Demons in the Spring

--The limited edition hardcover of Demons in the Spring was a finalist for the 2009 Story Prize, a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2008, and a Time Out Chicago Best Book of 2008.

＂An inspired collection of twenty stories, brilliant in its command of tone and narrative perspective . . . Creativity and empathy mark the collection . . . Illustrations enhance the already vivid storytelling.＂ --Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

＂Spanning worlds, generations, cultures and environments, each of Meno’s short stories in this stellar collection explores depression, loneliness and insanity in the world, while never quite offering a clear solution or glimmer of hope. Misery loves company, and Meno’s assortment of off-center, morose characters fit seamlessly together . . . Catering to all the odd men out in the world, this short story collection succeeds word to word, sentence to sentence, and cover to cover.＂ --Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

The limited edition hardcover of Demons in the Spring is a collection of twenty short stories, with illustrations by twenty artists from the fine art, graphic art, and comic book worlds--including Todd Baxter, Kelsey Brookes, Ivan Brunetti, Charles Burns, Nick Butcher, Steph Davidson, Evan Hecox, Paul Hornschemeier, Cody Hudson, Caroline Hwang, kozyndan, The Little Friends of Printmaking, Geoff McFetridge, Lauren Nassef, Anders Nilsen, Archer Prewitt, Jon Resh, Jay Ryan, Souther Salazar, Rachell Sumpter, and Chris Uphues.

Within Demons in the Spring, oddly modern moments which occur in the most familiar of public places, from offices to airports to schools to zoos to emergency rooms: a young girl who refuses to go anywhere unless she’s dressed as a ghost; a bank robbery in Stockholm gone terribly wrong; a teacher who’s become enamored with the students in his school’s Model United Nations club; a couple affected by a strange malady--a miniature city which has begun to develop in the young woman’s chest, these inventive stories are hilarious, heartbreaking, and unusual. While many of them have never been previously published, others have been featured in the likes of LIT, Other Voices, Swink, TriQuarterly, and McSweeney’s.

Meno is the author of three other novels, including ＂How the Hula Girl Sings＂ and ＂Hairstyles of the Damned,＂ a selection of the B&N Discover Program and an international bestseller. He is a professor of creative writing at Columbia College, Chicago, the cofounder of Sleepwalk magazine, and a columnist for Punk Planet magazine.