FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, (May 21, 2013)
For review copies,contact Stephen Brendan (stephen@lightpublications.com)

The Brothers Schlemiel —a novel of Chelm

First Novel Serialized by Email is Latest Ebook (and book)

Blurb: Mark Binder’s The Brothers Schlemiel is a novel of Chelm—a delicious and exciting story  of mixed identities told in delicious bite-sized chapters. You won’t want to put it down, but if you do, you will come back to it again and again… At last, one of the very first ebooks is restored to its full glory as an ebook with a cover illustrated by Marc Chagall. Mark Binder’s Chelm stories have been read and enjoyed in print in newspapers, magazines and online around the world.  A timeless page-turner that resonates in today’s fast-paced digital society, The Brothers Schlemiel is available for Kindle, Nook, Kobo and iBooks. It will also be released shortly in both softcover and in a limited edition library hardcover.

The Brothers Schlemiel by Mark Binder started quietly, as a weekly serial for the Houston Jewish Herald-Voice. Shortly afterwards, Light Publications began serializing the book in weekly or monthly installments via email to subscribers around the world. At the same time, a one-hour audio excerpt was released, The Brothers Schlemiel—from birth to bar mitzvah.

“Wired Words/Electric Prose” —Providence Phoenix

From the day they are born, Abraham and Adam Schlemiel create humor and cause trouble. No one, not even their parents, can tell them apart, which is sometimes and advantage, when they want to get out of chores. But when Adam falls in love with a girl who thinks he’s Abraham, it’s a huge problem.

Set in Chelm, the village of fools, The Brothers Schlemiel is both a tightly interwoven story of two lives, and a rambling picaresque novel filled with rich characters. Originally written as a weekly serial, it’s a page turner that can be enjoyed a bit at a time, but will call you to keep going and just read a little more.

By the time the serial was complete, 100 installments later, tens of thousands of readers had laughed and cried. The book searched for a publisher, and in 2008, JPS released an abridged edition. This hardcover book was beautifully illustrated by Zevi Blum, but it stopped the story about 40 installments before the book finally finished!

Today, The Brothers Schlemiel has been reissued in its complete and unabridged form.

The Brothers Schlemiel is a delicious and exciting novel of mixed identities told in delicious bite-sized chapters. You won’t want to put it down, but if you do, you will come back to it again and again… At last, one of the very first ebooks is restored to its full glory.

The Brothers Schlemiel is a book to savor. It’s a timeless book that resonates in today’s fast-paced digital society.

Mark Binder is a former editor of the Rhode Island Jewish Herald, and  the prolific author of The Bed Time Story Book, and A Hanukkah Present (finalist for the National Jewish Book Award for Family Literature). His illustrated book, Cinderella Spinderella will be released this fall. Other books include, Matzah Mishugas, Stories for Peace, and It Ate My Sister. Binder is also an award-winning recording artist, with six spoken-word albums available. For more information about him, please visit http://markbinder.com/

For a review copy of The Brothers Schlemiel, please contact Stephen Brendan: stephen@lightpublications.com

To interview Mark Binder, please contact Beth Hellman: beth@storyamonth.com

Image: for a high resolution image, please visit the cover image gallery. Please credit: Cover image by Marc Chagall “The Blue House”, 1920 (oil on canvas) Collection Musée des Beaux-Arts de la ville de Liège © 2013 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

Glowing Headlines and Reviews of previous editions of the (abridged and e-serialized) Brothers Schlemiel:

Wired Words/Electric Prose

“To say that Jacob Schlemiel went temporarily insane after the birth of his twin boys might be to overstate it. The poor man certainly had a breakdown. It was as if the mule pulling his wagon down the road of life had suddenly kicked him in the head.” So begins one episode of The Brothers Schlemiel. Binder could have also been describing what’s happening to traditional publishing. With the arrival of electronic serials and e-books, old-fashioned print is getting something of a kick in the head. As tech-savvy authors like Binder are exploring the Internet’s possibilities, traditional publishers are racing to get into the game.”
—Providence Phoenix

Dickens For The 21st Century
“I find it exciting that Mr. Binder has put his extensive talents to use on the internet. The return of serialized literature is long overdue and “The Brothers Schlemiel” seems the perfect work to introduce a new generation of readers to a method as traditional as Dickens using technology that Jules Verne could only have dreamed of.”
- oso.com

Schlemiels in cyberspace… old-fashioned storytelling in a newfangled way
The Providence Journal

Laughing out loud humor… very poignant and sweet
—Jewish Herald Voice, Houston, TX

“In The Brothers Schlemiel, Mark Binder tries to capture the community of Chelm in all its innocence, foolishness and humor. ‘In this work of fiction, history lives in the footnotes,’ he declares in his author’s note. When history gets in the way of the story, it is easily modified. So it’s clear from the start that there is nothing factual about this book, which traces the lives of the Schlemiel family and the community that surrounds them. [Readers] will really get the humor written between the lines. ‘Only in Chelm could a father get so lost going to fetch the midwife that he misses the birth of his first child,’ Binder writes, poking consistent fun at the antics and idiocy of those who call Chelm home. It seems that everyone in the town is in slow mode, so the mix-ups are many and the potential for laughter abundant
—Jewish Book World

OUT OF THE WOODS

a free serialized Hanukkah story

by Mark Binder
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Stephen Brendan, stephen@lightpublications.com (401) 484-0228

Twitter Version:
Sign up for a free serialized Hanukkah Story for all ages by former candidate @barkminder Subscribe at http://bit.ly/hanukkah_serial

After finishing his run as an Independent Candidate for State Rep from Rhode Island District 4, award-winning author Mark Binder is giving back something to the community.

Starting today, readers around the state will be able to sign up for a free serialization of “Out of the Woods” an eight-part story about an entire village’s narrow escape from destruction.

Readers can sign up for this free serial at http://bit.ly/hanukkah_serial
Every day for the next eight days they will receive a new installment in the story.

“This is a story that has nothing to do with Rhode Island Politics or the fiscal cliff” said award-winning author Mark Binder. “Chelm is a village in the middle of nowhere, In the cold of winter, on the eve of Hanukkah, the last thing they expect is to be under attack.”

The story is one of twelve tales from Binder’s collection, A Hanukkah Present, which was the finalist for the National Jewish Book award for family literature. The collection includes humorous and heartwarming stories about lethal latkes, gigantic challah bread, frozen flames, and a most unusual duck. It is set in the Chelm, a village of wise fools, and features a wealth of characters including the ancient Rabbi Kibbitz, Mrs. Chaipul the caterer, and Doodle, the village orphan.

“Doodle is actually the hero of several stories,” Binder said. “He and his friend Rachel Cohen are able to organize and protect the villagers from the wrath of Vasilly Petrovich, the Captain of the Lightning Cossack Raiders. They are also very kind.”

The story is written for all ages. You don’t have to be Jewish to enjoy the story. It can be read by teens and elementary students, enjoyed by seniors and read aloud by parents to their younger children.

“Serializing a story slows it down and increases the suspense,” Binder explained. “With cliff hangers and the time between installments, the story becomes more and more delicious.”

Mark Binder is a professional author and storyteller. He is the founder of the American Story Theater. He teaches “Telling Lies” to undergraduates at the Rhode Island School of Design. A former editor of the Rhode Island Jewish Voice and Herald, he is the author of three books in the “Chelm” series: A Hanukkah Present, Matzah Mishugas, and The Brothers Schlemiel.

A Hanukkah Present is also available in book, ebook and audio form. Softcover copies are available from Amazon.com and BN.com. Ebook editions are available for Kindle, nook, kobo, Android, iPad and iPhone through iBooks. Audio versions of stories are available on Amazon, Android, and iTunes

Details and Links
Readers can sign up for this free serial at http://bit.ly/hanukkah_serial
Every day for the next eight days they will receive a new installment in the story.

For more information about the book, ebook and audio editions of A Hannukah Present, please visit http://lightpublications.com/hanukkah/

Book cover image: http://lightpublications.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/hanukkah_present_cover_2.jpg
More cover Images are at: http://bit.ly/light_gallery

LIGHT PUBLICATIONS
1005 Main Street, Suite 1212 Pawtucket, RI 02806
Fiercely Independent Publishing

http://lightpublications.com

@lightpublic

NOTE: Book images are truncated in this gallery.
Click the cover to download the high-resolution image.

an interview on Radio Curious with Barry Vogel

Happy Holidays — Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Ramadan, Diwali, Solstice, New Year’s, Yuletide, Whatever you celebrate!

Here’s a video of the song, and here’s a link to the lyric sheet. Please feel free to print it out and sing it all year long.

The Holiday Video

BUY IT TODAY!

CD Available through CDBaby: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/markbinder9

is an ebook (2011), paperback (2008) hardback (2007 out of print) and a CD (2005).

The softcover - and Kindle edition available on Amazon.com

or for the iPad

The Book (softcover and ebook editions)

Finalist for the National Jewish Book Award for Family Literature!

“A collection of short stories, all set in Chelm, the village of fools, take place around the holiday of Hanukah. We meet several interesting villagers, including Mrs. Chaipul (who is wise but makes inferior potato latkes), Rabbi Kibbitz, and Little Doodle (the village orphan), who is the hero of the most outstanding story entitled, “Out of the Woods.” It is longer and has a more cohesive plot than do the other tales. In this thirty-five page story, the Cossacks ride into Chelm in order to procure (i.e. steal) food an provisions while the Chelmites flee and hide out in the forest. The book is followed by a glossary and notes. In this anthology, the reader is introduced to many silly Chelmites and also the life of Jews in Eastern Europe at an earlier time in history. By and large the stories are light in tone and content, and all of them have been previously published in magazines such as Cricket, Jewish Daily Forward, Washington Jewish Week, and others. According to a note by the author his book is based on a CD from his storytelling tour.
– Jewish Book World, Summer 2008 (Volume 26, Number 2)

AJL Newsletter review…

A Hanukkah Present is a compilation of original short stories about Hanukkah, a collection that pays homage to classic Judaic storytellers. Binder has created characters and plots that read like authentic Jewish tales that have been passed down from generation to generation. Parents and grandparents will enjoy reading selections aloud and retelling the stories with or without the original text.

One of the best in this colorful collection, “The Challah That Ate Chelm”, about a baker’s apprentice named Muddle, is witty and charming. Muddle is the proverbial good hearted ne’er-do-well whose enormous challah destroys the baker’s oven, and nearly the entire town. Despite the damage, there is no retribution. Instead the town takes up a collection for poor Muddle to find himself a new business.

There are several stories that focus on a “Chanukah Bush” in the home of a rabbi. While the explanations are clever, this storyline might not be appropriate in more traditional homes where the notion of a Chanukah bush is not pleasing.

A Hanukkah Present is a fine example of Jewish tradition with a wink. It offers the young generation a peek into the past, with humor and a bit of schmaltz. For parents, teachers, and librarians who enjoyed The Jar of Fools: Eight Hanukkah Stories from Chelm by Eric Kimmel, A Hanukkah Present would be a nice alternative selection. A Hanukkah Present is appropriate for any Judaic collection.
– Barbara Bietz, Oak Park, CA in the Feb/March 2008 issue of the AJL Newsletter

The CD is a Storytelling World Honor Winner.

The CD has received the following reviews and mentions:

“Lethal Latkes,” by the way, is not a murder mystery. It concerns some awful-tasting latkes (potato pancakes) and what you might call another Hanukkah miracle: love.”
– New York Times

“Listeners of all cultural backgrounds will be entertained by these tales.”
– School Library Journal

“An entertaining CD that, like its title, will make a great Hanukkah present for Jewish children and their families.”
– AJL Newsletter

Many of the stories in A Chanukah Present are stories within a story: A Cold Day in Chelm. Everything freezes. It’s so cold, people initially won’t get out of bed or leave the house. Then the community finds warmth in each other.

“The villagers come together,” Binder says. “The warmth of their singing warms the whole world.” Binder says he likes stories that appeal to all ages and faiths, and “have a good heart.”
–Providence Journal – Read the whole review

A review of a recent presentation by Mark Binder of  “Stories for Peace”to the families at Central Congregational Church in Providence, RI.

“It was intergenerational. Folks from 3 to 83 enjoyed it… Mark’s presentation was incredibly relevant to our group. It’s really jumpstarted some conversations among our folks about peace and nonviolence and bullying…”

—Rev. Kat Townes, Central Congregational Church. WATCH THE VIDEO…

Stories for Peace

Stories for Peace is available through Amazon.com, for the Kindle, iPad and iPhone and for the Nook.

For information about booking Mark Binder for your organization, please click here.

Chiri Bim - from Mark Binder’s new book, “Stories for Peace”
This was recorded on an iphone at the Peace Flag Project’s Voices for Peace Concert at the Roots Cafe in Providence, RI