Black Books

Weapons of mass destruction, a book of suicide notes, and Russian gang tattoos for your coffee table.

Fiction
Dear Everybody by Michael Kimball
Oddly profound and at times profoundly banal, the troubled life of Missouri TV weatherman Jonathan Bender is examined in suicide notes to his family, friends and co-workers (even the Easter Bunny gets one). Literary celebrities Stephen King and Dave Eggers were among those who made sure Kimball turned this from a short story into his third novel. Letters are interspersed with observations by his surviving brother, news clippings and his mother’s diary entries, making this easy to pick up — and put down when it gets too intense.
$13.57 at Amazon. Alma Books. 288 pages.

Biography
Mr. Gatling’s Terrible Marvel: The Gun That Changed Everything and the Misunderstood Genius Who Invented It by Julia Keller
The first weapon of mass destruction was introduced in 1862. Richard Gatling's six-barreled machine gun transformed warfare from mono-a-mono musket duels to instant, impersonal death by the dozens. Pulitzer Prize-winning Keller follows the story of the Gatling from a triumph of American innovation, entrepreneurial savvy and Industrial Revolution manufacturing efficiency to an ugly reminder that America’s military muscle often overshadows its democratic, dovish message.
$17.13 at Amazon. Viking. 243 pages.

Photo
Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia Volume III by Danzig Baldaev
Prison guard Baldaev spent 33 years shooting more than 3,000 photographs of inmates in one of the world’s worst prisons, St. Petersburg’s Kresty. David Cronenberg called the explicit, extremely brutal photos in the previous volume crucial to creating his Eastern Promises, making the book a cult collectable. Preorder the final volume now, before it too goes for ten times the cover price on eBay.
$21.75 at Amazon (available Nov. 1). Fuel Publishing. 400 pages.