“When a book like LOVING DANGEROUSLY does come along, I have to read it twice because I am so taken aback by the fact honest-to-God literature is being produced in graphic novel format.

And that’s truly what LOVING DANGEROUSLY is…literature. Not only am I hooked in for the rest of this trilogy, but I’m intrigued to traverse Rall’s other titles to see how the temperance of age and the stark differences of today’s world would be viewed through his eyes.”

One of the hits was the premiere of A Home for Mr. Easter, Brooke A. Allen‘s debut graphic novel. It sold out by mid-afternoon of that day. We had to go back to the office to scrounge for more copies for Sunday! The book was also a featured give-away at the MoCCA after-party which was packed that evening.

This wasn’t the only book that sold well. Greg Houston’s Vatican Hustle also sold out  that day which meant having to cancel his appearance on Sunday… Ted Rall sold all of his books and so did Neil Kleid and Nicolas Cinquegrani of The Big Khan.

Nice to see such enthusiasm and also nice to see this show pulled off without any hitches we were aware of, in a venue with a comfortable temperature level (last year’s was sweltering).

“Rall does a fine job laying out the story, weaving his year of dangerous love with flashbacks that explain his predicament. It’s an impressive balancing act, and he makes it work. The dialogue is convincing, and most of the women are presented as realized, if perhaps needy, young ladies.

If you’re a fan of comic memoirs, yet maybe a little sick of socially inept, nebbish autobio, Rall provides an effective antidote. “

If you’re going to the Alternative Press Expo in San Francisco the weekend of October 17th, then make sure to stop by the NBM table to meet Ted RALL selling his last few premier copies of The Year of Loving Dangerously (book due in stores mid-Nov.) as well as Shane WHITE signing his just released Things Undone.

Both will have other books of theirs, of course, as well as a smattering of our recent titles to sell! Better yet, credit cards accepted. So there, now you gotta go.

“The Year of Loving Dangerously is an excellent work. If I may have wanted to know more about what happened to Rall at the end, that merely shows he and Callejo did an excellent job of telling a story. As more folks read it or when this book is filmed (yes, I said that twice), I expect that Rall’s exploits during his “annus coitus” will rub up a tight debate on the ownership and exchange of sex.”

So says G.M. Palmer in Strong Verse, even if a few weeks early (book is due out in stores mid November. HOWEVER, Ted will be selling his last few advance copies at APE next weekend!

THE YEAR OF LOVING DANGEROUSLY
Ted RALL & Pablo CALLEJO
Here’s a new turn for the controversial cartoonist and commentator Ted Rall. Not only is this autobiographical but he has paired up with the acclaimed artist of Bluesman and The Castaways for fully painted art.
It’s the eighties and Ted is in college in New York City and slipping. His pranks, lack of focus and restlessness get him kicked out of school. Unable to find a job, rejected by his parents, he’s on the verge of suicide. Instead he finds comfort in the arms of many women he meets casually and puts up a front for. Hey, better than being homeless and begging, but then… is it? It may sound like an ideal grift but the toll is much higher than one may imagine.
Between acidly funny and disturbingly real, Rall, a cartoonist whose work has alienated half the world, pours out his guts on a hard turning point in his life. Callejo adopts a new fully painted color style for this work, showing his versatility.
6×9, 128pp., full color, clothbound: $18.95, ISBN 978-1-56163-565-8

WHAT ALLISON BECHDEL SAYS OF IT:

“Ted Rall is fearless. In The Year of Loving Dangerously, he turns his formidable journalistic skills on a very rich subject–himself. The memoir is not just a revealing and entertaining account of Rall’s
misspent youth, but a gritty, alternative take on Manhattan in the boom years of the eighties.”

See Rall’s blog and bio.

Also, this month, you gotta check this out, this guy’s unbelievable:

VATICAN HUSTLE
Greg Houston
NBM launches a stunning new talent whose art is a hilariously grotesque cross between Ralph Steadman, Basil Wolverton and Chester Gould’s bad guys in a resolutely lowbrow sendup of blaxpoitation films. When a crime boss’ daughter turns up missing, who’s he gonna call? Boss Karate Black Guy Jones, that’s who, chump!! The two-fisted, karate chopping, crime solving machine is kicking ass and taking names from the gutters of Baltimore all the way to the streets of Rome. No dog’s too big for this cat to take down! Mimes, clowns, drunks, pizza, donkeys, pornography, gambling! Vatican Hustle has it all!
6×9, 132pp., B&W trade pb.: $11.95, ISBN 978-1-56163-571-9

See a lot more about this on Houston’s blog including his bio.

Finally, EUROTICA presents the latest by the best-selling NOE (Convent of Hell, Piano Tuner):

ALDANA
Ignacio NOE
Aldana is the luscious curvy maid to a very horny guy and she is incessantly horny for him. Will she ever get him to do her? He does just about every other girl and she’s just going insane seeing it all.
81/2 x 11, 48pp, full color trade pb.: $11.95, ISBN 978-1-56163-575-7

See more about it. (click on the Coming in October banner on the main Eurotica page).

I know it’s been a while since my last book, which is why I am excited about my new project, THE YEAR OF LOVING DANGEROUSLY. It’s a graphic novel, written by me and about me and drawn by BLUESMAN cartoonist Pablo Callejo, that returns to the autobio territory I abandoned after MY WAR WITH BRIAN in 1998. The first of my “Sex, Drugs, and Rock ‘N’ Roll” trilogy, YEAR covers the year beginning in mid-1984, when–in short order–I was expelled from college, evicted from my home, dumped by my girlfriend and fired from my job. Jobless, broke, with no prospects and nowhere to live, I found myself living on the streets of New York City in the mean, lean Reagan years.

Pablo has finished 80 pages so far. The book will be 128 in all, so he’s getting close to completion. We’ll have to make some edits. It’s amazing how he’s able to channel NYC in the ’80s across the Atlantic just from my descriptions, but there are some inevitable errors that creep in. For instance, the Village Voice wasn’t given away at the time; it was sold at newsstands. After continuity and other errors are fixed, we’ll go to press. It’s hard to know the exact pub date, but I think it’s safe to say that YEAR will be released in 2009.

I’m very excited about returning to the graphic novel form with a muscular, balls-out approach that rejects the wimpy navel-gazing I’m-a-sensitive-artist-who-can’t-get-laid BS that’s so prevalent in indie comics nowadays. This is also my first-ever collaboration with another artist, which has gone very smoothly. Pablo is a pro!

Chris and I wander the then-sketchy streets of Williamsburg, Brooklyn.Friends can drag you down--even friends who save your life.

Sometimes a friend can kill you--even one who saves your life.