of contemporary interactive fiction and was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award for Best LGBT Anthology. She is co-author of 3 Conversations (TigerBee Press, 2016) and featured in the anthology On Balance (TigerBee Press, 2016.) She hosts the podcasts Woodland Secrets and dadfeelings, and can be found on Twitter at @merrittk.
Niina Pollari is the author of Dead Horse (Birds, LLC/Emily Books, 2015) and the translator of Tytti Heikkinen's The Warmth of the Taxidermied Animal (Action Books 2012).
Contact: Charlotte Shane, [email protected]
The Buzz
"Total Mood Killer is a paradise for the ironic, the profane, the wry, and the wise. It's like a memory recalled in fragments or a recurring daydream you can't discern from reality. These poems compel consideration of identity, mortality, and isolation in ways that don't add salt to our wounds, but instead reveal our wounds as both fresher and more worth bearing than we previously understood." — Alana Massey, All the Lives I Want
"Listen, this isn’t a book you can hide from. I tried, but in the end I was totally, completely seen. The night after I read Total Mood Killer I had a vivid dream that merritt, Niina and I were running away from summer camp with only our polka-dotted swimsuits and a bag of knives. It was the best dream I’d had in at least a month." — Kimmy Walters, Uptalk
"Listen, this isn’t a book you can hide from. I tried, but in the end I was totally, completely seen. The night after I read Total Mood Killer I had a vivid dream that merritt, Niina and I were running away from summer camp with only our polka-dotted swimsuits and a bag of knives. It was the best dream I’d had in at least a month." — Kimmy Walters, Uptalk
Previous Praise for Niina Pollari:"Niina Pollari writes from a place where emotion meets bone."
— Melissa Broder, So Sad Today "Niina Pollari's poems unfold with a phrasal clarity I didn't know I needed, and which disturbs me" — Joyelle McSweeney |
Previous Praise for merritt k:"merritt is wickedly wise and it's a pleasure to gain from her gamesmanship."
— Sarah Nicole Prickett, Adult magazine founding editor "a powerful and yet nuanced voice in the indie movement." — Paolo Perdicini, Molleindustria |
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