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If you’re a Portland author, poet, publisher, comic, zinester, or literary journal, and would like to be considered for our weekly new release feature, please add your new release to our list.
Title: A Simple Machine, Like the Lever
Author: Evan P. Schneider
Publisher: Propeller Books
Purchase: Buy here
Description: Nicholas Allander, 31—carless and careerless—is trying to get his life on track while holding his head high. He’s trying to pay off his debt, impress his girlfriend, keep his job, cast off his introversion, and accept the world’s imperfections without abandoning his heart. Unsure of what moves to make, though, he considers growing his beard, taking up alcoholism, abandoning scrounging, and owning an automobile—before too much slips by. All the while he clings to his bicycle, a simple machine whose purpose and workings he grasps.
Nick’s struggle to position his aesthetic within the world is the story of a perfectionist who is far from perfect, who is considerate but clumsy, and may be invisible. Like Nick, A Simple Machine, Like the Lever is short, toned, observant, generous, purposeful, and brimming with bicycle wisdom.
Reviews: “Clever, poignant and unexpectedly funny, Schneider’s A Simple Machine, Like The Lever masterfully evokes the simple pleasures—and harsh realities—of keeping to one’s ideals in a world where speed is revered and complexity is king.” —David Rozgonyi, author or Goat Trees: Tales from the Other Side of the World
“Schneider’s literary cycling uplift is enough to counteract the weight of the world. He nails the essence of being a cyclist and of being young—the yearning, the detachment, the attempted grace, the uncertainty, the gray confusion.” —Jonny Waldman, founder of Zero Per Gallon ($0.00 9/10)
Author Bio: Evan P. Schneider is the founding editor of Boneshaker: A Bicycling Almanac. His work has appeared in The Normal School, Propeller, False, GER, on the McSweeney’s website, and in other publications. He has received a fellowship from KHN Center for the Arts, and in 2006, his poem “Traffic” was printed as a limited-edition broadside by New Leaves Press. Born in New Mexico and raised in Colorado, Schneider now lives in Portland, Oregon.
Have you read A Simple Machine, Like the Lever? We invite you to leave your review, and discuss it with others, here. Or, you can review any of the other new releases added to our list. We will pick the best reviews to highlight on our blog!
