Recent Reads: Prophet Volume 3 - Empire. Brandon Graham and Simon Roy's far future graphic space opera continues exploring the lives of the John Prophet clones as the Earth Empire begins to rise again. Some fight for it, some against it, in a world that reminds me of Walter Jon Williams' Dinosaurs.
Recent Reads: Three Bags Full. Leonie Swann's rural Irish mystery is pretty much "The Guard" from the viewpoint of a herd of sheep. It's the usual fare: drugs, corruption, the taste of different grasses, and the role of clouds in the sheep afterlife. A clever, witty book, even if the mystery isn't.
Recent Reads: Dogs On Dates. Luke Healy's romcom is a story of two dogs who meet, date, and live mundane lives. It's tender and funny and awfully real, even if the leads are anthropomorphic dogs. Spotted at an exhibition of queer comics at the Quentin Blake Center for Illustration and well worth it.
Recent Reads: Other Worlds. Having read a PDF preview of Alex Ries' art book, I wasn't prepared for sheer physical size of this collection of illustration work. It's a massive and beautiful book, a fitting companion for the Ries' artistic journey and their commercial and personal work. Drink it in.
Recent Reads: All Tomorrows. C. M. Kosemen's classic of speculative biology traces out not millions, but billions of years of the human future, from the lowest of lows to the highest of highs, and an inevitable fade. We come from nothing and we go to nothing, but we do leave a mark across the skies.
Recent Reads: A Theory Of Haunting. Sarah Monette's mannered haunted mansion is a story of many ghosts - and one desperately tormented spirit. Thirdhop Scarp's gothic runs deep, through its halls and gardens, disguising something existentially horrific. This is not going to end well. For anyone.
Recent Reads: Beasts Of Burden - Animal Rites. The first volume of Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson's graphic horror series pits pets against the supernatural. A group of dogs (and a cat) face down the dark in a rural town, as greater threats gather. If A Night In The Lonesome October was every night.
Recent Reads: Nothing But Max. A collection of Swiss artist Giovannetti's wordless slapstick strips originally drawn for Punch in the 1950s. The titular marmot breaks the laws of the comic strip in Herrimanesque fashion, all delivered in fine draughtsmanship on a white background. Classic funnies.
Recent Reads: A Parade Of Horribles. Book 8 in Matt Dinniman's Dungeon Crawler Carl series, and the dungeon fights back. There is a history here, and it's the reason why everything is falling apart. Carl's anticapitalist revolution might be the only way out for trillions. Also they race Mario carts.
Recent Reads: Lightfall - A Place Between. Volume 4 of Tim Probert's epic is what the title says, a place between as Bea and Cad's fight to save Irpa. All seems lost, and all are lost, until a meeting at the edge of life changes all. Anxiety remains, but Bea finds new purpose and the quest goes on.
