author:
DAVID B.

Graphic Novel
124 pages
NBM

For all the time that we humans spend dreaming, little is known about dreams or why we have them. Philosophers and scientists continue to be baffled by dreams and rightfully so as they tend to be so damn bizarre and usually without any discernable meaning.

In Nocturnal Conspiracies, author and illustrator David B. shares nineteen of his dreams (from December 1979 to September 1994) and the result is an interesting mess of ink and madness. One minute we are walking through a forest, and the next we are eating brains that taste like pate. Such is the way with dreams, and such is the way of this graphic novel.

While all of the nineteen dreams are as bizarre as they are distinct, macabre themes of death and war seem to be on top of David B.’s mind and a common theme throughout the novel.

Though entertaining and worth a quick read, Nocturnal Conspiracies doesn’t not really go anywhere. While it is interesting to get into someone’s psyche for a little while, the work feels incomplete and not nearly compelling enough to keep us caring.

author:
WILL STORR

Non-fiction
320 pages
Ebury Press

“Life after death is as improbable as sex after marriage,” drones the impeccable Madeline Kahn in the classic 1985 film Clue. While others can attest to the post-nuptial state of physical relations, British writer and journalist Will Storr goes in search of life after death in this eponymous-titled nonfiction. Only his quest is a bit more than a search for ghosts and things that go bump in the night: Storr, an admitted lapsed Catholic and probable agnostic at best, seeks the supernatural with the notion that to believe in ghosts is to believe in life after death, ergo the existence of some spiritual higher being, whatever that may be.

Despite a massively weighty premise, Storr keeps the writing and the musing light, accessible, occasionally philosophical, and always entertaining as he goes through ghost vigils and hunts, television programs, bogus clairvoyants, haunted houses, the official Vatican exorcist, quantum physics-lite, and one truly terrifying encounter whose terror has much less to do with demonic possession than the religion involved. He reaches his own conclusions and is frank about it, though leaves very much open to speculation and interpretation by the reader.

Throughout the book Storr is refreshingly honest and flip-floppy concerning his opinion on the subject. The first few hauntings he witnesses leave him convinced that there must be more to our bodies than meat even though the implications are against his own belief system; however, he soon reacts adversely to other situations he witnesses, becoming convinced that there cannot be any truth to most if not all of the supernatural.

In its own lighthearted and occasionally actually frightening way, Will Storr Vs. The Supernatural falls firmly in the category labeled and filed as “Man’s Search For Meaning.” It’s a different way of searching for meaning, and perhaps a bit paradoxical—searching for meaning in life by examining death—but Storr raises interesting questions bookmarked by scary and cheesy paranormal encounters, and deals with hefty issues with tongue firmly in cheek and out. Many philosophers have no doubt examined the question of the afterlife; it is doubtful, though, that many have done it with such humor, grace, and aplomb as Will Storr.

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author:
STEVEN RINELLA

Non-fiction
259 pages
Spiegel & Grau

There is perhaps no other icon that is more symbolic of the American West than the Buffalo. It has graced our currency, our national parks and has even been protected by the U.S. government since the early nineteen hundreds after their prolific and near catastrophic slaughter of their species.

In American Buffalo, author Steven Rinella enters himself into a lottery in Alaska to win the opportunity to hunt Buffalo in the wild (and wins one of the coveted slots), embarking on a journey to take down the largest land animal in North America. While a good portion of the novel focuses on the actual hunt in the Alaskan wild, an equal length is dedicated to the history of the American Buffalo, from its arrival here in North America to its present numbers and questionable future.

While this book is about hunting buffalo, it is, at its core, a love story for the giant beasts. Many of our country’s greatest conservationists have been hunters as well (think Teddy Roosevelt), and Mr. Rinella is no different. His admiration and respect for the Buffalo is apparent throughout the pages. While his intention is to kill a Buffalo, this is not a testosterone driven offering but rather a hybrid between a hunting field manual and bison reference book.

This is also the challenge of American Buffalo. Part out-door adventure, part buffalo history, the book is not sure which one it wants to be. Those interested in the majestic Buffalo will likely be turned off by the hunt, and those interested in an outdoor adventure novel will likely come across more information on the Buffalo than they care to read.

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author:
OLIVIER KA

Graphic Novel
112 pages
NBM

In this touching story of trust and betrayal, Olivier Ka shares and relives a very painful memory from his past. With the help of illustrations from his friend Alfred, Why I Killed Peter explores childhood memories and the damage that can be done by those that we trust during the most innocent times of our lives.

Told in chapters from various points in Peter Ka’s life, we begin with his recollections as a carefree seven year old, living with his hippie parents and learning about religion and the deadly sins from his god-fearing grandmother. This dichotomy in ideology splits the young boy in two and becomes a recurring theme throughout the novel.

At the age of nine, Olivier is befriends his grandmother’s priest Peter, and their friendship blossoms as Peter takes Olivier under his tutelage, assuming the roles of friend, father figure, and confidant. When Peter does the unthinkable one night at summer camp, the young boy (now twelve) comes face-to-face with pure evil and spends the rest of the novel (and ultimately his life) coming to grips with what has been done to him.

This is not a happy story, and everyone is not okay at the end of the novel. But it does offer honest and sincere proof of the resiliency of the human spirit.

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curator:
JACOB COVEY

Graphic Novel
193 pages (Book One)
207 pages (Book Two)
Fantagraphics

For those of us that never tire of amazing art and fantasy (a pretty great combination for many of us), Fantagraphic’s Beasts! (Volume 1 & 2) sure delivers. Not only are these two books chock full of some of the best drawings, musings, and paintings of “hidden creatures” that we have seen in quite some time, but cryptozoology on a whole has never again been so inspiring.

From the Yeti, Unicorn, and Centaur to the lesser known Golem and Harpy, all of the artists involved were provided with a description of their beast and nothing else. Their depiction of their chosen creature reflects not only the defining characteristics and lore of the selected Beast, but naturally their own artistic flair. The result is as beautiful as it is educational, with each page serving as a reminder of just how we as humans have and continue to create ways to explain the unexplainable.

One does not need to read these books from cover to cover to enjoy their content. Simply pick a page and dive right in. Should you choose to spend more time with Beasts! (I suggest you do) you’ll not be disappointed. Be sure to check out The Golem by Marc Bell, The Triton by Josh Cochran, and Mimi by Alexia Stamatiou.

An amazing job of curating by Jacob Covey.

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author:
EMMANUEL GUIBERT

Graphic Novel
336 pages
First Second

Time provides us with the ability to soften wounds, make sense of events that have transpired in our past, and sometimes re-create memories so that they become a bit more manageable, less painful. In the graphic novel Alan’s War, The Memories of G.I. Alan Cope, this may be the case, as the book was based upon Alan’s stories as told to author and illustrator Emmanuel Guibert some decades after WWII came to a close. As a friend and confidant, Guibert was entrusted to bring to fruition the life story of Alan Cope, and he does so in a beautiful and honest manner. Mr. Cope surely would have been proud with the results (unfortunately Alan Cope passed away before the novel was published).

As an eighteen-year old living in California, Alan Cope enlists in the military and is whisked off to basic training and later to advanced training as a radio operator. He manages to sit out the majority of WWII in training, but is ultimately sent off as part of Patton’s campaign to France, Germany, and the Czech Republic. While Mr. Cope sees little action as far as actual warfare is concerned, he does witness a great deal of destruction and human tragedy that affect him deeply.

Alan’s War succeeds not only in recounting one man’s life and personal journey, but also as a work of true art. Mr. Guibert’s illustrations are stunning, and they allow the reader to experience the story on a level that is simply not possible without these black and white cells.

It’s simply one of the finest examples of a graphic novel in the market today.

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author:
CORMAC MCCARTHY

Fiction
287 pages
Vintage Books

Sometime in 2009, the image of Cormac McCarthy’s protagonist in his post-apocalypse novel, The Road, will belong to a haggard, bearded Viggo Mortensen, just as Anton Chigurh is forever and ever a great-looking Spanish actor. Read the book before this happens.

Lately, Armageddon and its ensuing dystopia have, by way of global warming, escalating poverty, and collapsing economic ideologies, been pushed to the forefront of our consciousness. McCarthy’s jarring vision of it offers no relief.

In The Road, we follow a boy and his father on a journey south. There are few humans left, the surviving majority of which are marauding cannibals. Though religion has been wiped out, the boy has had a black-and-white moral code thrust upon him by his father, who, in some circumstances, is in need of its reminding. Killing people is bad. Eating them is worse. But the two live to “carry the fire.” The father and son are “the good guys.”

Being so is not easy in a world without friends, food or shelter. The man does not steadily invest in the principles he has instilled in his son—like Moses and Prometheus or any figure alleged to have advanced the human race, every step of the journey is a test. His hacking, bloody cough and the inclement weather don’t help, nor does the existential demon torturing his mind. There are two of them, and only one bullet left in the revolver. In the instance of his death, is it more savage to leave the boy to the savages?

Cormac McCarthy is a master storyteller, and the setting, bleak and terminal as it is, could not be better for the big questions he asks. The author poetically challenges the sensibilities, morals and constructs that make us modern and make us human. The lesson of evolution is simple: not everything gets to survive. But in a climate of death and death only, what’s a child in the first place? What’s a father?

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author:
LILLI CARRE

Graphic Novel
80 pages
Fantagraphics

Fans of Lilli Carre will not be disappointed with her first long-form graphic novel, The Lagoon. This is a dark and rhythmic read with imagery that makes the reader feel damp, cold, and in need of a warm cup of coffee and the embrace of a loved one.

Stylistically illustrated in simple black ink, the novel tells the story of a young girl whose own life (along with those of her loved ones) has been touched by a mysterious monster with a penchant for singing melodies so enchanting, that quite a few have met their demise while experiencing its bliss. The songs of this mysterious swamp dwelling creature serve as not only common conversation amongst the family, but also as the soundtrack to their lives.

Each member of the family experiences the monster’s melodies in a different manner; from the mother’s personal and bizarre quasi-sexual encounters, to the grandfather’s recollections of years long since past, and the young child’s doubt in the very existence of such a fantastical creature at all.

Through winsome artistry, Ms. Carre is able to provide a level of sophistication and depth to her story that the reader will find both haunting and pleasing. While the story is interesting in its sparseness, this is a very quick read (fifteen minutes will do) that left me yearning for more.

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author:
TONY O’NEILL

Fiction
258 pages
Harper Perennial

Perspective is a tricky thing. The angle from which a narrator relates events can make a tremendous difference in how those events come across: are they lost in the moment, immediate reactions clinging to their descriptions? Or are they more contemplative, looking back across a span of months or years, shaking their head, wondering how exactly they found themselves in that particular situation? The unnamed narrator of Tony O’Neill’s Down and Out on Murder Mile describes in vivid detail the story of his second marriage: birthed by heroin, inhabiting the worst parts of London and Los Angeles, and traumatic for everyone involved. It’s the vantage point O’Neill takes that gives the novel its particular feel: neither entirely confessional nor encompassed by what it recounts, it follows an uneasy and unsettling pattern in recounting a series of emotionally wrenching events.

Down and Out’s protagonist—an expatriate musician residing on the West Coast as the novel opens—meets his second wife as she overdoses at a party. Six months later they marry, a relationship that provides the novel with its structure. It makes for one of the most horrific descriptions of a relationship I’ve read in a long time, in which barely repressed hatred sidles up alongside addiction, paranoia, neglect, and occasional spurts of blood via a misplaced syringe. It’s not an easy read, in part because O’Neill conveys his narrator’s growing loathing for his wife with virtually no distancing. These scenes in particular are ugly to read—although that’s pretty clearly the point.

The prose is taut and minimal, occasionally onrushing into ecstatic spurts as his narrator shoots up, finds himself consumed by rage, or surrounds himself with amassed self-loathing.

Amidst the marital discord that runs throughout the novel, O’Neill describes London’s music scene and methadone clinics with equal detail, and there’s again that quality of not-distancing as his narrator occasionally provides commentary on his experiences with the recovery movement. It’s here that the book’s tone and content find themselves at odds: The narrator generally recounts his actions and thoughts, leaving the reader to make their own judgment. It’s somewhat jarring, then, when the narrator adds his after-the-fact take on specific drug treatment programs, veering briefly from a memoir-like tone to a more editorializing one.

O’Neill does finally close the gap between the two versions of his narrator that we encounter here, explaining how the irrational protagonist we’ve been following became the more grounded voice compelled to recount his own life, flaws and all. In one of the final scenes of this novel, in which so much information is conveyed, O’Neill makes the unsaid nature of certain basic human exchanges resonate as much as any of the book’s more detailed passages. For a novel so focused on the abandonment of control, Down and Out on Murder Mile derives much of its power from the subtlety, even precision, of its structure.

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author:
CARRIE FISHER

Covers
Simon & Schuster

I’m not sure what caught my eye first, Carrie Fisher or Princess Leia, but it truly doesn’t matter, for this cover is a knockout (alcoholic) punch. To outline what makes it so perfect may be stating the obvious, but I suppose that’s what Judging by the Cover is all about, so here goes…

One of the first things I learned when I started working in the print design business was that “white sells.” When faced with the task of designing an ad for a product, the average person tends to scale the product up so it practically bleeds off the page then further cramming obnoxiously huge text on top and in any space left over. People default to the bigger is better conceit while, in reality, the more white space around the product or focal point, the easier it is for the recipient of the message to lock on to.

Now, the way the text is, in perspective, is extremely effective in sending your eye on the proper path through the layout, which is straight down into the woeful state of our beloved princess. One could also posit that the angled text is an allusion to the Star Wars intro spiel, you know, where all this stuff happens before the movie even starts.

But the greatest part about this cover is the photo. Those two cinnamon buns are exclusive to only one pop culture character and they’re branded in our psyches like the golden arches. The empty glass and pills probably means she was living hard during those Princess Leia days, although I’m not sure how long she sustained this lifestyle, and it’s been a while since I’ve seen Postcards From the Edge.

Big ups to the creatives who designed and signed off on this version. This is the kind of design that makes the people want to read it more in public so they can flaunt their Star Wars loyalty while disassociating themselves with the last three lamentable installments.

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