The first in a trilogy of graphic works inhabited by an eclectic assortment of cartoon characters caught in various moments of confusion, awkwardness and oblivious outrageousness. Inspired by the work of James Thurber, these captioned cartoons succinctly capture a world forever out of sync with the normal, the rational and the so-called well adjusted. While each book is structured around different criteria of organization, "Saddies" moves through three parts of the subtitle "You Never Know Who Might Give You a Black Eye," suggesting the unpredictability of the cartoons' internal universe.

Saddies: Or, You Never Know Who Might Give You a Black Eye

Stromberg, David

Arts & Photography

Jovian Books

<p>The second in a trilogy of graphic works inhabited by an eclectic assortment of cartoon characters caught in various moments of confusion, awkwardness and oblivious outrageousness. Inspired by the work of James Thurber, these captioned cartoons succinctly capture a world forever out of sync with the normal, the rational and the so-called well adjusted. While each book is structured around different criteria of organization, "Confusies" moves through six poetically titled sections designating notions such as "...despite the confusion...", "...beat down...", " and "...the dependence keeps..." Stromberg has experimented with the cartoons in various contexts, exploring, for example, their simultaneous qualities of levity and despair in a permanent mixed media installation at UCLA, or in an hour-long lecture given at The Smell.</p>

Confusies 2: Liberation of the Saddies

Third in a trilogy of graphic works inhabited by an eclectic assortment of cartoon characters caught in various moments of confusion, awkwardness and oblivious outrageousness.  Inspired by the work of James Thurber, these captioned cartoons succinctly capture a world forever out of sync with the normal, the rational and the so-called well-adjusted.   Desperaddies moves through eight thematic chapters, Individuals in Despair, A Review of More Childish Times and Animal Relief.

Desperaddies

A keenly satirical perspective of life on an ant farm in the context of our own day and age. The subtle hedonism of the ant farm involves a microcosmic look at the hilarious and ironically inflected unfolding of a society crumbling quietly from the inside. A society whose daily narratives and quirky characters resound with an engaging sense of dark wit and off-the-wall comedy, the ant farm emerges from the writer/illustrator's experience writing for theater companies, such as the L.A.-based group The Coop, as well as various independent films and plays.

Subtle Hedonism

Flavin, Nick

Exploring the old adage proclaiming, "The world is your oyster," each page offers an original mixed media collage incorporating drawings and photographs, and accompanied by a promise. These promises both engage and challenge the idea of promising, claiming, for example, to "break hearts with eyebrows" and "marry a woman with a husband." Hand-written into each of the photo-drawing-collages, the promises suggest the multi-faceted character of trust, a present inscription on the future which penetrates the verbal, the gestural and the inexpressible. Bauer's first book offers a work that is subtle, heartfelt and lyrical.

The Oyster Promise

Literature & Fiction

Bauer, Michael

Poetry

<p>The Drinking Game, published in the form of a set of instructions for an impossible-to-win game available online (www.thedrinkinggame.net) and as the author's traveling interactive performance piece, galvanizes the reader with the promise of illumination: here you will finally learn how to win. But the instructions themselves morph into stories and meld with the other short stories in the collection and everywhere one turns, the book plays its own game. The stories themselves are about games in form and content, elevating the concept from the silliness of Beer Pong to game as war--in the tradition of Robert Coover's A Night At The Movies. The Drinking Game starts off as a conceptual piece based in low culture, taking the reader through a series of haunting stories dealing with 9/11, female Chechen suicide bombers, and the game of life in a world which is, like the game itself, a landscape of foreignness.</p>

The Drinking Game

Parker, Jeff

Contemporary

Los Angelesbased artist Nick Lowe creates obsessively detailed color pencil drawings and collage works that are notably bizarre. Referencing rap stars, rainbows, electric guitars and monkey men, Lowe generates work with boyish enthusiasm and imagination. With a keen devotion to pop culture as well as to the natural world, black & white drawings and sketches, infuse the real with the extraordinary.

Tune

Lowe, Nick

Individual Artists

The second in the kwani? series published by Kwani Trust, this journal features works from a range of writers, mainly Kenyan. Parselelo Kantai's Comrade Lemma and the Black Jerusalem Boys Band was runner up at the Caine Prize for African writing, 2004. Fiction, poetry and bold nonfiction pieces, well selected to suit a range of readers and their tastes. The controversial piece by Uwem Akpan, An Xmas Feast, was first published in this journal. A reworked version of it was published in the New Yorker  the first time for an African writer.

Kwani? 02

Wainaina, Binyavanga

World Literature

Kwani? goes retro, with themes of blaxploitation coming across in the seductive cover images. The content  featuring six new fiction writers  is at once provocative and enlightening. Goldenberg  the scandal that robbed Kenya of billions of dollars  comes to light through the man who blew the whistle, David Munyakei, telling his story for the first time. In terms of layout and finish, kwani? 03 is the most complete of the books published by Kwani Trust. From Ed Pavlic's poetry to photographs of Chief Wanbugu and his family  opulent scenes from Kikuyu traditional royalty that few Kenyans are aware of. Binyavanga Wainaina, editor, rants in his usual style against the PHD's  Pull Him Downs. A must read.

Kwani? 03

Mzee Joseph Muthee was a detainee of the British colonial government in what is now Kenya. His nearphotographic memory, coupled by a total lack of bitterness at his fate, he tells a story that is at once compelling and horrific. It has taken him over fifty years to tell his story. Kwani Trust, publishers of these memoirs, are making a mark, once again, with memorable works from Kenya. The book will be published in English, but Kikuyu and Kiswahili translations will follow.

My Life in a British Concentration Camp

Biographies & Memoirs

Muthee, Joseph

Historical

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