Coming Up: Robyn Hitchock's Memoir '1967: How I Got There and Why I Never Left'

Out Order now from Amazon.

Details:

“A bright, nostalgic look at the exhilaration of 1967, this book―illustrated throughout with Hitchcock’s surreal sketches―will appeal to not only the author’s many fans but also anyone interested in the music and culture from the golden age of psychedelia. Wistfully reflective reading.” ―Kirkus Reviews

“Memoirists rarely begin their work with a stroke of genuine inspiration, and Robyn Hitchcock’s ingenious idea to limit his account of his life to the titular year gives this sharp, funny, finely written book an unusually keen, wistful intensity without sacrificing its sense of the breathtaking sweep of time. I absolutely adored every line of 1967 and every moment I spent reading it.” ―Michael Chabon, author of Telegraph Avenue

1967: HOW I GOT THERE AND WHY I NEVER LEFT explores how that pivotal slice of time tastes to a bright, obsessive-compulsive boy who is shipped off to a hothouse academic boarding school as he reaches the age of thirteen―just as Bob Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited starts to bite, and the Beatles’s Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band explodes.

When he arrives in January 1966, Robyn Hitchcock is still a boy pining for the comforts of home and his family’s loving au pair, Teresa. By December 1967, he’s mutated into a 6’2? tall rabid Bob Dylan fan, whose two ambitions in life are to get really high and fly to Nashville.

In between―as the hippie revolution blossoms in the world outside―Hitchcock adjusts to the hierarchical, homoerotic world of Winchester, threading a path through teachers with arrested development, some oafish peers, and a sullen old maid―a very English freak show. On the way he befriends a cadre of bat-winged teenage prodigies and meets their local guru, the young Brian Eno. 

At the end of 1967, all the ingredients are in place that will make Robyn Hitchcock a songwriter for life. But then again, does 1967 ever really end?

Coming Up: 'Marvel: Spider-Man: The Official Cookbook: Your Friendly Neighborhood Guide to Cuisine from NYC, the Spider-Verse & Beyond'

Out July 2 and available for pre-order now from Amazon.

Details:

With great recipes, there must also come great responsibility . . . to share. Spider-Man’s decided to do just that, pairing recipes for his favorite New York City dishes with action-packed anecdotes. From Aunt May’s Wheatcakes to Miles Morales’s Arañitas to Wong’s Chai Tea Latte, Spidey turns each meal into a culinary adventure.

60+ RECIPES: Enjoy more than 60 of Spider-Man and Co.’s favorite recipes for appetizers, main courses, desserts, and beverages from all over New York City!

BRING NYC HOME: Cook up recipes from all around the five boroughs and enjoy the global influence that makes the city a true melting pot.

ENTER A MULTIVERSE OF FLAVOR: This cookbook also features contributions from Miles Morales, Ghost-Spider, and more heroes from across the Spider-Verse!

PERFECT FOR ALL SKILL LEVELS: Great for beginners and experienced chefs alike, this cookbook will help you prepare amazing dishes inspired by your favorite super heroes for your friends and family.

COMPLETE YOUR MARVEL COLLECTION: This cookbook stands alongside fan-favorite cookbooks such as Avengers Campus: The Official Cookbook: Recipes from Pym's Test Kitchen and Beyond, Marvel Eat the Universe: The Official Cookbook, and Marvel Comics: Cooking with Deadpool. 

New Pop Culture Books: Beach Boys, Harlan Ellison, Blues Brothers, More

Our picks this month. Click the links to order from Amazon. 

The Beach Boys

Here, for the first time in print, is the history of The Beach Boys, by The Beach Boys.

Their only official book, The Beach Boys by The Beach Boys is the ultimate chronicle of one of the world’s greatest bands. Through their unique sound, complex harmonies, sensational live shows and use of innovative recording techniques, The Beach Boys became woven into the cultural fabric of America and influenced generations of musicians globally. This book documents how it happened.

Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine and Bruce Johnston together provide a combined career narrative especially for this book, and through meticulous compilation from sources worldwide, Carl Wilson and Dennis Wilson’s words are equally represented. Documenting how they went from a Hawthorne garage band to a global phenomenon, they tell the astounding story of their ascent: perfecting their harmonies, initial fame as a surf group, and then their ultimate progression as pioneering recording artists to become one of the most musically complex ensembles in history.

Their text is accompanied by iconic images, never-before-seen negatives and rare ephemera. Given unprecedented access to their personal archives, The Beach Boys by The Beach Boys offers intimate insight into the lives of the group. Also opening their archives are Brother Records and Capitol Records, all of which assist in illustrating their remarkable journey.

Expanding the narrative are a host of contributors who have been involved with or inspired by the band's music, including Peter Blake, Lindsey Buckingham, Eric Clapton, Elvis Costello, Ray Davies, Bob Dylan, Def Leppard, the Flaming Lips, Bobby Gillespie, David Lee Roth, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Jim Kerr, Roger McGuinn, Graham Nash, Jimmy Page, Carly Simon, Pete Townshend, Rufus Wainwright, Thom Yorke, and many more.

A group collaboration, The Beach Boys by the Beach Boys is, in effect, The Beach Boys’ autobiography. Like their music, it is poignant, frank, often humorous but always sincere. 

Harlan Ellison: Greatest Hits (Herald Classics) 

As one of the great writers of speculative fiction of the twentieth century, Harlan Ellison shaped the science fiction, fantasy, and horror genres.  This inventive and provocative collection of his best-known and most-acclaimed stories is a perfect treasury for old Ellison fans as well as readers discovering this zany, polyphonic writer for the first time. 

Featuring these stories and many more: 

“‘Repent, Harlequin,’ Said the Ticktockman” — Hugo Award winner

“I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” — Bram Stoker Award winner

“Mefisto in Onyx” — Bram Stoker Award winner

“Jeffty Is Five” — British Fantasy Award winner

“Shatterday” — Twilight Zone episode

“The Whimper of Whipped Dogs” — Edgar Allan Poe Award winner

“Paladin of the Lost Hour” — Hugo Award winner, Twilight Zone episode

The Blues Brothers: An Epic Friendship, the Rise of Improv, 

and the Making of an American Film Classic

“They’re not going to catch us,” Dan Aykroyd, as Elwood Blues, tells his brother Jake, played by John Belushi. “We’re on a mission from God.” So opens the musical action comedy The Blues Brothers, which hit theaters on June 20, 1980. 

Their scripted mission was to save a local Chicago orphanage. But Aykroyd, who conceived and wrote much of the film, had a greater mission: to honor the then-seemingly forgotten tradition of rhythm and blues, some of whose greatest artists—Aretha Franklin, James Brown, John Lee Hooker, Cab Calloway, Ray Charles—made the film as unforgettable as its wild car chases. Much delayed and vastly over budget, beset by mercurial and oft drugged-out stars, The Blues Brothers opened to outraged reviews. 

However, in the 44 years since, it has been acknowledged a classic: it has been inducted into the National Film Registry for its cultural significance, even declared a “Catholic classic” by the Church itself, and re-aired thousands of times on television to huge worldwide audiences. It is, undeniably, one of the most significant films of the twentieth century.

The story behind any classic is rich; the saga behind The Blues Brothers, as Daniel de Visé reveals, is epic, encompassing the colorful childhoods of Belushi and Aykroyd; the comedic revolution sparked by Harvard’s Lampoon and Chicago’s Second City; the birth and anecdote-rich, drug-filled early years of Saturday Night Live, where the Blues Brothers were born as an act amidst turmoil and rivalry; and, of course, the indelible behind-the-scenes narrative of how the film was made, scene by memorable scene. Based on original research and dozens of interviews probing the memories of principals from director John Landis and producer Bob Weiss to Aykroyd himself, The Blues Brothers illuminates an American masterpiece while vividly portraying the creative geniuses behind modern comedy.

Ian Fleming: The Complete Man

Ian Fleming's greatest creation, James Bond, has had an enormous and ongoing impact on our culture. What Bond represents about ideas of masculinity, the British national psyche and global politics has shifted over time, as has the interpretation of the life of his author. But Fleming himself was more mysterious and subtle than anything he wrote.

Ian's childhood with his gifted brother Peter and his extraordinary mother set the pattern for his ambition to be “the complete man,” and he would strive for the means to achieve this “completeness'”all his life. Only a thriller writer for his last twelve years, his dramatic personal life and impressive career in Naval Intelligence put him at the heart of critical moments in world history, while also providing rich inspiration for his fiction. Exceptionally well connected, and widely travelled, from the United States and Soviet Russia to his beloved Jamaica, Ian had access to the most powerful political figures at a time of profound change.

Nicholas Shakespeare is one of the most gifted biographers working today. His talent for uncovering material that casts new light on his subjects is fully evident in this masterful, definitive biography. His unprecedented access to the Fleming archive and his nose for a story make this a fresh and eye-opening picture of the man and his famous creation.

From the Moment They Met It Was Murder: 

Double Indemnity and the Rise of Film Noir

From actual murder to magazine fiction to movie, the history of Double Indemnity is as complex as anything that hit the screen during film noir’s classic period. A 1927 tabloid sensation “crime of the century” inspired journalist and would-be crime-fiction writer James M. Cain to pen a novella. Hollywood quickly bid on the film rights, but throughout the 1930s a strict code of censorship made certain that no studio could green-light a murder melodrama based on real events. Then in 1943 veteran scriptwriter and newly minted director Billy Wilder wanted the story for his third movie. With tentative approval from the studio he hired hardboiled novelist Raymond Chandler to co-write a script that would be acceptable to industry censors.

Director Wilder then cajoled a star cast into coming aboard: the incomparable Barbara Stanwyck in her unforgettable turn as the ultimate femme fatale; alongside Fred MacMurray, going against type as her accomplice; and Edward G. Robinson as a dogged claims investigator. Wilder kept Chandler on for the entire shoot, and other key collaborators were cinematographer John Seitz, costume designer Edith Head,  and composer Miklôs Rôzsa. With all these talented contributors, the final film became one of the earliest studio noirs to gain critical and commercial success, including being nominated for seven Oscars. It powerfully influenced the burgeoning noir movement, spawned many imitators, and affected the later careers of all its cast and crew. Double Indemnity’s impact on filmmakers and audiences is still felt eight decades since its release.

Authors Alain Silver and James Ursini tell the complete, never-before-told history of writing, making, and marketing of Double Indemnity in their latest and most provocative work on film noir: From the Moment They Met It Was Murder.

The Maps of Middle-earth: The Essential Maps of J.R.R. Tolkien's Fantasy Realm from Númenor and Beleriand to Wilderland and Middle-Earth

J.R.R. Tolkien once wrote: “I wisely started with a map, and made the story fit.” The Maps of Middle-earth presents four of Tolkien’s iconic maps, reimagined and newly updated for this edition by acclaimed Tolkien artist, John Howe, and richly decorated with scenes from the books:

Middle-earth, a breath-taking panorama of all the locations from Hobbiton to Mordor that feature in The Lord of the Rings;

Wilderland, a charming evocation of the realm to which Bilbo journeyed ‘there and back again’ in The Hobbit;

Beleriand, a lyrical portrayal of the ancient landscape of the First Age, where the great tales of The Silmarillion took place;

Númenor, an exclusive reproduction of the legendary island described in Unfinished Tales, which was sunk beneath the waves in the Second Age of Middle-earth.

The maps are accompanied by an authoritative text written by Brian Sibley, which tells the stories behind The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion, and gives accounts of how the original maps came into being. Filled with illustrations by John Howe, many of which appear here for the first time, the book also features gazetteers of all the names on each of the four maps. They provide revealing insights into the significant role each place-name played in the stories, including those of Númenor, the island-kingdom once inhabited by Elendil and his sons, Isildur and Anárion, ancestors of Aragorn, that was sunk in a cataclysmic storm following the treacherous deeds of Sauron, as told in Of the Rings of Power in The Silmarillion.

The Art of the Literary Poster (Leonard A. Lauder Collection)

Spurred by innovations in printing technology, the modern poster emerged in the 1890s as a popular form of visual culture in the United States. Created by some of the best-known illustrators and graphic designers of the period — including Will H. Bradley, Florence Lundborg, Edward Penfield, and Ethel Reed — these advertisements for books and high-tone periodicals such as Harper’s and Lippincott’s went beyond the realm of commercial art, incorporating bold, stylized imagery and striking typography. This book, based on the renowned Leonard A. Lauder Collection, explores the craze for literary posters, which became sought- after collectibles even in their day. It offers new scholarly perspectives that address the aesthetic sophistication and modernity of the literary poster; the impact of early experiments in the field of advertising psychology; the expanded opportunities for women artists, who played an important role in advancing the socalled poster style; and the printmaking techniques that artists employed in this novel art form. A lively survey of a little-known but highly influential period in graphic design, The Art of the Literary Poster is sure to delight enthusiasts of illustration, advertising, and book arts.

Me and Mr. Jones: My Life with David Bowie and the Spiders from Mars

From the stylist behind David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust look, an electrifying memoir taking readers behind the curtains during a legendary chapter of pop culture history.

Suzi Ronson was working in an English hair salon in the early 1970s when Mrs. Jones came in for her weekly shampoo and set. After being introduced to her son, David, and his wife, Angie, she soon finds herself at the Bowies' bohemian apartment and embroiled in their raucous world.

Having crafted his iconic Ziggy Stardust hairstyle, Suzi becomes the only working woman in David's touring party and joins The Spiders from Mars as they perform around the globe. Amid the costume blunders, parties, and groupies she meets her husband-to-be, Mick Ronson, and together they traverse the absurdities of life in rock & roll, falling in with the likes of Iggy Pop, Bob Dylan, and Lou Reed along the way.

Dazzling and intimate in equal measure, Me and Mr. Jones provides not only a unique perspective into one of the most beguiling stars in the history of pop music but also of a world on the cusp of cultural transformation.

The Avengers: Heroes, Icons, Assembled

The Avengers explores the phenomenon of one of Marvel Comics’ most popular super hero teams and the most significant and influential Avengers stories, and includes relevant spinoffs and ancillary comic book characters and events.

Framed by a longtime comic book industry insider and told using hundreds of comic book images, variant covers, and Marvel Cinematic Universe storyboards and concept art, this book recounts the Avengers’ essential stories: from the team’s origins with Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk, Ant-Man, and the Wasp; to their most iconic battles; to alternate lineups including the Dark Avengers and the West Coast Avengers; and how the Avengers are powerful and relevant in today’s comic book (and super hero film) culture.

With more than three hundred Avengers illustrations, beginning with their inception in the early 1960s to present-day treatments of the group, The Avengers is sure to appeal to new fans looking for a great place to start learning about Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, to megafans, and to Marvel collectors alike.

Made of Pen & Ink: Fleischer Studios, The Florida Years

Made of Pen and Ink: Fleischer Studio, The Florida Years" continues to introduce readers to the influential, innovative and still funny animated cartoons produced by Max Fleischer, after Fleischer Studios moved to Florida. If you want to learn how the Popeye, Superman, Gulliver and Out of the Inkwell cartoons were made (among others) and where to see them, this book is for you. With original interviews with artists who made the classic shorts as well as plenty of rare illustrations, this book is a must-have for any movie fan who wants a deep dive into one of the greatest animation studios and the cartoons it produced.

Breaking Bold and Brave: A Fan's Journey Through One of Comics' Greatest Titles

From 1955 to 1983 The Brave and the Bold stood as one of DC Comics’ core titles, a series that spanned multiple eras and popularized the very concept of the “team-up,” the joining of forces of superheroes, monsters, and more! It also introduced such superstars as the Silver Age Hawkman, Metamorpho, and the Justice League of America! It was a magazine like no other!

Now, writer-editor Jim Beard offers up observations and opinions on the book fans fondly called “B&B” as he journeys through every story, character, and creator of its legendary 200-issue run! Be prepared for fun, facts, and whatever strikes his fancy on a very personal and personable comic book odyssey!

Breaking Bold and Brave includes dossiers on all 200 issues of The Brave and the Bold plus Super DC Giant #S-16 and DC Special Series #8, as well as essays on many aspects of the book’s history, such as eras, editors, try-out team-ups, and, of course, Batman and Bob Haney! It also features a Foreword by comics legend and B&B scribe Paul Kupperberg and a Q&A with B&B writer Alan Brennert!

Here Comes Charlie Brown! A Peanuts Pop-Up

Charles M. Schulz introduced readers to “Good Ol’ Charlie Brown” on October 2, 1950, with the publication of the very first Peanuts comic strip—considered the most iconic comic of all time. It is also a perfect haiku of art, text, and paranoia, with a variation of the Browning sonnet “How Do I Love Thee?” thrown in for literary measure. Everything that is great about Schulz and Peanuts is established right out of the gate in these four perfect panels, which have influenced every comic strip that has followed.

With this innovative, palm-sized pop-up book, cartoonist and comics historian Gene Kannenberg Jr. brings that very first comic strip to life for a whole new generation, as well as for longtime fans of the classic and beloved brand.

Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind

Yoko Ono (b. 1933) firmly established herself as a leading figure in the Fluxus movement by the mid-1960s. Since that time, her multimedia practice, encompassing sculpture, film, performance, instruction, and music, has had a significant impact on the trajectory of contemporary art. The first major publication on Ono’s work in more than a decade, this important volume celebrates her career at a pivotal moment and illustrates the prescient themes that the artist has long championed and that have become central to today’s art practice.

 

This handsome volume traces Ono’s career across continents, beginning with the artist’s early work in Tokyo. Ono’s time in 1960s London is also centered, and the survey looks critically at the development of her work in that period against the more public specter of her relationship with John Lennon and The Beatles. The book then focuses a wider lens on Ono’s transnational networks, including her impact on continental Europe and her extended residency in New York. Throughout her career in each of these places, Ono championed feminist, antiwar, and environmental ideas that have only grown in relevance. Drawing on key themes of audience participation, play, and music, the book also employs Ono’s own words to encourage readers to experience Ono’s work through actions that she finds particularly resonant: reading, enacting, imagining, and wishing.

Coming Up: 'Nancy and Sluggo's Guide to Life: Comics about Money, Food, and Other Essentials'

Out May 14 and available for pre-order now from Amazon.

Details: 

The newspaper cartoonist Ernie Bushmiller once admitted that “all my characters are conceived in desperation.” Nancy was no exception. She was the niece of the star of his other strip, Fritzi Ritzi, and meant to serve as a throwaway gag character. But Nancy could not be contained: Within a few years, Bushmiller’s strip had been renamed for her, and she had begun her ascent into the pantheon of cartooning greats.

Nancy, along with on-and-off boyfriend Sluggo, delivered absurd laughs to readers for decades, all rendered in Bushmiller’s distinctive line that cartoonist Denis Kitchen once called “geometric perfection.” A masterpiece of humor and cartooning, Nancy earned both scorn and acclaim for decades, serving as a muse (and sometimes punching bag) for the likes of Andy Warhol, Joe Brainard, Gary Panter, Matt Groening, and more.

This collection of Bushmiller’s Nancy brings together a selection from the beloved Kitchen Sink Press editions of Nancy strips, including How Sluggo Survives! and Nancy Eats Food, as well as a number of newly selected cartoons.

Together, this wide-ranging collection offers a chance for readers to experience the full range of Bushmiller’s absurd humor and unexpected visual delights. As Nancy once said: “Anything can happen in a comic strip!”

Coming Up: 'The Nancy Show: Celebrating the Art of Ernie Bushmiller'

Out July 9 and available for pre-order now from Amazon. 

Ernie Bushmiller stated that his Nancy was created for “the gum chewers” and not the “caviar eaters.” He might be surprised to find his work honored in an important art exhibition. Nancy herself would believe she deserves nothing less!

By scholars, collectors, and fans, the importance of Ernie Bushmiller’s work has been acknowledged in recent years as he takes his place among the great classic cartoonists. This book is a companion catalogue of artwork, memorabilia, and more from “The Nancy Show” a 2024 exhibition honoring Bushmiller at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum. Included are high-quality images of over 100 pieces of Ernie Bushmiller original artwork, plus a biography by exhibition curator Brian Walker. A collector’s story by Tom Gammil gives insights on Nancy artwork and displays a gallery of dolls, toys, and other merchandise. The Nancy Show also features contributions by authors Paul Karasik and Mark Newgarden (How To Read Nancy), as well as notes from Bill Griffith, Patrick McDonnell, Ivan Brunetti, and others.

The book also features a collection of the best Nancy Sunday pages from over the decades, meticulously restored and printed in near full-size, most never been reprinted in color before. This book gives comic lovers an opportunity to experience “The Nancy Show” exhibition long after it leaves the museum. It’s a volume no Nancy fan should be without! Special bonus gift: This book includes a sheet of exclusive Nancy gift-wrapping paper, suitable for wrapping the book itself or anything else one might give to a Nancy lover.

New Pop Culture Books: Miles Davis, Ursula Le Guin, Mandalorian, Black Panther, More

Our picks this month. Click the links to order from Amazon. 

3 Shades of Blue: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, 

Bill Evans, and the Lost Empire of Cool

The myth of the ’60s depends on the 1950s being the “before times” of conformity, segregation, straightness—The Lonely Crowd and The Organization Man. This all carries some truth, but it does nothing to explain how, in 1959, America’s great indigenous art form, jazz, reached the height of its power and popularity, thanks to a number of Black geniuses so legendary they go by one name—Monk, Mingus, Rollins, Coltrane, and, above all, Miles. Nineteen fifty-nine saw Miles, Coltrane, Bill Evans, and more come together to record what is widely considered the greatest jazz album of all time, and certainly the bestselling: Kind of Blue.

3 Shades of Blue is James Kaplan’s magnificent account of the paths of the three giants to the mountaintop of 1959 and beyond. It’s a book about music, and business, and race, and heroin, and the towns that gave jazz its home, from New Orleans and New York to Kansas City, Philadelphia, Chicago, and LA. It’s an astonishing meditation on creativity and the strange hothouses that can produce its full flowering. It’s a book about the great forebears of this golden age, particularly Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, and the disrupters, like Ornette Coleman, who would take the music down truly new paths. And it’s about why the world of jazz most people know is a museum to this never-replicated period.

But above all, 3 Shades of Blue is a book about three very different men—their struggles, their choices, their tragedies, their greatness. Bill Evans had a gruesome downward spiral; John Coltrane took the mystic’s path into a space far away from mainstream concerns. Miles had three or four sea changes in him before the end. The tapestry of their lives is, in Kaplan’s hands, an American odyssey with no direction home. It is also a masterpiece, a book about jazz that is as big as America.

The Freaks Came Out to Write: The Definitive History of the Village Voice,

 the Radical Paper That Changed American Culture

You either were there or you wanted to be. A defining New York City institution co-founded by Norman Mailer, The Village Voice was the first newspaper to cover hip-hop, the avant-garde art scene, and Off-Broadway with gravitas. It reported on the AIDS crisis with urgency and seriousness when other papers dismissed it as a gay disease. In 1979, the Voice’s Wayne Barrett uncovered Donald Trump as a corrupt con artist before anyone else was paying attention. It invented new forms of criticism and storytelling and revolutionized journalism, spawning hundreds of copycats. 

 

With more than 200 interviews, including two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, Colson Whitehead, cultural critic Greg Tate, gossip columnist Michael Musto, and feminist writers Vivian Gornick and Susan Brownmiller, former Voice writer Tricia Romano pays homage to the paper that saved NYC landmarks from destruction and exposed corrupt landlords and judges. With interviews featuring post-punk band, Blondie, sportscaster Bob Costas, and drummer Max Weinberg, of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, in this definitive oral history, Romano tells the story of journalism, New York City and American culture—and the most famous alt-weekly of all time.

Drums & Demons: The Tragic Journey of Jim Gordon

Jim Gordon was the greatest rock drummer of all-time. Just ask the world-famous musicians who played with him—John Lennon, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Tom Petty, Frank Zappa, Steely Dan, Ringo Starr, Harry Nilsson, Joe Cocker, and many more. They knew him for his superior playing, extraordinary training and technique, preternatural intuition, perfect sense of time, and his “big fill”—the mathematically-precise clatter that exploded like detonating fireworks on his drum breaks. And as best-selling author and award-winning journalist Joel Selvin reveals, the story of Jim Gordon is the most brilliant, turbulent, and wrenching rock opera ever. 

This riveting narrative follows Gordon as the very chemicals in his brain that gifted him also destroyed him. His head crowded with a hellish gang of voices screaming at him, demanding obedience, Gordon descended from the absolute heights of the rock world—playing with the most famous musicians of his generation—to working with a Santa Monica dive-bar band for $30 a night. And then he committed the most shocking crime in rock history. 

With full cooperation from the late Gordon's family, and based on his trademark extensive, detailed research, Joel Selvin’s account is at once an epic journey through an artist’s monumental musical contributions, a rollicking history of rock drumming, and a terrifying downward spiral into unimaginable madness that Gordon fought a valiant but losing battle against. One of the great untold stories of rock is finally being told.

Defy the Storm: Star Wars: The High Republic

The Galactic Republic is in chaos following the Nihil’s shocking destruction of the gleaming space station Starlight Beacon. Capitalizing on their victory, the Nihil have erected a barrier called the Stormwall around a section of Republic space and claimed it for themselves. Within this Occlusion Zone, people live at the mercy of the Nihil—and the Nihil are not known for mercy.

Jedi Knight Vernestra Rwoh, believing her Padawan, Imri Cantaros, to be among the casualties of Starlight Beacon, has retreated to a peaceful planet where she hopes to nurse her wounds and regain some sense of equilibrium. But her old friend Avon Starros has other plans. Avon knows that Imri is alive inside the Occlusion Zone—and she and Vernestra must be the ones to find him.

With the help of former frontier deputy Jordanna Sparkburn and the extremely untrustworthy Xylan Graf, Avon and Vernestra set out to breach the Stormwall and enter the Occlusion Zone in search of Imri. But within Nihil territory, danger lurks around every corner . . . as do terrifying creatures known as the Nameless.

The Art of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor

An oversized, full-color hardcover art book collecting concept art and creator commentary from the next chapter in Cal Kestis’ thrilling saga.

Cal and his friends continue to evade the Empire’s clutches in the dark times following Order 66, but just as a hidden hope reveals itself, new dangers emerge and threaten to destroy everything that the young Jedi has fought to preserve.

Explore the creation of the newest Star Wars Jedi adventure with a tome that intimately chronicles the game’s development—from visionary design to inspirational artwork to stunning final renders. With heroes and villains both familiar and new, breathtaking locales, and incredible ships and weapons, The Art of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor offers a unique look at the inner workings of a galaxy far, far away.

Bitter Crop: 

The Heartache and Triumph of Billie Holiday's Last Year

In the first biography of Billie Holiday in more than two decades, Paul Alexander—author of heralded lives of Sylvia Plath and J. D. Salinger—gives us an unconventional portrait of arguably America’s most eminent jazz singer. He shrewdly focuses on the last year of her life—with relevant flashbacks to provide context—to evoke and examine the persistent magnificence of Holiday’s artistry when it was supposed to have declined, in the wake of her drug abuse, relationships with violent men, and run-ins with the law.

During her lifetime and after her death, Billie Holiday was often depicted as a down-on-her-luck junkie severely lacking in self-esteem. Relying on interviews with people who knew her, and new material unearthed in private collections and institutional archives, Bitter Crop—a reference to the last two words of Strange Fruit, her moving song about lynching—limns Holiday as a powerful, ambitious woman who overcame her flaws to triumph as a vital figure of American popular music.

MARVEL STUDIOS' BLACK PANTHER: 

WAKANDA FOREVER - THE ART OF THE MOVIE

In the wake of T'Challa's death, Wakanda is left without a Black Panther. As world powers clamor to gain access to vibranium, a new enemy breaches Wakandan borders. Queen Ramonda must join forces with this new threat or potentially put her people at risk. Ultimately, Shuri, Okoye, Nakia, M'Baku and some unexpected heroes will have to overcome the grief of losing one of the world's greatest super heroes to repel this powerful adversary and take their places among the legendary heroes of Wakanda! 

Continuing their popular ART OF series of tie-in books, Marvel Studios presents another blockbuster achievement. Featuring exclusive concept artwork and in-depth interviews with the creative team, this deluxe volume provides insider details about the making of the highly anticipated film.

Icons of Rock: In Their Own Words 

(The Truth Behind Famous Songs) 

A glimpse into the creative power of music. Ever since the Beatles’ British Invasion, numerous rock bands and singers have created albums that still have many fans’ love and devotion today. Was it raw talent, or was there something below the surface that transformed these dreamers into Hollywood legends? Icons of Rock invites music lovers to discover the truth behind their favorite artists and how they created the best songs of all time. Investigating the psychology and chemistry behind artistic inspiration, you will find how much an unconscious influence can change not only one person’s life, but the entire world.

Rock legends share their inspirational tips for music success. Having experienced a life full of rock and roll, author Jenny Boyd explores the psychology of rock stars not just from a scientific point, but also from the musicians themselves. Inside, you’ll find rock and roll biographies full of what drove your favorite singers and bands into stardom. Featuring interviews and inspiring stories from Stevie Nicks, Ringo Starr, Keith Richards, and more, discover what makes a rock star and how you can find your own creative success by listening to your inner muse.

Star Wars: The Mandalorian Collection 

(Star Wars Insider Archives)

Prepare for an exciting look at the Mandalorians throughout Star Wars, from Jango and Boba Fett to Din Djarin and Bo-Katan Kryze. This deluxe edition provides a behind-the-scenes exploration of popular Mandalorian characters from film, television, and more with revealing interview material from the creators of The Mandalorian, Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau, as well as actors Pedro Pascal (Din Djarin), Temuera Morrison (Jango/ older Boba Fett), Katee Sackhoff (Bo-Katan Kryze), Emily Swallow (The Armorer), Daniel Logan (young Boba Fett from the prequel trilogy), and Jeremy Bulloch (Boba Fett from the original trilogy). Also included are indispensable episode guides for The Book of Boba Fett and all three seasons of The Mandalorian.

Lavishly illustrated with concept art, photography, and more, this special edition is the ideal companion for fans who want to get to know the warriors of Mandalore.

Teenage Wasteland: The Who at Winterland, 1968 and 1976

In February 1968 and March 1976, the Who performed shows in the same venue, almost ten years apart: San Francisco’s Winterland. Generally considered as two marginal years in the Who’s career, they are only apparently so. These two years represent a screen grab of the band taken in its purest form: live, and harder than ever, right before and right after the huge success the Who struggled to live with in the years between. 

Winterland was the perfect setting to see the band live in the city that welcomed them as a second home, San Francisco. At the Who’s first Winterland show in February 1968, just a few hundred hippies turn up. In March 1976, the venue is crammed to capacity—5,000 tickets are sold. 

Still, as the Examiner noted, “The Who could have sold eight times as many,” since 43,000 requests for tickets were sent! This all-access look at those two shows is a glimpse of what it was like to see the Who at Bill Graham’s legendary concert venue, and features firsthand accounts and previously unpublished photos by fans at the shows, as well as details the band behind the scenes and onstage.

Unconditionally Mad, Part 1 -

 The First Unauthorized History of Mad Magazine

This two-volume set (Part 1 and Part B) covers the entire 70+ year history of MAD magazine.

Part 1 covers from when Max C. Gaines ventured into comic book publishing in the 1930s and eventually founded E.C. Comics. E.C. started out publishing titles for small children and Bible stories, but after an unfortunate accident, son William M. Gaines took over and created legendary comic book titles such as Tales from the Crypt and Weird Science. Bill Gaines hired Harvey Kurtzman who created Two-Fisted Tales and Frontline Combat. Kurtzman wanted to increase his income, Gaines suggested adding a humor title and in 1952, MAD was born. In 1956, Kurtzman left and was replaced by former Crypt Editor, Al Feldstein. The story carries on through Feldstein’s 30-year tenure as the Editor of MAD.

The lawsuits, the hirings, the firings, the ghosts, the flatbugs, the spies, the FBI, the plants, the gooney birds and the celebrities are all contained here, along with many new and archival interviews with The Usual Gang of Idiots. It’s a story that’s UNCONDITIONALLY MAD!

The Secret Life of Hidden Places: 

Concealed Rooms, Clandestine Passageways, and the Curious Minds That Made Them

This wondrous guide for the curious and the intrepid takes readers on a lushly photographed and lyrically written tour of eighteen of the world’s most captivating architectural mysteries. Delve into both the secretive places themselves and the eccentric and obsessive minds that created them. Visit a chamber of skulls high in the Swiss Alps, a Japanese temple full of traps, a Parisian apartment locked and untouched since World War II, a Prohibition-era speakeasy in Washington, DC, and a spooky “initiation” well in Portugal built by a secret society. How far down can you climb before losing your nerve?

Godzilla & Kong: The Cinematic Storyboard Art of Richard Bennett

Godzilla & Kong: The Cinematic Storyboard Art of Richard Bennett features storyboard art from the blockbuster hits Godzilla vs. Kong, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, and Kong: Skull Island. It features a selection of the best sequences from these three films, along with full color stills reflecting the final shots in the film. 

Special “Unused Scenes” sections give you an unprecedented peek into the making of the films, revealing never before seen sequences. 

Presented in a deluxe 11.75” x 8.5” widescreen hardcover coffee table book of over 200 pages, plus featuring an introduction by Godzilla vs. Kong director Adam Wingard and afterword by Oscar-Nominated Production Designer Stefan Dechant, this collection is a must for movie buffs, film students, and all Kaiju aficionados. 

Ursula K. Le Guin: Five Novels:

 The Lathe of Heaven / The Eye of the Heron / The Beginning Place / 

Searoad / Lavinia (Library of America)

This 7th volume in the definitive Library of America edition of Ursula K. Le Guin’s works presents 5 remarkable standalone novels that showcase her boundless creativity and literary range.

In the Locus Award–winning The Lathe of Heaven (1971), one of Le Guin’s most admired works of science fiction, George Orr begins have effective dreams: dreams that change reality itself. But when he turns to the sleep researcher William Haber for help, the doctor sees an opportunity to use Orr’s strange gift for his own ends.

A former Terran prison colony on the planet Victoria seems destined for revolution in The Eye of the Heron (1978), when the authoritarian leaders in the City try to assert control over the peaceful farmers who have been sent to live around them.

The Beginning Place (1980) is a parable-like story in which Hugh and Irena have both found their way to the Beginning Place, a gateway to another world. The two initially become enemies, but must learn to work together when the utopia they’ve found turns out to have a shadow.

The long out-of-print Searoad: Chronicles of Klatsand (1991) is a Winesburg, Ohio-like series of linked stories set in a small vacation town on the Oregon coast, where some of the characters have come for a weekend and some for longer, but all are pilgrims in the grip of inexpressible longings.

And Le Guin’s final, powerfully feminist novel, Lavinia (2008), reimagines Virgil's Aeneid from the perspective of a woman who, in poet's telling, never speaks a word.

Special features include an appendix presenting three essays by Le Guin related to the novels, previously unseen hand-drawn maps by author herself, helpful annotation, and a chronology of Le Guin's life and career.

Brought together here for the first time, these 5 remarkable standalone novels showcase a Hugo and Nebula Award–winning master at her very best.

Coming Up: 'It Rose From The Tomb: Celebrating the 20th Century's Best Horror Comics'

Out April 2 from TwoMorrows Publishing. Order now from Amazon.

Details:

Rising from the depths of history comes an all-new examination of the 20th Century's best horror comics, written by Peter Normanton (editor of From The Tomb, the UK’s preeminent magazine on the genre). 

From the pulps and seminal horror comics of the 1940s, through ones they tried to ban in the 1950s, this tome explores how the genre survived the introduction of the Comics Code, before making its terrifying return during the 1960s and 1970s. Come face-to-face with the early days of ACG’s alarming line, every horror comic from June 1953, hypodermic horrors, DC’s Gothic romance comics, Marvel’s Giant-Size terrors, Skywald and Warren’s chillers, and Atlas Seaboard’s shocking magazines. 

The 192-page full-color opus exhumes Bernie Wrightson’s darkest constructs, plus artwork by Frank Frazetta, Neal Adams, Mike Kaluta, Steve Ditko, Matt Fox, Warren Kremer, Lee Elias, Bill Everett, Russ Heath, The Gurch, and many more. Don't turn your back on this once-in-a-lifetime spine-chiller―it's so good, it's frightening!

New Pop Culture Books: Chester Himes, Stanley Kubrick, Bee Gees and More

Our picks this month.

The Essential Harlem Detectives: A Rage in Harlem, 

The Real Cool Killers, The Crazy Kill, Cotton Comes To Harlem

Here in one volume is an exceptional selection from Chester Himes's acclaimed Harlem Detectives series. Winner of France's prestigious Grand Prix de Littérature Policière and lauded by Jean Cocteau as a "prodigious masterpiece," A Rage in Harlem introduces detectives Grave Digger Jones and Coffin Ed Johnson in a searing escapade. In The Real Cool Killers, the duo investigates a shooting and discovers an unsettling personal connection. In The Crazy Kill, a man is found in a breadbasket, stabbed to death, leaving Himes's detectives to find out who among the many suspects did it. And in Cotton Comes to Harlem, the brazen robbery of a notorious con man running a back-to-Africa scam sets off a hunt for a bale of Southern cotton. These masterful novels exhibit Himes's evocative, baroque descriptions of Black life in Harlem and his famously blistering social commentary. 

Everyman's Library pursues the highest production standards, printing on acid-free paper, with full-cloth cases with two-color foil stamping, decorative endpapers, silk ribbon markers, European-style half-round spines, and a full-color illustrated jacket. Contemporary Classics include an introduction, a select bibliography, and a chronology of the author's life and times.

Kubrick: An Odyssey

Stanley Kubrick: An Odyssey fills that gap. This definitive book is based on access to the latest research, especially Kubrick's archive at the University of the Arts, London, as well as other private papers plus new interviews with family members and those who worked with him. It offers comprehensive and in-depth coverage of Kubrick’s personal, private, public, and working life. Stanley Kubrick: An Odyssey investigates not only the making of Kubrick's films, but also about those he wanted (but failed) to make like Burning Secret, Napoleon, Aryan Papers, and A.I.

Revealingly, this immersive biography will puncture the controversial myths about the reclusive filmmaker who created some of the most important works of art of the twentieth century.

The Story of The Bee Gees: Children of the World

The world is full of Bee Gees fans. Yet for a band of such renown, little is known about Barry, Maurice, and Robin Gibb.

People tend to have their favorite era of the Bee Gees's career, but many listeners are also conscious that there is more to uncover about the band. This book will provide the perfect solution, by pulling together every fascinating strand to tell the story of a group with the imagination of the Beatles, the pop craft of ABBA, the drama of Fleetwood Mac, and the emotional heft of the Beach Boys.

Uniquely, the Bee Gees's tale spans the entire modern pop era—they are the only group to have scored British top-ten singles in the '60s, '70s, '80s, and ‘90s—and includes world-conquering disco successes like 'Stayin' Alive' and 'More Than a Woman', both from the soundtrack of the hit film Saturday Night Fever.

But the Bee Gees's extraordinary career was one of highs and lows. From a vicious but temporary split in 1969 to several unreleased albums, disastrous TV and film appearances, and a demoralising cabaret season, the group weren't always revelling in the glow of million-selling albums, private jets, and UNICEF concerts. Yet, even in the Gibbs' darkest times, their music was rarely out of the charts, as sung by the likes of Al Green, Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton, and Destiny's Child.

Capturing the human story at the heart of the Bee Gees, this book is a lyrical and stylish read, delighting hardcore fans with its details while engaging casual pop readers who simply want to know more about this important and enigmatic group.

Alfred Hitchcock Storyboards

This stunning coffee table book focuses on the storyboards for nine of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic movies – Vertigo, The Birds, Psycho, North by Northwest, The 39 Steps, Torn Curtain, Marnie, Shadow of a Doubt and Spellbound. It includes never before-published images and incisive text putting the material in context and examining the role the pieces played in some of the most unforgettable scenes in cinema. Hitchcock author and aficionado Tony Lee Moral provides a fascinating and illuminating insight into the directorial mind of the Master of Suspense.

I Saw Them Standing There: 

Adventures of an Original Fan during Beatlemania and Beyond

After February 9, 1964, everyone wanted to be Debbie Gendler. On that date, she was just one of a relative handful of lucky fans who were in the live audience for The Beatles’ historic performance on The Ed Sullivan Show—an iconic television event viewed in the living rooms of 73 million Americans. Everyone has a story to share about where they were when they watched the appearance, but very few were there in person—and even fewer would actually go on not just to meet the Beatles, but end up building an entire career around the band. But Debbie did.

This is the story of a New Jersey teenager who managed to accomplish what millions only dreamed about. Prior to the Beatles arrival in America, Gendler met with the group’s manager Brian Epstein regarding the establishment of a U.S. Fan Club. Atthe start of the Beatles’ historic 1965 summer tour, she was the only teen to welcome them to America, and after their press conference at The Warwick Hotel she finally meets them in person.

Continuing her journey, Debbie recounts her unique and sometimes wacky experiences having witnessed first-hand some of the most historic events in pop culture. She shares concert antics from Forest Hills Tennis Stadium, Shea Stadium and Suffolk Downs and describes the mayhem outside the Plaza Hotel and later that year at the Delmonico Hotel chanting for the Beatles. Organizing fans to sleep on Broadway to purchase tickets for A Hard Day’s Night, representing the Official Beatles Fan Club on television, and promoting the Ringo for President novelty record are just some of the requests she fulfilled as one of the band’s leading ambassadors in the US.This coming-of-age tale details the adolescent journey of a devoted Beatles fan in all her youthful innocence against the backdrop of the turbulent 1960s, and a shifting cultural landscape.

Whotopia: The Ultimate Guide to the Whoniverse

Six decades may only be a handful of heartbeats to a Time Lord, but for Doctor Who it's the adventure of several lifetimes. Evolving over 60 years, the world's longest-running sci-fi TV show has gifted us a universe of menacing monsters and unforgettable heroes. You might even call it a 'Whotopia'.

Now you can roam free through the Doctor's dimension as never before in this special commemorative book for Doctor Who's diamond anniversary. Join all the Doctors as each tells their own story. Learn about their legions of legendary allies - and hear from the monsters' own mouths about what makes them tick. Find danger on alien worlds and threats here on Earth in all eras. And explore the gadgets, robots, spaceships, computers and mind-blowing creations that crowd the never-ending corridors of Whotopia.

Crammed with exciting new images and in full colour throughout, Whotopia: The Ultimate Guide to the Whoniverse is the essential celebration of 60 years of Doctor Who.

Dark Horse Records: 

The Story of George Harrison's Post-Beatles Record Label

In 1974, as Apple was winding down, George Harrison and RIngo Starr both wanted to help new artists, so rather than trying to salvage Apple Records, each ex-Beatle created their own label. Ringo Starr established Ring'o Records, while George Harrison created Dark Horse Records, set up to be a much smaller scale label, releasing records from new artists as well as some of his old friends, with an eye to eventually releasing his own solo music. 

While Dark Horse had an encouraging beginning with a hit single from Splinter in 1974, the label started suffering some problems, failing to establish itself the way Harrison hoped. However, some incredible music from a variety of artists was created from 1974 to 1977 and some of Harrison's best solo material would come out on that label.

In the end, Dark Horse Records would only release George Harrison's solo work (for the most part), but since 2020, Dhani Harrison has taken over the reins and has made Dark Horse a viable label once again, signing Cat Stevens, Billy Idol and releasing music from Joe Strummer and Leon Russell. Finally, in 2023, it was announced that Harrison's entire solo catalogue was going to be rereleased on Dark Horse. This book tells the story of the label from the beginning, through its struggles and to its new and exciting renaissance.

Comics and Modernism: History, Form, and Culture

Since the early 1990s, cartoonist Art Spiegelman has made the case that comics are the natural inheritor of the aesthetic tradition associated with the modernist movement of the early twentieth century. In recent years, scholars have begun to place greater import on the shared historical circumstances of early comics and literary and artistic modernism. Comics and Modernism: History, Form, and Culture is an interdisciplinary consideration of myriad social, cultural, and aesthetic connections.

Filling a gap in current scholarship, an impressively diverse group of scholars approaches the topic from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds and methodologies. Drawing on work in literary studies, art history, film studies, philosophy, and material culture studies, contributors attend to the dynamic relationship between avant-garde art, literature, and comics. Essays by both established and emerging voices examine topics as divergent as early twentieth-century film, museum exhibitions, newspaper journalism, magazine illustration, and transnational literary circulation.

In presenting varied critical approaches, this book highlights important interpretive questions for the field. Contributors sometimes arrive at thoughtful consensus and at other times settle on productive disagreements. Ultimately, this collection aims to extend traditional lines of inquiry in both comics studies and modernist studies and to reveal overlaps between ostensibly disparate artistic practices and movements.

Frank Johnson, Secret Pioneer of American Comics Vol. 1:

 Wally's Gang Early Years (1928-1949) and The Bowser Boys (1946-1950) 

When Frank Johnson, an itinerant musician and shipping clerk, died in 1979, he left behind a startling discovery: more than 2,300 notebook pages of comics and 131 unbound drawings, among them a massive, continuous story line beginning in the earliest surviving notebook dated 1928 ― before the existence of comic books! ― and following the exploits of his own cast of characters across 50 years until Johnson passed away. During this lifelong project, Johnson invented in private many of the conventions and tropes that define comics storytelling, effectively enacting an alternative secret history of the comics medium.

This debut publication of Johnson’s work is the first of two 600+ page volumes that will collect the best 1200 pages of his comics, including Wally’s Gang, his 50-year magnum opus chronicling the humorous, cliff-hanging adventures of a group of bachelor friends; The Bowser Boys, a seamy, darkly slapstick depiction of bohemian street life that could be considered the first underground comic series; and, coming in Volume 2, Juke Boys, absurd, self-reflexive graphic experimentation.

Curator and historian Chris Byrne and fine artist and graphic novelist Keith Mayerson have brought this astounding work into the light of day and provide historical background and analysis.

A Cut Below: A Celebration of B Horror Movies, 1950s-1980s

Horror films have been around for more than 100 years, and they continue to make a large impact on popular culture as they reflect their contemporary zeitgeist. Between the mid-1950s and mid-1980s, drive-in theaters were at their peak of popularity, and each decade brought forward new challenges and themes.

This book explores 60 B horror films, divided into 12 fun and uniquely-themed categories. Chapters discuss how the Atomic Age, the Vietnam War, the women's liberation movement and other current events and social issues affected these films. Films covered include Willard, The Fly, Santa Sangre and many more.

Bill Ward: The Fantagraphics Studio Edition

Bill Ward’s glamour girls were the staples of countless men’s and humor magazines, where they shared the pages with cult models like Bettie Page, Tina Louise, and Julie Newmar, and cartoons by fellow “good girl” artists such as Archie’s Dan Decarlo and Playboy’s Jack Cole. What set Ward apart―and above―his talented contemporaries in terms of sheer image-making was his use of the conte crayon.  When drawn on simple newsprint stock, this potent combination created Ward’s trademark gossamer sheen on his women’s thigh-high stockings.

This Fantagraphics Studio edition showcases the best of Ward’s Humorama work and includes a healthy number of what became known as his “telephone girls.” Tame by today’s standards, Ward’s telephone girls were always caught in candid moments when they just happened to be talking on the phone dressed in gossamer lingerie in innocently provocative poses.

The majority of the images in this volume were drawn between 1955 and 1965 when Ward was at the height of his skill. They have been scanned in super high-solution from original art and reproduced to highlight every sheen and accentuate every curve to its fullest.  The book not only reproduces more than 150 of Ward’s most beautifully rendered illustrations, but also serves as a time capsule to a more innocent moment in pop culture when these images were shocking.

The Allure of the Multiverse: 

Extra Dimensions, Other Worlds, and Parallel Universes

Our books, our movies—our imaginations—are obsessed with extra dimensions, alternate timelines, and the sense that all we see might not be all there is. In short, we can’t stop thinking about the multiverse. As it turns out, physicists are similarly captivated.  

 

In The Allure of the Multiverse, physicist Paul Halpern tells the epic story of how science became besotted with the multiverse, and the controversies that ensued. The questions that brought scientists to this point are big and deep: Is reality such that anything can happen, must happen? How does quantum mechanics “choose” the outcomes of its apparently random processes? And why is the universe habitable? Each question quickly leads to the multiverse. Drawing on centuries of disputation and deep vision, from luminaries like Nietzsche, Einstein, and the creators of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Halpern reveals the multiplicity of multiverses that scientists have imagined to make sense of our reality. Whether we live in one of many different possible universes, or simply the only one there is, might never be certain. But Halpern shows one thing for sure: how stimulating it can be to try to find out. 

The Skin of Dreams (New York Review Books Classics)

The Skin of Dreams is a novel of waking dreams. Even as he lives his life, Jacques L’Aumône, its hero, daydreams a hundred other possible lives. A few lines on a page, a chance encounter, a remark overheard in passing, any of these are enough to kick things into gear and send him off outside of himself to become a boxer, a general, a bishop, or a lord. He lives alongside his life with diligence and steadfastness; and the passage from real to dream is so natural for him that he no longer knows precisely which him he is. Eventually he becomes an actor in Hollywood, and the basis of countless dreams for others. This Jacques L’Aumône, like the characters who surround him, has the same sort of haunting and fluid consistency as someone that we might dream of in our beds at night. And reverie, here, is born through the tale’s humor, which is as gentle as it is cruel, as well as by way of a writing technique that is itself drawn from one of Queneau’s great loves, the cinema.