Small Press Spotlight: Lethe Press
Mar. 20th, 2021 08:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
smalltimereadsWho are they?
In their own words: "Lethe Press is an independent publishing house specializing in the strange, the eerie, and the uncanny. Many of our books do have queer interest but we've grown into speculative fiction for all readers. Named after the Greek river of memory and forgetfulness, Lethe Press is devoted to ideas that are often neglected or forgotten by mainstream publishers. Founded in 2001 by author Steve Berman, Lethe Press has grown steadily to become one of the larger gay presses."
Lethe Press has been going for about two decades, which is pretty good for a smaller press. The majority of its output seems to be queer genre fiction, which is pretty cool. They have an imprint, Tincture, for LGBT authors of color. It's very old-school gay, if that makes any sense.
Website and Store
The website is simultaneously pretty clean and kind of dated in a way I can't describe. It makes me think of a better website made in the mid-to-late 2000s. It's easy to navigate, though, and I like the pictures for the different types of books- they have multiple genres, trans/genderqueer specific books, anthologies, poetry, contemporary romance, YA, erotica, and nonfiction.
Their ebooks are almost all purchasable through SmashWords, and there are several options about where to purchase each book on that book's page. It's not consistent, but it's not difficult to figure out, either.
Have I heard of/read any of their books?
Back when I was still a teen, I remember reading about Vintage: A Ghost Story. It's one of the first gay books I remember hearing about, and although I still haven't read it (I couldn't find a copy for years), I recently bought the ebook of the 13th anniversary edition.
I have also heard of the Mariposa series by Rigoberto Gonzalez, and the Astreiant books by Melissa Scott. There are a number of authors I know, as well, such as Tanith Lee, Ruthanna Emrys, Chaz Brenchley, and Erastes
Anything else?
Unfortunately, while I was looking into Lethe, I saw that last year there were multiple complaints that Berman, the head of Lethe, had not paid royalties (or paid them late), and not paid contractors. Apparently the payment issues are not new, and are likely continuing, despite the fact Lethe is actually doing fairly well. There are also complaints that Berman has acted unprofessionally and in a retaliatory manner. It sucks, because a lot of gay presses have gone under, and Lethe has managed to stay afloat all this time, and there have been some solid sounding books to come out of the press recently (I really want to read Everyone on the Moon is Essential Personnel), but I also don't want to support that kind of behavior.
In their own words: "Lethe Press is an independent publishing house specializing in the strange, the eerie, and the uncanny. Many of our books do have queer interest but we've grown into speculative fiction for all readers. Named after the Greek river of memory and forgetfulness, Lethe Press is devoted to ideas that are often neglected or forgotten by mainstream publishers. Founded in 2001 by author Steve Berman, Lethe Press has grown steadily to become one of the larger gay presses."
Lethe Press has been going for about two decades, which is pretty good for a smaller press. The majority of its output seems to be queer genre fiction, which is pretty cool. They have an imprint, Tincture, for LGBT authors of color. It's very old-school gay, if that makes any sense.
Website and Store
The website is simultaneously pretty clean and kind of dated in a way I can't describe. It makes me think of a better website made in the mid-to-late 2000s. It's easy to navigate, though, and I like the pictures for the different types of books- they have multiple genres, trans/genderqueer specific books, anthologies, poetry, contemporary romance, YA, erotica, and nonfiction.
Their ebooks are almost all purchasable through SmashWords, and there are several options about where to purchase each book on that book's page. It's not consistent, but it's not difficult to figure out, either.
Have I heard of/read any of their books?
Back when I was still a teen, I remember reading about Vintage: A Ghost Story. It's one of the first gay books I remember hearing about, and although I still haven't read it (I couldn't find a copy for years), I recently bought the ebook of the 13th anniversary edition.
I have also heard of the Mariposa series by Rigoberto Gonzalez, and the Astreiant books by Melissa Scott. There are a number of authors I know, as well, such as Tanith Lee, Ruthanna Emrys, Chaz Brenchley, and Erastes
Anything else?
Unfortunately, while I was looking into Lethe, I saw that last year there were multiple complaints that Berman, the head of Lethe, had not paid royalties (or paid them late), and not paid contractors. Apparently the payment issues are not new, and are likely continuing, despite the fact Lethe is actually doing fairly well. There are also complaints that Berman has acted unprofessionally and in a retaliatory manner. It sucks, because a lot of gay presses have gone under, and Lethe has managed to stay afloat all this time, and there have been some solid sounding books to come out of the press recently (I really want to read Everyone on the Moon is Essential Personnel), but I also don't want to support that kind of behavior.
