Dead meat

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Kathe Koja

Kathe Koja's shattering new novel, Strange Angels, is a dark, fascinating story of art, madness, and obsession. Grant is a freelance photographer who has come up against an artistic block. When he sees the crayon drawings done by a schizophrenic man named Robin, Grant is immediately fascinated by Robin's genius, hungry for the subtle truth that seems hidden in the arcing, crossing lines. Completely obsessed, Grant feels it's his mission to help Robin fully realize his artistic potential. He persuades Robin to check out of the hospital and move in with him. He encourages Robin to draw episodes from the most disturbed periods of his life. But Robin becomes more and more withdrawn until he doesn't want to draw anymore. Then Grant realizes the transcendent truth Robin holds is not to be found in his art, but in Robin himself. He must go deeper and deeper into Robin. Together they must explore altered states, must undergo sleep deprivation, sensory deprivation. Robin deteriorates further. Gradually Grant becomes convinced that Robin is transforming into something new, some kind of angel. On a par with Katherine Dunn or Donna Tartt, Kathe Koja is a powerful young writer whose distinctive voice will hold you spellbound as you take a journey into darkness unlike any you've been on before.

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Valerie Steele and Jennifer Park

"From its origins in the eighteenth-century literature of terror to its contemporary manifestations in vampire fiction, cinema, and art, the gothic has embraced the powers of horror and the erotic macabre. "Gothic" is an epithet with a strange history - evoking images of death, destruction, and decay. Ironically, its negative connotations have made the gothic an ideal symbol of rebellion for a wide range of cultural outsiders. This gorgeous book is the first in-depth study of the gothic influence on fashion." "Popularly associated with black-clad teenagers and rock musicians, gothic fashion encompasses not only subcultural styles (from old-school goth to cyber-goth and beyond) but also high fashion by such designers as Alexander McQueen, John Galliano of Christian Dior, Rick Owens, Olivier Theyskens, and Yohji Yamamoto. Fashion photographers, such as Scan Ellis and Eugenio Recuenco, have also drawn on the visual vocabulary of the gothic to convey narratives of dark glamour. As the text and lavish illustrations in this book suggest, gothic fashion has deep cultural roots that give it an enduring potency." "Valerie Steele is director and chief curator of The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT)."--Jacket.

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with texts by Lynne Cooke [and 3 others

"The German artist Rosemarie Trockel has gained international renown for a multifaceted practice encompassing painting, sculpture, video, and drawing. Issues including a concern with natural history, the creative expression of diverse species, and the representation and role of women in contemporary culture fuel her work"--Random House website (viewed November 26, 2012).

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Robert Ward

"Broke, recently divorced, and a total deadbeat, Bob Wells has spent his life as a psychiatrist only doing good in the world. When one of his patients with clear paranoid delusions starts to lose a grip, Bob has no choice but to intervene. Emile Bardan is haunted by demons, and he believes that someone is trying to steal his most prized possesion, the legendeary Mask of Utu. Bob thinks it's all part of Emile's imagination until he discovers that Emile is telling the truth and that the mask is worth millions. It's Bob who may actually be the one losing his grip. He's tired of helping people for nothing, tired of being treated like dirt-and while he may have met the girl of his dreams, he doesn't want to lose her because he can't take care of her. There is only one thing to do: Bob is going to steal the mask himself. But doing so may mean making the biggest mistake of all, as he proceeds down a path into a dark abyss from which there is no return."--Publisher description.