With exceptions, most hail from the Central San Joaquin Valley and Sierra Nevada foothill regions of California.
All poetry, writing, and excerpts presented on this page of this website highlight books originally released by Back40 Publishing and copyrights remain with each respective author or poet featured. Topical summaries as well as excerpts from individual titles listed above will be featured below as material is gathered and edited for this site . . .
Great Is Thy Faithfulness: The Tribute of an Impossible Wartime Story, ©2008, 74-page perfectbound (ISBN 978-1-929184-20-0). A pocket memoir by ‘Aldo Bosco’, aka Eberhard Waldenmaier. One of our Greatest Generation tells his amazing saga of survival and safe passage through war-torn Italy during World War II. As a youth of eighteen, he was never sworn in to the Third Reich’s horrific war machine, but slid across the edge of its scythe through the years leading to its collapse. A short but gripping account of perseverance against tyranny--a story of a moral choice that holds relevance over half a century later.
The Bridge Is Gone, ©2008, 113-page perfectbound (ISBN 978-1-929184-19-4). A powerful voice of reminiscence and awakening is revealed by Central Valley native son and poet Manny Moreno as he plumbs the depths of roots and soul; wrestling with the incongruities of the white man’s world to reclaim his place in the natural world amid the chaos and confusion. Manny’s poems gaze starkly into what America in the 21st Century has become. We’ve come so far yet lost so much in this procession disguised as progress. His lament is deep, heartfelt--and enlightening. Some stunning work in this collection of 59 poems.
Monolin Moreno is of Yaqui descent--his grandparents narrowly escaped Pancho Villa’s wrath during the Mexican Revolution by fleeing over the border and re-settling in California’s Great Central Valley in the early 1900s. This familial uprooting and forced relocation at the dawn of the last century--accompanied by the racial stereotypes and tragedies encountered in their adopted homeland--has left an indelible mark on this poet. In turn, what he has poured onto the pages will transform readers in the telling.
Moreno grew up in the Central Valley town of Livingston. Several of his poems have appeared previously in Song of the San Joaquin, a quarterly poetry journal from Modesto, California. This is his first published collection of work in paperback. Included are several illustrations by the author, along with historical and contemporary photographs from his family album. [Monolin is second from the left on the book’s cover.]
The Genesis of Fall, ©2007, 69-page perfectbound (ISBN 1-929184-15-8), by poet Jason Grist, from the south San Joaquin Valley town of Strathmore, California. Jason Grist has had his work published in Southern Oregon University’s OE Magazine; U.C. Berkeley’s Ruah; Small Brushes; Orpheus Magazine; The Aurorean, a poetic quarterly; The Poet’s Pen; Soul Fountain; and various other literary magazines. From the back cover of the most recent of his two Back40 editions: “Through the wonder of nature, Jason Grist speaks to us in this collection of poetry about the spiritual truths in life. Nature becomes the prism through which the poet sees the human soul and our most intimate sensibilities . . . .” -- Kim Flachmann, Ph.D., Writing Program Coordinator, CSU, Bakersfield; and “Grist’s poetry is written with the purity and wisdom of a child who has not lost the connection to the divine from whence he came.” -- Carolyn Barbre, freelance writer, critic.
Grist’s first collection of poetry, Chasing Fall Colored Leaves, ©1999, 399-page (ISBN 1-929184-14-X), was published by Back40 in 2003.
From the back cover: “Jason Grist has written an intriguing and satisfying book of poetry out of the life of California’s San Joaquin Valley and out of his 1998 pilgrimage to Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts.” -- Dr. Victor Lasseter. Both Grist’s collections of poetry speak reverently of the land with vestiges of H.D. Thoreau and R. Frost. Gems to be found among both collections’ contents.
Der Meister Gärtner by Lawrence Livingstone Loche, Pioneer, California ©2003 is a pocket-size edition at 120 pages, perfectbound. Collected on these pages are Loche’s observations in nature, steeped in his vision that directly relates each metaphorically to our human condition as we reach for understanding as cultivars in our Master’s Garden. A limited edition print run.
The Reunion by Tom Fischer, Visalia, California ©2001, 308-page perfectbound. Excerpts from the author’s foreword sets the stage: “The chapters of this book, The Emigrant, The Immigrant, The Resident, and The Family, are fictional. Some of the incidents are true and are embellishments of the life of my father, George Fischer, who came to America at the age of fifteen, from the Bohemian village of Trohatin. It is believed that an uncle who lived in America paid for his ticket to America. The 1900 census lists George Fischer, servant in the household of Franz Fischer. Some of my insights into my father’s life came from listening as he and Joseph Tauer talked of his early life in Bohemia. Joseph Tauer lived in the village of Berg as a child. He and my father attended the same church, and knew each other from the “Old Country.” I have tried to portray living conditions in Bohemia from what I recall of their stories. Names of characters in the stories are for the most part fictional; family members of my father’s are true names. He entered America at Castle Gardens; Ellis Island opened a few years after his arrival. This book shows the courage that my father demonstrated at a young age in making such a trip, and the dedication of an entire family in pursuing their dream of life in America.” A limited edition print run.
“Advancing southward the giants become more and more irrepressibly exuberant, heaving their massive crowns into the sky from every ridge and slope, and waving onward in graceful compliance with the complicated topography of the region. But the finest block of Big Tree forest in the entire belt is on the North Fork of Tule River . . . . here for every old storm-stricken giant there are many in all the glory of prime vigor, and for each of these there is a crowd of eager, hopeful young trees and saplings . . . seemingly in hot pursuit of eternal life.” --John Muir, The Mountains of California, 1894
Foothill Traveler©: Visitor’s Guide to Springville & Tule River Country by J.R.R. Chlebda, ©2001 Springville, California, 32-pp. From historic Native American habitation to modern-day communities and access routes leading up to the ‘Big Tree’ groves in the heart of North Fork Tule Country, this well-received visitor’s guide explores the foothill and alpine terrain on the western flanks of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Tulare County, California. The quote above by John Muir, found in his classic book of exploration [Chapter 8: The Forests (Big Trees--Sequoia gigantea)], concisely summarizes the initial inspiration for creating what became the first edition of the Foothill Traveler© in 1995. Two subsequent editions were published by 2001--each with larger print runs following. This was a very engaging and gratifying project, from conceptualization and rough sketches leading to the creation of the first edition, to the metamorphosis and success of the two that followed, with all the accompanying hiking, exploring and photography that made it such a natural fit. In March of 2000, Back40 Publishing received ‘Business of the Year’ from the Springville Chamber of Commerce in recognition of efforts that assisted in promoting Springville and the region.
Rimmen Rye and other Fables by Ronald Blackham, Exeter, California ©2001, 129-pages perfectbound. Excerpts from the author’s introduction: “This is a collection of stories I wrote for my own children. I figured that through telling stories I could get concepts into their minds that they would never ponder as deeply if I tried merely to deliver the message through lecturing or preaching. . . Even though some of the stories are grouped under the heading ‘fantasy’ or ‘science fiction,’ each one was created soley for the purpose of teaching a lesson in character or moral development.” A limited edition print run.
handful of snow by Lillian Vallee, ©2000 Modesto, California, 72-page perfectbound (ISBN 1-929184-12-3). Lillian Vallee was born in Hamburg, Germany to Polish parents displaced by World War II, and grew up in Detroit, Michigan. She has spent most of her adult life in California, the most recent half in California’s Great Central Valley. Lillian has degrees in English Literature and Slavic Languages & Literature from UC Berkeley. She won acclaim for translations of her mentor, Czeslaw Milosz’s work [Milosz won the 1980 Nobel Prize in Literature]. More recently she has earned her PhD and is currently working on her first novel after returning from Poland. This edition is divided into three poetry sets: handful of snow, erratics, and sleeping among oaks.
Erratics by Lillian Vallee, ©1996 Modesto, California, 19-page limited edition chapbook. The second set of poems found in the 2000 edition shown above, handful of snow, builds from Lillian’s original limited edition chapbook by the same title, first published in 1996 by Back40. A collection of evocative poems that paint exhilarating portraits of bleak circumstance, several ringed with halos of spirited hope against all odds.
Tizne’s Summer Notebook by Phillip Mojica Jr., ©2000 San Luis Obispo, California, 138-page perfectbound (ISBN 1-929184-09-3). The author shares warm reminiscing of past childhood adventures growing up in Bakersfield, California, circa 1943 in the seventeen chapters that make up this nostalgic autobiographical edition. Phillip Mojica was born in Bakersfield and grew up in California’s San Joaquin Valley. He enlisted in the US Army in 1949 and served his tour of duty before moving to Huntington Beach in Southern California. After retiring, he moved to San Luis Obispo on the Central Coast; then back to the Central Valley city of Visalia. Phillip’s writings have been published in The Californians, a magazine of California history. Aside from writing, he derives great pleasure from sculpting in stone and oil painting.
Season of the Heart: The Poetry of Jessie M. Wise with photographs by Ted Wise, Sr., limited edition 52-page perfectbound ©2000 Porterville, California. A posthumous selection in tribute to the poetry of Jessie Wise, accompanied by cover images and interior original photos by her husband of over fifty years, Ted Wise, Sr. In a paragraph excerpted from Ted Sr.’s Christmas 2000 letter to friends, he wrote: “A major family effort this past year was to publish a book of Jessie’s poems. This was accomplished with the issuance of the beautiful Season of the Heart. Many people were surprised by the depth and beauty in the writings of that wonderful girl!” A limited edition print run.
These thoughts that drip like honey from a lonely mouth by Mark Myers, Manteca, California, 31-page chapbook, ©2000. “These poems mark the debut of a remarkable poet just turned twenty-one. Except for a handful of poems expressing delight in simply being alive (‘. . .days which seem to enjoy my company’), Mark’s poems are characterized by an innocent yearning for the perennials: a beneficent deity and a compatible love. What sets the poems apart, however, is his alkali wit and unsparing distance--rare qualities in a young poet. The god of Mark’s poems is ‘the first great surgeon with a shaky hand,’ ‘out of smiles,’ or a ‘great shoe where Cain’s fruit-soil-offering is mashed next to my unreturned hugs and handshakes.’ His loves are ‘parked in someone else’s garage.’ It is this longing for, absence of, expressed in all of their elementary sweetness and melancholoy that make a reader wish this honeytongued poet a tender and merciful future.” -- foreword by Lillian Vallee.
Out of the Deep (ISBN 1-929184-08-5) 50-page perfectbound by Marguerite McClure. Lindsay, California ©1999. “In this book, Marguerite McClure takes readers across a bridge of words on a journey filled with hope and healing. Travel with her as she overcomes deeply painful childhood memories through God’s love and her own unwavering faith. An expression of honest reality--words of pain and beauty. Thoughts that were held captive for years have been released here in these heartfelt writings. Marguerite passionately shares her love and joy, inspiring those held captive in their own dark places who are willing to explore their lives in depth.” -- Jana Sanders. A limited edition print run.
Rehearsing Control by L C Vallee, San Francisco, California. 35-page chapbook of poetry, photographs & images, ©1999. “A while back, if I remember right, my life was one long party where all hearts were open wide, where all wines kept flowing. One night, I sat Beauty down on my lap.--And I found her galling.--And I roughed her up.” the preceding lines from Arthur Rimbaud’s A Season in Hell from 1873 is the perfect foreword that opens this ribald but sweet chapbook of art and poetic verse by a talented young woman from The City by the Bay. Not much [yet a lot], can change in 130-odd years! A limited edition print run.
Greetings from the Foothill Planet sketches in verse by J.R.R. Chlebda, first and second edition chapbook printings, 21-pages ©1997 Springville, California (ISBN 1-929184-17-4). From the introduction: “I live in the foothills on the western fringes of the Sierra Nevada above Springville, California. Some flatlanders don’t quite know where Springville is; folks that do oftentimes think of this neck of the woods as an entirely different planet from the flat, wide expanse of the Central San Joaquin . . . In these pages, I share some of the magic I’ve stumbled upon in these hills that have become my home--providing a sanity zone and invigorating inspiration through a closer link with nature.” Well, a lot can change in 10 years, too. Now in Northern California, my heart is still tugged by those Sierra foothills. Lots of amazing tales to be told. A few fit for print can be found in this small chapbook, now in its second run.
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