Guests
by Burnside Genre Team, November 4, 2010 4:40 PM
Drawing on over 40 years experience writing and reading detective fiction, P. D. James examines its origins, techniques, tropes, and evolution throughout the 20th century. Her insights and analysis will be fascinating to readers and writers of the
|
Guests
by Burnside Genre Team, November 4, 2010 4:38 PM
Every man, woman, and child requires some form of mental derangement to get through the stultifying misery and torpor that is life here on plastic-garbage-island Earth. For some, it is speaking in tongues or running around in circles or licking amphibians or copulating with strangers or ingesting favored snack-treat ad nauseam. Others prefer drugs that actually call themselves drugs, like Valium or Adderall or Oxycontin or Flintstones chewables. Still others roam the streets in search of their kick of choice, be it smack, crank, rock, or non-zombified brains. David Cross, though — his kick is snorting big fat rails of pure Bolivian white while within sight of acting heads of state. To each their
|
Guests
by Burnside Genre Team, November 4, 2010 4:31 PM
Newave! is a thick, crazy collection of weird-o Xeroxed mini-comics from the '80s cartooning underground. Goofy, creepy, funny, bizarre comics by Jeff Gaither, Mary Fleener, XNO, Dennis Worden, Steve Willis, Portland's own J. R. Williams, and many, many
|
Guests
by Burnside Genre Team, November 4, 2010 3:46 PM
Another indispensable collection from the American Fantastic Tales series. These short stories demonstrate the evolving themes and tone of the genre, and reveal not only what has changed in the field but what has endured, what is essential to the telling of such stories. Straub's picks feature the genre's canonized luminaries alongside more obscure writers. This collection shows the breadth and deep appeal that fantasy and horror hold on our culture
|
Guests
by Burnside Genre Team, November 3, 2010 4:07 PM
Brothers and Sisters! Flare up a big, mouthwatering, medicinal spliff and take a trip with the great Thomas Pynchon and his immaculately stoned anti-hero detective "Doc" Sportello through post-Manson L.A. as they attempt to solve the mystery of the golden fang. Since some righteous dude is reading it aloud to you, why not feel free to let your hands work that bong carb? Throw on some Captain Beefheart while you're at it, or, better yet, some
|
Guests
by Burnside Genre Team, November 3, 2010 3:59 PM
The least-discussed political assassination of America's 20th century is finally dramatized in novel form. Arch-Imperialist President McKinley pays for the murder of tens of thousands of Filipinos and the industrial enslavement of millions at home with a bullet in the belly at the hands of a European anarchist hell-bent on avenging The People. As Emma Goldman says in the quote that serves as an epigraph: "You will never stamp out anarchy any more than you can keep down the waves of the sea with a broom. You may kill an anarchist but you will never kill an
|
Guests
by Burnside Genre Team, September 20, 2010 3:47 PM
A seemingly pleasurable fishing trip leads its members to a dilapidated house with a strange pit next to it. In the rubble, two members find a diary that reveals a bizarre story that transcends space, time, and dimensions. Published in 1908, The House on the Borderland was a watershed novel that severely influenced H. P. Lovecraft and other Weird Tales writers, and stands as the breaking point from the realistic ghost fiction of the late 1880s and the birth of a new cosmic horror genre.
|
Guests
by Burnside Genre Team, September 1, 2010 3:36 PM
Finch is a genre-blender of detective, dystopian, and science fiction that follows detective John Finch as he investigates a double murder. A fantastical tale told in the clipped, rugged voice of classic noir, Finch is one of the most inventive and engaging books of the emerging sci-fi/detective
|
Guests
by Burnside Genre Team, September 1, 2010 3:23 PM
Collecting the comic zines of Zak Sally (bassist in the band Low and creator of Sammy the Mouse), Like a Dog presents intense autobiographical shorts alongside claustrophobic fiction, poetic short works, and an account of Dostoyevsky's trial and imprisonment, everything carefully cartooned in lush ink and cold sweat. A great sampler of handmade comics for the adventurous reader. Let the inky fog settle over your
|
Guests
by Burnside Genre Team, September 1, 2010 2:19 PM
OMG! OMG! OMG! A choose-your-own-adventure graphic novel! The best mash-up ever! Who could do this? Only mathematician/graphic-novelist Jason Shiga. If you haven't heard of him, you should not only check out Meanwhile, but also Bookhunter. Shiga's humor and brilliance shine in Meanwhile, and the book is endlessly entertaining. It will fill that emptiness you feel
|