From big hair to bespoke horror

Who says the avant garde is dead? Tama Janowitz, renowned for Slaves of New York, used to celebrate big hair, red lips and recreational drugs. I'm glad to see that, despite the downturn, and a decline in her fortunes, Ms Janowitz is still experimenting with new fiction in her inimitable way. Her latest novel, They Is Us, subtitled "a cautionary horror story" (£20; the Friday Project), takes its title from a US strip cartoon, Pogo and explores a dystopian US future. Ms Janowitz appears to have turned her back on mainstream publishing too. They Is Us is a hand-tooled collector's item. A thousand copies have been printed, each one numbered and signed and including a free photograph from the author's collection of bizarre images.