Watch a rare video of David Mazzucchelli, author of the “haunting and beautiful” (Los Angeles Times) Asterios Polyp, as he discusses his writing process and inspiration for the graphic novel that has the world buzzing.
Are you a huge Marjane Satrapi fan like I am? Curious about what CHICKEN AND PLUMS really are?? Well, I finally found the actual recipe for CHICKEN AND PLUMS, the title of Marjane's most recent publication (Chicken with Plums was just released last April as a trade paperback with a stunning new jacket and you can order your copy here).
Anyway, the recipe is in a middle eastern Knopf cookbook called Arabesque by Claudia Roden:
Ingredients: 6 boneless, skinless chicken pieces, breasts or thighs 2-3 garlic cloves, chopped 1-3 tablespoons butter 1 tablespoon sunflower oil salt and paper 9 dark red plums
For the Sauce 4 tablespoons plum jam 1 tablespoon red or white wine vinegar 1 garlic clove, crushed pinch of chili pepper flakes or gorund chili pepper
In a large skillet, saute the chicken pieces with the garlic in a mixture of butter and oil, over low heat. Cook them for about 10-15 minutes, or until they are no longer pink inside when you cut in with a pointed knife. Season with salt and pepper, and turn the pieces over at least once.
Just before serving, cut the plums in half and ease out the pits. Lift out the chicken pieces and put them to the side while you saute the plums. Cook the plums for 7-10 minutes, turning them over once, until they soften. Return the chicken pices to the pan and heat through.
For the sauce, heat the plum jam with the vinegar in a small saucepan, stir in the garlic and chili flakes or ground chili pepper and cook a few moments longer.
Serve the chicken pieces with the sauce poured over and garnish with the plums.
In his raw and sweeping graphic nonfiction masterpiece A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge, veteran nonfiction comic book writer and long-time artist for American Splendor Josh Neufeld chronicles the lives of six native New Orleanians in the wake of Hurricane Katrina that he met during his time volunteering with the Red Cross.
Be sure to stop by the following event for your chance to chat with Josh and pick up a copy of the book: Thursday, September 24th at 7:00 p.m.—Bergen Street Comics, 470 Bergen Street, Brooklyn NY 11217
Coming soon from Pantheon: THINGS WE DIDN'T SEE COMING, the debut story collection from Steven Amsterdam set in a not-too-distant dystopian future is one to keep a close eye on. Amsterdam has already received fantastic praise in Australia and the Aussies are so fanatical about the book, they recently named it The Age Book of the Year (A major honor)! Random House's own Field Rep, Ann Kingman, raved about the book on Booksonthenightstand.com: "I began a new book the other night, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it....I can't seem to get the landscape out of my head....There are moments of light and humor in this book even amidst the bleak, and perhaps that is why I can think about it as I go about my day. I've been rationing my reading: a story a night. I'm savoring it as it haunts me."
Richly imagined, dark, and darkly comic, these nine stories follow the narrator over three decades as he tries to survive in a world that is becoming more savage as cataclysmic events unfold one after another. In the first story-set on the eve of the millennium, when the world as we know it is still recognizable-we meet the then nine-year-old narrator fleeing the city with his parents, just ahead of a Y2K breakdown of the grid, signaling the world's transformation and decline. The remaining stories capture the strange- sometimes horrific, sometimes unexpectedly funny-circumstances he encounters in the no-longerso- simple act of survival. Yet, in each story, we see that despite the violence and brutality of his days, the narrator retains a hold on his essential humanity.
Send the words "DIDN'T SEE IT COMING" in an email to pantheon@randomhouse.com and the first 3 responses will receive an early galley of the book!
Check out this trailor for Dash Shaw's new graphic novel BODYWORLD, a darkly fantastical graphic novel about a small town, a lowlife botanist, and a mysterious plant with strange powers. You can read the original webcomic here. Or preorder your copy here
Nominated for a 2009 Eisner Award and with a bold, innovative design, BodyWorld is a mind-blowing blend of science-fiction, classic high school drama, and futuristic what-if. It is at once funny and fearless–and sure to be the graphic novel event of the year.
NEWS ALERT: ROUGH JUSTICE to be published in March 2010!
Superstar Alex Ross is back at Pantheon, with all-new DC Comics drawings, featuring his exquisite pencil work. As beautiful as the Alex Ross paintings in Mythology were, the most surprising revelation to many fans were the preparatory sketches, brilliantly rendered in graphite.
This book allows fans to peer over Alex’s shoulder and see his thought process: What makes a composition work? What doesn’t? How many different poses for these characters can you try, to keep making them look fresh? And just how do you reinvent the most beloved and most depicted comics icons in the world?
In Alex’s case, you use a little (actually, a lot) of rough justice...Preorder your copy here
Please read this book - it's amazing! Angelina Jolie agrees.
“Women facing poverty, oppression, and violence are usually viewed as victims. Nick Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn’s Half the Sky shows that unimaginable challenges are often met with breathtaking bravery. These stories show us the power and resilience of women who would have every reason to give up but never do. They will be an inspiration for anyone who reads this book, and a model for those fighting for justice around the world. You will not want to put this book down.” -Angelina Jolie
“It’s impossible to exaggerate the importance of this book about one of the most serious problems of our time: the worldwide abuse and exploitation of women. In addition to describing the injustices, Kristof and WuDunn show how concerned individuals everywhere are working effectively to empower women and help them overcome adversity. Wonderfully written and vividly descriptive, Half the Sky can and should galvanize support for reform on all levels. Inspiring as it is shocking, this book demands to be read.” -Anne Rice
“I think it’s impossible to stand by and do nothing after reading Half the Sky. It does what we need most, it bears witness to the sheer cruelty that mankind can do to mankind.” --George Clooney
“Half the Sky is a passionate and persuasive plea to all of us to rise up and say ‘No more!’ to the 17th-century abuses to girls and women in the 21st-century world. This is a book that will pierce your heart and arouse your conscience. It is a powerful piece of journalism by two masters of the craft who are tireless in their pursuit of one of the most shameful conditions of our time.” -Tom Brokaw
“I read Half the Sky in one sitting, staying up until 3 a.m. to do so. It is brilliant and inspirational, and I want to shout about it from the rooftops and mountains. It vividly illustrates how women have turned despair into prosperity and bravely nurtured hope to cultivate a bright future. The book ends with an especially compelling ‘What you can do’ to exhort us all to action.” -Greg Mortenson, author, Three Cups of Tea
“If you have always wondered whether you can change the world, read this book. Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn have written a brilliant call to arms that describes one of the transcendent injustices in the world today—the brutal treatment of women. They take you to many countries, introduce you to extraordinary women, and tell you their moving tales. Throughout, the tone is practical not preachy and the book’s suggestions as to how you can make a difference are simple, sensible, and yet powerful. The authors vividly describe a terrible reality about the world we live in but they also provide light and hope that we can, in fact, change it.” -Fareed Zakaria, author, The Post-American World
“An unblinking look at one of the seminal moral challenges of our time. This stirring book is at once a savage indictment of gender inequality in the developing world and an inspiring testament to these women’s courage, resilience, and their struggle for hope and recovery. A devastating and unexpectedly uplifting read.” -Khaled Hosseini, author, The Kite Runner
“The stories that Kristof and WuDunn share are as powerful as they are heartbreaking. Their insight into gender issues and the role of women in development inspires hope, optimism, and most importantly, the will to change. Both a brutal awakening and an unmistakable call to action, this book should be read by all.”-Melinda Gates
"Passionate yet practical . . . [Half the Sky] is both stirring and sensible . . . This wonderful book combines a denunciation of horrible abuses with clear-eyed hope and some compelling practical strategies. The courageous women described here, and millions more like them, deserve nothing less.” -Martha Nussbaum, The New York Times
In his raw and sweeping graphic nonfiction masterpiece A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge, veteran nonfiction comic book writer and long-time artist for American Splendor Josh Neufeld chronicles the lives of six native New Orleanians in the wake of Hurricane Katrina that he met during his time volunteering with the Red Cross.
Enter the world of:
Denise, a sixth-generation New Orlinean artist and counselor
The Doctor, who, while not directly affected by the storm, stays behind to help those less fortunate
Hamid and Mansell, who face the storm from the roof of Hamid's family-run market
Kevin, a pastor's son just entering his senior year of high school
Leo and Michelle, a twenty-something couple that grew up in the city.
All of whom face the terrifying and increasingly universal reality that home is not an immutable fact, and question what it would mean to stay or to evacuate. With beautiful illustrations, A.D. presents the characters' stories as they unfold, frame by frame, alongside the building storm, vividly portraying what it means to have to decide to leave everything you know behind.
And here's the best part: Email the phrase AFTER THE DELUGE, along with your mailing address to pantheon@randomhouse.com and you will automatically enter yourself into a drawing to win a free copy of the book! There will be 3 lucky winners selected at random. Please note: U.S. mailing addresses only.
Be sure to stop by the following events for your chance to chat with Josh and pick up a copy of the book: Wednesday, September 16, 7:00 p.m.--McNally Jackson, 52 Prince St, NYC. Panel with Josh, Lisa and Jeff Newelt.
Thursday, September 247:00 p.m.--Bergen Street Comics, 470 Bergen Street, Brooklyn NY 11217
Praise for A.D.: "A.D. is a sterling example of comics with a social consciousness, and is exactly the kind of thing we need to keep the human dimension of this unimaginable disaster and its ongoing aftermath in the public eye."-- Wired.com "Referring to A.D. as a 'comic book' is a bit like calling Schindler's List a 'talkie.'" -- The Los Angeles Times "A.D.'s ... stunning panels ... retell the harrowing experience of what it was like to live through the disaster."--Rolling Stone "[A.D.]'s stirring images are sure to linger in memory, perhaps even longer than hours of news footage already have."--The Atlanta Journal-Constitution "Josh Neufeld's cultural and class observations are enormously rare in the world of comix subject matter."-- The Comics Journal
SAVE THE DATE: October 28th, 6:30-9:30 at Saint Vincent's Hospital
Have fun. Raise Funds. Help benefit uninsured and underinsured women AND get to meet the Cancer Vixen herself: Marisa Acocella Marchetto. If you'd like to buy a copy of CANCER VIXEN before the event, click here
Send the words "DIDN'T SEE IT COMING" in an email to pantheon@randomhouse.com and the first 3 responses will receive an early galley of the book!
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