An 18" x 24" poster of the cover by Kateřina Čupová

"American Candide makes fun of modern culture’s obsession with money and the calamities politics get us into. At the same time, it reminds us that too often US citizens sanction their actions and values with the over repeated attitude of Americans’ 'superiority.'" —John Tamarri, Pop Matters The globe-trotting misadventures of American Candide and his wingnut tutor, Dr. Pangloss, his totally hot BBW Cunegonde plus sundry suicide bombers, illuminati global warmers, insurance cults, sex-crazed illegal aliens and even the Senate Sub-Committee on Homeland Furnishings provides sufficient belly laughs to make exile, destitution, rape, murder and torture into something that happens to other, mostly foreign people, thank God. From the jungle slums of darkest Africa to the lily-white McMansions of American suburbia, the human condition wreaks havoc upon Candide and his friends as they search for an American Dream being held against its will in an undisclosed location. College-boy sissies will call it a Juvenalian satire upon America's penchant for mindless optimism and casual racism but Candide says it's really 'rage against the rage, Voltaire-dude!'

"Superbly crafted, Arkdust is a harrowing, action-packed, wildly imaginative collection of stories. More than simply revealing us to ourselves and warning us of impending doom, it exposes how there really is no line between the apocalypse and the now; this is the end and no one told us--certainly not so creatively. This book is vivid, terrifying, rebellious, and dazzling. What a fever dream. What a clarion call. It will stay with me for a very long time. Alex Smith is a master storyteller. —Robert Jones, Jr., author of The New York Times bestselling novel, The Prophets Pain, hope, and love collide in this explosive collection of speculative fiction. Arkdust demands revolutions while seeking compassion and understanding. Alex Smith gives us abandoned Black Panthers, disillusioned queer anarchists, warrior queen grocery clerks, all fighting for a better future against sadistic superheroes and white supremacist automatons—while a high-heeled bag lady with utopia in her eyes leads the way. Worlds we hope to never see and only dare to imagine, Arkdust challenges and implores the reader to explore the unimaginable to make all worlds possible. As Samuel R. Delany says, “You should be in that armchair, this word-wonder in your hand, reading ...”

"Hernandez's witty, insightful debut collection of 12 short stories pushes the boundaries of speculative fiction." --Publishers Weekly, starred review A quirky collection of short sci-fi stories for fans of Kij Johnson and Kelly Link Assimilation is founded on surrender and being broken; this collection of short stories features people who have assimilated, but are actively trying to reclaim their lives. There is a concert pianist who defies death by uploading his soul into his piano. There is the person who draws his mother’s ghost out of the bullet hole in the wall near where she was executed. Another character has a horn growing out of the center of his forehead—punishment for an affair. But he is too weak to end it, too much in love to be moral. Another story recounts a panda breeder looking for tips. And then there’s a border patrol agent trying to figure out how to process undocumented visitors from another galaxy. Poignant by way of funny, and philosophical by way of grotesque, Hernandez’s stories are prayers for self-sovereignty.

"It’s a booty-licious throwback, stuffed with references that will likely go over the heads of anyone who wasn’t immersed in black subculture during the Nixon-through-Reagan years. Much of the minimalist artwork evokes the look of psychedelic black light posters and album cover art of the post-hippie era, and is as funky as the music and movies from which it draws inspiration. Campbell and company’s retro groove is perfect for those who appreciate trippy exuberance." —Publishers Weekly These women are truly baaaad. They're rough. They're ready. They're space pirates. They're a James Brown cover band. They are the BAAAAAD MUTHAZ. Follow Afro Desia, Cali Vera, Alley Bastard, Candy Ass, Katana Jade, and Snake on their madcap cosmic adventures as they funk up the galaxy in search of the almighty booty!

"Magic, murder, and Mississippi mud. Blue Hand Mojo is a comic book unlike anything you've been reading. Set in 1931 Chicago where the shadow of Al Capone still looms, Half-Dead Johnson has to solve a murder with the devil on his tail. This is a book to watch." -- Justin Jordan, The Legacy of Luther Strode 1931. Bronzeville. Chicago. The mage, Frank "Half Dead" Johnson, is a marked man. Literally. A drunken decision fueled by tragedy has left him with half a soul, sorcerous powers, and two centuries to work off his debt to Scratch (aka The Devil) himself. This graphic novel chronicles three adventures with this tragic conjure man. Watch as "Half Dead" attempts to save his own soul, pay his debt, and help as many people as he can along the way. It's a hard-hitting Hoodoo Noir highball with just a splash of Southern Gothic. Smack-dab in the dark heart of the Windy City. Hold on tight! It's going to be a bumpy ride down Hard Times Road.

"This mesmerizing blend of Black American folk tradition and dark fantasy provides much food for thought, as well as edgy entertainment." —Library Journal (starred review) When Black graduate student Lyndsey begins her dissertation work on a mysterious box that pops up during the most violent and troubled time in Africana history, she has no idea that her research will lead her on a phantasmagorical journey from West Philadelphia riots to Haitian slave uprisings. Wherever Lyndsey finds someone who has seen the Box, chaos ensues. Soon, even her own sanity falls into question. In the end, Lyndsey will have to decide if she really wants to see what's inside the Box of Bones. Described as "Hellraiser Meets Black History," Box of Bones is a supernatural nightmare tour through some of the most violent and horrific episodes in the African Diaspora.

"The 14 hard-hitting, memorable short stories and prose vignettes in this powerhouse collection from Johnson (Blueprints for Better Worlds) are astounding in their originality . . . Intelligent, visceral, and gorgeously written, Johnson's work deserves a wide readership." --Publisher's Weekly (Starred Review) From humor to horror, the speculative fiction in Broken Fevers has a gleaming edge. This new collection by award winner Tenea D. Johnson features 14 tales. Though many are dark, they pull one through the light, if only for a moment, to visit the next vista, a new world, or this one recast in an uncertain future. Whether it be the lengths a woman will go to for performance art or how best to communicate the Middle Passage's horrors to the privileged, darkness has room to breathe here and bring wonder. Social commentary and genetic adaptation exist alongside fairy crises, alien liminalities, and the responsibilities of those holding up the world and those who communicate with the next. Broken Fevers shares the heart in the hurt, the courage in a cataclysm, and the connections that we make wherever we find ourselves.

“Farris has the gift of making her wildly imaginative worlds feel fully lived-in. Readers of literary science fiction will devour this collection.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) In Clelia Farris' mind-bending tales, you'll find captivating characters with elusive identities like Kieser, who longs to transform himself through horrific procedures in "Creative Surgery," or Yuliano (“Secret Enemy”), a man with no aesthetic taste, or Gabola, engaged in the battle of a lifetime against the expropriation of the Little Tuvu Hill. With dry and polished prose, like the stones of her native Sardinia, Clelia Farris takes us on adventures among the ruins of a future marred by climate change ("A Day to Remember") and in a haunting prison inhabited by the enigmatic figure of "Rebecca." Collected and translated into English for the first time, these seven stories represent some of the greatest works from one of Italy's best science fiction authors.

A long forgotten Beat poet brought back to life in utterly fantastical fashion. In beautifully vivid journal entries, Black poet Mardou Fox chronicles her 1950s and ‘60s experiences with the Beat Generation--and her adventures in the mysterious, otherworldly realm “over the fence.” Characters based on star Beat authors like Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac fight alongside Mardou or battle against her as she challenges racism and sexism to win happiness, freedom, and respect for her work. Are the answers she’s seeking shrouded in the mists of magic? Inspired by the true story of Alene Lee, whose crucial role is often left out of Beat Generation lore.

"A hard-bitten and fast-paced dystopian adventure that will keep readers up all night, twitching and watching the skies.” —Meg Elison, Philip K. Dick Award winner Twenty years ago, a toxic spill in the small, southwest Texas town of Exile poisoned residents with permanent rage. The feds’ response? Quarantine. Only residents who pass the feds’ 4-S test can escape Exile’s heavily fortified borders. Heidi Palermo, unwilling medic to her family of bloodthirsty street warriors, has taken the test repeatedly, trying to prove she’s smart, strong, sterile, and sane. Three out of four ain't bad, but the feds don’t grade on a curve. When her abusive brother dies in battle, Heidi turns her clinical eye to his killer. An Outsider who arrived post-spill, Tank seems open to Heidi's advances. Is Tank her ticket out of Exile? Before she can find out, the two are besieged by her vengeful family. Heidi must keep their blood feud from triggering a war with the feds if she wants to escape Exile. But Tank’s about as trusting as Heidi is monogamous—which is to say, not at all. So Heidi's picked the wrong mark, her family is gunning for her, and the feds are itching to nuke Exile once and for all. Heidi's got her fourth S now: Screwed.

When you’re the only Black kid in the honors program or (any program) at your mostly white high school, or one of a handful of Black graduate students in your PhD program, or one of two African American women on the faculty at your Pac-10 employer, it’s not your gender non-conformity that sets you apart from your peers. In those environments, your Blackness is the first thing people notice about you. Still, there are other ways of being different--and feeling different--that can’t be attributed to race, especially if you’re one of the people whose awareness of the unwritten rules of what it means to be a boy or a girl (or a man or a woman) is tempered by the fact that most of those rules don’t feel quite right. In Gender Studies: True Confessions of an Accidental Outlaw, Ajuan Mance gives comic treatment to the challenges, complexities, and occasional absurdity of life at the crossroads of race, gender, and geekiness. This graphic memoir answers important questions like: How many preschoolers have to mistake you for your dad before you actually start to forget your own name; if a Black girl is awful at double-dutch jump rope is it a reflection on her gender identity, racial identity, or both; and is viola player a gender or just a sexual orientation? Ajuan Mance’s comic Gender Confessions take up each of these questions and more, as it invites to share in those moments that mark the path of a gender explorer.

Overall, an outstanding collection by Taylor which showcases her talents as a storyteller. The stories by Taylo, are funny, melancholy, and moving. The art by Taylor is gorgeous. Altogether, a graphic novel which gets readers entrenched in the experiences and gets the reader to fall in love with the characters. --Graphic Policy Ghost Stories is a graphic novel collection offering three haunting explorations. Granted the chance to meet three of her dead idols in "Ghost," the author’s cartoon-self embarks on a journey to remote and unanticipated landscapes, in a story of self-discovery and healing. In "Wallpaper," a child tells the story of a household move, remodel, and loss through the lens of flashbulb memory. And in "Makers," two girls with an unorthodox friendship make a rocky transition into adulthood. Throughout each tale, ghosts exist as past selves and remnants of past relationships that are met with inquiry, resolution, and personal rebirth.

"Marguerite Dabaie navigates the swirling confluence of Palestinian heritage and American culture in these proud, poignant, and humorous stories of her upbringing." --Joe Sacco, author of Palestine and Footnotes in Gaza In this current political climate, being a Palestinian is a hazard. However, there are common grounds where East meets West. The Hookah Girl is a semi-autobiographical graphic novel of a childhood as a Christian Palestinian in America. Told in short stories and with narrative ranging from growing up in a refugee family to how to roll waraq (stuffed grape leaves), this book is an account of living in two seemingly different cultures that actually aren’t very different at all.

"Tight-paced and surreal, INK paints a dystopian vision in which the American dream morphs into an immigration nightmare. Weaving the fantastical with the everyday, Vourvoulias tells a story as unsettling as it is timely. A resonant, indelible novel." -- Jhumpa Lahiri, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Interpreter of Maladies, The Namesake, Unaccustomed Earth and the Lowland. Her name is Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand glows world-wide welcome. "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me." America has lost its way. The strongest of people can be found in the unlikeliest of places. The future of the entire country will depend on them. All across the United States, people scramble to survive new, draconian policies that mark and track immigrants and their children (citizens or not) as their freedoms rapidly erode around them. For the “inked”—those whose immigration status has been permanently tattooed on their wrists—those famous words on the Statue of Liberty are starting to ring hollow. The tattoos have marked them for horrors they could not have imagined within US borders. As the nightmare unfolds before them, unforeseen alliances between the inked—like Mari, Meche, and Toño—and non-immigrants—Finn, Del, and Abbie—are formed, all in the desperate hope to confront it. Ink is the story of their ingenuity. Of their resilience. Of their magic. A story of how the power of love and community out-survives even the grimmest times.

“The storytelling, the design, the art, letters, and color on Bizhan Khodabandeh's Little Black Fish all stood out to me immediately as something really worth spending time with. This is his first comic I am told. I am impressed. It is a beautiful story. Anyone with a love of comics would do well to pay attention.” —Farel Dalrymple, author/artist, Pop-Gun War An inquisitive little fish decided to question authority and leave the safety of her own home to venture out into the expansive sea. The creatures she meets along the way teach her important lessons and make her learn the most valuable treasure in life: freedom.

"A powerful tale of resistance, told in the most unexpected way. The fish, no matter how small, demonstrate our own fight for freedom. A fight that never ends. This story will break your heart, and immediately mend it through the spirit of revolution." —Aimée de Jongh, author of Days of Sand We follow The Little Red Fish as they journey deep into themselves and blossom into the leader they were meant to be. Guided by a magical orb and the will of the people, our hero strives to help a small reef in the Persian Gulf regain its freedom. The Little Red Fish is a creative retelling of the events of the Iranian Revolution from the perspective of those actually involved. A stunning mixture of political allegory and magical realism, The Little Red Fish collects the 6 part comic book series into one trade, including artist features and process notes. The Little Red Fish vividly captures an often-overlooked part of history, channeling folk history, oral histories from first-hand accounts, and academic research.

“A wondrous story about friendship and the magic we all hold deep inside.” —Cynthia von Buhler, author/artist of The Illuminati Ball It’s the one story of magic and wonder everyone thinks they know—yet the most epic part of the tale remains shrouded in mystery. What actually happened 1,800 years ago to transform a starry-eyed young priest named Nicholas into a winter wizard destined to circle the world on a sleigh of hope? Now, the secret is revealed: She happened. This is the story of Amara, one of the legendary Muses of the House of Polyhymnia. Sent by the Muses to a small town in ancient Lycia, Amara sees something special in Nicholas’s kindness and generosity. As she prepares to defend humankind against the Kobaloi, creatures who feed on fear and chaos, she senses this young man may be the partner she needs to stand against their growing power. But binding her fate and her magic to Saint Nicholas will mean breaking the laws of the Muses—and risking their eternal wrath.

"In the hidden places of our nation we can find refuge from the bloody oppression of American empire. We might find, to our horror, that we’ve brought familiar pieces of that violence with us. This stirring graphic novel shows us one winding road toward a promised land, and the tragic detours along the way." --Ben Passmore, author of Your Black Friend and Other Strangers 1879. After decades of violence of fleeing, having gone everywhere from Florida to Mexico, a war-weary band of Seminole Blacks led by their sheriff, Desi Leans, and his wise-cracking deputy, Gay Day, have finally settled in the Oklahoma Territory. They have built their dream, Refuge, and they will do whatever it takes to make it work. But they fear that it may all go up in smoke when a band of renegade buffalo soldiers, The Testimony Gang, and their firebrand leader, Prester John, come to town. Will Refuge hold true to its promise or will it all be burned to the ground?

"The standouts are the three central pieces: Kate Osias’s 'The Unmaking of the Cuadro Amoroso,' in which an enclave of prodigies takes revenge on imperial war machines; Olivia Ho’s 'Working Woman,' reexamining Frankenstein’s monster amid the multicultural power brokers of Singapore; and Robert Liow’s 'Spider Here,' a hard-SF adventure with a suicide bomber, illegal fights, and a disabled schoolgirl protagonist. Even the slighter stories have the craft, perspective, and components that merit savoring, and the finest would be worth considering for any year’s best anthology." —Publishers Weekly (STARRED REVIEW) The stories in this collection merge technological wonder with the everyday. Children upgrade their fighting spiders with armor, and toymakers create punchcard-driven marionettes. Large fish lumber across the skies, while boat people find a new home on the edge of a different dimension. Technology and tradition meld as the people adapt to the changing forces of their world. The Sea Is Ours is an exciting new anthology that features stories infused with the spirits of Southeast Asia’s diverse peoples, legends, and geography.

Meet Deep Singh. He loves Elvis and hates the Taliban. By day he works at a tech company and lives with his parents. But that's just a front. For Deep Singh is really a top secret agent for the United Nations, fighting terrorism all around the world. But right now, he really needs a vacation. And there's only one place to go...Graceland!

Suzy Samson, the world’s greatest heroine, is back battling her toughest foe: middle age. Having given up her powers and crime fighting career for married life long ago, Suzy suddenly finds herself forty, divorced, and overweight. Forced to move in with her former nemesis turned best friend, Girliath, Suzy has begun reclaiming her life. With Girliath as her new partner, Suzy renews her war on injustice. Armed with her father’s unbreakable jawbone club and impenetrable lion skin, Suzy tries to rediscover who she is and her place in the world. Regaining her strength over time, Suzy continues her struggle to set the wrong things right. No matter if she is fighting paramilitary girl scouts, mystical beasts, or dealing with the emotional fall out of divorce, Suzy Samson is stronger than ever!

“A Tale of Truths reads like a campfire tale, a bedtime story adventure, a road trip yarn spun to wile the hours. It begins with an elf shaped from the sea shore, and quickly fills with extraordinary thieves, a cat that is horses, and a journey by hearse through a sentient forest. What we have here is quirky unpredictable playfulness let to run rampant.” --C. S. E. Cooney  A dissident scientist, her granddaughter, and an elf who created himself from thought journey to a tiered city built in a giant vertical conch. Here, they seek an audience at the top in order to convince them that their planet orbits its star instead of the other way around. But the road to paradigm shift is never easy—and rarely straightforward—and reveals many truths of its own.

2019 Otherwise Award Winner 2019 Otherwise Special Award Winner 2024 Shirley Jackson Award Finalist -- Best Collection 2024 British Science Fiction Award Finalist -- Best Translated Work -- Short Fiction "Gabriela Damián Miravete is arguably one of the most important writers of speculative fiction in Mexico, and her collection, They Will Dream in the Garden, showcases the breadth and depth of her work." —David Bowles, award-winning author of The Prince & the Coyote In They Will Dream in the Garden, Otherwise Award-winning author, Gabriela Damián Miravete elaborates the disconcerting experience of living as a woman in Mexico—a territory characterized by its great contrasts, from violence and activism to affectionate and communal resistance: flowers that arise from the earth to expand the cosmic consciousness of those who take it, nuns who create artifacts so that their native languages do not perish, a memorial for the victims of femicide that the State controls, but whose old guardian wants to turn into a laboratory to return their lost future…

2024 Philip K. Dick Award Finalist "The stories of Dilman Dila leap from the page and grab you by the throat with intrigue and urgent imagination. An impressive American debut!" —Tananarive Due, American Book Award winner The stunning, new collection from the Ugandan master of Africanfuturism. A young teen, haunted by the ghost of his father, takes it upon himself to save his brother and his people from a warlord's marauding army. A frustrated detective is driven to the brink, confronting the vengeful spirit killing grooms on their wedding night. What happens when British colonials find Martians in Africa, a brash warrior battles his elders and ancient horrors in order to secure paradise for his people, or an exiled abiba is stolen away to find his true destiny? Emerging Africanfuturist writer/director, Dilman Dila, brings us Where Rivers Go to Die, a startling collection of eight wonderful tales full of imagination, wonder, sorrow, power, and hope that weave Uganda's wonderful myth and reality with its past, present, and possible future as only he can.

In case you wanted extra copies, here's the hardback edition of R.U.R. again.