Category: Store Events

Madison Clell author of CuckooFriday April 28th8:00PM Free
 
Former multiple personality disordered Madison Clell will be answering questions and reading from her acclaimed graphic novel CUCKOO. A compilation of 13 comics issues under the same name, its readers include author/lawyer Andrew Vachss, who called CUCKOO
 
” ..a gleaming scalpel, expertly wielded against the tumor of evil. This is a stunning achievement, both artistically and personally, graphically illustrating the cosmic distance between ‘survivor’ and ‘transcender.’ ”
 
Dr. Patch Adams, who subscribed to the entire comics series said, ” ..I would make CUCKOO required reading. “, and then he penned the novel’s intro.
 
Madison is one of the featured artists for Chicago’s Cultural Center show, HUMANS BEING, and a participant in Bodies of Work; The Chicago Festival of Disability Arts & Culture this April 20-30.

McSweeney’s presentsYannick Murphy reading fromHere They ComeMonday, April 10th, 7:00 PMFREE
 
Splitting time between a garbage-strewn apartment and an overly affectionate hot dog vendor, the observant thirteen-year-old who stands steadily at the center of Here They Come gives lyrical voice to an unforgettable instant?1970s New York, stifling, violent, and full of life. Balanced between her enigmatic siblings, borderline parents, and a quiet sense of the surreal, she recounts a year of vivid, mundane moments with dark humor and deadpan resilience. By Yannick Murphy, author of the New York Times Notable Book Sea of Trees .
 
?This is a hell of a book. You might not be able to finish Here They Come in one sitting, but it will haunt you till you do. What detail! What characters! I can imagine both Jane Austen and Raymond Carver pouring over this masterly novel.?
 
?Frank McCourt, author of Angela?s Ashes
 
?Yannick Murphy is a uniquely talented writer who manages to turn everything on its head and make dark, funny, shocking and beautiful prose out of the detritus of growing up poor, fatherless, and cockeyed. She is fearless.?
 
?Lily Tuck, winner of the 2004 National Book Award
 
?Yannick Murphy?s long-awaited Here They Come is a unique combination of rare linguistic lyricism with brutal and brilliant prose. It is an unrelenting portrait of family, terrifying for its honesty, its willingness to be ugly and elegant. Haunting.?
 
?A.M. Homes, author of The Safety of Objects and The End of Alice

Ken Foster, Elizabeth Crane and Furry FriendsMonday April 24th7:00PMFree
 
This is a reading and benefit for Furry Friends Foundation, a Chicago area no-kill shelter. Featuring: Ken Foster is the author of The Dogs Who Found Me and The Kind I’m Likely to Get; he is also editor of Dog Culture and the KGB Bar Reader. Elizabeth Crane is the author of Oh The Glory of it All and When the Messenger is Hot. Plus other friends, including Furry Friends Foundation.
 
Praise for The Dogs Who Found Me:
“Generosity and gratitude power this compelling account of the reciprocal nature of rescue. Ken Foster illuminates a profound lesson about saving a life: Doing it makes you able to do it.”
?Amy Hempel, author of The Dog of the Marriage and Reasons to Live
 
“I read this at once, and could hardly bear to put it down. This is a wonderful, strange book, beautiful and funny and moving. It’s about the necessity of dogs, and about the necessity of the heart. It’s for people who love dogs, and for people who don’t yet know how to. It delivers something crucial about bravery, the human spirit, and the place that dogs occupy in our landscapes. It’s about confronting need, vulnerability and love, and responding.”–Roxana Robinson
 
“Ken Foster writes about the human/canine bond with wisdom, insight, and great heart. This is a fascinating and useful book, full of great stories and practical knowledge every dog lover needs. Ken’s dogs are lucky to have found him, and so are his readers.”
–Sean Wilsey, author of Oh The Glory of it All
 
Websites:
www.ken-foster.com
www.furryfriendsfoundation.com
 

Jessica Abel signs booksSaturday, April 8th, 7:00 PMFREE
 
La Perdida is the story of Carla, an American estranged from her Mexican father, who heads to Mexico City to ?find herself.? Her intense desire to make a connection with Mexico and her unwillingness to see the impact of her own history on her understanding combine to turn an innocent journey down a dark path. A story about the youthful desire to live an authentic life and the consequences of trusting easy answers, La Perdida?at once grounded in the particulars of life in Mexico and resonantly universal?is a story about finding yourself by getting lost.
La Perdida originally appeared in serialized form from 2001-2005, published by Fantagraphics Books.
 
Jessica Abel is a cartoonist and writer. Born and raised in Chicagoland, she moved in 2000 to Brooklyn, New York, after a two-year pit stop in Mexico City. In her ?free? time, she likes to build things, garden, and cook, and hopes that doesn?t make her sound like the biggest dork ever. Along with La Perdida she is also responsible for the popular comic Artbabe.

Radio Plays Release EventSaturday, April 1st7:00 PMFREE
 
C T Ballentine proudly presents the first issue of RADIO PLAYS!
 
RADIO PLAYS is not a traditional zine; it is actually an audio periodical in CD format containing exclusive performances of two radio dramas. One play is an excerpt from a forthcoming novel by Todd Dills entitled, Sons of the Rapture, which tells the tale of a desperately indebted young man\’s Ryder truck journey to freedom. The other play is a surrealistic little jaunt written by CT Ballentine called, The Cowboy and His Blazing Trumpets. The audio tale of the mysterious and dangerous Sam, who is out for the doctor\’s blood with nothing standing between them but a robotic secretary of indeterminate gender.
 
For this event both radio plays will be presented and there will also be readings from:
Todd Dills (the2ndhand)
A.B. Drea (Banana King)
Jeb Gleason-Allured

Artist Winston Smith LIVEFriday, March 24th, 6:30 PMFREE
 
Winston Smith, is a collage artist best known for his surrealistic and satirical montage book cover and album cover art since the late 1970s Punk Era (Dead Kennedys, DOA, etc.) up through the present with Green Day, George Carlin, Greg Palast, among others. He will be in the store to sign copies of his monographs and possibly some album covers if you bring them.
 
More information including interviews and examples of his artwork is available on the web site: www.winstonsmith.com

The real Brian Costello, Enchanters vs. Sprawlburg Springs release party.Saturday, March 11th, 7:00 PMFREE
 
Celebrate the release of Brian Costello?s first novel Enchanters vs. Sprawlburg Springs with an evening of readings featuring:
 
Brian Costello teaches fiction writing at Columbia College Chicago, drums for the Functional Blackouts and hosts The Brian Costello Show with Brian Costello, America’s first and only live talk show. The Enchanters is his first novel.
 
Megan Stielstra is a writer, teacher and waitress living in Chicago. She edits Sleepwalk magazine and was artist-in-residence for Barefoot Productions where she created collaborative storytelling with musicians and filmmakers. She’s performed for Storyweek, Undershorts Film Festival, Piece by Piece and 2nd Story.
 
Gary Johnson is an accomplished writer, teacher and activist. He currently teaches at Columbia College Chicago.
 
All three will read from original work and Brian will sign copies of his new book, they’ll serve some sort of tasty beverage, and for the faithful, they might even dish out some cough syrup.

Sex Machines slide show and lecture with author Timothy ArchibaldFriday, March 31st, 7:00 PMFREE
 
Sex Machines: Photographs and Interviews unveils an astonishing American subculture and the homespun inventors and users who propel it. Meet a laid-off tech industry exec who transforms a thrift store pasta maker into a high-powered sexual appliance and a new career, an apocalyptic visionary who builds a sex machine prototype for female survivors of a future without men, and an Idaho cowboy who intends to use his device as a form of Christian-based marriage counseling. Sex Machines celebrates the spirit of American ingenuity and bold approaches to an ever-changing sexual landscape.
 
Author and photographer Timothy Archibald?s photographs have appeared in New York Times Magazine, Newsweek, GQ, The New Yorker, and Outside Magazine. His photographs are included in the permanent collection of The Catskill Center for Photography in Woodstock, N.Y. and The Museum of Sex in New York City. Archibald lives in San Francisco with his wife, Cheri, and two sons, Elijah and Wilson. Sex Machines: Photographs and Interviews is his first book.
 
For this event Timothy Archibald will presents slides from the book and discuss his experiences making it.

Stories Care Forgot eventTuesday, March 28th, 8:00 PMFREE
 
STORIES CARE FORGOT is an anthology of zines from and about New Orleans. For years the Crescent City’s thriving punk and zine community has produced beautifully rendered volumes of writing and artwork. Authors have poured their hearts out, sharing their thoughts and opinions on music, politics, bikes, gentrification, gender, class and, of course, the city itself. These tales come complete with the beauty, sadness, strangeness and eccentricity that has drawn people to New Orleans for so long. Featured are selections from over a dozen zines including Chainbreaker, Nosedive, Crude Noise, Rocket Queen, Emergency, I Hate This Part of Texas and Chihuahua and pitbull. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, many of the originals of these zines have been lost or destroyed. This book serves not only as a presevation, but also, by donating author proceeds towards grassroots organizations, as a step towards rebuilding the city that inspired and shaped this body of work.
 
On hand for the event will be Ethan Clark Editor of Stories Care Forgot, & Chihuahua and Pitbull zine. He is also a sometimes contributor to Maximum Rock and Roll and the Asheville Global Report.
 

Oyez Review #33 readingSaturday, March 4th, 7:00 PMFREE
 
This is a reading/launch party for Oyez Review Volume 33. Oyez Review is an award-winning literary magazine published annually by Roosevelt University’s Creative Writing Program. It features poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction, and a portfolio of artwork.
 
The featured reader for the evening will be Elizabeth Aiossa author of the creative nonfiction piece Swell. She teaches English at the College of Lake County in Grayslake, Illinois and is also an associate editor of Willow Review. She recently received her MFA in Creative Writing from Roosevelt University, specializing in creative nonfiction.
 
The reading will also feature other authors reading their selections from the new issue of the Oyez Review.
 
more info at www.roosevelt.edu/oyezreview.