FC2
Encyclopedia
Fiction Collective Two is an author-run, not-for-profit publisher of avant-garde
, experimental fiction supported in part by the University of Utah
, the University of Alabama
, the University of Houston–Victoria
, private contributors, arts organizations and foundations, and contest fees.
, Mark Mirsky, Steve Katz
, and Ronald Sukenick
, among others. It formed the first US not-for-profit publishing collective run by innovative authors and for innovative authors. According to Sukenick, the Fiction Collective was intended to "make serious novels and story collections available in simultaneous hard and quality paper editions" and to "keep them in print permanently." Although geographically disparate (including members in California and Colorado), the offices of the Fiction Collective were located at Brooklyn College
. FC2 established distribution in the fall of 1974, utilizing George Braziller
, a distributor of European fiction. For the remainder of the 1970s and much of the 1980s, the Fiction Collective published steadily (usually around six books a year), supported by The New York State Council for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts
.
In 1986, reductions in arts funding enacted by the Reagan administration resulted in denial of the Fiction Collective's NEA grant application. During this period, the organization also struggled with decision-making and management issues. In 1989, Curtis White
, Ronald Sukenick
, Mark Leyner
, Jonathan Baumbach, B. H. Friedman, and Peter Spielberg decided to reorganize the press, and founded Fiction Collective Two, or FC2 for short.
The new iteration of the press began once again to receive National Endowment for the Arts funding in the mid-1990s, but in 1996 that funding was challenged by the Congressional Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, due to material in FC2 books the Committee deemed offensive. During the subsequent hearings, FC2 received public support from such writers as Mark Strand
, William Gass, and Toni Morrison
. Despite the hearings, FC2 continued to publish throughout the 1990s, including several notable titles (Mark Amerika
's The Kafka Chronicles, Cris Mazza
's Revelation Countdown, and Samuel Delany's Hogg among them) under their Avant-Pop imprint, Black Ice Books.
From 1999 to 2002, FC2 underwent several changes: managing Editor Curtis White
stepped down; FC2 authors R.M. Berry and Jeffrey DeShell re-organized the press and became acting publishers for a time; and then Lance Olsen
became the new Chair of the Board of Directors, and a new Board of Advisors was formed. In 2006, FC2 moved marketing and distribution from Illinois State University
to the University of Alabama Press
. In 2007 it moved its business offices from Florida State University
to the University of Houston–Victoria
. Layout and design, which used to be performed at Publications Center at Illinois State University, is currently performed at various locations. Olsen oversees operations from the University of Utah
.
In 2008, FC2 launched the Catherine Doctorow Innovative Fiction Prize to bring other established innovative writers to the press. The prize is "open to any U.S. writer in English with at least three books of fiction published." The winner receives publication of her/his manuscript and $15,000.
Each year both prizes run from August 15 through November 1. Winners are announced in May.
where book production (generally six new books a year and one reprint), distribution, and marketing are handled. FC2's editorial and business offices reside at the University of Houston–Victoria
along with assistant editor Carmen Edington. Operations are overseen at the University of Utah
. Since 2002, author Lance Olsen
has served as the Chair of the Board of Directors, which, in 2010, consisted of Kate Bernheimer
, R.M. Berry, Jeffrey DeShell, Noy Holland
, Brenda Mills, Matthew Roberson, Susan Steinberg, Dan Waterman (non-voting representative for University of Alabama Press), and Thomas S. Williams (non-voting representative for University of Houston-Victoria), with Lidia Yuknavitch on hiatus.
, Publishers Weekly
, the Village Voice, and the New York Times Book Review. FC2 authors Clarence Major, Gerald Vizenor and Diane Glancy were included in the Norton Anthology of American Literature (fifth edition). Curtis White
, Ricardo Cortez Cruz, Gerald Vizenor
, Mark Leyner
and Samuel R. Delany
were also included in Postmodern American Fiction: A Norton Anthology. In 2002, the American Academy of Arts and Letters honored founder Ronald Sukenick
with the Morton Dauwen Zabel Award, stating "he has been an explorer, a courageous adventurer, and an absolutely necessary component of American literature."
The press and its authors have also been the subjects of essays in such journals as Critique, the Review of Contemporary Fiction, the Chicago Review
, Poets & Writers
, Contemporary Literature, TriQuarterly
, Rain Taxi
, American Book Review
, Extrapolation
, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. FC2 authors have received awards and nominations from PEN West, the Oregon Book Award, the Independent Publisher Award for Multicultural Fiction, the American Book Award, the Western Book Award, the N.E.A., the Guggenheim Foundation, and the BEA Firecracker Award.
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
, experimental fiction supported in part by the University of Utah
University of Utah
The University of Utah, also known as the U or the U of U, is a public, coeducational research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The university was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret, making it Utah's oldest...
, the University of Alabama
University of Alabama
The University of Alabama is a public coeducational university located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States....
, the University of Houston–Victoria
University of Houston–Victoria
The University of Houston–Victoria is a four-year state university, and is a component institution of the University of Houston System. Its campus spans 20-acre in Victoria, with satellite locations at UH System centers in Sugar Land and Cinco Ranch...
, private contributors, arts organizations and foundations, and contest fees.
Mission
FC2 is "devoted to publishing fiction considered by America's largest publishers too challenging, innovative, or heterodox for the commercial milieu...FC2's mission has been and remains to publish books of high quality and exceptional ambition whose styles, subject matter, or forms push the limits of American publishing and reshape our literary culture."History
The precursor to FC2, the Fiction Collective, was founded in 1974 by Jonathan Baumbach, Peter Spielberg, B. H. FriedmanB. H. Friedman
Bernard Harper Friedman , better known by his initials "B. H.", was an American author and art critic who wrote biographies of Jackson Pollock and Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, a number of novels that combined his experiences in the worlds of art and business, as well as an autobiographical account...
, Mark Mirsky, Steve Katz
Steve Katz (writer)
Steve Katz is an American writer. He is considered an early post-modern or avant-garde writer for works such as The Exagggerations of Peter Prince , and Saw...
, and Ronald Sukenick
Ronald Sukenick
Ronald Sukenick was an American writer and literary theorist.-Life:Sukenick studied at Cornell University, and wrote his doctoral thesis on Wallace Stevens, at Brandeis University ....
, among others. It formed the first US not-for-profit publishing collective run by innovative authors and for innovative authors. According to Sukenick, the Fiction Collective was intended to "make serious novels and story collections available in simultaneous hard and quality paper editions" and to "keep them in print permanently." Although geographically disparate (including members in California and Colorado), the offices of the Fiction Collective were located at Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College is a senior college of the City University of New York, located in Brooklyn, New York, United States.Established in 1930 by the New York City Board of Higher Education, the College had its beginnings as the Downtown Brooklyn branches of Hunter College and the City College of New...
. FC2 established distribution in the fall of 1974, utilizing George Braziller
George Braziller
George Braziller is an American book publisher and the founder of George Braziller, Inc., a firm known for its literary and artistic books and its publication of foreign authors....
, a distributor of European fiction. For the remainder of the 1970s and much of the 1980s, the Fiction Collective published steadily (usually around six books a year), supported by The New York State Council for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
.
In 1986, reductions in arts funding enacted by the Reagan administration resulted in denial of the Fiction Collective's NEA grant application. During this period, the organization also struggled with decision-making and management issues. In 1989, Curtis White
Curtis White
Curtis White is an American essayist and author. He serves as professor of English at Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois, and as President of the Board of Directors of the Center for Book Culture. Most of his career has been spent writing experimental fiction, but he has turned recently...
, Ronald Sukenick
Ronald Sukenick
Ronald Sukenick was an American writer and literary theorist.-Life:Sukenick studied at Cornell University, and wrote his doctoral thesis on Wallace Stevens, at Brandeis University ....
, Mark Leyner
Mark Leyner
Mark Leyner is an American postmodernist author.Leyner employs an intense and unconventional style in his works of fiction. His stories are generally humorous and absurd: In The Tetherballs of Bougainville, Mark's father survives a lethal injection at the hands of the New Jersey penal system, and...
, Jonathan Baumbach, B. H. Friedman, and Peter Spielberg decided to reorganize the press, and founded Fiction Collective Two, or FC2 for short.
The new iteration of the press began once again to receive National Endowment for the Arts funding in the mid-1990s, but in 1996 that funding was challenged by the Congressional Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, due to material in FC2 books the Committee deemed offensive. During the subsequent hearings, FC2 received public support from such writers as Mark Strand
Mark Strand
Mark Strand is an American poet, essayist, and translator. He was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1990. Since 2005, he has been a professor of English at Columbia University.- Biography :...
, William Gass, and Toni Morrison
Toni Morrison
Toni Morrison is a Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, editor, and professor. Her novels are known for their epic themes, vivid dialogue, and richly detailed characters. Among her best known novels are The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon and Beloved...
. Despite the hearings, FC2 continued to publish throughout the 1990s, including several notable titles (Mark Amerika
Mark Amerika
Mark Amerika is an American artist and author.- Career :Amerika received his MFA from Brown University. After publishing two cult-novels, and , he turned his energy towards net art. His goal is to expand the concept of writing so that it includes writing in and with new media technologies. He...
's The Kafka Chronicles, Cris Mazza
Cris Mazza
Cris Mazza is an American novelist, short story and non-fiction writer.-Biography:A native of Southern California, she earned her BA and MA at San Diego State University and her MFA in writing at Brooklyn College. She has published nine novels, four collections of short stories, and a collection...
's Revelation Countdown, and Samuel Delany's Hogg among them) under their Avant-Pop imprint, Black Ice Books.
From 1999 to 2002, FC2 underwent several changes: managing Editor Curtis White
Curtis White
Curtis White is an American essayist and author. He serves as professor of English at Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois, and as President of the Board of Directors of the Center for Book Culture. Most of his career has been spent writing experimental fiction, but he has turned recently...
stepped down; FC2 authors R.M. Berry and Jeffrey DeShell re-organized the press and became acting publishers for a time; and then Lance Olsen
Lance Olsen
- Biography :Lance Olsen received a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison , an M.F.A. from the Iowa Writers' Workshop , and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Virginia...
became the new Chair of the Board of Directors, and a new Board of Advisors was formed. In 2006, FC2 moved marketing and distribution from Illinois State University
Illinois State University
Illinois State University , founded in 1857, is the oldest public university in Illinois; it is located in the town of Normal. ISU is considered a "national university" that grants a variety of doctoral degrees and strongly emphasizes research; it is also recognized as one of the top ten largest...
to the University of Alabama Press
University of Alabama Press
The University of Alabama Press was founded in 1945 and is the scholarly publishing arm of the University of Alabama.An Editorial Board composed of representatives from all doctoral degree granting public universities within Alabama oversees the publishing program. Projects are selected that...
. In 2007 it moved its business offices from Florida State University
Florida State University
The Florida State University is a space-grant and sea-grant public university located in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a comprehensive doctoral research university with medical programs and significant research activity as determined by the Carnegie Foundation...
to the University of Houston–Victoria
University of Houston–Victoria
The University of Houston–Victoria is a four-year state university, and is a component institution of the University of Houston System. Its campus spans 20-acre in Victoria, with satellite locations at UH System centers in Sugar Land and Cinco Ranch...
. Layout and design, which used to be performed at Publications Center at Illinois State University, is currently performed at various locations. Olsen oversees operations from the University of Utah
University of Utah
The University of Utah, also known as the U or the U of U, is a public, coeducational research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The university was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret, making it Utah's oldest...
.
Contests
FC2 sponsors two book contests annually. The Ronald Sukenick American Book Review Innovative Fiction Prize was started in 2006 as a way to find emerging authors whose innovative aesthetic vision harmonizes with that of FC2. According to the contest page, "the prize is open to any U.S. writer in English who has not previously published with Fiction Collective Two." The winner receives publication of her/his manuscript and $1000.In 2008, FC2 launched the Catherine Doctorow Innovative Fiction Prize to bring other established innovative writers to the press. The prize is "open to any U.S. writer in English with at least three books of fiction published." The winner receives publication of her/his manuscript and $15,000.
Each year both prizes run from August 15 through November 1. Winners are announced in May.
Organization
FC2 is an imprint of the University of Alabama PressUniversity of Alabama Press
The University of Alabama Press was founded in 1945 and is the scholarly publishing arm of the University of Alabama.An Editorial Board composed of representatives from all doctoral degree granting public universities within Alabama oversees the publishing program. Projects are selected that...
where book production (generally six new books a year and one reprint), distribution, and marketing are handled. FC2's editorial and business offices reside at the University of Houston–Victoria
University of Houston–Victoria
The University of Houston–Victoria is a four-year state university, and is a component institution of the University of Houston System. Its campus spans 20-acre in Victoria, with satellite locations at UH System centers in Sugar Land and Cinco Ranch...
along with assistant editor Carmen Edington. Operations are overseen at the University of Utah
University of Utah
The University of Utah, also known as the U or the U of U, is a public, coeducational research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The university was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret, making it Utah's oldest...
. Since 2002, author Lance Olsen
Lance Olsen
- Biography :Lance Olsen received a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison , an M.F.A. from the Iowa Writers' Workshop , and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Virginia...
has served as the Chair of the Board of Directors, which, in 2010, consisted of Kate Bernheimer
Kate Bernheimer
- Works :Kate Bernheimer's first two novels, The Complete Tales of Ketzia Gold and The Complete Tales of Merry Gold , were published by Fiction Collective 2. Amongst her other work, her short-story collection Horse, Flower, Bird was published in Fall 2010 by Coffee House Press...
, R.M. Berry, Jeffrey DeShell, Noy Holland
Noy Holland
Noy Holland is an American writer and National Book Award nominee. She is married to the writer Sam Michel.-Literature-related:...
, Brenda Mills, Matthew Roberson, Susan Steinberg, Dan Waterman (non-voting representative for University of Alabama Press), and Thomas S. Williams (non-voting representative for University of Houston-Victoria), with Lidia Yuknavitch on hiatus.
Literary Impact
Since its founding in 1974, the press (the Fiction Collective, FC2, and the FC2 imprint Black Ice Books) has published more than 200 books. They have been mentioned in the "top books" of the NationNation
A nation may refer to a community of people who share a common language, culture, ethnicity, descent, and/or history. In this definition, a nation has no physical borders. However, it can also refer to people who share a common territory and government irrespective of their ethnic make-up...
, Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...
, the Village Voice, and the New York Times Book Review. FC2 authors Clarence Major, Gerald Vizenor and Diane Glancy were included in the Norton Anthology of American Literature (fifth edition). Curtis White
Curtis White
Curtis White is an American essayist and author. He serves as professor of English at Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois, and as President of the Board of Directors of the Center for Book Culture. Most of his career has been spent writing experimental fiction, but he has turned recently...
, Ricardo Cortez Cruz, Gerald Vizenor
Gerald Vizenor
Gerald Robert Vizenor is a Native American writer, and an enrolled member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, White Earth Reservation. One of the most prolific Native American writers, with over 30 books to his name, Vizenor also taught for many years at the University of California, Berkeley, where...
, Mark Leyner
Mark Leyner
Mark Leyner is an American postmodernist author.Leyner employs an intense and unconventional style in his works of fiction. His stories are generally humorous and absurd: In The Tetherballs of Bougainville, Mark's father survives a lethal injection at the hands of the New Jersey penal system, and...
and Samuel R. Delany
Samuel R. Delany
Samuel Ray Delany, Jr., also known as "Chip" is an American author, professor and literary critic. His work includes a number of novels, many in the science fiction genre, as well as memoir, criticism, and essays on sexuality and society.His science fiction novels include Babel-17, The Einstein...
were also included in Postmodern American Fiction: A Norton Anthology. In 2002, the American Academy of Arts and Letters honored founder Ronald Sukenick
Ronald Sukenick
Ronald Sukenick was an American writer and literary theorist.-Life:Sukenick studied at Cornell University, and wrote his doctoral thesis on Wallace Stevens, at Brandeis University ....
with the Morton Dauwen Zabel Award, stating "he has been an explorer, a courageous adventurer, and an absolutely necessary component of American literature."
The press and its authors have also been the subjects of essays in such journals as Critique, the Review of Contemporary Fiction, the Chicago Review
Chicago Review
The Chicago Review is a literary magazine published four times per year in the Humanities Division at the University of Chicago. It was founded in 1946. Three stories published in the Chicago Review have won the O. Henry Prize...
, Poets & Writers
Poets & Writers
Poets & Writers, Inc. is one of the largest nonprofit literary organization in the United States serving poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers...
, Contemporary Literature, TriQuarterly
TriQuarterly
TriQuarterly Online is a not-for-profit American literary magazine published twice a year at Northwestern University that features fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, literary essays, reviews, a blog, and graphic art....
, Rain Taxi
Rain Taxi
Rain Taxi is a Minneapolis-based book review and literary organization. In addition to publishing its quarterly print edition, Rain Taxi maintains an online edition with distinct content, sponsors the Twin Cities Book Festival, hosts readings, and publishes chapbooks through its Brainstorm Series...
, American Book Review
American Book Review
The American Book Review is a nonprofit, internationally distributed publication that appears six times a year. ABR specializes in reviews of frequently neglected published works of fiction, poetry, and literary and cultural criticism from small, regional, university, ethnic, avant-garde, and...
, Extrapolation
Extrapolation
In mathematics, extrapolation is the process of constructing new data points. It is similar to the process of interpolation, which constructs new points between known points, but the results of extrapolations are often less meaningful, and are subject to greater uncertainty. It may also mean...
, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. FC2 authors have received awards and nominations from PEN West, the Oregon Book Award, the Independent Publisher Award for Multicultural Fiction, the American Book Award, the Western Book Award, the N.E.A., the Guggenheim Foundation, and the BEA Firecracker Award.
Selected Notable Authors
- Kim AddonizioKim AddonizioKim Addonizio is an award-winning American poet and novelist.-Life:Addonizio is the daughter of tennis champion Pauline Betz and sports writer Bob Addie....
- Kate BernheimerKate Bernheimer- Works :Kate Bernheimer's first two novels, The Complete Tales of Ketzia Gold and The Complete Tales of Merry Gold , were published by Fiction Collective 2. Amongst her other work, her short-story collection Horse, Flower, Bird was published in Fall 2010 by Coffee House Press...
- Lucy CorinLucy CorinLucy Corin is an American novelist and short story writer currently teaching English at University of California, Davis. Her stories have appeared in The Mid-American Review, Conjunctions, Tin House, Ploughshares, PEN America, and the Iowa Review...
- Samuel R. DelanySamuel R. DelanySamuel Ray Delany, Jr., also known as "Chip" is an American author, professor and literary critic. His work includes a number of novels, many in the science fiction genre, as well as memoir, criticism, and essays on sexuality and society.His science fiction novels include Babel-17, The Einstein...
- Brian EvensonBrian EvensonBrian Evenson is an American academic and writer of both literary fiction and popular fiction. He has received degrees from Brigham Young University and the University of Washington . After leaving a teaching position at BYU, he held positions at Oklahoma State University, Syracuse University...
- Raymond FedermanRaymond FedermanRaymond Federman was a French–American novelist and academic, known also for poetry, essays, translations, and criticism. He held positions at the University at Buffalo from 1973 to 1999, when he was appointed Distinguished Emeritus Professor. Federman was a writer in the experimental style, one...
- Fanny HoweFanny HoweFanny Howe is an American poet, novelist, and short story writer. She has written many novels in prose collection. Howe was awarded the 2009 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, presented annually by the Poetry Foundation to a living U.S...
- Stephen Graham JonesStephen Graham JonesStephen Graham Jones is a Blackfeet Native American author of experimental fiction, horror fiction, crime fiction, and science fiction. He shares a fan base with fellow authors Will Christopher Baer and Craig Clevenger known as . November 16, 2010 Stephen will have a collection of short stories...
- Michael Joyce
- Steve KatzSteve Katz (writer)Steve Katz is an American writer. He is considered an early post-modern or avant-garde writer for works such as The Exagggerations of Peter Prince , and Saw...
- Brian KiteleyBrian Kiteley-Life:He grew up in Northhampton, Massachusetts.He has had residencies from the MacDowell Colony, Millay, Yaddo, and the Fine Arts Work Center.He has taught at the American University in Cairo, Ohio University.He teaches at the University of Denver.-Awards:...
- Mark LeynerMark LeynerMark Leyner is an American postmodernist author.Leyner employs an intense and unconventional style in his works of fiction. His stories are generally humorous and absurd: In The Tetherballs of Bougainville, Mark's father survives a lethal injection at the hands of the New Jersey penal system, and...
- Larry McCafferyLarry McCafferyLawrence F. "Larry" McCaffery Jr. is a literary critic, editor, and retired professor of English and Comparative Literature at San Diego State University...
- Clarence MajorClarence Major- Biography :Clarence Major is a poet, painter and novelist who was born in Atlanta, Georgia and grew up in Chicago. In his early twenties he started publishing his own literary magazine, Coercion Review, which featured poets and writers such as Henry Miller, Kenneth Patchen and Lawrence...
- Michael A. MartoneMichael A. MartoneMichael A. Martone is a professor at the creative writing program at the University of Alabama, and is the author of several books. His 2005 book Michael Martone, originally written as a series of contributor's notes for various publications, is an investigation of form and autobiography...
- Cris MazzaCris MazzaCris Mazza is an American novelist, short story and non-fiction writer.-Biography:A native of Southern California, she earned her BA and MA at San Diego State University and her MFA in writing at Brooklyn College. She has published nine novels, four collections of short stories, and a collection...
- Lance OlsenLance Olsen- Biography :Lance Olsen received a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison , an M.F.A. from the Iowa Writers' Workshop , and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Virginia...
- John ShirleyJohn ShirleyJohn Shirley is an American fantasist, author of noir fiction, and science-fiction writer. Shirley is a prolific writer of novels and short stories, TV scripts and screenplays who has published over 30 books and 10 collections...
- Ronald SukenickRonald SukenickRonald Sukenick was an American writer and literary theorist.-Life:Sukenick studied at Cornell University, and wrote his doctoral thesis on Wallace Stevens, at Brandeis University ....
- Yuriy TarnawskyYuriy TarnawskyYuriy Tarnawsky is one of the founding members of the New York Group, a Ukrainian émigré avant-garde group of writers, and co-founder and co-editor of the journal Novi Poeziyi . He writes fiction, poetry, plays, translations, and criticism in both Ukrainian and English...
- Melanie Rae ThonMelanie Rae ThonMelanie Rae Thon is an American writer, "widely regarded as one of the most original stylists writing fiction today." Thon has received grants from the National Foundation for the Arts, the Ohio Arts Council, and the Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation...
- Curtis WhiteCurtis WhiteCurtis White is an American essayist and author. He serves as professor of English at Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois, and as President of the Board of Directors of the Center for Book Culture. Most of his career has been spent writing experimental fiction, but he has turned recently...
- Diane Williams