Monthly Archive for August, 2011

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Rebekah Mercuri Reads From Weeding the Seeds of Deceit 9/15

Sep ’11
15
7:00 pm

Many of the events experienced by the main character of Rebekah Mercuri’s debut novel echo the true-life experiences of the author, who herself, was involved in a Christian Cult.

Weeding the Seeds of Deceit is a story of Hope Locker, a young woman seeking closure to the haunting and vivid memories of an impoverished life, beginning with the manipulations and contradictions from a Christian Cult her parents joined in her youth.  When the prophet of the cult threatens their lives, the family escapes to Texas to live with Hope’s paternal grandfather. The deep affliction her parents feel from dragging the family into such annihilation leads them down an even more despairing and destructive path. Despite the cult experience, Hope maintains her faith through prayer, and music later becomes her sole outlet from life’s chaos, and provides her with the inspiration to follow her dreams.

 

REBEKAH MERCURI is a writer and mother of two. She had a unique and nomadic childhood as a member of a Christian cult. Her experiences inspired her to pen her debut fiction novel, Weeding the Seeds of Deceit. Mercuri was born in Anaheim, California and was educated at Columbia College Chicago, where she received a Bachelor’s degree in Fiction Writing. She also holds an Associate’s degree in Marketing and Business Management from Cincinnati State Community College. She resides in Chicago, Illinois and is currently working on a her next novel.

 

Thurs, Sep 15th, 7pm

CCLaP Releases American Wasteland: Bleak Tales of the Future On the Tenth Anniversary of 9/11

Sep ’11
9
7:00 pm

With all the talk of “hope” and “honor” that was bound to arise during the tenth anniversary of September 11th, the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography (CCLaP) thought it was important to also remind the future of what the last ten years have REALLY been like. That’s why the center put together this latest anthology, which took a dark science-fiction conceit as its core and then invited a series of writers across the nation to pen stories set within that alternative universe. In this case, the stories look back from a fictional twentieth anniversary of 9/11, but one where John McCain won the 2008 and ’12 elections, then Sarah Palin in 2016 and ’20; and with no government bailouts, no withdrawals from the Middle East, and no attempts to move away from an oil-based economy, the US has become a much bleaker and more terrible place, a nation that is now used to rolling electricity blackouts two or three days a week and that is just about to go to war with Mexico, where the permanently unemployed squat in half-finished McMansions out in crumbling suburbs that almost completely lack both gasoline and fresh fruit. A sobering reminder of what life under Tea Party rule would likely be like, “American Wasteland” is an antidote to the false cheeriness and optimism that has come with the tenth anniversary of 9/11, a more realistic look at all the mistakes this nation has made between then and now.

Various local contributors to this anthology will be performing at Quimby’s that night, including DELPHINE PONTVIEUX (“ETA: Estimated
Time of Arrest”), MARK R. BRAND (“Life After Sleep”) and LAWRENCE SANTORO (“Just North of Nowhere”). CCLaP itself (cclapcenter.com) is a
mostly online organization that has been open since 2007, a regular publisher of both electronic and handmade paper books, as well as such other activities as a podcast, 150 book reviews a year at its blog, and half a dozen live events annually at various venues across the city.

Friday, September 9th, 7pm

Weekly Top 10

Once again, Lucky Peach at the top, followed by some of the usual suspects. However, we got in a publication from AK about Zapatistas, which is a topic that always seems to work here. Also, a local Chicago guide that I think may be its first time on our Top 10, if I remember correctly. Noah Van Sciver’s history comic rounds out the mix, and that’s available on our website, as are all of the items that have links. Other things, well, guess you’ll have to come in the store or give us a buzz at 773-342-0910.

1. Lucky Peach #1 Sum 11 $10.00 – I read this straight through right before I went to sleep the other night and had an INTENSE NIGHTMARE ABOUT RAMEN. Woke up hungry. -EF

2. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen vol 3 Century #2 1969 by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill (Top Shelf) $9.95 – The newest issue!

3. Juxtapoz #128 Sep 11 $5.99

4. Add Toner: A Cometbus Collection by Aaron Cometbus (Last Gasp) – Collects Cometbus 44-48 and a bit of new material. Tales from the Dead End, Lanky, and the Back to the Land series.

5. Cometbus #54 In China With Green Day by Aaron Cometbus $4.00 – Always a Quimby’s staple.

6. Commune In Chiapas: Mexico and the Zapatista Rebellion (PAGP) $5.00

7. We Should: A Selective Guide to Chicago by Laura Szumowski $7.95 – Need a cooler guide to the city than those other alternative weekly or NFT books? Try this one.

8. Death of Elijah Lovejoy by Noah Van Sciver $5.00 – VanSciver’s snarly lines and curmudgeonly tendancies lend themselves nicely to his mayhem-laden comic about pre-civil war lynch mobs and the ambush and murder of abolitionist and jounalist, Elijah Lovejoy. -EF

9. Plazm #30 $10.00

10. Dazed & Confused #100 Aug 11 $9.99

New Stuff This Week

We’re proud to offer you Leslie Stein’s first new issue of Eye of the Majestic Creature since Fantagraphics published her collection of issues #1-#4.

In this fifth issue Larrybear has moved back to New York after having lived in the countryside. She finds herself employed at a dress shop run by an absentee boss in the East Village, and living with her old friend Seashell in an infested Brooklyn apartment. Of course, Marshmallow and her anthropomorphic friends are there too, but being magical they are not allowed to leave the house. Not that this stops Marshmallow, who is becoming increasingly depressed and drinking way too much.On a nice winter day, roaming around Manhattan, Larry finds herself drawn to the Visionary Arts Museum, and is amazed to find they are having a retrospective of Victorian Sand Counters. Inspired, Larry begins to count sand seriously, but in a world where this is largely a forgotten art form, where can it possibly take her?

…and other stuff!

ZINES & ZINE BOOKS!
Shows I’ve Seen At Metro by Timothy James McPherrin $2.00 – This is adorable.
Rad Dad: Dispatches from the Frontiers of Fatherhood by Tomas Moniz and various (PM Press) $15.00
Darkness to the West by Adam Gnade $2.00
various issues of High on Burning Photographs $1.00 each
Anarchism: The Feminist Connection by Peggy Kornegger (Kersplebed) $4.00
Anarchism: What It Really Stands For, Also Who Was Emma Goldman by Emma Goldman and The Workers Solidarity Movement (Kersplebed) $3.00
Anarchist Organisation Suggestions and Possibilities by Graham Purchase (AK) $2.50
Commune In Chiapas Mexico and the Zapatista Rebellion (PAGP) $5.00
Deadly She Wolf: Assassin at Armageddon and Mommas Song by various $20.00
Down With the Prison Walls a Talk by Iglesias  Martinez Laudelino 3.00
Guerilla Warfare: A Method by Erenesto Che Guevara $4.00
Hieroglyphica Anonymous $5.00
Mamphiles #4 Raising Hell $6.00
Marriage and Love by Emma Goldman $2.00
Non Western Anarchisms Rethinking the Global Context by Jason Adams $3.00
Profit and Exploitation by Peter Kropotkin (Thought Crime Ink) $4.00
Red Army Faction the Urban Guerilla Concept $5.00
Relevence of Anarchism to Modern Society by Sam Dolgoff (Kerr) $4.00
Return of the Cake Scoffer: Cheap’n’ Easy Vegan Cooking by Ronny $3.50
Steampunks Guide to the Apocalypse by various $7.00
Zine About Womens Self Defence #1 Fighting Back, Not Taking Shit Being Heard $3.00
Anarchist Economics an Alternative for the World In Crisis by Abraham Guillen $5.00
Molten Rectangle #3 Special Family Issue $10.00
It Should Be Obvious #1 Kelcey Towell  $13.00
My Aim is True by Carrie $1.00
Zine Centro $1.00
Compleat Anglerfish by Michelle Yacht $8.00

COMICS & MINI COMIX!
Three #2 by various $6.25
Chronicles of Fortune by Caroline Picard $10.00
Sand Dune #1 Jun Jul 11 Erik Schneider $1.00

GRAPHIC NOVELS & TRADE PAPERBACKS!
Big Questions (soft cover veresion) by Anders Brekhus Nilsen (D&Q) $44.95 – Join us and Anders celebrating the release of his magnum opus Big Questions at Lula Cafe on Tuesday, September 30th. This beautiful and minimalist story, collected here for the first time, is the culmination of ten years and over 600 pages of work that details the metaphysical quandaries of the occupants of an endless plain, existing somewhere between a dream and a Russian steppe. Ask about the fancy $69.95 hardcover version, signed and numbered version.
Blankets by Craig Thompson (Top Shelf) $39.95 – New deluxe hardcover edition, featuring higher-quality paper, Smyth-sewn bindings, a spot gloss, and a slightly wider trim size.
Forming vol 1 by Jesse Moynihan (Spiro) $29.95
Nipper 1965-1966 by Doug Wright (D&Q) $16.95

ART & DESIGN BOOKS!
Graffiti Japan by various (MBP) $21.95

FICTION!
Machine Man by Max Barry (Vintage) $14.95
Subversions: Anarchist Short Stories by The Anarchist Writers Bloc (AK) $14.95
How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive by Christopher Boucher (Melville) $15.00 – Don’t miss Christopher Boucher here at Quimby’s on Wed, Aug 24th at 7pm, joined by Adam Levin, the author of The Instructions.

Christopher Boucher reads from How To Keep Your Volkswagen Alive with Adam Levin (The Instructions) 8/24

LITERARY JOURNALS, CHAP BOOKS & POETRY!
Resonant Space by Devon King $10.00

DIY!
In Every Town: An All Ages Music Manualfesto  (All Ages Movement Project) $14.99
Playbook for Progressives: 16 Qualities of the Successful Organizer by Erin Mann (Beacon) $15.00
Bumping Back: An Activist’s Guide To Getting There, Doing the Business & Getting Away with It  by L. Hobley (Niccolo) $24.95

MUCKRACKING, MEMOIRS, MAYHEM, MISCREANTS & MISCELLENOUSNESSESESNESS!
Fashion Cats:  Feline Couture from Japans Number 1 Cat Tailor by Takako Iwasa (Vice) $12.00 – Yes, this is for real. Takako Iwasa makes adorable goth-lolita clothes for her Scottish-fold kitties, and it’s so cute you want to cry.
Forbidden Sacraments: The Survival of Shamanism In Western Civilization by Donald P. Dulchinos (Autonomedia) $17.95
Year In the Life of A Factory by Maynard Seider (Kerr) $14.00

POLITICS & REVOLUTION!
The World That Never Was: A True Story of Dreamers, Schemers, Anarchists, and Secret Agents by Alex Butterworth (Vintage) $15.95 – A thrilling history of the rise of anarchism, told through the stories of a number of prominent revolutionaries and the agents of the secret police who pursued them.
Some Mother’s Daughter: Hidden Movement of Prostitute Women Against Violence by The International Prostitutes Collective (Crossroads) $13.99
Russian Tragedy by Alexander Berkman (Phoenix) $11.95
Autobiography of Mother Jones (Kerr) $6.95
Changing Society: The Lives of Worker Heroes Who Made a Difference by Bob Breving (Kerr) $9.00
Emergent Publics: An Essay on Social Movements and Democracy by Ian Angus (Arbeiter Ring) $9.95
Power of Women and the Subversion of the Community by various (Falling Wall) $9.99
Intervention Series 9: Atta by Jarett Kobek (Semio) $12.95
Capital and Affects: The Politics of the Language Economy by Christian Marazzi (Semio) $15.95

CHILDRENS!
Secret World of Terijian (Crimethinc) $6.00

MAGAZINES!
Juxtapoz #128 Sep 11 $5.99
Fortean Times #278 Sep 11 $11.99
Under the Influence #9 2011 La Folie Issue $19.50
Plazm #30 $10.00

SEX & SEXY!
Housewives at Play #20 by Rebecca (Eros) $4.95

OTHER STUFF!
Write Here $8.00 – Nice blank journal made by Cindy Crabb of Doris fame. And P.S.: Don’t miss Cindy Crabb here at Quimby’s on here Sat, Sep 3rd, 7pm to celebrate her new book, The Encyclopedia of Doris, which brings together the last 10 years of zines and a ton of new writing as well.

Weekly Top 10

1. Lucky Peach #1 Sum 11 $10.00 – I read this straight through right before I went to sleep the other night and had an INTENSE NIGHTMARE ABOUT RAMEN. Woke up hungry. -EF

2. Under the Radar #37 $5.99

3. 8-Track Mind #101 Zines vs Blogs By Russ Forster $3.00 – After a 10-year hiatus 8-Track Mind heeds the call of the Revenge of Print and pulls a fresh new issue out of the oven!

4.  Bitch #51 $5.95

5. Cometbus #54 In China With Green Day by Aaron Cometbus $4.00

6. So Raw its Downright Filthy: A Raw Vegan Cookbook by Joshua Ploeg (Microcosm) $4.00 – Weirdo delicious recipes that also happen to be raw.

7. Mountain Wilds by Jay Krevens $6.00 – Jay moved to the Portland and just sent us some new scenic love of misty lore and cabin crafts, looming, owling, bear worship and astral travails. Accordian folded booklet has crafts on one side and mountainscape panorama on the reverse. -EF


8. OK OK You Smote Me Stories by Al Burian (Quimby’s Exclusive) $3.00

9. Readin and Fightin #3 Mental Health/Education Issue – Insisting on Literature by Women of Color by Camille Yarnover $1.50 – Thoughtful post-collegiate musings from a New Haven zinester exploring issues of race, edication and mental health and how they intersect. -LM

10. Tiny Bangs #1 by Olivia Horvath $5.00 – This is the build: Emily, with a swarm of hair, working as a nude model, feels the twinges of coming apart at the seams. On her psychic wavelength are her lover Bea full of balance calm and touch and the drawing teacher Ben, smitten and shy. Moody with the light changing like clouds rolling in. -EF