High Risk Books

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High Risk Books was a book publisher, founded in New York City in 1993 as an imprint of Serpent's Tail Press of London. It was started by Ira Silverberg and Amy Scholder who was then an editor at City Lights Books in San Francisco. Its titles were designed by Rex Ray. [1]

High Risk Books was dedicated to publishing innovative, provocative, and progressive literature. [2] The publishing firm was united by its concern for certain subversive impulses, [3] and in this spirit printed authors as diverse as William S. Burroughs, Tim Dlugos, Kathy Acker, Diamanda Galas, Gary Indiana, June Jordan, Cookie Mueller, Lynne Tillman, John Giorno, Pagan Kennedy, Sapphire, Jayne Cortez, and many others. As a small press, High Risk played an important role in providing a space for many emerging writers who would otherwise have found it difficult to get published in mainstream, large houses. [2]

High Risk Books ceased operation in January 1997 because of disagreements with Serpent's Tail in London, although books bearing the High Risk logo continued to be published through Serpent's Tail until 2002. [4]

List of High Risk Titles
Author/EditorTitleYearTranslatorPrevious EditionGenreISBN 10Notes
Diamanda Galás The Shit of God1996Performing arts/Literature & Essay/PCultural Studies1-85242-432-X
Lydia Davis The End of the Story19961995, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New YorkFiction1-85242-420-6
Daniel Evan Weiss The Roaches Have No King19941990, Black Swan Books, UK, as Unnatural SelectionFiction1-85242-326-9
Sapphire American Dreams1994Poetry/African-American Literature1-85242-327-7
David Trinidad Answer Song1994Poetry/Pop culture/Gay Studies1-85242-329-3
Benjamin Weissman Dear Dead Person1994Fiction1-85242-330-7Illustrated by the author
June Jordan Haruko/Love Poems19941993, Virago Press Ltd, UKPoetry1-85242-323-4Forward by Adrienne Rich
Catherine Bush Minus Time19951993, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, CanadaFiction1-85242-408-7
Robert Glück Margery Kempe 1994Fiction/Gay Studies/Historical Fiction1-85242-334-X
Gary Indiana Gone Tomorrow19931-85242-336-6
Daniel Evan Weiss Hell on Wheels1991Fiction/Cult Lit1-85242-439-7
Hervé Guibert To The Friend Who Did Not Save My Life1994Linda Coverdale1990, Editions Gallimard, ParisFiction/AIDS1-85242-328-5
Lynne Tillman Haunted Houses19951987, Poseidon Press, New YorkFiction1-85242-400-1
Lydia Davis Break It Down19961986, Knopf, New YorkFiction/Short stories1-85242-425-1
Robert Glück Jack the Modernist19951985, Gay Presses of New YorkFiction/Gay Studies1-85242-333-1
Klaus Kertess South Brooklyn Casket Company1997Fiction1-85242-448-6
Cookie Mueller Ask Dr Mueller: The Writings of Cookie Mueller1997Fiction/Biograph & Autobiography/Art1-85242-331-5Introduction by John Waters
Caitlin Sullivan and Kate Bornstein Nearly Roadkill: An Infobahn Erotic Adventure1996Fiction/Gender Studies/Cyberculture1-85242-418-4
Tim Dlugos Powerless: Selected Poems 1973-19901996Poetry/Gay Studies/AIDS1-85242-407-9
Daniel Evan Weiss The Swine's Wedding1996Fiction/Jewish Studies1-85242-419-2
Ann Rower Lee and Elaine2002Fiction1-85242-416-8
V.K. Mina The Splintered Day1999Fiction/Gay & Lesbian1-85242-452-4
Pagan Kennedy Spinsters1995Fiction1-85242-405-2
Luisa Valenzuela Bedside Manners1995Margaret Jull Costa1990, Grupo Editor Latinoamericano S.R.L., Buenos AiresFiction1-85242-313-7
Ameena Meer Bombay Talkie1994Fiction/Multicultural Studies1-85242-325-0
Pagan Kennedy Stripping and Other Stories1994Fiction1-85242-322-6
Gary Indiana Rent Boy1994Fiction1-85242-324-2
John Giorno You Got to Burn to Shine: New and Selected Writings1994Poetry/Memoir1-85242-321-8
William S. Burroughs Ghost of Chance19951991, Library Fellows of the Whitney Museum of American ArtFiction/Art/Gay Studies1-85242-406-0Illustrations by the author
Adam Klein The Medicine Burns1995Fiction/Gay literature1-85242-403-6
Jayne Cortez Somewhere in Advance of Nowhere1996Poetry/Multicultural Studies1-85242-422-2Illustrations by Melvin Edwards
Luisa Valenzuela Symmetries1998Margaret Jull Costa1993, Editorial Sudamericana S.A., Buenos AiresFiction/Short stories/Latin American Studies1-85242-543-1
Renaud Camus Tricks: Twenty-Five Encounters1996Richard Howard1981, St Martin's Press Inc., New YorkFiction/Gay Studies/Sexuality1-85242-414-1Introduction by Roland Barthes
Heather Lewis House Rules19951994, Nan A Talese, New YorkFiction/Lesbian Studies1-85242-413-3
Ann Rower Armed Response1995Fiction/Film/TV1-85242-415-X
Stewart Home Slow Death1996Fiction1-85242-519-9
Richard House Bruiser1997Fiction1-85242-437-0
Mary Woronov Snake20001-85242-657-8
Mary Woronov Swimming Underground: My Years in the Warhol Factory2000Autobiography & Memoir/Art1-85242-719-1With photographs by Billy Name
Jack Smith Wait for Me at the Bottom of the Pool: The Writings of Jack Smith19971-85242-428-1
Gillaume Dustan In My Room1998Brad Rumph1996, P.O.L. éditeur, ParisFiction1-85242-590-3
Amy Scholder and Ira Silverberg High Risk: An Anthology of Forbidden Writings19911991, Plume, New YorkFiction1-85242-231-9Published in the UK by Serpent's Tail, not under the High Risk imprint
Amy Scholder and Ira Silverberg High Risk 2: Writings on Sex, Death, and Subversion1994Fiction1-85242-366-8
Richard Peabody A Different Beat: Writings by Women of the Beat Generation1997Fiction/Poetry1-85242-431-1

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References

  1. "A Picture is a Word: The Posters of Rex Ray". GLBT Historical Society. Retrieved 2021-05-19.
  2. 1 2 Silverberg, Ira; Scholder, Amy (1991). High risk : an anthology of forbidden writings. London: Serpent's Tail. ISBN   1-85242-231-9. OCLC   877279946.
  3. Scholder, Amy; Silverberg, Ira. High risk : writings on sex, death and subversion. New York: Serpent's Tail. ISBN   1-85242-366-8. OCLC   32350608.
  4. "The Fales Library Guide to the Serpent's Tail/High Risk Archives". Archived from the original on 2009-11-20. Retrieved 2009-04-13.