SAN FRANCISCO, July 27, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- CRIME AND MYSTERY AUTHORS FIGHT VOTER SUPPRESSION
LOWDOWN DIRTY VOTE: VOLUME II
At the Berry Content Corporation, editor and publisher Mysti Berry announced the launch of the anthology Low Down Dirty Vote: Volume II, available in ebook and trade paperback formats.
The book was created in the wake of BCC's first release Lowdown Dirty Vote in 2018, which raised $5000 for, and delivered 100% of its sales to, the ACLU. Volume II will again contribute 100% of its proceeds, this time to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Berry Content Corporation was created by Mysti Berry in 2017 in order to create charity anthologies of short crime fiction to raise money for good causes.
"We're proud that every dime of sales is being contributed to the Southern Poverty Law Center," said Mysti Berry. "We're sending a $10,000 check as an advance against those sales. Berry Content Corporation is covering all publication costs, including writer's fees, so all the money can go to SPLC."
Diverse Voices Support a Common Goal
Writers from all across America have contributed to the new anthology, which turns on the theme of "Every stolen vote is a crime". Authors include Faye Snowden, whose devastating story One Bullet, One Vote, reminds readers that the current struggle for voting justice has old and violent roots. Stories with a lighter tone include Stephen Buehler's "Nicking Votes," Sarah M. Chen's "Unit 805," and Bev Vincent's "Kane and the Candidate." Richly published and frequent award winner, Gary Phillips's cross-genre story "High Sheriff Blues" drives deep into the heart of Texas law enforcement, and Travis Richardson's "The Cost of Ethics" suggests a path forward from our current divided nation. Noted literary author and lawyer Scott Turow (U.S. Senate Nominations Commission for the Northern District of Illinois, Time Magazine cover June 11 1990, the novels Presumed Innocent, Burden of Proof , and his new novel, The Last Trial) provides the Foreword.
"Each story explores a different facet of what is lost when a citizen's vote is stolen," said editor Mysti Berry. "Whether it's Gabriel Valjan's take on US interference in post-war Italian politics, or David Hagerty's look at the ERA, all these stories remind us where we've been, and where we need to go to make America a just and equitable country."
Product Availability
Product in ebook format is available for preorder now, and the trade paperback will be available on July 4, 2020 from Amazon. The trade paperback is also available for order from standard book distributors.
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Publishers Weekly Review
https://booklife.com/project/low-down-dirty-vote-volume-ii-45749
The 22 stories in Berry's politically charged second Low Down Dirty Vote crime fiction anthology all revolve around the premise that "every stolen vote is a crime." The anthology opens with Faye Snowden's "One Bullet. One Vote," which sets the tone as 85-year-old Willie Mae Brown becomes the first black person in her small town to vote despite threats to the safety of her family. The stories that follow highlight similar issues, including the voting rights of convicted felons (in Tim O'Mara's "Voting Block" and S.B. White's "The Sentencing Conundrum), the Equal Rights Amendment (in David Hagerty's "An ERA of Inequality"), and the purging of voter registration lists (Ann Parker's "Purged").
The potentially depressing effect of such stories is buoyed by an array of vivid and dynamic characters, such as the cantankerous septuagenarian in Sarah M. Chen's "Unit 805" who blackmails the board members of his retirement home; the stubborn, old-fashioned grandfather in Camille Minichino's "Three Funny Things Happened on the Way to Vote" and the granddaughter who cares for him; and two assassins (one each from Frank Rankin's "A Moral Assassin" and Terry Sanville's "Pro Bono") who try to do the right thing.
The depictions of election-rigging occur across time periods both historic (a 1910 sheriff's election in Jackie Ross Flaum's "Two Dead, Two Wounded") and modern (a congressman's campaign jeopardized by Photoshop and Facebook in Bev Vincent's "Kane and the Candidate"), in communities both small (a nonprofit theatre organization in Robert Lopresti's "Shanks Gets Out the Vote") and large (a state governor's race in James McCrone's "Numbers Don't Lie"). Neither side of the political divide is immune: Madeline McEwen's "Benevolent Dictatorship" features a proud Democrat who forges the signatures on her family's ballots, while Travis Richardson's "The Cost of Ethics" sees a GOP volunteer lament that he'd "love to have an ethical Republican Party." Regardless of affiliation, readers will find these stories give color and life to a relevant and often controversial issue.
Takeaway: Social studies teachers, history buffs, and anyone curious about politics will appreciate this anthology of crime stories about fighting, scheming, and taking action for the right to vote.
Great for fans of Michael Dobbs's House of Cards, Tom Clancy, Scott Turow
For more information, press only:
Mysti Berry
415 964 6134
[email protected]
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SOURCE Mysti Berry
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