Kaleidoscope

It's like Nirvana leaving Sub Pop all over again: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies L.A. author Seth Grahame-Smith is ditching Quirk Books in favor of a deeper-pocketed publisher for his second classic-monster mashup, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (Grand Central, March 2). We get it, but the move still feels like a little betrayal, since PPZ was a Quirk editor's idea in the first place. No matter, the Philly publisher is about to unleash a Zombies prequel — and a new author — on an unsuspecting public.

—Carolyn Huckabay

One of Philagrafika's independent projects, Book Bombs is an Easter Egg hunt-style art experience. Using an old-fashioned letterpress, artists Mary Tasillo and Michelle Wilson create prints inspired by Philadelphia. Then, guerrilla-style, they're placed strategically all over the city — hanging from trees, posted on benches, hidden in nooks and crannies. The next bomb drops this Friday in parks around Old City and Center City; visit bookbombing.blogspot.com to learn more, and keep your eyes peeled.

—Emily Currier

Fred and Toody Cole's Dead Moon broke up a few years ago, but that's a matter of record-keeping. The betrothed old-head rockers may have switched drummers, but Pierced Arrows is still classic grungy backwoods stomp. Fred hits only half his notes, and the themes on the band's second album, Descending Shadows, hew to the live-fast, live-forever line that runs through most of the Coles' work — which is not to say their March 9 gig at Kung Fu Necktie won't be the most life-affirming show you see all year.

Former blood-covered City Paper cover models Man Man are back for one more victory lap (at the Troc, March 5) on the coattails of 2008's breakthrough gypsy-rock-monster-stomp album, Rabbit Habits. Honus Honus and co. couldn't shut off the weird if they tried, but they always get extra-extra high-energy freaky for the home crowd.