You’re lost in a woods. Alone. You’re a child.
It’s scary, but a little bit magical. The sounds of the woods: the swish swish of wind in trees, the crunch of sticks underfoot. Are they good sounds, or bad ones? You’re not sure.
The woods, with its menace and magic, comes alive on Friday, August 28, at 6:30 p.m. at Browsers Bookshop in Olympia, with a theatrical soundscape performance of a short story by Cecilia Meade. The performance is part of the book launch of “Menagerie: A Cluster of Loss,” published by Countershade Press, a new micro press for queer speculative fiction, run by husbands Jonah and Austin Barnett. Following the performance, Jonah Barnett will host a Q & A with Meade, the author of the story “The Woods,” one of five by local writers in “Menagerie.”
The sounds for the performance will be homemade and tactile, created by Austin Barnett, who teaches theater at Olympia High School. In this age of all things digital, the couple finds meaning in going analog.
“It’s our answer to digitized, polished AI sounds coming out of a speaker,” Austin Barnett said recently. “It’s just as, if not more, creative.”
Countershade Press sees itself as offering alternatives in myriad ways. Most important, it’s a press for queer authors.
“We want to uplift queer voices,” Jonah Barnett said. “It seems our culture has made an 180-degree turn from 10 years ago, when queers were getting traction. It’s the opposite now, with conservative fascism popping up in the world.”
Speculative fiction, which includes science fiction and fantasy, also seems especially timely in the confusion and turmoil of current American culture.
“Our world now needs more alternative thinkers, thinking of new ways to be,” Jonah said.
“Menagerie” has been 12 years in the making, beginning when Jonah, a lifelong writer, decided as an Evergreen College student to assemble a collection of short stories. When they reached out to writer friends, twenty-five people responded with 30 stories, but in the intervening years, “life happened,” they said, and the collection fell by the wayside. When they decided recently to take up the collection again, some of the original authors signed on, and a few new ones joined in.
“The Woods,” which is included in “Menagerie.”
Writers represented in the five stories of “Menagerie” are Daniel Valdez, Marck Wilder, Samantha Kalweit, Caitlin Robertson, Cecilia Meade and Jonah Barnett. Illustrators are Frances Gregory, Kela Kealakai, Adrienne Rosewood, Katherine Smith, Red Sergent and Christian Carpenter.
While the original “Menagerie” had no unifying theme, the theme of loss emerged from the recent stories, including loss of friendships, of identity, and of self. The theme made sense to the two husbands.
“Part of the queer experience is to lose people, lose relationships with family, lose an identity,” Austin said. “We’re still in the era of HIV AIDS. People in our community are living with that.”
Both feel strongly about not shying away from difficult feelings. In fact, the name Countershade means, according to its website (www.countershadepress.com), “the juxtaposition of light and dark, of oil and water.” In recent years, they believe, the emphasis on the positive side of queer experience has sometimes veered too far from reality.
“Queer people deserve their happy endings, but we also deserve to see our lives reflected —the good and the ugly,” the website states.
At the press, Jonah does most of the editing, working with new authors to shepherd them through the publishing process.
“Jonah is a good person to have at the head of this,” said Austin, who handles the paperwork and business side of the press. “They’re artistic to the core, so curious and such a hard and focused worker.”
Writing is hard, and solitary. But the Barnetts also like to bring people together.
“We like to collaborate,” Austin said. “We like events.”
They have more events in mind for Countershade, including a Queer Soiree in October at the Timberland Library, and a possible queer film screening in winter. They’re open to promoting a variety of artistic media.
The “Menagerie” book launch is the first of two events in Browsers Queer Press Weekend. The next day, Saturday Sept. 29th at 2 p,m., Kate and Kathryn Walton-Elliott will discuss their publishing house, Antithesis Press.
The Barnetts are very pleased to be part of a weekend promoting queer creativity.
“We want to bring more queer art to Olympia,” Jonah said.
WHAT:
Book Launch Party & Theatrical Soundscape Performance for “Menagerie: A Cluster of Loss:
WHEN:
Friday, Aug. 28, 6:30 -7:30 p.m.
WHERE:
Upstairs, Browsers Bookshop, 107 Capitol Way N, Olympia
COST:
Free
Learn more:
https://browsersolympia.com/events
https://www.countershadepress.com
Soundscape definition:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soundscape