The name of this series is inspired by the famous Kerouac Quote:

The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing but burn, burn, burn like fabulous roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes ‘Awww!”
— Jack Kerouac

The ongoing series will contain 3-5 selections of writing from past residents of the Kerouac House located in Orlando, Fl.

Mad Ones, edited by The Kerouac Project Price: $3.99

Where the Road Ends

Now we can see Jack Kerouac in a context that evokes memories of Florida’s past: sleeping in a moonlit yard with sweet aroma of orange trees all around, straining to hear the velvet whisper of the wind and his brother Gerard in the piney Orlando night, embarking on a sunrise hitchhiking journey along Orange Blossom Trail, returning with his rucksack full of manuscripts and dreams…No one can say Kerouac only came to Florida to die.

Kerouac In Florida, by Bob Kealing Price: $20.00

Fay Hart is everything a modern poet should be – adventurous, vivid, funny, surprising, readable. Her poems delight even when they cry. Like slides under a microscope they dazzle with their close-ups of a strange and familiar world. Yard Sale will prove a revelation to all lovers of non-abstract, non-academic, non-boring, highly original poetry. An instant classic.” – Hugo Williams

“Fay Hart is the woman in the famous X song, “Los Angeles”. And yes, she did leave. She went to London, Spain, Florida and Mexico. She left with pen and paper and dreams. This is a long-awaited volume of poetry. Travel with Fay Hart through her stories of strange men and yard sales, boulevards and highways in these deftly crafted evocative poems.” – Exene Cervenka

“Fay is the William Eggleston of poetry.” – K.K. Barrett

Yard Sale, by Fay Hart Donation: $15.00

Get your copy of Short Houses With Wide Porches, the debut poetry collection by Christopher Watkins. Most of the poems in this collection were started or completed during a three-month residency at The Kerouac House in Orlando, Fla., in the fall of 2006. Watkins drew inspiration for this work from the natural environment, and the sweet spirit of Kerouac, evoked by the house, fed by a steady diet of 1950s-era jazz, and channeled to paper through the Morse code of vintage typewriter keys rattling away till the wee hours. You won’t want to miss this, the third installment in our Kerouac Writers series.

Short House with Wide Porches, by Christopher Watkins Donation: $15.00

Wash me, till I am whiter than snow.
–Kol Nidre Service, Gates of Repentance

Three of the four stories in Scrub were written during Emily Nemens’ first month as writer-in-residence at the Kerouac Project of Orlando in September 2007. The fourth, Blue-eyed Apples, is the prologue to her first novel and the piece she submitted to the Kerouac Project’s selection committee. The author illustrated the collection as well.

We’re happy to see Emily’s work in print and excited about her being part of the Shady Lane family. Emily will be reading from Scrub in the next few weeks at the Jack Kerouac House. Locations and information on the Kerouac House and The Jack Kerouac Project of Orlando can be found here.

Click here for more information on how to order your
copy of Scrub

Shady Lane Press is proud to present Red Wax Rose, stories and poems by Darlyn Finch, first in our Kerouac Writers series. This rare and wonderful series takes readers inside the minds of emerging writers, honing their craft in 3-month residencies at the house where Jack Kerouac wrote The Dharma Bums and where he was living when On The Road was published, thrusting him into the international spotlight.

It has been 50 years since Kerouac haunted the tin-roofed cottage in Orlando, Fla., pock-pocking away at the keys at all hours, filling a 150-foot teletype scroll in 11 days. But his legacy lives on in Finch and others, thanks to The Jack Kerouac Writers In Residence Project of Orlando, a nonprofit that saved the house from demolition and restored it to pristine condition in 1997.

We’re happy to see Darlyn’s work in print and excited about her being part of the Shady Lane family. Darlyn will be reading from Red Wax Rose tonight at the Jack Kerouac House. Locations and information on the Kerouac House and The Jack Kerouac Project of Orlando can be found here.

Red Wax Rose, by Darlyn Finch Donation: $15.00