The road to god knows…
France and I popped in on Von Allan’s book launch for The road to god knows… last Sunday to grab a few copies for the store and to get one for ourselves. We ended up staying longer than anticipated and had a wonderful chat with the author himself on a number of subjects including, one of my perennial favourites, the publishing and distribution side of his book. Having self published the book, Von Allan has done a great job of tapping into the right channels for its distribution and has masterfully supported it all through self promotion via tools such as a dedicated website, online social networking and a number of TV & radio interviews. Very much the model that we are seeing more and more from new writers and a topic of heavy discussion among the panels I attended at WorldCon last summer.
On to the book itself. Last night I finally had some time to sit and relax with a good book. I picked up The road to god knows… and was drawn in immediately to the story of a wrestling addicted teenager Marie as she tries to cope with her mother’s mental illness and its cascading effect on the various aspects of her life. The story is well crafted and makes excellent use of the graphic novel medium to draw the reader into Marie’s life as she experiences the frustrating mercurial nature of living with a mentally ill loved one. I also enjoyed very much the way in which Von Allan deals with such a serious issue with a mixture of brutal honesty and compassion. At times as the reader you want to jump in and help this poor girl in any way possible then with the turn of the page feel warmed by the small, yet so significantly touching gestures, by her friend to help her weather the storm. For me at least, The road to god knows… is another shining example of how the graphic novel can be used to tell a very human story with care and precision.
(photo nicked from Von Allan’s website)
As noted above, we have picked up a few copies for our booth at the Antique Market and are very much looking forward to Von Allan’s next project Stargazer.