A little indie news here — 2D Cloud a micro publisher which has put out some outstanding books like Anna Bongiovanni’s Out of Hollow Water, various books by Noah van Sciver, etc. —has announced some plans.
Along with Uncivilized, they’ll co-publish MariNaomi’s epic Dragon’s Breath and Other True Stories, a 400-page compendium of her non-fiction comics from The Rumpus and elsewhere. Naomi’s work uses a deceptively simple art style to tell revealing true life stories—this should be some collection. The book comes out in the fall but early copies will be available at selected shows.
2d Cloud also just announced a subscription plan for its 2014 books. The books include Dragon’s Breath as well as Julie Doucet, Blaise Larmee, Anna Bongiovanni, Mark Connery (via a book edited and designed by Marc Bell), Andy Burkholder, Lauren Monger — and MORE. They have a variety of plans available—it’s like getting season tickets for the Mets only you get comics instead of Dillon Gee.
I should also point out that the 2D Cloud website has a pretty amazing webcomics section. I think I’ll be spotlighting more of these over the next few days.
Andrea Tsurumi is a freelance illustrator and cartoonist working on a number of platforms. She’s a Harvard graduate currently pursuing an MFA at the School of Visual Arts, but in the meantime her work has been published by Penguin Books and The New York Times. Her long work DANCE PARTY (featured above) appears on her website, and shorter comics work YAKITORI can also be found there. She also contributes, with Keren Katz, to the site UNCANNY EATING, documenting the metamorphic and bizarre qualities of food across cultures. Recently, she’s also started blogging about comics events for THE RUMPUS. Tsurumi’s style is innovative and expansive, taking in the bizarre and grotesque while infusing them with a sense of humor. Her panel designs often break the frame and expand into full page spreads populated with active figures and mysterious vistas. She draws influence from film, pop culture, and the world of illustration and has a lot in common with a multicultural weird tales tradition in her art.
Over at The Rumpus, middle-grade author Cecil Castelluci will coordinate the new Letters For Kids program–a subscription service giving readers mail from authors who write for kids.
According to the launch page, participants will receive “two letters a month written by middle-grade authors like Lemony Snicket/Daniel Handler, Adam Rex, Kerry Madden, Natalie Standiford, Susan Patron, Rebecca Stead, Cecil Castelluci, and more.” The service will cost $4.50 per month for U.S. readers, and $9 international readers. The project will expand upon The Rumpus’ Letters in the Mail program for adults. Check it out:
Some of the letters will be illustrated. Some will be written by hand. It’s hard to say! We’ll copy the letters, fold them, put them in an envelope, put a first class stamp on the envelope, and send the letters to you (or your child) … Six is pretty much the perfect age to start checking your mailbox for actual letters. And if you’ve waited until you were ten, well, you’re four years behind but still, it’s not too late. And if you’re sixteen, that’s OK, there’s still something of the kid left. And if you’re sixty, well… OK. You’re young at heart.
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
Stephen Elliot, author of the books Happy Baby and The Adderal Diaries, is the founding editor of the online literary magazine, The Rumpus. He hopes in the age of email, twitter and texting, that people will still like to receive a letter now and again or “snail mail.”
Letters in the Mail is his new venture, in which for $5 a month, subscribers will receive three to four letters from people like author Dave Eggers, comedian Margaret Cho, graphic novelist Dean Haspiel and novelist and TV producer, Jonathan Ames. The first letter comes from Elliot himself.
But what’s inside these letters are actually very short stories. Already 1,500 people have subscribed in a matter of weeks. Elliot was inspired by the Brooklyn outfit One Story, which send one story per week for $21 a year.
The letters are made to look authentic by having doodles, real signatures and return addresses. Just sign up and they’ll be in a mailbox near you.
That’s an amazing line up. Thanks for spreading the word!