omas will also be promoting News Clips and Ego Trips (Write Bloody Press, 2012)..

News Clips and Ego Trips: The Best of Next... Magazine collects the best writing from Next... Magazine's five year run, covering the SoCal and national poetry scene from 1994 -98. It includes interviews with Henry Rollins, Miranda July, Gerald Locklin, Patricia Smith, Watts Prophets and many other poets and performers who are still important to today's poetry scene. Among the events covered are Lollapalooza 1994, Taos Poetry Circus (95 - 98) and all the National Slams from 95 to 98.

News Clips and Ego Trips: The Best of Next... Magazine is published by Write Bloody Press. More information about this book can be found at WriteBloodyPress.com.

My Kidney Just Arrived is based on Thomas's experiences as a dialysis and kidney transplant patient. After seven years on dialysis, Thomas received a new kidney in April 2010, as part of a chain donation. His kidney came from Jodi Tamen, an altruistic donor in Chicago, who had no idea who would receive her kidney. In return, Thomas's sister, Jeananne, donated a kidney to a man in Salt Lake City, whose wife then donated to another patient. In the end, five people received new kidneys from this chain.

G. Murray Thomas is a longstanding figure in the Southern California poetry scene. He has featured all over SoCal, including Laguna Poets, Beyond Baroque in Venice, the Ugly Mug in Orange, and After the Carnival in Long Beach. Between 1994 and 1998, he published and edited Next... Magazine, a monthly poetry calendar and newsmagazine, distributed for free throughout SoCal. He has previously published one full length collection of poems, Cows on the Freeway from iUniverse, and five chapbooks. He also edited Paper Shredders, an anthology of poetry and prose about surfing.



My Kidney Just Arrived is published by Tebot Bach, a non-profit publishing house in Orange County, CA. The mission of Tebot Bach is to strengthen community, to promote literacy, to broaden the audience for poetry by community outreach programs and publishing, and to demonstrate the power of poetry to transform life experiences through readings, workshops and publications.

More information about G. Murray Thomas and My Kidney Just Arrived can be found at gmurraythomas.com. More information about Tebot Bach is at www.tebotbach.org.

Living Among the Mangled is based on Armstrong's experiences as a diabetic and an indigent L.A. County health-care patient. After being diagnosed as diabetic and nearly losing his right foot to infection, back in 2008, Armstrong began his journey through the health maintenance system provided to the poor and indigent members of Los Angeles County. It has been a wild ride thus far. Armstrong, a stranger to any sort of health care, has survived with a wicked sense of humor and a fatalistic philosophy about human nature.



RD Armstrong (that's RD, not R.D.) is a somewhat enigmatic figure in the Southern

California poetry scene. He has featured all over SoCal, including the Redondo Poets, Beyond Baroque in Venice, Book Soup in Hollywood, and the Artists Union Gallery Reading in Ventura. He has also read in the Bay Area and at the Sacramento Poetry Center, as well as in Grass Valley. Between 1995 and 2006, he published and edited The Lummox Journal, a monthly lit/arts magazine, distributed via subscription across the United States and to 7 countries worldwide. He also operates the Lummox Press, which publishes the Little Red Book series and has also published 28 full length titles (including 5 of his own books) as part of his current series of Trade Paperback books. He has eight collections of poems and one of short stories (El Pagano and Other Twisted Tales), and eighteen chapbooks. He has also edited thirteen publications (7 books, 5 chapbooks, 1 magazine).



Living Among the Mangled is published by Lummox Press, a one man, micro-press in Long Beach, CA. The mission of the Lummox Press is to publish writers based on the quality of their work, and to demonstrate the power of poetry to transform lives through readings and publications.



More information about RD Armstrong, Living Among the Mangled and the Lummox Press, can be found at www.lummoxpress.com .