About Rare Bird Books

Rare Bird Books is a Los Angeles and New York-based independent publishing house formed by Rare Bird Lit founder and former Book Soup marketing and publicity director, Tyson Cornell.

Rare Bird Books has two genre-specific imprints (Vireo and Chanslor), as well as co-releases with A Barnacle Book, specializing in literary fiction, political nonfiction, crime, entertainment, travel, spiritual, and women's fiction.

All Rare Bird Books titles are distributed in the United States through Cameron + Company, Ingram, and Baker & Taylor.

Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life by Herman Melville Released February 5, 2013 Set in the paradise of a South Sea island, Typee is a combination of fact and fiction. The tale is a distortion of the life of the Typees and foreshadows the metaphysical preoccupations in Melville’s later work with its depiction of the evil and mystery lurking beneath the idyllic setting.

Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life by Herman Melville

Released February 5, 2013

Set in the paradise of a South Sea island, Typee is a combination of fact and fiction. The tale is a distortion of the life of the Typees and foreshadows the metaphysical preoccupations in Melville’s later work with its depiction of the evil and mystery lurking beneath the idyllic setting.

Sparks-Tastic: Twenty-One Nights in London with Sparks by Tosh Berman Released May 14th, 2013 In 2008, Tosh Berman—author and publisher of TamTam Books—got on a plane with a single motive: “Sparks Spectacular.” It had been announced that the band Sparks would perform all twenty-one of their albums in a succession of twenty-one nights in London…a monumental experience for any Sparks fanatic. Part travel journal, part personal memoir, Berman takes us through the streets of London and Paris, observing both cities’ history and culture through the eye of an obsessive Sparks fan’s lens. Including album-by-album reviews of all twenty-one albums and beyond, Sparks-Tastic defines a place and time in music history that’s too defining to be ignored.

Sparks-Tastic: Twenty-One Nights in London with Sparks by Tosh Berman

Released May 14th, 2013

In 2008, Tosh Berman—author and publisher of TamTam Books—got on a plane with a single motive: “Sparks Spectacular.” It had been announced that the band Sparks would perform all twenty-one of their albums in a succession of twenty-one nights in London…a monumental experience for any Sparks fanatic. Part travel journal, part personal memoir, Berman takes us through the streets of London and Paris, observing both cities’ history and culture through the eye of an obsessive Sparks fan’s lens. Including album-by-album reviews of all twenty-one albums and beyond, Sparks-Tastic defines a place and time in music history that’s too defining to be ignored.

Inside Passage: A Corey Logan Novel by Burt Weissbourd Released February 19, 2013 Corey Logan was set up. She knows Nick Season’s terrible secret. Coming home from prison, all Corey wants is to be with her son. To get him back, she needs to make a good impression on the psychiatrist evaluating her. But Dr. Abe Stein doesn’t believe she was framed—until his well-heeled mother falls for the charming state attorney general candidate, Nick Season.As the dogs of war are unleashed, Corey and her son run for their lives—taking her boat up the Pacific Northwest’s remote Inside Passage. Inside Passage is the first in Weissbourd’s haunting, heart-stirring Corey Logan trilogy.

Inside Passage: A Corey Logan Novel by Burt Weissbourd

Released February 19, 2013

Corey Logan was set up. She knows Nick Season’s terrible secret. Coming home from prison, all Corey wants is to be with her son. To get him back, she needs to make a good impression on the psychiatrist evaluating her. But Dr. Abe Stein doesn’t believe she was framed—until his well-heeled mother falls for the charming state attorney general candidate, Nick Season.

As the dogs of war are unleashed, Corey and her son run for their lives—taking her boat up the Pacific Northwest’s remote Inside Passage. Inside Passage is the first in Weissbourd’s haunting, heart-stirring Corey Logan trilogy.

Dreadnaught: King of Afropunk by Legendary Dead Kennedys drummer, D.H. Peligro Released August 13, 2013 A no-holds-barred memoir of legendary Dead Kennedys and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer D.H. Peligro, Dreadnaught chronicles Peligro from his pre-DK years growing up in a deprived St. Louis ghetto to San Francisco with Jello Biafra, East Bay Ray, and Klaus Flouride—from Los Angeles with the Chili Peppers through years of drug and alcohol abuse all over the world amidst a backdrop of some clearly defining periods of late twentieth century music history.

Dreadnaught: King of Afropunk by Legendary Dead Kennedys drummer, D.H. Peligro

Released August 13, 2013

A no-holds-barred memoir of legendary Dead Kennedys and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer D.H. Peligro, Dreadnaught chronicles Peligro from his pre-DK years growing up in a deprived St. Louis ghetto to San Francisco with Jello Biafra, East Bay Ray, and Klaus Flouride—from Los Angeles with the Chili Peppers through years of drug and alcohol abuse all over the world amidst a backdrop of some clearly defining periods of late twentieth century music history.

Yes is the Answer: And Other Prog Rock Tales edited by Marc Weingarten and Tyson Cornell Featuring Rick Moody, Seth Greenland, Charles Bock, Nathan Larsen, and many, many more Progressive rock is maligned and misunderstood. Critics hate it, hipsters scoff at it. Yes Is The Answer is a pointed rebuke to the prog-haters, the first literary anthology devoted to the sub genre. Featuring acclaimed novelists, Rick Moody, Wesley Stace, Seth Greenland, Charles Bock, and Joe Meno, as well as musicians Matthew Sweet, Nathan Larson, and Peter Case, Yes Is The Answer is the first book that dares to thoughtfully reclaim prog-rock as a subject worthy of serious consideration. So take a Topographic Journey into a 21st Century Schizoid land of Prog-Lit! Released May 14, 1013

Yes is the Answer: And Other Prog Rock Tales edited by Marc Weingarten and Tyson Cornell

Featuring Rick Moody, Seth Greenland, Charles Bock, Nathan Larsen, and many, many more

Progressive rock is maligned and misunderstood. Critics hate it, hipsters scoff at it. Yes Is The Answer is a pointed rebuke to the prog-haters, the first literary anthology devoted to the sub genre. Featuring acclaimed novelists, Rick Moody, Wesley Stace, Seth Greenland, Charles Bock, and Joe Meno, as well as musicians Matthew Sweet, Nathan Larson, and Peter Case, Yes Is The Answer is the first book that dares to thoughtfully reclaim prog-rock as a subject worthy of serious consideration. So take a Topographic Journey into a 21st Century Schizoid land of Prog-Lit!

Released May 14, 1013

Coldwater: A Novel by Diana Gould April 16th, 2013 (Gibraltar Road/A Vireo Book co-release)

Coldwater: A Novel by Diana Gould

April 16th, 2013 (Gibraltar Road/A Vireo Book co-release)

Daddy: A Memoir by Madison Young October 21st, 2013 (A Barnacle Book, an imprint of Rare Bird Books)

Daddy: A Memoir by Madison Young

October 21st, 2013 (A Barnacle Book, an imprint of Rare Bird Books)

The Vicodin Thieves: Biopsying L.A.’s Grifters, Gloryhounds, and Goliaths by Chip Jacobs (A Vireo Book; March 2013)

The Vicodin Thieves: Biopsying L.A.’s Grifters, Gloryhounds, and Goliaths by Chip Jacobs (A Vireo Book; March 2013)

Empty the Sun: A Novel by Joseph Mattson with Music by Six Organs of Admittance

Empty the Sun: A Novel by Joseph Mattson with Music by Six Organs of Admittance