mini-post that might encourage me to post more

i’m reading Wonder Tales by Lord Dunsany and loving every second of it. ex-Schwartz comrade Joe Lisberg introduced me to the Right Honorable Lord, but only recently have i begun exploring his works (unemployment begets free time).

his writing is superbly fantastic - and by that i mean it is steeped in surreal fantasy. these stories are short but exquisitely crafted and plotted, individual names speak volumes, specific words are chosen for the intense visual undertones they convey. everything is so damn epic that i can only indulge myself in short portions - i equate this phenomenon to slowly sipping from a glass of years-aged scotch, or gently tasting small squares of finely-wrought velvety chocolate.

indulge yourself, i implore you.

i’ve been looking for some excerpt that i could post, but everything is so long & involved that it’s difficult to find something short enough. i'll share with you this; it's the last paragraph from one of my favorite of the stories. i don’t think it quite adequately conveys the grandiose scope of the story, but it’s close.

"And Sippy very unwisely attempted flight, and Slorg even as unwisely tried to hide; but Slith, knowing well why that light was lit in that secret chamber and who it was that lit it, leaped over the edge of the World and is falling from us still through the unreverberate blackness of the abyss."

wow. epic? yes.

(this book was originally two books, the Book of Wonder and Tales of Wonder, repackaged into a single volume by Dover Editions)

also - check out what Joe is up to with Deep Sea Studios through their portfolio and blog.

Curl up in a Little Neurotic Election Coverage Ball with These Great Books!

by Sarah Marine and Joe Lisberg

On a rainy Friday night, a jump and a skip from the shores of the Great Lake Michigan, two frazzled booksellers made a decision.

As young Americans, healthily staying abreast of all things election-related, these two took back the former semblance of their universes and, once again, put books first. Henceforth, this list was compiled as an offering of suggested titles to quell anxiety, restlessness and exposure to dangerously high levels of election politics. Enjoy.


1. Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino
Get on up there guys. Leave it all behind, all those media blogs, news tickers and soundbites. It's so quiet up there...breezy and quiet. Ahhhh.


2. The poetry of Richard Brautigan
How peaceful it is to think of cybernetic forests where the beasts of the wood co-mingle so graciously with the whirring computers.

3. The Odyssey by Homer
A tale of old for media escapees of all ages.


4. Daredevil by Marvel Comics (Frank Miller, Ed Brubaker, etc.)
Abandon the glowing box and join the horned hero of Hell's Kitchen as he metes out a little street justice; clobberin' thugs and gangsters like only a blind super-hero lawyer can. Check it out, I dare ya.

5. Street of Crocodiles by Bruno Schulz
Crooked streets, mysterious shops populated by chimerical relatives: a bright departure from your everyday shuffle from Politico to The Page and beyond. It's different. It's like being on just the right drugs. Don't do drugs.

6. Willful Creatures by Aimee Bender
Oh, my. This is the cure. Go on a bender. Don't go on a bender. Get bent. Wait. Oh, my.

7. Duino Elegies by Rainer Maria Rilke
Rilke tackles the issues head-on with this prolific volume- fig trees, nosing beasts, terrific angels, uncaring ponds. He's on top of it, guys...all for you.



8. Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt
What are you afraid of? Nuclear stockpiles? Dictators gone nuts with power? Partisan bullies? If so, Scaredy Squirrel will bring you back to what remains at the real core of terror- killer bees, green Martians, tarantulas, poison ivy, germs and toothy, hungry sharks.


9. Girl on the Fridge by Etgar Keret
I want to say something here about Keret being Israeli and how the news is always reporting on the conflicts there, you know, connect it in some way, but really I don't know how to be smart about it AND funny...like Keret.


10. Things I like About America by Poe Ballantine
The fact that Poe Ballantine is this middle-aged guy living in Nebraska just kills me. Furthermore, the thing about the things he likes about America is that they're really not things you attribute "like" to- they just are- they're meals and conversations and bus rides and paying rent...important things to think about besides projected electoral counts.