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Staff Pick

Void Corporation

Void Corporation

Butler, Blake
$17.95

Following up the 2023 publication of Blake Butler's smash hit memoir Molly, Archway Editions is proud to bring you Void Corporation, the revised and definitive paperback of his masterful 2020 novel Alice Knott, now with a new foreword from the author. The perfect introduction to Butler's hypnotic and wildly inventive fictional world for his many new fans.

 

"There's an exceptional amount of intention and control on display in the telling of this story ... Don't expect a conventional reading experience. [Void Corporation] is a meditation on art and perception whose form seems to serve as both a meta-comment on the function of the novel, and a challenge to the expectations that a reader should bring to one. It's rare for me to enjoy and value a book on those terms, but this one worked for me. And even more to the point, I respected it for insisting that I rise to its challenge." --The New York Times Book Review

 

"[Void Corporation] signals Blake Butler as our most imaginative writer." --The Believer

 

"Timely and bold ... [Butler's] fiction exhibits an alarmingly masterful grasp of language that effectively haunts readers ... The writing is challenging and transgressive, but it is also dripping with perfectly rendered imagery of the macabre ...[Void Corporation] uses language to carve through the darkness. Here, like with his earlier work[, ] Butler has proven himself to be a cartographer of the psyche. A camera pointed on masked individuals drenching a painting with kerosene before setting a match to it; the modern American home, idyllic and clandestine on its exterior while inside, familiar spaces like bedrooms become war zones, morphing and shifting like a body flexing and contorting: These are the sorts of images that Butler leaves behind in your mind, never to be erased." --The New York Observer

 

"[A] tangle of cosmic pandemonium ... For all its sleek neo-Gothicism and terrifying speculation on and remote past and near future of the human mind, [Void Corporation] carries within it the old-style haunting and paranormal shenanigans of a Poe-like captivity tale." --The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

 

"A remarkable accomplishment ... [Butler's] constant worrying at what's genuinely personal, struggling to detach it from the endless play of light across wall and screen, strikes me as an undeniably contemporary project." --John Domini, Los Angeles Review of Books

 

"Read this beautifully unsettling novel and prepare to be ravished--and ravaged--as it winds its way inside your psyche, snake-like and persistent ... Blake Butler's latest is a meditation on trauma and art, creation and destruction ... It's a profound, exuberant disturbance, just what you want all art to be." --Refinery29

 

"Stunning and impressive ... With the novel's humor, arresting voice, and pastiche of conspiracy, art, and paranoia, Butler brings to mind the work of Pynchon and DeLillo as he explores the complexity of artistic achievement and the unreliability of our own minds." --ZYZZYVA

 

"A masterpiece ... I keep trying to come up with my favorite bits in the book ... the precision of descriptions ... the grainy-video feel of the atmosphere .. the way it feels like you might be losing your mind when you read it, the small bits of emotion and feeling that made me feel deeply sad, the hauntology of the whole thing, or maybe the end, where I said out loud 'don't do it' and then he did it. I loved it all." --World Literature Today

 

"Butler is a master of the American dystopic, language-driven novel, and here returns with his penchant for mining the unsettling national psyche, delving so deeply into its unconscious that the resulting delirium is uncannily close to truth." --The Millions

 

"Heartbreaking and heady ... [Butler's] manipulation of language is a thing of wonder, and the emotions it inspires are more akin to what a person feels while listening to an intricate piece of music as opposed to reading a book." --LitReactor

 

"A bold and innovative existential mystery that moves us not towards resolution but deeper into the powerfully strange oceans of fractured memories, damaged love, and lost histories. This book is a thrill, a terror, a heartbreak." --Laura van den Berg

 

"A strange and beguiling masterpiece, an immersive experience of psychic disorder that becomes ever more profound as you read on." --Alexandra Kleeman

 

"A beautifully constructed maze full of trick mirrors that reminds us of how we find ways to exist inside our realities even as they change." --Ilana Masad

 

"Devastatingly beautiful ... [Void Corporation] challenges us to remember how we might yet devote ourselves to life--and each other--differently." --Lidia Yuknavitch

 

"[Void Corporation] is a thrilling, subversive novel, part fever dream, part high-culture acid trip, part dystopian masterpiece. A dazzling, dangerous book." --Christopher Bollen

 

"Blake Butler is one of our most fearless insurgents against the numbing flow of contemporary life. With [Void Corporation] he's created a Lynchian fever dream about the voracious march of capitalism and the vulnerable place of art in our society, with vividly crisp sentences and syntax that could cut diamonds." --Catherine Lacey

 

"This book is an incantation--to read it is to be put under its spell. [Void Corporation] is ferocious, masterful, and truly unforgettable." --Chelsea Hodson

 

Praise for Blake Butler:

 

"A mastermind and visionary." --Ben Marcus

 

"Our premier literary shaman." --Alissa Nutting

 

"[Butler's work is] wild but elegant and smart." --Roxane Gay

 

"An endlessly surprising, funny, and subversive writer." --Publishers Weekly

 

"A powerful force in contemporary literature." --3: AM Magazine

 

"[An] inventive and deeply promising young author."--Time Out New York

 

"Try Blake on. Lace him up. Wear him around your neck in wreaths." --Vice

 

From Blake Butler, the genius author of Archway Editions' smash hit memoir Molly, comes Void Corporation--the crowning achievement of his fictional oeuvre. Initially published as Alice Knott in 2020 by Riverhead Books, it now appears for the first time in paperback with its originally intended title, a brand new foreword by the author, and an unsettling, iconic cover painting by Seymour Rosofsky. The most accomplished and accessible entrypoint into Butler's hypnotic, hallucinatory aesthetic, Void Corporation is the ideal next purchase for anyone who loved Molly.

 

Published right as the world changed in early 2020, Butler's riffs on art, technology, inequality and the conspiratorial impenetrability of our bureaucratic world are more prescient than ever. The recent spate of protest action involving art even seems inspired by the book--people have said as much online--and the resonances keep coming. Reclusive heiress Alice Knott's self-imposed quarantine is reminiscent of our own, and the mystery deepens after she discovers her family's world-class artwork collection destroyed and videotaped.

 

Void Corporation features Butler's stimulating, immersive linguistic acrobatics, but in following Alice's journey through a world of memory and conspiracy, he brings a looming clarity. After the artwork is destroyed, copycat incidents proliferate around the world, and she becomes the chief suspect in what may be an international conspiracy. With essential questions raised about the meaning of art and the ramifications of trauma, this definitive edition is a must-have for anyone who has read Molly or wants to discover the exceptional written universe of Blake Butler.

Ben says: The skeleton key to the literary universe of one of America's greatest living writers. A novel about art terrorism, the inconsistency of memory, and the seemingly infinite darkness that waits for us when we close our eyes.

Few Rules for Predicting the Future

Few Rules for Predicting the Future

Butler, Octavia E.
$14.95
The wise words of science fiction icon Octavia E. Butler live on in this beautiful and giftable little volume.

"There's no single answer that will solve all our future problems. There's no magic bullet. Instead there are thousands of answers--at least. You can be one of them if you choose to be."

Originally published in Essence magazine in the year 2000, Octavia E. Butler's essay "A Few Rules for Predicting the Future" offers an honest look into the inspiration behind her science fiction novels and the importance of studying history and taking responsibility for our actions if we are to move forward.

Organized into four main rules, this short essay reminds readers to learn from the past, respect the law of consequences, be aware of their perspectives, and count on the surprises. Citing the warning signs of fascism, the illusive effects of fear and wishful thinking, and the unpredictable nature of what is yet to come, Butler shares realistic but hopeful suggestions to shape our future into something good. An inspiring and motivational gift for students and recent graduates, fans of Butler's work, and anyone seeking a brighter day tomorrow, this exquisite gift book includes stunning Afrofuturist artwork by Manzel Bowman alongside the full text of the original essay.

LITERARY ICON: Octavia E. Butler was a pioneering science fiction writer whose novels, written decades ago, remain eerily relevant, reflecting on themes of racial injustice, women's rights, environmental collapse, and political corruption. In 1995, she became the first science fiction author to win a MacArthur Genius grant, and her books are taught in over 200 colleges and universities nationwide. This book shares Butler's timely but lesser-known essay and is a must-read for fans of her classic sci-fi works.

CELEBRATE BLACK CREATORS: This book spotlights one of the greatest authors of Afrofuturism, a genre and philosophy that explores and reimagines Black culture, creativity, and liberation through fiction, art, music, film, and other media. Octavia E. Butler's forward-thinking essay is paired with contemporary illustrations by Manzel Bowman, whose evocative images are also inspired by Afrofuturist visions.

INSPIRING GIFT: A unique gift for students, recent graduates, and anyone celebrating life milestones or looking forward in life, this beautifully designed hardcover book is sure to inspire. Octavia E. Butler's essay is also an important, evergreen reminder for writers, creatives, dreamers, and activists who want to envision and work toward a brighter future.

Perfect for:

  • Fans of Octavia Butler and her novels, including Kindred and Parable of the Sower
  • People interested in nonfiction and essays by Black women writers
  • Afrofuturism lovers and social justice-minded sci-fi readers
  • Literary bibliophiles looking for a stunning new addition to their bookshelf
  • Gift-giving to graduating high school and college students
  • Activists and community leaders
  • Inspirational essay readers
  • Fans of Manzel Bowman and Afrofuturist art
  • James says: Wisdom, insight, and creativity all come together in a book that is a template for limitless thinking and possibilities.

    Also a Poet

    Also a Poet

    Calhoun, Ada
    $18.00

    A staggering memoir from New York Times-bestselling author Ada Calhoun tracing her fraught relationship with her father and their shared obsession with a great poet

     

    When Ada Calhoun stumbled upon old cassette tapes of interviews her father, celebrated art critic Peter Schjeldahl, had conducted for his never-completed biography of poet Frank O'Hara, she set out to finish the book her father had started forty years earlier.

    As a lifelong O'Hara fan who grew up amid his bohemian cohort in the East Village, Calhoun thought the project would be easy, even fun, but the deeper she dove, the more she had to face not just O'Hara's past, but also her father's, and her own.

    The result is a groundbreaking and kaleidoscopic memoir that weaves compelling literary history with a moving, honest, and tender story of a complicated father-daughter bond. Also a Poet explores what happens when we want to do better than our parents, yet fear what that might cost us; when we seek their approval, yet mistrust it.

    In reckoning with her unique heritage, as well as providing new insights into the life of one of our most important poets, Calhoun offers a brave and hopeful meditation on parents and children, artistic ambition, and the complexities of what we leave behind.

    Nora says: A fascinating exploration of the bohemian world Calhoun grew up in as the only child of the poet and art critic Peter Schjeldahl. Schjeldahl’s circle included many famous names: Frank O’Hara, William deKooning, John Ashbery, Helen Frankenthaler, among them.  This intelligent and sensitive memoir  examines artistic ambition, the accompanying rivalries, and the personal and professional currents and tensions between herself and her father.

    Secret Book of Flora Lea

    Secret Book of Flora Lea

    Callahan Henry, Patti
    $17.99
    When a woman discovers a rare book with connections to her past, long-held secrets about her missing sister and their childhood in the English countryside during World War II are revealed in this "beguiling blend of hope, mystery, and true familial love" (Sadeqa Johnson, New York Times bestselling author).

    In the war-torn London of 1939, fourteen-year-old Hazel and five-year-old Flora are evacuated to a rural village to escape the horrors of the Second World War. Living with the kind Bridie Aberdeen and her teenage son, Harry, in a charming stone cottage along the River Thames, Hazel fills their days with walks and games to distract her young sister, including one that she creates for her sister and her sister alone--a fairy tale about a magical land, a secret place they can escape to that is all their own.

    But the unthinkable happens when young Flora suddenly vanishes while playing near the banks of the river. Shattered, Hazel blames herself for her sister's disappearance, and she carries that guilt into adulthood as a private burden she feels she deserves.

    Twenty years later, Hazel is in London, ready to move on from her job at a cozy rare bookstore to a career at Sotheby's. With a charming boyfriend and her elegantly timeworn Bloomsbury flat, Hazel's future seems determined. But her tidy life is turned upside down when she unwraps a package containing an illustrated book called Whisperwood and the River of Stars. Hazel never told a soul about the imaginary world she created just for Flora. Could this book hold the secrets to Flora's disappearance? Could it be a sign that her beloved sister is still alive after all these years?

    As Hazel embarks on a feverish quest, revisiting long-dormant relationships and bravely opening wounds from her past, her career and future hang in the balance. Spellbinding and atmospheric, "this heartrending, captivating tale of family, first love, and fate will sweep you away" (Kristin Harmel, New York Times bestselling author).

    Secret Book of Flora Lea

    Secret Book of Flora Lea

    Callahan Henry, Patti
    $28.99
    INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

    When a woman discovers a rare book that has connections to her past, long-held secrets about her missing sister and their childhood spent in the English countryside during World War II are revealed.

    In the war-torn London of 1939, fourteen-year-old Hazel and five-year-old Flora are evacuated to a rural village to escape the horrors of the Second World War. Living with the kind Bridie Aberdeen and her teenage son, Harry, in a charming stone cottage along the River Thames, Hazel fills their days with walks and games to distract her young sister, including one that she creates for her sister and her sister alone--a fairy tale about a magical land, a secret place they can escape to that is all their own.

    But the unthinkable happens when young Flora suddenly vanishes while playing near the banks of the river. Shattered, Hazel blames herself for her sister's disappearance, and she carries that guilt into adulthood as a private burden she feels she deserves.

    Twenty years later, Hazel is in London, ready to move on from her job at a cozy rare bookstore to a career at Sotheby's. With a charming boyfriend and her elegantly timeworn Bloomsbury flat, Hazel's future seems determined. But her tidy life is turned upside down when she unwraps a package containing an illustrated book called Whisperwood and the River of Stars. Hazel never told a soul about the imaginary world she created just for Flora. Could this book hold the secrets to Flora's disappearance? Could it be a sign that her beloved sister is still alive after all these years?

    As Hazel embarks on a feverish quest, revisiting long-dormant relationships and bravely opening wounds from her past, her career and future hang in the balance. An astonishing twist ultimately reveals the truth in this transporting and refreshingly original novel about the bond between sisters, the complications of conflicted love, and the enduring magic of storytelling.

    Melanie says: Inspired by Operation Pied Piper, this dual timeline book is the tale of two sisters who were orphaned and separated during the war. Years later the older sister comes upon a children’s book that is suspiciously like a story she used to tell her sister. A story no one else would know.  Like "Becoming Mrs. Lewis" and "Once Upon a Wardrobe," the author continues to enchant readers with magical prose, the hope of fairy tales, and the power of stories.

    Once Upon a Wardrobe

    Once Upon a Wardrobe

    Callahan, Patti
    $16.99

    Now available in trade paper with an eye-catching new cover! From the New York Times bestselling author of The Secret Book of Flora Lea and Becoming Mrs. Lewis comes a fascinating look into the bond between siblings and the life-changing magic of stories.

    1950: Margaret Devonshire (Megs) is a seventeen-year-old student of mathematics and physics at Oxford University. When her beloved eight-year-old brother asks Megs if Narnia is real, logical Megs tells him it's just a book for children, and certainly not true. Homebound due to his illness, and remaining fixated on his favorite books, George presses her to ask the author of the recently released novel The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe a question: "Where did Narnia come from?"

    Despite her fear about approaching the famous author, who is a professor at her school, Megs soon finds herself taking tea with C. S. Lewis and his own brother Warnie, begging them for answers.

    Rather than directly telling her where Narnia came from, Lewis encourages Megs to form her own conclusion as he shares the little-known stories from his own life that led to his inspiration. As she takes these stories home to George, the little boy travels farther in his imagination than he ever could in real life.

    After holding so tightly to logic and reason, her brother's request leads Megs to absorb a more profound truth: "The way stories change us can't be explained. It can only be felt. Like love."

    Once Upon a Wardrobe is a captivating historical novel that deftly combines fact and fiction. It's an emotional journey into the books and stories that make us who we are. It's perfect for book clubs, for anyone who has ever longed to know more about Narnia, and for anyone whose life has ever been impacted by a story.

    "It's a love letter to books and stories . . ." --THE WASHINGTON POST ". . . a tender, enchanting tribute to the power of story and the myriad ways it can both break and heal our hearts." --ARIEL LAWHON "Patti Callahan's beautiful, life-affirming novel is a reminder that literature lives inside us, and that when we read someone else's story, we understand so much more about our own. A gorgeous, compelling book." --JANET SKESLIEN CHARLES ". . . the kind of real magic that is only possible when we open our hearts and let the lamplight in." --KRISTIN HARMEL ". . . discovering the way in which stories--and myths--weave through our existences, subtly transforming us in immeasurable ways. Stunning." --MARIE BENEDICT

    Melanie says: 8 year old, sickly George begs his sister Meg, a student at Oxford, to find and ask C.S. Lewis where the idea of Narnia came from. This charming novel is a testament to the power of stories. Those who enjoy "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" will feel like they are wrapped in a warm blanket before a lovely fire as they are transported to the magical world of Narnia.

    If on a Winter's Night a Traveler

    If on a Winter's Night a Traveler

    Calvino, Italo
    $18.99
    Introduction by Peter Washington; Translation by William Weaver
    Kingdom of This World

    Kingdom of This World

    Carpentier, Alejo
    $16.00

    A masterful new translation of a haunting novel of nineteenth-century Haiti

    A few years after its liberation from harsh French colonial rule in 1803, Haiti endured a period of great brutality under the reign of King Henri Christophe, who was born a slave but rose to become the first black king in the Western Hemisphere. In this unnerving novel from one of Cuba's most celebrated authors, Henri Christophe's oppressive rule is observed through the eyes of the elderly slave Ti Noël, who suffers abuse from masters both white and black. As he ranges across the country searching for true liberation, Ti Noël navigates bloody revolutions, maniacal rulers with false visions of grandeur, and the mysterious power of voodoo magic.

    First published in English translation in 1957, The Kingdom of This World is now widely recognized as a masterpiece of Cuban and Caribbean literature. Pablo Medina's remarkable new translation renders the dreamlike prose of Alejo Carpentier with nuance and felicity while delivering anew a powerful novel about the birth of modern Haiti. Visionary and singularly twisted, The Kingdom of This World emerges from the depths of the struggle for a country into a tale of race, erotomania, magic, and madness.

    My Beloved Monster

    My Beloved Monster

    Carr, Caleb
    $32.00

    AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

    "The most brilliant feline portrait in literary history." -People Magazine (Book of the Week)

    The #1 bestselling author of The Alienist tells the extraordinary story of Masha, a half-wild rescue cat who fought off a bear, tackled Caleb like a linebacker--and bonded with him as tightly as any cat and human possibly can.

    "Dares us to take a journey into love and pain . . . My Beloved Monster is a love story and a requiem." -Wall Street Journal

    "Excellent...Worth the emotional investment, and the tissues you will need by the end, to spend time with a writer and cat duo as extraordinary as Masha and Carr." --Washington Post Book World

    Caleb Carr has had special relationships with cats since he was a young boy in a turbulent household, famously peopled by the founding members of the Beat Generation, where his steadiest companions were the adopted cats that lived with him both in the city and the country. As an adult, he has had many close feline companions, with relationships that have outlasted most of his human ones. But only after building a three-story home in rural, upstate New York did he enter into the most extraordinary of all of his cat pairings: Masha, a Siberian Forest cat who had been abandoned as a kitten, and was languishing in a shelter when Caleb met her. She had hissed and fought off all previous carers and potential adopters, but somehow, she chose Caleb as her savior.

    For the seventeen years that followed, Caleb and Masha were inseparable. Masha ruled the house and the extensive, dangerous surrounding fields and forests. When she was hurt, only Caleb could help her. When he suffered long-standing physical ailments, Masha knew what to do. Caleb's life-long study of the literature of cat behavior, and his years of experience with previous cats, helped him decode much of Masha's inner life. But their bond went far beyond academic studies and experience. The story of Caleb and Masha is an inspiring and life-affirming relationship for readers of all backgrounds and interests--a love story like no other.

    Andrea says: An interesting man with an extraordinary love for cats, especially his Siberian Forest Cat, Masha. When Caleb Carr adopts Masha, an amazing cat who was abandoned in an apartment, his  love of felines truly takes on magical proportions. Masha is a smart, beautiful, adventurous cat...Caleb is an erudite, solitary, good story teller. If you are a cat lover, give it a whirl.

    Voices in the Ocean: A Journey into the Wild and Haunting World of Dolphins

    Voices in the Ocean: A Journey into the Wild and Haunting World of Dolphins

    Casey, Susan
    $19.00
    NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - Inspired by a profound experience swimming with wild dolphins off the coast of Maui, the bestselling author of The Wave set out on a quest to learn everything she could about dolphins--the other intelligent life on the planet.

    "Part science, part memoir, part impassioned plea for change." --People


    Susan Casey's journey takes her from a community in Hawaii known as "Dolphinville," where the animals are seen as the key to spiritual enlightenment, to the dark side of the human-cetacean relationship at marine parks and dolphin-hunting grounds in Japan and the Solomon Islands, to the island of Crete, where the Minoan civilization lived in harmony with dolphins, providing a millennia-old example of a more enlightened coexistence with the natural world.

    Along the way, Casey recounts the history of dolphin research and introduces us to the leading marine scientists and activists who have made it their life's work to increase humans' understanding and appreciation of the wonder of dolphins.