#avery hill publishing

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[downthetubes]

Crowdfunding Spotlight: a new edition of Tillie Walden’s “Spinning”, a graphic memoir from Avery Hill

There’s still time for you to support independent publisher Avery Hill’s Kickstarter for a brand new UK edition of Tillie Walden's acclaimed, award-winning memoir, Spinning

[smashpages]

Here's a preview of Adrift on a Painted Sea (Avery Hill, October 2024), a new graphic novel by Tim Bird that also features the paintings of his mother Sue Bird. It’s currently up on Kickstarter, with a campaign that runs through June 21.

[librarycomic]

Methods of Dyeing by B. Mure. Avery Hill Publishing, 2021. 9781910395622. http://www.powells.com/book/-9781910395622?partnerid=34778&p_bt

The fourth graphic novella in the Ismyre series is a murder mystery of sorts. Professor Detlef, botanist and master dyer, due to give a lecture at Ismyre University, is found dead on the university grounds. A detective sent by the Belsithan government arrives to take charge of the investigation because Detlef was one of its citizens. Mary, who found the body, leads the detective to the professor's room and, ultimately, helps with a bit of revenge too.

It's a quiet story full of anthropomorphic characters and bold colors like the other graphic novels in the series. I particularly love the way Mure continues to explore the world without over-explaining any aspect of it.

[graphicpolicy]

Exclusive Crowdfunding Corner: Adrift on a Painted Sea by Tim Bird

Exclusive Crowdfunding Corner: Adrift on a Painted Sea by Tim Bird, a beautiful mix of Tim's comics and his mother's paintings #comics #graphicnovel

[thebutcher-5]

Gli ultimi giorni di luce di Billie Scott - Zoe Thorogood

Benvenuti o bentornati sul nostro blog. Nello scorso articolo siamo ripiombati nuovamente nell’horror, ma spostandoci in oriente e per la precisione in Thailandia, dove abbiamo parlato di un film sui fantasmi ossia Shutter. La storia parla di una coppia, Jane e Tun, che, mentre tornano a casa dopo una festa, investono per sbaglio una donna e fuggono via. Dopo quel giorno Jane inizierà ad avere…

[thegirlivealwaysbeen]

kaela ౨ৎ hopeless romantic & your favourite mirrorball ౨ৎ free palestine

listening: helpless by suki waterhouse

watching: one tree hill s6, gilmore girls s2 (rewatch)

reading: the naturals series

lipgloss + mascara girlie, sofia coppola film enthusiast, pinterest whore, iced coffee addict, felicity + gossip girl + gilmore girls r my shows, f1 girlie (oscar piastri <33), lover of fashion and gel nails, romcoms (ten things i hate about you my beloved!!!), ribbons and bows always, playlist maker, #1 better, gave you i, suburban legends, and don’t you fan, in love with jess mariano and blair waldorf, constantly romanticizing life, i love my mutuals, a slut for men’s hands, actually elijah hewson’s gf (real), steph bohrer girlie, aspiring journalist and writer

artists

lexi jayde, gracie abrams, sabrina carpenter, beabadoobee, maisie peters, suki waterhouse, role model, del water gap, olivia rodrigo, nessa barrett, kenzie cait, alessi rose, dominic fike, inhaler dublin, jeff buckley, lana del rey, megan moroney, kristiane, kate peytavin, lizzy mcalpine, avery anna, lorde, mitski, reneé rapp, griff, holly humberstone, devon gabriella, cigarettes after sex, henry morris, mazzy star, fiona apple, ethel cain, madison beer, nieve ella, hannah grae

+ more

my spotify ౨ৎ

other blogs : @maisiepeterssgf @beabadoobeegf @gracieasource @graciearares @juliansantosgf @vanilllagirlss

this blog has a running queue ! publishes 8 posts a day <3

౨ৎ

[bottomlesssarcophagusstudio]

THE BOOK OF GAUB (2021) Black and White Horror TTRPG Spellbook by: Rowan A., Charles Ferguson-Avery, John Gregory, Ivy Hill, Evoro, The Furtive Goblin & Paolo Greco. Published by Lost Pages

BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS

[musingsofmonica]

January 2024 Diverse Reads

January 2024 Diverse Reads:

•”How We Named the Stars” by Andrés N. Ordorica, January 30, Tin House Books, Literary/LGBT/Hispanic & Latino/Coming of Age

•”Red String Theory” by Lauren Kung Jessen, January 09, Forever, Romance/Romantic Comedy/Asian American

•”Come and Get It” by Kiley Reid, January 30, G.P. Putnam's Sons, Literary/Coming of Age/Women

•”Martyr!” by Kaveh Akbar, January 23, Knopf Publishing Group, Literary/Family Life/LGBT

•”The Storm We Made” by Vanessa Chan, January 02, S&S/Marysue Rucci Books, Literary, World Literature/Asia/Historical /20th Century/Post-World War II/Women

•”The Mayor of Maxwell Street” by Avery Cunningham, January 30, Hyperion Avenue, Romance/Historical/African American/Women

•”The Queen of Sugar Hill: A Novel of Hattie McDaniel” by Reshonda Tate, January 30, William Morrow & Company, Biographical/Historical/African American/Women/Own Voices/World Literature/American/20th Century/Post-World War II

•”A Quantum Love Story” by Mike Chen, Mira Books, January 30, Romance/Time Travel/Science Fiction/Time Travel/Family Life/Siblings

•”The Bullet Swallower” by Elizabeth Gonzalez, January 23, Simon & Schuster, Literary/Hispanic & Latino/Magical Realism

•”When Things Don't Go Your Way: Zen Wisdom for Difficult Times” by Haemin Sunim & Charles La Shure (Translator), January 23, Penguin Life, Buddhist/Mindfulness & Meditation/Philosophy/Personal Growth/Buddhism 

•”Black Women Taught Us: An Intimate History of Black Feminism” by Jenn M. Jackson, January 23, Random House, Women/American Government/Feminism & Feminist Theory/Women's Studies

•Our Hidden Conversations: What Americans Really Think about Race and Identity” by 

Michele Norris, January 16, Simon & Schuster, Ethnic Studies/Discrimination & Race Relations/Social Classes & Economic Disparity/Cultural & Social

•”River East, River West” by Aube Rey Lescure, January 09, William Morrow & Company, Literary/Coming of Age/Family Life/Asian American/Cultural Heritage/World Literature-China/21st Century

•”Where I Belong: Healing Trauma and Embracing Asian American Identity” by Soo Jin Lee & Linda Yoon, January 09, Tarcherperigee, Ethnic Studies/ Asian American Studies/Mental Health/Personal Growth

•”Your Utopia: Stories” by Bora Chung & Anton Hur, January 30, Algonquin Books, Horror/Science Fiction/Short Stories/World Literature/Korea

•”On Thriving: Harnessing Joy Through Life's Great Labors” by Brandi Sellerz-Jackson, January 09, Ballantine Books, Personal Memoirs/Inspiration & Personal Growth

•”The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years” by Shubnum Khan, January 09, Viking, Historical/Gothic/Women

•”Behind You Is the Sea” by Susan Muaddi Darraj, January 16, Harpervia, Literary/Short Stories/Humor/Coming of Age/Women/Family Life/Cultural Heritage/Feminist/Muslim/Own Voices/World Literature/Middle East/Arabian Peninsula

•”Be a Revolution: How Everyday People Are Fighting Oppression and Changing the World--And How You Can, Ijeoma Oluo, January 30, HarperOne, Activism & Social Justice/Ethnic Studies/Personal Growth/Anthropology/Cultural & Social/Race & Ethnic Relations/Civil Rights/Social Activists/United States/21st Century/Human Rights/Motivational & Inspirational

.”The Night of the Storm” by Nishita Parekh, January 16, Dutton, Thriller/Mystery & Detective/Family Life/Asian American

[sobreiromecanico]

The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott, ou um ensaio sobre a cegueira segundo Zoe Thorogood

Zoe Thorogood (2020), The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott, Londres, Avery Hill Publishing.

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2022 foi um ano absolutamente espantoso na banda desenhada. Houve o assombroso The Many Deaths of Laila Starr, de Ram V e Filipe Andrade, claro (ainda que tecnicamente os cinco fascículos sejam de 2021, o trade paperback só viria a sair no ano seguinte). Houve Ducks, de Kate Beaton, mais uma entrada honrosa no subgénero "registos autobiográficos em banda desenhada" do qual Maus de Art Spiegelman (1986) e Persepolis de Marjane Satrapi (2000) se tornaram ícones. E houve ainda, também no registo autobiográfico, o espantoso It's Lonely at the Centre of the Earth, de Zoe Thorogood, uma viagem fascinante, imaginativa e dura ao mundo da depressão. Todos estes livros de 2022 me marcaram de alguma forma, pelo que mais cedo ou mais tarde dedicar-lhes-ei algumas linhas por aqui. Mas hoje vou escrever um pouco mais sobre Zoe Thorogood, recuando a 2019 e à sua estreia enquanto escritora e ilustradora de banda desenhada: The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott.

E convenhamos: é uma estreia muitíssimo auspiciosa.

O título acaba por resumir a premissa da trama: quase em simultâneo, a jovem ilustradora e pintora Billie Scott recebe duas notícias: a primeira, confirmando o convite para apresentar e expor dez quadros originais seus numa prestigiada galeria daí a alguns meses; e a segunda, a confirmação médica de que em em mais ou menos duas semanas ficará irremediavelmente cega. Reclusa por natureza, Billie Scott decide sair da sua toca (o quarto de onde raramente sai, e que faz parte de uma casa que arrenda com outros jovens que mal conhece) e aproveitar o escasso tempo de visão que lhe resta para viajar até Londres e tentar pintar os dez quadros de que precisa para a exposição. Esta é a história desta viagem, que decorre tanto no interior de Billie como no exterior, nas ruas de uma Londres que não se vê dos centros financeiros e das atracções turísticas. Uma Londres austeritária, soturna, quase a lembrar passagens de outra banda desenhada famosa, Hellblazer (ainda que com muito menos elementos sobrenaturais, claro).

Sim: o texto será algo juvenil a espaços (a autora tinha 21 anos quando concluiu a história), e a reviravolta final é uma curva narrativa apertada e arriscada, que não terá decerto agradado a todos os leitores - mas funciona tão bem, e é tão necessária. As várias personagens com que Billie se vai cruzando são todas distintas e interessantes, e se haverá alguma coisa a lamentar é não podermos passar mais algumas páginas com elas. E a história que Thorogood conta vai-se entranhando, vai revelando algumas ideias e noções complexas de forma simples, utilizando na perfeição uma estrutura de banda desenhada muito clássica com algumas quebras pontuais que acentuam muito bem determinados momentos da narrativa. Afinal, a banda desenhada pode ser descrita como uma arte sequencial, mas pode haver muito para contar nas suas quebras de sequência.

Quanto à ilustração, enfim, que dizer? Zoe Thorogood é uma artista incrível, e isso nota-se sobretudo pela simplicidade enganadora tanto do seu traço como da paleta de cores limitada que utiliza com um rigor absolutamente inatacável. O ponto de vista da cegueira progressiva de Billie, na primeira pessoa, está muito bem executado, e as sequências oníricas - alusões a uma outra história alternativa de Billie que fica por contar, uma decisão em si também interessante - são um belíssimo prenúncio do que a autora viria a fazer mais tarde, noutros trabalhos.

Há qualquer coisa indefinível nas histórias de Zoe Thorogood que puxa sempre por mim, que me diz algo relevante. The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott não foi excepção - é uma história magnífica, bem contada, que Thorogood desenvolve com uma imaginação e uma desenvoltura raras. Demonstrou logo no primeiro livro que é uma artista completa; da minha parte, seguirei com atenção as histórias que tenha para contar.

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(um último pensamento, com um spoiler evidente e inevitável ao final do livro - a quem não leu não recomendo este último ponto)

Li algumas resenhas online - críticas são outra coisa que não lemos no Goodreads ou na maioria dos blogues, present company included - apontando como inverosímil, quando não mesmo uma quebra narrativa, o final feliz que encerra esta história, mesmo apesar da cegueira da protagonista. Não sei bem em que ponto passámos colectivamente a considerar um "final feliz" como um final inferior, mas suspeito de que tal cinismo não só não seja muito saudável, como também será muito injusto. Se Billie Scott ficasse sozinha e amargurada no final, ou até mesmo se cometesse o suicídio que imagina após o diagnóstico, a narrativa até faria todo o sentido - mas esta seria apenas mais uma história depressiva do início ao fim. Nada contra histórias depressivas, já agora, mas não serão só essas a ter validade - nem tudo tem de ser literatura russa, afinal. Tal como Thorogood explica através de Billie, a odisseia da protagonista não era mesmo sobre a cegueira iminente. Da parte de que me toca, gosto do final feliz e da esperança que ele deixa no ar. Nestes dias em que vivemos fazem falta mais finais felizes, sobretudo quando são bons - e merecidos. E o final feliz de The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott é tão bom como merecido.

[pcttrailsidereader]

'Zombie' Forests

Over the past several years we have written a great deal about the impact of climate change on the PCT experience. The changing health of forests is among those impacts. Although this is not just occurring in the California mountains, the level of urgency seems to be most pronounced in California. I have definitely seen firsthand the phenomenon Avery Hill describes in his research.

The story below is an excerpt from an article written by Elena Shao in the March 6, 2023 NY Times.

A warming climate has left a fifth of the conifer forests that blanket California's Sierra Nevada stranded in habitats that no longer suit them, according to a study published last week by researchers at Stanford University.

In these “zombie forests,” older, well-established trees — including ponderosa pines, Douglas firs and sugar pines — still tower overhead, but few young trees have been able to take root because the climate has become too warm and dry for them to thrive.

Mature trees are able to survive even after their local climate has shifted, but the species is not likely to grow back in these areas after a major disturbance, like a catastrophic wildfire, logging event or period of extreme drought. Instead, the study found, the forest is more likely to be replaced by smaller, shrublike vegetation that is adapted to warmer, drier conditions.

For their analysis, Dr. Hill and colleagues examined historical data going back more than eight decades, comparing detailed survey data plotted by the U.S. Forest Service in the 1930s with more recent vegetation maps. They found that during that time period, the Sierra Nevada’s conifer forests had, on average, shifted about 112 feet higher in elevation. The most suitable temperature range for the conifers had shifted even faster, climbing upslope by about 600 feet.

That has left an estimated 11 percent of today’s conifer forest in the Sierra Nevada mismatched to its current climate conditions, with another 8 percent considered “severely” mismatched, according to the study.

Global climate change has put pressure on many species of plants and animals to move to higher elevations or toward polar latitudes in order to stay in climate zones they have historically adapted to. Longer-lived species, like conifer trees, which can live for centuries, often find it harder to keep up with the velocity of climate change, said Chris Field, the director of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment and senior author on the study. They can only move as fast as their seeds get dispersed.

[haveyoureadthiscomic-poll]

[downthetubes]

The SEQUENT’ULL Interviews: Jemma Webster-Sharp

Ahead of the free SEQUENT’ULL Comic Art Festival in Hull, organiser and fellow creative Sean Azzopardi chats with Jemma Webster-Sharp creator of the new book, The Scrapbook of Life and Death, launching soon from Avery Hill Publishing

[smashpages]

Tim Bird incorporates his mother’s paintings into the stunning ‘Adrift on a Painted Sea’

Check out our exclusive preview of the new graphic novel, which Avery Hill is currently funding through Kickstarter.

[comiccrusaders]

AVERY HILL TO PUBLISH L. PIDGE'S GORGEOUS, INTRICATE SCIENCE FICTION EPIC INFINITE WHEATPASTE! @AveryHillPubl #Kickstarter #comics #comicbooks https://ow.ly/SWTj50QXQLv

[graphicpolicy]

Exclusive Preview: Infinite Wheatpaste is a universe-spanning sci-fi adventure

Exclusive Preview: Infinite Wheatpaste is a universe-spanning sci-fi adventure #comics #comicbooks

Relationships . . . androids . . . car repair . . . time travel . . . gods – these interconnected stories set on the edges of human experience share the moments of the little bits of life that feel less than real. Infinite Wheatpaste by L. Pidge and published by Avery Hill Publishing is currently on Kickstarter! Abby and Lilah are a couple drifting apart. Jeff is a flaming star. Soe is a…