Welcome to Impolitic Press

Has it been a while since you’ve had a good laugh while strolling through the minefield of modern-day political correctness? We know. That’s a hard thing to do, and yet we now endeavor to help you accomplish that perilous feat by publishing daring voices adept at helping you pick your way, one chuckle at a time. These authors might be finding it hard to get themselves published in the current political climate, regardless of their track records in that realm, but we’re still determined to give them all the munitions-strewn dirt they’d care to plow. We’re new, underfunded, and likely insane, so there is some risk inherent in this for us, too, but armed with a deep appreciation for irony and a flask full of irreverence, we venture forth one step behind them, risking life and wallet, keen to explore too-long neglected realms. We’re willing to bet you’ve missed them, too, and invite you to come join in our literary adventure.

Chris Newman has lost several fortunes on entrepreneurial ventures like this one,

yet persists in beating his head against any similarly unforgiving wall that

happens to be handy. A former Graduate Editor of Fiction International, he

studied Form in the Novel with David Lodge at Birmingham University in England,

holds a degree in Literature from the University of California at Santa Cruz, and

an MFA in Creative Writing from San Diego State University. New to the actual publishing end of things himself, he has sold over two million novels of his own, published by various major houses. This has somehow managed to convince him that he might know what he’s doing here. Silly man.

Pete O’Brien is an old white guy who resides somewhere in the state of California, where

the mostly sunny weather helps bolster his mostly sunny disposition. In recent years it has been

explained to him that he is no longer allowed to employ an entire litany of once oft-used words

or to “appropriate” characters of any gender experience outside his own. This sometimes seems

unreasonable and even unjust to him and so his writing often soldiers into those forbidden

realms, forever in pursuit of truth and an authenticity of voice.

Christopher Newman was born in San Francisco, California and raised in the Santa Clara Valley before its thousands of acres of apricots, cherries and prunes were turned to Silicon and wrote the first draft of his third published novel, Manana Man, while in residence in Cali, Colombia his senior year in college. His first Joe Dante novel, Midtown South, was published by the Random House Fawcett Gold Medal imprint in 1985. When that title met with considerable commercial success, his publisher convinced him to turn his protagonist into a series character. Eight more Joe Dante novels followed, several making various national best seller lists. Midtown North, published in 1991, was nominated for an Edgar Allan Poe Award by the Mystery Writers of America. Chains of Command, left unfinished at the time of best-selling author William Caunitz's death in 1998, was completed by Mr. Newman at the estate's request. It was named a 1999 New York Times Notable Book of the Year.

In addition to his suspense thriller work, Mr. Newman also writes contemporary slice-of-life novels with an emphasis on social justice under the pen name Pete O'Brien. The fourth of those titles, BARSTOW BOY: a love story, was published by Impolitic Press in 2024. MARION: The Marion Miley Story 1914-1941, an exhaustive biography of the Depression Era women’s gold champion, was also published by his Impolitic Press imprint, in 2025. He Holds a BA in Literature from the University of California at Santa Cruz and a MFA in Creative Writing from San Diego State. He resides in Lexington, KY.