Blog

  • Dan Clowes Signs Wilson

    WILSON.coverWILSON is one of the most anticipated books of the year to hit stores — by Daniel Clowes, the cartoonist of David Boring, Ghost World and Ice Haven and the legendary Eightball comic book series. Meet Wilson, an opinionated middle-aged loner who loves his dog and quite possibly no one else. In an ongoing quest to find human connection, he badgers friend and stranger alike into a series of one-sided conversations, punctuating his own lofty discursions with a brutally honest, self-negating sense of humor. After his father dies, Wilson, now irrevocably alone, sets out to find his ex-wife with the hope of rekindling their long-dead relationship, and discovers he has a teenage daughter, born after the marriage ended and given up for adoption. Wilson eventually forces all three to reconnect as a family – a doomed mission that will surely, inevitably backfire.

    For more information: www.drawnandquarterly.com/blog

  • Weekly Top 10

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    Yes, we sell this Cal Q Tek 2000 Calculator Watch. It's only $15.00.

    1. Craphound #4 Clowns Devils and Bait #12.00 – Holy Shit, the Craphound #4 reprint landed and it makes me smile like Ren and dance like Stimpy! Tejaratchi’s obsessive hi-con picture pages are brimming with the sauciest devils, the juciest bait and the most ambiguously legal clowns. Thrilling, terrifying, mind-blowing, hands down one of the world’s greatest zines! – EF

    2. Squinty #1 by Sua Yoo $5.00

    3. How I Learned to Love You From So Far Away: Stories About Love Technology by Kevin Fanning $3.00

    4. Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip With David Foster Wallace by David Lipsky (Broadway) $16.99

    5. Wilson HC by Daniel CLowes (D+Q) $21.95 – I have a strong urge to hate on books all about cruel, petty, delusional, pompous, middle-aged windbags, but that’s what Wilson is about and I don’t hate it at all. It’s truly something special, a cutting collection of vignettes set up like cheap midlife crisis one-liners but woven into something much more complicated. Although the tropes of the book are simple, the corner of hell Clowes has carved out for Wilson is well-suited to the bearded antagonist’s snarky, egotistical banter. Wilson could have easily slipped into super-bleak character indulgences (and occasionally it toes that line) but instead it’s true critiques are subtle and crafty and its dark wit shows you an abyss without pushing you in. In my head, Clowes’ work has always been tied to David Lynch’s films, mostly in the way detached mediocre normalcy is constantly being eroded by deep undercurrents of the bat-shit-craziness of being alive. Here, Clowes has taken his obnoxious, incorrigible scumbag of a character and through some alchemical magic shined that little shit into pure gold.-EF

    6. Sad Animals by Adam Meuse $4.00

    7. Snake Pit 2009 by Ben Snakepit (Birdcage Bottom) $6.00 – Another punk rock year down the hatch!

    8. Rough Guide To Bicycle Maintenance (Compiled for the workshop how to love your bike right at the 2003 portland zine symposium) $2.00

    9. Introduction to Civil War by Tiqqun (Semiotext(e)) $12.95

    10. Juxtapoz #112 May 10 $5.99

  • New Stuff This Week

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    Big Questions #14 Title and Deed by Anders Nilsen (D+Q) $7.95

    Lady Churchills Rosebud Wristlet #25 May 10 $5.00

    Tell All HC by Chuck Palahniuk (Doubleday) $24.95

    Superfuckers TPB by James Kochalka (Top Shelf) $14.95 – Best of Issues #271 through 279 plus Jack Krak #1

    The Anthology Project vol 1 HC ed. by var. $24.95

    Usagi Yojimbo Book One by Stan Sakai (Fantagraphics) $15.95

    Screencraps #1 $4.00

    Cousin Corinnes Reminder #1 Spr 10 $20.00

    SF 11 by Isaac McKay Randozzi $3.00

    Moon Is Made Of Cheese $4.00

    Commies For Satan #1 $1.00 – You won’t find this at Borders. At Quimby’s, where we know how to cross borders. Ha ha ha ha.

    Squinty #1 by Sua Yoo $5.00

    Mr Cellars Attic by Mr. Freibert $6.00

    Good Porn: A Womans Guide by Erika Lust (Seal) $17.95

    Hour: A Cocktail Manifesto by var. (Tin House) $16.95 – Tim for a beverage.

    Outcast: David Hurles Old Reliable in Living Color by David Hurles (Green Candy) $35.00 – Sexy muscley men.

    Cataract of Fire and Blood by Elijah Brugher and Terrence Hannum $10.00 – Fancy art from Chicago locals. Slick black cover.

    Hexagon Kids Present Can You Find the ABCs In You – I learn so much when I listen to YOU by Patty Durkin $8.99 – Yeah, artsy title. But it’s a children’s book.

    ABCs of the Economic Crisis: What Working People Need to Know by var. (Monthly Review Press) $11.95 – Not a children’s book.

    Surface #82 $6.99

    Urban Garden #10 May Jun 10 $5.95

    The Believer #71 May 10 $8.00

    3X3 vol #14 The Magazine of Contemporary Illustration $16.00

    Deathcat Skullguts #1 $4.00

    Zine About Billy: A Story of a Story by Danny Mac $2.00

    Bridge: A Journal by Kelly Ginger $8.00

    Walking Dead Book Five HC by Kirkman and var. (Image) $34.99

    Ripped: How the Wired Generation Revolutionized Music by Greg Kot (Scribner) $14.00 – By co-host of Sound Opinions. Now in soft cover.

    Krazy & Ignatz 1916-18 by George Herriman (Fantagraphics) $24.99 – The first three years of Krazy Kat.

    Abandoned Cars by Tim Lane (Fantagraphics) $18.99

    Blazing Combat by var. (Fantagraphics) $19.99

    Living In The End Times HC by Slavoj Zizek (Verso) $29.95

    Vindication Of The Rights Of Woman (Revolutions – Sheila Rowbotham Presents) by Mary Wollstonecraft (Verso) $15.95

    Natural Computing DNA Quantum Bits and the Future of Smart Machines by var. (W.W. Norton) $16.95

    Why Bother Print A Non Fiction Square Box Drawings by Weng Pixin $10.00

    Lay Flat 02 Meta $30.00

    Toucan #6 by var. $3.00

    Correspondence #1 by Kyle Krueger $1.00

    Chronicles of a Peeping Tom by Miki Zmaj $3.00

    Technological Slavery: The Collected Writings of Theodore J Kaczynski aka The Unabomber (Feral) $22.95

    Babylons Banksters: The Alchemy of Deep Physics High Finance and Ancient Religion by Joseph Farrell (Feral) $19.95

    New World of Indigenous Resistance: Voices From North South and Central America by Noam Chomsky & var. (CityLights) $18.95

    The Worst Book I Ever Read – Unbearables (Autonomedia) $16.95

    Witches Midwives and Nurses: A History of Women Healers by var. (Feminist Press) $6.95

    Upping the Anti #8 Journal of Theory and Action $10.00

    Understandable Guide to Music Theory – Most Useful Aspects by Chaz Bufe (See Sharp) $9.95

    This Country Must Change: Essays on the Necessity of Revolution in the USA by Craig Rosebraugh (Arissa) $16.95

    Subverting the Present Imagining the Future Insurrection Movement Commons – Class Struggle by Werner Bonefeld (Autonomedia) $15.95

    Strategic Reality Dictionary: Deep Infopolitics and Cultural Intelligence by Konrad Becker (Autonomedia) $12.95

    Sounding Off: Music as Subversion Resistance Revolution by var. (Autonomedia) $15.00

    Read Me: ASCII Culture and the Revenge of Knowledge by Nettime (Autonomedia) $19.95

    Rapist Who Pays the Rent 2nd Edition by var. (Falling Wall) $6.00

    Portland Queer Tales of the Rose City by Ariel Gore (Lit Star) $15.95

    Negativeland a Novel by Doug Nufer (Autonomedia) $9.95

    Living on Third Street: Plays of the Living Theatre 1989-1992 by Hanon Reznikov (Autonomedia) $15.95

    Complaints and Disorders: The Sexual Politics of Sickness by var. (Feminst Press) $6.95

    Breakfast for Anarchists by Norman Nawrocki (No Bar Code Press) $14.00

    Barefoot and in the Kitchen #4: Vegan Recipes by Ashley (AK) $3.00

    Ask Any Woman By Ruth E. Hall (Falling Wall Press) $10.00

    Anarchists Book of Verse by Charlotte Keller (Keller Com) $14.99

    FEDS vol 7 #32 $5.99

    Sovereign #11 May 10 $3.95

    Shut Up vol 5 #1 $4.25

    Awkward Family Photos ed. by var. (Three Rivers Press) $15.00

    Pride and Prejudice and Zombies Graphic Novel SC by Jane Austen and var. (Del Ray) $14.99

    Little Women and Werewolves by Louissa May Alcott and Porter Grand (Ballantine) $14.00

    HotShoe Apr May 10 $9.95

    Bongology: Art of Creating 35 of the Worlds Most Bongtastic etc. by Chris Stone (Ten Speed) $12.99

    Treating Yourself #22 $7.99

    The Progressive May 10 $3.95

    Dwell 100 Houses We Love Special Sum 10 $9.99

    Dark Places by Gillian Flynn (Three Rivers Press) $14.00 – Local Chicago fiction writer, now in soft cover.

    Sports From Hell My Search for the Worlds Dumbest Competition HC by Rick Reilly (Doubleday) $26.00

    Hanging Loose #96 $9.00

    Against the Current #146 $5.00

    Frieze #130 Apr 10 $10.00

    Race & Class vol 51 #4 $18.00

    World Explorer vol 5 #6 $6.00

    Granta #110 Spr 10 Sex $18.99

    Skeptical Inquirer May Jun 10 vol 34 #3 $4.95

    Under the Radar #31 $4.99

    Ghetto Blaster #24 $3.95

    In These Times May 10 $3.50

    Love and Obstacles by Aleksandar Hemon (Riverhead) $15.00 – Now in soft cover.

    Weird Baby Motivational Poster by Simon Hunt $20.00

    When I Was A Mall Model by Monica Gallagher $5.50

    Don’t Scream Im Just A Spider by Birdy Jones and var. $18.00

    Paper May 10 $4.00

    See America First Welcome to Falling Rock National Park $6.00

    Eagle Fight Squad 2030 AD Bird On Fire by Alex Kim $5.00

    Wall City by Alex Kim $12.00

    Trnsfr vol 1 #2 Jan Feb 10 $7.00

    Survival A Heros Story by Noelle Havens $1.00

    Backward Jane #1 by Jane $2.00

    Workers Write vol 9: Tales From the Capitol $8.00

    Annalemma #6 $10.00

    21st Century Queer Artists Identify Themselves $10.00

    Obscure Animal Compenduim vol 3 by Nate Marsh $9.00

    Sedimental by Talya Modlin $5.00

    Blue Okoye #1 by Blue Okoye $1.00

    Lessons of Lil Pebbles by Bernie McGovern $3.00

    Bad World Small Things by William Cleveland $4.00 – Rolled back in the weedy ferns beyond any semblance of decency, Cleveland’s sunboiled carcasses rot and roam through the unincorporated overgrowth of festering menace. Bad World Small Things claws and gnaws at the dirty small town outskirt with brutal sexual textures and skinned sweaty palms.

    Bad Worlds Small Things
    Bad Worlds Small Things

    This muggy afternoon vascilates between listless tweenage nerds being restless-as-fuck with their boredom and scared-as-shit of what they don’t know- and the comic comes into itself, scratching its bugbites and trying out different cuss words under its breath.

    Decorum Short Shorts and Doodles – Hey Bay Bee Ima Objectify Shit Outta by Ed Choy Moorman $3.00

    Oh No comic by John Campbell $5.00 – Campbell’s world looks so cute and that’s why its so good at talking shit and getting away with it.

    Oh No
    Oh No
  • Check Out New York's Art House Co-op and the Sketchbook Project at Home Gallery

    No, this event is not at Quimby’s, but it is awesome and you should totally go to tonight’s opening reception at the Home Gallery, an ongoing experimental exhibition space run by Laura Shaeffer out of her home in Hyde Park, on Chicago’s South Side.

    The Sketchbook Project and Artists’ Books,
    featuring Anders Nilsen, Michael Brehm, Amanda Vähämäki, Michelangelo Setola, and Doug Shaeffer
    PRESENTED BY: Home Gallery 1407 E. 54th Place, Chicago, IL
    Opening reception: Saturda,y May 8t, 6:00 – 9:00 pm

    Home Gallery is proud to host Brooklyn, New York’s Art House Co-op and the Sketchbook Project, a library of sketchbooks collected from artists around the world. In addition, Home Gallery will be featuring drawings, sketchbooks, and artist’s books from Anders Nilsen (Big Questions, Dogs and Water), Michael Brehm, Amanda Vähämäki & Michelangelo Setola (Souvlaki Circus), and Doug Shaeffer. For more info: and  http://thelarch.org

    The Op Shop
    The Op Shop

    And then also, check out the Op Shop. The Opportunity Shop, that is. It’s a transitory, experimental project space for contemporary art in Hyde Park, and they’ve got stuff goin’ on, extended for the next few weeks. For more info: http://www.theopshop.org/about.php

  • Weekly Top 10

    Melissa Auf der Maur Was Here
    Melissa Auf der Maur Was Here

    1. Wilson HC BY DAN CLOWES (D&Q) $21.95

    2. Freewheel vol 1 by Liz Baillie $12.00

    3. Proximity #7 $12.00

    4. The Point #2 Win 10 $12.00

    5. Bars Across America Drinking and Biking from Coast to Coast by John Greenfield

    6. Detective Stories by Anne Elizabeth Moore $1.00

    7. Out Of The Closets And Into The Libraries $2.20

    8. Lower East Side Librarian Shout Out 2009 by Jenna Freedman $2.00

    9. Wad #44 $15.00

    10. Juxtapoz #112 May 10  $5.99

  • SUBMIT! Voices From the Grave #1

    VoicesGraveCall

    A new Chicago Outer Limits zine and audio zine is festering! Got something odd to share? Listen to this call from VOICES FROM THE GRAVE headquarters:

    ATTENTION FELLOW SNAKES AND FOLLOWERS OF WHAT EVER

    Have You Ever?

    Been ridden by an old hag? Heard voices during your early morning cemetery jaunt? Had visions of long lost civilizations? Been approached by dark angels? Contracted a mysterious disease? Picked up a phantom hitchhiker? Did you find a skeleton in your closet? Did you see a fireball light up the night sky?

    If you have experienced any baffling, thrilling, or extra/ordinary phenomena we would like to have you participate. All stories welcome.

    LET IT OUT -WE NEED YOUR WORDS

    talk@voicesfromthegrave.org

    and/or

    Voices From the Grave

    PO Box 478811

    Chicago, IL 60647

  • New Stuff This Week

    wilsontopWilson HC by Dan Clowes (DQ) $21.95 – Dan Clowes will be at Quimby’s on June 12th! Stay tuned for more details.

    Proximity #7 $12.00

    Undeleted Scenes by Jeffrey Brown (Top Shelf) $15.00

    Wholphin #11 DVD $19.95

    Instructions Everything You’ll Need To Know On Your Journey by Neil Gaiman (Harper) $14.99

    Simple History Series #6: 100 Years of Modern Iran 1891 1991 by var. $2.50

    Journal of Aesthetics and Protest #7 $7.00

    We Should A Selective Guide to Chicago by Laura Szumowski $7.95

    Cult Street Wear by Josh Sims (Laurence) $29.95

    Bike Snob Systematically & Mercilessly Realigning the World of Cycling by NYC Bike Snob (Chronicle) $16.95

    Gama Go Yeti Tree or Squid Pirrate Floati Pens $5.00 each. – Based on Tim Biskup’s designs.

    Came A Yeux 2004 to 2006 Drug For Eyes by Alexone (Kitchen 93) $37.95

    Book of Tags 150 Original Writers Tags From All Over the World (Dropdrop) $41.95

    Only Death Is Real an Illustrated History of Hellhammer and Early Celtic Frost by var. (Bazillion) $39.95

    Schwarz Auf Weiss Style Needs No Color (From Here) $14.95

    Gospel of Filth A Bible of Decadence and Darkness by G. Braddeley (Fab) $39.95

    Nylon Girls Erotic Fashion Photography by Christine Kessler (Goliath) $24.95

    DFW Zine $2.50

    Camilla Derrico 30 Postcards (Last Gasp) $10.95

    Kenk A Graphic Portrait by var. (Pop Sandbox) $25.95

    Wormwood Gentleman Corpse HC vol 2 It Only Hurts When I Pee Deviant Edition by Ben Templesmith (IDW) $24.99

    Lenore Wedgies HC by Roman Dirge (Titan) $24.95

    Flash Rebirth HC by var. (DC) $19.99

    The Walker Brothers No Regrets Our Story HC by John Walker (John Blake) $24.95

    Hell Hath No Fury Like A Woman Scorned: True Stories Of Women Who Kill(John Blake) $13.9

    Fallen: Life In and Out of Britains Most Insane Group Now With Added Ex Members by Dave Simpson (Canongate) $14.95 – As in the band The Fall.

    Iraq The Forever War DVD with Noam Chomsky (PM Press) $14.95

    Blood and Thunder #14 $5.99

    Online Killers Portraits of Murderers Cannibals and Sex Predators Who Stalk by Christopher Barry Dee (Ulysses) $14.95

    826CHI Compendium vol 1 An Assemblage of Writings by the Students of 826CHI $12.00

    Bars Across America Drinking and Biking from Coast to Coast by John Greenfield $13.00

    Mandatory Moshing #0 by Evan Blanco $1.00

    Philosophical Investigation by Philip Kerr (Penguin) $15.00

    Dear Jaguar #2 The Nightmare Issue by Vicky Always $1.00

    Clock Without a Face by Scott Teplin and var. (MCSweeney’s) $19.95

    Introduction to Civil War by Tiqqun (Semiotext(e)) $12.95

    Xombie Dead on Arrival DVD The Complete Flash Series (Halo Eight) $18.99

    NYHC DVD The Legendary Documentary About the Worlds Hardest Music (Halo Eight) $18.99 – About New York Hard Core.

    Confessions of an Antinatalist by Jim Crawford $12.00

    Tag Team by Dennis Pacheco and var. $3.50

    33 1/3 Series:  Pavements Wowee Zowee by Bryan Charles (Continuum) $12.95

    33 1/3 Series:  ACDC’s Highway To Hell by Joe Bonomo (Continuum) $12.95

    Supertalk #2 by Eric Watkins and var. (Birdcage Bottom) $5.00

    Black Velvet #64 $6.25

    Whale Tale #1 by Christopher Peralta $4.00

    Prints by Hawk Krall: Chicago Depression Hot Dog Print/Chicago Hot Dog $35.00 each

    Self Service #32 Spr Sum 10 $35.00

    Damn #24 Apr May 10 $24.95

    ID Magazine Spr 10 $10.99

    Whip Smart HC by Melissa Febos (T. Dunne) $24.99

    Jeremy Draws a Monster by Peter McCarty (Holt) $16.99

    Ask HC by Sam Lipsyte (FSG) $25.00

    Spunk #7 $7.00

    Resistance Book 1 by Carla Jablonski and var. (First Sec) $16.99

    Afterbirth: Stories You Wont Read in a Parenting Magazine by D.K. Modisett (St. Mart) $14.99

    City and the City SC by China Mieville (Ballantine) $15.00

    Nobody Move SC by Denis Johnson (Picador) $14.00

    Moomin books by Tove Jannson: Moominsummer Madness, Moominpappas Memoirs, Finn Family Moomintroll (squarefish) $6.99 each

    Affinity Bridge A Newbury & Hobbes Investigation by George Mann (Tor) $13.99

  • Work In Progress Get-Together

    We launched our new monthly working get-togetherhere at Quimby’s, which is called Work In Progress. At the first one, we had some wonderful folks sharing what they’re working on and hangin’ out withus. Comics, zines, poetry and fiction were represented, and we enjoyed snacks. Won’t you join us again on Wednesday, May 26th at 7pm?

    Event!

    Work In Progress is from 7-8:30pm on the last Wednesday of the month.  You can bring your current project and work on it in a social atmosphere.  If you’re looking for critiques or advice, you can get it from fellow attendees.  If you just want somewhere outside of your dark basement apartment to work on that new zine, this is the event you want to go to.

    If you’re looking to meet more folks in the city who are making fun stuff, stop by!  We’re hoping this monthly series will become a positive space for self-publishers and other creative types here in Chicago.

    Spread the word: Work In Progress at Quimby’s, the last Wednesday of every month!

  • Chris Besinger Reads The Usual Beast with Group Icky Rats and ONO

    Don‘t miss this dual release show featuring Chris Besinger, reading from The Usual Beast collected writings (Laughing Mouse Press) performing with Group Icky Rats from their work Group Icky Rats LP (Coat-Tail Records) with ONO.

    Chris Besinger is vocalist for Minneapolis’s STNNNG. In addition to bringing copies of his new book, The Usual Beast (Laughing Mouse Press), a collection of STNNNG lyrics and other writings, with cover art by Tom Stack, Besinger will be performing with Group Icky Rats, his all-improvised rock band that is releasing its LP this month.

    Group Icky Rats –Chris Besinger (STNNNG) on vocals, Jon Skuldt (White) on guitar and keyboard, and Bryan Reynolds on drums—forms, through its headlong charge into constant error, and force of will, new and gorgeous spectacular failure. That’s how it’s supposed to go when you make up all your rock songs on the spot. Wherever this vector directs the music, its components are 1) one poet dedicated, as are the finer ranters in the short history of rock—think Brewer from Saccharine Trust—to both massaging and upending the form through the formal and the informal, the situational, the “poetic” (Besinger); 2) another poet dedicated to –think Metal Machine Music—the piercing and to music-as-irritant (Skuldt); 3) and a shit-hot drummer who will crush you –think being destroyed— with total unadulterated punishing awesomeness (Reynolds). The new Group Icky Rats LP, out in an edition of 100 on Coat-Tail Records (home to releases by The Flying Luttenbachers, Xerobot, Melt-Banana, et al) will be available at the show and contains guitar from Mark Shippy (US Maple, Miracle Condition).

    This event will also feature longtime Chicago way-out unit ONO, recently resurrected in what is now their nearly 30-year career, whose work –verifiable through early 80s releases and numerous performances archived on the internet— keeps re-setting the bar for total mind-bending performative fuckery.
    For more info:

    Group Icky Rats www.myspace.com/groupickyrats
    ONO www.travistravis.com
    Laughing Mouse Press www.laughingmouse.net

  • Cyberpunk Apocalypse’s Elwin Cotman & Daniel McCloksey

    Don’t miss this night of DIY speculative fiction. Fantasy writer Elwin Cotman will read from his debut short story collection, The Jack Daniels Sessions EP. Science fiction Daniel McCloksey will read from his upcoming novel. Both readers are members of the Cyberpunk Apocalypse, a DIY writers’ cooperative in Pittsburgh, PA.

    Elwin Cotman is a writer, performance artist and activist from Pittsburgh, PA. Known for his energetic storytelling, he has featured at the TerPoets open mic, Artomatic, Babble-On and A Space Inside Reading Series. He has performed with musicians Bryan Depuy of “Jubilee” and Joy Toujours. He wrote a full-length story/liner notes for an album by piano-punk band Baby Killer Estelle. “The Jack Daniels Sessions EP” is his first book.

    At the age of 20, Daniel McCloskey graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a BA in fiction writing. At the age of 21, he founded the Cyberpunk Apocalypse Writers’ Co-op, which combines a writing residency program and a community space in order to support burgeoning writers. He currently resides at the Cyberpunk Apocalypse Writers’ Co-op where he works to maintain the project, polish his first novel, and does freelance work.

    For more info, see www.cyberpunkapocalypse.com.