Blog

  • Full-Time Hiring at Quimby's

    On rare occasions we need to bring someone on to the Quimby’s team, and we are looking for a full-time employee. This job requires someone with a lot of dedication to small press and the mission of the store, as well as knowledge of the products we sell. It’s not the type of job where you’ll get rich and it does have irregular hours, but it is satisfying. Applicants ideally have experience with things such as: customer service/retail, Mac-based computer fluency and independent publishing. We ask that applicants understand that enthusiasm is not enough for this job; it is a serious, detail-oriented job for the right person that would fit in with the employees already here. If you feel you qualify, please e-mail a resume and cover letter to info(at)quimbys(dot)com.

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  • Elisha Lim, MariNaomi & Mike Dawson read from their Graphic Novels to kick off the Chicago Alternative Comics Expo at Quimby’s 5/30

    The Chicago Alternative Comics Expo will kick off its third year’s festivities with a reading at Quimby’s Bookstore with three of its many exciting exhibitors. Join us the Friday before the festival to welcome comics makers, MariNaomi, Elisha Lim and Mike Dawson as they read excerpts from their new graphic novels.

    100-Crushes_560px   tumblr_n0mw6wCrbJ1soutgdo1_1280   dragonsbreath

    MariNaomi will read from her book, Dragon’s Breath and Other True Stories (2DCloud). In this collection of thought-provoking, emotionally honest graphic vignettes, MariNaomi explores a wide spectrum of topics including youthful rebellion, mortality, disillusionment and compassion.

    Mike Dawson will read from his book Angie Bongiolatti (Secret Acres). Set in the same universe as Troop 142, Dawson’s much acclaimed tale of Boy Scouts gone wild, Angie Bongiolatti puts away childish things and moves into the city.

    Elisha Lim will read from their book 100 Crushes (Koyama Press), which compiles five years of queer comics. It is an absorbing documentary that travels through Toronto, Berlin, Singapore, and beyond in the form of interviews, memoirs, and gossip from an international queer vanguard.

    Entertainment Weekly called Mike Dawson’s debut graphic novel, Freddie & Me: A Coming-of-Age (Bohemian) Rhapsody, “undeniably contagious”, while the UK Daily Telegraph said it was “Charming, sincere and, above all, expressively drawn”. Troop 142, his second graphic novel, was nominated for multiple Ignatz Awards, including Outstanding Graphic Novel, and was the winner in the Online Comic category. Dawson is also the co-host of The Ink Panthers Show!, a comics-themed “lifestyle” podcast. http://mikedawwwson.tumblr.com

    Toronto-based artist Elisha Lim’s work celebrates the dignity and power of being neither straight, nor white, nor cis-gendered. In 2011 they also successfully advocated for Canadian gay media to adopt the gender neutral pronoun “they.” http://elishalim.com

    MariNaomi is the author and illustrator of the award-winning graphic memoir Kiss & Tell: A Romantic Resume, Ages 0 to 22 (Harper Perennial, 2011), the upcoming books Dragon’s Breath and Other True Stories and Turning Japanese (2D Cloud), and her self-published zine, Estrus Comics (1998 to 2009). Her work has appeared in numerous anthologies, including I Saw You: Comics Inspired by Real Life Missed Connections, Cheers to Muses: Contemporary Works by Asian American Women, No Straight Lines, Anything That Loves, QU33R and Action Girl Comics.Her comics and essays have been featured on The Rumpus, The Weeklings, Truth-out, SFBay.CA, The Comics Journal, The Bay Citizen, XOJane and more. http://marinaomi.com

    Cake14-banner_final

    The Chicago Alternative Comics Expo [CAKE] is a weekend-long celebration of independent comics, inspired by Chicago’s rich legacy as home to many of underground and alternative comics’ most talented artists– past, present and future. Featuring comics for sale, workshops, exhibitions, panel discussions and more, CAKE is dedicated to fostering community and dialogue amongst independent artists, small presses, publishers and readers. This year’s CAKE is May 31 & June 1st at the Center on Halsted (3656 N Halsted), and is free and open to the public. http://cakechicago.com

    Visit http://cakechicago.com or e-mail cakexpo [at] gmail.com for more information.

    Fri, May 30, 7pm – Free Event
    Quimby’s Bookstore Chicago, IL quimbys.com

  • Edie Fake presents Memory Palaces at Quimby’s 5/17

    Memory-Palaces

    Edie Fake’s first art book, Memory Palaces, has just arrived from Secret Acres in bold, oversize color. Cataloging Fake’s suite of meticulous drawings that re-imagine the queer landscape of Chicago, Memory Palaces blends striking visuals and ecstatic architecture with excavated history and unlocked potential.

    To celebrate the launch of this new publication, Fake is delighted to host a book release party at Quimby’s. Attendees can count on snacks, drinks and souvenir ephemera as well as a sweet and squirrely lecture on the triumph and folly of architectural repurposing. It will be a night of funny photographs, strange ideas and lovely new books, not to be missed!

    Edie Fake is an artist and zinemaker from Chicago. He works as a minicomics sommelier for Quimby’s Books and was one of the founding organizers of the Chicago Alternative Comics Expo (CAKE). His comic, Gaylord Phoenix, won the 2011 Ignatz Award for Outstanding Graphic Novel and he was one of the first recipients of Printed Matter’s Awards for Artists. The work in Memory Palaces was originally presented at Fake’s first solo exhibition at Thomas Robertello Gallery in 2013. He is currently working on a series of comics collages and collecting photos of anthropomorphic characters.

    For more info and images: ediefake.tumblr.com
    Or contact: ediefake(at)gmail(dot)com

  • New Stuff This Week

     

    georgi zinesZines by Georgi, made in  Australia! Line drawings, thoughts, shenanigans…
    Zine a Day Flat Pack, Jan 14 Edition $13.00 – Contains 31 unfolded zines with instructions!
    2014 Is Bananas $1.00
    Dog: A Zine About Cats $1.00

    Zines
    The Barf Zine and So Much More $5.00
    Conversations With Hoboes by Dan Gleason and Luke Smarto $3.00
    Remedy Quarterly #14 Grow $12.00
    QFK Graffiti Zine #1 $5.00
    Animalia #1 by Jim Gies $2.00
    Clocktower Nine #5 by Danny Noonan $2.00
    Jungle by CH $15.00
    Zine That Doesnt Have a Name Yet $1.00
    Grooves N Jams #1 by DV and friends $3.00

    Comics & Comix
    Lower East Side Story #4 by Pete Fredrich $4.75
    Bandthology #3 Another Music Anthology $5.00
    Caperbet by Jon Westhoff and Harry Moyer $5.00
    Third Sight by Kelsey Choo $15.00
    Word and Voice #11 by Aaron Cockle (Oily Comics) $1.00
    Lizard Laughed by Noah Van Sciver (Oily Comics) $5.00
    Luv Sucker #1 by Chuck Forsman (Oily Comcis) $5.00
    Ox and Co by Jeff Lok  (Oily Comcis) $1.00
    Lou Special by Melissa Mendes (Oily Comcis) $1.00
    Cut Away #2 Part Two of Tree Swallows by Dan Settwoch (Oily Comics) $1.00
    Crash Trash Golden Age of the Trash Boys by Olive Booger (Oily Comics) $1.00
    Murder Dollhouse #2 Eighteen Levels of Hell, A Guide Into Chastening Realms of the Afterlife, Interpreted from the Diyu Map of Hell by Teppei Ando $6.00
    Wallflower by Kels Choo $4.00
    How to Survive Working Nine to Five, A Companion For Sellouts Spineless and the Soul Crushed Soldiers of the Laboring Community by Teppei Ando $3.50

    Graphic Novels & Trade Paperbacks
    Unlovable vol 3 by Esther Pearl Watson (Fatagraphics) $29.99
    Body Beneath – Collecting Issues of the Comic Book Series Lose (Koyama Press)
    $15.00 – Collects issues #2-#5.
    Fugue Omnibus by Beth Hetland $12.00 – Collects Fugue issues 1 through 3.
    Cat Person by Seo Kim (Koyama Press) $20.00
    The Love Bunglers by Jaime Hernandez (Fantagraphics) $19.99
    Buddy Buys a Dump – The Complete Buddy Bradley Stories From Hate Comics vol 3 by Peter Bagge (Fantagraphics) $19.99
    Someplace Strange by Ann Nocenti & John Bolton $19.99
    Books of Magic New Edition by Alan Moore et al. (Vertigo) $16.99

    Art & Design
    The Artist’s Library: A Field Guide by Laura Damon-Moore and Erinn Batykeffer (Coffee House Press) $23.95

    Fiction
    Anatomy of a Girl Gang by Ashley Little (Arsenal Pulp) $16.95
    New Black – A Neo-Noir Anthology by Richard Thomas $15.95
    Secret of Evil by Roberto Bolano $14.95 – What was left on his computer when he passed away.
    Randy Scuffle Papers by RH Piechowski $12.00

    Politics & Revolution
    The End of the World as We Know It: Crisis, Resistance, and the Age of Austerity by Deric Shannon (AK Press) $22.95
    Badass Teachers Unite: Reflections on Education History and Youth Activism by Mark Naison (Haymarket) $16.95

    True Crime
    Black Gangsters of Chicago by Ron Chepesiuk $16.95 – From the Barricade Books True Crime series.

    Magazines
    Bizarre #213 Apr 14 $10.50
    Frankie #58 $14.95
    Interzone #251 Mar Apr 14 $9.99
    Alarmist Magazine #4 Spr Sum 14 $14.99
    I Love You Magazine #10 $15.00
    Smith Journal #10 $17.99
    Clash #93 $8.99
    Black Velvet #80 $9.00
    Wire Apr 14 #362 $11.25
    Uncut Oasis Ultimate Music Guide $14.99

    Lit Journals
    Exact Change Only (various issues) $10.00 each

    Books For and Sometimes By Kids
    Children Are Naughty by Vincent Cuvellier and Guillerey Aurelie (Nobrow/Flying Eye) $17.95
    They Accidentally Fell Into a Black Hole: Accident Stories and Observations of 826CHI /Se Cayeron En Un Agujero Negro: Cuentos Y Observaciones Escritos Por Los Alumnos de 826CHI by the students of 826CHI students $5.00 – Bilingual.

  • New Stuff This Week

    pitchforkreview2

    The Pitchfork Review #2 Apr 14 $19.96 – Unprintable Since 1996.

    Zines & Zine-Related Books
    Dig Deep #6 by Heather $1.00
    It’s Alright: A Truckface Anthology vol 1 by LB Briggs (Mend My Dress Press) $19.00
    It’s Alright: A Truckface Anthology vol 2 by LB Briggs (Mend My Dress Press) $23.00
    Eat My Shorts by Emily Schulert $5.00
    Straight Talk by H Melt $3.00
    Knowsgay #3 Portraits by Paul Moreno and Charlie Welch $20.00
    Whoops by Michael Conway $10.00
    Smells Fingers vol 1 #4 Tubes by Alicia Rose $2.00
    Gorgeous Attitude Ramblings Win 14 by Kisston $1.00
    Always and Forever: A Zine About Friendship by Heather and friends $2.00
    EG Sausage Delivery Man by Matt Davis $4.00
    KerBloom #107 Mar Apr 14 by ArtNoose $2.00

    Comics & Comix
    Tenderness #1  by Matt Crabe $8.00
    Cankor #1 by Matthew Allison et al. $5.00
    various issue of Tales of the Night Watchman by Dave Kelly and friends.
    Invisible Wounds by Jess Ruliffson (So What Press) $4.00
    Empty Grave Part 1 Daddys Little Girl by Warwick Johnson & Dan Hale $5.00
    Taddle Creek Comics Supplement #32 by Ethan Riley and Joe Ollman $2.00
    Teenage Mutant Celebrity Impersonator Rats #1 by Justin Becker $1.00
    Guy Gardeners – Sequential Artists Workshop (SAW)by Jon Drawdoer $5.00
    Macrogroan #4 by Slautman $8.00

    Graphic Novels & Trade Paperbacks
    Over Easy by Mimi Pond (D&Q) $24.95
    Jim Curious: A Voyage to the Heart of the Sea by Matthias Picard $19.95 – 3D vision!
    Bintel Brief Love and Longing in Old New York by Liana Finck $17.99
    Operation Margarine TPB by Katie Skelly (Adhouse) $12.95
    Daytripper Deluxe by Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba (Vertigo) $34.99
    Dr. Grordbort Presents Triumph, Unnecessarily Violent Tales of Science Adventure for the Simple and Unfortunate by Greg Broadmore $19.99
    Goon vol 11 The Deformed of Body and the Devious of Mind by Eric Powell $16.99
    Rachel Rising vol 4 Winter Graves by Terry Moore $16.99
    On The Grind vol 1 The Worst Day Ever by Geroge Gant $10.00
    On The Grind vol 2 Electric Brewgaloo by Geroge Gant $20.00
    Public Therapy Buses, Information Specialty Bums, Solar Cook-A-Mats and Other Visions of the 21st Century, Unabidged 2nd Edition by Steven M. Johnson $19.00

    Art & Design Books
    Extinct Entities Publication $10.00 – The publication created following the Extinct Entities festival at Links Hall documents and gives theoretical treatment to the works presented and tells a collective history of Chicago’s alternative spaces and collectives, while making their generative presence visible in the present. Designed by artist Melisa Morgan, the book features essays by Jason Foumberg, Steve Ruiz, Thea Liberty Nichols, and Caroline Picard.

    Mayhem
    Weird Chicago: Strange Legends and Mysterious Hauntings by Troy Taylor, Adam Selzer and Ken Melvoin-Berg (Whitechapel) $19.95
    The Templar Treasure: An Investigation by Tobias Daniel Wabbel (Trine Day) $19.95 – The mystery of the legendary treasure of the Knights Templar.
    Cabinet of Curiosities A History of the Supernatural In 20 Objects by Troy Taylor (Whitechapel Press) $18.00
    Cabinet of Curiosities II Americas Unexplained In 20 Objects by Troy Taylor (Whitechapel Press) $20.00
    Natural Torture, Then Execution Before Your Eyes, The Brutal Story Told In Photographs by Ted Sweeney and Omar Gonzalez $20.00
    A Pale Horse Was Death: More American Horrors by Troy Taylor & Rene Kruse (Whitechapel Press) $20.00
    The Ghost Hunters Guidebook: The Common Sense Guide to Paranormal Research, Unlock the mystery Search For Spirits Contact the Dead by Troy Taylor (Whitechapel) $17.00

    Essays
    I Can Barely Take Care of Myself by Jen Kirkman $15.00
    Workers Write: More Tales From the Cubicle ed. by David LaBounty (Blue Cubicle Press) $10.00

    Food
    Forest Feast: Simple Vegetarian Recipes From My Cabin in the Woods by Erin Gleeson $35.00

    Music Books
    Mad World: An Oral History of New Wave – Artists and Songs That Defined the 1980s by Lori Majewski et al. $19.95
    There Goes Gravity: A Life In Rock and Roll by Lisa Robinson $27.95
    Sex, Drugs, Ratt and Roll My Life In Rock by Stephen Pearcy $16.00

    Fiction
    Good Inn by Blanck Francis et al. $23.99
    Look Who’s Morphing by Tom Cho (Arsenal Pulp) $16.95
    Old Neightborhood by Nill Hillmann (Curbside Splendor) $15.95
    You Are The Friction (Sing Statistics) $20.00 – Anthology of collaborative short fiction and illustration.
    Reverence Library vol 1 Galleons Nikola Tesla Trans Siberian Railway  (Sing Statistics) $10.00

    Kids Books
    Big Meals For Little Hands by Virginie Aladjidi et al. (Nobrow/Flying Eye) $17.95

    Magazines
    Juxtapoz #160 May 14 $5.99
    Hand #4 Apr 14 $10.00
    Bizarre #212 May 14 $10.50
    American Atheist 2nd Quarter 14 $4.95
    Eye Magazine #87 vol 22 $30.00
    Flow #1 Book For Paper Lovers $24.99
    Muff #2 $14.50
    Good Game #1 $10.00
    Lodown #90 $16.99
    Raw Vision #81 $14.00
    IDN Extra 09 Red Thread $29.90
    Colors #89 $16.95
    Girls Like Us vol 2 #5 $12.00
    IdN vol 20 #6 $19.95
    Another Man #18 Spr Sum $14.99
    High Times Jun 14 $5.99
    Gothic and Lolita Bible #49 Fall 13 $35.00
    Filter Good Music Guide Apr May Jun 14 $2.99
    Maximumrocknroll #372 May 14 $4.00
    Wax Poetics #58 $11.99
    AdBusters May Jun 14 $12.95
    Harpers Magazine May 14 $6.99
    Tattoo Energy #88 $9.99

    Poetry & Lit Journals
    McSweeneys #46 Thirteen Crime Stories From Latin America $26.00
    Midwestern Gothic #13 $12.00
    N Plus 1 #19 Spr 14 $13.95
    Normal School vol 7 #1 $5.00
    Granta #127 Spr 14 Japan $16.99
    O Human Microphone by Scott McFarland $13.00

    Sex & Sexy
    BelleSf #1 $10.00
    In My Bed Magazine vol 4 #4 $9.95

  • Trubble Club Draws Your True Inner Self for Free Comic Book Day 5/3

    trubble-club-header

    Join the Chicago Alternative Comics Expo [CAKE] at Quimby’s Bookstore [1854 W North Ave] on Saturday May 3rd 7pm to celebrate Free Comic Book Day with Chicago’s Trubble Club!

    This year, the Trubble Club has modified the Quimby’s photo booth to capture your true essence. Come hang out with some of Chicago’s best comics artists as they collaboratively reveal your inner self by interpreting psychic signals from their magical photobooth. Snacks and refreshments will be provided by CAKE, and free comic books will be available for pick up (while supplies last).

    glory

    Trubble Club started as a group of Chicago-based cartoonist making jam comics. While we still do that, and love doing that, we’ve been branching out. The Infinite Corpse is a never-ending webcomic spearheaded by Trubble Club, that includes panels by both totally unknown artists, and institutions, like Art Speigelman and Kim Deitch. We have also recently done commissioned installations for the Museum of Contemporary Art, The DePaul Art Museum, and the John Michael Kohler Art Center.

    The Chicago Alternative Comics Expo [CAKE] is a weekend-long celebration of independent comics, inspired by Chicago’s rich legacy as home to many of underground and alternative comics’ most talented artists– past, present and future. Featuring comics for sale, workshops, exhibitions, panel discussions and more, CAKE is dedicated to fostering community and dialogue amongst independent artists, small presses, publishers and readers. This year’s CAKE is May 31 & June 1st at the Center on Halsted (3656 N Halsted), and is free and open to the public.

    Visit http://cakechicago.com or e-mail cakexpo@gmail.com for more information.

    Sat, May 3, 7pm – Free Event
    Quimby’s Bookstore Chicago, IL quimbys.com

  • Yuriy Tarnawsky Reads from The Placebo Effect Trilogy with Eckhard Gerdes 5/16

    tarnawskyIn Ukrainian-American novelist Yuriy Tarnawsky’s new trilogy The Placebo Effect (JEF Books), the themes of alienation, abandonment, and fear of death, developed in Like Blood in Water and elaborated in The Future of Giraffes, respectively the first and second book of The Placebo Effect Trilogy, are picked up in the third book, View of Delft, and are given a new treatment.

    Yuriy Tarnawsky has authored more than two dozen books of poetry, fiction, drama, essays, and translations.  He is one of the founding members of the New York Group, a Ukrainian émigré avant-garde group of writers, and cofounder and co-editor of the journal Novi Poeziyi (New Poetry; 1959–1972). He writes fiction, poetry, plays, translations, and criticism in both Ukrainian and English. His works have been translated into French, German, Hebrew, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, and Russian. An engineer and linguist by training, he has worked as a computer scientist at IBM Corporation and professor of Ukrainian literature and culture at Columbia University. He writes in Ukrainian and English and resides in the New York City area. His other English-language books include the books of fiction Meningitis, Three Blondes and Death, Like Blood in Water (all FC2), and Short Tails (JEF Books), as well as the play Not Medea (JEF).

    Tarnawsky takes risks most writers wouldn’t dream of.  Just when you think you’re on familiar ground, the earth begins to shake.  His writing rocks! —Derek Pell

    Novelist and poet Eckhard Gerdes will also be  reading from some of his recent work.

    Fri, May 16th, 7 pm – Free Event

    For more info: egerdes(at)experimentalfiction(dot)com

    To find this event on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/262105330638172/

  • Off-Site: Prom 9 From Outer Space: an intergalactic fundraiser to benefit 826CHI

    Prom 9 Logo

    Quimby’s is proud to co-sponsor Prom 9 From Outer Space: an intergalactic fundraiser to benefit 826CHI
    What: Open bar, DJ, silent auction, raffle, DANCING
    When: Saturday, April 26, 8pm-midnight
    Where: St. Vincent de Paul Center at 2145 N Halsted St (NOT at Quimby’s)
    Tickets: www.826chi.org/prom9

    Attendees will forgo ill-fitting rental tuxes and bustling taffeta for all manner of tin-foiled, corsetted, ray-gunned getups sure to impress the creature on their arm. Come dressed in your intergalactic best (or second-hand formal wear) for a night of cosplay, silent auctioning, raffling, (free) drinking, and DANCING…for the children.
    All proceeds from Prom 9 benefit 826CHI’s creative writing programs, which are offered tuition-free to thousands of Chicago students each year.

  • New Stuff This Week

     

    tomine-boxNew York Postcards Box Set by Adrian Tomine (D+Q) $14.95 – 30 illustrations from the pages of the New Yorker and beyond.

    Zines & Zine-Related
    So As Not to Suicide – A Survival Manual $2.00 – Suffer from anxiety? This might help you.
    Bookstores and Baseball 6th Inning $6.00
    I’m Really Really Scared – On Social Anxiety by Sylvia $1.00
    You Must Always Have a Secret Plan (Little Tricycle Red Guide) $3.00 – Thoughtful and beuaitful one pager, folds out so you can hang it, if this were the holidays we’d say, “What a great stocking stuffer!”
    Last Night at the Casino #7 Apr 14 by Billy $3.00 – Former Chicago zinester in Vegas as a casino dealer.
    index A to Z: Art, Design, Fashion, Film, and Music in the Indie Era $45.00

    Comics & Comix
    Cosplayers #1 by Dash Shaw (Fantagraphics) $5.00
    Riled Up #2 Trick Or Treat by Pete Hassett and Labotka $10.00
    Life In Bodies of Water by Julia Von De Bur $4.00
    Ten Minicomics by Alex Nall $5.00

    Graphic Novels & Trade Paperbacks
    Climate Changed a Personal Journal Through the Science by Philippe Squarzoni $24.95
    100 Bullets Brother Lono by Brian Azzarello $16.99
    Flight by Dave McAwesome (The Vorspiel Ltd.) $5.00

    Art Books
    Kenzine $35.00 – A collaboration between Toilet Paper the photo magazine and Kenzo, the Parisian clothing store.
    Book of Trees: Visualizing Branches of Knowledge by Manuel Lima $29.95 – Enticingly arty look at semantically mapping out knowledge.
    Hello Kitty 40th Anniversary Arigato Everyone $65.00

    Fiction
    Panther In the Hive by Olvia A. Cole $15.00 – Apocalyptian adventure based in Chicago.

    Sex & Sexy
    FEDS presents Sweets vol 8 #23 $7.99

    Magazines
    2600 Hacker Quarterly vol 31 #1 $6.95
    Girls and Corpses #8 Spr 14 $8.95
    Craft Beer and Brewing #1 Spr 14 $9.99
    Little White Lies #52 $12.99
    Dwell May 14 $5.99
    Mojo #245 Apr 14 $9.99
    Monocle vol 8 #72 Apr 14 $12.00
    Dissent Spr 14 $10.00
    In These Times Apr 14 $3.50
    The Fifth Estate vol 49 #1 Spr Sum 14 $4.00
    Skin and Ink Jun 14 #151 $6.99

    Lit Journals & Chap Books
    Tweeds #1 $15.00
    DRK DUV by Ag Davis $6.00

    Kids Books
    Oddfellows Orphanage by Emily Winfield Martin $7.99