SILVER CURRENT PRESS
Publishers of Literary Fiction · Philadelphia · MMXXVI
A current of letters drawn from the literary deep.
A literary house devoted to fiction that rewards the patient reader — books made slowly, with conviction, in the lineage of Joyce and O’Connor.
Our Mission
Silver Current Press exists to publish literary fiction with the patience and care it deserves. We work slowly, edit closely, and design our books to last. We honor the lineage of Joyce and O’Connor — writers who trusted their readers. We believe the finest books are made by hand, by people who love them, for readers who will keep them.
A Word from the Founder
Welcome to Silver Current Press
I’m James Mulhern, and I founded Silver Current Press to give careful literary work the time and attention it deserves. I’m a Philadelphia-based writer of fiction, poetry, and essays, and I spent three decades in the classroom before retiring as a professor of English.
The press grew out of that double life of writing and teaching. Every book, guide, and editorial conversation here begins with the same habit of close reading: listening for what a manuscript is trying to become, and helping it get there.
Whether you’ve come for the books, for editorial help, or for a clear guide to the business of publishing, welcome.
James Mulhern
II · The House
Three Offices, One Press
The Editor’s Hand
Publish
We acquire fiction that earns its sentences. We take each title from manuscript to bound book ourselves, and we do not hurry it.
The Workshop
Edit
Our editors read closely, in the Maxwell Perkins tradition — querying with respect, cutting with reluctance, championing the writer’s own voice.
The Long Bench
Champion
We send our books to the readers most likely to stay with them: booksellers, librarians, and critics who still read slowly.
IV · Forthcoming
In Production
The Weight of Small Mercies: Selected Stories
A second volume of short fiction — selected stories drawn from twenty years of magazine and journal publication. Stories about small kindnesses, and about what people owe each other and seldom repay.
InquireHow to Analyze Literature, Second Edition
A revised, expanded handbook for readers, drawn from twenty years in the classroom, with new chapters on contemporary short fiction, close reading, and the long sentence.
InquireFurther projects in research — Crossings, 2601, and Candy — are listed in the full catalogue.
V · The Silver Current Journal
A Quarterly of Letters
Forthcoming
Essays on craft, conversations with writers and booksellers, and reading notes from the editors. The inaugural issue is in preparation.
VII · A Directory
The Gathering Room
Everything in one place—the fiction, the courses, the submission guides, and the press—sorted by what you are looking for.
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