Hand-in-Hand
This coffee table photo & essay book matches the macro photography of Meg Boscov with the micro (non)fiction of Randall Brown. A weekly dose of image and words gives you a year of inspiration, meditation, and reflection. That makes for fifty-two macro/micro doses. Enjoy.
20% of proceeds go to support natural lands in the Philly area: Stoneleigh Natural Lands, Jenkins Arboretum, and The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society.
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“Just in time, this book fell into my hands, and it has not left them. Here is the perfect combination of the visual with the textual, where the combination both embraces and transcends their meet-up. I want to give this book to everyone I know and say, ‘Here, take this and wander, read this and make stuff up, take a closer look at every single small thing, and big thing too. Let light seep through the cracks.’ Then, give a copy to everyone you know and see if something beautiful doesn’t happen.” — National Book Award Finalist & Newbery Honor Winner Kathi Appelt
“Hand in Hand is a gift to writers, readers, journalers, and dreamers alike. It is a book that models a way of seeing and being that, by its very nature, changes how we see the world. More times than not, I looked up from its pages and was jolted by the world around me, as if it had been made anew. Because, of course…Randall’s writing and Meg’s photos had made it new, and in so doing, offered the greatest gift.” — Katey Schultz, author of Flashes of War and Still Come Home
“Insightful, provoking, and a little bit trippy. Like a shot of megawatt sunshine to get you through the shadows of your week.” — Kelly Simmons, International selling author
“Flower or Phantasm? Meditation or Encyclopedia? Meg Boscov and Randall Brown’s Rorschach-like pairing of her uncanny photos of our natural world with his wise, insightful take on a multitude of arts, sciences and philosophies makes for a remarkable viewing and reading extravaganza. Day Book? Coffee table? Dare I say, Bible? Even those of us without space on our end tables will find our days more bracing, and yet more delicate, for having started them by turning to Hand in Hand.” — Abby Frucht, author of eight books of fiction and Maids, her first book of poetry, published early in 2020
“This is a book filled with kindness and compassion for the sensory world surrounding us. Hand in Hand celebrates the process of seeing and seeking beauty in unexpected places. Written as a collaboration between word and image, these lyrical mini-essays ask you to engage with their accompanying photographs. I appreciate Randall Brown’s wordplay and wit, and the elegant optimism of Meg Boscov’s photos. Uplifting and spirited, these interactive meditations want to meet you where you are.” — Carol Guess, author of Girl Zoo and Doll Studies: Forensics
“This book is spectacular! It’s gorgeously designed, and the pairing of art and text is perfectly done. Those photographs! I would like to live with them, to have them on every wall of my home. And the text is fantastically inspiring. This is a book that suggests that we live with it, that we visit it weekly and follow its smart, artistic, and creative suggestions, and I truly wish to do that, to have this book in front of me directing my creative life and pushing my thinking in new directions. And did I mention those photographs?” — Lynn Rosen, Open Book Bookstore
“The photographer Meg Boscov makes macro pictures; the writer Randall Brown makes micro stories. Teaming their extravagant talents, they’ve produced one of the loveliest — and most useful — coffee table books we’ve encountered. “Hand in Hand” contains a ravishing photo (many of them from nature) and an accompanying page of text in each chapter, one for every week of the year. Each ends with an uplifting thought experiment inspired by the imagery. The creators suggest rationing the book into fifty-two portions. Alas, Hand in Hand is too magical. We’re cheating on our diet, gorging on spectacular sights and elegant thoughts.” — Michael Konik, NEW DISCOVERIES
“I just hugged your book…after reading the introduction and a few sections and feeling a rush of gladness and inspiration. The world is so dark and this book is so bright!” — Dona McCormack
“I cannot thank you enough for Hand-in-Hand, which just arrived. I devoured the first entry and now wait for tomorrow’s reading, optimistic and energized despite the gray, despite the rain, despite the dark uncertainty. This is the beauty, the new perspective I needed in this moment.” — John Reinhart
“Your wonderful book Hand in Hand arrived. Perfect medicine for corvid/19 blues. I’m slowly savoring it page by page, day by day.” — Mary Whiteside
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HAND-IN-HAND
by Meg Boscov & Randall Brown
$25 + shipping
Also available from Amazon.
About the Authors
Meg Boscov’s award-winning work has appeared in galleries in Philadelphia, Media, Doylestown, Wayne, Wallingford, Haverford, Ardmore, and Middlebury, VT. Meg founded Pup Up Social Learning, an innovative playroom/classroom where children team up with playful, certified therapy dogs. She also co-founded Mutt Match, a nationally recognized nonprofit service matched families with dogs in shelters and rescues. Learn more about Meg and see her full gallery of work online.
Randall Brown is the author of the award-winning collection Mad to Live. His essay on short fiction appears in The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction, and he appears in Best Small Fictions 2015 & 2017 & 2019; The Norton Anthology New Micro: Exceptionally Short Fiction; and The Norton Anthology Hint Fiction. He founded and directs FlashFiction.Net and has been published and anthologized widely, both online and in print. Recent books include the prose poetry collection I Might Never Learn (Finishing Line Press 2018), the novella How Long is Forever (Running Wild Press 2018), and the flash fiction collection This Is How He Learned to Love (Sonder Press 2019). He both taught in and directed the MFA in Creative Writing Program at Rosemont College. Learn more about Randall online.
Matter Press recently released titles from Meg Boscov, Abby Frucht, Robert McBrearty, Tori Bond, Kathy Fish, and Christopher Allen. Click here.
Matter Press is now offering private flash fiction workshops and critiques of flash fiction collections here.
Upcoming:
04/01 • Lu Chekowsky
04/08 • Robin Turner
04/15 • TBD
04/22 • TBD
04/29 • TBD