Releasing Proper Etiquette in the Slaughterhouse Line this summer through Gutter Snob Books was an amazing experience, and I’m profoundly proud of the book, the editorial care the publisher displayed to do the book justice, and the reviews and feedback that came in. I had such a busy summer that I wasn’t able to sit down and share some of the reviews in one place but here are two quick ones!
Dennis Williamson took an incredibly deep dive into the collection, saying, “Proper Etiquette In The Slaughterhouse Line by James Duncan is a book for anyone who is at the mercy of ‘just making a living.’ Over the course of seventeen equally unsettling poems, Mr. Duncan adroitly lays bare that it is the myth of American success that we have to thank for such a condition. Indeed, our myths are no less potent than the mythology in which the Romans put so much stock, to the point that they became the backdrop of the horrors in their arenas. Moreover, Duncan traces a lineage from the Colosseum to the modern day American office.” As well as, “Mr. Duncan has become so attuned to the themes he’s treating that he can be right there beside the reader. He’s arrived, and stands on the platform where we wait to meet him. Poet as prophet. He bids us to board the train – next stop, Apocalypse.” To read the whole review, CLICK HERE!
Michael Grover, an editor and poet also took a few moments to review the book, saying, “What this book does is amplifies and brings to the surface the stress of modern employment. The constant threats, and deadlines that we are all under. How we just take it until we can’t anymore. We have no choice. The end of this kind of tailspins into what I would call prophesy. James is just reporting the facts as he sees them. In this World that continues to become more corporate by the day, it won’t take long.” Read the whole thing HERE!
Thanks so much for all your support and feedback, and signed copies are still available at www.jameshduncan.bigcartel.com and Gutter Snob Books!
