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There once was a photographer who wanted to learn
Things that many in the rest of the world spurn
He left his home
Far did he roam
Here's his book; now it's your turn.
This is a very worthy and amazing book. You should read it. (And then be thankful you didn't have to go to Afghanistan with Didier Lefevre.)
Soup has got to be one of the worst snacks every because it is extremely unportable. It is liquid! It sloshes! You cannot turn it upside-down without peril!
However. It is now becoming fall, so I am desirous of eating soup just about all the time, as it is warm and typically full of delicious vegetables and possibly grains of some sort if you are really lucky.
Hale & Hearty opened up down the street from us this year, and they are a store that sells soup for lunch. That's basically all they do; you go there, they give you soup. Much soup. Today's menu, for example, has nineteen different kinds. It is difficult indeed to believe that much soup exists simultaneously, but they somehow manage to pull it off regardless.
My favorite so far? They do a soup that is basically liquid mashed potatoes with four kinds of cheese. So delicious! And also a delightful afternoon snack with sourdough bread.
It is the week of Thanksgiving, which means that there is a glut of things to be thankful for. One of them is books! Specifically graphic novels: the books of our industry. Here are a few I have a particular reason to be thankful for.
Here is the number one book I am thankful for: the first graphic novel I ever read -- at which point I promptly fell in love with Delirium, as she is awesomesauce. It made an excellent introduction to the medium.
Do you really need an explanation for why I'd be thankful for having angsty-teens-with-mutant-powers comics to read as a teenager? No, I didn't think so. I feel like this was my childhood version of today's Demo.
Prince of Tennis is the first comic I ever got my mom to read and like. Aside from the fact that tennis matches in it tend to go on for around two volumes, it's a lot of fun -- and a helpful connection point for tennis-fan parents.
The Clouds Above is the first book that our Editorial Director had me read after I started working at First Second. Jordan Crane's quiet, lyrical story about kids and cats really changed my perceptions of what a graphic novel could be. Everyone should read this book.
To Louis Riel, for being the kind of book that I could give my dad -- and for being wonderful besides. (And also educational -- thanks go to comics that teach me new and interesting things!)
And thank you, Yotsuba! -- for always being delightful even when it is gray and terrible outside.
Happy (early) Thanksgiving, everyone!
There was was a band of orcs mean and vile
They beat you up, and then they smile.
There's not much more bad
That can be had
They're the meanest of the mean; they do it in style.
This is probably the pulpiest thing that we have ever published, and by that you know that it's a whole lot of fun. Enjoy!
Primer first: a galley is a promotional version of a book printed and distributed in advance of publication. Wikipedia has some more details; the jist is that one of the ways to get people to be excited about books before they're published is to get them to read the books before they're published, and for that, there needs to be some sort of thing for them to read. Hence: galleys!
One of the things we're doing in this upcoming season is working with digital galley provider NetGalley to get our books out to readers while a) being environmentally conscious and not printing them on paper and b) not just reaching the people we already know.
NetGalley is basically a website that hosts digital galleys. We provide them with files and data, they make the books available for people to request, we approve the requests.
You have to sign up for a NetGalley account to request books, but anyone can have an account.
So! Our W12 season is currently up on NetGalley, and if you have an account (or would like to make an account), you may go and see if we will give you digital early copies of our books to read.
Hint: if you are a teacher or a librarian or media, if you say you will blog about or review the books, the answer is probably yes.
Our fifth anniversary party is tonight at 7pm at McNally Jackson! We'd love to see you there.
More details here.
We are very excited to be publishing an all-new edition of Derek Kirk Kim's classic graphic novel, Same Difference. It's such a good book! And it's really one of the graphic novels published in the early 2000s that showed the way for comics-format literary fiction.
Also we're excited because this edition has a really cool acetate jacket! Do you see the fish on the cover? They're actually printed on a clear jacket that goes over the blue and the people, who are printed on the case. How neat is that?
We're celebrating by doing a GoodReads give-away! You can enter to win here.
(photo ganked from here)
You know what's a cool thing?
Kelvin Slush. They take the traditional convenience store concept of a slushie and give it an all-natural (also all-awesome) update. So you get traditional frozen drink/slush in all-new flavors (it's a mix-and-match) like ginger, citrus, tea, peach, basil and the list goes on. You may have all of them at once if you would really like.
They are delicious and refreshing and I am currently thinking longingly of them because they aren't out in this now-cooler weather, but their cart typically stops down 5th around 22nd.
We miss them!
There once were a whole lot of nursery rhymes
People had heard them so many times
What could we do
To make something new?
Turning them into comics would be sublime!
This book! It is so awesome. Seriously. You may have noticed it being awesome because we have talked about it so many times. But if you still have not checked it out: you should. Be swayed by the power of the limerick.
(photo ganked from here)
Continuing on our theme of snacks that are made of chocolate, do you know what else is super? Mice made out of chocolate! And they are adorable too (see above).
Burdick's (which is fortunately down the street from us) is a chocolate shop that is also a cafe -- they do some pastries, but mostly (or most importantly) hot chocolate and chocolate candy. And: mice. (Sometimes there are also seasonal ghosts and bats and things if you want to veer away from the traditional.)
So cute! And also delicious.