While the task of digging through multitudes of queries from all corners of the country (and the globe, for that matter) is a daunting one at best, the thrill of discovering and signing a new voice to our ever-growing team here at Atticus makes it all worthwhile. These guys (female Atticus author, where are you?) are already bringing a fresh wave of energy, insight, literary expertise and oh yeah, some kick-ass literature to our house and we can’t wait to introduce their books to the world. In the meantime, we’ll have to satisfy ourselves with introducing the authors themselves, what they’ll be showing off with Atticus next year, and what kind of trouble they’ll be stirring up until then. So without further ado, the Atticus titles for 2012:

SPRING RELEASES

Matt Mullins

We’re thrilled to be taking on story collections in 2012 and we couldn’t ask for a grittier or more captivating collection than Three Ways of the Saw by Matt Mullins (February 29). Perhaps it was an omen that upon reading the title story back in December, we couldn’t help but share it on our website right away. Aside from writing fiction, screenplays and poetry, Mullins makes experimental films and designs digital interfaces for his poems and stories (which makes him an excellent curator of Mixed Media for Atticus Review). Stories from Three Ways of the Saw will soon be appearing in the Mid-Atlantic Review, Many Mountains Moving and online and in print in BULL. Matt lives in Muncie, Indiana where he teaches creative writing at Ball State University.

Jurgen Fauth

Our first literary thriller will hit the shelves April 17 in the form of Jürgen Fauth’s KINO. Set in Germany (Jürgen’s homeland to which he’s recently returned), the page-turner follows a granddaughter’s attempt to distinguish fact from the fiction surrounding her grandfather’s legendary filmmaking career during the 1920s and 1930s and the nature of his flight from the Nazis. Read the first few pages of KINO over at The Good Men Project. Fauth is an associate editor at Mississippi Review and a co-founder of the online writer’s community Fictionaut.

SUMMER RELEASES

Steven Gillis

Atticus will kick off the summer of 2012 with The Law of Strings (June 20), a brilliant story collection by publishing veteran Steven Gillis. Gillis is the author of Walter Falls, The Weight of Nothing, Giraffes, Temporary People, and, most recently The Consequence of Skating (winner of the 2010 Silver Medal for Book of the Year Literary Fiction from the Independent Publishers IPPY). His stories, articles, and book reviews have appeared in over four dozen journals, and his books have been finalists for the Independent Publishers Book of the Year Award and the ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year. Steve is the founder of 826michigan and the publisher and co-founder of Dzanc Books.

Tommy Zurhellen

And come Labor Day, we’ll be teaming up with Tommy Zurhellen for the second time to release Apostle Islands, the sequel to his modern, Midwestern recasting of the story of the messiah, Nazareth, North Dakota.Tommy, an assistant professor at Marist College, is currently spending his sabbatical doing research for the sequel. And by research we mean road-tripping, hiking and camping his way through the upper Midwest. Follow Tommy as he scours Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota for all things Bible-related at tommyzurhellen.com.

FALL RELEASES

Nathan Leslie

If a New Testament story set in the present-day Badlands sounds deliciously outside the box, mark your calendars for the Halloween release of The Tall Tale of Tommy Twice by Nathan Leslie, an orphan novel that bursts with imagination and should not be read to the kids at bedtime. Nathan is the author of six books of short fiction, one book of poetry and the editor of two anthologies. And if that doesn’t impress you, he’s also the fiction editor for Pedestal Magazine, was the series editor for Best of the Web and teaches full-time at Northern Virginia Community College. Recently, Nathan’s short fiction has appeared in Boulevard, North American Review, Slab, Gargoyle, Dos Passos Review and Red Rock Review. His work also appeared online in Dark Sky Magazine and is in the new issue of Press 1 (both a column and a short story). All to say, this is a guy who, like us, can’t get enough of good writing–and it shows.

Jared Yates Sexton

If the Mayans were on to something, come December 21, 2012, we’ll all be goners. However, we’re taking our chances (and a tongue-in-cheek jab at those who will be stocking their pantries and moving to the cellar) and releasing Jared Yates Sexton’s An End to All Things, a collection of clear, strong stories showcasing the intense emotional complexities of the blue-collar working man (November 23). To get a taste for the cut-to-the-chase kind of fiction in store, check out “The Right Men for the Job,” a story from the collection, published at 10,000 Tons of Black Ink. Jared was recently named Managing Editor at BULL: Fiction for Thinking Men; do yourself a favor by reading his recently published essay, “The Necessity of Despair.”