Here is what Jason Pettus, founder of the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography has to say:

Regular readers will of course remember these “On Being Human” essays — they ran monthly here at the blog throughout 2012, funny and insightful looks at such varied projects as Samuel Beckett’s “Trilogy,” the “Warhammer 40,000” roleplaying game, the Victorian erotic classic Venus in Furs, the noir pulp The Killer Inside Me, the cable television show Battlestar Galactica and a lot more. And now for this book version, three exclusive essays have been added that never appeared at the blog — concerning The Dark Crystal, The Wanting Seed and Man After Man — which makes it worth picking up even if you were a regular follower last year. As always, the electronic version of the book is being offered for free download over at [cclapcenter.com/onbeinghuman], in PDF versions for both American (8.5 x 11) and European (A4) laserprinters, EPUB for most mobile devices (including iPhones and iPads, Nooks, Kobos, Sony Readers and more), and MOBI exclusively for Amazon Kindles. (Kindle owners, after downloading the MOBI file, simply email it to your “Send to Kindle” address, or transfer it physically through your USB cord. Or do the much easier thing and just purchase it for $4.99 at the Kindle Store, and have it wirelessly delivered straight to your device!) And for those of you looking for a more traditional reading experience, or who would like to financially support Karl’s efforts in a more substantial way, there is as always a special handmade hardback “Hypermodern” edition available as well; the price is US$20 for a copy with recycled paper, $25 for one with cotton sheets, and you can specify either cheaper First Class Mail or faster Priority Mail. And don’t forget that the book has its own page over at literary social network Goodreads.com as well; all of us here at CCLaP are heavy daily users of Goodreads, so it particularly means a lot to us when fellow GRers add our books to their libraries there, and especially when they post a few thoughts after reading it. Word of mouth is the number-one way that a tiny press like ours gets the word spread about our books, so your mention of On Being Human there can and does go a long, long way towards ensuring further sales and continual growth.

Just like all of CCLaP’s other staffers, Karl usually doesn’t get much mention here at the blog; but the fact is that he’s been tirelessly toiling away here for the last two years now, and I love the attention to detail and wry intelligence that he brings to his writing for us, whether it’s a centuries-old classic or a contemporary small-press novel that he’s examining. I’m extremely proud to have this book coming out through us, a smart and illuminating volume that will have you thinking differently about all these projects being tackled; and I encourage you to go download or order a copy right this minute, as well as come back to the blog every day for more new essays from this intriguing, humorous cultural critic.