Category: Local writer/artist

  • Dead Advice

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    Do you hope to someday send a message to your loved ones from BEEEEEEYOOOOOOND THE GRAAAAAAAVE? Do you wish that day could be today without the hassle of dying?  Well, here’s a neat little project by Chicagoan Felix Jung we thought our death-obsessed friends might be interested in:

    DEAD ADVICE, a website that acts as a repository for ruminations on life by folks pretending to be dead.  Check it out, either as one hoping to consume faux-posthumous wisdom, or as one wishing to contribute your own ultimate hindsight.

    http://www.deadadvice.com

  • Author Kyle Smith Reads from His New Novel 85A

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    Kyle Smith will read from his Chicago-set coming-of-age novel out this summer from Bascom Hill Publishing Group. Set in late 1980s Chicago, 85A follows its half Johnny Rotten, half Holden Caulfield antihero, Seamus O’Grady, through a watershed day in his adolescent life. As a gay teen from a conservative Catholic home—in one of the most racist neighborhoods of a notoriously segregated city—Seamus begins to seek his niche in 1980s Chicago’s multicultural punk and bohemian circles.

    Originally from Chicago, Smith infuses 85A with the rich detail of his own experiences with the Chicago punk scene as his protagonist struggles with universal themes of identity, rebellion and belonging. Today, Smith lives in Brooklyn, New York and regularly contributes to Edge, The Brooklyn Rail, and WhiteHot Magazine.

    “Like Holden [Caulfield], Seamus serves as an important reminder of the universal urge to self-define in a world hostile to anyone who dares to be different.” – Edge on the Net

    “[Seamus’] treatment at the hands of his family and his teachers is heart-wrenching.” – Booklist

    For more information, visit: http://85anovel.com/events.htm

  • Aaron Renier Signs THE UNSINKABLE WALKER BEAN

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    Adventure on the high seas!  A cursed skull!  Fearsome pirates!  Wicked sea-witches!  And almost certain peril!    Boy inventor Walker Bean and his scruffy new friends must summon their courage to face the direst scourges of the sea in this all-new graphic novel by Aaron Renier.  For this signing, Quimby’s presents a unique event with Aaron, with a signing followed by piratical interactive drawing activities.

    “So beautiful are the drawings that I can smell the sea salt and feel the spray as giant creatures of the deep draw near the ocean’s surface.  Outrageous and wonderful!” – Jeff Smith, creator of Bone

    “Aaron’s work makes me feel ten years old again.  He makes me want to whip up a root beer float, climb into a pirate-ship-playhouse, slap on a record of sea chanteys and read Walker Bean over and over.  The guys’a bit of a mad genius.” – Lane Smith, illustrator of The Stinky Cheese Man

    “The Unsinkable Walker Bean is gorgeous.  Jump feet first into this rip-roaring, wild-eyed, high-sea adventure story.  Join up with a young, pudgy, bespectacled hero, a brave powder monkey, a terrifying girl with the best red pigtails since Pippi Longstocking, and two seriously revolting sea witches.  Be prepared.  You’re going to love it.”  — Brian Selznick, creator of The Invention of Hugo Cabret

    For more info: http://aaronrenier.com/

  • Eugene Nelson Jr. Reads From Covert Operations: Alpha

    Covert Operations: AlphaWhen asked about his influences, Eugene Nelson Jr. points to three enduring sources: growing up on the Southside of Chicago in the 1970s and 80s, playing Role Playing Games with people all over Chicago, and loving my family everyday. Not a likely combination for a writer, but one that has brought forth Covert Operations: Alpha (AuthorHouse Publishing), a debut book that is filled with action, love, friendship, death, mystery, humor, magic, betrayal, technology and vengeance. All set here in the back drop of Chicago. Fast paced and intriguing, Covert Operations: Alpha’s science fiction marks the difficulties of everyday life in a world that has evolved into a powerful society filled with powerful beings. This book will wake up every brain cell you have in an effort to understand each character and their actions. Just when you think you understand something, everything will change and so will your understanding. This is the thinking man’s book and you will enjoy every moment of it. So check your equipment at the door and get ready for the time of your life as you are introduced to the world of Covert.

    Bad attitudes meet sophisticated intelligence, and underground crime meets big business in this involving debut book. Eugene Nelson Jr.’s complicated characters and rude cut offs in Covert Operations: Alpha evoke a self-absorbed population. Eugene Nelson Jr., who still lives in Chicago, works from home now and spends most of his time creating new and exciting tales from his role playing game by the same name of Covert Operations.

    For more info: http://covertoperationsalpha.com/