HEROIC TIMES Top 20 Books list (top 11 this week :)) is a new weekly installment that ranks the most interesting, intriguing books of the week (old, new, reissues, digital, etc). Contributors represent a variety of genres and sources. Each book includes Title and publisher blurb.
After forcing fans to wait for five years, John Santerineross again proves his genius of dark erotic art as he releases his eagerly anticipated second book of disturbing yet titillating images, entitled “Dream”. This sequel to “Fruit of the Secret God” is an exploration of John’s dream imagery and iconography through the use of the photographic medium. Hailed as “The leading dark erotic artist of our time” by media, fans and fellow artists, John again demonstrates his intelligence and talent in producing work that is provocative, disturbing and erotic.
“Dream” is a 9″ x 12″ hardcover photography book with dust jacket. 120 full color pages, it includes 50 new and never-before-seen images. Accompanying John’s disquieting, sensual images is an introduction offered by underground erotic writer, Nina Hugo and a short story written by artist and writer Bethalynne Bajema.
Guillermo Del Toro: Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark: Blackwood’s Guide to Dangerous Fairies
Guillermo Del Toro: Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark: Blackwood’s Guide to Dangerous Fairies [Hardcover]
An illustrated novel that dives into the world of the 2010 Miramax film “Don’t be Afraid of the Dark.” The movie is a PG-13 thriller written and produced by Guillermo del Toro, starring Guy Pearce and Katie Holmes, about a young girl sent to live with her father and his girlfriend. They move into a historic New England house, which is secretly inhabited by a brood of small creatures. These creatures seem at first to be playful figments of his daughter’s imagination, but quickly turn into a deadly threat.
The book, co-written by Guillermo Del Toro and Christopher Golden, takes place a hundred years before the movie begins. It chronicles the travels and adventures of a young nature scientist who begins to understand there’s more to the world than science understands.
Monsters in the Movies
Monsters in the Movies by legendary filmmaker John Landis showcases the greatest monsters ever to creep, fly, slither, stalk, or rampage across the Silver Screen!
Landis provides his own fascinating and entertaining insights into the world of moviemaking, while conducting in-depth “conversations” with leading monster makers, including David Cronenberg, Christopher Lee, John Carpenter, and Sam Raimi— to discuss some of the most petrifying monsters ever seen. He also surveys the historical origins of the archetypal monsters, such as vampires, zombies, and werewolves, and takes you behind the scenes to discover the secrets of those special-effects wizards who created such legendary frighteners as King Kong, Dracula, and Halloween’s Michael Myers. With more than 1000 stunning movie stills and posters, this book is sure to keep even the most intense fright-seekers at the edge of their seats for hours!
The Maze of the Enchanter (The Collected Fantasies of Clark Ashton Smith, Vol. 4) (v. 4)
The Maze of the Enchanter (The Collected Fantasies of Clark Ashton Smith, Vol. 4) (v. 4)
This series presents Clark Ashton Smith’s fiction chronologically, based on composition rather than publication. Editors Scott Connors and Ron Hilger have compared original manuscripts, various typescripts, published editions, and Smith’s notes and letters, in order to prepare a definitive set of texts. The Maze of the Enchanter includes, in chronological order, all of his stories from “The Mandrakes” (February, 1933) to “The Flower-Women” (May, 1935). This volume also features an introduction, and extensive notes on each story.
The Last Hieroglyph (The Collected Fantasies of Clark Ashton Smith, Vol. 5) (v. 5)
The Last Hieroglyph (The Collected Fantasies of Clark Ashton Smith, Vol. 5) (v. 5) [Hardcover] – The Last Hieroglyph is the fifth of the five volume Collected Fantasies series. Editors Scott Connors and Ron Hilger have compared original manuscripts, various typescripts, published editions, and Smith’s notes and letters, in order to prepare a definitive set of texts. The Last Hieroglyph includes, in chronological order, all of Clark Ashton Smith’s stories from “The Dark Age” to “The Dart of Rasasfa.”
Bodies: His Photographic Art
Bodies: His Photographic Art [Hardcover] – Boris Vallejo is renowned for his distinctive style of fantasy illustration. He depicts a world populated by powerful, athletic women and dynamic, well-muscled men, engaged in challenging, physical encounters where their strength and power is subjected to the most demanding tests. He is often asked if the people in his paintings really exist and in Bodies he gives his answer. This collection of sensuous photographs confirms that his inspiration does indeed come from life.
The Metabarons Ultimate Collection
The Metabarons Ultimate Collection [Hardcover]- Jodorowsky & Gimenez’s epic saga collected for the very first time. A multi-generational tale of family, sacrifice, and survival told within an immense universe, both in scope and originality. A true classic in the pantheon of graphic storytelling and science fiction as a whole. Omnibus content includes The Metabarons #1-4 trades + 30 pages of bonus material (including two Metabaron short stories), presented in its original size and color and in a limited and numbered print run of 999 copies only.
Critical Millennium Volume 1: The Dark Frontier
Critical Millennium Volume 1: The Dark Frontier [Hardcover] – Mankind’s rise and fall in space begins here! Two thousand years from now, the Earth is nearly dead. A bold group of explorers led by philanthropist Thomm Coney pushes forward to take the first tentative steps out of Earth’s solar system. Their quest: new worlds to colonize, so that humanity may yet have a chance at survival. Facing impossible odds, political agendas, and a fanatical terrorist regime bent on their destruction, Coney and his crew brave the dangers of a potentially volatile star drive in order to preserve a civilization intent not only on killing itself, but also on taking down every other living thing around it. Will mankind set aside its greed long enough to see a future amongst the stars? Collects Critical Millennium: The Dark Frontier #1-4 and contains new pages and a frontispiece and afterword by comic creator Chandra Free.
The Great Negro Plot: A Tale of Conspiracy and Murder in Eighteenth-Century New York
The Great Negro Plot: A Tale of Conspiracy and Murder in Eighteenth-Century New York [Hardcover] – In 1741, New York City was thrown into an uproar when a sixteen-year-old white woman, an indentured servant named Mary Burton, testified that she was privy to a monstrous conspiracy against the white people of Manhattan. Promised her freedom by authorities if she would only uncover the plot, Mary reported that the black men of the city were planning to burn New York City to the ground. As the courts ensnared more and more suspects and violence swept the city, 154 black New Yorkers were jailed, 14 were burned alive, 18 were hanged, and more than 100 simply “disappeared”; four whites wound up being executed and 24 imprisoned. Even as the madness escalated, however, officials started to realize that Mary Burton might not be telling the truth.
Expertly written by the acclaimed author of Drop and Hunting in Harlem, The Great Negro Plot is a brilliant reconstruction of a little-known moment in American history whose echoes still reverberate today.
Black Cool: One Thousand Streams of Blackness
Black Cool: One Thousand Streams of Blackness [Paperback] – Publication Date: February 7, 2012
Black Cool explores the ineffable state and aesthetic of Black Cool. From the effortless reserve of Miles Davis in khakis on an early album cover, to the shock of resistance in black women’s fashion from Angela Davis to Rihanna, to the cadence of poets as diverse as Staceyann Chin and Audre Lorde, Black Cool looks at the roots of Black Cool and attempts to name elements of the phenomena that have emerged to shape the global expectation of cool itself.
Buoyed by some of America’s most innovative thinkers on the subject—graphic novelist Mat Johnson, Brown University Professor of African Studies Tricia Rose, critical thinking and cultural icon bell hooks, Macarthur winner Kara Walker, and many more—the book is at once a handbook, a map, a journey into the matrix of another cosmology. It’s a literal periodic table of cool, wherein each writer names and defines their element of choice. Dream Hampton writes about Audacity. Helena Andrews about Reserve, Margo Jefferson on Eccentricity, Veronica Chambers on Genius, and so on. With a foreword by Henry Louis Gates that bridges historical African elements of cool with the path laid out for the future, Black Cool offers a provocative perspective on this powerful cultural legacy.
Dark Awakenings
Dark Awakenings [Hardcover]- From its earliest origins, the human religious impulse has been fundamentally bound up with an experience of primordial horror. The German theologian Rudolf Otto located the origin of human religiosity in an ancient experience of ‘daemonic dread.’ American horror writer H.P. Lovecraft asserted that weird supernatural horror fiction arose from a fundamental human psychological pattern that is ‘coeval with the religious feeling and closely related to many aspects of it.’ The American psychologist William James wrote in his classic study The Varieties of Religious Experience that the ‘real core of the religious problem’ lies in an overwhelming experience of cosmic horror born out of abject despair at life’s incontrovertible hideousness. In Dark Awakenings, author and scholar Matt Cardin explores this ancient intersection between religion and horror in seven stories and three academic papers that pose a series of disturbing questions: What if the spiritual awakening coveted by so many religious seekers is in fact the ultimate doom? What if the object of religious longing might prove to be the very heart of horror? Could salvation, liberation, enlightenment then be achieved only by identifying with that apotheosis of metaphysical loathing?
In Dark Awakenings, author and scholar Matt Cardin explores the ancient intersection between religion and horror in seven stories and three academic papers that pose a series of disturbing questions: What if the spiritual awakening coveted by so many religious seekers is in fact the ultimate doom? What if the object of religious longing might prove to be the very heart of horror? Could salvation, liberation, enlightenment then be achieved only by identifying with that apotheosis of metaphysical loathing?
This volume collects nearly all of Cardin’s uncollected fiction, including his 2004 novella ‘The God of Foulness.’ It contains extensive revisions and expansions of his popular stories ‘Teeth’ and ‘The Devil and One Lump’ and features one previously unpublished story and two unpublished papers, the first exploring a possible spiritual use of George Romero’s Living Dead films and the second offering a horrific reading of the biblical Book of Isaiah. At over 300 pages and nearly 120,000 words, it offers a substantial exploration of the religious implications of horror and the horrific implications of religion.
Well gals and guys hope you enjoyed that.
The WEDNESDAY WORDS column is a new blog feature, appearing (you guessed it!) every Wednesday. Come back next week to see which books make the list! And if you see items you’re considering purchasing then, if you are able and would like to support this blog, please utilize the attached links. Your helpful purchases through the links generates much appreciated pennies to keep this blog running. Your feedback and support… just way cool, and way appreciated. Thanks!
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by Charlie Wing. Understand how to maintain everything in your home—including the kitchen sink
– ‘Mekanika,’ issued in 2000, is the first collection of work from this Argentinan born artist. Almost all the work here dates after his decision to relocate to Europe, which seemed to trigger a creative flowering… The reader will find both published and unknown work here plus an interesting discussion by the artist himself. If you are a lover of works of the imagination this is a collection that is required reading, and has become hard to find.’-AMAZON Review
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