You are a human animal.

You are a very special breed.

Or you are the only animal.

Who can think, who can reason, who can read.

Hi, welcome to Bookworm.

This is Michael Silverblad, and I'm very happy today because my guest is Steve Dickison.

He is the sales director of a group called Small Press Distribution.

Now, as careful listeners of Bookworm know, I'm very much in love with books.

And knowing about the new writers and what's really happening in the literary world

involves knowing what's happening from the small presses all over the country.

When I was a young man, I could be found worm-like on my belly,

writhing through the bookshelves of the 8th Street bookstore, late, dearly departed,

eighth street bookstore in Manhattan of my childhood, looking for the new books and finding

the strangest things early on.

Robert Valser, when he was published only in short excerpts from the University of Texas Press,

or Jane Ann Phillips in her first appearance from small presses.

Dorothy Allison, too, has made her way into the world from the small presses.

This is the breeding ground, the stewing ground for American fiction, American literary fiction.

And small press distribution is the only distributor that carries distinctly literary fiction. They have a great large catalog that comes

out several times a year. They have an 800 number. I'm going to give it to you now and periodically

during the show. It's 800, 869-7553, and they really cover the waterfront of the literary world.

Steve Dickerson is, I believe, an artist as well as a sales director,

...