Phil Bailey takes a look at the first issue of Blush, a new magazine chronicling the Japanese glam/metal/punk/goth music trend known as “Visual Kei.”

Exploring “the outer limits of human belief” makes for perfect bathroom reading in the form of Donna Kossy’s Kooks. Ian Koss is your restroom attendant.

Terry Eagan examines Louise Erdrich’s new novel, The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse, a profound meditation on identity and faith.

Fulfilling a teenage dream, Phil Bailey picked up the new issue of Playboy, featuring Go-Go’s singer Belinda Carlisle in her birthday suit. No, we won’t scan the photos for you.

For Matthew Moyer, it’s the expressive faces that Graham Annable draws in his new graphic novel, Grickle, that make the book so appealing and real.

Why is Terry Eagan reviewing the new edition of Torquato Tasso’s sixteenth century epic poem? Read the review and find out why he compares Tasso to Chaucer and Shakespeare.

Manil Suri’s debut novel, The Death of Vishnu explores the facts and foibles of class struggles and the quest for spiritual enlightenment through the eyes of a dying apartment building handyman. Terry Eagan explores the rich and unusual novel.

Alex Robinson’s Box Office Posion just won him the comics industry’s Eisner Award for “Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition.” Julio Diaz expains why that award is so richly deserved.

Tom Spanbauer’s In the City of Shy Hunters may tell the tale of a young gay man coming of age during the AIDS epidemic of the ’80s, but Terry Eagan warns that this epic novel should not just be relegated to the “Queer Fiction” ghetto.

Peter Handke’s latest novel, On a Dark Night I Left My Silent House explores the place where tragedy and comedy meet. Terry Eagan takes a closer look.

Part detective novel, part reflection on the nature of art and love, Haruki Murakami’s Sputnik Sweetheart follows aspiring novelist Sumire on her quest for both. Terry Eagan reviews the gripping and thoughtful novel.

Would the human race be better off without the urge to procreate – or at least, to get busy? That’s the theme explored in Michel Houellebecq’s latest novel, The Elementary Particles. Terry Eagan explores the novel and its core philosophy.

Sure, we can all feel sympathy for the homeless, but do they all deserve your sympathy? That’s what Carl F. Gauze had to ask himself after finishing Daniel Buckman’s new novel, Water In Darkness.

Since its founding in 1994, Punk Planet has been one of the most intelligent and honest magazines around, focusing equally on punk rock and progressive politics. Now, Akashic Books has collected the magazine’s most interesting interviews as We Owe You Nothing. Anton Wagner offers an in-depth analysis.

Best known for his work on the anime Serial Experiments: Lain, Yoshitoshi ABe gets a beautiful showcase for his art in the new book, Essence. Phil Bailey takes a close look at the manga masterpiece.

Looking for a nice, sleazy beach read? Carl F. Gauze recommends Daniel Chavarria’s new novel, Adios, Muchachos, a “rousing” tale of sex and Capitalism in the “Worker’s Paradise” of Cuba.

The seamy underbelly of Brooklyn is exposed in Tim McLoughlin’s debut novel, Heart of the Old Country. But what’s tougher: a Brooklyn goombah, or a review from Carl F. Gauze?

It is probably a good thing that I read this book during a so-called “electio…

Yvonne Mojica’s amazing (and amazingly difficult to get a hold of) comic B…

Today, sexuality in movies is quite commonplace, but it hasn’t always been th…