Oil On Water Press

"The most NYC job possible": @oilonwaterpress.com settled in for a chat with @mjbackus.bsky.social about the remarkable #TheHeartisMeat, and the vanished New York it captures. oilonwaterpress.com/blog/2026/09...

What’s more astonishing: seeing a Sasquatch or a nude woman atop a 14,000 foot mountain? A story of hard knocks, told with warmth and unflinching detail, check out Paula Enborg’s "A Way Up: 1 Woman Across the Pacific NW" oilonwaterpress.com/product/a-wa...

After being subjected to a violent attack Duncan McNamara knew he had to find a way to move on – literally. Read his gripping story of hiking the Camino de Santiago, a personal pilgrimage of recovery: oilonwaterpress.com/product/walk...

Oil On Water publishes original, true-life stories with a twist that you won’t find anywhere else. Got a tale to tell? We’re accepting submissions. More details here: oilonwaterpress.com/manuscript-s...

Unsentimental and darkly comic, in A Brooklyn Memoir, Robert Rosen transports us to the mid-twentieth-century Brooklyn of his youth “where the war lingered like a mass hallucination.” Read the story behind the book here: oilonwaterpress.com/blog/2022/07...

Books, books, beautiful books! Fancy some brand new memoir reads? Taking you everywhere from New York’s meatpacking district to the rocky roads of the Spanish Pyrenees, check out our online store here: oilonwaterpress.com/shop/

Thank you to Forces of Geek and @booksteve.bsky.social for this review of Rachel Walther's Born to Lose: "Rachel Walther’s Born to Lose seems born to win". Read the full review here 👇 forcesofgeek.com/born-to-lose... #dogdayafternoon #alpacino #sidneylumet

Good morning, campers! Did you buy your ticket for our 35th anniversary shindig in #Manchester yet? A host of Headpress writers, books, and a special guest appearance from Nekromantik director Jörg Buttgereit! 👀 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/headpress-...

Before 90s regentrification, New York was a different place. Enter the grimy, chaotic world of the 1980s Meatpacking District. Listen to excerpts of @mjbackus.bsky’s brilliant The Heart is Meat here: www.michaeljbackus.com/recordings

Happy Easter from all of us at OOWP! Want to add some life writing with a pop culture twist to your spring reading list? Check out our brilliant selection of truly original memoirs here:https://oilonwaterpress.com/shop/

🎈Headpress 35th Anniversary Extravaganza🎈 Introducing our panelists: Andy Cowan @vinylslam.bsky.social Author of B-Side: A Flipsided History of Pop, MOJO jazz columnist, + owner of outsider label/press Skill, he joins our Music from the Margins panel! Tickets: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/headpress-...

“This story is about my world being set on fire, of me falling apart, my aubade to heartache. The anti-love story. The self-love story. Check out Song Over the Bones by @melissameszaros.bsky.social, a powerful reflection on love, loss and seeking solace in music. oilonwaterpress.com/product/song...

“Backus dizzyingly re-creates scene after scene of pure 1980s Manhattan, immersing the reader into a forgotten early-AIDS era in New York history.” Read the full Kirkus Reviews piece on @mjbackus.bsky.social The Heart is Meat here: www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews... @mjbackus.bsky.social

Coming soon from Headpress: Rachel Walther's 'Born to Lose: The Misfits Who Made Dog Day Afternoon'. More info and mailing list sign-up here: headpress.com/product/born...

SONG OVER THE BONES is out today! While it may be sold out in a lot of shops, you can still place a back order or drop by one of the events (I have a few copies). In honor of the release, I contributed an article for Women Writers Women Books about it: booksbywomen.org/song-over-th...

No sleep til.....

@melissameszaros.bsky.social has some upcoming events around the Pacific Northwest to mark the publication of her new memoir, SONG OVER THE BONES. Get those diaries out!

*UPCOMING EVENT**

Check out this interview with @melissameszaros.bsky.social ahead of her new memoir, SONG OVER THE BONES. Physical copies are available from Oct 2nd, with the ebook out NOW at oilonwaterpress.com/product/song... www.joelgausten.com/2025/08/a-ch...

Oil On Water Press in the wild! Author Duncan McNamara was recently back in the old country and was proud to display a copy of his memoir, WALK THIS WAY, outside the wonderful Castle Book Shop in Castlebar, Co Mayo 😎

New York times.... oilonwaterpress.com/product/the-...

Preorders are open for paperback copies of SONG OVER THE BONES by @melissameszaros.bsky.social over at our website. Also available NOW as an ebook! oilonwaterpress.com/product/song...

Please , if you are able Support Independent publishers. They are doing more than most to find, nurture and publish great new writers and stories. There are many but here are a few. @littletollerbooks.bsky.social @galleybeggars.bsky.social @saraband-books.bsky.social Thank you.

Very pleased to announce that pre-orders are now open for our next title, SONG OVER THE BONES by Melissa Meszaros. You'll know Melissa already from HEAVY METAL HEADBANG, which launched Oil On Water Press in 2022. This one is going to be BIG! oilonwaterpress.com/product/song...

www.michaeljbackus.com/recordings I recorded six short readings from my memoir of 80s NYC The Heart is Meat (out everywhere in May); you can access any of them here, I'd suggest starting with Pig Knuckles, which gives a good sense of the tone and style of the book.

Outside Left is a magazine that pushes books they like; they liked my memoir, out on May 1. Got to love the line, "raciest paciest creative non-fiction." Thanks to Lamontpaul. outsideleft.com/main.php?upd...

www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews... My book is out in bookstores on May 1. Here's a quote from the review:

Spilling the tea 🫖 to @comiccrusaders.bsky.social on a recent social media post that caused quite the stir—and we talked SONG OVER THE BONES, coming October from @oilonwaterpress.com

Monday listening: @melissameszaros.bsky.social talks to Biff Bam Pop! about her upcoming book with @oilonwaterpress.com, Song Over The Bones: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h... #podcasts #newbookalert #grunge #memoir

Excellent piece. We're really excited about this one! comicon.com/2025/05/17/m...

Are you on @netgalley.bsky.social? Now you can review SONG OVER THE BONES (or hit me up for a PDF). www.netgalley.com/catalog/prev...

Steve Moriarty (The Gits) will be producing the audiobook for SONG OVER THE BONES, and… comicon.com/2025/05/17/m...

Check it out! An early review of our next title, SONG OVER THE BONES by @melissameszaros.bsky.social. Melissa is the author of HEAVY METAL HEADBANG, also available from Oil On Water Press. www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

THE HEART IS MEAT is available NOW! This one's a goodie. oilonwaterpress.com/product/the-...

@melissameszaros.bsky.social returns to Heroes & Villains with @eahenson.bsky.social to discuss her forthcoming memoir, Song Over The Bones, due October 2 from @oilonwaterpress.com biffbampop.com/2025/05/06/h...

THE HEART IS MEAT is in the @outsideleft.bsky.social February roundup! 🤩 outsideleft.com/main.php?upd...

THE HEART IS MEAT is available EXCLUSIVELY from our webstore. Beat the streets! vimeo.com/1017569555/e...

What a joker. Our hardbacks are *special* editions only available from our website, not *limited* editions that are now out of print. You can buy this brand new direct from us for the normal price of £27.99. #supportindiepublishers

Thank you to Steve Moriarty, author & drummer for The Gits, for this heartfelt blurb for SONG OVER THE BONES. Coming this October from @oilonwaterpress.bsky.social.

Happy New Year! Take the edge off this snowy Sunday with another reading from THE HEART IS MEAT by author, Michael Backus. Beat the streets on this one! Earlybird copies of THE HEART IS MEAT are available EXCLUSIVELY from our webstore. vimeo.com/1017569555/e...

A Happy Christmas at Headpress as Nikolas Schreck's The Satanic Screen bags @ruemorguemagazine.bsky.social's Best Non-Fiction Book of 2024 spot! See the full list of winners in Rue Morgue issue 222 (digital version out now, hard copies hit stores on 3 Jan).

vimeo.com/1017569555/e...

Beat the streets! Earlybird copies ONLY available from our webstore! oilonwaterpress.com/product/the-...

Seattle musician Gretta Harley, co-founder of Home Alive, gave SONG OVER THE BONES a fantastic blurb!

SONG OVER THE BONES, coming October 2025 from @oilonwaterpress.bsky.social 📖

Advance copies of THE HEART IS MEAT are available now, ONLY from our webstore. Let's twist! vimeo.com/1017568795/5...

www.southwestwriters.com/author-updat... Here's a link to an interview with me; it's about my memoir of working and living in NYC in the early 80s and is available now directly from the publisher. On May 1, 2025, it will have a wide release to bookstores and sites like Amazon and BN.