Cold River Press

05/31/2026

Mark your calendars for these two reading dates for VOICES 2026. Bring yourself and your favorite side dish for our yearly potluck and enjoy a fine day of poetry under the sun. Hope to see you there.

www.coldriverpress.com

05/28/2026

This Years Contributors For VOICES 2026:

Randy Barnes, Roger Funston, Lou-Anne Makes-Marks, Frank Bowman, Edilson Afonso Ferreira, Lara Gularte, Karl Kempton, Dyson Kona Smith, Nora Goff, Max West, Celeste R. Bartel, Changming Yuan, Susan Marquez Owen, Sue Daly, A.M. Hayden, Carol Lynn Stevenson Grellas, Nomad , Stanley Zumbiel, Diane Funston, Tom Goff, Rick Rayburn, Sheila Lowe-Burke , J. C. Olander, Harvey D. Osgood, Todd Boyd, Theo S. Goodwin, Jill Stockinger, Wendy Patrice Williams, Yuan Hongri, Yuanbing Zhang, Manu Mangattu, Jay Simpson, Sharon Mahany, Meghan Tutolo, David C. Anderson, Benito Villa, Pilar Graham, M***a Wu, Juley Harvey, Teresa Rennick, Ed Balldinger, Tim Hudenburg, Jennifer Fenn, Allegra Silberstein, Dave Boles, Robert Fleming, Marc Petrie, Joan Goodreau, Edward J. McCoul, Ann Privateer, Jennifer Pickering, M.B. Stacey, Joe Kidd, Deborah C. Segal, Dianna Henning, Jim Bourey, Nancy Gotthart, Patricia Harris-Bowman, Amrita Skye Blaine, Eugene Berson, Olga Browne, Amy Hoskins, Penny Kline, Joe Nolan, Sibillla Hershey, Jeanine Stevens, Curt Nelson, SM Caruthers, Doreen Beyer, Ann Wehrman, Tim Kahl, Mark Heathcote, A.D. Winans, Dick Troy, Diane Horner, Gary Kruse, Taylor Graham, Brad Buchanan, and Lytton Bell

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05/28/2026

VOICES 2026 is completed and is out into the ether. 250 pages, 8.5" x 8.5", 76 contributors and 288 contributions of poetry, prose, fiction, art, and photography. It's a hell of a deal!

I'm offering an advanced sale of $32.50 + $5 shipping (within the Continental United States). That $5 applies to however many books are ordered, it is a flat rate. By comparison, the cheapest Media Mail rate is $5.22. Such a deal!

Many poetry books are 6" x 9" in size, around 78 pages, and run $18.95. This book is 8.5" x 8.5", and 250 pages. It contains 76 contributors and 288 contributions of poetry, prose, fiction, art and photography. It's a hell of a deal! Plus, you can support a legitimate grass-roots small press that has been publishing since 1982 without grants or any other governmental assistance.

Help keep this 15 year anthology alive for another 15 and order today!

Great site for Color Printing, Digital Imaging, and Web Development.

05/22/2026

VOICES 2026 is nearly finished with production and will soon be off to the printer. What a line up of incredible work this years theme provided; SKYSCRAPERS, DOLPHINS & EVOLUTION. Wonderful work from:

Randy Barnes, Roger Funston, Lou-Anne Makes-Marks, Frank Bowman, Edilson Afonso Ferreira, Lara Gularte, Karl Kempton, Dyson Kona Smith, Nora Goff, Max West, Celeste R. Bartel, Changming Yuan, Susan Marquez Owen, Sue Daly, A.M. Hayden, Carol Lynn Stevenson Grellas, Nomad , Stanley Zumbiel, Diane Funston, Tom Goff, Rick Rayburn, Sheila Lowe-Burke , J. C. Olander, Harvey D. Osgood, Todd Boyd, Theo S. Goodwin, Jill Stockinger, Wendy Patrice Williams, Yuan Hongri, Yuanbing Zhang, Manu Mangattu, Jay Simpson, Sharon Mahany, Meghan Tutolo, David C. Anderson, Benito Villa, Pilar Graham, M***a Wu, Juley Harvey, Teresa Rennick, Ed Balldinger, Tim Hudenburg, Jennifer Fenn, Allegra Silberstein, Dave Boles, Robert Fleming, Marc Petrie, Joan Goodreau, Edward J. McCoul, Ann Privateer, Jennifer Pickering, M.B. Stacey, Joe Kidd, Deborah C. Segal, Dianna Henning, Jim Bourey, Nancy Gotthart, Patricia Harris-Bowman, Amrita Skye Blaine, Eugene Berson, Olga Browne, Amy Hoskins, Penny Kline, Joe Nolan, Sibillla Hershey, Jeanine Stevens, Curt Nelson, SM Caruthers, Doreen Beyer, Ann Wehrman, Tim Kahl, Mark Heathcote, A.D. Winans, Dick Troy, Diane Horner, Gary Kruse, Taylor Graham, Brad Buchanan, and Lytton Bell.

Pre-Sale is happening now. Thanks for the support!

www.coldriverpress.com

04/21/2026

The deadline for VOICES 2026: SKYSCRAPERS, DOLPHINS & EVOLUTION has passed and production has begun. What an amazing assortment of Poetry, Fiction, Photography and Art to send out into the world! 74 contributors in all. Life is beautiful!

David C. Anderson, Ed Balldinger, Randy Barnes, Celeste R. Bartel, Lytton Bell, Eugene Berson, Doreen Beyer, Jim Bourey, Frank Bowman, Todd Boyd, Olga Browne, Brad Buchanan, Sheila Lowe-Burke, SM Caruthers, Changming Yuan, Diane Funston, Sue Daly, Jennifer Fenn, Edilson Afonso Ferreira, Robert Fleming, Tom Goff, Joan Goodreau, Theo S. Goodwin, Nancy Gotthart, Carol Lynn Stevenson Grellas, Lara Gularte, Patricia Harris-Bowman, Juley Harvey, A.M. Hayden, Mark Heathcote, Dianna Henning, Sibillla Hershey, Yuan Hongri, Manu Mangattu, Diane Horner, Dave Boles, M.B. Stacey, Amy Hoskins, Tim Hudenburg, Tim Kahl, Karl Kempton, Joe Kidd, Gary Kruse, Sharon Mahany, Meghan Tutolo, Lou-Anne Makes-Marks, Edward J. McCoul, Curt Nelson, Joseph Nolan, Nomad, Nora Goff, J. C. Olander, Susan Marquez Owen, Pilar Graham, Marc Petrie, Jennifer Pickering, Ann Privateer, Roger Funston, Rick Rayburn, Teresa Rennick, Deborah C. Segal, Allegra Silberstein, Jay Simpson, Amrita Skye Blaine, Dyson Kona Smith, Harvey D. Osgood, Jeanine Stevens, Jill Stockinger, Taylor Graham, Dick Troy, Benito Villa, Ann Wehrman, Max West, Wendy Patrice Williams, A.D. Winans, M***a Wu, and Stanley Zumbiel.

Look for it early Summer, 2026!

https://www.coldriverpress.com/HTML/VOICES/voices.htm

04/02/2026

VOICES 2026 Deadline

Two weeks left! I've received some amazing submissions and there is room for more!

For those that like to wait to be invited in...here it is.

https://www.coldriverpress.com/voices.htm

https://www.coldriverpress.com/HTML/submissions.htm

dave

03/16/2026

Chris Olander's latest book is back from the printer. 160pp of wonderful poetry and prose. COLD RIVER PRESS is offering a pre-sale discount of $15 + FREE shipping until April 15th.

www.coldriverpress.com

03/13/2026

There's a month left before the deadline for VOICES 2026. I've received some excellent work so far, I'm sure there is more to come. SKYSCRAPERS, DOLPHINS & EVOLUTION. A lot to write about.

Mankind moved out of caves and began building a long time ago. The early Ziggurat's of Mesopotamia soon gave rise to pyramids in Egypt. They evolved further as we built higher into the sky. Now, in Singapore, Dubai, in fact most everywhere in the world, skyscrapers dominate urban skylines. The Burj Khalifa in Dubai stands at just over a half mile tall. Evolution. It's everywhere, even in our buildings.

Send in your prose, poetry, short fiction, fiction, artwork, and elaborate on your thoughts for this issue.

More info: https://www.coldriverpress.com/HTML/submissions.htm

03/05/2026

Chris Olander's newest work, WHO ARE WE, is headed to the printer! Cold River Press is offering a pre-sale special until 4/15/2026 for $15 including FREE shipping within the Continental United States. Such a deal for you!

160pp, Prose and Poetry, Perfect Bound Soft Cover.

www.coldriverpress.com

In this book we travel in the psychic vehicle of Chris Olander’s poetic voice. It’s an ancient tradition, going back at least five thousand years to the magical beginnings of Chinese poetry. At that time poets had the shamanic skill of spirit travel, when poets were usually employed by dynastic courts to enter the heavens or deep into the earth to recover the lost soul of an emperor. People were suffering because he was too out of touch with the pragmatic needs of his subjects. The poet’s vehicle was his voice and his path defined by the next word as it materialized under each spoken step. Rhythmic momentum was key. Olander invites us on a similar quest for our own souls. It's an ambitious book and full of psychic risk for the poet at a time when all human life hangs in the balance.

His journey began when he was first swept up by the ecstatic, perhaps Pentacostal, fire he felt in the swirling emerald pools below waterfalls of the Yuba under the guidance of sacred nymphs in the sixties. This book traces that journey into our present moment where, through his bardic voice, he attempts to digest by song the political mush everywhere around us down into the guts of hell, full of poison and endless treachery to witness cannibals and cutthroats slicing each other apart with flames that not even torrential rains can put out. The rain is full of microplastic just as the rain falling over the Rockies in Colorado has been discovered to be. This hissing acidic caldron cannot digest anything. It’s a true hell.

Olander’s marvelous poems on food touch on this. One can’t help but wonder, in a world where fire can’t be put out by rain because rain is full of plastic, a form of fossil fuel, despite its having been birthed in the human mind as an idea, What sort of beast can the indigestible trash our culture creates be feeding?

Olander’s voice is embattled. At times he digresses into well-meaning didactic exhortations, a voice calling out while almost drowning in lies, delusions and human vanity. It’s not a tidy book, all wrapped up with the ribbon of genius. It’s the singing voice taking on the struggle for fragile tendrils wavering in the air for something to hold onto, the delicate beauty that keeps the apocalypse at bay. Blossoming ballerinas are there to see, and Olander performs a ballet of the ear to hear. We witness the struggle as we're nourished by the solace of his music yet the outcome is on us and unclear. Redemption lies in his perseverance.

Gene Berson
Author; raveling travel,
Work Ethic of a Shopping Cart Shaman

02/11/2026

Coming this Spring from Cold River Press, J.C. Olander's newest work, WHO ARE WE.

160pp, Perfect Bound 6x9, Soft Cover

www.coldriverpress.com