Demons in the Spring

Joe Meno

Paperback

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Do you recommend this book?

Yes!

--The limited edition hardcover of Demons in the Spring was a finalist for the 2009 Story Prize, a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2008, and a Time Out Chicago Best Book of 2008.

"An inspired collection of twenty stories, brilliant in its command of tone and narrative perspective . . . Creativity and empathy mark the collection . . . Illustrations enhance the already vivid storytelling." --Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

"Spanning worlds, generations, cultures and environments, each of Meno's short stories in this stellar collection explores depression, loneliness and insanity in the world, while never quite offering a clear solution or glimmer of hope. Misery loves company, and Meno's assortment of off-center, morose characters fit seamlessly together . . . Catering to all the odd men out in the world, this short story collection succeeds word to word, sentence to sentence, and cover to cover." --Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

The limited edition hardcover of Demons in the Spring is a collection of twenty short stories, with illustrations by twenty artists from the fine art, graphic art, and comic book worlds--including Todd Baxter, Kelsey Brookes, Ivan Brunetti, Charles Burns, Nick Butcher, Steph Davidson, Evan Hecox, Paul Hornschemeier, Cody Hudson, Caroline Hwang, kozyndan, The Little Friends of Printmaking, Geoff McFetridge, Lauren Nassef, Anders Nilsen, Archer Prewitt, Jon Resh, Jay Ryan, Souther Salazar, Rachell Sumpter, and Chris Uphues.

Within Demons in the Spring, oddly modern moments which occur in the most familiar of public places, from offices to airports to schools to zoos to emergency rooms: a young girl who refuses to go anywhere unless she's dressed as a ghost; a bank robbery in Stockholm gone terribly wrong; a teacher who's become enamored with the students in his school's Model United Nations club; a couple affected by a strange malady--a miniature city which has begun to develop in the young woman's chest, these inventive stories are hilarious, heartbreaking, and unusual. While many of them have never been previously published, others have been featured in the likes of LIT, Other Voices, Swink, TriQuarterly, and McSweeney's.

Book Details

Publisher: Akashic Books, Ltd.
Publish Date: Aug 1st, 2010
Pages: 280
Language: English
Edition: undefined - undefined
Dimensions: 8.40in - 6.50in - 0.90in - 1.40lb
EAN: 9781936070091
Categories: • Short Stories (single author)• Literary

About the Author

Meno, Joe: - JOE MENO is a fiction writer and journalist who lives in Chicago. Winner of the Nelson Algren Literary Award, a Pushcart Prize, and a finalist for the Story Prize, Meno is the best-selling author of several novels and short story collections including Marvel and a Wonder, The Great Perhaps, The Boy Detective Fails, and Hairstyles of the Damned; he also edited Chicago Noir: The Classics. He is a professor in the English and Creative Writing Department at Columbia College Chicago. Book of Extraordinary Tragedies is his latest work.

Praise for this book

The author of Hairstyles of the Damned and The Boy Detective Fails is back with a handsome new collection, pairing twenty short stories with original artwork from illustrators like Charles Burns and Nick Butcher. Meno is at his best when he mixes raw emotional realism with tender insight.-- "New York Times Book Review"

Meno knows just how to press a variety of emotional buttons ranging from giddy delight to not-quite-hopeless despair. Highly recommended.-- "Library Journal"

Mr. Meno's fiction pops with the energy of youth, its purity and heart . . . Mr. Meno has a finely tuned grasp of the fumblings--romantic, existential and otherwise, that make up the first twenty-five years of our lives.-- "New York Observer"

These playful, postmodern stories find the Chicago author's artistry reinforced by illustrators who provide divergent perspectives on his prose . . . The range of illustrations adds to the volume's appeal, but Meno's writing is strong enough to stand on its own . . . There's a profound empathy in Meno's work that makes it more than just a stylistic exercise.-- "Time Out New York"

Meno shows his mastery of the short form with his twenty latest tales of whimsy and loss. Meno's best stories fuse together postmodern ideas with subjects that have concerned literature through the ages, such as love, heartbreak, death, and malaise . . . Intriguing and eccentric, Meno's stories never distract with their surreal flights of fancy but instead draw the reader in deeper to their magical reconfiguration of the modern world. Twenty different graphic artists provide idiosyncratic illustrations that perfectly complement this daring collection.

-- "Booklist"