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T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S :
Greetings and Deals From McSweeney's
The Latest McSweeney's Gifts
Spectacular Subscription Specials
The Latest McSweeney's DVD
Notes on the Believer
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Greetings from McSweeney's!
It being the third full week of December, and you being hit from all sides as it is by holiday-related expectations and appeals, we'll keep this one brisk. And don't worry-- he McSweeney's newsletter maintains a firm no-gift policy, so your thank-you notes and bouquets are entirely unnecessary. We're here to help you, and we're happy to do it. So allow us to lead you to--
T H E L A T E S T M c S W E E N E Y ' S G I F T S
Firstly: those gift certificates we promised last month, the ones that we're pretty sure are the perfect present for anyone, are now available. They come in a good number of generous amounts, and you can pick up the one that fits the occasion here.
We've also got an ever-growing line of items that aren't books, but look great coming out of wrapping paper -- have you seen the gargantuan Charles Burns poster?
Or the McSweeney's Stationery Set?
Or the Motorbike Deer T-Shirt?
These are all excellent additions to anyone's collection of possessions, and we hope you won't overlook them. But our periodicals remain our bread and butter, and even at this late date a subscription can be picked up in time for gift-giving--you just let `em know it's coming with a card or banner or piece of topiary to that effect, and we'll take care of the rest. It's a good time to sign someone up, too--they'd begin with McSweeney's 22, our largest ever, and actually magnetized; their first Believer would come with a set of exclusive art cards and interviews with numerous creative luminaries; and their first Wholphin
would be the just-released Issue 3, easily the best one yet. On top of all that, our much-loved five-dollar discount on McSwy's/BLVR subscriptions is back in effect through the end of the year. That's why if you read only one section of this newsletter this month, it should be, unquestionably, the one that's about to begin--
S P E C T A C U L A R S U B S C R I P T I O N S P E C I A L S
ONE-YEAR (4-issue) SUBSCRIPTION TO McSWEENEY'S +
The Better of McSweeney's FREE
Begin or renew your or someone else's subscription to McSweeney's for just $50--it'll begin with Issue 22, which happens to be a three-part exercise in inspired restriction, bound by invisible chains of force. In section one, poets (yes--poets!) including Mary Karr, Denis Johnson, C.D. Wright, Michael Ondaatje, and DC Berman initiate poet-chains, picking a poem of their own and one by another poet, who will then, thus inducted, do the same, and then again, and again, and so on until an appropriate moment. In section two, Fitzgerald (yes--F. Scott Fitzgerald!) provides a list of unused story premises first cataloged in The Crack-Up
; his mission is completed by writers like Diane Williams, Nick Flynn, and Sam Lipsyte. In section three, finally, the president of France's (yes--France!) legendary Oulipians offers a rare glimpse into his group's current experiments with linguistic constraint. Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose.
ONE-YEAR (10-issue) SUBSCRIPTION TO THE BELIEVER +
Voyage Along the Horizon, by Javier MarÌas, FREE
Begin or renew a subscription to the Believer today for just $40--new Believer
subscriptions will begin with our December/January Issue. Each month you or your lucky gift-receiver will be sent, in perfect-bound print, a bounty of new articles, interviews, reviews, poems, and columns; you'll have (or they will) the opportunity to study up close the beautiful illustrations of Charles Burns, Tony Millionaire, and our regular raft of guest artists and photographers; you or they can pore over each issue's two-page vertically-oriented Schema spread and enjoy the feel of the Westcan Printing Group's gorgeous "Roland Enviro 100 Natural" recycled acid-free heavy stock paper against your hands, fingertips, and face; and you'll save a hefty percentage off the $8 cover
price.
ONE-YEAR (4-issue) SUBSCRIPTION TO WHOLPHIN
Subscribe to Wholphin today for just $40 and start with no. 3, which features the early, rediscovered early work of Alexander Payne and Dennis Hopper, new-found talent from abroad including Jonas Odell and Alice Winocour, the strangest Japanese film we've ever seen, a documentary about a thirteen-year-old Yemeni girl who refuses to wear her veil, "the Popcorn Effect" of trap-jaw ants, and Part Two of The Power of Nightmares.
McSWEENEY'S/THE BELIEVER COMBO SUBSCRIPTION
JUST $90 US (NORMALLY $100 US):
Subscribing to both entities separately usually costs $100, but through this fruitful loophole four issues of McSweeney's Quarterly Concern and ten issues of the Believer magazinecan be had for a measly $90! A true deal.
McSWEENEY'S/WHOLPHIN COMBO SUBSCRIPTION
JUST $90 US (NORMALLY $95 US):
Why stop at one quarterly? With two, the monumental experience of receiving an infrequently published periodical can be had eight times each year. And the kicker is you'll save a little bit of money too--it's $90 for both. Your McSweeney's subscription will start with Issue 22; your Wholphin subscription will start with issue 3.
THE BELIEVER/WHOLPHIN COMBO SUBSCRIPTION
JUST $80 US (NORMALLY $85 US):
Subscribe to both the Believer and Wholphin for just $80! You'll get ten issues of the Believer (starting with the December/January issue), four issues of our Wholphin DVD quarterly (starting with the third issue), and a feeling of deep completion.
McSWEENEY'S/THE BELIEVER/WHOLPHIN COMBO SUBSCRIPTION
JUST $130 US (NORMALLY $140 US):
A triple lindy is what we call this one. Normally reserved for presidents and their immediate family members, this exquisite package is now available to all, priced for the people at $130. You'll receive four issues of McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, starting with Issue 22, ten issues of the Believer, starting with the December/January issue, and four issues of Wholphin, starting with the third issue. That's eighteen issues of one thing or another, enough to establish a modest personal library.
McSWEENEY'S BOOK RELEASE CLUB:
10 NEW BOOKS FOR ONLY $100!
In response to popular request and a vivid dream, we created the Book Release Club a little while ago. Similar in spirit to a book-of-the-month club, the BRC sends its subscribers the next ten McSweeney's books one-by-one as they roll off the press, all for a paltry $100.
Sign up today and start with Voices from the Storm, edited by Lola Vollen and Chris Ying. Other titles will be mailed to you as they're created throughout the year.
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T H E L A T E S T M c S W E E N E Y ' S D V D
Wholphin no. 3
edited by Brent Hoff
$15.95
Available Now
The third issue of Wholphin features the early, rediscovered early work of Alexander Payne and Dennis Hopper, new-found talent from abroad, the strangest Japanese film we've ever seen, shocking footage of the trap-jaw ant's "Popcorn Effect," and Part Two: "The Phantom Victory" of Adam Curtis's The Power of Nightmares. To view clips from this issue, please visit www.wholphindvd.com
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N O T E S O N T H E B E L I E V E R :
D E C E M B E R / J A N U A R Y I S S U E
2006 National Magazine Award Finalist for General Excellence
A removable stack of paintings by Kehinde Wiley, affixed to the cover
The Long-Goodbye Man by Porter Fox
Fielding Dawson's abstract expressionist writing style came from his training with legendary painters like Franz Kline and Philip Guston.
The Dark Rockwell by Ed Park
Unsettling forces dwell in the most innocuous of Norman's scenes.
Homelessness Begins at Home by Samantha Topol
With a taxidermied coyote for a PR director and the membership department in the freezer, HoMu is not your average arts organization.
The Family Albums of Ralph Eugene Meatyard by Theodore McDermott
Meatyard took the average family snapshot, put a freakish mask on it, and then set it in front of a decaying Southern mansion.
Like Dylan in the Movies by Andrew Lewis Conn
Schema: Rube Goldberg Breakfast Machines Jennie Gruber & Brian McMullen
Ten Contemporary Artists selected by Jenelle Porter
Each one underrecognized, female, and ineffably awesome.
One-Page Reviews
Aimee Kelley on Ingeborg Bachmann, Ross Simonini on Jason, Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow on Yashar Kemal, Thomas March on ParaSpheres, and Stephen Burt on Tracy Philpot.
Castle Nowhere by Jen Graves
The world's most isolated art museum didn't want its portrait made, but this summer, across the gorge, it had a feisty, translucent double.
Sedaratives by comedian Marc Maron
Matthew Barney interviewed by Brandon Stosuy
Talking with a sculptor primarily working in Vaseline, football stadiums, hardcore bands, film, Celtic islands, and Norman Mailer.
Vito Acconci in conversation with Shelley Jackson
Chronicling the natural progression from poet to performance artist to installation artist to working architect.
Steven Heller in conversation with Susan Choi
A collection--and interrogation--of artifacts from the "golden age" of pictorial racism.
On Duty by John Glassie
The best kind of unintentional art is that which depicts tableau images of Swiss policemen pretending to do the things they do every day.
View the December/January issue online
Visit The Believer website at: www.believermag.com
Until next month--warmly,
McSweeney's
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