Find A Book
I really ought to plug stuff on here more often. Not my stuff - other peoples' stuff. I know so many people who make cool stuff, and I'm a fan of so many people who make cool stuff that I really ought to tell more people about the cool stuff. So here's a post about some cool stuff, namely one of my favourite comics series of all time.
I haven't been buying books lately, due to a slight lack of funds, and also having far too many books that I haven't read yet, or haven't read for many years. So I've decided on a new-book moratorium, even though there are so many brilliant books coming out at the moment, at least until I've read (and got rid of) some of the old ones. However, there was one book I had to buy, because I'd been waiting for it to come out for about six years, and that was Carla Speed McNeil's latest Finder book, Voice.
I've been a huge fan of Finder ever since I first discovered it through Sequential Tart in 1999 (side note: I'm sort of amazed that ST still has the same design it started out with in 1998, and that the design still actually works). I was hooked from the first issue I read, enjoying the mix of slice-of-life observation and densely detailed science fiction setting. The deceptively simple artwork was full of intriguing background details that hinted at further stories, and I couldn't wait for each issue to come out just so I could find out more about the world that Carla had created. Even though I had many of the single issues, I bought some of the trade collections too because I loved the end notes printed at the back of them; they were like a director's commentary of extra background detail which added to the richness of the experience. After reading them I always feel a keen desire to visit the places, which is always a good sign that the environment has captured something in my imagination. I was even enough of a fan to buy several pages of original artwork from Carla several years ago (although three of them sadly went missing in the mail and never showed up).
As much as I enjoyed Voice (a lot, and even more so on the second read), there are elements of it that would definitely be very confusing if you'd never read any Finder before. So this post is really an an attempt to convince you all to go and buy Volume 1 of the Finder Library. It's actually really good value, collecting the first 21 issues of the series for only $25, which is probably about twenty quid in UK money at the moment - books don't seem to follow the exact rate of exchange, but that's less than £1 an issue, which is brilliant value. There's something in it for everyone and I promise you you'll thank me.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go to a book launch. Which I will try to write about later this week…