Junk Shop Window
Essays on Myth, Life, and Literature
A visit to the Wordsworth Trust in Grasmere, England, results in a meeting with a telepathic dog. A trip to see the Irish Rovers on St Patrick’s Day becomes slapstick worthy of the I Love Lucy Show, An attempt to record the right background sounds for a Sherlock Holmes radio play opens a doorway in time to the world of a century ago. And Hermes, the Greek messenger god, appears in various guises, relaying sometimes cryptic, sometimes life-saving messages.
Junk Shop Window is getting so much praise from reviewers and interviewers! Take a look at these:
A rave review by Pulizter-prize winning critic Michael Dirda in The Washington Post:
Another rave by poet and scholar Charles Rammelkmap in The Hopkins Review:
A delightful interview with the author by fiction writer Leslie Pietrzyk on her acclaimed blog, To Be Read:
A probing, insightful interview with Maryland Poet Laureate Grace Cavalieri on her award-winning radio show, The Poet and the Poem:
And a heart-felt, lovely interview with poet and activist Ethelbert Miller on his weekly WPF literary show, On the Margin:
Meet James J. Patterson
James J. Patterson was born in Washington, DC, five days before Nixon’s infamous “Checkers Speech.” He’s been lurking about in what he calls “The Capital of the Empire” ever since.
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Donald Trump and the False Infallibility of Riches
Donald Trump has proven to the world what Washingtonians have been experiencing, albeit on a smaller scale, with a local billionaire named Daniel Snyder, for years, that a person being rich guarantees nothing when it comes to having the competence, expertise, and most of all, the ethical infrastructure one needs in order to be an…
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The World of Yesterday (Armistice Day, 2018)
From the forthcoming collection Junk Shop Window My father always said that his first memory was of standing on the couch in his parent’s living room, small hands on the back cushion, peering out a picture widow at a neighborhood street in Bend, Oregon. There is a slow-moving line of cars and horse-drawn carriages inching its…
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Gabbing With O’Reilly
Gabbing With O’Reilly, at the opening of another NFL training camp, a 42 year season ticket holder looks back one last time at the Redskins and RFK Stadium. First appeared in SportsFan Magazine, Fall, 2000 Featured in Bermuda Shorts by James J. Patterson When O’Reilly was at last awarded his seat at RFK stadium, I…
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Welcome to Good Books, Well Made
We believe that there is no reason a small press can’t publish books that compete on the shelf with the best that the big houses have to offer. Welcome to Good Books, Well Made James J. Patterson, Co-Founder, ASP. I suppose the last straw for me was when Eric Foner’s masterpiece, Tom Paine, and Revolutionary…
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Influences and Ambitions
On Writing Roughnecks I grew up at a time when something called “The Great American Novel” was still revered, aspired to, attempted. Steinbeck, Melville, Fitzgerald, Hemmingway, Harper Lee, and poets like Whitman, Dickenson, Sandberg, and Frost had taken their art into the heart of America and told us something about ourselves. They certainly were following…
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ASP Titles Now on UK Amazon!
Bermuda Shorts and That Paris Year, Now On Amazon UK! Bermuda Shorts, The Indy Best Seller in Essays and Lit Crit, by James J. Patterson, and That Paris Year, by Joanna Biggar, are now available on UK Amazon and Kindle! BS: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bermuda-Shorts-ebook/dp/B004BSGFH4/ TPY: http://www.amazon.co.uk/That-Paris-Year-ebook/dp/B004BSGFHE Check’m out!
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A Secret Woman Launch UK
Book Launch Party! Thursday, June 14, The Old Bank Hotel, Oxford, England Chris Andrews Publications, Ltd., of Oxford, England, announces it’s 30th Anniversary of continuous publishing, with the unveiling of A Secret Woman, by Rose Solari, and a display of Chris Andrew’s Photography! At The Old Bank Hotel, 92-94 High Street, Oxford England, Thursday, June…
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Art Jericho, The Back Room Poets, And Me
Poet Rose Solari, and writer James J. Patterson, recently went to a poetry reading in the Jericho neighborhood of Oxford, England, and an art exhibit broke out! This is why we love this town! Cheers… Art Jericho is a groovy little gallery nestled in among some old buildings just off trendy Walton Street in the…
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A Secret Woman Prose Poem
Sometimes someone surprises you with something so lovely you just can’t wait to share. Here, in response to reading a galley of Rose Solari’s forthcoming book from Alan Squire Publishing, a prose poem from Cynthia Matsakis. Enjoy! In the middle of the morning, I found myself still in bed, lost in a book, until I…