Synopses & Reviews
and#160; Itand#8217;s a perfect beach day, or so thought the family, young couple, a few tourists, and a refugee who all end up in the same secluded, idyllic cove filled with rock pools and sandy shore, encircled by green, densely vegetated cliffs.
But this utopia hides a dark secret.
First there is the dead body of a woman found floating in the crystal-clear water.
Then there is the odd fact that all the children are aging rapidly. Soon everybody is growing olderand#151;every half hourand#151;and there doesnand#8217;t seem to be any way out of the cove. Levyand#8217;s dramatic storytelling works seamlessly with Peetersand#8217;s sinister art to create a profoundly disturbing and fantastical mystery.
Praise for Sandcastle:
and#147;Begins like a murder mystery, continues like an episode of The Twilight Zone, and finishes with a kind of existentialism that wouldnand#8217;t be out of place in a Von Trier film.and#8221; and#151;Publishers Weekly, starred review
and#160;
and#147;Sandcastle is a fast 112-page read you won't be able to put down.and#8221;and#160; and#151;Cleveland.com
and#147;Peeters and Land#233;vy convey some profound, if profoundly unsubtle, truths about the human condition. Weighty stuff, expertly told.and#8221; and#151;The Comics Bulletin
Review
andldquo;Culbardandrsquo;s often silent pages, filled with a rich and sumptuous palette and clean-lined figures, are beautifully painterly more than pulpy, and the winding together of the tales is as artful as the events are unsettling.andrdquo;
Review
andldquo;Clean lines, bold colors, and characters that wriggle right into the readersandrsquo; brain are Culbardandrsquo;s trademark. In the realm of The King in Yellow, those skills are put to dastardly use as what begins in intrigue ends in poisonous insanity and palpable fright.andrdquo;
Review
andldquo;Essential for all readers of Lovecraft. Adults and teens who are fans of old-school horror will delight in these macabre tales.andrdquo;
Review
andldquo;A book thatandrsquo;s so deeply in love with language and the unseen doesnandrsquo;t leave very much for an illustrator to work with. Culbardandrsquo;s style is well-suited to this difficultyandmdash;itandrsquo;s defined as much by what it doesnandrsquo;t show as by what it does. Instead of laying on the Victorian gingerbread, Culbard creates spare, almost modernist tableaux.andrdquo;
Synopsis
Cursed the ground where dead thoughts live new and oddly bodied . . . So wrote H. P. Lovecraft, the acknowledged 20th-century master of horror, fantasy, science fiction, and the subgenre known as weird fiction. Adapted with great craft and beautifully illustrated, this graphic collection, a companion to The Lovecraft Anthology Volume 1, explores Lovecrafts favorite themes: forbidden knowledge and insanity. The art is brilliant in its variety, each style perfectly matched to the story, whether its about a painter obsessed with ghouls, a submarine stuck in a mysterious city on the ocean floor, or semifluid beings floating in from the deep cosmos. Reader, beware!
Synopsis
A graphic anthology of tales featuring collaborations between established writers and artists and debut contributors,
The Lovecraft Anthology showcases Lovecrafts talent for the macabre. From the insidious mutations of “The Shadow over Innsmouth” to the mindbending threat of “The Call of Cthulhu,” this collection explores themes of insanity, inherited guilt, and arcane ritual to startling effect.
Praise for The Lovecraft Anthology: Volume I:
"When a graphic novel comes along representing some of Lovecrafts greatest tales, it has a lot to live up to. Im happy to say that the graphic novel compilation The Lovecraft Anthology, Vol. 1 provides the goods." —GeekDad.com
Synopsis
andldquo;Three times Randolph Carter dreamed of the marvelous city, and three times was he snatched away while still he paused on the high terrace above it.andrdquo; Randolph Carter embarks on an epic quest across a world beyond the wall of sleep, in search of an opulent and mysterious sunset city. When he prays to the gods of dream to reveal the whereabouts of this magical city, they do not answer, and his dreams stop altogether. Undaunted, Carter resolves to go to Kadath, where the gods live, and beseech them in person. However, no one has ever been to Kadath, and no one even knows how to get thereandmdash;but that wonandrsquo;t stop Randolph Carter from trying.
Synopsis
The supernatural stories that make up Robert W. Chambersandrsquo;s classic piece of weird fiction are tied together by a play that brings madness to all who read it:
The King in Yellow. Itandrsquo;s a book that draws readers in with an irresistible yet innocent opening act, then drives them insane with the poisonous words of Act 2. Itandrsquo;s a book that cannot be suppressed, spreading like a disease from city to city, continent to continent. An influence on writers from H. P. Lovecraft to Neil Gaiman,
The King in Yellow is one of the most important works of American supernatural fiction. In this dangerously unputdownable graphic-novel adaptation, I. N. J. Culbard brings to life a thrilling tale of horror that will make readers laugh and cry and tremble with fright . . . Read at your own risk.
Synopsis
In Los Angeles, Ray is sitting in gridlock when he receives a call from an LAPD officer with news about his wife. Fearing the worst, he listens intentlyand#151;but suddenly the caller and everyone else around him disappears. In London, the moment two commuters catch sight of each other on a packed Monday morning tube train, everyone around them vanishes. In Japan, comic artist Yoshi has come to the Aokigahara Forest to hang himself. But when the attempt fails and he slides free, the forest comes alive with mythological creatures. Taking us through the empty freeways of Los Angeles, the deserted streets of London, and the dream world of the Aokigahara Forest, Celeste is an ambitious and profound graphic novel that explores what it means to be alive.
Synopsis
In 1908, Nathaniel Wingate Peaslee experiences an unfortunate fainting spell. Five years later, he finally returns to his senses, but has no recollection of these lost years of his life. As he attempts to discover what happened during this time, he becomes increasingly tormented by vivid, disturbing dreamsdreams that will lead him on a journey through space and time to unlock the secrets of his past and of the universe.
Praise for The Shadow Out of Time:
A great way for a novice reader to discover the work of H. P. Lovecraft.” New York Journal of Books
Watching Culbards fussy gents go stark raving nuts is always a blast, and this one may be his best yet.” Booklist
About the Author
I. N. J. Culbard is an award-winning artist widely known for his graphic adaptations of classics. He collaborated on a critically acclaimed Sherlock Holmes series withIan Edginton, as well as adapting several titles by H. P. Lovecraft. Culbard lives in England. Robert William Chambers (1865andndash;1933) was a Brooklyn-born artist andauthor. After studying art in Paris, he worked as an illustrator in New York for Life, Vogue, and Truth magazines. With the immediate success of The King in Yellow, he became a full-time author, publishing more than 70 books.