Absinthe is not a relic of the past; there is a vibrant and devoted contemporary scene focused exclusively around the notorious Green Fairy. Indeed, the liquor's lore piques the interest of many: Does the drink drive one to madness? Does it serve as a gateway to boundless creativity? Which is the best method for enjoying the drink-set aflame or chilled with ice and sugar? How can I get my hands on all of the beguiling absinthe antiques? Answering these burning questions, authors Betina Wittels, Robert Hermesch, and T. A. Breaux, all astute absinthe connoisseurs, have updated their wildly successful book with an expanded historical section, new absinthe reviews to tantalize imbibers, sidebars peeking into various absinthe subcultures, stunning new imagery from both past and present, and much more. For those looking to begin their absinthe journey or for those who've been on the path for some time, this book is a must for those who fancy all things absinthe.

Absinthe Sip of Seduction: A Contemporary Guide

Robert Hermesch

Betina J. Wittels

Speck Press

Take an intimate look into the contemporary world of absinthe. International in scope, Absinthe: Sip of Seduction is a visually rich journey into an alluring subculture. Punctuated with color reproductions of classic and current lithographs, posters, postcards, cartoons, antiques, glassware, bottles, and other tools of the absinthe drinker, this new and thorough study explains and illustrates the history, culture, and mystique of the drink known as the Green Fairy.
Absinthe bars have popped up all over the globe in recent years. Festivals in Switzerland and France celebrate the many distilleries and varieties of absinthe available on the market today. Museums, films, collectors, and -reviews of existing brands all set this title apart from the historically based volumes currently on the English language market. Absinthe: Sip of Seduction explores absinthe’s contemporary absinthe and ritual.
The focus is unique; in addition to the customary glimpses of history, the authors provide insights into the controversy and effects of the Green Fairy through the stories of famous connoisseurs such as Vincent Van Gogh, Oscar Wilde, Ernest Hemingway, and Pablo Picasso. However, consumption and enjoyment of absinthe is not just relegated to history; contemporary drinkers include Johnny Depp and Marilyn Manson. Explained are sipping instructions, variations including French, Czech, and German methods, cocktail and drink recipes, and even suggestions for culinary accompaniments.
Confirmed absinthe drinkers, neophytes, the curious, and collectors will all find this book equally intriguing and seductive.

Absinthe: Sip of Seduction: A Contemporary Guide

Betina Wittels

Ed. T. A. Breaux

Arts & Photography

Though burlesque has survived in the back of our cultural consciousness after being pushed aside by modern stripping in the ’50s, the revival that began in the early ’90s has finally brought burlesque back to the forefront of popular culture.
Evolving from an underground movement to a nearly mainstream fetish, neo-burlesque embraces a wide variety of modern interpretations all based on the classic bump and grind and “taking it off” with a wink and a smile. From classic tributes to punk rock revisionists, women of all ages, sizes, and backgrounds are rediscovering burlesque and reinventing it. A sense of heightened imagination, empowerment and energy are being delivered to the stage, perhaps even more so than during the historic heyday, the Golden Age of Burlesque.
Slipping behind the scene, Burlesque and the New Bump-n-Grind undresses the issues of feminism, modern popularity, and what exactly draws the unique and varied audience members to the shows. The women—and men!—of burlesque also receive their fleshed-out dues by a categorized peek into the various troupe styles including classical, re-creationists, revivalists, modern, circus, performance art, political, queer, bawdy singers and comics.
Peppered throughout the book are full-color and black-and-white photographs that fully instill the picturesque dance into the reader’s mind.
Founder of one of the first neo-burlesque troupes, author Michelle Baldwin (a.k.a, Vivienne Va-Voom) has helped to bring the lost art of burlesque back to the forefront of pop culture. Baldwin has served as the creative director, choreographer, music director, costumer, financial head, and performer for her troupe, “Burlesque As It Was.” Her deep immersion into this art form has provided her with a rare view into the growth and evolution of the revival.

Burlesque and the New Bump-n-Grind

Baldwin, Michelle

Humor & Entertainment

Scooters tells the story of the scooters’ transition from a practical, efficient workhorse to a counter-cultural catalyst.
The Scootering hobby blends a healthy obsession for things mechanical with a distinct taste for the unusual. Scooters offers an insiders’ look at the massive growth of the avocation in North America since the mid 1980’s and explores the diversity of characters that make up the scooter scene. Filled with photographs and revving with color and personality, this wonderful book takes the reader along to the rally and should prove revealing and entertaining to those involved in Scootering and those who simply appreciate what it means to love and ride a work of art.
Invented in America and perfected in Europe, the scooter became a critical component in post-war reconstruction on the continent. Out-of-work munitions and aircraft factories churned out the user-friendly two wheelers as a boost to manufacturing and a way of providing inexpensive transportation capable of traversing a beleaguered infrastructure. Two key Italian marques, Vespa and Lambretta, lead a wave of stylish offerings from across Europe and created instant fan fare. Enthusiasm for the machine was such that scooter clubs were formed almost as quickly as the first models rolled off of the assembly lines. Competitive scooter riding events soon followed, and, in their heyday, scooters gave motorcycles a run for their money both on the racetrack and in showrooms.
Colin Shattuck is an active and well-traveled Scooterist involved in DCD, a Denver coalition of Scooter Clubs dedicated to hosting the annual Mile-High Mayhem Rally, one of the most heavily attended in North America. Shattuck is also co-founder of Sportique Scooters, a small chain of Scooter Shops based in Colorado.

Scooters: Red Eyes, Whitewalls and Blue Smoke

Engineering & Transportation

Shattuck, Colin

Automotive

“This sparkling debut fires volleys of one-liners . . . Romping good stuff.”—Daily Mail
“An original and highly readable debut for journalist-turned-gumshoe, Nick Madrid. But a word of warning: never let this man house-sit if you value your pets.”—Lynne Truss
“Made me laugh out loud and wince in sympathy at both the violence and the humiliation meted out to the narrator . . . enormous fun.”—Val McDermid
Tom Sharpe meets Raymond Chandler in No Laughing Matter, a humorous and brilliant debut that will keep readers on a knife’s edge of suspense until the bittersweet end.
When a naked woman flashes past Nick Madrid’s hotel window, it’s quite a surprise. For Nick’s room is on the 14th floor, and the hotel doesn’t have an outside elevator. The management is horrified when Cissie Parker lands in the swimming pool—not only is she killed, but she makes a real mess of the shallow end.
In Montreal for the Just For Laughs festival, Nick, a journalist who prefers practicing yoga to interviewing the stars, turns gumshoe to answer the question: did she fall or was she pushed? The trail leads first to the mean streets of Edinburgh and then to Los Angeles, where the truth lurks among the dark secrets of Hollywood.
Peter Guttridge is the Royal Literary Fund writing fellow at Southampton University and teaches creative writing. Between 1998 and 2002, he was the director of the Brighton Literature Festival. Since 1998, he has been the mystery reviewer for The Observer, one of Britain’s most prestigious Sunday newspapers. He lives in Sussex on the edge of the South Downs National Park.

No Laughing Matter

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Guttridge, Peter

Mystery

Sam Hill steals cars. Not just any cars, but collectible cars, rare works of automotive artistry. Sam’s a specialist, and he’s made a good life for himself in Albuquerque, NM. Things change one night after he steals a primo 1965 Thunderbird from a lawyer’s house. In the trunk, Sam finds a corpse, a police informant with a bullet hole between his eyes. And he learns that cops are swarming the garage where he’d planned to deliver the T-Bird. Somebody set Sam up. Played a trick on him. And Sam, a prankster himself, can’t let it go. He must find whoever framed him, and get his revenge with an even bigger practical joke, one that soon has gangsters gunning for him and police on his tail. Using his own resourcefulness as well as the assistance of his two pals, apprentice thief Billy Suggs and an inscrutable giant named Way-Way Henderson, Sam learns who’s behind the body in the trunk—Phil Ortiz, a notorious drug dealer and car collector. Sam, it seems, boosted Ortiz’s favorite car—a green low-rider painted with the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe—and Ortiz is determined to get even. And to get that car back. But Sam has other ideas. Such as sticking Ortiz with the body of the dead informant. Such as framing the sweaty salvage man who sided with Ortiz. Such as stealing the drug dealer’s entire collection of valuable cars. The stakes get higher with each round of one-upsmanship. Finally, it’s clear that Ortiz won’t quit until he has the last laugh and Sam Hill’s dead. In Boost, Brewer stirs up his usual potent mixture of high crime and low comedy in a rollicking novel where car thieves are the good guys and the action never stops.

Boost

Literature & Fiction

Brewer, Steve

Literary

“The satire is spot on. . . . There’s a pinch of Pratchett, a drop of Hiaasen and a deep affection for the worst of Fleet Street, but the result is all Guttridge.”—The Guardian
“I enjoyed the book immensely. Should make anyone smile, with the possible exception of New Agers, pensioners and devil-worshippers.”—Ian Rankin
Nick Madrid isn’t exactly thrilled when his best friend in journalism—OK, his only friend in journalism—the Bitch of the Broadsheets, Bridget Frost, commissions him to spend a night in a haunted place on the Sussex Downs and live to tell the tale. Especially as living to tell the tale isn’t made an urgent priority.
But Nick stumbles on a hotter story when he discovers a dead man hanging upside down from an ancient oak. Why was he killed? Is there a connection to the nearby New Age conference centre? Or to The Great Beast, the Hollywood movie about Aleister Crowley, filming down in Brighton?
New Age meets The Old Religion as Nick is bothered, bewildered but not necessarily bewitched by pagans, Satanists and a host of assorted metaphysicians. Séances, sabbats, a horse-ride from Hell and a kick-boxing zebra all come Nick’s way as he obstinately tracks a treasure once in the possession of Crowley.

A Ghost of a Chance

“Death,” observes DeKok, “is entitled to our respect. Especially when it manifests itself in a violent manner.” The phenomenon of sudden death has long intrigued Inspector DeKok. From the moment he confronted his first corpse, at the beginning of a very long career, he knew it was never going to get any easier. The numbness will never set in even after solving many mysteries, bringing to light many dark dealings, and unraveling many a puzzle. For DeKok, death will always remain an enigma. Mustering his decorated experience and reverence for the dead once more, a triple murder in the Amsterdam Concert Gebouw has DeKok unveiling the truth behind two dead ex-junkies and their housekeeper. Murder By Melody is the second new release by Speck Press in the celebrated Baantjer series. With an emphasis on the best possible translations, editorial consistency, and attractive cover art, this sleek series will prove that DeKok can claim success equal to that achieved in Europe where he is on a par with Maigret and Poirot.

DeKok and Murder by Melody

A.C. Baantjer

At their finest hours, bikes exist on a level above mere machines, and there’s no reason the joy should end when the ride is over.
Bicycle!, written by a working bicycle mechanic, covers -everything you need to know to feed and care for your own swank, two-wheeled ride. This book cuts through the obtuse techno-speak and delivers maintenance clarity with a touch of humor and radicalism while categorically denying mechanics’ supposed dreariness. Bicycle! is about encouraging society to learn for themselves how to make their bikes work, not because they have to, but because they want to.
With detailed descriptions of all maintenance tasks and repair situations, clearly illustrated with photographs and drawings, this guide will serve the need for a serious rider’s manual. Professional bicycle workers—messengers, mechanics, pedicab drivers—as well as bicycle commuters have been waiting for this book.
Sam Tracy writes about bikes from a practiced Midwestern perspective. He began producing the ’zine Biker Pride at some point in the early 1990s, after being fired from the college newspaper for violating its objectivity rules, and this project was later broadened just enough to become the urban cycling-focused Multiplier ’zine. Having biked through the last 15 snowy winters in Minneapolis, including five as a messenger, Tracy is currently enjoying the warmer weather while wrenching on bikes in San Francisco.

Bicycle!: A Repair & Maintenance Manifesto

Sports & Outdoors

Tracy, Sam

Individual Sports

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Books by Speck Press

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the Speck Press publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Absinthe Sip of Seduction: A Contemporary Guide

Absinthe: Sip of Seduction: A Contemporary Guide

Burlesque and the New Bump-n-Grind

Scooters: Red Eyes, Whitewalls and Blue Smoke

No Laughing Matter

Boost

A Ghost of a Chance

DeKok and Murder by Melody

Bicycle!: A Repair & Maintenance Manifesto

Boost