Four Way Moves to Tumblr

As of now, we are officially leaving blogger and only on tumblr. To keep in touch with us and keep up to date with everything related to Four Way Books (author readings, Four Way events, book launches, submission deadlines, etc.), be sure to follow us on tumblr. See you there!

"Publishers Weekly" Reviews "The Pretty Girl"

"Spark's imaginative collection of stories (after the novel Good for the Jews) offers quirky surprises at every turn, as ordinary characters transcend their mundane lives. In the titular novella, "The Pretty Girl," Midwesterner Andrea feels a special bond to her Great Aunt Rose and a painting, hanging in her aunt's Spartan New York apartment, of a "laughing, young woman with two raspberry-colored gloves," who seemed to say to her beholder, "Oh, you silly. Go away." Like Spark's other characters, Andrea is charmingly plain, making her fascination with the alluring painting (which Andrea calls "The Pretty Girl") and her reticent aunt an engaging narrative force. In the wake of Rose's death, Andrea discovers the source of the painting, and the story of a great love and its surprising consequences come to light. In "Conservation," a young man destined for stardom at a news network returns home years later as a disturbing enigma in dress and attitude, unsettling the tranquility of former friends. And in the surreal "A Wedding Story," socially inept 20-something Rachel Rubinstein finds a tiny, sagacious rabbi in an old chocolate egg discovered among her deceased grandmother's effects--"‘Shalom,' he called, half in warning, so she wouldn't bite further." The numerous shifting realities and transformations in these stories might devolve in the hands of a lesser writer, but Spark's controlled craft keeps the narrative tight and the pages turning." (Publishers Weekly)

Congratulations, Debra!

If you want to learn more about The Pretty Girl and get your copy, visit us online. While you're there, check out what other new titles we have ready for you! For more on Debra Spark, follow our blog and tumblr to keep track of her on her blog tour for The Pretty Girl!

Rigoberto Gonzalez Makes The Believer's Reader Survey

Black Blossoms by Rigoberto Gonzalez made The Believer's list of READERS’ FAVORITE WORKS OF POETRY IN 2011, alongside many wonderful books!

May Four Way Books Author Readings

Happy May! We're excited to say that there are quite a few readings set up this month for our authors. So if you're around, you should go!


5/2 (tomorrow!): Four Way Books & Friends at the NYU Main Bookstore, Patrick Ryan Frank, Jonathan Wells, and Stephen Motika, 6:30pm

5/3: Patrick Donnelly with Carmen Giménez Smith at The Muse Times Two Series, Collected Works Bookstore, Santa Fe, NM, 6pm

5/6: Patrick Donnelly at Sunday Chatter, The Kosmos, Albuquerque, NM, 10:30am

5/6: Patrick Donnelly with Dana Levin at Tome on the Range Bookstore, Las Vegas, NM, 3pm

5/16: Debra Spark at Newtonville Books, Newtown, MA, 7pm

5/17 Debra Spark at Longfellow Books, Portland, ME, 7pm

Spark Talks With "Lilith" for Blog Tour

As she continues her blog tour for her latest book The Pretty Girl, Debra Spark was interviewed by Lilith, a magazine and blog that is "independent, Jewish & frankly feminist".

"I am married to a painter, and I have spent much of my life in the company of artists—writers, painters, photographers, graphic novelists, playwrights, actors, etc. There’s an artist friend or casual acquaintance behind almost all of the stories in my book. For instance, I have a friend who used to direct an art workshop for developmentally disabled adults and that informed my story “Conservation.” On a plane, I once met a woman who took photographs for luggage catalogs, and that influenced part of “I Should Let You Go.” Two of my writer-friends had serious breakdowns when they were in their twenties. After they were hospitalized, they were both forbidden to write. The curious proscription influenced “Lady of the Wild Beasts.”

Read the rest of Lilith's conversation with Spark. And visit Four Way Books to take a closer look at her book The Pretty Girl.