Benjamin - by Ben H Winters (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

IN ONE L.A. MOTEL ROOM, A COSMIC QUEST IS ABOUT TO BEGIN . . .

More than just a writer, more than just a science-fiction icon, Benjamin J. Carp was a cultural revolutionary. Over the course of 44 novels and hundreds of short stories--including the counterculture classic The Man They Couldn't Erase--Carp pushed the boundaries of literary respectability for the sci-fi genre and his readers' perception of reality itself . . . until decades of amphetamine abuse and Southern California excess finally ended a mind-bending career that always just escaped mainstream success. He died in 1982.

Until 2025 . . . when Benjamin J. Carp awakens, alive, in a burned-out motel on the fringes of Los Angeles. He remembers dying. He knows he shouldn't exist. Is he a dream? A robot? A ghost? A clone? A simulation? In his own time, Carp pondered all of these scenarios through his fiction--and now, as he treks from Studio City to Venice Beach and onward into the paranoid sprawl of 21st-century Los Angeles, he will be called to investigate his greatest mystery yet: himself.

From Edgar Award nominee and Philip K. Dick Award winner Ben H. Winters (EC's Cruel Universe, The Last Policeman trilogy) and rising star Leomacs (EC's Epitaphs from the Abyss, Ghostlore) comes a uniquely fascinating and hilariously deranged excursion into the metatextual nexus where existence and oblivion, past and future, genius and madness, and glitter and grim reality all meet just beyond Hollywood Boulevard.

Review Quotes

"A vivid, thought-provoking debut that explores identity, friendship, and sci-fi legacy with a surreal wink and stellar artwork... Leomacs is putting in his best work yet. Known for his incredible horror books like Basketful of Heads, the art is highly detailed, expressive, and beautifully colored by Luca Bertele. ... It's safe to say comics like this don't come around very often, and publishers like Oni Press are the scant few who would publish it."-- "AIPT"

"Dares readers to keep up.... Refreshing ... We meet Benjamin Carp, a science fiction writer who wrote a ton of novels in the '70s, died in the '80s, and then wakes up with no memory of how or why he got to a dingy motel room in Los Angeles in 2025. Carp is brash, egotistical and honestly kind of awful to everyone around him. He's a man out of time, and the tension between modern sensibilities and Carp's lack of restraint is incredibly funny. The dialogue is snappy, with a real humor to it, and the set up is elevated by questions of consciousness. This comic is a mystery story where the question is Why am I here? How did this happen? Is Carp living a plot in one of his novels?"-- "Comics Beat"

"Expect the unexpected is an understatement with Benjamin. Winters crafts a tale of defiance and delusion via the mind of Benjamin J. Carp. Leomacs, Bertelè and Carey give readers multiple exciting visions of an ever-evolving world. Buckle in for what is sure to be a one-of-a-kind experience."-- "Nerd Initiative"

"Fascinating [and] well-written."-- "Fanbase Press"

"The interior work [is] as close to the label of 'masterpiece' as possible in terms of quality."-- "Comicon.com"

About the Author

Ben H. Winters is the New York Times-bestselling, Edgar Award-winning, and Philip K. Dick Award-winning author of Big Time, The Quiet Boy, Golden State, Underground Airlines, the Last Policeman trilogy, and the mash-up novel Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. Ben has also worked extensively in television. He is the creator of the smash-hit CBS show Tracker and has served as a writer/producer on the FX cult hit Legion, as well as Manhunt on Apple TV+. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, three kids, and one large dog.

Leomacs is an Italian comic book artist based in Rome, Italy. In Italy, Leomacs has worked extensively for Sergio Bonelli Editore drawing Tex and Dylan Dog. For DC Comics, he has recently collaborated on Lucifer and the seven-part Hill House Comics thriller Basketful of Heads written by Joe Hill. He has drawn the French graphic novel The Invisible Mountain, written by Pierre Makyo and Frédéric Richaud, published by Delcourt. Leomacs and Riccardo La Bella collaborated on the graphic novel Apprendre à maîtriser son destin, Mémoire Vive written by Pierre Makyo for Glénat édition. Leomacs has collaborated as a storyboard artist with Colingwood & Co. for the animated series Horrid Henry. He has also realized storyboards and animated sequences for the film Nessuno mi troverá directed by Egidio Eronico.