Marvel and a Wonder (43 page)

The Boy Detective Fails
is part of our Punk Planet Books imprint, which originates from
Punk Planet
magazine.

The Boy Detective Fails
is available in paperback and e-book editions. Our printed books are available
from our website
and in online and brick & mortar bookstores everywhere. Digital editions are available wherever e-books are sold.

Hairstyles of the Damned

Hairstyles of the Damned
a selection of the
Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers
program (Nov. 2004-Jan. 2005 season).

"This book is hella good. Joe Meno manages to sink into the teenage-outcast experience, challenge segregation, and provide step-by-step instructions on dyeing hair pink in this realistic account of finding your identity. After reading
Hairstyles of the Damned
, I'm glad I'm not in high school anymore." —Amy Schroeder,
Venus magazine

"
Hairstyles of the Damned
is observational comedy of the best kind, each glittering small detail offering up a wave of memories for anyone alive in the latter part of the previous century. Did you imagine you had forgotten the smell of arcades, the allure of muscle cars, the dress codes and emotional rebellions, the cringing horror of adolescence? Beware: Joe Meno can make you remember." —Bee Lavender,
HipMama magazine

"Joe Meno knows Chicago's south side the way Jane Goodall knew chimps and apes— which is to say, he really knows it. He also knows about the early '90s, punk rock, and awkward adolescence. Best of all, he knows the value of entertainment.
Hairstyles of the Damned
is proof positive." —John McNally, author of
The Book of Ralph

"Joe Meno writes with the energy, honesty, and emotional impact of the best punk rock. From the opening sentence to the very last word,
Hairstyles of the Damned
held me in his grip." —Jim DeRogatis, pop music critic,
Chicago Sun-Times

Hairstyles of the Damned
is an honest, true-life depiction of growing up punk on Chicago's south side: a study in the demons of racial intolerance, Catholic school conformism, and class repression. It is the story of the riotous exploits of Brian, a high school burnout, and his best friend, Gretchen, a punk rock girl fond of brawling. Based on the actual events surrounding a Chicago high school's segregated prom, this work of fiction unflinchingly pursues the truth in discovering what it means to be your own person.

Hairstyles of the Damned
is the debut novel on our Punk Planet Books imprint, which originates from
Punk Planet
magazine.

Hairstyles of the Damned
is available in paperback and e-book editions. Our printed books are available
from our website
and in online and brick & mortar bookstores everywhere. Digital editions are available wherever e-books are sold.

How the Hula Girl Sings

“Meno has a poet’s feel for small-town details, life in the joint, and the trials an ex-con faces, and he’s a natural storyteller with a talent for characterization . . . A likable winner that should bolster Meno’s reputation.”
—Publishers Weekly

“The author moves the story along at a surprisingly fast and easy pace, never succumbing to the overkill that American gothic tales are often prone to, seeming to take his inspiration equally from the stories of Jim Thompson and the lyrics of Nick Cave. The evil eyes of small-town America seem to peer from every page of Meno’s claustrophobic noir, where the good and the bad are forced down the same violent paths.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“An intimate book, wrapped up in the bent logic and lame emotional politics of folks tied by memory and old-school loathings . . . The novel succeeds because Meno gives Luce Lemay the struggling soul of a poet looking to bend anguish into possibility . . . offering what Raymond Carver used to call ‘glimpses’ of what else might be, flashes of another, more comforting brand of reality.”
—NewCity Chicago

“Joe Meno writes with the energy, honesty, and emotional impact of the best punk rock.”
—Chicago Sun-Times

“Meno’s poetic and visceral style perfectly captures the seedy locale, and he finds the sadness behind violence and the anger behind revenge. Fans of hard-boiled pulp fiction will particularly enjoy this novel.”
—Booklist

“A wonderful accomplishment . . . The power is in the writing. Mr. Meno is a superb craftsman.” —Hubert Selby, Jr.

A young ex-con in a small Illinois town. A lonely giant with a haunted past. A beautiful girl with a troubled heart. Strange and darkly magical,
How the Hula Girl Sings
begins exactly where most pulp fiction usually ends, with the vivid episode of the terrible crime itself. Three years later, Luce Lemay, out on parole for the awful tragedy, does his best to finds hope: in a new job at the local Gas-N-Go; in his companion and fellow ex-con, Junior Breen, who spells out puzzling messages to the unquiet ghosts of his past; and finally, in the arms of the lovely but reckless Charlene.
How the Hula Girl Sings
is a suspenseful exploration of a country bright with the far-off stars of forgiveness, but still dark with the still-looming shadow of the death penalty.

How the Hula Girl Sings
is available in paperback and e-book editions. Our printed books are available
from our website
and in online and brick & mortar bookstores everywhere. Digital editions are available wherever e-books are sold.

Tender as Hellfire

"Extremely vivid . . . Any number of novels have been written about unhappy childhoods and bizarre families, but this one surpasses many." —
Kirkus Reviews

"The power is in the writing. Mr. Meno is a superb craftsman." —Hubert Selby, Jr.

Long before he established himself as an indie-publishing sensation
with his hit novels
Hairstyles of the Damned
and
The Boy Detective Fails
, Joe Meno brought out his debut novel,
Tender As Hellfire,
with St. Martin's Press. Here, with a re-edited paperback edition, Meno limns a near-fantastical world of trailer park floozies, broken-down '76 Impalas, lost glass eyes, and the daily experiences of two boys trying to make sense of their random, sharp lives.

Dough and Pill are brothers bound by more than blood.
The anguish of their past, the terror of their present, and the uncertainty of their future all underscore the only truth that is within their grasp: each other. For beneath the cruel surface of their trailer park community lies a menagerie of odd characters, each one strange yet somehow beautiful. Surrounded by the strange and displaced, Dough and Pill must navigate through a world of constant pain and confusion.

Finding beauty in unexpected places
and maintaining a reverence for hard-won scars, these two brothers learn, finally, that even broken things can be perfect.

Tender as Hellfire
is available in paperback and e-book editions. Our printed books are available
from our website
and in online and brick & mortar bookstores everywhere. Digital editions of
Tender as Hellfire
can be purchased from Amazon, Barnes & Noble's Nook Books, the Sony eReader Store, the Kobo Store, Google Play, on iTunes, and on the websites of independent booksellers everywhere.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, by any means, including mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written consent of the publisher.

Published by Akashic Books

©2015 by Joe Meno

Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-61775-393-0
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-61775-394-7
eISBN: 978-1-61775-412-8
Library of Congress Control Number: 2015934078

First printing

Akashic Books

Twitter: @AkashicBooks

Facebook: AkashicBooks

E-mail: [email protected]

Website: www.akashicbooks.com

About Akashic Books

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Akashic Books is an award-winning independent company dedicated to publishing urban literary fiction and political nonfiction by authors who are either ignored by the mainstream, or who have no interest in working within the ever-consolidating ranks of the major corporate publishers. Akashic Books hosts additional imprints, including the Black Sheep for Young Readers, the Akashic Noir Series, the Akashic Drug Chronicles Series, the Akashic Urban Surreal Series, Infamous Books (curated by Albert "Prodigy" Johnson of Mob Deep, Kaylie Jones Books (curated by Kaylie Jones), the Edge of Sports (curated by David Zirin), Punk Planet Books, Dennis Cooper's Little House on the Bowery Series, Open Lens, Chris Abani's Black Goat Poetry Series, and AkashiClassics: Renegade Reprint Series.

Our books are available from our website and at online and brick & mortar bookstores everywhere. 

"As many in publishing struggle to find ways to improve on an increasingly outdated business model, independents such as Akashic—which are more nimble and less risk-averse than major publishing houses—are innovators to watch." —
Los Angeles Times

"It's heartening that even as the dinosaurs of publishing are lurching toward extinction, nimble independent publishers like Akashic are producing high-quality, innovative content."
—Portland Mercury

"Akashic fits in that very slight category of publishers, growing slimmer every day, whose colophon is a recommendation on its own."
—Toronto Star

"Akashic is one of the most impressive of the newer small presses, in part because of editing and production values that rival and perhaps surpass the big houses. We're grateful to them . . ."
—Denver Post

"Akashic serves as a prime example of the diversity that marks the small press movement."
—Mystery Scene

"What's great about Akashic is its sense of adventure and its smart eclecticism . . . Anything carrying the logo comes with the guarantee that it's worth checking out."
—Hartford Courant