Jitney Books is a new Miami-based micro-publishing company focusing on producing original titles by Miami-based authors writing about Miami with the intention of this material being produced into film or plays by Miami-based filmmakers or playwrights. All cover art will feature Miami-based artists.
Jitney Books will be releasing its first four titles starting this Fall.
With advisement and cooperation by the Miami Book Fair and Books and Books, Jitney Books aims to publish honest and well-written prose by established Miami based writers. Many Miami writers, and there are an army, struggle with the mainstream New York based corporate publishing world.
Jitney Books provides an independent alternative to the machine.
And if you want to read good books about Miami, hop aboard the Jitney.
logo designed by Miami-based street artist AholSniffsGlue
WHAT IS MIAMI??
Miami is a difficult city to define. Sometimes locals are even confused as to our identity. We change so fast it's hard to keep up. Miami is perhaps the most misunderstood city in the United States.
People are told to follow the official Miami brochure.
Everyone in Miami is beautiful, rich and spend their time sailing on yachts like Ballers. Come on down for some fun-in-the-sun, Vegas with a beach, pop-or-sniff-some drugs, dance, dance, dance, and enjoy all the beauty you can consume.
Take your talent to South Beach. As if.
Those of us living in Miami know the truth: we are a little weird for sure, a little corrupt and slow, but we are also transforming into a legitimate city with a flourishing and vibrant renaissance in art, culture and food creating a progressive and vibrant cultural community that is not South Beach. That is the real Miami.
Jitney Books hopes to contribute to this organic evolution through the letters.
This season's first four titles include:
Just Johnson, (The London Delivery) by Timothy Shmand
Populated by Miami's misfits, Just Johnson (The London Delivery) traces the exploits of our hero -- Johnson -- a driver and delivery man for Stephen Teitelbaum (aka The Fat Man) the 624 pound criminal mastermind who manages the remains of Meyer Lansky's Miami Beach operation during the early 80s and 90s Miami. To afford a trip to London with his girlfriend, Johnson arranges a delivery for one of The Fat Man's many friends. Just Johnson is a funny, fast-paced spy thriller filled with zany over-the-top characters who find themselves entangled in events larger than themselves.
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Reduce Heat Continue To Boil by J.J. Colagrande
cover art by local artist DiDi Contreras
Jimena Quintero is anxious, beautiful and filled with wanderlust. That is until she meets Alex Lane, a local Wynwood bar owner. Flush with details and subplots, including a look into the stripper world, a journey to a music festival, a horrible accident, an encounter with a super-star basketball player, and a lethal hurricane, Jimena must overcome more than most Millennials will ever face or she'll lose her sanity, heart and the city she loves to hate, Miami.
The Doctor in the Treehouse by Raul Guerrero
The Doctor in the Treehouse is a wonderfully written satire set in Downtown Miami and Wynwood exploring all of the zaniness and insanity that we in Miami love and endure. The short novel follows the adventures of the newly arrived Sebastian Moll and his wife Hanna, newlyweds from Germany who open up a gallery in Downtown. Fascinated by Miami's struggling and indignant homeless population, Sebastian begins to take pictures. And that's when the trouble really begins.
In The Pink by Nick Garnett
In The Pink takes us back to the booming Miami gay scene of the early to mid 90s when clubs like Fire and Ice and Liquid lined the streets of South Beach before all the EDM music invaded. Days when it was just weird and not so touristy. The good ol' days. After the recent Orlando massacre, the book explores identity in the LGBT community in a time when this discussion is more important than ever.
JITNEY BOOKS
These four titles are just the beginning of what Jitney Books will bring to Miami.
The first crop offers a nice balance between contemporary Miami and the 80s and 90s. The end game is to bring intellectual property to life and we hope you come along for the ride. Stay tuned for more information soon.
Author's note--Jitney Books qualifies Miami as a media market and is also open to writers and artists in Broward, Palm Beach, Monroe and Miami-Dade counties.