Kiersten Armstrong – författare

This exciting collection of photography by award winning photographer Ted Soqui documents the visual, white heat and sensed audible intensity of professional drag racing. The Famoso drag strip, Bakersfield, is one of the few major track venues that host the full 1/4 mile and features the cars from the golden age (the fastest cars can turn speeds of over 250 mph and cover the 1/4 mile in 51/2 seconds). The March Meet is considered to be one of the last great independent events in drag racing, often out drawing modern professional drag racing venues. The track also features a "cacklefest" held once a year at night, nostalgia cars are lined up on the track and fired-up revving their engines with fire shooting from the exhaust pipes. The sound can be deafening with over 100 nitro vehicles pushing their throttles. For drag racing purists, it's a living history of nitro and drag racing.

Melrose Mayhem is a stunning collection of photography documenting L.A. street art in the alleys and back ways of the once famous shopping Mecca - Melrose Avenue. Appearing in the last decade, these epic murals, self-proclaiming tags and artful collages have transformed the back alleys into an urban fantasy known by the few who have ventured behind the shiny facades of the trendy avenue. Highly respected photographer Markus Cuff has been documenting this "outdoor art gallery" for over five years.

Photographer and respected Art Director Lloyd Ziff has been fascinated with Cadillacs since the 1950s. Ziff has captured this classic American icon through the decades, body styles and conditions. Often the American flag appears as a motif or reflection. Fins & Flags is a wonderful collection of timeless fine art photography by a master practitioner."I started photographing when I was a senior at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn in 1967.  I started photographing Cadillacs at the same time. I have always loved cars, and in the '60s Cadillacs were still, as their advertising proclaimed "The Standard of the World". The Cadillacs from the '50s & '60s were the longest, widest, baddest (in the best sense of the word) dreamboats made during the flamboyant years of Detroit car design. The city's streets became a treasure hunt for me the has continued to the present, Cadillacs being an especially evocative treasure: my youth, my day dreams, my ideas of success.  Around 15 years ago, while editing photographs, I noticed that American flags seemed to be lurking in the backgrounds of many of my Cadillac photographs. It became a game to me to "find the flag" when I spot the Cadillac, and now I'm not surprised that I do find it more than 50% of the time. That suggested the original title for this book: American Dreams.After the book was almost completed Fins & Flags became the even more obvious choice." -  Lloyd Ziff