Fast Books

I inaugurated my press by publishing my long poem “American Baby” in 1983, having taught myself bookbinding out of a book and hand-made 100 copies, most of which I gave away. I typeset Melisande Potter’s play “On the Ball” at Zuckermann Harpsichords and put the Fast Books name on it although Dan Potter did all rest of the work. My poem sequence “A Sojourn in Paris” made a sweet little book; I wish I had made more of them. I have published two books of poems by friends, Dan Potter’s “Up Scaffolding” and Gary Zarr’s “The Flight of the Great Red Bird,” a long sequence of haiku in memory of his brother.

My experimental novel “Near the End” is the first book that was professionally designed, printed, and bound; the cover is the George Washington stamp Johnny Dodd used for his lost collage mural in my apartment on West Third Street in Greenwich Village; the book turned out beautifully, except the designer neglected to remind me to put anything on the back cover, which came out blank white. I made 500 copies and still have several boxes of them. John Labovitz designed “Automatic Vaudeville,” “Yes Poetry,” “Jesse & Elvis,” and “Azúcar, Tabaco y Café,” and made many substantial contributions to the development of the press. I designed subsequent books myself.

Fast Books may be ordered direct from the publisher. For mail orders in the U.S., please add $4 for packaging and shipping. Since 2008, our books have appeared in the Ingram catalogue and can be ordered from online booksellers or your favorite bookstore.