Close your curtains Throw away your summery linens Forget about those white eyelet pillow covers And for Goth's sake, buy some black lights Voltaire is here to help you with your home decorating dilemmas, guide you through the hardware stores and decorating centers (which are so difficult for Goths to navigate), and lay it all out on the line about which shade of black goes with which shade of black. Who knows? One day soon he might have his own decorating line at a discount store. In this world of pastels and plaids, it's so hard for Goths to find anything aesthetically appealing. You go in search of Edward Gorey and wind up with an eyeful of Eddie Bauer. With Voltaire's Paint It Black you can turn the unbearably mundane into the delightfully macabre with little more than a touch of creativity and a can of black spray paint.

    Come stare at Ms. Serenity Rose, local witch, as she spends the day dodging goblins, goths, and a bad case of social phobia in the spookiest lil town in America. A Booklist Starred Review - Serenity "Sera" Rose tries to live a quiet life. She has her friends Tess and Kelton and her art. For the most part, she is happily sullen among Crestfallen's gothy not-quite-subculture. But the fact that she is a witch makes her dreams of anonymity seem out of reach. It's bad enough trying to avoid becoming a tourist attraction and dodging the goth wannabes, but when vampires start turning up and rock star-witch Rivet Hed's creepy manager wants something from her, she knows her life won't be quiet much longer. There are a lot of words to read in Serenity Rose, but in the first collection of it, they're all worthwhile. Aaron A. (for Alexovich) isn't afraid to take time to develop a plot, which means there is also time to get to know the characters and appreciate the full-on snarky sarcasm of his humor. While the setting is an urban gothic subculture, plenty of potshots are taken at the cliches of cool among its inhabitants. A.'s artwork is beautiful, a sort of dark homage to animation genius Chuck Jones with a splash of Ameri-manga for good measure. Even in shades of gray rather than color, it has enough attitude to stop a truck, making it a nice contrast to all those stuffy superheroes on the graphic-novel shelves.

    A tailspin of suicidal depression and self-injury leads her to write Ogre, front man for the industrial rock band Skinny Puppy. Soon he receives a flood of elaborately illustrated letters and journals filled with Jolene’s most intimate thoughts—from her most painful secrets to hilarious observations and lucid realizations about her life and those around her.At a concert, Ogre confides to Jolene that he has saved all her letters. Nine years later, a box from Ogre arrives at Jolene’s door. Re-examining the documents, she realizes that writing these letters had saved her life.Go Ask Ogre compiles Jolene Siana's actual letters, artwork, illustrations, and ephemera into a unique and powerful story of an extremely troubled teen who made it through the worst years of her life, and, through the power of music and art, transformed herself in the process. It is heavily illustrated and full color throughout.Critical Praise:"Pure, lucid and engaging...more authentic for a new generation of young women than, say, the 1971 cautionary tale about drugs, Go Ask Alice."—Susan Carpenter, LA Times"Dark, funny and touching..."—boingboing.net"Cringingly confessional, persistently desperate, yet often uproariously funny. All rendered and packaged in labor-intensive psychedelic outsider graphic design. An overdue riposte to the bludgeoning morality of the fabricated Go Ask Alice."—Doug Harvey, LA Weekly"By turns fierce, funny, heartbreaking and wise, Jolene Siana's Go Ask Ogre burns onto the page in an intense collage of words and images that together create a portrait of a gifted young woman fighting to hang on to her own life and choosing an unlikely—but strangely suitable—ally for her battle."—Caroline Kettlewell, author of Skin Game"Amidst the cultural and political corruption of the late 1980s, seeking and artistic teens like Jolene Siana found cathartic solace in aggressive and so-called 'morbid' bands like Skinny Puppy. That she persevered with the help of music that parents, preachers, and politicians condemned, but rarely tried to understand, is a moving lesson."—Alan Rapp, editor of The Journey is the Destination: The Journals of Dan Eldon and Dan Eldon: The Art of Life

    In Ruby Gloom's Guide to Friendship, Ruby introduces her many strange pals: Skull Boy (hopefully one day her boyfriend), Doom Kitty (her best girlfriend in the animal world), Scaredy Bat (her pet bat who's scared of the dark), and more. She offers a host of tips for making and keeping friends, including: Never be two-faced . . . unless of course you were born that way . . . then you're excused

    While his work is dominated by an immense and memorable array of ominous and often nightmarish entities, his timeless images are also permeated with tremendous beauty, grace and symmetry. His art has achieved a resonance and popularity partially because of this ability to shed light on the inner demons that lurk in the shadows of the mind, while also not forgetting the sometimes majestic grandeur that resides there as well. This extensive collection features over 100 of Vargo's most popular works of gothic fantasy, as well as some rare paintings, drawings and sketches published here for the first time. With an introduction and text by Joseph Iorillo, and additional commentaries by the artist, this volume offers comprehensive insights into Vargo's gothic domain. Enter the world of this modern master of the macabre.

    It is the rehuna's own breath. It is thought, emotion, the elements, the stuff of creation. The flesh of the dehara is wrought of agmara; it is their blood, their sinew, their essence. Agmara is the force that works magic. It is the current between possibilities and possibility itself. Its colour is generally a radiant greenish white, but occasionally it might be visualised in different hues for particular purposes. Agmara is moved with the will, which is part of it. When the rehuna summons agmara, they should feel its flood throughout their being. It is with them always but when the attention is turned elsewhere they do not feel it. Beneath the light of the rehuna's awareness, agmara grows stronger within them.

    

    Terzah has recently had a harling, and is far from happy with Zen's posting. Terzah despises humans and has nothing but contempt for those around him. However, when tragedy strikes the small community, and a human who Terzah realises was actually a friend to him dies unexpectedly, Terzah is moved to take in the woman's orphaned sons. Not every human agrees with this, as they feel humans should be raised by humans. Terzah finds himself fighting prejudice as keen as his own. Gradually, Terzah realises his attitude to humanity must change, as hara and humans are forced to work together to overcome common threats and dilemmas, so that the settlement will succeed and become a real community. Conflicts within his own family and dark secrets kept by his consort add intrigue and drama to the tale. Terzah's Sons gives a fascinating glimpse into the daily life of hara, far from the courts of the high ranking and mighty. These are hara who get their hands dirty, coping with life's problems as best they can in primitive conditions. Author Victoria Copus has captured the character of Terzah, the customs of the shamanic Kheops and the complexities of intertribal politics with a deft hand. This story is a skilful and insightful addition to the canon of the Wraeththu Mythos.