Featured as a "This Week's Reading/What We're Loving" pick at The Paris Review Named the Best Music-Related Book of 2014 by Joel Gausten "If you're a Jesus Lizard fan or a David Yow devotee, you're sure all over this. But even if you've never heard of the band, the book stands as one of the best ways to experience being in a tight, cohesive band. You get everything except the sweat, spilled beer, and blood. It's a fun ride, and the closest thing possible to getting in the van with these guys." --Mother Jones "The Jesus Lizard Book is a beautiful document of a band that wasn't afraid to be abrasive, chaotic, brutal, and sometimes, ugly." --The Chicago Tribune/Printers Row "These guys deserve to pat themselves on the back...If the spectacular photography in The Jesus Lizard Book is to be believed, their shows resembled nothing more than that scene in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom where some poor dude has his still-beating heart removed in an elaborate ritual." --The Paris Review "As a reader, you don’t need to hear the songs to appreciate the story--and Book delivers the band right to your coffee table loud and clear." --BoingBoing.net "The gorgeously crafted, 176-page hardcover Book...dives deep and candidly into the Jesus Lizard's first decade and touches a bit on that 2009 coda, too. Through many thousands of words, hundreds of photos, and collected ephemera, it celebrates the sweat, menace, humor, musicianship, lasting power, and genitals of one of the best bands ever coughed up by the rock underground." --The Village Voice "Book is a valuable document that brings us back to the era when artists were conditioned to practice the art of self-defense." --Pitchfork "A series of essays and photos that illuminates the Jesus Lizard--humorous, jolting, sometimes surprisingly moving." --The Chicago Tribune "If there is any recurring theme within the 176 pages of the newly released The Jesus Lizard Book it's this: The Chicago-grown noise rockers will be remembered as one of the greatest live bands to ever grace--or very well desecrate--the stage." --Chicago Sun-Times "Impressively candid, informed and informative history of a remarkable group of musicians. A 'must read' for their legions of appreciative fans...Highly recommended." --Midwest Book Review "Even if you're unfamiliar with or disinterested with the band's music, Book makes for an intriguing exploration of the alternative music scene of the '90s--a short burst in time when a band as gloriously odd as The Jesus Lizard could do whatever they wanted to do and get a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow." --Joel Gausten The Jesus Lizard Book is a coffee table affair of exclusive photography, art, and other imagery with written pieces by all four members of the seminal indie rock band the Jesus Lizard. The layout is stylish and elegant, particularly in contrast with the harshness of much of the band's music. Included are many Polaroids by David Wm. Sims, a delicious recipe by David Yow, a concise list of every show the Jesus Lizard played, and writings by two producers who recorded the band--Steve Albini and Andy Gill. There is biographical material of each member that covers childhood to the demise of the group. Other contributors include, Mike Watt, Alexander Hacke, Steve Gullick, Rebecca Gates, Jeff Lane, Sasha Frere-Jones, KRK, Bernie Bahrmasel, and many more.

"Each page is delightful. These are premium cat drawings, quite worthy of this handsome hardcover book." --Newcity Lit "David Yow is part punk, part cat lady." --Brooklyn Paper "Fortunately, if you’ve been looking for a less embarrassing thing than Cat Fancy to adorn your coffee table, I’ve got good news: David Yow has just the book for you." --Verbicide Magazine "You could say Yow's book is the cat's MeYow. Snap it up fast cat peeps." --Cat Wisdom 101 "Something good to read with your kids." --The Big Takeover "Surely you know crazy cat people like me who could use a hardback kitty-art book. Indulge them. They'll thank you--after they're done giggling--I'm sure of it." --Persephone Magazine "Feeling down? Leafing through this book is sure to make you smile! It is the purrfect gift for cat lovers of all ages and one you will want to turn the pages of again and again! It's also purrfect cocktail party fodder, keep this just a paw's reach away on your coffee-table, you have an instant conversation starter!" --Cat Chat with Caren and Cody "Cats and puns illustrated by a musician? It's like the Book Gods sensed a need in my life and amply provided." --The Cannonball Read "The only thing I did not like about Copycat is that, according to my human, kitties are not supposed to eat it." --Sparkle the Designer Cat "Cute drawings mixed with photos, very creatively crafted, with an endearing little face on each one." --Cottage Country Reflections "This is a great collection...an interesting and eye catching coffee table book." --Jenn's Review Blog "If you're a fan of graphics, words, or cats, this book will talk to you....I don't think you'll find another one like this unique book." --Journey of a Bookseller "This is a charming collection of drawings by David Yow...The drawings are all beautiful and David Yow's talent shines in each one." --Socrates' Book Reviews, "5-kitten" review "Copycat is a fun and whimsical book that any cat lover will enjoy." --Bergers Book Reviews "Hey David, it's me BUB. I read your book, and can't deny that I didn't read the whole thing in the first sitting. 'Catsup' and 'Catastrophe' are worth the price of admission alone. WOW YOW, MEOW." --Lil BUB, Internet cat celebrity David Yow's cat portraits, captured here for the first time in book form, are bold, striking, hilarious, and beautiful. Each portrait is based around a pun, but they capture so much more than wordplay. All cat lovers will find something to relish in this gorgeous coffee-table book, which is the perfect gift for cat enthusiasts, animal lovers, and anyone with a playful sense of humor. About the book, David Yow says: "I love cats. Always have. The only time I didn't have a cat was a brief hell in Chicago where I lived in an apartment whose landlord didn't allow them. At that place, I had a life-sized cardboard cutout of a cat which I named Toody. I also love wordplay. I'm the only adult I hang out with who still gets a kick out of puns. I make up palindromes. I used to write songs and poems (these days, I leave that for the songwriters and poets); in this book of cat-pun drawings, I have made a concerted effort to come up with ideas that range from really funny to really amusing. The entire litter of animals in this book are line drawings that are 'colored in' with photographic textures, and each cat is dropped into a photographic setting. Yep, that's the truth."

A memoir charting thirty years of the American indie rock underground by a musician who was at its center Jon Fine spent nearly thirty years performing and recording with bands that played aggressive and challenging underground rock music, and, as he writes, at no point were any of those bands “ever threatened, even distantly, by actual fame.” Yet when the members of his 1980s post-hardcore band Bitch Magnet came together for an unlikely reunion tour in 2011, diehard fans traveled from far and wide to attend their shows, despite creeping middle-age obligations of parenthood and 9-to-5 jobs. Their devotion was testament to the remarkable staying power of indie culture. In indie rock’s pre-Internet glory days, bands like Bitch Magnet, Black Flag, Mission of Burma, and Sonic Youth—operating far outside commercial radio and major label promotion—attracted fans through word of mouth, college DJs, record stores, and zines. They found glory in all-night recording sessions, shoestring van tours, and endless appearances in grimy clubs. Some bands with a foot in this scene, like REM and Nirvana, eventually attained mainstream success. Many others, like Bitch Magnet, were beloved only by the most obsessed fans of the time. Your Band Sucks is an insider’s look at that fascinating, outrageous culture—how it emerged and evolved, how it grappled with the mainstream and vice versa, and its odd rebirth in recent years as countless bands reunited, briefly and bittersweetly. With backstage access to many key characters on the scene—and plenty of wit and sharply worded opinion—Fine delivers a memoir that affectionately yet critically portrays an important, heady moment in music history. Praise for Your Band Sucks: “Everything a cult-fave musician’s memoir should be: It’s a seductively readable book that requires no previous knowledge of the author, Bitch Magnet or any other band with which he’s played.” —Janet Maslin, The New York Times “Jon Fine has produced as evocative a portrait of the underground music scene as any wistful, graying post-punk could wish for.” —The Atlantic

Hundreds of thousands of people around the world have read—and reread—Christopher Moore's irreverent, iconoclastic, and divinely funny tale of the early life of Jesus Christ as witnessed by his boyhood pal Levi bar Alphaeus (a.k.a. Biff). Now, in this special (check out the cool red ribbon marker, gilt-edged pages, and gold lettering) gift edition of Christopher Moore's bestselling Lamb, you, too, can find out what really happened between the manger and the Sermon on the Mount. And, in a new afterword written expressly for this edition, Christopher Moore addresses some of the most frequently asked questions he's received from readers since Lamb's initial publication, about the book and himself. Fresh, funny, poignant, and wise, this special gift edition of Lamb is cause for rejoicing among readers everywhere.

Everyone knows about the immaculate conception and the crucifixion. But what happened to Jesus between the manger and the Sermon on the Mount? In this hilarious and bold novel, the acclaimed Christopher Moore shares the greatest story never told: the life of Christ as seen by his boyhood pal, Biff. Just what was Jesus doing during the many years that have gone unrecorded in the Bible? Biff was there at his side, and now after two thousand years, he shares those good, bad, ugly, and miraculous times. Screamingly funny, audaciously fresh, Lamb rivals the best of Tom Robbins and Carl Hiaasen, and is sure to please this gifted writer’s fans and win him legions more.

So what does a lizard have to do with Christmas? Plenty, if you ask this tiny, scaly, squiggly friend! Oscar, who's really a pet iguana, takes readers to a holiday wonderland as he ventures up his family's Christmas tree in search of the true meaning of the season. On his journey, he meets lots of fun and familiar ornaments that explain to him why Christmas is the biggest, most wonderful celebration of the year.

Punk rock culture in a preeminently average town Synonymous with American mediocrity, Peoria was fertile ground for the boredom- and anger-fueled fury of punk rock. Jonathan Wright and Dawson Barrett explore the do-it-yourself scene built by Peoria punks, performers, and scenesters in the 1980s and 1990s. From fanzines to indie record shops to renting the VFW hall for an all-ages show, Peoria's punk culture reflected the movement elsewhere, but the city's conservatism and industrial decline offered a richer-than-usual target environment for rebellion. Eyewitness accounts take readers into hangouts and long-lost venues, while interviews with the people who were there trace the ever-changing scene and varied fortunes of local legends like Caustic Defiance, Dollface, and Planes Mistaken for Stars. What emerges is a sympathetic portrait of a youth culture in search of entertainment but just as hungry for community—the shared sense of otherness that, even for one night only, could unite outsiders and discontents under the banner of music. A raucous look at a small-city underground, Punks in Peoria takes readers off the beaten track to reveal the punk rock life as lived in Anytown, U.S.A.