John Stendahl has been self-publishing for more than 26 years. You may remember that his previous books dealt with gritty issues such as drugs, alcoholism, and being homeless. He utilizes irony and brutal honesty to illustrate his pain and regrets. Stendahl recently introduced Kings Highway, which is his fourth book of poetry. This eclectic compilation shows his original hand-written notes and dives right into the mind of this Vietnam veteran. He uses a very casual and sporadic way of stringing sentences together and dedicates his volume to legendary satirist Lenny Bruce. It also features many rejection notes from other publishing companies, with sordid statements such as, “Of all unsolicited manuscripts we receive, we publish only 1% of them with modest success.” You can find this book, along with Stendahl’s previous works at The Local Store.