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Monday, June 22, 2009
Arts / News Books you should buy in the near future
Posted By Chris Deal on Mon, Jun 22, 2009 at 3:32 PM
A Couple Books You Should Buy In The Near Future
Literature is one of those lovely abstractions. It's right there, on the paper or computer screen or papyrus, but is essentially a collection of symbols we put meaning into. There is no literature, to be nihilistic about it, there is only what we think there is. Still, people make money writing, and people will always buy books, be them first printings or Kindle editions or trade paperbacks you pick up for a buck at a yard sale. So, with that in mind, here's a list of books you should pick up.
• Face, by Sherman Alexie (Hanging Loose Press, 160 pages.)
Poetry, yeah, even more subjective than regular literature. What is poetry? Why should you care about poetry? Why should you care about this fellow's poetry? Well, because ... duh. Sherman Alexie is a literary giant: author of four novels, three collections of short stories, and, now, thirteen collections of poetry. Alexie, a member of the Spokane and Coeur d'Alene tribes, is one of the preeminent Native American writers, but more than that, like Stephen Graham Jones, he's an amazing writer who happens to be Native American.
• Arkansas, by John Brandon (Grove Press, 224 pages.)
Originally published by that literary force, McSweeney's, this debut novel by John Brandon is billed as a darkly comic tale of, well, according to Borders, "wet T-shirt contests, illicit drugs, and cross-country road trips." Curious. A literary novel with boobs and drugs.
• The Hap and Leonard Books, by Joe R. Lansdale
This year, Vintage Crime/Black Lizard is re-releasing the first six novels by Joe R. Lansdale: Savage Season, Mucho Mojo, The Two-Bear Mambo, Bad Chili, Rumble Tumble, Captain's Outrageous, while at the end of the month, Knopf will be releasing the seventh in the series, Vanilla Ride. Set in East Texas, Hap Collins is a white, working class man with some college and Leonard Pine is a black, gay Vietnam vet. With the sweltering, East Texas heat and a great friendship, Hap and Leonard face every obstacle together. Why should you care about this? Well, besides the fact that Joe Lansdale can write like no one else, how about the fact that he wrote Bubba Ho Tep, perhaps the greatest cinematic achievement in recent history?
• Shatnerquake, by Jeff Burk (Eraserhead Press, 100 pages)
A bit of bizarro for you. I better just give you the official synopsis and let you decide if you need to buy this book today or right now:
"It’s Shatner VS Shatners!
It’s the first ShatnerCon with William Shatner as the guest of honor! But after a failed terrorist attack by Campbellians, a crazy terrorist cult that worships Bruce Campbell, all of the characters ever played by William Shatner are suddenly sucked into our world. Their mission: hunt down and destroy the real William Shatner.
Featuring: Captain Kirk, TJ Hooker, Denny Crane, Rescue 911 Shatner, Singer Shatner, Shakespearean Shatner, Twilight Zone Shatner, Cartoon Kirk, Esperanto Shatner, Priceline Shatner, SNL Shatner, and – of course – William Shatner!
No costumed con-goer will be spared in their wave of destruction, no red shirt will make it out alive, and not even the Klingons will be able to stand up to a deranged Captain Kirk with a lightsaber. But these Shatner-clones are about to learn a hard lesson…that the real William Shatner doesn’t take crap from anybody. Not even himself.
It’s Shatnertastic!"
I'll be back next week with some more stuff you should pick up and read at some point in the near future.
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