The Last Mechanical Monster


Book Description

From Brian Fies, the acclaimed graphic novelist of Mom’s Cancer, Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow?, and A Fire Story, comes a classic comic book adventure for all ages Decades after being imprisoned for threatening his city with an army of giant robots, an elderly scientist reenters society, only to discover he needs help navigating life in the 21st century. Experiencing real kindness and friendship for the first time, his new relationships challenge the inventor’s single-minded devotion for vengeance—just as his plans threaten to spiral out of his control. The Last Mechanical Monster by Brian Fies is a story about ambition, creativity, mortality, friendship, and legacy. But it is also a story about how we want to be remembered, and what we leave behind. This latest graphic novel from Brian Fies (Mom’s Cancer, Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow?, and A Fire Story) already has a fan base and a considerable history of accomplishment. Initially published online as a webcomic, it was nominated for an Eisner Award for Best Digital Comic in both 2014 and 2015. It is also a pivot from Fies’s more serious graphic novels, created at a time when he was between large, demanding projects, and needing to remind himself that comics could and should be fun and provide a joyful escape—something we can all use a little more of these days.




Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow?


Book Description

Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow?, the long-awaited follow-up to Mom's Cancer, is a unique graphic novel that tells the story of a young boy and his relationship with his father. Spanning the period from the 1939 New York World's Fair to the last Apollo space mission in 1975, it is told through the eyes of a boy as he grows up in an era that was optimistic and ambitious, fueled by industry, engines, electricity, rockets, and the atom bomb. An insightful look at relationships and the promise of the future, award-winning author Brian Fies presents his story in a way that only comics and graphic novels can. Interspersed with the comic book adventures of Commander Cap Crater (created by Fies to mirror the styles of the comics and the time periods he is depicting), and mixing art and historical photographs, this groundbreaking graphic novel is a lively trip through a half century of technological evolution. It is also a perceptive look at the changing moods of our nation-and the enduring promise of the future. Praise for Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow? “A graphic novel that looks like TV’s “Futurama” bred with The Golden Age of Comic Books, Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow? is at times charming, at times sad and foreboding, and always thought provoking.” —Air & Space Smithsonian "A hopelessly optimistic moon-age daydream"—The Village Voice “An exceptional and highly engaging experience.” —The Miami Herald "Whatever Happened To The World Of Tomorrow is a very special book that will speak to you on so many levels. And at the end of it, when you sit there and think on what you’ve just read, it may even make you, like it did me, realise that Fies’ vision of our past and his hope for the future is something we can all share in. Quite brilliant."—Richard Bruton, forbiddenplanet.co.uk F&P level: Y




A Fire Story


Book Description

The award-winning author and illustrator presents a personal account of the Northern California wildfires of 2017 in this moving graphic memoir. On October 9th, 2017, wildfires burned through Northern California, resulting in forty-four fatalities and the destruction of thousands of homes. In A Fire Story, Brian Fies shares an unflinching account of this tragedy as he and his wife experienced it—including losing their house and every possession that didn’t fit in their car. As the fires continued to burn through the area, Brian pulled together A Fire Story and posted it online. It immediately went viral. He later expanded the webcomic to include environmental insight and the fire stories of his neighbors. A Fire Story is a candid testimony of the wildfires that left homes destroyed, families broken, and a community determined to rebuild. This updated and expanded edition includes thirty-two pages of all-new material, extending the story past the events of the hardcover edition to include updates on the rebuilding, wrestling with insurance, wrangling with contractors, the management of sometimes volatile emotions, and the threats of yet another wildfire.




The Origins of Monsters


Book Description

It has often been claimed that "monsters"--supernatural creatures with bodies composed from multiple species--play a significant part in the thought and imagery of all people from all times. The Origins of Monsters advances an alternative view. Composite figurations are intriguingly rare and isolated in the art of the prehistoric era. Instead it was with the rise of cities, elites, and cosmopolitan trade networks that "monsters" became widespread features of visual production in the ancient world. Showing how these fantastic images originated and how they were transmitted, David Wengrow identifies patterns in the records of human image-making and embarks on a search for connections between mind and culture. Wengrow asks: Can cognitive science explain the potency of such images? Does evolutionary psychology hold a key to understanding the transmission of symbols? How is our making and perception of images influenced by institutions and technologies? Wengrow considers the work of art in the first age of mechanical reproduction, which he locates in the Middle East, where urban life began. Comparing the development and spread of fantastic imagery across a range of prehistoric and ancient societies, including Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and China, he explores how the visual imagination has been shaped by a complex mixture of historical and universal factors. Examining the reasons behind the dissemination of monstrous imagery in ancient states and empires, The Origins of Monsters sheds light on the relationship between culture and cognition.




Lives of the Monster Dogs


Book Description

When a race of elegant, superintelligent dogs arrives in twenty-first-century New York, they become instant celebrities, but, unable to adjust to the modern world and confronted with an incurable disease, they construct a fantastic castle and barricade themselves inside.




Mom's Cancer


Book Description

Each year, approximately 1.5 million people in the United States and Canada are diagnosed with cancer. This is one family’s story. Brian Fies is a freelance journalist whose mother was diagnosed with lung cancer. As he and his two sisters struggled with the effects of her illness and her ongoing recovery from treatment, Brian processed the experience in his journal, which took the form of words and pictures. The story that came to be known as “Mom’s Cancer” first gained notice on the internet. It was posted anonymously, with the intention of sharing information and insights gained from his family’s experience. Thanks to the words and illustrations of Brian Fies, readers have already responded that they were surprised and gratified to realize that they weren’t alone. Abrams ComicArts is proud to bring this story to a whole new audience.




Hideaway


Book Description

Strange visions plague a man after he survives a near-death experience in this chilling thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Dean Koontz. Surviving a car accident on a snowy mountain road is miraculous for Lindsey Harrison, but even more so for her husband, Hatch, who was clinically dead for eighty minutes. After experimental procedures bring Hatch back to life, he awakens with the terrifying feeling that something is it out there. But it soon becomes apparent that the evil stalking Hatch is within him—a dark force of murderous rage that hides within us all...




The Last Crimefighter


Book Description

It has been twenty-five years since the world collapsed. The great cities left to ruin. Three quarters of the worlds population dead from a man made disease only known as The Reaping. Great minds lost. Technology stopped. Mankind in an attempt to survive, rebuilt several cities in the image of an long ago and almost forgotten, World Fairs. The grandest of these cities, White City rests on the shores of the Great Lake, where humankind has returned to steam, to power its needs. The people now adapted to steam power, live in a world mixed with the wonders of two eras, where societies lower classes are classified, ranked and placed. Then, rumors of a Hero from the past spread. Some say, to fight the latest form of government and bring hope back to the people of White City. With the backing of the Council of Literary Research, Ryan Fuggles and a very surprising ally, the startling beautiful, Miss Ophelia Whitecastle must find, not only a legend from the past, but together they must find a magical place once known as, Riverview. It is up to these two to succeed, if humankind is to ever dream again.




Robot, the Mechanical Monster


Book Description

"David Annan .. here turns his wide knowledge of movie fantasy and the fantastic to an exploration of an established science fiction theme -- the mechanical man. His study shows how what was a charming parable at the beginning of this century, now mirrors a disturbing reality, with the growth of genetic engineering, organ transplants and artificial insemination. ... David Annan traces this evolution from the most famous and memorable exponents of the theme, like Frankenstein and the female robot of Lang's Metropolis, through the various comedies, space fantasies and monster movies that have made a feature of man-made men."--Jacket




William Faulkner


Book Description

In this companion volume to William Faulkner: The Yoknapatawpha Country, Cleanth Brooks takes an in-depth look at Faulkner's early poetry and prose as well as his five non-Yoknapatawpha novels -- Soldiers Pay, Mosquitoes, Pylon, The Wild Palms, and A Fable. Brooks also offers relevant clarification of some of his earlier interpretations of Faulkner that have been challenged -- most notably in the case of Faulkner that have been challenged -- most notable in the case of Absalom, Absalom!, which he considers Faulkner's greatest novel. Recognizing that the creative and imaginative center of Faulkner's art is Yoknapatawpha County, Brooks examines the merits of each of the works set beyond these boundaries and explores how these writings complement Faulkner as an artist. He sheds light on the literary sources that influenced Faulkner's early work and the technical innovations and general themes Faulkner was to develop in his later writing. The notes and appendixes with which Brooks concludes Toward Yoknapatawpha and Beyond serve only to amplify this comprehensive study.