The dense drawing style, the focus on an exaggerated female form, the audacity: here comes R. Crumb again, and he is taking on a polarizing subject. This ain’t no children’s picture bible, Chicago.

We can’t wait to check this out because:

1. We saw this preview of Mr. Crumb’s eye-popping perspective on the Garden of Eden.
2. The creation of the world!
3. His own religious beliefs aren’t dependent on this book (he defines himself religiously as a gnostic). How will he treat this subject matter?

If you get your hands on this before we do, let us know if it’s one to recommend to Aunt Millie and her church book club.

Via Crain’s Chicago Business, Barbara’s owner Don Barliant didn’t bother paying rent to his landlord — to the tune of $57,000. The store faces eviction if the landlord wins his lawsuit.

Shocked? You shouldn’t be. I worked at Barbara’s for 11 years. Among the bills Don Barliant didn’t pay in the time I was there:

*Chicago Sun Times and Chicago Tribune — both of which the store stopped getting periodically

* Ingram — we couldn’t order books from a major distributor for months at a time

*Various magazine distributors — anything from independent ones to major distributors, meaning the store wouldn’t get in everything from O to Punk Planet

*Insurance premiums — a former coworker once filed a successful lawsuit because of this

*Employees — people who worked there for over a decade rarely broke the $30k mark

I am so afraid I’ll get sued, since Barliant is a lawyer (which, of course, contributes to the culture of fear).

Hey, I’m just trying to preempt any nostalgic musings that are bound to happen. Barliant isn’t some sort of cuddly independent bookstore owner — don’t let his fuzzy grey beard fool you. His former employees (which are legion, because of the extremely high turnover rate) have been known to run in the other direction when they see him at BEA (not that he’d recognize any of them since never was there a hands-off employer such as he, unless we’re talking outsourcing to China).

I remember my tenure there with fondness because working there introduced me to most of my best friends. I also remember it as a time of ass-tacular pay, wrongful firings and bizarre management choices. Employees always half-expected to go to work one morning only to find the doors padlocked and a note saying none of us had a job (this actually happened to two stores in the time I was there — the number may have since gone up).

This post will be removed immediately in the instance of any sort of cease and desist letter, so memorize it now, folks.

AN OCTOBER SORT OF CITY:
Chicago Authors Talk Chicago
Thursday, Oct. 22, 7:00 p.m.
The Heartland Cafe
7000 N Glenwood Ave
Chicago, IL 60626

CLICK HERE to buy tickets: $12
Use promo code “SS” when checking out

“Chicago is an October sort of city even in spring.” — Nelson Algren, from Chicago: City on the Make

STOP SMILING and Chicago Public Radio present a showcase featuring four Chicago authors rhapsodizng about the city that shaped their lives and work. Authors Joe Meno, Deb Olin Unferth, Cristina Henríquez and Eula Biss will take the stage to weave a single narrative out of selected readings and personal anecdotes, revealing the many aspects of Chicago’s literary tapestry.

Chicago Public Radio producers have staged the readings to give them a level of theatricality that distinguishes them from a standard literary event. Alison Cuddy, co-host of Eight-Forty-Eight, will moderate a Q&A afterward.

Each attendee will recevie a gift bag with an autographed book from one of the four authors (while supplies last), plus assorted STOP SMILING and Chicago Public Radio goods, as well as beer from Goose Island. The kitchen at the Heartland Cafe, a Rogers Park landmark, will be open for business.

Excerpts of the authors’ work on Stop Smiling Online:

From Joe Meno’s short story collection Tender as Hellfire (Akashic Books)
From Deb Olin Unferth’s novel, Vacation (McSweeney’s)
From Cristina Henríquez’s novel, The World in Half (Riverhead)
From Eula Biss’ book of essays, Notes From No Man’s Land (Graywolf Press)

CLICK HERE to buy tickets: $12
Use promo code “SS” when checking out

Who: Another Chicago Magazine (ACM)
What: Release Party for ACM49
Where: Stop Smiling HQ at 1371 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago
When: Thursday, October 15, 7pm–12am
Admission: $5 – RSVP at rsvp@stopsmilingonline.com

Halloween is on a Saturday this year, but lordy knows one day a year isn’t enough to don the horns and tail you keep boxed up in the back of your closet. Why not get started this Thursday? Dress up like an animal – any animal! – and pick up a free copy of the latest installment of Another Chicago Magazine, a publication that “publishes work by writers from varied backgrounds and with varied experiences”. ACM49 is “animal-themed”, and the release party will feature performances of Erika Mikkalo’s “The Animals” by: the author herself, Brian Costello, Fred Sasaki, Jacob S. Knabb, Paul Genesius Durica, Kathleen Rooney, Marvin Tate, Tina Howell, Donna Vitucci, Mario Smith, Zach Dodson, and Aaron Burch.

Who: Robbie Q. Telfer and Friends (including poets, cats, giant utensils)
What: Release party for Spiking the Sucker Punch (Write Bloody Publishing)
When: Wednesday, October 28, 7:30-9:00pm, reception before and after
Where: The Chopin Theatre (1543 W Division) – FREE!

Robbie Q. Telfer writes video games and curates encyclopedias and directs youth and never sleeps. Spiking the Sucker Punch, his newest poetry collection, has a blurb by Bill Ayers and epigraphs from Lynda Barry and Adolf Hitler, not to mention bones and lightning bolts and fish on the cover, in pink.

Here’s one part we especially liked, from “Chicago Public Sculpture #2: The Picasso:” “like everything we love,/there’s something unmistakably/fucked up about you and your face.” We also liked the picture painted by “Girls Punching Boys” and how “Song of the Outlaw Grizzly” made us laugh on the bus. In a good way.

Robbie’s poems are neon because they balance anger and humor and kindness, fiercely – plus they’re especially great when listened to, so you are twicely missing out if you don’t brave the cold to hear him read. Thricely, seeing as how Robbie’ll be joined by an army of lovely poets and – OMG – Acrocats. Acrocats! Also! somebody please, please request “Awkward Scars,” which totally made us cry on the bus home, first time we heard it and also in a good way.

You wanna know what’s gonna be crazy? Featherproof’s Chicago release party for SCORCH ATLAS by Atlanta-based language-mangler, Blake Butler. His debut collection has received piles of praise, and Blake is making his way back to the city of Olympic loss for a night of reading, celebration, and general debauchery.

Amelia Gray, author of AM/PM, will join him. And if you saw, heard rumors about, or viewed pictures from this summer’s Dollar Store Super Tour you know that when these two get together to read, things get crazy. Like fortune-tellin, hair-humpin, whiskey-decision, bicycle birthday crazy. They will be joined by the power of Sam Pink and Kathryn Regina. And then crazy music fun. If you haven’t been to the rad bookstore that is No Coast, now’s the time. So bring your pig mask. This ain’t your mom’s book club reading.

Scorch Atlas Release Party:
When: Monday, 10/12, 7pm
Where: No Coast Collective
1500 W. 17th St, Chicago
Cost: FREE!

With readings by:
Blake Butler
Amelia Gray
Sam Pink
Kathryn Regina

And music from: Tiger Bones
and DJ Butch Cassidy

Look to featherproof.com for more. Or better yet: just come and see for yourself.

Who: Women & Children First (W&CF)
What: 30th Anniversary Celebration & Benefit for W&CF
When: Saturday, October 3 - Cocktails & Appetizers: 5:30–7 pm; Buffet Dinner & Dance: 7–10 pm
Where: The Breakers at Edgewater Beach, 5333 N. Sheridan Rd., Chicago, IL 60660 (Valet parking available); after party at Big Chicks, 5024 N. Sheridan Rd.

Independent feminist bookstore Women & Children First has thrived for 30 years in Chicago! That’s something to boast about considering the current economic climate and the big box retail chains sinking their teeth into the market. But W&CF has proven they have their own faithful audience. To celebrate, they’re throwing a benefit and anniversary party this Saturday, and they want you to come hobnob with Dorothy Allison, Alison Bechdel, and “dozens” of other writers, not to mention a schmancy wine tasting with Master Sommelier Alpana Singh. Tickets prices begin at $60 and are available through the W&CF website (limited income tickets may also still be available at $30). Proceeds from this event will go to the Women’s Voices Fund.