Wicker Park Press was established in Chicago in 2002 to publish books that defy easy categories in both fiction and nonfiction. Amazon Girls Handbook (2002) by Becky Thacker is part guidebook, part advice-manual with a satirical twist. The book has a motto printed on the front cover for its lesbian readers and their friends, proudly stating to the world, "We're prepared for a few things." The book was widely cited in the gay media across the country as the arrival of a distinctive and fresh new voice in American lesbian writing. "Thacker is rallying the troops!" one wit said. The black and white illustrations by Chicago artist Anne Luck Feldhaus are whimsical and provide a lighthearted urban edge to the text. The book inspired its readers to explore new areas of study and activity, and to express their individuality by earning Girl Scout-type badges and rising through the ranks of their own organizations from Tomboy to Goddess.

The Rebellion of the Beasts: or, The Ass is Dead! Long Live the Ass!!! (2004) takes satire to a whole new level, and was written anonymously in England in 1825. We attributed the text to Leigh Hunt, the British Romantic era poet, critic and journalist. Douglas A. Anderson, the editor, is a renowned JRR Tolkien scholar, and past winner of the Mythopoeic Scholarship Award and he specializes in rediscovering old texts and bringing them to modern readers. Anderson outdid himself with this book, and there were only something like 3 copies in existence in English libraries. Hunt became a logical choice in our quest for authorship of this book: -- he was the Salman Rushdie of his day, and spent time in jail for slander of the royals. In fact the book was considered so inflammatory against then King George III, and his Prince Regent, it was never revealed who its author was. It was originally published by Hunt's brother and his son in London. Modern day critics quibbled with the choice of Hunt as the author, and some lively reviews came out in the New York Review of Books, the Los Angeles Times Book Review and the Wordsworth Circle, among many other places, but no one denied that this was a worthwhile book to republish. Hunt's bibliographer, Luther A. Brewer, stated that the text had many passages "of a Hunt flavor," and that indeed "it is a satire well written."

I would say that even though modern day categories put this book in the Fantasy area, it really is a satire through and through, and a vicious, razor sharp one at that. The distinctive thing about this book is that it carries the same plotline and many details of a much more famous book in the literary canon, George Orwell's Animal Farm (1945). Both books offer brilliant and scathing commentaries on revolution, the cult of personality, and political corruption due to vanity, venality, and the ineradicable thirst for power and control. There are many correlations that can be drawn for today's world from both books, and their stark similarities are hard to overlook. And yet, in a confounding way there is no connection that can be reasonably traced between the Orwell and the Hunt. They are fascinating to read one after the other, and I am very proud of the project.

Our very latest release at this writing is The Lords of Folly (2007) by Gene Logsdon. Logsdon is a veteran nature writer and this is his first novel. He has written and published over twenty books in the Nature and Farm Writing category, and this is his debut fiction. This is a brilliantly comic novel set in mid-20th century America. Logsdon tells the story of a time and place long gone, of eccentric characters and old-time religion. The setting is rural Minnesota in the early 1950s, where a group of seminarians make their way to Ascension Seminary in Shakopee to complete their education as Oblates of St Joseph. The young men question everything about the lives they lead studying for the priesthood.

The protagonist, Blaise, changes the spelling of his name to Blaze, and he and his friends, Gabe and Fen, lead a band of brothers who come to be known as "the most troublesome class in seminary history." They pillage the storage area of the seminary, spend the summer doing grueling farm work instead of studying their breviaries, assist a local bootlegger in brewing moonshine whiskey, and take possession of rifles and shotguns that were previously confiscated from Josephian priests who had passed away. "They rarely shot at anything and when they did they missed," writes Logsdon. One exasperated friar dubs them "the Sonuvabitchin' Davy Crockett Boys." Of course, they love it and the name sticks. But underneath the mayhem and merriment that the SBDC boys cultivate, lies a darker world of doubt and bewilderment about sex and sanity. What should they really be doing with their lives, they ask each other nervously. It is the resolution of that question—that is, who the hell is sane in this crazy world?—that brings their adventures to a surprising and triumphant conclusion.

This novel was inspired by Logsdon's ten years as a seminarian. As we follow the lively adventures of the SBDC Boys, we encounter a rogue's gallery of colorful characters and religious situations. Logsdon has cobbled together a rollicking narrative that is reminiscent of such American originals as Kurt Vonnegut and Joseph Heller.

Wicker Park Press seems to specialize in departures, and our forthcoming book is no exception. Larry W. Green is a Chicago artist who designed the water tank logo for the press. We had discussed doing a book about water tanks for many years, as Green has been documenting their existence on the Chicago skyline with his digital camera, and also doing paintings of these majestic structures. People especially seem to love Green's paintings, and we always thought there would be a market for a book along these lines. One thing led to another, and we eventually got Anthony Jones, the President of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Green's alma mater, to write a really sweet Foreword to the book. Water Tanks of Chicago: A Vanishing Urban Legacy, paintings and photographs of Green, will publish in October 2007. There is a visceral reaction that people have once they are made aware of water tanks, something ubiquitous in the Chicago landscape somehow not always noticed by people in their busy lives. Once they are pointed out to people however, they start seeing water tanks all over the place. It's about seeing things in your own environment that makes Green's book a really strong artist's statement. And to me it is a rallying cry to save these austere and outdated structures because they are true Chicago landmarks. "Save the Chicago Water Tanks!" is one important goal of this book. The idea of preserving key structures that create a unique sense of place is simply what makes someplace different from other places. Images in Green's book could only be in Chicago. I remember I was escorting a publishing colleague of mine from Jackson, Mississippi many years ago. We were driving underneath the El train tracks at night along Van Buren Street in the Loop, and my friend gently pointed out that this could only be one place on earth, Chicago. So distinctive, he noted. That's Chicago, oh yeah, "the city of the big shoulders." Green's book is a hybrid of sorts, an art and architecture book with a Chicago regional bent that I'm betting will have resonance outside the city limits.