Gapers Block and More Gapers Block

Thanks to Gapers Block for a glowing review of Life with Mr. Dangerous and thanks in advance to the good people of that site and The Book Cellar, where I'll be tonight for their Book Club.

And one more thanks: to Mr. James Kennedy, for a very flattering appraisal on his blog. Mr. Kennedy is rumored to be attending the event tonight as well. See if you can find him. He'll be the one giving Neil Gaiman a thrashing.

The information for tonight, in case your clicking hand is tired:

7:30 to 9 p.m.
The Book Cellar
4736-38 North Lincoln Ave.
Chicago, IL 60625

The Order of Odd-Fish on Boing Boing

My pal James Kennedy's book, The Order of Odd-Fish (for which I drew the paperback cover), was just reviewed on Boing Boing and I couldn't agree with Cory Doctorow's remarks more:

"This is what Harry Potter would be if its magic world was truly wondrous and magnificent, as opposed to plain reality with broomsticks and funny robes."

A Wrinkle in Time in 90 Seconds and Other Challenges

Pal-o-mine and Chicago author James Kennedy can't just leave you and yours alone to wallow in your winter sweatpants and mope. No, he's challenging everyone to take part in The 90-Second Newberry Film Festival.

The contest, in conjunction with the New York Public Library, is straightforward enough: make a video that squeezes a Newbery award-winning book into ninety seconds (or less... but with such limited real estate, who's going to use less? Then again, a three second version could be infinitely hilarious).

I of course can't predict who the winner will be, but if the first video is any indication, the results will be amazing. Prepare yourself for viral videos galore.

One Night Is Never Enough Museum

Were my schedule the exact opposite of what it is this fall, I would love to apply for a month-long trip into the bowels of The Museum of Science and Industry here in Chicago. My friend James Kennedy has thrown himself into contention and I hope, for the sake of art, science, and well-worded madness, that he gets it.

The Order of Odd-Fish Paperback

James Kennedy's delirious and captivating first novel, The Order of Odd-Fish, is available now in paperback, an edition for which I drew the cover. I've yet to see the physical book in this edition, but I can wholeheartedly recommend the story in any incarnation. James' writing is as masterful as it is teetering, skittering, exploding, and crisp.

Kennedy and The Magnificent Moots

There is a snippet of these drawings in All and Sundry, but on his blog author James Kennedy goes into greater detail about his novel-in-progress The Magnificent Moots, from which he recently gave a small preview reading (and for which I'll be doing more illustration/comics).

James' previous book, The Order of Odd-Fish (I drew the paperback's edition cover below), is nothing less than ingenious, so I'm expecting more of the same greatness in his sophomore effort.

The Naked Pit & Fett Erotica of James Kennedy

My friend and occasional collaborator James Kennedy was recently interviewed by School Library Journal, where he paid me the best appraisal yet: "Paul’s not some jackass sitting in his mother’s basement, drawing Boba Fett erotica."

If other authors (and journalists) would like to see how interviews could and should read, please take a gander at this insanity wrapped in a straining alphabet.

The Most Dangerous Beard

The ever beardless but nonetheless talented Mr. James Kennedy (author of the aforeposted book The Order of Odd-Fish) has a new story published in the Chicago Reader's Pure Fiction issue, entitled The Most Dangerous Beard in Town, which I had the pleasure of reading some time ago and am glad to see it finally in print. As with anything James writes, I recommend an immediate reading. He's a master juggler of words and motion.

And while you're at the site, be sure to stop by and see Lilli Carré's illustration for Jona Meyer's story, The Strong.

The Order of James Kennedy

James Kennedy, a fellow Chicagoan and friend about whom I've posted before, has just released his first book, The Order of Odd Fish, and I can't recommend it highly enough. Though I don't know that I could do it any justice in describing it. A less galactic Douglas Adams meets Lewis Carroll and HP Lovecraft? With a sprinkling of Roald Dahl and Star Wars?

Regardless, it's an amazing book, and staggering for a debut. I was honored to do the original cover for it, though the marketing powers-that-be canned it (ironically that terminated design was the publisher's own, not mine, but these are the workings of the lumbering beings we call mainstream publishing houses). Our mutual pal and Time Out Chicago book editor Jonathan Messinger wrote a piece about the book and its origins.

"A work of mischievous imagination and outrageous invention," writes Jonathan. No argument here.

Wedded Topography

While I couldn't post this before the wedding had happened, I wanted to share this invitation I designed and drew for my good friends James Kennedy and Heather Norborg, since it ended up being such fun to produce. James and Heather were willing to part with sanity enough to let me do whatever I wanted, so, knowing their affinity for travel, I had Heather draw up a list, in chronological order, of all the places they'd been together. She then had to say how long they'd been at each of these places and how significant/great their time there was, on a scale of -10 to +10, and I used all of that data to build their mythological island (I should probably also mention that Heather is a librarian and James is an author of fantasy/adventure books for young adults, so a map that looked like it might come from an ancient book seemed all the more appropriate).

To shape the island I used the time spent in each location as the size of each land formation, and the significance/greatness rating as the altitude for the land formation. Starting from the left hand edge and spiraling inward, I posited the land masses and – presto – the land of Noredy. The water around the island stems from where they grew up and where they live now. The ugly slug in the water was based on their answer to my question of "What is you biggest fear as a couple?" All those ancient maps have a cool sea beast in them, after all. (I based the beast's look on an old Icelandic map creature.)

Congratulations to James and Heather (one of my favorite couples (in addition to being stellar people individually)), and thanks for letting me produce a slightly insane, 18 x 24" fold out map for your invitation. Hopefully no grandparents were scared by the Beast of Boredom. That creature certainly wasn't present at the wedding itself.

Two Bands Steeped Adequately in Weird

Before witnessing the unavoidably seductive throbbing, sparkling crash that is Brilliant Pebbles (starring none other than the just-posted-about-Mr. James Kennedy on bass guitar) at The Fireside Bowl this past Sunday, I was lucky enough to happen upon the equally strange and well executed Juan Prophet Organization. If the opportunity ever presents itself to see these bands, and especially to see these two together: cancel your other plans. A good drug this cheap you'll be hard pressed to find.

"This Aquatic Baboon, This Mermaid's Abortion..."

At some point I did a reading for something called The Dollar Store at the Hideout in Chicago. I erroneously assumed The Dollar Store to be the brain child of one Mr. Jonathan Messinger and one Mr. Jeremy Sosenko. I trusted Mr. Messinger, as a decent man and storyteller extraordinaire, when he invited me to participate in this melting pot of the minds. But I was duped! And James Kennedy, author of the brilliant upcoming novel "The Order of The Odd Fish", sets the record straight here. I feel so... so used.

(But you should still look around their site and go to anything those two are involved in. It's worth the risk, Kennedy's cautionary tales be damned!)