I'm shaking my head at the little girl who thought she could control the story. She doesn't understand that you can't control the story, the story controls you.At twenty, Liza still sleeps with the lights on. In this alcohol fueled narrative, filled with tattoos, family lore and short biographies, Dube shares her raw and graphic coming of age tale. This is a story about ink, on the page and on skin. The Newly Tattooed's Guide to Aftercare is the love story you never saw coming and only now realize you need.

Professional tattoo artists and their clients showcase tattoo imagery in various forms, featuring traditional and neo-traditional Americana, Japanese themes, and New School designs. Find geishas, sugarskulls, dragons, and more executed with the utmost care and precision in this unique display of tattoo art that goes beyond the ordinary flash book to convey how inspiration makes its way from mind to skin. This celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the original Slave to the Needle tattoo shop in Seattle starts with an illustrated history of how the shop came to be--during the "Tattoo Renaissance" of the mid-'90s. There is a section dedicated to paintings and ink drawings of surreal and fantasy art and vibrant flash, followed by a collection of stunning sleeve, backpiece, and bodysuit designs created by the shop's owner, crew, and guests. This retrospective is a vital component to any serious tattoo artist or collector's library.

This guide is a basic structure of the apprenticeship. It is a guide for the Master to keep a structure of instruction and a consistent curriculum. It is a guide for the apprentice to develop as a tattoo artist and gain credibility. I wrote this guide for the sole purpose of what I expected from my apprenticeship, and how I could make sure my apprentice are completely competent of all aspects of a tattoo parlor. I feel this guide has a sound structure for all Masters to follow. This industry is booming and as Masters, we need to set higher standards of qualifications as a must. We need to demand more before they walk through the door. If a person seeks employment and has little knowledge of the trade or a small tattoo portfolio, guide the person in the direction of an apprenticeship. I can be confident with this curriculum each and every time the apprentice should have strict criteria to follow. I was an apprentice under two different Masters. Each Master taught different attributes of our field, first two years were shop structure and basic tattooing procedures. If it wasnt for this opportunity, the other door would have never presented itself. For this I am grateful. Now my second two year apprenticeship came to me just the same as the first, as if by fate. I was at a real low point in my career and just at that point of uncertainty I was approached by a big red headed dude at the local diner. He acquired about a piece on my neck and gave his compliments to the artist. He left me his card and urged me to call him. I had nothing to lose, and two days later I made that call and made an appointment to come see him. I was not there in his shop all but twenty minutes when he just burst out with I might be looking for an apprentice! and getting approval of acceptance from his wife, I was given another opportunity. This curriculum sets a clear standard of what each apprentice should be taught. This is an instructional guide for keeping the apprentice on track. This is a review book for those lead artist interested in taking on an apprentice. I set the professional standard of curriculum for my shop. What do you use for yours? There is so much history about art, not including the amazing tattoo artists that bring the art to life. Let us set our entry level standard for apprenticeship higher and keep this curriculum mandatory, as our own professional standard of all tattoo artist. Some Masters focus on shop function, others focus on procedures some Masters have sacred trade secrets, no matter the Masters instructional guidance now we all have a professional standard of curriculum. My hope is that all Masters share the same knowledge with each apprentice and pass down too generations to come. I wrote this guide to help me with the knowledge of what I needed to know to guide my apprentice, if this helps you be a better Master and gives your apprentice a better understanding of what is expected. It can turn a long hard road into a nice cool breeze for every apprentice.

"“Years ago a friend told me a story about his son who was an air traffic controller. He married the woman every parent wants their son to marry. She was intelligent. She was kind. She was beautiful and couldn't have treated him better - the type of love that makes all the silly country songs into pearls of wisdom. Every day she drove him to the railroad station so he could take the shuttle to work. Every night she picked him up when he returned. On their first anniversary they were sitting around sipping champagne, listening to music and laughing. Before they went to bed she casually told him she picked up between one and three men after he left for work, brought them home and had sex with them. Every single day. Obviously, he didn't take this well. They got divorced but he was so heartbroken he didn't want to live any more. He wasn't the type who could kill himself in any of the traditional ways, however. He wouldn't take pills. Wouldn't slit his wrists. No gun in the mouth or hanging. So, he decided to kill himself the only way he could. He loved to eat, so he would eat himself to death, going from 150 to 300 pounds in less than a year. While he was eating himself to death, he met a woman who was eating herself to death. They fell in love. And thus became Whales Swim Naked."

Each of his killers are different people, yet they are equally relentless in their desire to end his life. Each time Cole dies, his psyche is somehow transported into a new reality. Sometimes the reality is similar to his previous life, and other times it is shockingly different. And each time, the cycle of cat and mouse begins anew.

Elan Barnehama has given us a powerful coming of age story set against the tumult of the 1960s, the War in Vietnam, and the power of memory and Jewish identity in a family of Holocaust survivors. This is a beautifully rendered novel, populated by unforgettable characters in an unforgettable time. Barnehama is a literary craftsman at the top of his game. Superb.-- Frye Gaillard, author of A Hard Rain: America in the 1960s, an NPR Great Read 2018The novel is totally charming, completely engrossing, moving, real. I love those characters- Zach, because of his way of throwing out those witty remarks and he has so much heart and courage. And Samm, because she is so cool and holy smokes, if I could only have been anything like her at that age. And the grandfather, of course."-- Kiki Smith, Professor of Theatre, Smith College, Obie Award winner for Costume DesignWith nearly incandescent prose, Barnehama deftly stitches the reader's heart to his glowing characters, then gently tugs and tugs and tugs— Marvin J. Wolf, author of Abandoned In Hell, and They Were Soldiers, also a motion picture.

The Japanese word gaijin means "unwelcome foreigner." It's not profanity, but is sometimes a slur directed at non-Japanese people in Japan. My novel is called Gaijin...======