“ONE OF THE SHARPEST, FUNNIEST, AND BEST BOOKS EVER ABOUT ANY ROCK ARTIST”— Rolling Stone “WEIRD AND WONDROUS”— New York Times “I ADORED IT”—Michael Chabon A literary and visual exploration of the songs of Steely Dan. Steely Dan’s songs are exercises in fictional world-building. No one else in the classic-rock canon has conjured a more vivid cast of rogues and heroes, creeps and schmucks, lovers and dreamers and cold-blooded operators—or imbued their characters with so much humanity. Pulling from history, lived experience, pulp fiction, the lore of the counterculture, and their own darkly comic imaginations, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker summoned protagonists who seemed like fully formed people with complicated pasts, scars they don’t talk about, delusions and desires and memories they can’t shake. From Rikki to Dr. Wu, Hoops McCann to Kid Charlemagne, Franny from NYU to the Woolly Man without a Face, every name is a locked-room mystery, beguiling listeners and earning the band an exceptionally passionate and ever-growing cult fandom. Quantum Criminals presents the world of Steely Dan as it has never been seen, much less heard. Artist Joan LeMay has crafted lively, color-saturated images of her favorite characters from the Daniverse to accompany writer Alex Pappademas’s explorations of the famous and obscure songs that inspired each painting, in short essays full of cultural context, wild speculation, inspired dot-connecting, and the occasional conspiracy theory. All of it is refracted through the perspectives of the characters themselves, making for a musical companion unlike any other. Funny, discerning, and visually stunning, Quantum Criminals is a singular celebration of Steely Dan’s musical cosmos. Quantum Criminals is one of the sharpest, funniest, and best books ever about any rock artist. ― Rolling Stone Published On: 2023-05-14 Weird and wondrous... Quantum Criminals fairly drips with information…and I have drunk it in eagerly...The writing in Quantum Criminals is often arresting and always engaging pop-music journalism... Quantum Criminals is a reminder that one can be massively fulfilled by language one doesn’t fully comprehend. ― New York Times Published On: 2023-04-18 Pappademas offers a lively series of ruminations about individual songs, loosely pegged to the characters who populate those songs and who are rendered in playfully detailed and colorful portraits by LeMay. The result is both a celebration and an artifact of the current Steely Dan moment...In sharp and funny chapters, Pappademas riffs on [Steely Dan's] cast of characters in ways that capture the band’s cultural context and musical debts. ― The Atlantic Published On: 2023-05-10 [ Quantum Criminals ] uncovers the vast constellation of lyrical references, artistic influences and social and political contexts surrounding the band and its music. ― NPR Music Published On: 2023-05-17 Wry, playful but deeply incisive...Fagen, Becker...and Pappademas are kindred spirits, smartass, sharp-eyed observers of life’s El Supremos—a description that suits other Dan fans as well. Quantum Criminals is like a secret handshake between two covers. The best part is that it illuminates details the rest of us may have glossed over for years. ― Los Angeles Times Published On: 2023-05-22 In one fell swoop, [ Quantum Criminals ] has become the essential Steely Dan book. And you should absolutely be reading it right now...Pappademas and LeMay leave no stones unturned in their quest to unlock every mythological quadrant of Steely Dan’s immense, decades-long artistic conceptions. ― Paste Published On: 2023-05-23 A whimsical plunge into one of America’s most unconventional rock bands...[A] delicious deep dive into the many protagonists in the 'Steely Daniverse'...LeMay’s vibrant paintings—more than 100 of which are included in the book—provide yet another kaleidoscopic lens through which to consider the duo’s wild imaginations. Any major dude will tell you that this is a solid and highly entertaining take on Fagen and Becker’s 'platonic love story.' ― Kirkus Published On: 2023-05-19 [An] engaging and illuminating way to tell the band's history... Quantum Criminals is undoubtedly the best thing I’ve ever read about this endearingly strange and endlessly fascinating band. ― The Forward Published On: 2023-05-17 An engrossing series of essays that innovatively chart the cosmology of Donald Fagen and Walter Becker’s musical universe…[A] terrific and irresistible book. ― Talkhouse Published On: 2023-05-23 Remarkable...we finally have a book about Steely Dan in which the writing and art fully measure up to the sophistication and beauty of Becker and Fagen’s music...Pappademas’s incisive, elegant prose poetry pairs perfectly with LeMay’s colorful hand-painted portraits that offer humorous and empathetic glimpses of the Dan’s menagerie of luckless pedestrians. ― Expanding Dan Published On: 2023-04-19 Wonderful