Red Giant Books - Independent Publisher of literary fiction, non-fiction and poetry

Octopus Hunting, a mind-bending collection of new essays by Richey A. Piiparinen with illustrations by Liz Maugans. Piiparinen has crafted fourteen essays that traverse the economy of the Rust Belt and Cleveland, Ohio, from its past triumphs to its current struggles, explaining the issues confronting the region with laser wit and mounds of research. The book is also a memoir of Piiparinen’s diagnosis of glioblastoma multiforme, an aggressive brain cancer known as “the terminator,” and his subsequent treatment. The two seemingly disparate themes are so expertly knitted together that his personal experiences deepen the economic discussion, and we never forget that when we talk about the rise and fall and rise again of cities and regions, we are really talking about the people who live in them. Piiparinen has crafted a love song to the city where he was born, raised, and became an influential voice in the debate about the city’s future. Octopus Hunting represents his best thinking and hard-fought conclusions concerning a post-industrial economy and the traps that await a region that does not consider equity in the drive for progress. This book is a must-read for anyone who wants to know how a once-dominant industrial region has…

Growing up in suburban Cleveland, Judah Leblang felt a deep connection with his Uncle Jerry, an orally-educated deaf man who lived an isolated life between the deaf and hearing worlds. Like Jerry, Leblang felt different too, struggling with his sexuality and trying to find his place in society, finally coming out in the mid-1980s. Many years later, after working in the Deaf Community and later, losing much of his own hearing, the author goes on a quest to understand his late uncle and to give him a voice—this man who died of a heart attack at 44, and who remained a mystery to those around him, encased in his silent world.

“There were three things that made me want to take a hard look back at where I came from and what I’ve done and try to make sense of it. The first was getting shot, the second was getting old, and the third was working on this book. Getting shot came first. It happened in Cleveland on April 26, 1976, and except for the fact that I was shot from ambush that evening, it was pretty much like any other day at that period of my life. I was working as an enforcer for the black numbers rackets at the time, and since I sometimes made enemies and there were always other people who wanted to muscle in, I took sensible precautions.” So begins the memoir of James ‘Diz’ Long as told to William Siebenschuh.  Born in 1925 Diz Long’s  life brings him into the orbit of such luminaries as Billie Holiday and Jim Brown as well as nefarious characters like Don King and Reuben Sturman, the porn king of Ohio. From his duty in the Triple Nickel Black parachuting unit to semi-pro football to nightclub emcee to number running and bodyguard and enforcer, Diz bears witness to crimes high…

The Irish Hungarian Guide to the Domestic Arts proves that the Rust Belt is the perfect backdrop for a whirlwind romance, that shopping at the discount grocery is really performance art, and that a half-acre lot in the middle of America is all you need to accommodate a field of dreams.   This book is also a food memoir for the rest of us, wherein a dozen ears of sweet corn turn a humble bowl of chowder into a divine creation, the Hamburger Helper glove dukes it out with a scrappy bowl of slumgullion, and banishing the blues is as easy as lunch with Holly Golightly at the local farmers’ market. A misfit Irish-but-not-Catholic girl from Cleveland’s west side, O’Brien is funny and sophisticated, projecting triumph through the lens of the domicile without blinking when sorrow fills the screen. The right measure of quirk and earthy sex separate this book from the Erma Bombeck set, while O’Brien’s dry Midwest humor ties it all together.