McSweeney's, the small press that published the most recent book to be reviewed here, is in trouble; turns out that their old distributor recently declared bankruptcy, erasing $130,000 in payments they were owed, and which they'll now never see. Yeah, it sucks, especially considering what a rare and wondrous thing it is for a small press to make $130,000 in the first place. Anyway, they're having a sale to try to make up the difference and not be forced to close themselves; along with a steep discount on all normal inventory, they're also auctioning off special items by Nick Hornby, Tony Millionaire, David Byrne, CCLaP friend Chris Ware, and even owner Dave Eggers himself (who has donated a painting he made of George W. Bush with no arms -- yeah, I know).

This is an especially bad time for small presses right now, in a world that's hostile to small presses most of the time to begin with; another CCLaP favorite, for example, Soft Skull Press (publishers of Jamestown, which I'll be reviewing here in a couple of weeks) recently got purchased outright by a much larger media conglomerate, and rumors concerning its long-term fate are circling right now like so many hungry buzzards. Out of all the small presses currently publishing in America, McSweeney's is without a doubt one of my favorites, and it'd be a real shame to see them go out of business because of corporate financial trickery that had nothing to do with them. I encourage you -- nay, I implore you -- to do what you can to help them stay afloat.