Gray Duck Press is a new, small, independent publisher of fiction and poetry. Founded in 2018, with the release of Now Through Labor Day: A State Fair Love Story, a romance novel set at the Minnesota State Fair, it was followed by A Hundred Years from Launch, a science-fiction/romance in 2022. Both books are by Kayli Schaaf.

In 2024, we’re announcing a new publishing imprint, Knockout Books, which focuses on funny, punchy, accessible poetry. The first title we’ll be releasing is Democracy of Noise by Dan Pinkerton. The book will be available in print, and as an e-book, in April of 2025.

Democracy of Noise is a hilarious, surreal send-up of soulless, late-Empire America, a land of unparalleled power, cartoonish wealth amid deep pain and poverty, scientific prowess never-before-seen, but also a place sick at heart with an endless streak of greed, authoritarianism and violence ready to erupt, and more than anything, a nonstop yearning, everywhere, for unmet meaning. In Democracy of Noise, Dan Pinkerton has written the perfect summary of our surreal, depressing-to-the-point-of-hilarity times. These poems are a Venn diagram of all of us. And don’t be fooled: this isn’t some idle art; if you pay attention, you might just recognize what’s wrong in our shared life, or your own. In a country where book bannings have become a point of pride, it’s rare for any book, especially a poetry title, to be important. But this one, without question is.

Produced by Gray Duck Press, LLC