Blog

  • Hear Ye: Display Your Zine, Journal or Book at The Chicago Cultural Center

    ChicagoPublishes.com is the online home of the Chicago Office of Tourism & Culture’s publishing and literary programs.  It provides up-to-date articles on the state of the publishing industry both in Chicago and beyond, resources for publishers and writers, a comprehensive calendar of Chicago’s literary events, and information on our programs.

    DISPLAY YOUR BOOK, JOURNAL, OR ZINE AT THE CHICAGO CULTURAL CENTER. We have a collection box here at Quimby’s to make it easy for you.
    One of their main projects is the Chicago Publishers Gallery, a collection of over 2000 books and periodicals from over 125 Chicago-area publishers and hundreds of authors, housed in the Chicago Cultural Center.  We’re always looking for new books and periodicals to include, so if you’d like to be a part of the Gallery, please leave your publication in the drop-box at here (along with your contact info), or write to them at info@chicagopublishes.com.

  • Margaret Hicks Reads From Chicago Comedy: A Fairly Serious History 5/28

    Famous for being a city of broad shoulders, Chicago has also developed an international reputation for split sides and slapped knees. Watch the “Chicago Style of Comedy” evolve from nineteenth-century vaudeville, through the rebellious comics of the 50’s, and into the improvisation and sketch that ushered in a new millennium. Drawing on material both hilarious and profound, Chicago Comedy: A Fairly Serious History touches on what makes Chicago different from other cities and how that difference produced some of the greatest minds comedy will ever know: Amos and Andy, Jack Benny, Lenny Bruce, Del Close, John Belushi, Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert and so many, many more.

    Margaret Hicks is a professional tour guide in Chicago, who has been giving walking tours in the loop (like her tour of Old Town offered through the famous Second City Comedy Club) since she completed the Chicago Architecture Foundation’s docent program in 2004.  She maintains her own website at chicagoelevated.com and has had years of experience in the Chicago comedy scene working at improv theaters and stand-up clubs.

    Sat, May 28th, 7pm

  • Marie Kanger-Born Reads From Confessions Of A Chicago Punk Bystander 5/27

    Confessions Of A Chicago Punk Bystander is a gritty insight into the city, clubs and lifestyle of the early Chicago Punk scene of the late 1970s and ’80s. This narrative follows the author’s introduction to punk rock via the notorious Chicago night clubs– O’Banion’s and OZ. The hedonism of the lifestyle and her harrowing exploits stand in stunning contrast to her accidental role as the primary caregiver for her mother, who was disabled by Multiple Sclerosis.

    This poignant memoir traces the transformation of punk to hardcore, along with the author’s personal evolution as a photographer and zine producer. Story recounts the rise of the teenage hardcore scene over the bar based punk scene, to the later decline that began with the emergence of a skinhead jock era. Battles between the racist and anti-racist factions sealed the author’s belief that punk had lost it’s way. In disillusionment, she quit the scene in 1986, never to return until 2006. It was then that she found a web site which facilitated her discovery of a thriving underground scene in the Pilsen/La Villita neighborhoods. Today she is happy to declare that punk is not dead, and neither is she.

    Includes the author’s photographs of the 1980s and 2006 bands, the crowds, her BS Detector fanzine, and other memorabilia. A visual delight, this book truly paints a picture of the era.

    Marie Kanger-Born is a photographer and a participant of both the early and current Chicago punk music scenes. Her photos have appeared in various punk publications.

    For more info: chicagopunkpix.com

    Friday, May 27, 7:00 pm

  • Weekly Top 10

    One of us little mice went out of town last week. Did you miss us nibbling at you about the weekly top 10 or new stuff? Well, we’re back in full force! Will you be here this Thursday (April 7th) to see  J. Bradley read from The Serial Rapist Sitting Behind You is a Robot? Or perhaps you’ll be here this Saturday (April 7th) for Free Comic Book Day? See you then!

    1. Maximumrocknroll #336 May 11 $4.00
    2. Hi Fructose #19 $6.95
    3. The Pale King by David Foster Wallace (Little Brown) $27.99
    4. Do Not Disturb My Waking Dream #2 by Laura Park $3.00 – At SBX 2008, Ms Park received the “Outstanding Artist” Ignatz award… read this comic and find out why!
    5. If You Knew Then What I Know Now by Ryan Van Meter (Sarabande) $15.95
    6. So This Is What It’s Come To: A Comic Zine About the Trials and Tribulations of OK A by Liz Prince $3.00
    7.  Doris #28 by Cindy C. $2.00 – This issue of Doris talks about rural living, defining collective goals, miniature horses, the impact “Roots” had on conversations about racism in the predominantly white suburb she grew up in, as well as a personal account of her own awareness of racism. Cindy also spends some time here reflecting on her memories of Samantha Jane Dorsett and punk sobriety.
    8. Ugly Things #31 $8.95
    9. Mister Wonderful: A Love Story Daniel Clowes (Pantheon) $19.95 – Just down the block from Enid Coleslaw’s house, abrasive middle-aged losers are attempting to blind date each other. Mister Wonderful collects Clowes’ New York Times serial plus 40 pages of new material, driving the Wilson bus further down Pathetic Reality Road straight toward the glimmer of hope in our watery blue eyes…
    10. Proximity #8 Education As Art $12.00 – Writing the book on learning as art and the art of learning: Proximity #8 comes from all angles, focuses, builds, supports. Weighing in at 232 pages, this volume does an exceptional job with a wide variety of profiles, interviews and portfolios and essays, staying both solidly local and vitally connected, you’d be hard pressed to find a smarter art magazine.

  • New Stuff This Week

    Yeah yeah, New Stuff is getting posted a day earlier than usual. Now you can plan your weekend early, around what you’re going to come in and buy.

    One thing’s for sure, tomorrow night (Sat 4/23) Dr. Chris Smit, who wrote the book The Exile of Britney Spears: A Tale of 21st Century Consumption (Intellect/University of Chicago Press), will be here at 7pm. Just in time for Britney Spears’ new album, Dr. Smit’s book illustrates the American popular culture’s thirst for—and complicity in—celebrity disgrace. And oh yeah, how we consume culture and puke it out when we’re done. Click here for more info about this event.

    Among other new things we received this week are The Point #4, Spr 11. Click here or the image below to see the feature about Chris Ware’s Acme Novelty Library. Some of the other features include: • White Boys, Hip Hop, Jay Electronica • Steroids, Baseball, America • Porn as a Way of Life • Sarah Palin’s Alaska • J.M. Coetzee’s Problem With Authority • Chicago’s Political Theater • What is Sport For?

     

    So here’s this week’s new stuff:

    ZINES & ZINE-RELATED BOOKS!
    Famous Forgeries by Eric William Pierson (Drippy Bone Books) $5.00
    PopNihil #3 Stop Me If You Think That You’ve Heard This One Before by Matthew Moyer and Jason Brown $2.00
    Because We Can’t Fight the Bulldozer Alone by Dan Sully Sullivan $6.00
    Memories – Darkwater Press Memorized Enforced $4.00
    Prince Zine by Joshua James Amberson and Carman Rachel Lee $5.00
    Readin and Fightin #2 Insisting on Literature by Women of Color by Camille $1.50

    COMICS & MINI COMIX!
    Hate Annual #9 by Peter Baggue (Fantagraphics) $4.95
    Seasonal #1 by Bobbi Parry and Sarah Morton $7.00 – Seasonal #1 is a roundabout romance in a Utah megastore….all emotional-cleanup-in-aisle-9-style. -EF
    BAM Big Apple Monsters #1 by Jon and Dan Cottle $4.00
    Scenic Byways Welcome to Falling Rock National Park by Josh Shalek $9.00
    Freaks by Tony Rabit $1.00
    Time: An Anthology of Comics About Food (Trees and Hills) $5.00 – Includes a Free Calendar!

    ART & DESIGN BOOKS!
    The New Gypsies by Iain McKell (Prestel) $39.95 – As in for real, young folks doing the nomadic thing.
    New Club Kids: London Party Fashion in the Noughties by Oggy Yordanov (Prestel) $24.95 – As in for real, young folks doing the club kid thing.
    Boutique London: A History Kings Road to Carnaby Street by Richard Lester (ACC) $49.95 – One of our customers suggested we get this. Here it is!
    What’s Weird by David Barnes $50.00Hyperacticitypography From A to Z (DGV) $29.90

    GRAPHIC NOVELS & TRADE PAPERBACKS!
    Klondike by Zach Worton (Fantagraphics) $24.95
    Sweet Tooth TPB vol 2 In Captivity by Jeff Lemire (Vertigo) $12.99
    Orc Stain TPB vol 1 by James Stokoe (Image) $17.99

    FICTION!
    Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender (Anchor) $15.00 – Short stories, now in soft cover.

    CHAP BOOKS, POETRY & LIT JOURNALS
    Spoken Nerd Revolution by Shappy Seasholtz (Penmanship) $15.00 – Collecting Shappy’s work from the past gazillion years, finally in one nice volume! Hilarious of course. What would you expect from a former Quimby’s and Chicago Comics employee? Only the best.
    Verse vol 27 #1 $7.00
    Pain Needs To Remember by Stevie Edwards $12.00

    MAGAZINES!
    Tiki Magazine vol 7 #1 Spr 11 $5.99
    Fortean Times #274 Jun 11 $11.99
    True Detective Apr 11 $4.99
    Passenger Magazine #1 $5.00
    Make vol 26 $14.99 – As in the craft mag, not the lit journal.
    Dot Connector #13 2011 Double Issue $7.95
    Skeptical Inquirer May Jun 11 vol 35 #3 $4.95
    Wallpaper May 11 $10.00
    Dwell May 11 $5.99
    Modern Drunkard #56 $4.95
    Treats Magazine #1 $20.00
    Fangoria #303 $8.99
    Wire #326 Apr11 $10.99
    Black Velvet #68 $6.25
    Maximumrocknroll #336 May 11 $4.00
    XLR8R #138 $6.99
    Harpers Magazine May 11 $6.99
    Race & Class vol 52 #4 $18.00
    Earth First vol 31 #2 30th Anniversary $6.50 – Happy Earth Day!
    Urban Ink #19 $8.99
    Bound By Ink vol 1 #5 $7.99

    MUCKRACKING, MEMOIRS, MAYHEM, MISCREANTS & MISCELLENOUSNESSESESNESS!
    The Wilder Life: My Adventures In the Lost World of Little House On the Prairie by Wendy McClure

    MUSIC BOOKS OR BOOKS WRITTEN BY MUSIC PEOPLE!
    33 1/3 Series: Nine Inch Nails’ Pretty Hate Machine By Daphne Carr (Continumm) $12.95 – In ten raw, heartbreaking oral histories woven through the book, fans living in the post-industrial Midwest discuss the successes and failures of the American dream as they are articulated in Nine Inch Nails’ music. Read an excerpt at the 33third blog.
    33 1/3 Series: Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk by Rob Trucks (Continuum) $12.95

    SEX & SEXY & SEX CULTURE!
    Blow Job vol 3 an Erotic Collection by Johnny Murdoc $8.00 – Home grown erotica! With sexy pictures too.
    Big Penis Book 3D by Dian Hanson (Taschen) $39.99 – Comes with 3D glasses!
    Big Book of Breasts 3D by Dian Hanson (Taschen) $39.99 – Also with 3D glasses.
    Handbook vol 5 #2 2011 by Darren Ankenbauer $6.00 – The sensitive side of Trevor Wayne , the business side of Ty, Will and Mike and some nice articles about sexual versatility and “post-gay.”
    Sweets Magazine vol 4 #16 $5.99 – Ooo la la! Sweet!

    OTHER STUFF!
    I Love To Floss Blank Notebook by Blaire Miltenberger $12.00

  • THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELED Eddie Trunk Signs Essential Hard Rock and Heavy Metal 5/20

    Event Canceled!

    The Eddie Trunk Signing for Eddie Trunk’s Essential Hard Rock and Heavy Metal at Quimby’s 5/20 has been canceled.

    Due to unseen circumstances, this signing has been cancelled. Stay tuned to quimbys.com for a potential rescheduling of this event in the future.

    —–

    Eddie Trunk is heard on two national radio shows and seen on VH1 Classic and MSG Networks. He has also appeared on MTV several times and on Fox News Channel, worked as a freelance music journalist, boxing ring announcer, and MC for various concerts and rock events around the USA. He is the host of America’s biggest rock festival Rocklahoma in Pryor OK every July, hosts the events press conference in LA, and also consults on the lineup. This event is Fri, May 20th 6-8pm sharp at Quimby’s.

    Eddie will be signing and selling copies of his book Eddie Trunk’s Essential Hard Rock and Heavy Metal from 6-8pm, before heading to the UFO show at The House of Blues, so both starting and ending will be on the dot.

    “Eddie’s name should be spelled M-E-T-A-L. All of us should be thanking him because he has kept this scene alive for everyone.” —Ronnie James Dio

    For more info: eddietrunk.com

    This event is co-sponsored by Quimby’s Bookstore with Delilah’s Metal Shop , which is at Delilah’s the first Tues of each month at 2771 N. Lincoln Ave.

  • ‘Dear Sweetness’ Book Release Event With Dan Gleason and Friends 5/21

    We’re going to scintillate your titillations!  This reading will celebrate the global/interplanetary release of ‘Dear Sweetness- Dan Gleason’s Greatest Hits, Vol. 3’ and will feature the Great Mike McPadden (aka El McBeardo), noted diarist Grace LaPeruto, Gabriel Wallace, author of the Great Sheboygan Panty Raid of 18977, Gregory Jacobsen – he of the long flowing locks- and the late Marc Arcuri! Be there!

    This event will mark the release of Dan Gleason’s third compilation of short stories. Mr. Gleason has sold his weirdo zines at Quimby’s for well over a decade now.  Marc Arcuri, of Safety Pin and English Softhearts fame, will sing his songs of whoa.  Grace LaPeruto will recite excerpts from her diaries, and Gregory Jacobsen- former front man of Lovely Little Girls and painter extraordinaire- will punish the audience with a barrage of high-pitched screams.  Gabriel Wallace shall read his odd poetry, and Mike McPadden, Head Writer for Mr. Skin, will deliver the follow-up to his epic tale d’amor (and the torture that that amor can bring) ‘Madonna Boots.’

    Saturday, May 21st, 7:00 pm

  • THE MDW FAIR Visual Arts Landing in Chicago 4/23 and 4/24


    Version 11: The Community. Announces the creation of The MDW Fair: Visual Arts Landing in Chicago

    THE MDW FAIR Visual Arts Landing
    At Geolofts, 3636 South Iron Street, Chicago, IL, 60608
    Saturday, April 23rd: 1-10pm
    Sunday, April 24th: 1-6pm
    www.mdwfair.org
    Admission: $5

    Public Media Institute, Roots & Culture and threewalls have created The MDW Fair, a first annual gathering of independent art initiatives, spaces, galleries, publishers and artist groups from the Chicago metropolitan area and beyond. With over 50 participants, The MDW Fair demonstrates the diversity, strength and vision of the people and places that make up the rich art ecology of our region. Launched at Version 11: The Community, The MDW Fair is a rare chance to encounter the creators of the vibrant art ecology of our region.

    Held April 23-24, 2011 at The Geolofts, 3636 S. Iron Street, Chicago, the fair features 501(c)3, commercial and unincorporated galleries, independent curatorial projects, publishers and media groups in over 25,000 square feet of exhibition space that includes a 8,000 square foot sculpture garden with work by local artists featuring: Mike Andrews, Dayton Castleman, Jacob C. Hammes, Jesse Harrod, Cody Hudson, Daniel Lavitt, Heather Mekkelson, Brian Murer, The Mt. Baldy Expedition: James Barry and Hui-min Tsen, Ben Stone, and Patrick Willi.

    In addition to exhibitions by participating spaces, local podcasters Bad At Sports will host a live game-show and panel discussions will be scheduled throughout fair hours chaired by Britton Bertran, Jamilee Polson, Lorelei Stewart and Steve Ruiz.

    The MDW Fair is a manifestation of the collective spirit behind the region’ s most innovative visual cultural organizers, focusing on the breadth of work done here by artists and arts-facilitators alike. Please join us and see why Chicago remains a center of ingenuity and talent. Participants include: Twelve Galleries, Peregrine Program, Western Exhibitions, Alderman Exhibitions, ACRE, 65GRAND, Roots and Culture, Lloyd Dobler, Flat 9 Prelude, Adds Donna, Johalla Projects, Devening Projects, Linda Warren Gallery, Green Gallery, Sidecar Gallery, Pentagon Gallery, Post Family, Iceberg Projects, Slow, Reuben Kincaid, The Hills Esthetic Center, Ebersmoore, Antenna, University of Illinois at Chicago, LVL3, No Coast, JNL Graphic Design, Roxaboxen, Packer Schopf Gallery, Monument II, Stockyard Institute, Harold Arts, Heaven Gallery, The Suburban, ZG Gallery, Regional Relationships, The Storefront, Hornswaggler, University of Chicago, 2nd Bedroom/TAG TEAM, Chicago Arts Review, Oxbow, Bad At Sports, What It Is, The Hyde Park Art Center, threewalls, The Cultural Center, Rebuild Foundation, The Chicago Urban Art Society and others

    Visit the MDWfair.org website for updates

  • Weekly Top 10 and an Attempt to Play A Portion of All Four Discs of The Flaming Lips' Zaireeka at Once

    A children’s book made #1 this week?! That’s crazy. But true.

    Also! Here’s footage from an event here at Quimby’s for the Continuum’s 33 1/3 series about albums of the past 40 years. This event on 9/17/11 featured NIU prof Joe Bonomo who did a book about AC/DC’s Highway to Hell, Editor-in-Chief of Pitchfork Media Scott Plagenhoef who did a book about Belle and Sebastian’s If You’re Feeling Sinister, and managing editor of Pitchfork Mark Richardson who did a book about the Flaming Lips’ Zaireeka. The footage below is of Mark Richardson reading from his book and then attempt to sequence the four CDs of the album to play simultaneously. Click on the image below and go watch it on YouTube.

    Mark Richardson reads from his book The Flaming Lips' Zaireeka
    Click on the picture to watch Mark Richardson discuss and play part of The Flaming Lips' Zaireeka

     

    1. Counting In The Studio by Cecilia Pinto and Megan Williamson  $10.00 – This attempt to show the process of creative expression to young readers. A dog lives with an artist who has also depicted her own studio in the book. Inside the studio it is possible to stare out windows just like those in the book. The studio, at the back of the artist’s home, is nestled on a side street in a Chicago neighborhood. The artist and the writer met at the studio to talk about the project before and after making their own separate work. The dog was always present and lent his inestimable support even when napping on the comfy, pillow-strewn chaise lounge which is up against a wall with drawings on it, just like in the book.

    2. Spoken Nerd Revolution by Shappy Seasholtz (Penmanship) $15.00

    3. Mister Wonderful: A Love Story by Daniel Clowes (Pantheon) $19.95

    4. Gentlewoman #3 Spr Sum 11 $10.95

    5. Burn Collector #15 by Al Burian (Microcosm) $3.00 – Al Burian takes on his new home town, Berlin with a little help from a Chicago All-Star team of Anne Elizabeth “Unmarketable” Moore and Liam “Secret Beach” Warfield.

    6. Archiving the Underground #1 by Jenna Brager and Jami Sailor $2.00

    7. OP Original Plumbing #6 Trans Male Quarterly $8.00 – The theme this round is “Schooled”, highlighting a twin commitment to both the “It Gets Better” and the “Make It Better” campaigns targeted at queer youth.

    8. Cartooning Philosophy and Practice by Ivan Brunetti (Yale) $13.00 – This is about as close you are going to get to having Ivan Brunetti come to your house and teach you how to make great comics. Turns out, it’s pretty damn close – Philosophy and Practice serves up a concise and well-honed crash course on finding and fine tuning your comics voice. -EF

    9. Hi Fructose #19 $6.95

    10. Hot Teen Slut by Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz (Write Bloody) $15.00

  • New Stuff This Week

    New stuff from Dan Clowes, Gilbert Hernandez, a new issue of Show Me the Money, a new issue of comics anthology Pood, a Claire Rojas book, and the last David Foster Wallace book of fiction before he passed on, The Steampunk Bible and more!

    And look what some silly goose posted here!

    And don’t forget at 7pm tonight, Sat 4/16: Shappy Seasholtz & Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz read!

    ZINES & ZINE-RELATED BOOKS!
    Show Me The Money #34 $2.50
    So This Is What It’s Come To – A Comic Zine About the Trials and Tribulations of OK by Liz Prince, Leslie Perrine, Kettner, and Ramsey Everydaypants $3.00
    Punks Git Cut by Jay Howell $6.00
    I Remember You #1 by Bryan Riek $3.35
    Hack This Zine #10 Spr 10 Fuck the Binary System $2.15
    Hackbloc – How To Make Friends With Volcanoes Anarchy Hacking and Mental Health $1.25
    Cryptic Slaughter #25 $1.25 – Giovanni has been around the world and has a lot to say and what we get are words on Turkish media, zine libraries, travel food, tea-drinking, trains, his fallout with the punk scene and more. The first issue in five years!

    OCD – An Activity Book For Grown Ups $3.25
    Awesome Science Posters It All Starts With Oxygen $6.50
    Travel Magic #1: A Cross Country Travelogue About Freedom and Luck by Megan Speers $3.00
    All of My Friends Are Dead #1 An Activity Book For Homicidal Humans by Amanda B. $3.00
    Adita #0 $.50
    Shoganai $3.00
    Jimmy #1 Male Intimacy $7.00
    Kings – An Illustrated History of the World’s Best Hawaiian Sweet Bread by Christina Seo $3.00
    Drama Award Greatest Improvement In Dance by Edgar Amaya $4.00
    Meat #3 by Adrian Lourie $20.00
    Plastic Knife #6 & Black Paint Gold Wire #8 Split Zine $2.00
    Are You a Boy or a Girl #1 by Jen Jessey $2.00

    COMICS & MINI COMIX!
    Monster Comic by Paul Lyons/Fort Thunder $20.00
    Pood #3 (Big If) $4.50 – Newpaper style comics anthology featuring Hans Rickheit, Joe Infurnari and more.
    Karl Wirsum  – Drawings 1967-1970 (Picturebox) $18.00
    Frankie’s Dreams #1 by Claire Krueger and Frankie $1.00 – A little book of surreal dream sketches. Mysteries!

    Human Condition #1 by Ian McDuffie $8.00
    Coup #1 by C. Eifler and C.Lodwick $3.00
    Old Master #1 by Carter Lodwick $1.00
    Bang Gang #1 by William Cleveland, Ian Endsley, Carter Lodwick and Talya Modlin $2.00
    Solid Silver – All Deez Femalez Crawl split minicomic – The Louie Jean Johnston Story – This Right Heres a Panty Dropper by Matt Runkle and Amanda Verwey $5.00
    1998-2008 Collection Portefeuille #3 by IRIS/Mille Putois $5.00
    Kus #6 Baltic Comics Magazine $4.50 – Way crazy awesome anthology, for real from the Baltics. And we have some back issues too. Has to be seen to believed.
    Seasonal #1 by Bobbi Parry and Sarah Morton $7.00

    ART & DESIGN BOOKS!
    Street Art – Contemporary Prints by Riikka Kuittinen (V and A) $25.00
    Everything Flowers by Claire Rojas (Chronicle) $22.95 – The beautiful and exotic paintings of Clare Rojas. One of the San Francisco Bay Area’s most beloved art stars, Rojas is influenced by craft, folk art, and the beauty and wisdom of the garden. Her work weaves together flowers, plants, animals, and various folk figures to create mysterious narratives. Through the language of flowers delicate yet resilient, powerful yet flexible Rojas tells enchanting stories with color.
    3D Type Book by Agathe Jacquillat and Tomi Vollauschek and FL@33 (Laurence King) $29.95
    Made in Russia Unsung Icons of Soviet Design by Michael Idov (Rizzoli) $25.00
    In the Wilds: Drawings by Nigel Peake (Princeton AP) $22.95
    Money – Everything You Never Knew About Your Favorite Thing to Save, Spend, and Covet by Sandra and Harry Choron (Chronicle) $18.95 – This miscellany explains our fascination with money and how it has shaped our world. Vintage photographs and artwork illustrate surprising facts, lists, and trivia about forgotten financial catastrophes and famous bank robbers, the history of bankruptcy and ancient money gods, wacky cash-related slang and get-rich-quick schemes for the ages.

    GRAPHIC NOVELS & TRADE PAPERBACKS!
    Mister Wonderful: A Love Story by Dan Clowes (Pantheon) $19.95 – This new graphic novella expanded from a serial that ran in the New York Times Magazine is about a blind date gone crazy. With lots of Clowes style loathing on the part of a schlubby, broke, lonely divorcé, but also a little sweetness too.


    Love From the Shadows by Gilbert Hernandez (Fantagraphics) $19.99 – The third in Gilbert Hernandez’s line of original graphic novel hardcovers featuring Love and Rockets’ “Fritz” in her guise as a Z-movie actress (the first two were Chance in Hell and The Troublemakers) is a trippy thriller that stars Fritz in no fewer than three roles. A beautiful waitress (Fritz, of course) and her hospital nurse brother (also Fritz) visit their estranged father, a once successful but now retired writer (amazingly enough, also Fritz), in order to find out the true reason why their mother committed suicide. There’s also a venture into ghost territory, with frauds bilking the gullible and Fritz’s character(s) right in the middle.
    Safe Area Gorazde Special Edition by Je Sacco (Fantagraphics) $29.99 – All fancy and in hardcover.
    I Will Bite You and Other Stories by Jospeh Lambert (Secret Acres) $14.00
    Reunion by Pascal Girard (D&Q) $19.95
    Mercury by Hope Larson (Simon) $19.99
    Mort Finkelman Presents Giant Sized Tales To Suffice by Kenny Keil $14.99
    Sleepyheads by Randall C (Blank Slate) $24.99
    Runaways TPB vol 1 Pride and Joy by Brian K. Vaughan (Marvel) $9.99
    Empire State A Love Story or Not by Jason Shiga (Abrams) $17.95

    DIY!
    Lost Wisdom: Celebration of Traditional Knowledge From Foraging and Festivals to Seafaring and Smoke Signals by Una McGovern and Paul Jenner (Chambers Harrap) $16.95
    Urban Homesteading: Heirloom Skills For Sustainable Living by Rachel Kaplan (Skyhorse) $16.95
    Cooking for Geeks: Real Science, Great Hacks and Good Food by Jeff Potter (MO) $34.99 – Information covered in this book include how to initialize your kitchen and calibrate your tools, the important reactions in cooking, such as protein denaturation and caramelization, firsthand insights from interviews with researchers, food scientists, knife experts, chefs, writers, chemists and more!
    The Repurposed Library: 33 Craft Projects that Give Old Books New Life by Lisa Occhipinti and Allyson Gowdy Thayer (STC) $24.95

    FICTION!
    The Pale King by David Foster Wallace (LB&C) $27.99 – The agents at the IRS Regional Examination Center in Peoria, Illinois, appear ordinary enough to newly arrived trainee David Foster Wallace. But as he immerses himself in a routine so tedious and repetitive that new employees receive boredom-survival training, he learns of the extraordinary variety of personalities drawn to this strange calling. And he has arrived at a moment when forces within the IRS are plotting to eliminate even what little humanity and dignity the work still has. The Pale King remained unfinished at the time of David Foster Wallace’s death, but it is a deeply compelling and satisfying novel.
    Ambient Parking Lot Pamela Lu $14.95
    Walking to Hollywood – Memories of Before the Fall by Will Self (Grove) $24.00
    Typewriter Is Holy by Bill Morgan (Counterpoint) $15.95
    Into the Wild Nerd Yonder by Julie Halpern (Square Fish/Feiwel) $9.99
    Mild Form of Madness vol 1 by Robbie Rimsky (Walton Street Pub) $20.00
    Great Frustration Stories by Seth Fried (Soft Skull) $14.95 – Seth Fried balances the dark—a town besieged, a yearly massacre, the harem of a pathological king—with moments of sweet optimism—researchers unexpectedly inspired by discovery, the triumph of a doomed monkey, the big implications found in a series of tiny creatures.

    CHAP BOOKS, POETRY & LIT JOURNALS
    Learn Then Burn: A Modern Poetry Anthology for the Classroom ed. by Tim Stafford and Derrik Brown (Write Bloody) $15.00
    The Point #4 Spr 11 $12.00 – New issue of the acclaimed local philosopy mag.

    MAGAZINES!
    Juxtapoz #124 May 11 $5.99
    True Crime Winter Special 11 20 All True Murder Stories $6.99
    Gentlewoman #3 Spr Sum 11 $10.95
    High Times Jun 11 $5.99
    Sideburn #7 $10.00
    Pinstriping #25 Mar Apr 11 $9.95
    Tattoo Society #27 $7.99

    CHILDRENS BOOKS!
    Moomins Little Book of Numbers and Moomins Little Book of Words by Tove Jansson (FSG) $5.99 each – Moomintroll, Moominmamma, and the Snork Maiden help create a game out of learning.
    My Tattooed Dad by Daniel Nesquens and Magicomora (Groundwood) $18.95
    Stop Snoring Bernard by Zachariah Ohora (Holt) $16.99

    MUCKRACKING, MEMOIRS, MAYHEM, MISCREANTS & MISCELLENOUSNESSESESNESS!
    The Steampunk Bible by Jeff Vandermeer and SJ Chambers (Abrams) $24.95
    Poisons: From Hemlock to Botox and the Killer Bean Calabar by Peter Macinnis (Arcade) $12.95
    Genes, Giants, Monsters and Men by Joseph P Farrell (Feral House) $19.95

    MUSIC BOOKS OR BOOKS WRITTEN BY MUSIC PEOPLE!
    Hard Ground by Tom Waits and Michael O’Brien (University of Texas) $40.00
    Indie Rock Poster Book by Andy J Miller and Project Yellow Bird – This poster collection is inspired by classic indie rock songs of each artist’s choosing. 30 removable prints of original artwork by thirty illustrators including Mike Perry, Deanne Cheuk, Jeremyville, Andy J. Miller and more. Featuring acts like Broken Social Scene, Grizzly Bear, Metric, Devendra Banhart, TV On the Radio and more. Royalties go to charities supported by Yellow Bird Project.
    The Resurrection of Johnny Cash: Hurt Redemption and American Recordings by Graeme Thomson (Jawbone) $19.95

    SEX & SEXY & SEX CULTURE!
    Handsome Prince Gay Erotic Romance by Neil Placky (Cleis) $14.95
    Dream Lover: Paranormal Tales of Erotic Romance by Kristina Wright and Megan Hart (Cleis) $14.95
    Persistence All Ways Butch and Femme by Ivan E Coyote and Zena Sharman (Arsenal) $21.95 – In the summer of 2009, butch writer and storyteller Ivan Coyote and gender researcher and femme dynamo Zena Sharman wrote down a wish-list of their favourite queer authors; they wanted to continue and expand the butch-femme conversation. The result is this book. The stories in these pages resist simple definitions. The people in these stories defy reductive stereotypes and inflexible categories. The pages in this book describe the lives of an incredible diversity of people whose hearts also pounded for some reason the first time they read or heard the words “butch” or “femme.”

    POLITICS & REVOLUTION!
    American Tensions: Literature of Identity and the Search for Social Justice –  Fiction Poetry and Essays Addressing the Most Pressing Issues of Our Time by William Reichard (Feral House) $19.95
    Marshall Law: The Life and Times of a Baltimore Black Panther by Marshall Eddie Conway (AK) $15.95