Jonathan Santlofer

The Marijuana Chronicles Jonathan Santlofer

Marc Notes: This collection is comprised of works of fiction, with the exception of the nonfiction essays by Raymond Mungo and Rachel Shteir--t.p. verso. Biographical Note: Jonathan Santlofer is the author of five best-selling novels, "The Death Artist, Color Blind, The Killing Art, Anatomy of Fear, " and "The Murder Notebook." He is the recipient of a Nero Wolfe Award, two National Endowment for the Arts grants, and has been a Visiting Artist at the American Academy in Rome, the Vermont Studio Center, and serves on the board of Yaddo, the oldest arts community in the US. He is coeditor, contributor, and illustrator of the anthologies "The Dark End of the Street and LA Noire: The Collected Stories." His short stories have appeared in such anthologies and collections as "The Rich & the Dead, New Jersey Noir, " and "Ellery Queen Magazine." Also a well-known artist, Santlofer's artwork is in such collections as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Newark Museum, Norton Simon Museum, and Tokyo's Institute of Contemporary Art. He is currently completing a new novel. A native New Yorker, Santlofer lives and works in Manhattan. Review Quotes:"Santlofer's choice of work is as varied and diverse as marijuana's many users, and the stories range in styles from hardboiled crime to contemporary satire."--LitReactor/BookshotsTable of Contents: Introduction -- Part I. Dangerous -- My First Drug Trial / Lee Child -- High / Joyce Carol Oates -- Jimmy O'Brien / Linda Yablonsky -- The Last Toke / Jonathan Santlofer -- Part II. Delirium & Hallucination -- Moon Dust / Abraham Rodriguez -- Cannibal Sativa / Dean Haspiel -- Zombie Hookers of Hudson / Maggie Estep -- Pasta Mon / Bob Holman -- Part III. Recreation & Education -- Ganja Ghosts / Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan -- Acting Lessons / Amanda Stern -- Ethics Class, 1971 / Jan Heller Levi -- The Devil Smokes Ganja / Josh Gilbert -- No Smoking / Edward M. GOmez -- Part IV. Good & Bad Medicine -- Kush City / Raymond Mungo -- Julie Falco Goes West / Rachel Shteir -- Tips for the Pot-Smoking Traveler / Philip Spitzer -- Jacked / Thad Ziolkowski. Publisher Marketing: "The dramatic stakes may be higher with speed, cocaine, and certainly heroin, but these stories hit the mark."--"Publishers Weekly" "Joyce Carol Oates is in a rare class of her own, but she's just of the right age to have experienced the '60s and its many forms of annihilating reality. So, too, are some of the other contributors to this collection, including Lee Child and the always enjoyable Raymond Mungo, who has traveled far, from the Haight of yore to the medicinal marijuana boutiques of today."--"Kirkus Reviews" "If you are a fence-sitter on the passionately contested pros and cons of marijuana use, after reading this terrific collection you will find yourself falling off and landing on one side of the hothouse argument. Which side? That is for the reader to decide... Akashic Books is to be commended for bringing this eye-opening series to a wider audience. Fresh and informative "The Marijuana Chronicles" is a gem. Highly recommended."--"New York Journal of Books" "This is a book that deserves an eye-level spot on every toker's book shelf-as well as a thoroughly stoned romp from intro to finale."--"High Times" "Pick up this hash-filled assortment, puff on any one of these killer buds and feel a different literary high each time. "Marijuana Chronicles" is meant to be savored one long drag at a time, allowing the flavor-filled pieces to slowly take over the mind, engulfing it fully."--"Criminal Class Press" "The pieces and authors represent a breadth of perspectives that goes far beyond typical stoner fare."--"The Beachside Resident" "The stories are astonishingly cerebral, and they are certain to make the rationalizations of even the most staunch supporters or opposers a bit hazy."--"San Francisco Book Review/Sacramento Book Review" ""The Marijuana Chronicles," it has to be said, is a hopped-up little anthology that really smokes--there's really no better way to put it."--"Solares Hill" (Sunday supplement to "The Key West Citizen") ""The Marijuana Chronicles."..is the strongest, most diverse and entertaining collection of the series to date...highly (no pun intended) recommended, even for those who never inhale."--Bookgasm Featuring brand-new stories, poems, prose, and graphics by: Lee Child, Joyce Carol Oates, Linda Yablonsky, Jonathan Santlofer, Abraham Rodriguez, Dean Haspiel, Maggie Estep, Bob Holman, Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan, Amanda Stern, Jan Heller Levi, Josh Gilbert, Edward M. Gomez, Raymond Mungo, Rachel Shteir, Philip Spitzer, and Thad Ziolkowski. FROM THE INTRODUCTION by Jonathan Santlofer: "Like film, literature has been no stranger to marijuana and hashish, going back to Charles Baudelaire's 1860 "Artificial Paradises, " in which the French poet not only describes the effects of hashish but postulates it could be an aid in creating an ideal world. The pleasures, pains, and complexities of marijuana are more than hinted at in works by William S. Burroughs, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Henry Miller, Hunter S. Thompson, and Thomas Pynchon, to name just a few, and I hope this anthology will add to that legacy and keep the flame of pot literature burning bright . . . "This diverse group of writers, poets, and artists makes it clear that there is no one point of view here. Each of them approaches the idea of marijuana with the sharp eye of an observer, anthropologist, and artist, and expands upon it. Some writing projects are difficult; this one was smooth and mellow and a continual pleasure . . . I hope you will sit back, relax, and enjoy these wide-ranging tales of the most debated and discussed drug of our time. Though, according to former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, 'That is not a drug, it's a leaf.'" Review Citations: Kirkus Reviews 05/01/2013 pg. 22 (EAN 9781617751639, Paperback) Publishers Weekly 05/27/2013 (EAN 9781617751639, Paperback) Kirkus Reviews 05/01/2013 (EAN 9781617751691, Hardcover) Publishers Weekly 05/27/2013 pg. 37 (EAN 9781617751691, Hardcover) Contributor Bio:  Santlofer, Jonathan Jonathan Santlofer is the author of five novels and a highly respected artist whose work has been written about and reviewed in the New York Times, Art in America, Artforum, and Arts, and which appears in many public, private, and corporate collections. He lives and works in New York City. Contributor Bio:  Child, Lee Lee Child is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Jack Reacher series, which began with Killing Floor and includes Nothing to Lose and Gone Tomorrow. Steve Berry is the New York Times bestselling author of The Charlemagne Pursuit and The Amber Room. He is the current president of the International Thriller Writers of America. Contributor Bio:  Oates, Joyce Carol Joyce Carol Oates is a recipient of the National Medal of Humanities, the National Book Critics Circle Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award, the National Book Award, and the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in Short Fiction, and has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. She has written some of the most enduring fiction of our time, including We Were the Mulvaneys; Blonde, which was nominated for the National Book Award; and the New York Times bestseller The Accursed. She is the Roger S. Berlind Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at Princeton University and has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters since 1978. Contributor Bio:  Shteir, Rachel Rachel Shteir is the author of STRIPTEASE: THE UNTOLD HISTORY OF THE GIRLIE SHOW, forthcoming from Oxford University Press. She teaches in the Theater Department at DePaul University in Chicago. Contributor Bio:  Yablonsky, Linda Yablonsky is the director of Nightlight Readings