Narrow Books
Narrow Books is an independent publisher headquartered in Los Angeles. We've expanded our website to offer you more of the books and zines that we love.
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EVENT! Literary Crawl 2010, Saturday, Feb. 20th - Join Goodreads, Book Soup and PEN Center USA for a trip down Sunset Boulevard. Readings by Aimee Bender, Joseph Mattson and Martin Pousson will begin (upstairs) at Malo at 7pm (4326 W. Sunset Blvd, LA 90029). The group will then travel to Tiki Ti, Good Luck Bar and 4100 Bar. This event is for readers 21 and older.

EVENT! Smart Gals Ten Year Anniv. Show, February 4th-7th - Smart Gals are commemorating their ten year anniversary with an unusual installation piece at the Barnsdall Art Park. Narrow Books author Joseph Mattson (Friday 5th, 2-3pm) and publisher Christopher Lepkowski (Thursday 4th, 2-3pm) will be among those quietly reading. Notable authors also participating include Janet Fitch, Aimee Bender, and Cecil Castellucci. You can find more on the author schedule.

EVENT! Book Sale & DJ night at Hyperion Tavern, Saturday, Dec. 26th, 8pm-2am - We're teaming up with Barnacle Books to do a special event at the Hyperion Tavern in Los Feliz. Along with DJ Medina, we're going to take over the turntables, drink and play our favorite tunes, and Barnacle will have signed copies of the CD and vinyl versions of author Joseph Mattson's Empty the Sun novel available for sale. More info on Facebook.

EVENT! Downtown Art Park, Thursday, December 10th, 3pm-10pm - Set to coincide with the monthly Downtown L.A. Art Walk, Downtown Art Park lets loads of artists and vendors take over an outdoor parking lot on Main Street under the auspices of Citizen LA Magazine. There's food, music, art and art-friendly folks everywhere.

EVENT! Unique Los Angeles, December 5th & 6th - Unique Los Angeles returns to the California Market Center with a curated collection of over 300 independent vendors. "The largest independent design show on the West Coast!" Find the Narrow Books booth in the Art/Posters/Prints area.

EVENT! DesignerCon, Saturday, November 21st - DesignerCon goes down at the Pasadena Convention Center this Saturday and we'll be there. A lot of artists and indie manufacturers, and a great place for you to do your holiday shopping early! John Pham will be signing copies of Sublife Vol. 1 (Fantagraphics) and Two Letters Vol. 2 from 3pm-4pm at the Narrow Books booth. Find us at Booth 8.

EVENT! Downtown Art Park, Thursday, November 12th, 3pm-10pm - The Downtown Art Park goes on in synch with the Downtown L.A. Art Walk. A load of artists and vendors take over a large gated outdoor area (but never mind the gate, the event's free) under the auspices of Citizen LA Magazine. There's food, music, loads of art, and more art-friendly folks than you could shake two armloads of sticks at.

EVENTS! Thursday, November 5th and Sunday, November 8th - Joseph Mattson's new novel EMPTY The SUN with soundtrack by Six Organs of Admittance(!) is out now! Published by A Barnacle Book in conjunction with Drag City, in two versions: first edition paperback w/CD soundtrack and a SUPER LIMITED EDITION vinyl LP version w/large format book! Check out the book release at Book Soup on Thursday, November 5th, 9pm to Midnight, and Joseph's reading at Vermin on the Mount Sunday, November 8th, 8pm at MOUNTAIN BAR.

EVENT! Freak City Grand Opening 2-8pm, Sunday, October 25th - It's the grand opening of the amazing new 5000 square foot event space, Freak City. Featuring music, refreshments, and pop-up shops from RAP!, Delicious Vinyl, Dim Mak, Flock Shop, Evil Genius, Rojas and more! Narrow Books will be there offering signed editions, t-shirts, new zines, some awesome Travis Millard posters courtesy of Blood is the New Black, and t-shirts (plus music) from Friends of Friends.

EVENT! BOOK SWAP 1-4pm, Saturday, August 15th - Looking for something to do this Saturday afternoon? Come down to Book Soup for some book swapping action! If you're never going to read that book again, bring it down to the Goodreads BOOK SWAP in West Hollywood and trade it for another slab of tree pulp or treasure. It's recycling for readers!

The Kogi Taco Truck will be there, and the Narrow Books crew will be spinning LPs while you barter. Don't be late or the good reads may go home with someone else!

EVENTS! Joseph Mattson reading at Book Soup, 7pm, Thursday, July 16th - Author John O'Brien sadly committed suicide two weeks after hearing that his first novel, Leaving Las Vegas, was being made into a film. But he left behind several hard-hitting novels that were published posthumously. The amazing press Akashic Books has just released his final unpublished work, Better, and Narrow Books author/editor Joseph Mattson will be reading from that novel along with writers Jerry Stahl and O'Brien's sister, Erin.

Funk Rumble Block Party! 12pm-10pm, Saturday, July 11th - The first Funk Rumble Block Party is going down in Chinatown this weekend, in conjunction with the Chinatown Artwalk (6pm-10pm). This “half music festival, half block party” is going to feature some amazing soul and funk... homegrown LA stuff no less! And Narrow Books will be there too, selling books and t-shirts.
There'll be food vendors (including vegetarian), a load of designers and artists, and a full bar open over at the Grand Star Jazz Club. Get down.

EVENT! The LA Rock/Swap Meet, 12pm-3pm, Sunday, May 24th - Narrow Books will be outside in the courtyard at Space 15 Twenty on Sunday the 24th as one of the participants in the Rock/Swap Meet. Other vendors include Beautiful/Decay, and there'll be live music from All Seeing Eyes, Din Caliber, and Mack Winston & the Reflections.

EVENT! 4pm, Saturday, April 25th - Joseph Mattson will be at the Book Soup booth at the LA Times Festival of Books signing Eat Hell!

EVENT! May 2nd and 3rd - We'll be at the Unique Los Angeles event downtown—it's a giant, whiz-bang collection of independent designers and artists selling their stuff. Give yourself a few hours at the least!

NOTE: Special to the Unique LA event, we're going to be presenting some great books from other publishers, including Megan Whitmarsh's Yeti Logic (Rojo) and Esther Pearl Watson's Unlovable Vol. 1 (Fantagraphics). And there are going to be signings! For more detailed news, see the Narrow Books category on staff member Christopher Lepkowski's blog.

EVENT! Saturday, February 28th 6-10 pm - At Stories bookstore in Echo Park, a double book release event for our recent titles, Eat Hell by Joseph Mattson and Volume 2 of the Two Letters Collection. Featuring DJs, refreshments and a special music set from the notorious Horse Thieves.

EVENT! November 1st and 2nd - Narrow Books will be at the Alternative Press Expo in San Francisco-- look for the white tiger at booth 133!

NEWS! October 30th - We just got Two Letters Vol. 2 from the printers. Featuring Josh Cochran, Tod Goldberg, James Greer, Mel Kadel, Joseph Mattson, Brendan Monroe, and others. Be the first to see it when it previews at APE in SF; release events in LA coming soon.

NEWS! October 27th - Eat Hell is #1 on Book Soup's fiction paperback bestsellers list! Recommend you visit this amazing independent LA bookstore and pick up a copy.

EVENTS! And by God, a lot of them. Joseph Mattson, author of our new mini, Eat Hell, is doing four events in the Los Angeles area in early October:

BOOK SOUP
Sat. Oct. 4th, 7pm
Akashic Books authors Arthur Nersesian and Joe Meno will be presenting and signing their new works; Joseph will be presenting and signing Eat Hell.
FAMILY BOOKSTORE
Sun. Oct. 5th, 2pm
Joseph Mattson and Drag City recording artist SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE will be presenting their collaborative project Empty the Sun. Also Elisa Ambrogio of Ecstatic Peace! Recording Artists MAGIK MARKERS and author Arthur Nersesian present new writing.
LITTLE JOY, JR
Sun. Oct. 5th, 10pm
Joseph Mattson and Drag City recording artist SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE present collaborative project Empty the Sun. Also Elisa Ambrogio of Ecstatic Peace! Recording Artists MAGIK MARKERS and author Arthur Nersesian... Special appearance by HORSE THIEVES (feat. members of Guilty Teachers & Circle Jerks) and DJ Private Browser on the turntables. $1 PBRs and $1 Jim Beams till midnight.
VROMAN'S BOOKSTORE
Mon. Oct. 6th, 7pm
Akashic Books author Arthur Nersesian presents and signs The Sacrificial Circumcision of the Bronx; Joseph Mattson presenting and signing Eat Hell.

EVENT! August 9th at Subliminal Projects. Travis Millard and Hey Fudge will be there! at Studio Number One's SIMPLE PLEASURES, an all-day independent publishing showcase. Narrow Books'll be there too, in an unofficial capacity.

REVIEWS! Some great reviews of Hey Fudge from Fecal Face and Book By Its Cover.

WORTH IT! Check out the film on Travis Millard by ByOsmosis.tv. WHILE YOU'RE AT IT... You should DEFINITELY indulge in this hefty Travis and Mel Kadel studio visit by Tony Larson and Andy Muller.

UPDATES! Sad news. The New York reception at the Riviera Gallery has been cancelled due to Travis' schedule and commitments. Good news! Look for the Fudge book at San Diego Comic Con at the Last Gasp and Little Paper Planes booths.

NEWS! Details for the LA, SF, and NY events for Hey Fudge by Travis Millard:

LOS ANGELES
Tues. July 10th, 7-10pm
Jeff Electric Gallery
3022 Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026
SAN FRANCISCO
Sun. July 15th afternoon
Giant Robot San Francisco
618 Shrader St.
San Francisco, CA 94117
NEW YORK - CANCELLED
Thurs. August 9th, 7-10pm
Riviera Gallery
103 Metropolitan Avenue
Williamsburg, Brooklyn

LA RELEASE EVENT! Tues. July 10th, 7-10pm
Travis will be signing and presenting the brand new book at Silver Lake gallery Jeff Electric. The first event for the book and possibly the very last public event to be held at this great grassroots gallery that's closing its doors at the end of July.

SF RELEASE EVENT! Sun. July 15th afternoon
Travis will be signing Hey Fudge at GRSF's sweet store/gallery location. A can't miss all the way around.

NY RELEASE EVENT! CANCELLED
Brooklyn's Riviera Gallery is putting together a special one night event for Hey Fudge with Travis in attendance and signing-- it's a practical certainty this'll be the first chance to lay hands on the book on the East Coast.

NEWS! May 30th - Sweet Jesus! We just got the advance copies of Travis Millard's Hey Fudge and it's soo good. Release events in LA, SF, and NY all soon TBA.

NEWS! We're currently proofing the new Two Letters: Off Balance anthology and steadily locking pages on the Travis Millard book Hey Fudge. Both for summer release, so check back soon!

EVENT! October 2nd - Narrow Books will be at the West Hollywood Book Fair in Los Angeles with Cakewalk magazine and artists Mark Todd and Esther Pearl Watson. There'll be free handmade buttons and other fun stuff!

EVENT! June 11th and 12th - Narrow Books will be at MoCCA's Art Fest in NYC (sharing a corner of comic artist and Two Letters contributor Jamie Tanner's table).

PHOTOS! Pics from May's Speakeasy event featuring Narrow Books.

EVENT! May 29th - Narrow Books will be featured at Speakeasy, a great monthly book event that's always a good time. You can see bookmarks and descriptions of their past events at the Smartgals website.

PHOTOS! From the Alternative Press Expo in SF - Mark and Christopher of Narrow Books with artist/animator Anna Gallaspy, a shot of the table, and Mike Hollingsworth of Baby Bird Comics, our tablemate.

MINI-BOOK! We've printed our first mini-book, The Unhappy Future by Christopher Lepkowski, a forty-four page story about the arranged marriage of a girl from Earth and a boy born in space. The fantastic cover was done by artist Travis Millard.

EVENT! April 9th and 10th - Narrow Books will be an exhibitor at the Alternative Press Expo in San Francisco-- look for us there!

March 3rd - Christopher Lepkowski and Mark Dischler of Narrow Books spoke to a publishing class at the Art Center College of Design. Afterwards, they took a rewarding stroll through the school's student art gallery, check it out if you can!

PHOTOS! See photos from the Book Soup readings and release event and some of the art that was on display.

RELEASE EVENT! Wednesday, Jan 26th at 7pm.
Join many of the TL contributors at Book Soup in West Hollywood. Live DJs and cocktails courtesy of Little Joy, Jr. (Best neighborhood bar in town!)

EVENT! Dec 12th - Here we are at LA's Bazaar Bizarre, a single-afternoon (and folding table-based) commerce bonanza held in the Ukrainian Culture Center, just five days after getting books back from the printers. We were able to barter for table space from Jeremy Joseph of Chimni in exchange for a lamp and one roll of gaffer's tape. [You can also see some wallets and purses with stitched designs by TL contributor Megan Whitmarsh on the table next to us-- Jeremy acted as her proxy salesman.]

HEY FUDGE By Travis Millard
HEY FUDGE By Travis Millard $30


TWO LETTERS Collection of Art and Writing - Vol. 2 $19
EAT HELL By Joseph Mattson $5


TWO LETTERS Collection of Art and Writing - Vol. 1 $9
More Books for Sale!
Yeti Logic Yeti Logic (Rojo) features the embroidery that's the most recognized and imitated part of artist Megan Whitmarsh's catalog. Threadwork house parties with boom boxes and yetis are iconic without being parodic; it's a cute reworking of pop detritus where the ultramodern stuff that normally fills you with anxiety becomes not just nonthreatening but actually fun again. Hardcover import from Spain, limited to 500 copies. Some signed. 160 pages, 110mm x 150mm.

$40

Unlovable Vol. 1 Unlovable Vol. 1 (Fantagraphics). True story: artist Esther Pearl Watson found a teenager's diary in a public bathroom. She then proceeded to recreate the girl's embarrassingly personal (yet surprisingly universal) story in the milieu of a low-brow rural high school. This hardcover is replete with glitter nail polish highlights and expands on Esther's Unlovable comics zines to give you a sophomore-year-in-the-life of the desperately unlovable Tammy Pierce. Hardcover, 416 pages, 5.75" x 5.75".

$23

1-Up MegaZine #3 1-Up MegaZine #3 is another round of homage to video game culture with contributions by cool artists like Jordan Crane, Sammy Harkham, Bwana Spoons, kozyndan, and Megan Whitmarsh. All the issues are great, but this one is probably the prettiest. Edited by Raina Lee and designed by John Pham. Square bound, 102 pages, includes silk-screened trading card.

$12

Epoxy #3 Epoxy #3 John Pham's Sublife comics are now put out by the comic book kings at Fantagraphics, but before that he was publishing Epoxy himself with the aid of a Xeric grant. John's since said that looking at some of the Epoxy work is like looking at his high school senior portrait, but there's no doubt that this "giant format" third and final issue (including the lauded "Oceanus Vs. the Venusian Crayfish" story) was and remains a landmark book. Square bound, 104 pages.

$12

TWO LETTERS Collection of Art and Writing - Vol. 2Two Letters Vol. 2 is the hefty new entry in our anthology series. Award-winning writers dazzle with clever tales that we've sandwiched between works by our favorite artists. In addition, specific illustrations to partner the prose have been provided by artist Josh Cochran and others. Square bound, 224 pages.

$19

EAT HELL by Joseph Mattson EAT HELL: Plus Two Variations on the Heart Going Down in L.A. is a wrenching and funny book of stories by Joseph Mattson, author of the much-anticipated new novel Empty the Sun. Eat Hell occupies a special crux where humility, humanity, and insanity come together under that weird Los Angeles shadow of oblivion. Cover art by the incomparable Mel Kadel. Square bound, 80 pages, 4.25" x 5.5".

$5

Hey Fudge by Travis Millard Hey Fudge is the first solo book featuring the art and comics of Travis Millard, including many pieces previously only published by hand in small batches at the artist's studio. Presented within are dreamscapes full of oddballs, biting caricatures of neo-conservatives, and a thirty page opus entitled "Michael Jackson in Exile," starring a timid-looking pop star cast out of society and into the threatening jungles of Borneo. Flexi-bound, 240 pages, landscape format.

$30

TWO LETTERS Collection of Art and Writing - Volume 1 Two Letters Vol. 1 Loosely structured around the theme of "sneaking in", Two Letters is our first collection of fiction, nonfiction, art, comics, poetry and photography, featuring a number of artist who've gone on to impressive acclaim. An engaging book that is by turns comical, tender, and grotesque. Square bound, 144 pages, 6" x 9".

$9

THE UNHAPPY FUTURE by Christopher Lepkowski The Unhappy Future mini-book was our first foray into short-form publishing. Hand-folded and staple-bound (or, if you'd like to be fancy, "saddle-stitched") The Unhappy Future is a short story by Narrow Books cofounder Christopher Lepkowski that describes the arranged marriage of a girl from Earth and a boy from space. Cover art by Travis Millard. Saddle stitched, 48 pages, 4.25" x 5.5".

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