by Dan on October 30, 2009
Dawn of the Dreadfuls — not normally my kind of book cover, but hey it’s Hallowe’en and I think Quirk Books knocked this out of the park (full disclosure: Quirk are distributed by Raincoast Books in Canada).
And continuing the spooky theme…
Hallorave — Fantagraphics have been posting previews of the first volume of Mezzo and Pirus’ “extraordinary suburban horror trilogy”, King of the Flies, on their blog all this week. Pages 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. It looks intense:
Devices and Contraptions Extraordinaire — “The world’s first exhibition of steampunk art” at the Museum of the History of Science in Oxford, England. There is a blog accompanying the exhibition by curator Art Donovan (via ReadySteadyBlog).
Dark Star — Michael Dirda’s review of The Complete Short Stories of J.G. Ballard, published by W.W. Norton, in the Washington Post:
In “The Complete Short Stories of J.G. Ballard” devastated worlds are matched with even more devastated psyches. But these aren’t simply “myths of the near future,” they are probes sent down into the desolate heart of the here and now. As Ballard knew, reality has become just a subgenre of science fiction.
And finally…just for Hallowe’en, here’s a great vintage cover for Bram Stoker’s Dracula seen at the Golden Age Comic Stories blog (via the awesome, but not entirely safe for work, This Isn’t Happiness):
Normal, non-spooky, service will resume next week…
by Dan on October 28, 2009
(The always awesome) FaceOut Books talks to Argentinian designer Juan Pablo Cambariere.
In the interview Juan Pablo mentions Alejandro Ros, “probably the greatest contemporary Argentinean designer”.
Alejandro Ros’ website — like his book design — is lovely, but it’s all Flash so you’re just going have to take a look for yourself…
The Creative Review‘s second extract from Penguin by Illustrators is the text of the presentation made by artist, engraver, illustrator and designer David Gentleman.
The first extract (mentioned here) was the text of a presentation given by Romek Marber.
It’s in the Retelling — Booker winner Hilary Mantel, author of Wolf Hall, on historical fiction in The Guardian:
A novelist doesn’t sit at the keyboard sucking her thumb, thinking “what next?” A novel arrives whether you want it or not. After months or years of silent travel by night, it squats like an illegal immigrant at Calais, glowering and plotting, thinking of a thousand ways to gain a foothold. It’s useless to try to keep it out. It’s smarter than you are. It’s upon you before you’ve seen its face, and has set up in business and bought a house.
And finally…
Some lovely identity design for the McNally Jackson in NYC by Christine Celic Strohl and Eric Janssen Strohl (via DesignWorkLife). Interesting enough Eric Janssen Strohl also designs books and beautiful colophons (and again, Eric’s site is Flash and so you’re going to have take look yourself)…
