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  • Quimby's Bookstore Podcast #3 Is Up!

    Editor Ryan Standfest discusses BLACK EYE 1: Graphic Transmissions to Cause Ocular Hypertension, an anthology that collects original narrative comics, art and essays by 41 international artists and writers, all focused on the expression of black, dark or absurdist humor. (And yes, we carry it at Quimby’s.) Ryan was here this past June 24th, to celebrate the Chicago release with some of the local artists included in the anthology.

    With comics and art by Stéphane Blanquet, Ivan Brunetti, Lilli Carré, Max Clotfelter, Al Columbia, Ludovic Debeurme, Olivier Deprez, Nikki DeSautelle, Brecht Evens, Andy Gabrysiak, Robert Goodin, Dav Guedin, Gnot Guedin, Glenn Head, Danny Hellman, Paul Hornschemeier, Ian Huebert, Kaz, Michael Kupperman, Mats!?, Fanny Michaëlis, James Moore, Tom Neely, Mark Newgarden, Paul Nudd, Onsmith, Emelie Östergren, Paul Paetzel, David Paleo, Martin Rowson, Olivier Schrauwen, Stephen Schudlich, Robert Sikoryak, Ryan Standfest, Brecht Vandenbroucke, Wouter Vanhaelemeesch and Jon Vermilyea. Original essays by Jeet Heer (on S. Clay Wilson), Bob Levin (on “The Adventures of Phoebe Zeit-Geist”), Ken Parille (on Steve Ditko) and Ryan Standfest (on Al Feldstein and EC). Also includes the text “100 Good Reasons to Kill Myself Right Now,” by Roland Topor, translated into English for the first time by Edward Gauvin. You can find us on podbean or on I-Tunes (just do a search for Quimby’s Bookstore. And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast at either of those places. And yes! Subscription to the podcast is FREE.

  • Today In Zine News, There Is News

    Cheers to Miles Raymer at the Chicago Reader for mentioning Quimby’s as places to get 8-Track Mind and Cometbus! Full article at the link below:

    Item: After ten years, there’s a new issue of 8-Track Mind on discerning newsstands as we speak. If you know what 8-Track Mind is, congratulations on being an old person.

  • Anders Nilsen Celebrates Big Questions at Lula Cafe with Quimby's 8/30

    Anders Nilsen’s graphic novel collection of Big Questions is coming out, and we’re going to celebrate with him at Lula Cafe on August 30th at 7pm.

    A haunting postmodern fable, Big Questions is the magnum opus of Anders Nilsen, one of the brightest and most talented young cartoonists working today. This beautiful and minimalist story, collected here for the first time, is the culmination of ten years and over 600 pages of work that details the metaphysical quandaries of the occupants of an endless plain, existing somewhere between a dream and a Russian steppe. A downed plane is thought to be a bird and the unexploded bomb that came from it is mistaken for a giant egg by the group of birds whose lives the story follows. The indifferent and stranded pilot is of great interest to the birds–some doggedly seek his approval, while others do quite the opposite, leading to tensions in the group. Nilsen seamlessly moves from humor to heartbreak. His distinctive, detailed line work is paired with plentiful white space and large, often frameless panels, conveying an ineffable sense of vulnerability and openness.

    Big Questions has roots in classic fable–the story’s birds and snakes have more to say than their human counterparts and there are hints of the classic hero’s journey, but the easy moral that closes most fables is left here as open and ambiguous. Rather than lending its world meaning, Nilsen’s parable lets the questions wander out to go where they will.

    Paperback, 7.25 x 9.25, colour, 658 pages

    Anders will be joined by John Porcellino of King-Cat Comics and Stories, and local fiction writer Kyle Beachy (The Slide) and Zak Sally (Like a Dog Recidivist, former bassist of Low, editor of La Mano Press).

    Please note that this event is NOT AT QUIMBY’S!

    It is at Lula Cafe which is at 2537 N. Kedzie Blvd, Chicago
    lulacafe.com
    773-489-9554

  • Weekly Top 10

    Wow! Except for a few items, Comics R Us this week on the top 10.

    1. Lucky Peach #1 Sum 11 $10.00 – McSweneey’s food mag. The Ramen Issue.
    2. Wax Poetics #47 $9.99
    3. Too Dark to See by Julia Gfrorer (Sparkplug) $5.00 – Another dark, disturbing gorgeous tale from Julia Gfrörer, about a couple being visited by supernatural spirits.
    4. Hi Fructose #20 $6.95
    5. All I Want Is Everything #1 by Caitlin Constantine $3.00 – After a 6-year hiatus on zinemaking, Constantine comes back to the format to tackle a painful part of her personal history, the years she spent with an abusive husband. This resulting zine is powerful and profound; she confronts societal hate and invisibility with articulate and personal writing, wrestling her own demons in the process. -EF
    6. Incredibly Fantastic Adventures of Maureen Dowd #1: A Work of Satire and Fiction by Benjamin Marra (Traditional Comics) $3.00
    7. Alien Invasion #1 by Lauren Albert $5.00
    8. Rambo 3.5 by Jim Rugg (Sparkplug) $2.00 – Ignatz winner for Outstanding Mini-Comic. With the Ruskies gone from Afghanistan, the Taliban, led by anti-Soviet Mujahideen, siezed power in Kabul. After apparently forgetting how awesome and badass Rambo is, the Taliban gave refuge to Osama bin Laden and his terrorist gang – al Queda.
    9. Everything We Miss by Luke Pearson (Nobrow) $20.00 – a compendium of the things that we happen to miss when something else seemingly more important comes along.
    10. Diary Minneapolis, California, New York, What The, Manifestation by Gabrielle Bell $4.00 – Gabrielle’s ‘adaptation’ of the notorious Scum Manifesto. Named as one of the top 25 mini-comics of 2010 by The Comics Journal.

  • Carrie McGath Reads From So Sorry to See You Go

    Carrie McGath’s first collection of poems, Small Murders, was released in 2006 from New Issues Poetry and Prose. Ward-Eighty-One and The Chase are her self-published, limited-edition collections released in 2008 and 2009, respectively. Her newest self-published chapbook, So Sorry to See You Go is in a limited 50-edition run with the cover design by Bailey Romaine. The poems are inspired by Carrie’s thesis research at the Newberry Library about the presence of the circus in the Midwest. Carrie grew up in Youngstown, Ohio. Youngstown’s strange persona remains with Carrie, along with her dark Irish ancestral roots seeped in secrets, illness, and superstition. Carrie currently lives in Chicago where she is a poet, visual artist and art writer for Chicago Art Magazine She also contributes to Art:21 Blog’s “Open Enrollment” column. Her blog dollwork.org is devoted to film, literature, art, and other nooks of culture where dolls appear.  She lives with her sweet and spoiled cats, Seamus and Hortense.

    “Juxtaposing imagery of fractured delicacy, birds’ wings, eggshells and doll’s heads, with uncompromising hardness of gun barrels and wooden chests, she captures an uncanny world where a semblance of normality veils overripe fantasies and violence.”    ~~ Aisha Motiani, Milwaukee’s Shepherd Express

    For more info: carriemcgath.com

  • Save the Date! Chicago Zine Fest 2012 Dates Announced!

    The 2012 Chicago Zine Fest will take place Friday and Saturday, March 9th & 10th of 2012!  For Saturday’s Zine Exhibition, it will return to Columbia’s Conaway Center as the first two years.

    Stay tuned to chicagozinefest.org for updates.

    Also, perhaps you attended last years? Fill out a short survey to provide feedback to help make 2012’s extra awesome here: http://bit.ly/kL7sIz

    And hey! Here’s some highlights from Chicago Zine Fest 2011:

    flickr.com/groups/czf11/pool/

    youtube.com/watch?v=sPscJYW_7Ak

  • New Stuff This Week

    Some cool stuff this week: A new mini from Alec Longstreth, a new LOEG from Alan Moore, The Comics Journal back in action, a whole mess of awesome stuff from Sparkplug, a book of postcards by local artist Paul Hornschemeier, Adbusters and more.

    ZINES & ZINE BOOKS!
    She’s So Unusual #1 by Toots La Rue (Sparkplug) $2.00 – This is a super awesome zine about Cyndi Lauper!
    Franziskas Bike Zine #2 $1.00
    Many Many Make One Bit By Bit #1 by Jim Swill $4.99
    Lair Molt Selected Works 2008-2011 by Brian Uhl (Now Is The Time) $10.00 – 28p, b&w, silkscreen cover, 8.5″x11″, comes with patch, button and key, edition of 250.

    Calypso Zine #2 Featuring Marissa Paternoster Robo Sexism Hairy Pits $2.00
    Faux Cal Point Press vol 1 #2 Jun 11 and #3 Jul 11 $3.00 each

    COMICS & MINI COMIX!
    Phase 7 #016 by Alec Longstreth $5.00
    Drip by C Cilla (Sparkplug) $4.00
    Any Anyway #1 by Darryl Ayo (Sparkplug) $2.00
    In The Tall Grass #3 and #4 by Tessa Brunton $3.00 each
    Too Dark to See by Julia Gfrorer (Sparkplug) $5.00
    Nurse Nurse #7 by Katie Skelly (Sparkplug) $3.00
    Play Overlord by var. (Sparkplug) $5.00
    Inventez des Nouvelles Positions Sexuelles Invent New Sexual Positions by Gwenaelle (Sparkplug) $5.00
    Dream Grant the Church of Awesome Thought by Sean ABT Christensen (Sparkplug) $3.00
    Flesh and Bone – A Colouring Concertina by John Sibbick $18.00
    Big Mother #1 by McBess $30.00
    Fight Comic by Jack Teagle $8.00
    New Ghost by Robert Hunter $11.00
    Badaboom Twist: Comics in English Drawn By a French Speaking Guy Married to an American issues #1-#3 by David Libens $3.00 each

    GRAPHIC NOVELS & TRADE PAPERBACKS!
    League of Extraordinary Gentlemen vol 3 Century #2 1969  by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill (Top Shelf) $9.95
    The Comics Journal #301 (Fantagraphics) $30.00 – Yes! Finally a new issue and it looks hot. This volume features a focus on R. Crumb plus an interview with Joe Sacco, a peek into the private sketchbooks of (and accompanying interviews with) Jim Woodring, Tim Hensley, and the novelist Stephen Dixon, a conversation between Mad Fold-Out creator Al Jaffee and Thrizzle auteur Michael Kupperman, and more!
    Band by Mawil (Blank Slate) $12.99
    Snaps by Rebecca Kraatz (Conundrum) $15.00
    Suddenly Something Happened by Jimmy Beaulieu (Conundrum) $20.00
    Collected John G Miller 1990-1999 (Spit and a Half) $20.00
    Setting the Standard 1952-1954 by ALex Toth (Fantagraphics) $39.99
    Wormwood Gentleman Corpse HC vol 3 Calamari Rising Deviant Edition by Ben Templesmith (IDW) $24.99
    Lives of Sacco and Vanzetti: Treasury of XXth Century Murder by Rick Geary (NBM) $15.99
    Everything We Miss by Luke Pearson $20.00

    ART & DESIGN BOOKS!
    So So Heroes 30 Postcards by Paul Hornschemeier (Chronicle) $9.95
    Untitled III This is Street Art (Carpet Bombing Culture) $34.95
    Graffiti Burners ed. by Björn Almqvist (Dokument) $29.95 – The most eye-popping graffiti of today! New times, new ideas. In cities worldwide, graffiti art is constantly being taken to higher levels. The will to burn all resistance, to outdo all the others, brings about unexpected and amazing results. Graffiti Burners shows us how techniques have been refined and letter construction distorted, how colour combinations have blossomed and concepts developed. The competition for mastery is burning hot! In addition to amazing pictorial material, several of the writers talk about their pieces and what burners mean to them. Moreover, they offer tips and guidance to those who want to do a burner of their own. Graffiti Burners offers a unique opportunity to acquaint oneself with the progress of the last few years; to be inspired and impressed. In Graffiti Burners the world’s foremost writers show us their favourite works. In short, the best of the best! Aroe (UK), Bates (DK), Bio (USA), Kacao77 (D), Rime (USA), Scan (CA) and Suiko (JP) are just a few of the contributors to the book.

    Conseil Juridique et Artistique Legal and Artistic Counsel by Audrey Chan $15.00
    Curiosities of Janice Lowry (Grand Cent) $45.00
    Big Poster Book of Hindu Dieties: 12 Removable Prints by Sanjay Patel (Chronicle) $24.95
    Lowrider Coloring Book by Oscar Nilsson (Dokument) $9.95
    OFFF, Year Zero: Artwork and Designs from the OFFF Festival ed. by Rob Chiu (MBP) $60.00 – OFFF is a post-digital culture festival, featuring some of the world’s most relevant contemporary artists, designers, and media mavens. This anual collection features artwork and essays created specifically for the festival and only available in this book. This edition has an exclusive DVD, and every page is die-cut, so the artworks can be hung on the walls. Contributing artists and designers includes Stefan Sagmeister, Rick Poyner, Erik Spiekermann, Keetra Dean Dixon, and Vimeo founder Blake Whitman.

    FICTION!
    Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath And Other Oneiric Works by HP Lovecraft (Creation) $14.95
    Too Young To Fall Asleep by Sally Weigle (Chicago Center for Literature and Photography) $20.00 – Why would a poetry-writing high-school emo girl from suburban Chicago volunteer for the Iraq War? And when both of her legs are blown off in a non-combat IED explosion, how will she ever recover?
    Salt Creek Anthology: A Hyper Fiction Project (Chicago Center for Literature and Photography) by Jason Fisk $20.00 – A couple meet in a mental institution, have six kids, and devolve into violent alcoholism. An elderly Polish woman with Alzheimer’s goes insane in front of our eyes. A frazzled empty-nester has her bruiser son move back in, along with a scheming girlfriend planning a surprise pregnancy to get them both back out. And an abusive, overweight, racist monster of a man psychologically lords over them all, a total of twenty-odd characters all living on the same cul-de-sac in the far rural suburbs of Chicago. This “micro-story” collection breaks these families’ adventures down into a series of 75 linguistic nuggets. Each story is a different piece of paper in a box, and you can read them in any order you want.
    Black Lung Captain by Chris Wooding (Ballantine) $16.00
    The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling (Ballantine) $16.00 – Back in print! 20th Anniversary edition of this classic text of an imagined 1885: the Industrial Revolution is in full and inexorable swing, powered by steam-driven, cybernetic engines. Charles Babbage perfects his Analytical Engine, and the computer age arrives a century ahead of its time.
    The Chicago Landmark Project: 12 World Premiere Plays About Chicago Places by var. (Theatre Seven of Chicago) $16.00 – Using distinct locations in zip codes from Rogers Park to the South Side, The Chicago Landmark Project offers twelve diverse snapshots of Chicago life from present day to the distant past.

    LITERARY JOURNALS, CHAP BOOKS & POETRY!
    Man Who Juggeld His Balls by Aarib Wooten $14.99
    Overtime Hour 20 Above the Line by Suzanne Ushie $2.00

    DIY!
    Psychedelic Shamanism, Updated Edition: The Cultivation, Preparation, and Shamanic Use of Psychotropic Plants by Jim DeKorne (North Atlantic Books) $19.95
    Remedy Quarterly #5 Community $7.50

    CHILDRENS!
    Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life by James Patterson and Chris Tebbetts, with illustrations by Laura Park (Littlebrown) $15.99 – With charming illustrations by local illustrator-comics-Trubble Clubber super-star Laura Park.

    MUCKRACKING, MEMOIRS, MAYHEM, MISCREANTS & MISCELLENOUSNESSESESNESS!
    Go the Fuck to Sleep by Adam Mansbach and Ricardo Cortes (Akashic) $14.95
    Girls of Murder City: Fame Lust and the Beautiful Killers Who Inspired Chicago by Douglas Perry (Penguin) $16.00 – Now in soft cover.
    Leatherman: The Legend of Chuck Renslow by var. (Prairie) $24.99
    911: The Simple Facts Why the Official Story Can’t Possibly Be True by var. (Soft Skull) $12.00
    Finding My Place: One Man’s Journey From Cleveland to Boston and Beyond by Judah Leblang $15.95
    Working in the Shadows: A Year of Doing the Jobs Most Americans Won’t Do by Gabriel Thompson (Nation) $14.99
    Be Honest and Other Advice From Students Across the Country From 826 National by Ninive Calegari (New Press) $25.95
    Page One: Inside the New York Times and the Future of Journalism by David Folkenflik (Public Affairs) $15.99

    POLITICS & REVOLUTION!
    Unruly Women: T he Politics of Confinement and Resistance by Karlene Faith (Seven Stories) $19.95
    Weaponizing Anthropology by David Price (AK) $15.95
    Complaints and Distorders (Second Edition) Sexual Politics of Sickness by Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English (Feminist Press) $9.95

    MAGAZINES!
    Bizarre #178 Aug 11 $10.50
    AdBusters #97 Sep Oct 11 $8.95
    In These Times Aug 11 $3.50
    World Explorer vol 6 #1 $8.95
    IdN vol 18 #3 $17.50
    Pinstriping #27 Kustom Graphics Magazine $9.95
    Wow Magazine #1 $24.99
    Gothic & Lolita Bible #38 $33.00
    Ack Ack Ack #3 by Matt Average $3.00 – Average’s California photo files take you for a ride in their way-back machine: Spazz, Die Monitor Bats, Epileptic Terror Attack, Glass Candy, Tragedy, Reality Crisis, Limp Wrist, Go Go Go Airheart, Red Dons and Life’s Halt.

    Under the Radar #37 $5.99
    Maximumrocknroll #339 Aug 11 $4.00
    Me Magazine #21 Sum 11 $7.50
    Skin and Ink Sep 11 $6.99

    SEX & SEXY!
    Sweets Magazine vol 4 #17 $5.99
    Psychopathia Sexualis – Classic Study of Deviant Sex (Complete English Language Translation) by Richard Von Krafft-Ebing (Arcade) $16.95

  • Cindy Crabb Reads From The Encyclopedia of Doris 9/3

    Cindy Crabb has been writing the influential, internationally distributed, autobiographical-feminist zine Doris since the early ‘90’s. Her new book, The Encyclopedia of Doris, brings together the last 10 years of zines and a ton of new writing as well. In it, she explores subjects like consent, feminism, abortion, death, self-image, creativity, shyness, queer identity, addiction, punk and anarchism. Crabb is the editor of the zines Support and Learning Good Consent. She lives in South-East Ohio with her miniature horses, plays in the punk band Snarlas, and is a sexual abuse survivor advocate.

    “…zines are a space where third wave feminist theory is emerging, and many scholars don’t recognize this because they don’t read zines.  They should read Doris.”     –Alison Piepmeier, Author of Girl Zines: Making Media, Doing Feminism

     

    Cindy Crabb’s work has been featured in such places as: The Utne Reader, Maximum Rock and Roll, and Cometbus. Her work has also been in such anthologies as We Don’t Need Another Wave: Dispatches from the Next Generation of Feminists; Experiencing Abortion: A Weaving of Women’s Word; and A Girls Guide to Taking Over the World: Writing From the Girl Zine Revolution. Her diaries and papers are housed at the Schlesinger Library at Radcliffe. She has spoken at colleges, libraries and community centers across the country.

    For more info: dorisdorisdoris.com/

    Sat, Sep 3rd, 7pm

  • Christopher Boucher reads from How To Keep Your Volkswagen Alive with Adam Levin (The Instructions) 8/24

    By the time Christopher Boucher reaches Chicago he will have driven nearly 3,000 miles across America in his 1972 Volkswagen Beetle, reading from How To Keep Your Volkswagen Alive, playing the novel’s theme-song on his banjo, and reading to people, roadsigns, potholes, old barns, paramedics, flowers and railroad tracks. “I see this tour as a natural extension of the book,” he says. “The novel was written in a whimsical, playful style, but it was inspired by…my father, and the sense of wonder that he instilled in me.  That sense of wonder propelled every sentence in the book, and I want it to fuel the tour as well.”

    In How To Keep Your Volkswagen Alive Christopher Boucher has created a zany literary universe, a place where metaphors shift beneath your feet, familiar words assume new meanings, objects talk, trees attack, and time actually is money. Modeled on the cult classic 1969 hippie handbook of the same name, How To Keep Your Volkswagen Alive is an astonishing tour-de-force that calls to mind the off-kilter comedy and inspired fabulism of Richard Brautigan, Kurt Vonnegut, and George Saunders. The prose summersaults, but the book also tackles some of life’s biggest questions: How do you cope with losing a parent? What’s the secret to raising a child? How do you keep love alive? How do you get your car to start?

    “Writing to save your life—and your 1971 Volkswagen—is at the heart of this wildly imaginative debut… Readers are in for a fresh, memorable ride with this inventive ‘collage of loss’”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

    “A new, exuberant novel-world. Goofiness and grief are in perfect harmony in this impressive, moving debut.”—Sam Lipsyte

    Also joining the bill is Chicago author Adam Levin, author of The Instructions (McSweeney’s).

    More info: mhpbooks.com vwalive.com theboucher.com mcsweeneys.net

    Wed, August 24th, 7pm

  • Weekly Top 10

    1. Lucky Peach #1 Sum 11 $10.00 – McSweeney’s food periodical. Issue #1.

    2. Hi Fructose #20 $6.95

    3. 8-Track Mind #101 Zines vs Blogs ed. by F.R. Russ Forster $3.00 – WELCOME BACK 8-TRACK MIND!!!! Holy Moly! After a 10-year hiatus 8-Track Mind heeds the call of the Revenge of Print and pulls a fresh new issue out of the oven! Man, this was the zine that I remember reading way-back-when that REALLY made me think, “Woah, you really can make a great zine about ANYTHING.” Truly. This issue goes light on the 8-trackology but stays true to its analog-obsessed roots with a well-rounded symposium all about “Zines Versus Blogs”. -EF — Contributors: Chris Barrows, Peter Bergman, Joe Carducci, Kim Cooper, Brendan DeVallance, Tony DuShane, Sam Green, Lance Laurie, Alison Levy, Tom Lynch, Danny Plotnick, Dan Sutherland, V Vale and Lucien Williams.

    4. Monocle vol 5 #45 Jul Aug 11 $10.00

    5. Just Kids by Patti Smith (Ecco) $16.00

    6. Fine Fine Music by Cassie J. Sneider (Raw Art) $15.00 – “FINE FINE MUSIC is a collection of stories about the other side of rock and roll and coming of age in the land that time forgot. Lake Ronkonkoma is stuck in 1981, an alcoholic blackout of unnatually tan people waxing their Camaros to Foreigner on cassette and knowing the words to every Billy Joel song whether you want to or not. From an internship making Seamonkey costumes, a childhood fear of My Buddy dolls, and a heartbreaking crush on Aerosmith, funny lady Cassie J. Sneider delivers her tales of growing up in a land of fist-pumping Snookies with the antagonistic wit of a record store clerk.”

    7. The First Line vol 13 #2 $3.00

    8. Dazed & Confused #99 Jul 11 $9.99

    9. East Village Inky #47 by Ayun Halliday $3.00 – Ayun gives us a Mermaid Parade 101 and plenty of scrapper parent scene reportage. Topped with tales of a sourdough starter (you know how New Yorkers like to brag about how cultured they are). -EF

    10. Handbook vol 5 #3 2011 ed. by Darren Ankenbauer $6.00 – Lots of intriguing mesh garments in this issue, a back-by-popular demand culling of the creme-de-la-creme of online ads, East Village Boys interview, queer politics, long hard reader dick, and let’s not forget the meat of the issue: Derek, Joey and coverman Caedon.