{"title":"IF SF PUBLISHING","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"golf-is-ruining-my-life","title":"Golf is Ruining My Life","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eGolf is Ruining My Life\u003c\/em\u003e is a book of reckonings, meant to be both playful and serious, told by a golfer who has a love\/hate relationship with the game. Part Dada Art book, part sociology, part intellectual adventure with a sidekick, part personal confession. Does the narrator hate golf? No, he loves golf but he sometimes dislikes the people who play it, including himself, and questions all the time he's spent playing it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA tour de force of a book by a well-seasoned poet-golfer who struggles between agony and ecstasy while playing a gentleman's game. It's great fun to watch the narrator 'go inside the ropes' between hope and despair, joy and misery, memory and real-time events, traversing the course, rubbing up against the quirky and always contrary ways of his golfer friends with his sidekick Jack, while becoming familiar with the world-class Dadaist Kurt Schwitters on a rainy day inside the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom an early reader of 'Golf is Ruining My Life\u003c\/strong\u003e'—\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYou have created something special!!!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt will now reside on my golf shelf with\u003cbr\u003eWho's Your Caddy, (Rick Reilly)\u003cbr\u003eGolf in the Kingdom, (Michael Murphy),\u003cbr\u003eGolf and the Art of War (Don Wade)\u003cbr\u003eGolf for Enlightenment (Deepak Chopra)\u003cbr\u003eThe Greatest Game Ever Played (Mark Frost)\u003cbr\u003eThe Inner Game of Golf (Tim Gallway)\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e— Thomas Raher, San Francisco\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBrooks Roddan\u003c\/strong\u003e lives and works in San Francisco where he writes every day, enjoys making small-scale paintings and collage, and operates IF SF Publishing, leaving town as often as possible to his cabin in upstate Wyoming where nothing is expected of him.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"5.0 out of 5 stars An endearing, poetic look golf and life. This charming tale is about how nuanced our lives really are, if you are open to it, the way this book's narrator is. Everyday our mind reacts to the same activities in different ways. It sees things it didn't see before, or it dwells on things it previously ignored. Sometimes it fusses, fumes or worries, at other times it's full of delight and wonder. It's almost as though our mind is a writer, constantly looking for new material for a story or poem or a new philosophical angle on what life is really all about. Sometimes this a beautiful experience, at other times, it's downright absurd, which is why it make sense that the author ends us using the famous absurdist and Dada artist Kurt Schwitters as his mental caddie to navigate him down the weird and wonderful course of this game called life.\" - \u003cstrong\u003eSnappy Girl\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Just wanted to tell you I have been reading GOLF Is Ruining My Life slowly over the last few days and it is astonishing. In every best of ways.. consider this reader blown away.\" - \u003cstrong\u003eDan DeVries\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Lechery, Anarchy, Delirium, Bourgeois Inertia, Flagrant Hypocrisy, Primitive Injustice, An Order of Organized Crime in Fact\" - \u003cstrong\u003eAntonin Artaud\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"This is a uniquely intriguing book, at some points insightful, at other points funny and entertaining, and often thought-provoking. I am savoring it at a slow pace.\" - \u003cstrong\u003eTom Trabin\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"love this narrative style of yours—I swear it feels very distinctive, all your own. It bubbles along quietly about poetry and art and then some delicious thing turns up, like in a Jacques Tati movie. You are the Mr. Hulot of the links.\" - \u003cstrong\u003eElias Crim\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!----\u003e","brand":"IF SF PUBLISHING","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48947008143677,"sku":"9781733386470","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0477\/8731\/1254\/files\/9781733386470ita.jpg?v=1718308180"},{"product_id":"get-used-to-it-words-thoughts-and-drawings","title":"Get Used To It: Words, Thoughts and Drawings","description":"\u003cp\u003eIs cartooning the way to a healthier, less stressful life? Artist Muriel Scheps is convinced it just may be.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"We all have things in our lives that we find unbearable, yet can't seem to make go away. When this happens, our friends and relatives often us give us the advice, \"Get used to it.\" Of course, that's much easier said than done,\" Ms. Schneps says.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"When it comes to getting used to it, a cartoon can do wonders. Maybe that's why most people who pick of a copy of \u003cem\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/em\u003e, read the cartoons first. It's a quick way to distance one's self from the problems of day by laughing it all off.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eGet Used to It\u003c\/em\u003e, a collection of Schneps' original, light-hearted, often bizarre and flat-out funny cartoons, will be released in summer 2020 by San Francisco-based IFSF Publishing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAccording to her publisher, Brooks Roddan, the book itself came about in a completely unexpected way. \"I've known Muriel for years,\" said Roddan. \"I knew her as a fine artist, an accomplished painter, but didn't know she made cartoons. One day my wife and I were visiting her, and she happened to have a stack of her drawings laying on the table. We started flipping through them, and soon we were laughing our heads off. We decided right then and there that the world needed a book of Muriel's cartoons.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSchneps's\u003cem\u003e cartoons\u003c\/em\u003e are quirky collection of cartoons involving maladjusted men and women, screaming moms, annoying dog owners, prairie therapists, surreal scenes, and animals and space aliens that are totally miffed by human behavior.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Laughing at adversity is serious business,\" said Schneps. \"We need all the help we can get doing it. Dancing and cartoons can chase any problem away.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMuriel Schneps\u003c\/strong\u003e was born in the Germantown district of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She showed talent in art as a child, and while in elementary school took classes at The Fleichers Art School in Philadelphia, and while in high school at The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. In 1972, she moved to New York, where she took classes briefly at the Art Student League of New York. Over the years, she studied under several notable instructors, including Marshal Glasier and Daniel Green.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe painted for several years in NYC, and then moved to Seattle, where she worked feverishly at her craft for another two years. Her next stop was San Francisco, which would remain her home for the next 25 years. Her art has been featured in numerous gallery shows in San Francisco over the years, and she was often a familiar figure at the wharf, where she made pencil and acrylic portraits on the street. Muriel also painted on the streets of Paris for several months. She has received various awards for her work at art exhibitions.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe has dabbled in stand-up comedy, and performed in a variety of sketches for Kirk's Notes, a cable access TV show in San Francisco that ran from 2000….\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"When I was told about her story, interested for sure. Then I saw the drawings and writing, laughed and got it. Saw it all together, couldn't stop laughing nor put it down.Realistic, clever, shows us why humor counts. A true treasure of insight and artistry.\" - \u003cstrong\u003eThomas Ingalls\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Is this description or praise? A poet once called a poem, 'the brain braining'. The same might be said of Muriel's 'cartoons', as so many of them tap into that unmapped territory of consciousness that has suddenly awoken from a deep sleep, only to be thrust into human wakefulness, able to x-ray the fantastically strange funny-bones of each. Is Muriel a comic? I think so, having seen these pieces now many times and laughing again every time I see them. A social critic? Definitely. An artist? Yes, only an artist could render her subject matter with such deadly humorous precision. 'Get Used to It' is not only the personal record of highs and lows of recovery from life threatening circumstances, it's the comi-tragic tale of our times.\" -\u003cstrong\u003e Brooks Roddan\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!----\u003e","brand":"IF SF PUBLISHING","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48947079545149,"sku":"9781733386449","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0477\/8731\/1254\/files\/9781733386449ita.jpg?v=1718309435"},{"product_id":"pinball-wizard","title":"Pinball Wizard","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"Are you the Pinball Wizard or the pinball?\" asks Ralph's manager inside a nuclear hardened bunker in England. That is the question driving Michael D. Meloan's new novella—a story of love, sex, jets, and Bukowski.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLights flash and bells ring as Ralph is buffeted between a controlling father, international intrigue in the US defense industry, and a friendship with the writer Charles Bukowski. A wild girlfriend also ratchets-up the action.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut in the end, it is Ralph's turn at the controls.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMichael D. Meloan\u003c\/strong\u003e's fiction has appeared in \u003cem\u003eWired, Huffington Post, Buzz, LA Weekly, Larry Flynt's Chic,\u003c\/em\u003e and in many anthologies. He was an interview subject in the documentaries \u003cem\u003eBukowski: Born Into This\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eJoe Frank: Somewhere Out There\u003c\/em\u003e. With Joe Frank, he co-wrote a number of radio shows that aired across the National Public Radio syndicate. His\u003cem\u003e Wired\u003c\/em\u003e short story \"The Cutting Edge\" was optioned for film. And he co-authored the novel \u003cem\u003eThe Shroud \u003c\/em\u003ewith his brother Steven. For many years, he was a software engineer. In addition, he does killer karaoke.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"My mailbox contained a surprise a week or so ago: \u003cem\u003ePinball Wizard\u003c\/em\u003e, a novella by Michael Meloan. It is one of the most satisfying reading experiences I've had in recent years, in part because it handles a famous writer (\u003cstrong\u003eCharles Bukowski\u003c\/strong\u003e) as one of its main characters with nonchalant deftness. Meloan's slightly picaresque story is hard to classify, which is one of the things that makes it such a pleasure to read. He has a gift for writing unapologetically masculine prose; it's flavorful without being exotic, and it doesn't hurt that he has a fine ear for dialogue.\" - \u003cstrong\u003eBill Mohr,\u003c\/strong\u003e writer, critic, and English Literature Professor at California State University, Long Beach\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"No one creates a sense of mood and place quite like Meloan. He's staked out his own turf.\" - \u003cstrong\u003eJoe Frank\u003c\/strong\u003e, Peabody Award winning NPR monologue artist\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"In the novel, \u003cem\u003ePinball Wizard\u003c\/em\u003e is the code name of a top-secret military operation designed to help NATO fighter jets evade surface-to-air missiles from Eastern Bloc countries. This assignment presents software engineer Ralph Hargraves with life-changing decisions which the protagonist does not necessarily want to face. No wonder: a closer look at his personal life reveals cracks, problems and conflicts on just about every level. Admirable are the successful timing and content balance of the story: Meloan obviously uses existing know-how in dealing with programming languages, knows how to deal with technical and human details and skillfully weaves the facets of Hargraves' existence together. It is even astonishing how easily such lush content has been packed into a novel of 136 pages. A complex plot is joined by further flourishes such as the character comedy found in Hargrave's colleagues, authentic and L.A. typical descriptions. Funnily enough, in this turbulent narrative network of impressions and scenes, top secret missions, various drugs and alcoholic beverages, and major emotional decisions, one no longer thinks of Charles Bukowski, who appears at the beginning of the novel, but by the end, his reappearance seems all the more worthwhile and successful.\" - Reviewed by \u003cstrong\u003eSandra Falke\u003c\/strong\u003e. Translated from German.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!----\u003e","brand":"IF SF PUBLISHING","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48966090522941,"sku":"9781733386487","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0477\/8731\/1254\/files\/9781733386487ita.jpg?v=1718652173"},{"product_id":"mare-island","title":"Mare Island","description":"\u003cp\u003eWhat would it be like to discover your very own ghost town? To stumble upon the place by accident and feel it grow more and more mysterious with every step you take? The buildings, still standing tall with their importance, abandoned, every window broken; heavy equipment in chains, rusting in plain sight; weeds taking over the premises; the feeling that everyone's just left yesterday or the day before.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt's this chance encounter with Mare Island, the first naval base the US opened on the Pacific Ocean, once the shipbuilding capital of the western world, home and workplace to over 50,000 people but shuttered by an act of Congress on April Fools' Day, 1996, that leads the writer to make up stories about what he's seeing, and to ask himself questions about his own life that he wouldn't have otherwise asked.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eMARE ISLAND\u003c\/em\u003e is part documentary in words and pictures of a place the writer calls, \"the Stonehenge of the American empire,\" and part self-portrait, an extremely personal encounter with the past, present, and a possible future.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEstablished in 1854, Mare Island Naval Shipyard was the first US Navy base on the Pacific Ocean. 514 ships were built at Mare Island and thousands of other vessels overhauled in dry dock during its colorful heyday. Once considered America's military shipbuilding capital, Mare Island was registered as a California Historical Landmark in 1960, and parts of the base were declared a National Historic Landmark District in 1975.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBrooks Roddan\u003c\/strong\u003e lives and works in San Francisco where he writes every day, enjoys making small-scale paintings and collage, and operates IF SF Publishing, leaving town as often as possible to his cabin in upstate Wyoming where nothing is expected of him.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRoddan's written fiction under the pen name Thomas Fuller, his first novel \u003cem\u003eMonsieur\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cem\u003eAmbivalence \u003c\/em\u003e(2013) winning an Award in the Fiction Category at the 2014 Next Generation Indie Book Awards, following that novel with \u003cem\u003eThe Classical World, A Novel of Ideas \u003c\/em\u003e(2018).\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHis first book of non-fiction \u003cem\u003eMare Island\u003c\/em\u003e was published in 2016 under his legal name, selling out its original printing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eGolf Is Ruining My Life\u003c\/em\u003e, a semi-autobiographical series of meditations on his love-hate relationship with the game, is Roddan's second foray into the nether-regions of non-fiction.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Bombing along the highway at the north edge of San Francisco Bay, as we moderns are wont to do, the turnoff to Mare Island passes in a blink, and most of us don't think twice. But Brooks Roddan takes the exit—and finds himself in a sprawling, ghostly monument to the American Empire. Slow down now and walk with him on this provocative meditation on power, impermanence, and the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves.\" - \u003cstrong\u003eJAY HARRIS\u003c\/strong\u003e, Former Publisher of \u003cem\u003eMother Jones\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Mare Island by Brooks Roddan is gem of a book, reminiscent of the chapbooks published in the heyday of City Lights Bookstore during the Beat Era in San Francisco. Combining stunning black and white photography, personal reflections and insightful writing and history, Mare Island paints the picture of both the decay of a once-important naval base in Vallejo, California, as well as it's renewal as a mixed use development that will serve the future needs of Northern California. This is a fun, thoughtful and exquisite depiction of the old and the new, decay and rebirth, and a poetic writing style that charms the reader. Bravo.\" - \u003cstrong\u003eSAM SINGER\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Another exquisite book from IFSF Publishing and author Brooks Roddan. A small book, silky cover, flaps around a rich terracotta color, elegant layout of photos and text... I love the short fragments of thought about empire, the vast ruins of a shipyard that saw the first atom bomb shipped off, a ghostly landscape of war-mongering, heroism and death. The text is personal, understated, made of Pascalian paradoxes, political poetics, intriguing bits of stories about time, memory, and the ambivalence of understanding. 'I'd never seen a ruin so human.' The author's images are their own haunted tale, as powerful as the writing.\" - \u003cstrong\u003eRENATE STENDHAL\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!----\u003e","brand":"IF SF PUBLISHING","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49148094742845,"sku":"9780985977368","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0477\/8731\/1254\/files\/9780985977368ita.jpg?v=1721664374"},{"product_id":"monsieur-ambivalence-a-post-literate-fable","title":"Monsieur Ambivalence: A Post Literate Fable","description":"\u003cp\u003eSet in a village in central France, an American man attempts to sit quietly in a room by himself for one hour, a method promoted by the 17th century philosopher Blaise Pascal as the prescription for all mankind's ills. Tempted by almost everything--fine wines, the grandeur of French cuisine, the beauty of the countryside, our hero soldiers on in pursuit of his special brand of solitude and uncertainty, despite the distractions of neighbors and a highly intelligent female companion.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThomas Fuller\u003c\/strong\u003e is the prose pen name of Brooks Roddan. He lives and works in San Francisco where he writes every day, enjoys making small-scale paintings and collage, and operates IF SF Publishing, leaving town as often as possible to his cabin in upstate Wyoming where nothing is expected of him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"… a narrative of literary beauty and philosophical depth …\" -\u003cstrong\u003e RENATE STENDHAL,\u003c\/strong\u003e Huffpost Contributor\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"With a unique pace and logic, the text provides a desirable space in which to consider any number of interesting ideas about solitude and connection...\" -\u003cstrong\u003e HOLLY WREN SPAULDING\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Monsieur Ambivalence by Thomas Fuller (IF SF Publishing, $15, 257 pages). If you can't make it to France this year, consider this odd but endearing 'post-literate fable' by Thomas Fuller. Set in the Auvergne, written in brief, stream-of-consciousness installments and illustrated with grainy black-and-white photos , the story is narrated by the title character, a man whose goal — inspired by 17th-century philosopher Blaise Pascal — is to sit quietly in a room for one hour without distraction. Fortunately for the reader, his solitude is frequently interrupted by his lover, Helena, his neighbors, the region's beautiful landscape, food and fine wines.\" - \u003cstrong\u003eGEORGE ROWE\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Fuller makes something wonderful here, out of almost nothing: the attempt to sit quietly in a room alone for a least one hour. That he does so in a small village in the middle of France makes it all the more remarkable. Nothing will get in the way of his journey—not love or friendship, not fine wine or cigarettes, not Marcel Duchamp or the grandeur of French cuisine. Lovable and exasperating, a courageous weakling, Monsieur Ambivalence is a friend to all of us who cannot seem to live with ourselves, but who cannot stop hoping to believe that someday we can.\" - \u003cstrong\u003eJEAN-PIERRE BEZOUX\u003c\/strong\u003e, Author, Le Source: Secret Fountains of The Auvergne\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!----\u003e","brand":"IF SF PUBLISHING","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49148254093629,"sku":"9780985977313","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0477\/8731\/1254\/files\/9780985977313ita.jpg?v=1721665943"},{"product_id":"the-classical-world-a-novel-of-ideas","title":"THE CLASSICAL WORLD: A Novel of Ideas  - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe hero of Thomas Fuller's new book walks around while asking one big question after another—what is truth, what is beauty, what is justice—on his journey through the classical world. Along the way he comes into contact with people—a cave guide in the ancient city of Matera, a taxi cab driver in Naples, the imperious owner of a grand hotel in Rome, among others—so modern they're ancient and so ancient they're modern. When he ditches his male sidekick for a female muse, the trip takes on an entirely different dimension, as our hero edges closer and closer and closer to asking the oldest philosophical question in the world: what is the best way to live one's life, knowing there's no right answer. Tender, funny, profane, outrageous, \u003cem\u003eTHE CLASSICAL WORLD \u003c\/em\u003eis a quixotic excursion for which there's no tour guide other than the self.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Classical World\u003c\/em\u003e is illustrated with original collage artwork and color and black and white photographs.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThomas Fuller\u003c\/strong\u003e is the prose pen name of Brooks Roddan. He lives and works in San Francisco where he writes every day, enjoys making small-scale paintings and collage, and operates IF SF Publishing, leaving town as often as possible to his cabin in upstate Wyoming where nothing is expected of him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"This is one of the most interesting and introspective novels I've ever read! Honestly the book blurb does NOT do it justice at all. In a field loaded with generic copycats, Thomas Fuller brought a fresh attitude and literary style and makes this unique story all his own and doesn't just rehash the same old plotlines we've seen a million times before which makes this book pretty amazing. I've read so much that I'm rarely surprised by anything anymore and its not like there were 'crazy plot twists' here because its not that type of novel, the whole time as I was reading I had no clue where I t was headed next, and I liked that. . I appreciated the descriptive details that brought the story to life – authentic world building (and character development) is absolutely crucial in selling a story like this – when you have elements of the real world and history infused with the storyline - and it is done quite nicely here. I Recommend for anyone who wants a unique, character-driven self-adventure story with quirky characters and heartwarming poignancy.\" -\u003cstrong\u003e Karen Matthews\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"An enchanting read that I finished quickly. 'The Classical World' is a compelling journey of the mind, heart, and soul and the places around the world where the past comes to life in profound and unexpected ways. I almost feel like I was actually there with Jane in Italy and seeing these wonderful attractions that have historical and cultural significance. Thomas Fuller has a talent for turning a what could be an 'ordinary' story about traveling or visiting foreign destinations with friends on its head with fascinating characterizations and beautiful prose and a broad range spectrum of the world – classical and modern combined.. This was a lovely story that has a bit of everything I like: and I feel like I even learned some thing as well. My heart needed this ifsfone. \" - \u003cstrong\u003eAPRIL DAWN\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!----\u003e","brand":"IF SF PUBLISHING","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49148364063037,"sku":"9780985977399","price":25.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0477\/8731\/1254\/files\/9780985977399ita.jpg?v=1721667729"},{"product_id":"the-classical-world-a-novel-of-ideas-hardcover","title":"THE CLASSICAL WORLD: A Novel of Ideas  - Deluxe Hardcover Edition","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe hero of Thomas Fuller's new book walks around while asking one big question after another—what is truth, what is beauty, what is justice—on his journey through the classical world. Along the way he comes into contact with people—a cave guide in the ancient city of Matera, a taxi cab driver in Naples, the imperious owner of a grand hotel in Rome, among others—so modern they're ancient and so ancient they're modern. When he ditches his male sidekick for a female muse, the trip takes on an entirely different dimension, as our hero edges closer and closer and closer to asking the oldest philosophical question in the world: what is the best way to live one's life, knowing there's no right answer. Tender, funny, profane, outrageous, \u003cem\u003eTHE CLASSICAL WORLD\u003c\/em\u003e is a quixotic excursion for which there's no tour guide other than the self.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Classical World\u003c\/em\u003e is illustrated with original collage artwork and color and black and white photographs. This edition is the \u003cstrong\u003eDeluxe Hardcover Edition\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThomas Fuller\u003c\/strong\u003e is the prose pen name of Brooks Roddan. He lives and works in San Francisco where he writes every day, enjoys making small-scale paintings and collage, and operates IF SF Publishing, leaving town as often as possible to his cabin in upstate Wyoming where nothing is expected of him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"This is one of the most interesting and introspective novels I've ever read! Honestly the book blurb does NOT do it justice at all. In a field loaded with generic copycats, Thomas Fuller brought a fresh attitude and literary style and makes this unique story all his own and doesn't just rehash the same old plotlines we've seen a million times before which makes this book pretty amazing. I've read so much that I'm rarely surprised by anything anymore and its not like there were 'crazy plot twists' here because its not that type of novel, the whole time as I was reading I had no clue where I t was headed next, and I liked that. . I appreciated the descriptive details that brought the story to life – authentic world building (and character development) is absolutely crucial in selling a story like this – when you have elements of the real world and history infused with the storyline - and it is done quite nicely here. I Recommend for anyone who wants a unique, character-driven self-adventure story with quirky characters and heartwarming poignancy.\" - \u003cstrong\u003eKAREN MATTHEWS\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"An enchanting read that I finished quickly. The Classical World is a compelling journey of the mind, heart, and soul and the places around the world where the past comes to life in profound and unexpected ways. I almost feel like I was actually there with Jane in Italy and seeing these wonderful attractions that have historical and cultural significance. Thomas Fuller has a talent for turning a what could be an 'ordinary' story about traveling or visiting foreign destinations with friends on its head with fascinating characterizations and beautiful prose and a broad range spectrum of the world – classical and modern combined.. This was a lovely story that has a bit of everything I like: and I feel like I even learned some thing as well. My heart needed this one. \" - \u003cstrong\u003eAPRIL DAWN\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!----\u003e","brand":"IF SF PUBLISHING","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49148387983677,"sku":"9780985977344","price":75.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0477\/8731\/1254\/files\/9780985977344ita.jpg?v=1721668268"},{"product_id":"the-life-and-times-of-charles-j-belden-cowboy-photographer","title":"The Life and Times of Charles J. Belden: Cowboy Photographer","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Life and Times of Charles J. Belden, Cowboy Photographer\u003c\/em\u003e, is scheduled for a Fall 2024 release according to the publisher, the first monograph to be published featuring the work of the legendary Wyoming photographer.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Belden belongs to that great tradition of world-class photographers— Carelton Watkins, Ansel Adams, Paul Strand, Edward Weston, Berenice Abbot come to mind\", says publisher Brooks Roddan whose independent press, IFSF Publishing, is located in San Francisco and northwest Wyoming. \"We're thrilled to be bringing the book out, a long-time labor of love, the result of a real collaborative effort of people aware of Belden's work. New readers will discover for the first time an artist whose photographs are a vivid, authentically iconic portrait of the American West.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"We were happily surprised to learn that a book on Belden hadn't yet been done,\" says Roddan.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"I've been traveling around Wyoming for years, and it was as if I kept seeing Belden images whenever I was there—they get into your soul, it's like you can't stop seeing them. Belden's life story too is a kind of saga—eventful, adventurous, daring, a series of episodes that a feature- length movie could be made of—a 'Grand Tour' of a life.\"\u003cbr\u003eBelden, born in San Francisco in 1887, became co-owner of the legendary Pitchfork Ranch in Meeteetse, Wyoming with his then-partner Eugene Phelps. Belden and Phelps ran the ranch from the early 1920s, until Belden left Wyoming and moved to Florida in 1940. Belden's black \u0026amp; white photos were often featured in national newspapers and magazines, including the New York Times, National Geographic, the Denver Post and many other publications, quickly establishing in the public imagination the image of a west of endless skies, vast landscapes where herds of cattle, buffalo, and antelope roamed, the ranch-hands sitting beside the campfire.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Life and Times of Charles J. Belden, Cowboy Photographer\u003c\/em\u003e features over 80 photographic reproductions, digitally created from Belden's original glass plate negatives, essays by Mack Frost and publisher Roddan, and a Timeline 1888-1966 of documenting Belden's life and times.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAuthor and publisher \u003cstrong\u003eBrooks Roddan\u003c\/strong\u003e spends part of each year at his home in San Francisco and part at a family-built straw-bale cabin in Wyoming, writing as well as directing the editorial activities of IFSF Publishing. Roddan has written three novels and seven books of poems.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMack Frost\u003c\/strong\u003e was born and raised in Cody, Wyoming. He earned advanced degrees in radio and television production. As an accomplish photographer, Frost currently works for the McCracken Research Library at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"IF SF PUBLISHING","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49329046356285,"sku":"9781733386494","price":45.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0477\/8731\/1254\/files\/9781733386494ita_2.jpg?v=1725655766"},{"product_id":"without-the-consent-of-the-people-1","title":"Without the Consent of the People","description":"\u003cp\u003eWhen the writer Fred Dewey died unexpectedly in 2021, largely unsung at the time but increasingly recognized in Europe and the US as a startlingly original political thinker, this manuscript, five years in the writing, was fortunately saved and is finally publicly available.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eWithout the Consent of the People\u003c\/i\u003e was written as a direct response to the post-2016 landscape of Bernie, Trump, Black Lives Matter, and January 6th. Dewey's amazingly fresh insights constitute a valuable primer for the way we all might begin to conduct ourselves as citizens, presaging the appearance of ICE on US streets and the decay of the international human rights order.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eDewey's new book is a heartfelt invitation to America\u003c\/b\u003e, invoking Thomas Paine, Hannah Arendt, James Baldwin and others, an invaluable portrait of civic disintegration and re-building, with clear-eyed, incisive prescriptions of how we can come together and co-create a country all of us will want to live in.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"IF SF PUBLISHING","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":51847853605181,"sku":"9798218749576","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0477\/8731\/1254\/files\/9798218749576ita_7b4e558b-a174-44e4-a8bd-a49f82c9420f.jpg?v=1781717221"}],"url":"https:\/\/itascabooks.com\/collections\/if-sf-publishing.oembed","provider":"Itasca Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}