Like the best conceptual work, Serial Kitsch shows its innards, the way the work works. Like the best poetry, it guts itself for our aesthetic pleasure and contemplation. Like the best killers, it does all this using its words.

– Vanessa Place

It is strangely and disconcertingly fitting that Serial Kitsch starts out with a quote from Andy Warhol because this is really a book about art. It is a disturbing book that enters into the tricky and troubling relationship between art and violence by taking on (and taking in) one of the most frightening, influential and ridiculous figures of the 20th century: the serial killer. The serial killer’s “kitsch” - his letters, his corpses, his appearance (“But he looked just like an average person!”) – does not so much “blur” the line between fiction and reality, violence and art, as show an intimate bond between these, a bond we might call “media.” Conceptual poetry has long bragged about “killing poetry”; here the actual poetry finally goes gothic. You may not want to read the results; it’s a disconcerting but lyrical book: “I spoke to him as if he were still alive/how beautiful he looked.”

– Johannes Göransson

Gary J Shipley's brilliant and necessary poem, Serial Kitsch, follows in the grand tradition of Aron the Moor's final words in Titus Andronicus--"...I have done a thousand dreadful things/As willingly as one would kill a fly, / And nothing grieves me heartily indeed / But that I cannot do ten thousand more"--and plunges this sentiment into the era of YouTube, when the faces and words of Dahmer and Wuornos can be pulled up and organized like a playlist. Reading this book allows language to fulfill its ultimate purpose: to disperse the diseased miasma of the human soul, or what's left of it, to the ends of the earth.

– David Peak

The figure of the serial killer has always captured the attention of the public and in recent television and film the figure has been domesticated (“Dexter”) and celebrated (“Hannibal”) in equally disturbing ways. Gary J Shipley allows the words of serial killers to speak here in this epic poem. What we see is not easily put into a comforting or entertaining narrative, but is unflinching in forcing us to confront human evil that goes far beyond individual crimes.

– Anthony Paul Smith

"Synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Rarewaves.com USA

London, London, United Kingdom

5-star seller

AbeBooks seller since June 11, 2025

Shipping rates from United Kingdom to U.S.A.

Item	9 to 14 business days	9 to 14 business days
First item	£ 0.00	£ 0.00

Delivery times are set by sellers and vary by carrier and location. Orders passing through Customs may face delays and buyers are responsible for any associated duties or fees. Sellers may contact you regarding additional charges to cover any increased costs to ship your items.

Payment methods

Seller's business information

RAREWAVES.COM LIMITED

Elsley Court, 20-22 Great Titchfield Street
London, United Kingdom W1W 8BE

Contact sellerView this seller's itemsView seller's storefront

Right of withdrawal

If you are a consumer you can withdraw from the contract in accordance with the following. Consumer means any natural person who is acting for purposes which are outside his trade, business, craft or profession.

Information regarding the right of withdrawal

Statutory right to withdraw

You have the right to withdraw from this contract within 14 days without giving any reason.

The withdrawal period will expire after 14 days from the day on which you acquire, or a third party other than the carrier and indicated by you acquires, physical possession of the last good or the last lot or piece.

To exercise the right of withdrawal, electronically fill in and submit a clear statement on our website, under "My Purchases" in "My Account". We will communicate to you an acknowledgement of receipt of such a withdrawal on a durable medium (e.g. by e-mail) without delay.

To meet the withdrawal deadline, it is sufficient for you to send your communication concerning your exercise of the right of withdrawal before the withdrawal period has expired.

Effects of withdrawal

If you withdraw from this contract, we will reimburse to you all payments received from you, including the costs of delivery (except for the supplementary costs arising if you chose a type of delivery other than the least expensive type of standard delivery offered by us).

We may make a deduction from the reimbursement for loss in value of any goods supplied, if the loss is the result of unnecessary handling by you.

We will make the reimbursement without undue delay, and not later than 14 days after the day on which we are informed about your decision to withdraw from this contract.

We will make the reimbursement using the same means of payment as you used for the initial transaction, unless you have expressly agreed otherwise; in any event, you will not incur any fees as a result of such reimbursement.

We may withhold reimbursement until we have received the goods back, or you have supplied evidence of having sent back the goods, whichever is the earliest.

You shall send back the goods or hand them over to Rarewaves.com USA, Unit 144 The Lightbox, 111 Power Road, W4 5PY, London, London, United Kingdom, without undue delay and in any event not later than 14 days from the day on which you communicate your withdrawal from this contract to us. The deadline is met if you send back the goods before the period of 14 days has expired. You will have to bear the direct cost of returning the goods. You are only liable for any diminished value of the goods resulting from the handling other than what is necessary to establish the nature, characteristics and functioning of the goods.

Exceptions to the right of withdrawal

The right of withdrawal does not apply to:

The delivery of newspapers, journals or magazines with the exception of subscription contracts; and
The supply of digital content which is not supplied on a tangible medium (e.g. on a CD or DVD) if you accepted when you placed your order that we could start to deliver it, and that you could not withdraw once delivery had started.

Shipping terms

Please note that we do not offer Priority shipping to any country.

We currently do not ship to the below countries:

Russia
Belarus
Ukraine

Please do not attempt to place orders with any of these countries as a ship to address - they will be cancelled.

Serial Kitsch

Bibliographic details