![]() ![]() They might also recall that not only did Silverstein pen the lyrics to “ A Boy Named Sue,” a tune made famous by Johnny Cash, and for which he won one of his Grammys, but that Uncle Shelby also wrote a sequel to “A Boy Named Sue” in which Sue’s dad turns him into kind of a live-in housekeeper/sex slave. In fact, some of our readers might remember that Shel Silverstein spent several years as a cartoonist for Playboy Magazine. ![]() ![]() But he also smoked a metric shit-ton of weed, sang obscenely, engaged in legendary partying (often on a houseboat), wrote a lot of fairly bent plays for grown-ups and obviously spent a lot of time thinking, writing and drawing about smut. Case in point: he won two Grammys and was posthumously inducted into the Nashville Songwriter’s Hall of Fame on top of being a celebrated children’s author selling over 20 million book copies and counting. No doubt about it, Silverstein was an amazing guy. Indeed, as your perfectly sensible dad choked back tears while reading to you about the relentlessly cruel passage of time lovingly explored in The Giving Tree, he might well have been unaware of the epically debauched lifestyle of the bittersweet story’s wild-man author. Shel Silverstein was more than just a quirky, kid-friendly poet with whom we youthfully chuckled while leafing through Where the Sidewalk Ends or A Light in the Attic. ![]()
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![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() With bold, vivid colors and his trademark visual storytelling, Ross takes Marvel's first team of super heroes to places only he can illustrate. But for what purpose? And who is behind this untimely invasion? The Fantastic Four have no choice but to journey into the Negative Zone, an alien universe composed entirely of anti-matter, risking not just their own lives but the fate of the cosmos! Fantastic Four: Full Circle is the first longform work written and illustrated by acclaimed artist Alex Ross, who revisits a classic Stan Lee-Jack Kirby story from the 1960s and introduces the storyline for a new generation of readers. These carrion creatures composed of Negative Energy come to Earth using a human host as a delivery system. When an intruder suddenly appears inside the Baxter Building, the Fantastic Four- Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards), the Invisible Woman (Susan Storm Richards), the Human Torch (Johnny Storm), and the Thing (Ben Grimm) -find themselves surrounded by a swarm of invading parasites. NATIONAL BESTSELLER - NAMED A BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST An all-new Marvel Comics graphic novel starring the Fantastic Four, written and illustrated by renowned artist Alex Ross It's a rainy night in Manhattan and not a creature is stirring except for. ![]() ![]() ![]() When she was around 11 or 12 I used to play a game with my daughter called WHO WOULD WIN? I’ll give you an example – the first player says something like “who would win in a fight between a lion and a polar bear?” Each player then tries to find the best reason why one or the other would win. This wasn’t the jolliest read, but heck, my friendly GR poppets, life is not all ha-ha-ha, hee-hee-hee. So should you be wondering what a REAL epidemic looks like, this was the big one. It was really bad and it happened before medical science understood what was causing it. ![]() The Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918 is the gold standard of modern epidemics and this book is a solid account of what happened. Revived review as a public service during the current Coronavirus outbreak. ![]() ![]() ![]() He joins the fight against the foreign invaders and the Chinese “devils” who have converted to Christianity. The Boxer novel follows Bao, a young boy who learns kung fu from a leader of Chinese rebels. Both novels chronicle the foreign invasion of China, culminating in the war in the city of Peking, each from the point of view of two children who take opposing sides. ![]() ![]() This is certainly the case with Boxers and Saints. I appreciate how Yang uses simple, clean lines with his own expressive style and a fresh bright color palette, and he often infuses his stories with magical realism and mythology. ![]() He is easily one of my favorite comic book creators (as he does both the writing and illustrations), and his debut nobel American Born Chinese deserves every ounce of praise. Gene Luen Yang is an incredible storyteller and his stories never disappoint. And as an American (without any Chinese heritage), that unfortunately makes a lot of sense. Boxers and Saints are companion graphic novels, showing parallel sides of the Boxer Rebellion in China at the end of the 19th century. This was an event I vaguely remembered before reading– something about burning an important library like Alexandria – but I honestly didn’t know who the Boxers were, or much about it at all. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Maybe she is just too sensitive or maybe - as she has long believed - there is something wrong with her. So why is everything broken? Why is Martha - on the edge of 40 - friendless, practically jobless and so often sad? And why did Patrick decide to leave? ![]() A gift, her mother once said, not everybody gets. Everyone tells Martha Friel she is a brilliant writer who has been loved every day of her adult life by one man, her husband Patrick. ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts which are only cross-posts to another subreddit's content.“Was it a sin?" posts arising from OCD or scrupulosity are not allowed. ![]() "Bandwagons" (no more after mods declare one to be over).Offers to sell/donate/promotionally giveaway ( selling policy).High-volume posting (3x/week external links, 3x/week self-posts).Promotion of your website/blog/personal endeavor (1x/week only).Low-effort posts & images which do not support discussion (Fridays only). ![]()
![]() ![]() This short book is both sexy and sad, angry but funny, with impressive literary prose that is blunt and mischievous, luring you with little intention to let go. a smart and bold exploration of self-worth and self-appreciation wriggled from a love triangle gone strange and a sense of urgency to understand the world around us. She becomes wise at 'parsing the intent of the jaws that lock around my head.' Read Full Review > Edie shrewdly learns how to find strength in her jadedness, not just resignation. In that regard, Luster isn’t just a sardonic book, but a powerful one about emotional transformation. Tucked within the story of her life with Eric’s family are scraps of Edie’s own life, which emerge as she becomes more aware of her third-class treatment and her capacity to escape it. But Leilani is also a major new talent because her command of style and characterization is so strong. She’s treated as an assistant, then an interloper and finally an invader. The climax emphasizes that for all of her wit and flexibility, Edie is ultimately a Black woman in a white neighborhood. distinguished by its focus on race, which raises the stakes for the story. As the situation destabilizes, growing uncomfortably thick with noblesse oblige, the metaphors get sharper. ![]() But Leilani is a master of darker, more deadpan humor. ![]() Leilani is such a funny writer that the despair of Edie’s predicament isn’t clear until she’s fully immersed in it. ![]() ![]() Cheese is the most stolen food in the world: it’s pricey, portable, and perfect for money laundering. Inevitably, her story was the subject of a TV movie called Beauty’s Revenge.īy far most common criminal activity involving cheese is theft. But she had to turn in her tiara when she strangled her romantic rival Lisa Cihaski, who was engaged to the Dairy Princess’s ex-boyfriend. – In Wisconsin, land of the Cheeseheads, Lori Esker was crowned the Dairy Princess of Marathon County. (I know you think that I am making this up. ![]() ![]() That is, exposing himself to women and offering to pay them to observe his rubbing Swiss cheese on his private parts. – In Pennsylvania, Christopher Pagano’s repeated indecent exposure and harassment of women earned him the dubious nickname of the “Swiss Cheese Pervert.” An eight-year sentence of probation and sex-offender counseling did not stop Pagano, who found himself in court again on similar charges. She’s also accused of drugging and robbing former paramours and shoplifting, as well as another murder back home in Russia. – Forty-two-year-old Russian dominatrix Viktoria Nasyrova allegedly tried to poison her Brooklyn doppelganger with tranquilizer-laced cheesecake-part of a scheme to steal her look-alike’s identity. She claimed it was self-defense, but the prosecutor said she did it for the $2 million she’d inherit after her husband’s death. ![]() – Oregon goat farmer Tracy Cloud was convicted of killing her estranged husband after he filed for divorce. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() In fact, though almost no one could have seen it coming, Venus seems almost eerily timed for release during a pandemic. ![]() Throughout these stories, everyday life becomes a series of looming potential terrors. Another one bites the dust - er, finds their hole - in “The Enigma of Amigara Fault.” Viz The 10 collected short comics - since this is manga, you read each panel from right to left on the page - showcase the pure scope of Ito’s imagination, as well as his ability to envision terrifying phenomena in the most unassuming places. Now, a new anthology from Viz, Venus in the Blind Spot, collects many of Ito’s best-known short stories, including “Amigara Fault,” and offers a great introduction to Ito’s work. It’s also an encapsulation of the convergence of Lovecraftian cosmic horror and mundane fear that typifies Ito’s work. If you’ve heard of horror manga creator Junji Ito, it’s probably through the internet fame of his most well-known short story, “The Enigma of Amigara Fault.” That story, about a Japanese town whose inhabitants become obsessed with fitting themselves inside terrifying mysterious human-sized shapes carved into a mountainside - “finding their hole” - has become a horror mainstay as well as a meme since its publication in 2003. In each edition, find one more thing from the world of culture that we highly recommend. One Good Thing is Vox’s recommendations feature. ![]() ![]() ![]() The premise of the book is good and rather spine-chilling. She’s threatening to get him transferred, and is bringing in a smug rival to ‘help’ him out. Grace made a mess of a previous case and now has scary ACC Alison Vosper on his back. But you can guarantee, without giving anything away, that it won’t be plain sailing and will leave enough loops open for the next in the series.īut work’s not exactly a bundle of laughs either. In LOOKING GOOD DEAD Grace has a love interest and starts to wonder how he can move his life along again. ![]() There’s an intriguing throwaway comment about how police elsewhere will call in a medium more than you’d think, along with a character I hope James will revisit - a cop-turned-medium who seems to know a bit too much about what’s going on in Grace’s life. I don’t care for woo-woo in crime novels, but James just about gets away with the angle. But he has personal issues - the disappearance of his wife Sandy nine years ago has never been solved, and he spends his time hanging round mediums in the hope of finding out what happened to her. ![]() Grace is a Detective Superintendent in his home city and on the whole reckons he’s doing a worthwhile job. I enjoyed the first in Peter James’s series starring troubled Brighton cop Roy Grace, and LOOKING GOOD DEAD is a sharp and punchy sequel. ![]() |