As children, art is a way of expressing the fountains of imagination bubbling within us. Our favorite tool of the trade, so to speak, is a crayon, and our messy lines and squiggles translate into masterpieces in our parents’ eyes. Then, as we grow up, art becomes a waste of time. We say that we’re awful at art, that we can’t draw anything other than a stick figure. We don’t want to embarrass ourselves in front of other people, so we put away the crayon and pick up skills we feel will benef...

Race and civil rights in 1963 Los Angeles provide a powerful backdrop in Gary Phillips’s riveting mystery about an African American crime scene photographer seeking justice for a friend—perfect for fans of Walter Mosley, James Ellroy, and George Pelecanos.LOS ANGELES, 1963: Korean War veteran Harry Ingram earns a living as a news photographer and occasional process server: chasing police radio calls and dodging baseball bats. With racial tensions running high on th...

Go ahead, give it a try. Even drawing the simplest things can help relieve stress and make a bad day better. Don't be afraid of making mistakes, because there are no mistakes in art.In this book, you'll learn how to draw people (their faces, their anatomy in full body, and poses), animals (lions), landscapes (flowers, stars), and miscellaneous objects (such as a vase and house).You'll also receive many tips on perspective, depth, lighting, and drawing in general. Using step...

Having grown up in late-sixties South Central Los Angeles, Gary Phillips vividly recalls stories of what happened to brothers who ran afoul of the “polices” of the 77th Division. Small wonder that in his teens he organized against police abuse, later became active in the antiapartheid movement, was down against the contras, did duty as a labor rep, worked for a political action committee, and taught incarcerated youth. So of course matters of race, class, and the social fabric, along with ...

Praise for The Self-Correcting Organization“A must-read for every manager! Gary’s best work to date.” Doug Moynihan – Hospital CEO“With wisdom and good humor drawn from a life well lived, Gary Phillips has written an important and timely book, full of insights to help our organizations self-correct.” Kevin Page - President of the Institute of Fiscal Studies and Democracy University of Ottawa Former Parliamentary Budget Officer of Canada“The Self-Correcting Organizat...

When Black private eye Ivan Monk takes on a case in a housing project in South Los Angeles, he finds himself facing off with corrupt police and gang members—and indicted for murder.Heat is building in the Rancho Tajuata Housing Projects—and not just because it's summer in L.A. When a Mexican family is killed by a firebombing, local rage threatens to grow out of control. The pressure is on to solve this case quickly to help deescalate the tense situation.At ...

**The mystery that launched Gary Phillips's career: Black private eye Ivan Monk investigates the murder of a Korean shop owner in the aftermath of the 1992 Los Angeles riots.This reissued edition features an introduction by Walter Mosley.**In 1992, Los Angeles burned. In the aftermath of the Rodney King beating and subsequent riots, a ground-breaking ceremony at the infamous intersection of Florence and Normandie unearths the body of a Korean shop owner. Black private eye I...

Award-winning author, screenwriter, and editor Gary Phillips gathers his most thrilling, outlandish, and madcap pulp fiction in an 17-story collection that straddles the line between bizarro, science fiction, noir, and superhero classics.Aztec vampires, astral projecting killers, oxygen stealing bombs, undercover space rangers, aliens occupying Los Angeles, right wing specters haunting the ’hood, masked vigilantes, and mad scientists in their underground lairs plot...

Matthew Henson and the Ice Temple of Harlem is the first in an exciting new retro, rollicking adventure series. This re-imagined pulp novel follows the Doc Savage–style adventures of the first American to reach the North Pole—Matthew Henson.The tail end of the Roaring Twenties. Harlem.Hired by controversial spiritual leader Daddy Paradise to retrieve his adult daughter who has been kidnapped, adventurer Matthew Henson does just that. Then he must safeguard the two ...

McBleak enjoys hobnobbing with the upper crust. Yet McBleak is never more alive than when he’s extracting wealth from the wealthy. He plans to take a greedy man’s gain while wondering if his girlfriend sees through his façade. But nothing ever goes as planned, and McBleak has to think on his feet or his life might be extracted from him.

**In the follow-up to One-Shot Harry, fearless crime photographer and occasional private eye Harry Ingram finds himself in the LAPD's crosshairs after capturing damning evidence of police brutality.An atmospheric dive into a city on the brink that's brimming with remarkable historical detail, Ash Dark as Night is perfect for fans of Walter Mosley and James Ellroy.**Los Angeles, August 1965. Anger and pent-up frustrations boil over in the Watts neighborhood...

Acclaimed crime novelist Gary Phillips (THE JOOK, Vertigo's ANGELTOWN and COWBOYS) returns to BOOM! with a new brand of crime! High finance and low-down greed rear their ugly heads as Jeff Sinclair, the premiere laundryman in San Francisco -- and we're not talkin' wrinkled jeans and dirty gym socks -- is unwillingly pulled into a dangerous gig laundering $25 million in stolen casino skim money. Forced to truly consider his line of work and the evil that he facilitates, Jeff must find a way...