In honor both of the release of their title The Surrogates on iTunes , and the upcoming release of the film adaptation, the friendly gents Top Shelf Productions are currently having a pretty decent sale—45 titles marked down to just $3 and another 55 titles on discount (the only caveat is that you have to spend $30 total, before shipping). The sale runs through Sept 25, the film's release date. (I gotta admit I haven't read The Surrogates, though it is currently a load-bearing book somewhere in the middle of my desk. Anyone, thoughts?)

And if you're too poor to buy even things that are discounted, it just so happens I've got an extra copy of the collected Essex County, Jeff Lemire's beautifully, critically lauded l trilogy about a tiny, hockey-loving Canadian town. Lemire will be in town in October, doing signings both at Wordstock and at Floating World—he's also writing a new comic through Vertigo, Sweet Tooth, the first issue of which is intriguingly creepy. Would you like to win a copy of The Collected Essex County? Why yes, you would. Email me with "Queequeg" in the subject line (and do it right, 'cause I'm gonna set up a mailbox for that shit) and I'll pick a winner at random* by Thursday at noon. I might even throw in a bonus book.

*flattery does NOT help. Turns out it just makes me feel weird.