PRESS RELEASE

PRESS RELEASE
FINISHING LINE PRESS

PO Box 1626
Georgetown, KY 40324
859-514-8966
FinishlingBooks@aol.com
www.finishinglinepress.com

For Immediate Release

Finishing Line Press announces the publication of Light and Trials of Light, a chapbook of poems by Pensacola author and artist Cynthia Reeser

A multi-talented creative artist with a gift for language and observation, poet, editor, and visual artist Cynthia Reeser will have her first chapbook collection of poetry published by Finishing Line Press in early 2010.


Kevin Prufer, three-time Pushcart Prize winner; author of National Anthem, Fallen from a Chariot, others; Editor/Director of Pleiades: A Journal of New Writing; Associate Editor of American Book Review; and Vice President/Secretary of the National Book Critics Circle, says of Reeser's poetry: "These poems are smart and lovely, quiet and intimate. Cynthia Reeser is a poet of careful observation, quick to notice the flicker of candlelight across a loved one’s face, the “luster in the clatter of shells,” or the “butter-heavy rain cloud, phantom under a summer wave’s surrender.” And, although her subjects are personal—love, family, friendship, the poet’s affinity for the world of nature—they are shot through with moments of startling insight, brilliant conclusion, and, occasionally, a sort of wicked, erudite wit... Reeser has a fine talent."


Cynthia Reeser is the editor-in-chief of Prick of the Spindle, a literary quarterly journal, and is a prolific book reviewer and poet. A Pensacola native, her poetry has appeared in numerous print and online publications, and her book reviews can be read on NewPages.com every month. A former book review columnist and staff writer for a military newspaper, Cynthia is also a visual artist whose work has appeared in numerous shows, auctions, and art walks throughout Louisiana. Her nonfiction book, How to Publish Your Children's Book, is forthcoming from Atlantic Publishing in January 2010, and she is currently at work on a book about Kindle publishing. View her Web sites at www.cynthiareeser.com and www.prickofthespindle.com.

Howie Good, author of Tomorrowland, Lovesick, and others, praises Light and Trials of Light: "Cynthia Reeser writes with a rare combination of moral intelligence and emotional sensitivity. She pushes language to -- and sometimes beyond -- the limits of conventional vocabulary and diction to convey her tremendous sympathy for things that are broken or easily break. Her poems often occupy the blood-red moment in which a significant object or person or event is about to vanish from our lives. Trees fall victim to the chain-saw, romance to boredom and hurt, memories to distortion. But if Reeser’s overriding subject is the frailty of the things we love, their vulnerability to decay and destruction, her poems themselves are powerfully made. They have a kind of sturdy elegance that will challenge and move and ultimately dazzle you."

The cover design and photography for Light and Trials of Light is by Cynthia Reeser.

Finishing Line Press is a poetry publisher based in Georgetown, Kentucky. In addition to the Chapbook Series, it publishes the New Women’s Voices Series and sponsors the Finishing Line Press Open Chapbook Competition. Other recent Finishing Line Press releases include Man Overboard by Steven Barza, Scared Money Never Wins by Julia Wendell, Putting in a Window by John Brantingham, Family Business by Paula Sergi, and Drawing Lessons by Carol Barrett. Finishing Line Press and editor Leah Maines were featured in both the 2001 and 2002 Poet’s Markets.


Publication Date: January 2010


To order online, go to http://www.finishinglinepress.com/ Or, you may order directly from the publisher, $12.00, check or money order to:

Finishing Line Books
PO Box 1626
Georgetown, KY 40324
finishingbooks@aol.com
859-514-8360

You can also contact the author, Cynthia Reeser, by e-mail at crr@cynthiareeser.com, or visit her website at www.cynthiareeser.com