Bøger udgivet af Soft Skull Press

Part Are You There God, It's Me Margaret and part Taxi Driver, this creepy, unsettling, and absolutely addictive novel is at once a penetrating character study, a meditation on the zeitgeist of the '80s, and an unflinching depiction of violence, both intimate and sensational.The year was 1981. The US was entering a deep recession, Russia was our enemy, and John Hinckley, Jr.'s assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan shocked the nation. It was also the year author Andrea Kleine learned her close childhood friend had been violently murdered by her socialite mother, Leslie DeVeau. Both events took place in Washington, DC. Hinckley and DeVeau were both sent to St. Elizabeth's hospital, guilty by reason of insanity. It was there that they met, and later became lovers.These two real-life, and ultimately converging events inspired Kleine's jaw-dropping, spine-tingling novel, CALF. Made up of dual narratives and told over the course of one year, Kleine's account follows a fictionalized John Hinckley Jr. as he stalks a young actress in the lead-up to the assassination attempt, and eleven-year-old Tammy, whose friend is murdered in her sleep.

"Chuck had ambitions. He doesn't know how he ended up as the creepy 43 year old guy with the drugs, or the guy who's too old to be at the party doing everyone else's drugs, but if it ain't broke ... Well, he manages to make it to work at the dwarf whale distributor every day. He may hate that his dearly seedy San Francisco has become overrun with Starbucks, startups, and Lululemon moms, but he makes due every month for the rent-controlled apartment he shares with roommates he never sees. It's not perfect, but it's livable. In the end, though, every addict has that one special vice that can tip them from relatively functional to completely unhinged. For Chuck, it's a new drug that doesn't even have a name yet; it's just a smokable, everlasting gobstopper of mellow high. But when chunks of time begin to disappear and rearrange themselves altogether, he wonders if this really is just another life-ruining drug, or if it's something straight out of a Philip K. Dick universe. Word on the street is that this little black marble is actually altering users' timelines, but that's impossible, right? That's just something the schizophrenic homeless guy on Guerrero screamed at customers outside Tartine, isn't it? Isn't it?!"--

“I love the pulse of Sam Pink’s sentences, the way they can hold the gorgeous and the grisly and the hilarious all at the same time. The Garbage Times/White Ibis thrilled me and messed me up, left me feeling a little dazed and a lot changed.” —Laura van den Berg, author of The Third Hotel and Find MeFrom the freezing alleys of Chicago to the dew-blanketed bayou of Florida. From bouncing drunks and cleaning up puke to biking through the swamp laughing at peacocks. Freeze to thaw. Filth and broken glass and black water backed up in showers; lizards and Girl Scouts and themed birthday parties. A baby rat freed from the bottom of a dumpster becomes a white ibis wandering the wet driveway after a storm. Goodbye, hello, goodbye. It was the garbage times; it was time for something else. A tale of two tales, connected by a mysterious sunlit portal.The edition is designed with tête-bêche binding as a single volume.

A twelve-year-old boy, middle son in a wealthy, politically and culturally prominent San Francisco family, watches his city disappear in the earthquake and fires of 1906. His father him that nothing has been lost that cannot be swiftly and easily replaced. He quotes Virgil: “Nothing unreal is allowed to survive.” The boy turns this stark Stoic philosophical “consolation” into the radical theater practices of the day, in the course of which he involves himself with radical labor struggles: anarchists, Wobblies, socialists of every stripe. He learns that politics is meta-acting, and he and his girlfriend—a Connecticut mill girl who is on the verge of national recognition as a spokesperson for workers—embark on a speaking tour with a Midwestern anti-railroad, pro-farmer group and take their political, philosophical, and artistic ethos to the farthest limits of the real and the unreal, where they find there is no useful distinction between the two.

Using as its epigraph and unifying principle Luc Sante’s notion that “Every human being is an archeological site,” Field Recordings from the Inside provides a deep and personal examination at the impact of music on our lives. Bonomo effortlessly moves between the personal and the critical, investigating the ways in which music defines our personalities, tells histories, and offers mysterious, often unbidden access into the human condition. The book explores the vagaries and richness of music and music-making—from rock and roll, punk, and R&B to Frank Sinatra, Nashville country, and Delta blues—as well as the work of a diverse group of artists and figures—Charles Lamb, music writer Lester Bangs, painter and television personality Bob Ross, child country musician Troy Hess, and songwriter Greg Cartwright.Mining the often complex natures and shapes of the creative process, Field Recordings from the Inside is a singular work that blends music appreciation, criticism, and pop culture from one of the most critically acclaimed music writers of our time.

This "smart, shrewd, and insightful" biography of H.P. Lovecraft not only explores the author's fascinating life but also reveals his "lasting power and influence" on the entertainment industry and society as a whole (Victor LaValle, author of The Changeling)Interweaving the biography of the legendary writer with an exploration of Lovecraft as a phenomenon, In the Mountains of Madness strives to explain this reclusive, cultish figure while challenging some of the general views held by Lovecraft devotees. Focusing specifically on the large cross-section of horror and science fiction fans who know Lovecraft through films, role-playing games, and video games directly influenced by his work, but who know little or nothing about the man himself, In the Mountains of Madness places Lovecraft and his work in a cultural context, as an artist more in tune with our time than his own.More than a traditional biography, this provocative book reclaims the true essence of Lovecraft in relation to the comics of Joe Lansdale, the novels of Stephen King, and some of the biggest blockbuster films in contemporary America, proving the undying influence of this rare and significant figure.

Richard Hell may best be known as a punk icon, a founding member of seminal bands Television, the Heartbreakers, and The Voidoids, but for decades he’s been a prominent voice in American letters. Through his novels Go Now and Godlike, and his critically acclaimed autobiography, I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp, Hell has proven himself as a talented and insightful writer across many genres, in many forms. But one might argue that Richard’s true genius lies in shorter form as a writer on culture. "Love comes in spurts," Hell once sang, and that could well describe the intensity of his penetrating and wickedly droll criticism.Massive Pissed Love is a collection of Hell’s ruminations on art, literature, and music, among other things, that’s like a candy box of reading treats, a bag of shiny marbles, a cabinet of mementos and uncanny fetishes. However one thinks of it, it’s a joy to read from start to finish and a deeply necessary addition to the oeuvre of one of the sharpest minds and sensibilities at work today.

Eric Warberg went to Hollywood to make it big. For many years, he was successful, until directing a few box office bombs made him virtually unemployable. When an opportunity presents itself for a return to his hometown of Memphis, to direct a small, independent film, it is a return to his roots in more ways than one. Despite the fact that he’s greeted like a star, his homecoming is bittersweet. The novel begins on the onset of filming of what is temporarily called Memphis Movie. From day one, Eric feels stuck and unable to find his creative spark. He is helped along by a large cast of characters, some from his past and some from the filmmaking industry, including his partner, Sandy, who wrote the script for the movie. Their open relationship will be challenged by Eric’s return to his roots. Memphis Movie reads like a Robert Altman film, with many story strands making up the rich tapestry. The novel's central question: will Eric lose or find his soul in Memphis, a town where soul has so many meanings?

This whip-smart piece of pop culture details the life of the cult horror figure, as well as the much wider story of 1950s America, its treatment of women and sex, and a fascinating swath of Hollywood history.In Vampira, Poole gives us the eclectic life of the dancer, stripper, actress, and artist Maila Nurmi, who would reinvent herself as Vampira during the backdrop of 1950s America, an era of both chilling conformity and the nascent rumblings of the countercultural response that led from the Beats and free jazz to the stirring of the LGBT movement and the hardcore punk scene in the bohemian enclave along Melrose Avenue.A veteran of the New York stage and late nights at Hollywood's hipster hangouts, Nurmi would eventually be linked to Elvis, Orson Welles, and James Dean, as well as stylist and photographer Rudi Gernreich, founder of the Mattachine Society and designer of the thong. Thanks to rumors of a romance between Vampira and James Dean, his tragic death inspired the circulation of stories that she had cursed him and, better yet, had access to his dead body for use in her dark arts.In Poole's expert hands, Vampira is more than the story of a highly creative artist continually reinventing herself, but a parable of the runaway housewife bursting the bounds of our straight-laced conventions with an exuberant display of camp, sex, and creative individuality that owed something to the morbid New Yorker cartoons of Charles Addams, the evil queen from Disney's Snow White, and the popular, underground bondage magazine Bizarre, and forward to the staged excesses of Madonna and Lady Gaga. Vampira is a wildly compelling tour through a forgotten piece of pop cultural history, one with both cultish and literary merit, sure to capture the imagination of Vampira fans new and old.

Anna David's True Tales of Lust and Love began as a one-time-only reading and storytelling show in January of 2012, a venue for writers and comedians to share and laugh at their dating disaster stories. But after selling out the venue and attracting immediate press and buzz-with articles in The LA Weekly, LA Times, Time Out, Flavorpill, and LAist, among others-David agreed to produce the show every month. It has continued not only to sell out but also to attract a growing list of authors, comedians, and Hollywood writers. As Time Out declared, "This is the place to go to see strong female performers.”With the show now booked indefinitely, and with audio recordings of each performance available on iTunes, Anna has collected the most popular and entertaining pieces into the first ever True Tales of Lust and Love anthology. The book includes essays organized into three sections-Casual Sex, Dating, and Out of the Ordinary-which collectively offer up funny, raucous, insightful, and surprisingly touching confessions about the quest for lust and love. Everyone has dating disaster stories, everyone needs to share and laugh at them, and this anthology will give readers the opportunity to do just that, with contributions from the funniest writers and comedians around, pulled from the world of books, TV, and film. True Tales of Lust and Love is the perfect complement for a funny or cynical Valentine's Day-and beyond.

After her traditional engagement to her high school sweetheart falls apart, Liza Monroy faced the prospect of another devastating loss: the deportation of her best friend Emir. Desperate to stay in America, Emir tried every legal recourse to obtain a green card knowing that his return to the Middle East—where gay men are often beaten and sometimes killed—was too dangerous. So Liza proposes to Emir in efforts to keep him safe and by her side. After a fast wedding in Las Vegas, the couple faces new adventures and obstacles in both L.A. and New York City as they dodge the INS. Their relationship is compounded further by the fact that Liza’s mother works for the State Department preventing immigration fraud. Through it all, Liza and Emir must contend with professional ambition, adversity, and heartbreak and eventually learn the true lessons of companionship and devotion. This marriage that was not a marriage, in the end, really was.The Marriage Act is a timely and topical look at the changing face of marriage in America and speaks to the emergent generation forming bonds outside of tradition—and sometimes even outside the law.

Bold, beautiful and fierce-Dael Orlandersmith delivers a riveting story in Black n Blue Boys / Broken Men. This gritty play portrays five unforgettable male characters, linked by their efforts to forge identities in families fractured by abuse. Each relates a story that transforms these challenges into a celebration of our capacity to survive. Orlandersmith created this piece after working at a shelter for homeless youth in the 1980s, and her writing brings these characters roaring to life. At once powerful and heartbreakingly poetic, Black n Blue Boys/Broken Men will leave you breathless.

In this devilishly clever collection of short fiction, renowned humorist Owen Egerton leads us on a wildly surprising, darkly comic, and often heart-wrenching ride into the terrible beauty of life's end. With razor wit and compassionate insight, Egerton has a crafted a work that brilliantly explores the pain and wonder of life, knowing that with the turn of any corner death could be panhandling for your soul.

In this “often riotous, ultimately moving Cat’s Cradle for our time,” a Texas couple prepares for the apocalypse (Kirkus Reviews).In Austin, Milton and Rica are expecting their first child. It’s four days and counting. Not for the baby. But for the end of the world. Evidence: Haydon Brock, a godless television star has suddenly traded his Hollywood fame for salvation. A prophetic hermit crab is embarking on an unfathomable cross-country quest. Planes are dropping from the sky. And the president and first lady disappear. No omen is too inexplicable to Milton. He’s learned for a fact that our planet is one vast asylum for the incurably insane. And its cosmic guardians are about to close down the whole damn thing.Then Milton receives one more premonition: to seek out Haydon now holed up somewhere in Marfa. To what end Milton hasn’t a clue. To find out, Milton, Rica, and their best friend head west across an increasingly cataclysmic landscape of inter-dimensional time travelers, Jesus clones, sleep-deprived monks, ghosts, and angels in an epic and manic quest to outrun the last days on Earth.Combining humor, philosophical inquiry and an unforgettable cast of characters, “this sharp-witted satire” (Booklist) “is a future classic, and people will be reading [it] decades from now. I know I will” (Charles Yu, How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe).

As teenagers today navigate increasingly fluid identities and choices, there is a demand for an accessible, interactive tool to help share knowledge about sex and sexual health; one that demystifies the facts and speaks frankly about experiences whose lessons often fall into the grey areas.Since 2008, Miller and Bley have held an open call for young people to create comics that address a variety of topics involved with sex education. We have since produced several issues of a sex-ed comic called Not Your Mother’s Meatloaf. The work is chosen from a vastly varied group of submissions and attempts to challenge hetero and gender normative practices in sex education. The comics address topics like body image, safer sex, consent, and relationships, from positions that have historically been left out of sex education.These graphically illustrated personal narratives address different themes, such as “Firsts,” “Bodies,” “Health,” “Age,” and “Endings.” The book will bring together the best of the material from the Not Your Mother’s Meatloaf comics, along with new graphic stories and writing by the editors providing personal and sociological background.

“Delightful . . . One part Joan Didion, one part Holly Golightly, Lilibet Snellings has given us, in Box Girl, a hilarious and utterly original account of coming of age in L.A. Winsome, witty, and startlingly honest, she takes us on a mental journey that touches on feminism and fast food, voyeurism and advertising, going broke and breaking away.” —The New YorkerWhen 22-year-old Lilibet Snellings moved to Los Angeles on a whim, she unintentionally became a “slash” to keep her head above water—a writer/waitress/actress/Box Girl. One night each week, Lilibet would go to The Standard Hotel in West Hollywood, don a pair of white boy shorts with a matching tank, touch up her lip gloss, and crawl into a giant glass case behind the front desk. There, she could do whatever she wanted—check email, catch up on reading, even sleep—as long as she ignored the many hotel guests who would point and ask the staff, “Is she allowed to use the bathroom?” (Yes.)Dog-paddling through her twenties, Snellings resisted financial bailouts (for the most part) from her sweet Southern mother and business-oriented dad, while pondering her peculiar position as a human art installation. Was she a piece of art or a piece of ass? Was she allowed to read both Walt Whitman and US Weekly as she lounged in an oversized, waterless aquarium behind a hotel concierge desk? From misinterpreting a modeling agency interview as a talent audition, to avoiding Bond-girl-style deaths at New Year’s Eve parties, Snellings shares and laughs at her many mishaps while living in LA.

Too Much to Dream" places the story of a young man's drug addiction inside the larger history of psychedelics and popular culture. Bebergal's story gives a personal face to the examination of cultural history, offering a radical vision regarding the complex relationship between drug addiction, popular culture, and the religious experience. 224 pp. Buyer's Choice"

Jeff Martin was born in 1980. Jeff Martin made millions on the stock market. Jeff Martin lost millions on the stock market. Jeff Martin stopped a Chinese tank at Tiananmen Square. Jeff Martin managed Michael Dukakis's 1988 presidential campaign. Jeff Martin co-wrote "Aliens 2: More Aliens" with James Cameron. Jeff Martin had a torrid and brief creative relationship with Disney's animation department. Jeff Martin disguised himself as a midget, joined NASA, and became the first-ever child in space, all in tribute to the "Challenger" space shuttle tragedy. Such is only a sample of the amazing life of Jeff Martin, a modern-day renaissance man/child, adept at everything, and uniquely attuned to the goings-on of our evolving planet. He is equal parts Doogie Howser and Forest Gump -- as likely to break an age barrier as to coincidentally find himself in the trenches of history. Get ready for a groundbreaking memoir overflowing with action, history, social commentary, and unchecked facts. Along the way, there will be love, loss, cool drawings from "Truth Serum" cartoonist Jon Adams, and some more unchecked facts. And as a free promotion, we're offering a money-back guarantee that this book will not disgrace Oprah.

“Beautifully evokes scenes of two girls adrift in the . . . bohemian beach culture . . . a breathtaking, fiercely feminine take on American magical realism.” —Interview MagazineSet in Long Beach, California, beginning in the 1970s, The Salt God’s Daughter follows Ruthie and her older sister Dolly as they struggle for survival in a place governed by an enchanted ocean and exotic folklore. Guided by a mother ruled by magical, elaborately-told stories of the full moons, which she draws from The Old Farmer’s Almanac, the two girls are often homeless, often on their own, fiercely protective of each other, and unaware of how far they have drifted from traditional society as they carve a real life from their imagined stories.Imbued with a traditional Scottish folktale and hints of Jewish mysticism, The Salt God’s Daughter examines the tremulous bonds between sisters and the enduring power of maternal love—a magical tale that presents three generations of extraordinary women who fight to transcend a world that is often hostile to those who are different.“Indeed, Ruby has written a complicated, multi-layered work that shifts shapes to bridge the relationship between tragedy and redemption.” --The Huffington Post“Three generations of indelibly original women wrestle with the confines of their lives against a shimmering backdrop of magic, folklore, and deep-buried secrets . . . To say I loved this book is an understatement.” --Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author“The selkie myth lies at the heart of Ruby’s second novel . . . This is a bewitching tale of lives entangled in lushly layered fables of the moon and sea.” --Kirkus Reviews