Gothic Charm School: An Essential Guide for Goths and Those Who Love Them
By Jillian Venters, Out now
Seattle-based Venters offers up advice in hopes that the gothic aren’t seen as graceless. The self-proclaimed “Lady of Manners” advises the Azriel Abysses of the world on everything from manners to dating to the proper application of white face makeup.
To Sound in the Know: The truly miserable have been getting their gloomy guidance from Venters at gothic-charm-school.com for over a decade.
The Regulars
By Sarah Stolfa, Out July 1
Stolfa photographed the regular patrons at McGlinchey’s, a bar where she worked in downtown Philly, to create a haunting and visceral collection of the lives of those who belly up nightly. Jonathan Franzen wrote the book’s introduction.
To Sound in the know: Photographer Stolfa used to play the Farfisa organ in beloved punk-soul band The Delta 72.
Will Work For Drugs
By Lydia Lunch, Out July 1
A collection of essays, fiction and interviews from the iconoclastic Teenage Jesus & the Jerks singer and original badass rocker girl.
To Sound in the Know: Lunch’s first was a loose autobiography called Paradoxia: A Predator’s Diary.
American Adulterer
By Jed Mercurio, Out July 7
A novel that imagines the inner turmoil of a philandering and shape-shifting JFK as he tries to fend off the madness surrounding him in the forms of doctors, generals and a coked-up Marilyn Monroe.
To Sound in the Know: Mercurio is trained as a doctor, which helps explain his obsession with JFK’s health (specifically his bowel movements).
Pillhead
By Joshua Lyon, Out July 7
Lyon alternates the chronicles of his own addiction to painkillers with an exploration of pill abuse throughout American culture.
To Sound in the Know: Lyon got addicted to painkillers after ordering Vicodin over the Internet as part of an article for Jane magazine.
The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook: A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal
By Ben Mezrich, Out July 14
The story behind how two geeks from Harvard changed the face of social networking and the Internet…mostly to meet girls.
To Sound in the Know: Mezrich also plumbed another Massachusetts school—MIT—for the subject of his last book, the best-selling blackjack expose Bringing Down the House.
The Girl Who Played With Fire
By Stieg Larsson, Out July 28
The second part in a trilogy starring bisexual, cyberpunk computer hacker heroine Lisbeth Sander from the recently deceased Swedish novelist. This is not your grandfather’s detective story hero.
To Sound in the Know: Larsson died of a heart attack before the first novel in the trilogy, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, was published.
