My first Acre event was a reading at the fabulous Cincinnati Mercantile Library. It is a breathtaking space—two ancient wood-paneled stories that resemble the set design for a “Dark Academia” narrative, tucked away at the top of a skyscraper, filled with narrow walkways, iron spiral staircases, leather club chairs, marble busts, and, of course, an expansive and eclectic collection one could spend days or weeks wandering. A beautiful, reverent space for literature—along, on this occasion, some fantastically funny, irreverent literature to go in it!
Three Acre authors read, all with new books out: Brock Clarke, from his tenth book (!), the collection Special Election; James Stewart III, from his debut novel Defiant Acts; and Brian Trapp, from his novel Range of Motion. Most vividly I remember Clarke’s reading of the piece “One Goes where One Is Needed,” a character monologue from the point of view of the disgraced former American administrator of the Iraqi Provisional Government turned Vermont children’s ski instructor (based on a true story).
I’ve spent my literary life lamenting the rarity of real laugh-out-loud (literally—you should have heard the audience in the library!) humor in “serious” literature and the general unfunniness of much of what people dub “literary humor,” and Clarke walks the line of brilliant and funny so funambulistically that it looks effortless.
One of my favorite aspects of Acre’s catalogue is its curation of a lot of the funniest titles you’ll see that never sacrifice literary quality, including the new fall title Manual for How to Live Magnificently, by Ernie Wang, that features stories about improvising fortunetellers and heartbroken Disney World character mascots. Dark humor is one of the best kinds, and Wang’s book is one that makes you well up as you chuckle. In fact I had encountered the story “Stay Brave, My Hercules” a decade ago in the handsome hardbound McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, and, in reading the first two stories of the collection, was haunted by trying to work out where I had heard this instantly recognizable voice before, until I bumped into Hercules and it all came back!
To learn more about Acre Books, browse the catalog or visit our submissions page to read our description of what Co-Publishers Lisa Ampleman and Sarah Haak look for and love in a manuscript!
