Aaron Cometbus writes short stories that speak to his peers - the punks, misfits, and well just about anyone who likes good stories. In the zine Cometbus, Aaron usually wrote in his unmistakable handwriting but this, in this there is actually type! This is a small book with cover art by Megan Kelso and interior art by Frank Sirk and features a collection of stories about the great city of Chicago reprinted from Cometbus issues 35, 37, 38, 41, and 45.
Issue forty five and a half of Cometbus was an anomaly - a 12" record of spoken stories ("Manual, a Novel") written and read by John Catrona.
Aaron's description of his travels, life, houses, and culture. Very instrumental and influential in shaping zine making today. #46 is a collectin of interviews detailing the Hard Times Cafe in Minneapolis. #47, the first perfect bound issue, talks about when Aaron was 18 and his love interest at the time, "Lanky". #48 is a collection of interviews from people who have left cities called "Back to the Land". #49 is a contributor issue. Aaron has an amazing ability to explain and glamorize things in punk that most of forget or begin to take for granted. He makes sex in a dumpster sound like something to seek out. He makes me want to kiss in the rain. He makes a horrible tour sound like a great experience. He turns broken bones and horrible injuries into a great metaphor for appreciating life. Each issue is limited to only 8,000 copies so they become collectible.
Aaron's description of his travels, life, houses, and culture. #47, the first perfect bound issue, is a story about an 18 character and his love interest at the time, "Lanky". Aaron claims its not "memoir", perhaps creative non-fiction? Aaron has an amazing ability to explain and glamorize things in punk that most of forget or begin to take for granted. He makes sex in a dumpster sound like something to seek out. He makes me want to kiss in the rain. He makes a horrible tour sound like a great experience. He turns broken bones and horrible injuries into a great metaphor for appreciating life. Each issue is limited to only 8,000 copies so they become collectible.
Aaron's description of his travels, life, houses, and culture. Very instrumental and influential in shaping zine making today. #48 is a collection of interviews from people who have left cities called "Back to the Land". Aaron has an amazing ability to explain and glamorize things in punk that most of forget or begin to take for granted. He makes sex in a dumpster sound like something to seek out. He makes me want to kiss in the rain. He makes a horrible tour sound like a great experience. He turns broken bones and horrible injuries into a great metaphor for appreciating life. Limited to 10,000 copies so they become collectible.
Aaron's description of his travels, life, houses, and culture. Very instrumental and influential in shaping zine making today. #49 is a contributor issue. Aaron has an amazing ability to explain and glamorize things in punk that most of forget or begin to take for granted. He makes sex in a dumpster sound like something to seek out. He makes me want to kiss in the rain. He makes a horrible tour sound like a great experience. He turns broken bones and horrible injuries into a great metaphor for appreciating life.
It's back for the 25th anniversary! Aaron said that #49 was it for this zine but here we have #50 right here on our overpacked shelves. Along with Aaron's unmistakable handwriting and artwork are letters to the editor, interviews with some familar faces in music like Blake Swartzenbach, Ian Mackaye, Dave Edwardson, Zak Sally, KYP Malone, Greta Brinkman, and Christina Billotte...talking about anything besides their music, a few new stories from New York, and a big feature of reviews of NYC used book stores. This zine is more of what you have come to love about Cometbus and a few surprises.
The long awaited collection novel of nearly 50 issues of Cometbus across 20 years. What more can be said except that Cometbus is THE classic amongst zines and this tome only makes that more clear as you can reread all of the indispensable stories again or for the first time and get that familiar warm feeling that trickles down your body. Now in its third printing!
Double Duce is a reprinted, repackaged version of Cometbus #42, a novel from Aaron Cometbus. His characters ponder life's mundane questions with the seriousness of ancient philosophers: How to get by on no money, where to scam free photocopies, and the finer points of dumpster diving are the subjects of endless conversations. Also check out Despite Everything, also published by Last Gasp.
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The newest work and first novel from Aaron Cometbus - a legendary status in the literary underground for the longevity of his self-published zine (Cometbus, which turns 25 this year) and for his own tough, taut prose. He calls Berkeley his home but lives in a state of perpetual exile. Each issue of Aaron's zine, Cometbus, sells over 10,000 issues, with 49 issues and several collections.
Laura is in the middle of a torrid affair -- with the trains that pass on the tracks at the end of her block. She is obsessed. She can't sleep. She sits on the porch all night lying in wait. Then she throws bricks, bowling balls, cans of paint. She loves the sound as they connect, meeting metal and glass. Smash goes the windshield of the camouflage Humvee. Crash go the headlights of a helicopter. The trains are carrying weapons destined for the front lines of America's latest war, and Laura can't rest until she's consummated the affair by blowing one up! She plots, she plans -- but meanwhile, the trains keep right on coming, haunting her. Taunting her, too. All her good intentions haven't done anything to stop them or even slow one down -- yet.
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Just as "Chicago Stories" goes out of print, we are treated to another new short book from Aaron Cometbus. It pulls together a few selections previously publishing in other zines, magazines, and newspapers to create a story about his time in New York City, taking a walk for his 30th birthday, the switch of an old friend to a new lover, coffee reviews in Pensacola, a clever book review of Peops by Fly, a library love story, and more. I predict this book will be out of print by the end of the year if you don't already have enough reasons to snatch it up!