Two weeks ago, when we reported on the closure of Impetus Press, we mentioned that the independent house, having been ground down by returns fees, was looking to find new publishers for those books which it had acquired but not yet published. We’d been getting hints early last week, but now it’s official: Word Riot Press has stepped in to publish Midnight Picnic, a novel by Nick Antosca that was originally supposed to have come out the very week Impetus’s co-founders, Willy Blackmore and Jennifer Banash, decided they could not longer afford to stay in business.
The novel had already won praise in an advance review from Publishers Weekly, along with blurbs from Elizabeth Hand and Jami Attenberg, among others, making its displacement into publishing limbo all the more heartbreaking. “When Willy and Jennifer learned of Word Riot Press’ interest in Midnight Picnic,” says publisher Jackie Corley, “they worked tirelessly to make a deal happen… Nick’s forceful authorial voice has made him a young writer to watch. I’m elated to have Nick as part of the Word Riot Press family.” Midnight Picnic is now set for a December 15 publication date.