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Svenonius's two previous books–Supernatural Strategies for Making a Rock 'n' Roll Group and Censorship Now!!–are both great, steady, evergreen sellers for Akashic. Supernatural Strategies is in its 4th printing with over 11,000 sales to date.Svenonius will be very involved in the promotion. He is truly an icon in the underground rock world with a devoted cult following. The author also tours nonstop, which will help. In addition to his music touring, we will arrange numerous bookstore appearances. Akashic is very tied into the punk/indie music world and we have had great success in this area, especially with Svenonius. The Psychic Soviet had a limited release by an indie record label, but Akashic's new, expanded edition will have bonus material and proper book distribution that the previous edition didn't have.20 black-and-white illustrations (one at the start of each chapter)

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"Proscriptive how-to advice ranges over a wide number of subjects (e.g., sex, band photos, etc.) and can be seen both as skewering the cultural idolatry associated with rock and as genuine counsel. Verdict: Svenonius's sociopolitical analysis of rock and roll is intellectually interesting, as when he posits that the genre was 'brought about by the industrial revolution, the harnessing of electricity, and the miscegenation of various poor, exploited, and indentured cultures in the USA.'"–Library Journal"So much of the allure here is in watching Svenonius skirt absurdity. He's always seemed delighted by the fact that the profound and the preposterous can sound awfully alike, a realization that puts him in line with an avant-garde tradition that stretches back before rock 'n' roll crystallized this fact…Svenonius has the spirit of a long-gone punk past, but his book has more to tell us about rock's here-and-now than about its hereafter. Neither bourgeois nor prestigious, Supernatural Strategies may be the rare book by a rock musician to retain any power or threat."–Los Angeles Review of Books"Like its author, Supernatural Strategies is part tongue-in-cheek, part deadly serious–a satire of rock's consumerist origins but also a thoughtful treatise on what it means to devote yourself to a collective…Drawing from the wisdom of rock 'n' roll's most famous ghosts, Svenonius' advice ranges from hilarious to cryptic to surprisingly useful."–Pitchfork"Svenonius has walked the walk…Even today–as the frontman of Chain & The Gang and the host of the online talk show Soft Focus–he remains cool, cryptic, and impeccably dressed, a mod magician with a trick always lurking up his tailored sleeve."–The Onion AV Club"If 'write what you know' is one of authorship's prime dictates, then Ian F. Svenonius seems uniquely qualified…Svenonius' contrarian, anti-establishment rhetoric is his greatest gift…Strategies plays to these same strengths by allowing him to run roughshod riot over hallowed ground he's already trod–and sometimes paved–more than a few times."–Baltimore City PaperIan F. Svenonius's experience as an iconic underground rock musician–playing in such highly influential and revolutionary outfits as The Make-Up and The Nation of Ulysses–gives him special insight on techniques for not only starting but also surviving a rock 'n' roll group. Therefore, he's written an instructional guide, which doubles as a warning device, a philosophical text, an exercise in terror, an aerobics manual, and a coloring book.This volume features essays (and black-and-white illustrations) on everything the would-be star should know to get started, such as Sex, Drugs, Sound, Group Photo, The Van, and Manufacturing Nostalgia. Supernatural Strategies will serve as an indispensable guide for a new generation just aching to boogie.

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"While putting a copy of this book on your nightstand would be a sign of good taste, who cares about good taste? Are you willing to be seen reading a book titled Censorship Now!! in public? If so, your skin might burn with funny glances from squares, scolds and looky-loos. But on the inside, you'll feel your brain throbbing as it swells to accommodate some hilarious, absurd and radical new strategies on how to live in our ridiculous world."–Washington Post"Svenonius' new book is Censorship Now!!, and the title alone shows just how provocative the author can be. A collection of essays previously published by Vice, Jacobin, and others, it sets up numerous enemies–both real and straw–for Svenonius to knock down....It's all couched in a style that's part anarchist tirade, part postmodern critique, and part punk-rock snottiness–yet it's addictively ridiculous."–NPR"Censor it all. Film, TV, music, politics, books, news, art–censor all of it. That's the guiding principle of local radical punk Ian Svenonius' latest essay collection, Censorship Now!!"–Washington City Paper, Critics' PickNamed a Favorite Book of 2015 by Jason Diamond at Vol. 1 Brooklyn"Gonzo ecstasy for those who have come to know Svenonius's self-aware political meditations....And though the essays Svenonius writes are not themselves unclear, the process of talking about what he's written involves discussions that some might find uncomfortable. His books make more sense the more you dissect them. So keep them in your back pocket and read them, one word at a time."–Los Angeles Review of Books"A new collection of essays by everyone's favorite supercilious rock theorist…Svenonius has always been the smartest kid in the room....In print, Svenonius is like that curmudgeonly pal that you adore because, even while his insight quivers between humor, paranoia, and antisocial ire, he never dispels your fascination in how he gets there."–SF Weekly"Ian Svenonius is best known as the frontman of bands like the Make-Up and Nation of Ulysses, but he's also a brilliant cultural critic with a talent for coming up with the hottest takes you'll ever read. In this collection, Svenonius makes compelling arguments in favor of censorship and hoarding books and records, amid polemics against Apple and Ikea, the yuppification of indie rock, and the shaving of pubic hair."–Buzzfeed"The essays in Censorship Now!! are equally packed with modest proposals and mock-revolutionary rhetoric, but there are grains of truth in pieces like 'The Historic Role Of Sugar In Empire Building' and 'Heathers Revisited: The Nerd's Fight For Niceness'–they're just buried somewhere between tongue and cheek."–The A.V. Club"Censorship Now!! simultaneously deals in the heated rhetoric of insurgent calls to action, the seductive broad strokes of propaganda, and the clever winking of surrealist humor. Often when I'm really convinced Svenonius has gone off a paranoid deep end, the next sentence hits back with knowingly-hilarious exaggeration or profoundly spot-on analysis, realigning my perspective and making me wonder again....It's fitting that a book whose intentions are ambiguous begins with a call to censor art and ends by letting art do the talking."–PitchforkIan F. Svenonius's new collection of sixteen essays and stories, entitled Censorship Now!!, is reorganizing people's ideas about censorship, Ikea, documentary filmmaking, the Berlin Wall, the film Heathers, the twist, the frug, the mashed potato, shaving one's body, Apple, Inc., Nordic functionalism, the supposed benevolence of the Wikipedia, hoarding, college rock, the origins of the Internet, and more. It's an underground smash which has been met with a horrified gasp in all respectable quarters and gog-eyed enthusiasm in artist garrets the world over.

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