New Arrivals!

Today's staff must-read new book isn't exactly new, but it was a successful debut novel last year and it just came out in paperback last week. The follow up novel, Domina, also comes out in July, so we thought it would be a good time to bring this book to your attention. (It's also been optioned for film, if that's a factor for you.)

Reviewers loved Maestra and Hilton was immediately compared to the likes of Patricia Highsmith, Stieg Larsson, and Gillian Flynn. In fact, it was touted as being a sort of Gone Girl/The Talented Mr. Ripley meets 50 Shades of Grey. Smart, funny, compelling, and fast-paced, this book is compulsively readable. Wes, from our Lake Forest Park location, loved it so much he read parts of it to me while I was trying to eat my lunch. 

Here's what he has to say about Maestra:

Listen. It's flashy. It's a little trashy. It's so gratuitous (and occasionally heartless) you might get a little rashy. But as someone who grew up obsessed with the silly lavishness of Dynasty and Lace these are all selling points. It's getting hot outside and a little decadence never killed anyone (summer isn't exactly the right time for The Decalogue, you know?). The character's slow, tawdry, expensive descent into psychopathy had me blushing, balking and laughing out loud. Maybe not Hilton's intention, but the low-throttle maniac she has created here wouldn't hold it against me. -Wes

Time to pick up this page-turner before Domina comes out in July!

-Lish

The Art of Independent Bookstore Day

Independent Bookstore Day is just around the corner (Saturday, April 29th!) and we've been busily preparing for all the fun. But Third Place's own in-house graphic designer, Stephen Crowe, has been extra busy with some special Seattle-specific Indie Bookstore Day projects. He's designing this year's Seattle Independent Bookstore Day Challenge Map, and he's also working on a lovely Insignia Print that will feature all of Seattle's favorite bookstores.

Click here for more information on Independent Bookstore Day.

And read on for our interview with the artist!

What is your art background?

I graduated in English, but the year after my graduation I started a project to illustrate every page of by Finnegan's Wake James Joyce. Needless to say, I never finished, but I developed a small following of passionate nerds on the Internet, and in 2014 I was commissioned by a (very very very) small press to illustrate a new edition of Dubliners. After that, I started to focus more on comics, especially an ongoing story called The City that I make with my wife, Melanie Amaral.

How did you come to work at Third Place Books and what does your job entail?

After I finished the Dubliners job, I realised that I couldn't make enough money to live on illustration alone. I'd loved Third Place ever since I'd first come to the States from the UK in 2004. After twice missing the opportunity to apply, I began obsessively checking Craigslist for openings until one finally came up. I'm a general bookseller in charge of the poetry, essays, reference and bargains sections, but I've also become the store's unofficial in-house designer, responsible for the website, posters and displays, bookmarks, shelf talkers and whatever else needs to look like something.

What was your inspiration for the look and colors of the 2017 Seattle Bookstore Day passports?

I did the map in a digital "cut-out" style that I like to use. Initially I tried to avoid going green, because last year's map was green. But this is the Emerald City, so there's no getting away from it. The other colours I tried looked like a band-aid, apparently, so it's hard to deny we're better off.

Why do you think Seattle Bookstore Day is important to our community?

There are so many great bookstores in this area, and each plays such an important part in reflecting and maintaining the culture of its community. Customers tell me all the time how much they appreciate our store, and it's wonderful that there's a day to celebrate that appreciation. Especially in These times, an independent bookstore represents so many things that are absolutely vital: a strong local economy, literacy and free expression, and a community gathering together for companionship and the exchange of ideas.

Have you celebrated Seattle Bookstore Day in previous years? If so, what did you experience?

My first Seattle Bookstore Day was last year, and I was at work! It was a really fun, celebratory atmosphere, and the cake was delicious. I'll make sure I'm there for the cake.

What is your favorite book (or a great book you have read recently)?

I find it impossible to choose one favourite book, but maybe the one that I think about the most lately is How To Be Happy, a beautiful and emotionally raw collection of short comics by Eleanor Davis (published by Fantagraphics!).

Other than Third Place Books, what are some of your favorite local bookstores?

Elliott Bay has a very friendly atmosphere, and my son loves to read in the castle. I read a lot of comics, so if I go to south Seattle and don't pop into Fantagraphics, it feels like a wasted journey. I go to the University Bookstore for my art supplies. And the Neverending Bookshop is a really cute little bookstore in Bothell opened by one of our former Third Place co-workers.

Tell me more about your bookstore insignia project for Seattle Bookstore Day.

I was asked to make some kind of commemorative print for the occasion, in the style of the bookstore-intersection illustrations that Kevin Cannon did for Minnesota bookstores. I'm a big fan of Kevin Cannon, so I was more than usually keen to avoid the possibility of comparison! I hit on the "insignia" idea from looking at old national park patches, and it's been a lot of fun to try to represent each store's individuality in patch form.

Click here for more on Stephen's designs and illustrations.

New and Upcoming Graphica

2017 has not given me a lot to look forward to. Nonetheless, even as chaos rages all around, books are still being written and published. And that gives me little glimmer of hope for what’s to come. Here are some of my most anticipated adult graphica recently or soon to be released! 

Junji Ito is a Japanese manga artist best known for his dark, disturbing works Uzumaki and Gyo. His newest manga, Dissolving Classroom, follows two cursed siblings, the older brother who is possessed by the devil, and the younger sister, who’s just plain evil. Wherever the two go, trouble seems to follow, as it weaves together stories sure to haunt you.

Lottie Person, aka Snotgirl, is a fashion blogger whose life looks like a dream online, but is pretty much a hot mess. She is surrounded by fake friends, keeps running into her ex, has a flowing river of snot and tears for a face (thanks allergies), and has to live with her own, honestly, terrible personality. To top it all off she seems to be teetering on the edge of a breakdown. Snotgirl is sure to be another great read from Scott Pilgrim creator, Bryan Lee O’Malley. 

Jim Zub won me over hard with his ongoing series, Wayward, and I’ve been waiting for Glitterbomb to come out in trade paperback for what seems like ages. Horror meets Hollywood in this comic, as the dark side of the entertainment industry is personified in this chilling read.

Cass Elliot was the astounding singer who formed The Mamas and the Papas, but is unfortunately known more for her untimely death and the false urban legends surrounding it. Penelope Bagieu explores Mama Cass’ life before hitting it big, giving this talented woman the story she deserves. If you’ve never belted out “Make Your Own Kind of Music” at the top of your lungs, hopefully California Dreamin’ will inspire you to do so. 

Saga volume 7 may be the title I’m anticipating most this coming year. Me and everyone else in the world. If you haven’t picked up this amazing story, you’re missing out. Be sure to catch up before April, because Saga truly lives up to its name.

I have to be honest, I’m not really a fan of superheroes. That being said, I am a fan of

  Jeff Lemire (Sweet Tooth, Descender), as well as narratives about outcasts. I’m pretty pumped to read Black Hammer, the story of a group of superheroes living a rural, farm-town lifestyle after being written out of their own timeline.

Now, more than ever, is a time we need to be non-compliant. In a not-so-distant future, women who do not comply with their roles in life (being mild and submissive wives and daughters to men) are imprisoned and reprogrammed on a lonely piece of rock floating through space dubbed “Bitch Planet”. After hopes have been crushed in the last volume, I think we can all relate to the characters in Bitch Planet Volume 2 who will surely be saying, “no more”. 

Trust No Aunty is Bollywood meets pop art in the best way possible. Maria Qamar’s experiences as a Pakistani-born Canadian are brought to life in her vivid, pointed,  and often hilarious paintings. I can’t wait to sit down and absorb her artwork in book-form.

-Ashley

Laini Taylor's Latest

We love YA books, but for those that are YA-hesitant, I consider Laini Taylor to be a great crossover author. 

If you're new to Laini, she's mostly known for her Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy, though I was actually introduced to her by the book Lips Touch : Three Times, which is a trio of novellas set around an ill-fated kiss. The edition I read featured illustrations by Laini's husband, Jim Di Bartolo, which added to the luscious fairy tale quality of it. 

Those terms can be applied to any of Laini Taylor's work--luscious, lyrical--verging on poetic. Her landscapes and characters embody not just the full-bodied magical side of fairy tales, but also the edge of them as well. The beautiful are also broken and the light is enmeshed with darkness. The overall effect is a heady draft of magic and wonder that goes to your head, but also worms its way into your heart.

Laini Taylor's newest book, Strange the Dreamer, is the first in a duology. It involves lost cities, gods and monsters, librarians, and the kind of world Taylor has become known for. Fans of Laini have been waiting anxiously for this book, and of course we have, too. This is not a book to gulp down--it is one to savor like good chocolate and rich coffee.

-Lish

***

A new epic fantasy by National Book Award finalist and New York Times bestselling author Laini Taylor of the Daughter of Smoke & Bone trilogy.

The dream chooses the dreamer, not the other way around--and Lazlo Strange, war orphan and junior librarian, has always feared that his dream chose poorly. Since he was five years old he's been obsessed with the mythic lost city of Weep, but it would take someone bolder than he to cross half the world in search of it. 

Then a stunning opportunity presents itself, in the person of a hero called the Godslayer and a band of legendary warriors, and he has to seize his chance to lose his dream forever.What happened in Weep two hundred years ago to cut it off from the rest of the world? What exactly did the Godslayer slay that went by the name of god? And what is the mysterious problem he now seeks help in solving? 

The answers await in Weep, but so do more mysteries--including the blue-skinned goddess who appears in Lazlo's dreams. How did he dream her before he knew she existed? and if all the gods are dead, why does she seem so real?

In this sweeping and breathtaking new novel by National Book Award finalist Laini Taylor, author of the New York Times bestselling Daughter of Smoke & Bone trilogy, the shadow of the past is as real as the ghosts who haunt the citadel of murdered gods. Fall into a mythical world of dread and wonder, moths and nightmares, love and carnage.

Welcome to Weep.