SCB SPRING 2020 SCB: TRULY INDEPENDENT SCB DISTRIBUTORS IS Lanto Press PROUD TO INTRODUCE LOST iN City Guides Sympathetic Press Velocity Press SCB congratulates Olga Tokarczuk, author of Primeval and Other Times (9788086264356, Twisted Spoon Press), on winning the 2018 Nobel Prize for Literature. SCB: TRULY INDEPENDENT The cover image for this catalog is from the book Austin Briggs: The Consummate Illustrator, edited by Manuel Auad, published by Auad Books, and found on page 11 of this catalog. Catalog layout by Dan Nolte, based on an original idea by Rama Crouch-Wong. The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction By Ursula K. Le Guin Introduction by Donna Haraway Illustrated by Lee Bul Visionary author Ursula K. Le Guin retells the story of human origin by redefining technology as a cultural carrier bag rather than as a weapon of domination. This influential essay opens a portal to terra ignota: unknown lands where the possibilities of human experience and knowledge can be discovered anew. Hacking the linear, progressive mode of the Techno-Heroic, the Carrier Bag Theory of human evolution proposes: “...before the tool that forces energy outward, we made the tool that brings energy home.” Prior to the preeminence of the Hero’s killing tools, our ancestors’ greatest invention was the container: the basket of wild oats, the medicine bundle, the net made of hair, the home, the shrine, the place that contains the sacred, the recipient, the story – the bag of stars. THE ESTEEMED WRITER ■ With a new Introduction by Donna Haraway, the RESTRUCTURES EVOLUTION eminent cyberfeminist ■ Images by Lee Bul, a leading South Korean feminist artist with a 2018 retrospective at London’s Hayward Gallery Ursula K. Le Guin (1929-2018) wrote celebrated and groundbreaking science fiction, non- fiction, poetry and children’s books, including the Earthsea Trilogy and The Left Hand of Darkness. The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction Donna Haraway is Distinguished Professor Emerita ISBN: 9781999675998 in the History of Consciousness at UCSC. She $6.99 | paper wrote A Cyborg Manifesto, Staying with the Trouble and ALSO AVAILABLE Manifestly Haraway. She is from Oakland, CA. 42 x 6 48 pages MARKETING 5 B&W Illustrations February ■ Professional national PR firm ■ Reviews in Philosophy, Feminist, Literary, Sci-Fi and Alternative media Philosophy ■ Review copies available Technology ■ www.ursulakleguin.com The White Paper IGNOTA BOOKS 9781999675929 SCB DISTRIBUTORS..|..SPRING 2020..|..1 My Favourite Dictators The Strange Lives of Tyrants By Chris Mikul Illustrated by Glenn Smith “A fantastic reminder of the variety of human behavior.” – Paul Sieveking, Fortean Times Dictators may be among the worst people in history, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t laugh at them. Mikul’s focus is on the perverse personalities, bizarre peculiarities and often vile private lives of 11 very strange men – their effortless cruelties, voracious sexual appetites, absurd personality cults, ostentatious uniforms, pretensions and terrible taste in interior decoration. Mikul also includes the political histories of Mussolini, Mao, Gaddafi, Idi Amin, Saddam Hussein, Kim Jong-il and more. Here is just a small sample of the bizarre behavior featured in this entertaining book: “Turkmenistan’s Saparmurat Niyazov renamed the months of January and April after himself and his mother. He banned car LAUGHING AT TYRANTS radios, smoking, lip-syncing, opera, circuses and beards. He wrote a religious book, and questions about it were included on driving tests. When he developed a hatred of doctors, he dismissed thousands of them, and his religious book supplanted medical textbooks throughout the country...” Chris Mikul writes and publishes Bizarrism, Australia’s longest-running zine, (c. 1986), and produces Biblio-Curiosa. He wrote The Cult Files, Tales of the Macabre and Ordinary, The Eccentropedia and Bizarrism My Favourite Dictators Vols 1 and 2. He lives in Sydney, Australia. ISBN: 9781909394704 Glenn ‘Glenno’ Smith creates cover art for bands, $25.95 | paper teaches illustration, and curates and exhibits 5 x 8 fine art. www.glennoart.com 332 pages 45 B&W Drawings July Humor Political Science HEADPRESS 2..|..SCB DISTRIBUTORS..|..SPRING 2020 Only Americans Burn in Hell By Jarett Kobek “The boundlessness of Kobek’s discontent is somehow captivating.” – Louis Amis, The Spectator “A wild and furious satire on Trump’s America.” – Richard Preston, The Times This is not the future you were promised. You know the rules. If you still want to play the game of American life, then you had better learn to lie. Kneel before false gods. Pretend to care about the ruling class and their illusions. Keep your head down. Pray that no one sees you. But what if someone had forgotten how to lie, and had written a book that destroyed their hopes of a literary career? This is it, true believer. The last honest book of your lifetime, your only guide to 2020 and beyond. Every suicide needs its hyper-cynical note. Includes: ■ #MeToo ■ Christianity ■ The structure of social complicity AUTHOR’S I HATE THE INTERNET ■ Millions of dead Muslims HAS SOLD 100,000 COPIES WORLDWIDE ■ The enduring importance of kindness, and much more Jarett Kobek is a Turkish-American writer living in California. His novella, ATTA, a psychedelic biography of the 9/11 bomber Mohamed Atta, was an unexplained bestseller in parts of Canada. His first novel, I Hate the Internet, was a bestseller everywhere, doing especially well in Serbia. His second novel, The Future Won’t Be Long, wasn’t a Only Americans bestseller anywhere, but was published in the Burn in Hell US by a company that printed propaganda for Nazi Germany. So there’s always hope. ISBN: 9780578529714 $16.95 | paper ALSO AVAILABLE MARKETING 6 x 9 ■ National author tour including NYC, SF, LA and more 252 pages ■ Professional national PR firm Available ■ Review copies available ■ www.weheardyoulikebooks.com Fiction Humor I Hate the Internet WE HEARD YOU 9780996421805 LIKE BOOKS SCB DISTRIBUTORS..|..SPRING 2020..|..3 Ground Truth A Geological Survey of a Life By Ruby McConnell Beginning with the eruption of Mt. St. Helens in May, 1980, and written with the critical eye of a seasoned earth scientist, this is an extended eulogy for a rapidly-changing land and population awakening to the realities of climate change, land use, and pollution. Part natural history, part memoir-in-essays, it’s a moving portrait of a complex, brutal, and beautiful Northwest, where geology bears upon human lives, challenging notions of the region as a wild, untouched and abundant landscape. The book illuminates the central role of land - scapes in our ideas of home and self, despite the growing disconnect between modern life - styles and the environment. Written with a scientifically-driven female voice, this timely, significant work reveals how the landscapes we inhabit can also help us better understand AUTHOR’S A WOMAN’S GUIDE TO THE WILD ourselves and our relationship to the ground HAS SOLD 25,000+ COPIES beneath our feet. ■ 2020 is the 40th anniversary of the Mt. St. Helens eruption Ruby McConnell is a registered geologist and outdoor adventurer who writes about nature, art, and culture for scientific and literary journals, focusing on the PNW. She wrote A Girl’s Guide to 1 1 Ground Truth the Wild (20 9) and A Woman’s Guide to the Wild (20 6) and won the Literary Arts Oregon Literary ISBN: 9781732610323 ALSO AVAILABLE Fellowship. She lives in Oregon. $15.95 | paper www.rubymcconnell.com 52 x 82 212 pages April MARKETING ■ Author tour including Portland, Seattle, SF, LA and NYC ■ Ads in Shelf Awareness, PW, Library Journal, High Country News and others Science ■ Reviews and features in Environmental media Volcanoes, Nature ■ Online targeted ad campaigns: Google, Facebook, Instagram Palm Trees & Privilege: ■ Co-op and review copies available OVERCUP PRESS Essays on Hawai’i 9781732610309 4..|..SCB DISTRIBUTORS..|..SPRING 2020 More Sex, Better Zen, Faster Bullets The Encyclopedia of Hong Kong Film By Stefan Hammond and Mike Wilkins Forewords by Jackie Chan and Michelle Yeoh “...romps engagingly through star portraits, the real roots of kung fu, oddities of Hong Kong society and surprise genres like Hong Kong noir.” – Far Eastern Economic Review “This essential guide to Hong Kong’s mind-bending films is long overdue, and the authors really know their stuff.” – Entertainment Weekly How and why did films from Hong Kong become so popular? This comprehensive encyclopedia explicates, amplifies and extols the genres and filmmakers in one of the world’s most storied film industries. In the 50s, the Chinese tycoon Shaw brothers, who owned Asian cinemas, decided to produce their own films in Hong Kong. Their movies tore up kung fu stereotypes in the 80s and 90s. After the Shaws came a wave of new filmmakers: Golden Harvest, which showcased Jackie Chan, then Johnnie To, Ringo Lam, Tsui Hark and the auteur Wong Kar-wai. LIVELY ENCYCLOPEDIA OF HONG KONG FILM, 1950-PRESENT ■ Forewords by Jackie Chan and Michelle Yeoh ■ Combines information from the author’s Sex and Zen & A Bullet in the Head (1996) and Hollywood East (2000) with much added information and film reviews covering the 21st Century Stefan Hammond, who, with Mike Wilkins, co- wrote the books above, lives in Hong Kong. More Sex, Better Zen, Faster Bullets ISBN: 9781909394643 $28.95 | paper 72 x 94 336 pages 150 B&W Photos & Images June Film HEADPRESS SCB DISTRIBUTORS..|..SPRING 2020..|..5 Charlie Adlard Drawings + Sketches By Charlie Adlard Edited by Tim Pilcher A selection of 2 decades of comic art, featuring work from The Walking Dead, Vampire State Building, Wendigo and much more. The artist also offers insights into the stories and the processes behind them. ■ Includes 100+ pages of never-before-seen drawings ■ Artist has international fanbase from his comic series The Walking Dead Charlie Adlard is the 2018-2019 UK Comics Laureate and co-creator of AMC’s The Walking Dead comic series.