[David Mason]

I'm very happy to say that Ludlow, my verse novel, will be out at last in a beautiful edition from Red Hen Press in January '07.

The paperback is 18.95, the hardback 28.95

Due to a change in ISBN numbers, there are four of them. The old format numbers should be as follows:

1-59709-083-2 (paper)
1-59709-084-0 (cloth)

Red Hen Press
PO Box 3537
Granada Hills, CA 91394
www.redhen.org

Hopefully the book will soon be up at Amazon and listed in Books in Print--we had a few delays getting permission to use the cover art.

Here is X. J. Kennedy's blurb:
"Ludlow bowled me over with its dramatic power, kept me reading on, under its spell,. This violent chapter in American labor history richly deserves a poem of epic size, and David Mason, outstanding poet and long-time resident of Colorado, is the man to deliver it. Unforgettably, its characters practically step off the page--immigrant hero Louis Tikas, mistreated waif Luisa Mole, and Too Tall MacIntosh, the man who must stoop to work in a mine. Here is a major poem bursting with life, a book with greatness written all over it."

[Julie Kane]

Congratulations, David! I am looking forward to reading it.

[Richard Wakefield]

I've read some substantial swatches of the Ludlow and can only echo Kennedy's praise.
Richard Wakefield

[Tim Murphy]

I've read all of Ludlow, and I concur with Joe Kennedy and Richard Wakefield.

[Gregory Dowling]

I've read it too - so let me just join in the chorus of praise. I can't wait to see it in book format.

Gregory

[Clive Watkins]

Dear David

This is excellent news.

Like Richard and some others, I, too, have read some sections of Ludlow. I am delighted that it is going to appear in print in its entirety and look forward to having a copy in my hands in the new year.

Bravo!

Clive

[Tim Murphy]

It is hard to take so shopworn (pardon pun) a theme as heartless oppression of the working man, and make it work in a book length poem. But David has done it, primarily through his knack for creating convincing characters. That he accomplishes by creating convincing dialogue. It is a remarkable achievement.

[David Mason]

Thanks, friends. I'll let people know when it's formally out. Those who read journal excerpts will see that some revision has occurred. The book does not follow a simplistic political line as you might expect, but is involved mostly with the weight of individual lives. The narrator, too, exposes his motives for telling the story, or piecing it together over decades.

Dave

[This message has been edited by David Mason (edited December 10, 2006).]

[Terese Coe]

Looking forward to reading it, David—huge congratulations!

Terese

[Paul Lake]

I just got a flier in the mail today for Ludlow and look forward to reading the book.