Author:Audrey Niffenegger,Eddie Campbell
Internationally bestselling author Audrey Niffenegger and her husband, graphic artist Eddie Campbell, collaborate on this quirky, irreverent collection that celebrates and satirises love of all kinds. With thirteen different vignettes about love, loss, fairies, misbehaviour, regret, wanton wrongheadedness, cats, supernatural exterminators, spies, ghosts, more cats, more fairies, and a handful of ex-boyfriends, Bizarre Romance runs the gamut when it comes to relationships. It explores the good, the bad, the ugly and the just plain weird – with Niffenegger's sharp, imaginative prose and Campbell's diverse comic styles, always with a sense of humour and cosmic justice.
A captivating set of short stories… most appealing… meanders down some quirky byways, full of thwarted fairies, unusual fantasy realms and plenty of cats.
—— Sarah Hughes , iIn Bizarre Romance art and love have combined in person and on the page… Niffenegger is very much a child of Angela Carter. But there’s a lightness to Niffenegger’s writing that rubs off here on her husband… in its combination of pictures and words it has an elusive thrill to it… beautiful.
—— Teddy Jamieson , Herald ScotlandFrom gentle whimsy, through to magical realism and disturbing horror, Niffenegger and Campbell shepherd us through a series of off-kilter settings in which the ordinary rubs up against the surreal… Campbell’s images perfectly capture the juxtaposition of the everyday with the extraordinary.
—— Lucy Scholes , The Times Literary SupplementI would recommend taking your time with Bizarre Romance, give yourself the chance to luxuriate in each piece in turn. Nifenegger’s prose is straightforward and magical - just the right mix of the two, but knowing this is a collaborative work between a married couple brings an extra edge of magic to the stories. They are far from schmaltzy, but rather bittersweet, pragmatic and tender. Both creators have a playful but thorough grasp of the potential of the comic book form.
—— Jenny Robins , Quietus[Radtke is] a master of both prose narrative and visual art... In a way, what she has done in this impressive book is to revive the dead and recover the lost while illuminating a world in flux, in which change is the only constant. Powerfully illustrated and incisively written – a subtle dazzler of a debut.
—— KirkusRemarkable...a breathtaking mix of prose and illustration.
—— AtlanticOne of the most haunting graphic memoirs I’ve ever read... As we turn the pages on [Radtke’s] journey, we are ravaged and ravished. There is a proud tradition of graphic memoirists – of those dually equipped to wield word and image – to tell the true and deeply considered story of a life. Alison Bechdel, Roz Chast, Riad Sattouf, David Small, Marjane Satrapi, Art Spiegelman and others have done it searingly well. Add now to that list Radtke, who proves herself an equal among equals with this debut book.
—— Chicago TribuneWith elegant writing and arresting drawings, Kristen Radtke’s Imagine Wanting Only This...grapple[s] with the limits of how much understanding our past can help us comprehend our present... She is a master of silhouette and shadow, of negative space, evoking a sense of potent isolation.
—— Boston GlobeA stunning, honest meditation on loss... Radtke’s book is enchanting.
—— Huffington PostThis memoir’s realisation of urgency expresses itself in human beings’ silence, which might frustrate readers of prose memoir. But here it is an opportunity for Radtke’s readers to focus, stare, wonder – to remain within urgency itself... This is a riveting use of memoir.
—— Sarah Heston , Los Angeles Review of BooksIn her exquisitely soul-, mind-, and heart-shattering debut graphic memoir, Kristen Radtke explores life's big questions surrounding grief, mortality, and the impermanence of the things – and the people – we love most.
—— NylonRadtke's life – and the way she beautifully elevates her deeply personal experiences into universal lessons – makes for brilliant, compelling, unforgettable art.
—— BustleKristen Radtke leads us through a bleak and beautifully crafted story of heart and heartbreak – creation, connection, decay, and loss. Imagine Wanting Only This is challenging and inspiring.
—— Ellen Forney, New York Times bestselling author of MARBLESWriter, illustrator, and editor Radtke’s graphic memoir does something difficult within just a few minimally designed, emotional pages: she transforms the over-studied experience of being a talented artist stuck in that yearning gulf between college’s purpose and life’s demands into something unique and thuddingly real.
—— Publishers WeeklyThis is the work of a tremendously gifted cartoonist whose formal brilliance is indisputable, and whose sprawling narratives come to us via endlessly inventive pages. Rusty Brown is another masterpiece from Ware, and is unmissable.
—— Pete Redrup , Quietus, *Books of the Year*An intriguing, insightful not-quite-biography of the Brontë which explores both their real and imaginary worlds.
—— Yvette Huddleston , Yorkshire PostA tale about the collision between dreamlike places of possibility and constrained lives. None of the Brontë would reach 40. Yet their work still entrances us and Greenberg gives their tangled early creations gripping and generous life.
—— James Smart , GuardianA vivid foundation story for the great torrent of romantic fiction that was shortly to burst forth.
—— Strong Words