Essays

Publisher's Summary An enthralling collection of nonfiction pieces on myriad topics - from art and artists to dreams, myths, and memories to comics, films, and literature - observed in award-winning number-one New York Times best-selling Neil Gaiman's probing, amusing, and distinctive style. An inquisitive observer, thoughtful commentator, and assiduous craftsman, Neil Gaiman has long been celebrated for the sharp intellect and startling imagination that informs his fiction. Now The View from the Cheap Seats brings together, for the first time ever, more than 60 works of his outstanding nonfiction on topics and people close to his heart. As Neil explains, "This book is not 'the complete nonfiction of Neil Gaiman'. It is, instead, a motley bunch of speeches and articles, introductions and essays. Some of them are serious, and some of them are frivolous, and some of them are earnest, and some of them I wrote to try to make people listen." In prose that's analytical yet playful, erudite yet accessible, Neil explores a broad range of interests and topics, including (but not limited to) authors past and present; music; storytelling; comics; bookshops; travel; fairy tales; America; inspiration; libraries; ghosts; and the title piece, at turns touching and self-deprecating, which recounts his experiences at the 2010 Academy Awards in Hollywood. Neil ponders the truth of fiction and the power of stories (and why we tell them) and offers his own profiles of and insights into writers who have influenced him, including C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Ray Bradbury, Diana Wynne Jones, Stephen King, Rudyard Kipling, James Thurber, and his dear friend, Terry Pratchett. He offers unlikely perspectives on subjects as diverse as The Bride of Frankenstein , Doctor Who, Batman, Tori Amos, Lou Reed, They Might Be Giants, and Amanda Palmer. And he includes a moving essay on the plight of Syrian refugees in a United Nations camp in Jordan. Illuminating and incisive, witty and wise, The Vie

Publisher's Summary From New York Times best-selling author, "one of America's top cultural critics" ( Entertainment Weekly ), and "The Ethicist" for The New York Times Magazine, comes a new book of all original pieces on villains and villainy. Chuck Klosterman has walked into the darkness. As a boy, he related to the cultural figures who represented goodness - but as an adult, he found himself unconsciously aligning with their enemies. This was not because he necessarily liked what they were doing; it was because they were doing it on purpose (and they were doing it better). They wanted to be evil. And what, exactly, was that supposed to mean? When we classify someone as a bad person, what are we really saying (and why are we so obsessed with saying it)? In I Wear the Black Hat , Klosterman questions the very nature of how modern people understand the concept of villainy. What was so Machiavellian about Machiavelli? Why don't we see Batman the same way we see Bernhard Goetz? Who's more worthy of our vitriol - Bill Clinton or Don Henley? What was O.J. Simpson's second-worst decision? And why is Klosterman still obsessed with some kid he knew for one week in 1985? Masterfully blending cultural analysis with self-interrogation and limitless imagination, I Wear the Black Hat delivers perceptive observations on the complexity of the anti-hero (seemingly the only kind of hero America still creates). I Wear the Black Hat is the rare example of serious criticism that's instantly accessible and really, really funny. Klosterman is the only writer doing whatever it is he's doing. ©2013 Chuck Klosterman (P)2013 Simon & Schuster

Publisher's Summary From the kid who brought you Fargo Rock City , the first book in history to garner the praise of Stephen King, David Byrne, Donna Gaines, Sebastian Bach, Jonathan Lethem, and Rivers Cuomo, comes Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs , the first book in history to examine breakfast cereal, reality television, tribute bands, Internet porn, serial killers, and the Dixie Chicks. Countless writers and artists have spoken for a generation, but no one has done it quite like Chuck Klosterman, with an exhaustive knowledge of popular culture and a seemingly effortless ability to spin brilliant prose out of unlikely subject matter. Whether deconstructing Saved by the Bell episodes or the artistic legacy of Billy Joel, the symbolic importance of The Empire Strikes Back or the Celtics/Lakers rivalry of the 1980s, Chuck will make you think, he'll make you laugh, and he'll drive you insane, usually all at once. Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs is ostensibly about movies, sports, television, music, books, video games, and kittens but, really, it's about us. All of us. As Klosterman realizes late at night, in the moment before he falls asleep, "In and of itself, nothing really matters. What matters is that nothing is ever 'in and of itself.'" ©2003, 2004 Chuck Klosterman. All rights reserved. (P)2006 Simon & Schuster Inc. All rights reserved. Audioworks is an imprint of Simon & Schuster Audio Division, Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Publisher's Summary With a foreword by Neil Gaiman Terry Pratchett has earned a place in the hearts of listeners the world over with his best-selling Discworld series - but in recent years he has become equally well-known and respected as an outspoken campaigner for causes including Alzheimer’s research and animal rights. A Slip of the Keyboard brings together for the first time the finest examples of Pratchett’s nonfiction writing, both serious and surreal: from musings on mushrooms to what it means to be a writer (and why banana daiquiris are so important); from memories of Granny Pratchett to speculation about Gandalf’s love life, and passionate defences of the causes dear to him. With all the humour and humanity that have made his novels so enduringly popular, this collection brings Pratchett out from behind the scenes of the Discworld to speak for himself - man and boy, bibliophile and computer geek, champion of hats, orangutans and Dignity in Dying. ©2014 Terry and Lyn Pratchett (P)2014 Random House Audiobooks

William Gibson is known primarily as a novelist, with his work ranging from his groundbreaking first novel, Neuromancer , to his more recent contemporary best sellers Pattern Recognition , Spook Country , and Zero History . During those nearly 30 years, though, Gibson has been sought out by widely varying publications for his insights into contemporary culture. Wired magazine sent him to Singapore to report on one of the world’s most buttoned-up states. The New York Times Magazine asked him to describe what was wrong with the internet. Rolling Stone published his essay on the ways our lives are all “soundtracked” by the music and the culture around us. And in a speech at the 2010 Book Expo, he memorably described the interactive relationship between writer and reader. Now these essays and articles are collected here together, with some in print for the first time. In addition, Distrust That Particular Flavor includes journalism from small publishers, online sources, and magazines no longer in existence. This volume is essential listening for any lover of William Gibson’s novels. Distrust That Particular Flavor offers listeners a privileged view into the mind of a writer whose thinking has shaped not only a generation of writers but our entire culture.