Books And Also Hell Freezes Over
Oh, cool my wife said as she was bringing in the mail and saw a package with the characteristic look of having come from overseas, where she has friends of long standing. Then her face fell and she said, Never mind, it’s for you.
And so it came to be that unlooked-for, I received from Belgium a copy of the latest print collection by Beardfluff creator Rembrand Le Compte¹, most recently mentioned on this page a little more than a year ago. Le Compte’s art is more assured, and while Beardfluff retains a healthy number of random-topic strips (if fewer journal-style entries starring the creator and a sentient beard), in the Spring of last year, Le Compte started a series of linked stories under the heading Fire & Stone.
The weird, beautiful, show-don’t-tell stories deal with birds (some seemingly ordinary, one definitely a phoenix), golems powered by heat of firebirds, cranes, weasels, a great war in the distant past, and a dark inversion of life’s energy. It drops you immediately into the story, leaves questions unanswered, and it a thoroughly satisfying tale; Le Compte played with the story for most of a year (between May 2011 and April 2012), updating multiple pages in a go, and interspersing with random ephemera until the narrative called him again. It’s a good, affecting story, and it’s a shame that the Ignatz nominees are already announced, because Fire & Stone is right up their alley.
- Also on the book front, Ryan North² today wraps his comprehensive reading of Steven Spielberg Presents: Back To The Future: A Robert Zemeckis Film: The Novel by George Gipe based on a screenplay by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale and has decided that it’s too much for one Tumblr. Thus, B^F: The Novelization Of The Feature Film, the e-book, is now available for purchase as North explores just how … very not good a quick-turnaround novelization based on an in-revision script for a movie that’s not out yet can be. Of special note would be the stellar reviews that North is receiving already, particularly this one:
I wrote this book and I think it’s pretty great! It has a lot of jokes and is a fun thing to read with your eyes. Good work, Ryan! Best friends forever, Ryan!!
Could anything be as wonderful as being best friends forever with Ryan? Only one man knows.
- Does anybody know if Red Bull comes in forties? Because if it does and you have one handy, you might want to pour it out for Ryan Sohmer, who is going Cold Red Bull Turkey due to concerns that mainlining the stuff like he does might actually kill him. Sohmer’s had a relationship with the go go juice that predates the birth of his son, and possibly he has known and loved the ‘Bull since before meeting his wife, so we are talking about the death of a deep and meaningful friendship here. On the other hand, not having to worry about his heart leaping out of his chest cavity must surely be its own reward, so best of luck to Mr Sohmer as he enters this new, brave, and much sleepier stage of his life.
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¹ A man after my own heart.
² Exemplar of All That Is Most Worthy And Awesome (Great White North Quadrant) and Tallest One-Third of the Collective Nexus of All Webcomics Realities.
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