From Our Staff | May 25, 2010

I’m just going to copy and paste this one from TMR friend Andrew Scott, who along with Victoria Barrett runs the awesome journal Freight Stories and the very cool short story reading club tastefully named Andrew’s Book Club.  I’ve already responded to his call to action and I hope you will, too:

Kathryn Lang, the editor of SMU Press, has received more than 600 e-mails in support of her efforts to save the press. There’s still a chance for you to help.

Provost Ludden (pludden@smu.edu) will now only consider e-mails sent directly to him. Use the rhetoric of praise — only reference how great the press is. Shaming or berating the Provost will get us nowhere. If we all chime in, there’s a good chance the press can emerge from this crisis in a better position.

And if you’ve already sent an e-mail to Kathryn, could you please resend that e-mail to the Provost, with a new date and time stamp? You should CC Kathryn this time, as well.

Provost Ludden: pludden@smu.edu. Kathryn Lang: klang@smu.edu

Thanks,

Andrew Scott

P.S. — I also recommend buying a book from the press directly. It’s not going to be as cheap as Amazon, of course, but I hope you’ll agree that it’s worth the few extra dollars to support a great small press that does a lot for short-story writers. I just bought a memoir by Debra Monroe called “On the Outskirts of Normal,” which I recommend.

Read more about this situation here and here.

In advance, everyone: thanks for helping out!