Welcome to Redgunk

PRESS RELEASE

Lethe Press, one of the prominent small presses specializing in weird fiction, is pleased to announce the forthcoming publication of William R. Eakin’s omnibus collection, Welcome to Redgunk. Releasing on November 1, 2021, Welcome to Redgunk collects in one attractive hardcover edition, over twenty years’ worth of imaginative and humorous stories.

Forget Arkham and Dogpatch, Yoknapatawpha County and Hooterville, forget what guidebooks might allege, because the weirdest town to be found in the Western Hemisphere is Redgunk, Mississippi, where strange encounters are more than local gossip and the kudzu hides all manner of creatures and adventures. Ghosts, aliens, even a mummy and mermaid, can be found just outside of town on County Road 63.

Many of Eakin’s wild stories were first published in such prominent magazines as Realms of Fantasy, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Amazing Stories, and others.

“…eloquent and witty, thoughtful and even heart-rending…. Every time I’ve read a Redgunk story recently, I’ve come away thinking the most recent was better than what I had seen before. I’m coming to realize that it’s not a question of better; each one has been good on its own…” – Kim Mohan, editor of Amazing Stories

“Faulkneresque...creating images and feelings that cannot be conveyed with mere prose fiction... Even readers who normally avoid science fiction and fantasy may enjoy the beauty of Eakin’s imagery, his understanding of human nature and his attention to detail.” – Adrienne Lee, University of Southern Mississippi, Mississippi Libraries

Born in the American South, calling Arkansas his home, William R. Eakin spent decades teaching humanities, philosophy, art history, and assorted wildly-diverse college courses. His acclaimed fiction—Booklist called him a “postmodernist, feminist, ‘literary’ writer”—blends the weird fiction of the pulps, wry comedy and satire, with a generous dose of rural, Mississippi life.

Welcome to Redgunk (ISBN 978-1-59021-476-7) will be published as a hardcover edition, and digital format. The cover art is by Daniel Bitton, the cover design by Inkspiral, and the 610-page book features an author drawing and map by Dylan Eakin (yes, the author’s son and a successful artist). The retail price for the hardcover will be $39, while the digital edition will be $9.

All Lethe titles are available through such wholesalers as Ingram, Brodart, and Follett. For more information on this title and author, please contact:

Steve Berman at Lethe Press / lethepress@aol.com / 609-410-7391