A family drama unlike any other from the internationally acclaimed author of All My Friends are Superheroes.

A rare art history classic that The New York Times calls a “delightful, scholarly and gossipy romp through the character and conduct of artists from antiquity to the French Revolution.” Born Under Saturn is a classic work of scholarship written with a light and winning touch. Margot and Rudolf Wittkower explore the history of the familiar idea that artistic inspiration is a form of madness, a madness directly expressed in artists’ unhappy and eccentric lives. This idea of the alienated artist, the Wittkowers demonstrate, comes into its own in the Renaissance, as part of the new bid by visual artists to distinguish themselves from craftsmen, with whom they were then lumped together. Where the skilled artisan had worked under the sign of light-fingered Mercury, the ambitious artist identified himself with the mysterious and brooding Saturn. Alienation, in effect, was a rung by which artists sought to climb the social ladder. As to the reputed madness of artists—well, some have been as mad as hatters, some as tough-minded as the shrewdest businessmen, and many others wildly and willfully eccentric but hardly crazy. What is certain is that no book presents such a splendid compendium of information about artists’ lives, from the early Renaissance to the beginning of the Romantic era, as Born Under Saturn. The Wittkowers have read everything and have countless anecdotes to relate: about artists famous and infamous; about suicide, celibacy, wantonness, weird hobbies, and whatnot. These make Born Under Saturn a comprehensive, quirky, and endlessly diverting resource for students of history and lovers of the arts. “This book is fascinating to read because of the abundant quotations which bring to life so many remarkable individuals.”–The New York Review of Books

This is the first book, of a series of two, of present-day people who work with spirit, using inherited spiritual gifts such as empathy, healing, sight, spirit communication, and more; to do amazing things (healing, energy manipulation, interact with ghosts, affect weather, precognition, animal/nature communication, dream travel, and manifestation). In Southern Louisiana, these people are referred to as Traiteurs and the foundation of their faith and craft is the Trinity. This particular family is of the Naquin Traiteur lineage. Each family is unique in their abilities as are the different traditions of Native American tribes; akin to Native American Medicine. Part one focuses on the circumstances surrounding the birth and early life of these unique people. Part 2 tells of resources (tools) used by this Traiteur family to live regular lives. So, come along for the ride, as we explore a mystery of wonder living along-side you.

Eerie Publications' horror magazines brought blood and bad taste to America's newsstands from 1965 through 1975. Ultra-gory covers and bottom-of-the-barrel production values lent an air of danger to every issue, daring you to look at (and purchase) them. The Weird of World of Eerie Publications introduces the reader to Myron Fass, the gun-toting megalomaniac publisher who, with tyranny and glee, made a career of fishing pocketbook change from young readers with the most insidious sort of exploitation. You'll also meet Carl Burgos, who, as editor of Eerie Publications, ground his axe against the entire comics industry. Slumming comic art greats and unknown hacks were both employed by Eerie to plagiarize the more inspired work of pre-Code comic art of the 1950s. Somehow these lowbrow abominations influenced a generation of artists who proudly blame career choices (and mental problems) on Eerie Publications. One of them, Stephen R. Bissette (Swamp Thing, Taboo, Tyrant), provides the introduction for this volume. Here's the sordid background behind this mysterious comics publisher, featuring astonishingly red reproductions of many covers and the most spectacularly creepy art.

A stunning collection of stories that reveal wondrous play and surreal humor

The idea of 'cool' is one of the most pervasive forces in modern culture - but what is it? Where does it come from? Who invented it? BIRTH OF THE COOL is the first serious examination of how cool came about - its meaning, its heroes and its place in the world, from the gritty avant-garde fringes of the culture in after-hours joints in Harlem and cold water flats on the Lower East Side, to the centre of the mainstream. Focusing on New York from 1948 to 1965 and bringing together the era's most evocative black and white photographs, Lewis MacAdams takes us from the jazz joints where Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker invented bebop to Jackson Pollock's studio; from Willam S. Burrough's frenetic experiences on the road to the Black Mountain School of Zen.