I’m trying to figure out how to talk about the two books Arcade Publishing is putting out in October. I can’t in good conscience promote them whole-heartedly, as they will not be what I intended. Yet, I’m happy with the work I’ve done and would like if people had a chance to judge for themselves.

You can buy original art from one book or the other.

I’ve done one podcast where I tried to diplomatically address the issue. There will likely be more chances to talk about the problem and I have to be careful not to say what I really feel about it. It’s so tempting to go scorched earth but I know it’s not worth it. For one thing, Arcade still owes me the second half of my advance (payable upon publication) and they may be less inclined to pony up should I run my mouth too freely. It’s a conundrum.

For the most part, I’m over it. I took down my art show from the bar a few days ago, delivered all the sold pieces, and I’m trying to plot some new moves.

These clean slate times are always odd in that I feel like I don’t know what to do with myself after knowing exactly what to do for months and months but at the same time the open-ended state of possibilities is kind of refreshing. It won’t last long. I’ll be buried ass-deep in one thing or another soon enough. I know my patterns.

I watched a pretty remarkable new documentary about Leni Riefenstahl a few nights ago at the Siskel. It’s a good time to be a Nazi again these days and Leni lived a long happy life denying any complicity in genocide with plenty of people to defend her. I wonder which monsters from our present will be similarly beloved in the decades to come.

The director, Andres Veiel, did a Q&A after the screening and stressed his intent to show Riefenstahl as a person not a caricature monster. It’s all the more horrifying to watch a person dig their own grave rather than being thrown in one by others via righteous anger. This is the way in which art is a mirror. There’s dozens of Lenis running around pretending to be lillywhite pure every day now. Maybe it’s always been this way.

I wrote about perhaps the best bookstore book ever. Someone else wrote a nice rundown of Printers Row weekend: https://zonamotel.substack.com/p/dispatch-printers-row-offsite-the