Bleak House Books was an imprint of Big Earth Publishing. Before being acquired by Big Earth in 2005, Bleak House began as an independent publisher, releasing its first book in 2001. Bleak House was a publisher of

hardboiled Hardboiled (or hard-boiled) fiction is a literary genre that shares some of its characters and settings with crime fiction (especially detective fiction and noir fiction). The genre's typical protagonist is a detective who battles the violence o ...

/''noir'' books with real type protagonists, focusing more upon the people in the novels and the way they live in the world. Bleak House Books also kept a

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...

and produced podcasts in which various authors and other members of the publishing community were interviewed. Apart from publishing the majority of its books simultaneously, available upon publication date in both

hardcover A hardcover, hard cover, or hardback (also known as hardbound, and sometimes as case-bound) book is one bound with rigid protective covers (typically of binder's board or heavy paperboard covered with buckram or other cloth, heavy paper, or occa ...

and

paperback A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, and often held together with adhesive, glue rather than stitch (textile arts), stitches or Staple (fastener), staples. In contrast, hardcover (hardback) book ...

, Bleak House Books also released limited collector's edition options called the "Evidence Collection" which included: *a police booking sheet complete with the author’s vital information *signature *fingerprint *date *colored endsheet *number (1-100)

Prizes and awards

2008

Edgar Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America, based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor the bes ...

Nominees Best Novel: ''Soul Patch'' by

Reed Farrel Coleman Reed Farrel Coleman (born March 29, 1956) is an American writer of crime fiction and a poet. Life and career Reed Farrel Coleman, the youngest of three boys, was born and raised in the Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, Sheepshead Bay, Coney Island, B ...

Best First Novel by an American Author:''Head Games'' by

Craig McDonald Craig McDonald is a novelist, journalist, communications specialist, and the author of the Hector Lassiter series, the Zana O'Savin Series, the novel ''El Gavilan'', and two collections of interviews with fiction writers, ''Art in the Blood'' ...

Best Short Story: "Blue Note" from ''Chicago Blues'' by Stuart Kaminsky

Recent Press

Bleak House Scores With Edgars,

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...

"To nobody's surprise, when the Mystery Writers of America announced the finalists for the 2008 Edgar Awards last week titles from the large New York houses dominated the eight (out of a total of 13) categories dealing with books. But one small Wisconsin press is more than holding its own among the 35 books and five short stories selected as this year's Edgar Awards nominees. Three of the 15 titles released this past year by Bleak House Books in Madison, an imprint of Big Earth Books, have been nominated for 2008 Edgar Awards in three different categories: Soul Patch by Reed Farrel Coleman (Best Novel), Head Games by

(Best First Novel), and "Blue Note" by Stuart M. Kaminsky from the Chicago Blues collection (Best Short Story)..."

References

External links

* *{{cite journal, url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6542970.html , title=Ben LeRoy: Focus on gritty mysteries has created a niche for Bleak House , date=March 17, 2008 , author=Claire Kirch , journal=

, accessdate=2008-10-17 , url-status=dead , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080525083614/http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6542970.html , archivedate=May 25, 2008 Book publishing companies of the United States Publishing companies established in 2001