Penny Nichols

2020 Oregon Book Award Winner for Graphic Literature

Somehow, sarcastic Penny's gotten roped into helping make an amateur slasher film. With a team of flakes and weirdos, she's probably the only one who can save this stupid movie... but maybe it can save her, too. Now can somebody please stop that dog from licking the fake blood?

"I never wanted to be a teacher or lawyer. I never wanted to be anything, really." Stuck working mind-numbing temp jobs, Penny Nichols yearns to break free from the rut she's found herself in. When, by chance, she falls in with a group of misfits making a no-budget horror movie called Blood Wedding, everything goes sideways. Soon her days are overrun with gory props, failed Shakespearean actors, a horny cameraman, and a disappearing director. Somehow Penny must hold it all together and keep the production from coming apart at the seams.

This hilarious original graphic novel is a loving tribute to the chaos and camaraderie of DIY filmmaking, and the ways we find our future — and our family — in the unlikeliest of places.

"[A] smart, snarky ode to the joy of creation....this comedy revels in the pleasures of finding fellow enthusiasts and facing the difficulty of making even the most modest artistic dreams come true." Publishers Weekly

“Tremendous fun, as Penny Nichols quips her way through the chaotically creative world of independent horror film-making. A real joy from start to finish!” Graham Annable, director of The Boxtrolls and author of Peter & Ernesto

"Wiegle’s style is delightful and detailed. He gives us a real sense of Nichols’ world: quirky, off-the-beaten-path, and not so beautiful. But beautifully realized in its complexity.... an unvarnished gem!" fanboyfactor.com

MK Reed is the Eisner Award-nominated author of Dinosaurs: Fossils and Feathers, as well as, Americus, Palefire, and The Cute Girl Network (with Greg Means and Joe Flood); all graphic novels and comic series on subjects ranging from humorous paleontology history, to romance, to young adult first amendment rights. Her latest series, The Castoffs, is about teen girl wizards who fight robots.

Greg Means is co-author of The Cute Girl Network (with MK Reed and Joe Flood) and is the editor/publisher of the Ignatz Award-winning anthology series Papercutter.

Matt Wiegle is the artist of the webcomic Destructor (with Sean Collins) and drew the Romeo & Juliet adaption for Spark Notes. He currently works as an industrial designer in Philadelphia.