First off, nothing says last minute gift like a calendar, and we have two very different ones that we totally love. “The Next 1000 Years” 2006 Wall Calendar by the master of paper cutting, artist Nikki McClure. Perfect for people who enjoy knitting, organic farms, or ceramic owls!...And on the other end of the spectrum, we have the “2006 Cinema Sewer Calendar”. Absolutely the perfect gift for your dirty uncle--the one who still watches porn on Betmax tapes--or that shut-in chronic video renting fellow in your life, the one who just has to tell you about the ultraviolent Korean slasher movie he just scored on eBay.

We also have the ever popular &ldquoslingshots” in desk and pocket size flavors. The ideal gift for that radical anarchist in your life who always misses the collective's monthly planning session and never gives you black & red roses on Haymarket day.

For the wee kidlets in your life, we stand firmly behind the new McSweeney's children's anthology “Noisy Outlaws Unfriendly Blobs and Some Other Things Too”. Aside from all kinds of short stories, the dust jacket transforms into an envelope which kids can use to send their own story to McSweeney's and possibly get fame and riches and the love of fiction fans worldwide.

For that difficult-to-please comics nerd we offer the charming “Quimby the Mouse” action figure. Handsomely crafted in good old-fashioned wood in a decorative Chris Ware-designed box with a mini “Quimby the Mouse” hardcover book. Did I mention that Ware totally ripped off a classic Krazy Kat toy when designing it? Be sure to mention that when giving it as a gift, and earn valuable nerd points!

Say you love comics and want to give a graphic novel to a non comic reading friend? Look no further than Dan Clowes' &ldquoIce Haven”. Mashing up Thornton Wilder's Our Town with Leopold & Loeb, the story unfolds in a series of short strips. The pomo story-within-a-story and small town mystery will go over big with your snooty friends who only read &ldquoreal&rdquo fiction!

A staff favorite and Quimby's bestseller is the amazing &ldquoRussian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopedia”. Hands down one of the best books of last year, it was out of stock for a quite a while, so you may have missed it the first time around.

Ah, the proverbial GOOD SHIT this season is the first official Paper Rad book &ldquoBj and da Dogs”. Capturing their idiosyncratic style and humor, this book serves as a cannonball-like dive into their psychotically psychedelic and weird world or characters that look like over the hill Gallagher clones and robotic dogs that shit cubes. Don't let the avant-retard styles fool you there is defiantly subtext and meaning in this madness, either that or am I really fucking high?!

And speaking of being high, we scored some copies of the Dearraindrop's monograph &ldquoOn Off&rdquo from their show at Deitch Projects, and let me just say that the kool aid tastes better with acid.

In the fiction department, you really can't go wrong with Chi-town favorite Professor Joe Meno's new short story collection, “Bluebirds Used to Croon in the Choir”. Also bringing that Chi-Town chill is “Chicago Noir” a compilation of short noirish stories set in Chicago by a wide assortment of current authors with deep Chicago ties, such as Neal Pollock, the aformentioned Prof. Joe, Achy Obejas, Jeffrey Renard Allen, and Daniel Buckman to name a few.

The &ldquoBlack Hole&rdquo graphic novel by Charles Burns has been popular this holiday season. Does anybody out there even remember when the comics this book compiles started? (Yeah, like ten years ago.) So you are forgiven if you missed out on an issue or two. Here is every issue in the saga of teen sex, drugs, and metamorphosis in the sucking seventies, presented in a thick sexy hardcover.

With no new Mark Ryden or Trevor Brown books this year, you may be in a bind when it comes to buying a gift for your dark and twisted art loving friends. May we suggest the stunning “Saddest Place On Earth: The Art of Camille Rose Garcia”.

And now for some simple Stocking Stuffers and random heat...&ldquoFree Radicals&rdquo. The legendary Paper Rodeo tabloid takes a leap into books!...Support your local (we're all local these days) literary zine, shop local (ditto that), and give the gift of &ldquoBanana King #3&rdquo...And how about that &ldquoDirty Found #2”? Dude its found porn! It works on so many levels!...OK, it's been a zillion years since Schizo #3 dropped, but while we wait patiently for #4, check out Ivan Brunetti's “Hee”. It's offensive in the best, worst way possible!... “Will You Still Love Me If I Wet The Bed?”. Like a Jeff Brown comic but, featuring people in a healthy and strangely cute loving relationship. Oh SNAP!

Wishing you the best for the holidaze & in the new year,

The folks of Quimby's
     (eric liz logan brian al)