American Monarchy Party: April 2016

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Pretentiousness : why it matters by Dan Fox,sounds great!

Pretentiousness is for anyone who has braved being different, whether that's making a stand against artistic consensus or running the gauntlet of the last bus home dressed differently from everyone else. It's an essential ingredient in pop music and high art. Why do we choose accusations of elitism over open-mindedness? What do our anxieties about "pretending" say about us? Co-editor of Frieze, Europe's foremost magazine of contemporary art and culture, Dan Fox has authored over two hundred essays, interviews, and reviews, contributed to numerous catalogues and publications produced by major international art galleries and institutions"-- Provided by publisher.

Monday, April 18, 2016

American Monarchy Party: The Regional Office Is Under Attack! by Manuel Gon...

American Monarchy Party: The Regional Office Is Under Attack! by Manuel Gon...: Booklist Reviews 2016 April #2 *Starred Review* You might want to get a firm grip on your socks before cracking open this one; otherwis...

The Regional Office Is Under Attack! by Manuel Gonzales,sounds great! "a brilliant genre-blender"

Booklist Reviews 2016 April #2

*Starred Review* You might want to get a firm grip on your socks before cracking open this one; otherwise, Gonzales is likely to knock them off. It's very difficult to categorize this mind-bending novel. Is it comedy? Science fiction? Thriller? Spoof? Whatever it is, it's pure excitement. The story involves a shadowy organization called the Regional Office, described by its mission statement as "a barrier of last resort between the survival of the Planet and the amassing forces of Darkness"; as the book opens, the Regional Office is being attacked by those very forces. As the mayhem progresses, the focus zooms in on two women: Rose, who's leading the attack, and Sarah, who's fighting for her life defending the Regional Office (even as her colleagues are dying around her). The story jumps back and forth in time, showing us how Rose and Sarah became the women they are today: Rose is a trained assassin, Sarah is a potential killing machine with a cybernetic arm. The prose is lively and self-aware (the author clearly knows his story is way over the top and has fun with it for that very reason); meanwhile, though, the action is pretty much nonstop, and there's a thread of melancholy running throughoutâ€"Rose and Sarah might have been ordinary young women if certain events, and the machinations of highly placed individuals who saw them as weapons, had not intervened. All in all, a brilliant genre-blender. Copyright 2014 Booklist Reviews.