Founded Nov. 2023
Rock Island, ILL
Founder/ Editor daniel j flosi
Some days I choose what it is that I put hard work into, most days I don’t. On the days that I do I fall in love with the process of attempt and assembly until complete. So far, the process of starting a press has been one of negotiation. There is much that one hopes for, or has in mind, when they begin any sort of project. I suppose it’s about how you handle the decisions and the disappointments; how you decide to compromise. I try to choose to be open to the possibilities that mistakes, accidents and coincidences provide. Stone Corpse Press is a project which means it is part of a process, which is to say not a fixed thing; we adjust and produce uniquely every time.
I began Stone Corpse Press in November 2023 after reading with various online publications and publishing through my online zine, Black Stone / White Stone for about six years. I began the project on my own as a way to continue to produce physical media, I was really looking for another way to engage with other writers and their work.
What I’ve come to love most about publishing is that it allows me to work in multiple disciplines. I have always been one to dabble in different approaches and it seems that through publishing I can challenge my (limited) range of skillsets. My focus on handicrafts is very central in this project. All the cover designs begin in the physical world, not all the covers end up being physical collages, but that they start this way is necessary. I also handmake each book. The assembly and folding process is cathartic. The process by which they are made is cheap (my labor is free) but the product is quality, and I hope that the care and attention comes through. One last note on the importance of human touch; each book is unique (of course) but each flaw, too, is unique and a genuine attempt to create something good; every mistake is a choice, an act of freedom.
Moving forward I hope to find other ways to connect with the literary and arts community, especially here in the Quad Cities. More importantly perhaps I’m hoping to find mentorship opportunities both for myself and for others that might benefit from what I’ve learned (I’m learning) along the way. I’m exploring ways to produce full length manuscripts and broadening the way that publisher and artist interact.
Stone Corpse Press is one year old. I’m not exactly sure what an arrival would look like, and it may be true to say that the press has arrived by its initiation and, simultaneously, will never actually arrive, will always be shifting out there on the horizon, infinitely approaching. Who knows maybe by this time next year the headline will be, Stone Corpse Press is dead, let us prey. I hope not, but let’s publish like it may, it might.
¾daniel
j flosi
May, 2025
daniel j flosi is the author of Video Assisted Referees (C22 Press, 2024) and still in this place where there is no sun (Between the Highway Press, 2023). His work has appeared widely including recently or forthcoming in Eratio Postmodern Poetry, JMWWs Blended and Beyond, and petrichor magazine. He lives with his family in Rock Island, Ill where he edits and makes books with Stone Corpse Press.
