Earth, Milky Way: punctum books, 2023. 216 pages. ISBN-13: 978-1-68571-134-4. DOI: 10.53288/0500.1.00. OPEN-ACCESS e-book and $15.00 in print: paperbound/4.25 X 9.25 in.

There are so many viewpoints here, so many puppets watching each other dance around a stage constructed from fiction and reality, that we can’t help but wonder about the man who makes them all dance. In Kelman, you get a better look at Nufer than you’ve ever had before, because the entire book carries with it an unwritten memoir of Nufer’s own experience at Emerald Downs. You want to see even more, but you can’t; the wonder of Doug Nufer is that he contains so many perspectives, you can’t look at him directly without your attention being directed somewhere else.

~ Paul Constant, The Stranger

By Kelman Out of Pessoa

Imprint:

by Doug Nufer

Contributors Louis Bury

Published: 03/28/2023

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In 2002, Doug Nufer wrote a story narrated by a tout, who proposed a novel way to beat the races. It was so absurd and ludicrous it gave him an idea. So Nufer went to Emerald Downs, home of thoroughbred racing in the Northwest. There, he split himself into three characters modeled on the heteronyms of Fernando Pessoa. Using a money management plan from a James Kelman short story, Nufer gave these characters money and set them free to gamble. He returned to the track every week for a full season, and his characters / heteronyms continued to bet, with real money and in the name of art. At the end of the season, he had pages of data in the form of a wagering diary, the outcome of a literary experiment that formed the basis of a literal experimental novel.

This title is a second edition, released as part of punctum’s Special Collections project.

About the First Edition

About the Author

Doug Nufer is the author of various novels and poetry collections, including Rotalever Revelator (Sagging Meniscus, 2020), The Me Theme (Sagging Meniscus, 2016), Lifeline Rule (Spuyten Duyvil, 2015), Lounge Acts (Insert Blanc, 2013), We Were Werewolves (Make Now, 2008), The Mudflat Man/The River Boys (soultheft records, 2006), On the Roast (Chiasmus, 2004), Negativeland (Autonomedia, 2004), and Never Again (Black Square, 2004). He sells wine in Seattle. Photo credit: Scott Martin.