This book is the first attempt to produce a critical edition of a large number of Kathy Acker's unpublished early works. Apart from the posthumous publication, in 2002, of the early manuscript Rip-off Red, Girl Detective and The Burning Bombing of America: The Destruction of the U.S. by Amy Scholder and Grove Press in one volume, in 2002, as well as Gabrielle Kappes' chapbook, no other important publication had been attempted in this field. These – mostly unpublished – texts were all composed between 1969 and 1976. Yet they are representative of Acker's published output only for the period running from 1971 to early 1974. These texts all exist as “clean” typewritten copies, probably intended to be kept, shown, maybe even published. The editor chose not to include Acker's manuscripts. The transcriptions in this volume were made directly from the original typescripts. Original pagination, manuscript addenda, missing pages and other idiosyncrasies of each file have been preserved; our editorial notes at the end of the texts all feature a material description of the source version used. The organization of this volume is chronological. The texts' respective date of composition is often the result of an estimate based on their content and form (an estimate that is then justified and defended). Such a collection shows how prolific, diverse and always in-progress Acker's production was in those years. It isn't, however, Acker's complete early works. More typescripts exist at the Fales Library which aren't featured or alluded to in this book. Their publication and analysis may in the future suggest a whole new set of interpretations that will, or might not, contradict the present editor's exegesis. Moreover, the comparison of the typescripts with manuscript versions will undoubtedly inspire new perspectives on Acker's creative process and intentions during those years.

The elderly detective Drury Lane is aided by Patience Thumm in the investigation of the mysterious death of a corrupt state senator

Art Does (Not!) Exist is lively, inventive, and artfully wicked. In the world according to video artist Julia Maraini , life is in need of tracking control. Personas warp and twist in a perverse parody of modern life that is, nonetheless, exactly the thing itself. As the protagonist prepares a video for an important grant application, she discovers that the video has been tampered with, and a snuff film of her controversial star (a wealthy Brazilian) added. Does she turn it in? Does she receive an NEA grant? How much hipper can hip be than Art Does (Not!) Exist? Art Does (Not!) Exist is about Julia Maraini, an artist in her early twenties involved in video and other new genres, who is down on her luck: her mad scientist husband is gone but threatens to return; and her apartment on the lower east side close to Soho, burns down under suspicious circumstances. Through it all she works at completing her art projects hoping to receive an NEA grant for one of them, or at least an invitation to be included in the prestigious Whitney Biennial. One of her projects is an interview with two skeletons purported to be Nag and Nell, the parents of Hamm, a character in Samuel Beckett's Endgame. Her competitors are: a Brazilian steel magnate who writes her sexy letters and appears by two mysterious characters; a famous British feminist who is in the States to promote her first novel; and a pair of near-sighted detectives disguised in Hawiian shirts. At one point her estranged husband, his mother and step-father appear on the Geraldo Show where all hell breaks loose. This is a book about the way an artist thinks, it examines what's at stake in today's art world - and dares to ask the question, what is art anyway? A question that has been pondered ever since someone handed a loaded paintbrush to a chimp and aimed her at a canvas. Written with tongue in one cheek and tofu in the other, Art Does (Not!) Exist is both funny and nourishing.

A BLACK DAGGER CRIME edition of a novel about a famous dancer who is shot on stage on an opening night, but all the critics who gather - unaware that he is dead - agree that the death scene was particularly unconvincing. However, there are plenty of suspects since the dancer appears to have been the most hated person in the company.

Down-and-out solicitor Aaron Rodd has resigned himself to a life of obscurity until Harvey Grimm, a mysterious figure from his past, offers him a chance at reinvention—and danger. What begins as an innocent conversation with a young woman in a London park soon spirals into a tangled web of espionage, deceit, and stolen gems. Aaron is drawn deeper into Grimm’s world of subterfuge and criminal enterprise, where every move is shadowed by doubt and betrayal. As Scotland Yard closes in and a master detective prowls in the background, Aaron must navigate the blurred lines between legality and complicity. His choices will determine whether he reclaims his future—or loses it forever. A brooding, atmospheric tale of moral ambiguity set against the shadowy backdrop of early 20th-century London, Aaron Rodd, Diviner is both a psychological drama and a classic crime adventure.