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Home , Conundrum Press (Canada), Dave Lapp, Doug Wright (cartoonist), Doug Wright Award, Guy Delisle, Jillian Tamaki

conundrum press 2012

www.conundrumpress.com The Song of Roland

May 2012 / ISBN 978-1-894994-61-3 / 192 pages 7.5x10 inches / $20 BDANG Imprint Translation by Helge Dascher

The Song of Roland focuses on the life and death of the father-in-law of Rabagliati’s alter-ego Paul, who has been called “the Tintin of ” by Le Devoir. The French edition, Paul à Québec, was critically hailed, winning the FNAC Audience Award at France’s Angoulême festival, a Shuster Award for Outstanding , and was nominated for the City of ’s Grand Prize, and the Audience Award at Montreal’s Salon du Livre. The film adaptation of the book is currently in production by Caramel Films. In his classic European cartooning style, Rabagliati more than capably tackles weighty, universal topics. As the family stands vigil over Roland in his hospital bed, Rabagliati weaves a story of one man’s journey through life and the legacy he leaves behind. The Song of Roland is a mid-career masterpiece from one of Quebec’s finest draftsmen.

“A formidable ode to life that reminds us of the importance of knowing how to say goodbye.” — La Presse

“A novel that goes straight to the heart.” — Le Soleil

“His stories are personally revealing but gentle, full of kind people with common prob- lems… Rabagliati employs a light, curvy drawing style and episodic plotting that overtly recalls Herge’s Tintin adventures.” — The Onion

“Paul is a character who is stirring up ever more fervour in Quebec with each new book detailing his life. He has become much more popular than Asterix, than any American superhero.” — Star

Michel Rabagliati was born in 1961 in Montreal, where he grew up in the Rosemont neighbourhood. Having developed an interest in typography, he studied graphic design and in 1988 moved into freelance illustration. Since 1998, his graphic novels have revolutionized the comic- book art form in Quebec. With his books, Michel Rabagliati has become an essential figure in the scene of Quebec. In April 2005, he was awarded the Grand Prix de la ville de Québec, care of the Festival de BD de Québec, and was selected as a Personality of the Week by the daily newspaper La Presse. In 2007, Rabagliati’s body of work to date earned a Special Mention from the Prix des libraires du Québec.

102 And suddenly, like a tape recorder unspooling, Roland Cough cough... You OK, Mr. Beau- Gimme a cigarette. My father was a no-good lieu? How about I had a started telling me the cheating bastard, and a gargl glogkof! childhood, got that? story of his youth. All the we head back to drunk and a gambler too. A the house? dates and places were still sorry son of a bitch. All Are you sure vivid in his memory. he ever did for my mother that’s a good was knock her up. Nine idea? Sorry, I kids and nothing to raise didn’t mean them on! to...

No, no... Happens all the time. Just Just give me a bit of bile the ciga- coming up... rette.

We were living on De La Tourelle Street back then. No boots, no coat, nothing. We ate bread One day my mother took off with another man. And she That was 1935. We were dirt poor. with lard and sugar on it, meal after left us behind. Five boys, four girls. We never saw her again. meal, and we were on “direct relief”.

Simone, come take your sister Yes, so I can finish Ma’am. up here.

Our grandfather wasn’t any better than his son. He had her pay him in kind, with us kids I was ten years old. We were separated and placed in different homes—the girls In the winter, since we had nothing to heat the right there in earshot. with relatives, the boys in orphanages or on farms. house with, he’d bring my mother some firewood...

Hey you lil’ tykes! Hello, folks! These Here’s some wood are the Beaulieu boys for the oven! I told you about...

Put it in the shed.

Grandpa!

60 61 People Around Here

May 2012 ISBN 978-1-894994-59-0 6x9 inches / 160 pages / black and white / $17

People Around Here is a companion piece to Drop-in, Lapp’s critically-acclaimed account of working in inner city Toronto drop-in centres, but this time he takes it to the streets! Always the consummate ob- server, Lapp’s ability to crystallize everyday moments of street life and overheard conversations into short visual vignettes is remarkable. These strips are taken from Lapp’s regular column in Taddle Creek magazine and the Annex Gleaner, but many more are included.

Drop-in was nominated for a Award, an , and was excerpted in the 2010 edition of The Best American Comics. Lapp’s second book, a collection of weekly strips called Children of the Atom, received high praise:

“Despite its obvious debt to other strips, it carries a highly original, singular voice. He has man- aged to hone the rhythm of strip cartooning in such a way that it feels more like poetry than narrative storytelling.” —

“Standing entirely on its own, Lapp’s handsome pen-and-ink art is gorgeous to behold: it’s some of the most accomplished strip artwork you’ll find, with a skill, delicacy, and subtlety that compares to the best in the format’s history….Children of the Atom is the truly distinctive cre- ation: it breathes literary quality into what has predominantly been a gag medium. And with its singular vision, it quietly moves and delights.” — See Magazine

Also by Dave Lapp:

Drop-in Children of the Atom October 2008 May 2010 ISBN 978-1-894994-33-0 ISBN 978-1-894994-47-7 6×9 inches / 160 pages / $17 11×4.25 inches / 240 pages / $17

Britt Wilson’s Greatest Book on Earth Britt Wilson

May 2012 ISBN 978-1-894994-62-0 6×9 inches / 144 pages black and white $17

This Toronto artist’s popular mini- comics have finally been collected into her first . Wilson has a flowing cartooning style, reminiscent of Roberta Gregory, with angry young women running around the city creating havoc. She has an innate sense of storytelling through comics panels, and an absurd, dark, yet hilarious point of view.

“I was drawn to Britt Wilson’s work immediately. The liveliness, the effortless polish, the humour — there was so much appeal, I ate it up, I looked through everything I could find. I was thrilled to hear about a whole book full of those drawings. I look forward to being jealous of Britt’s work for a long time to come, because there’s no way she won’t rise to the top.” —

“Britt’s comics, like all great humour, are both a little sweet, and a little caustic. And she can draw like nobody’s business. I could stare at her expressive drawings all day long, and wouldn’t be surprised in the least if they actually jumped off the page and bit me in the face.” — John Martz

Heartless Nina Bunjevac

September 2012 ISBN 978-1-894994-64-4 7×9.25 inches 128 pages / hardcover black and white plus 16 pages colour $20

Introduction by Jay Lynch

“Powered by an expressive black and white “Heartless is just amazing! I laughed out loud a drawing style, reminiscent of lot. It is chock full of great stuff and I’m hard to and the meticulous pointillist technique please! Nina Bunjevac’s art is a pleasure to look of Drew Friedman, the dark undertone of at. The writing is seriously demented, but in a Bunjevac’s humour brings into light the totally brilliant, highly entertaining way. It is its range of socio-political issues her comics deal own thing, imitating no one.” — with, such as gender, nationalism or urban alienation, always from an ironic feminist perspective. Her chain-smoking, slightly “The most vitally reinvigorating change in mod- alcoholic and manically depressed character ern comics is the unstoppable rise of women, as Zorka may just be today’s ultimate antihero- creators, as readers, and as characters. In her im- ine. A Balkan immigrant in the Brave New pressive debut collection, Nina Bunjevac stuns as World, working in that same meat factory a distinctive, innovative voice, adept at hyperde- for the last twenty years, tormented by family tailed cartooning and deliciously disturbing as she constraints and her own secrete desires… we probes the darkest depths of desire and despair.” simply can’t get enough of her.” — BTurn — Paul Gravett

Nina Bunjevac started her art training in Yugoslavia, at the Djordje Krstic school for applied arts. In 1997, she graduated from OCAD in the Drawing and department. Formerly a painter and a sculptor, Nina found her calling in sequential arts, a form that seemed to naturally evolve out of the narrative component in her sculpture installation work. Pen and ink became the medium of choice. Nina is also an art teacher. Multiple winner of the OAC Artist in Education grant, she has taken her cartooning and zine-making projects into a number of Toronto public schools. Her strips have been published in many European and North American publications including Mineshaft, Exile, Black, Giuda, Le Dernier Cri, Komikaze, and Broken Pencil. She is also the co-editor of the forthcoming Balkan Comics: Women on the Fringe.

Fall 2012 Fall 2012

Fanny & Romeo All Citizens Yves Pelletier, Pascal Girard Serena McCarroll

October 2012 November 2012 978-1-894994-65-1 978-1-894994-63-7 6.5x9.25 inches / 136 pages 7.5x9.5 inches / 160 pages full colour / $20 full colour / hardcover BDANG Imprint CD included Translation by KerryAnn Cochrane $25

In 2006, two artists fled the high cost of living inV an- couver and moved to a place where they knew absolutely It’s him or the cat in this charm- nobody, Bruno, Saskatchewan, population 500. They set up a storefront building in which they housed their own ing collaboration between first time unique brand of café / art shop / community centre / author (and renown Quebec comic music venue called All Citizens from 2007-2011. Mc- actor) Yves Pelletier and the estab- Carroll kept a called Going Rural of her travels and lished artist Pascal Girard (winner of experiences moving and setting up shop. This blog (text the for Bigfoot). and photographs) forms a significant chapter of the All The story concerns a young couple, Citizens art book and serves as an introduction to Saara Fanny wants to have children, and Liinama’s essay on rural interventions. The documenta- Fabien doesn’t feel ready. Then a cat tion (in text, interviews, and photographs) of the artistic called Romeo comes into their lives. practice of three local senior women constitutes another significant chapter. Cartoonist David Collier visits one She falls in love, but he’s allergic. of these women in Bruno and provides a comic essay in Fanny becomes more and more his own style. The book will also include a drawing zine attached to the cat, to the point where Kitty... by McLean which was inspired by Serena’s blog. she actually rents a separate apart- ment for it. But it turns out her But the heart of the All Citizens project was the store Romeo has actually been two-timing itself, a meeting place, shop, cultural centre, music venue her. A perfect blend of Pelletier’s and all things in between. It was the ultimate culmina- writing with Girard’s beautiful water- tion of a DIY aesthetic forged onto a rural landscape. colours, this story will warm the hearts of cat lovers and people lovers alike! Includes Bonus CD Also featuring a live recording of Daniel, Fred, and Julie playing at All Citizens. Fall 2012 Fall 2012

The Blaring House Serial Villain Claire Seringhaus Sherwin Tjia

September 2012 October 2012 978-1-894994-66-8 978-1-894994-67-5 5x8 inches 4.25x5.5 inches 96 pages 400 pages black and white black and white $15 $17

A hypnotist uses his powers for evil instead of good. A time-traveller goes This collection of selected pen and back in time to kill Hitler as a baby. graphite drawings range from the In this parodic, faux-noir collection, the award-winning and multi-talented Sherwin Tjia whimsical to the hyper-realistic, with concocts B-movie narratives filled with serial killers, mafia soldiers, bodyguards, cops and some looking as though they were kidnappers encountering betrayal, femme fatales, and more plot twists than a Moebius strip. lifted from a turn-of-the-century The first in the Cinderblock Books Series, Serial Villain emulates the garish and lurid look catalogue. Many include captions, of noir posters from the 50s while referencing the Moby Books Illustrated Classics for kids which convey humourous narrative in which every right hand page had an illustration and a pullquote from the story under- arcs and add a sometimes bizarre neath it. Hurtling along in quick cuts and abbreviated action, these 5-minute blockbuster dimension to the work. The Blaring movies up the ante with each diabolical development, practically with every paragraph. House is inspired by children’s book Immerse yourself in this perpetual dusk, where sex and violence party beyond redemption, illustrations, absurdist humour, and where pathetically insignificant individuals take their revenge upon the world entire. late Victorian portrait photography.

Sherwin Tjia is a Montreal-based poet, painter and illustrator. He is the author of Gentle Fictions, Pedigree Girls, and The World is a Heart- “Adept, antiquated draughtsman- breaker (a finalist for the A.M. Klein Poetry Award). The Hipless Boy, a ship, atypical humour, Seringhaus is collection of short, interconnected stories told in graphic novel form was a Van Leeuwenhoek’s flask of broth a finalist for the Doug Wright Award and for four Ignatz Awards. His comprised of the DNA from the most recent offering is an interactive adventure style book told from the dandruff of Glen Baxter, the finger- point of view of a housecat entitled, You Are a Cat! In his spare time, he nail parings of Edward Gorey and organizes Slowdance Nights, Love Letter Reading Open Mics, Crowd the juice wrung from the socks of Karaoke singalongs, and Strip Spelling Bees as Chat Perdu Productions. Monty Python. This is absurd, solid, His invention, The E-Z-Purr, a CD with over an hour of cats purring, is funny stuff.” — Joe Ollmann, author available for download from CD Baby. of Mid-Life Turn the page to see more books by Sherwin Tjia... Recent backlist Recent backlist

You Are a Cat! Unspent Love or, Sherwin Tjia Things I Wish I Told You Shannon Gerard October 2011 / ISBN 978-1-894994-56-9 4.25x7 inches / 240 pages 80 black and white illustrations / $17 Winner of an Expozine Award for Best Book October 2011 ISBN 978-1-894994-58-3 8.5x5.5 inches / 160 pages / $20 You are Holden Catfield. But your family calls you Nominated for an Expozine Award Holden. You’re a cat, and you just woke up spooned behind the knees of Julie, the daughter of the family you live with. It’s a brand new caturday! What are Originally drawn and written as a series of online poetic vignettes, Unspent Love addresses you going to do? If you decide to go back to bed, themes such as hope, fear, and human frailty. Evolving through numerous iterations, includ- turn to page 17. Or, you might go eat on page 6. ing a gallery installation supported by the Nick Novak Fellowship at Open Studio, Unspent Venture outside and visit your girlfriend on page 8, Love most recently appeared as an experimental wall installation at YYZ Artist’s Outlet. One or head further downtown to page 35. The choice chapter of this work won first place in the graphic narrative category of This magazine’s Great is yours! But beware, being a cat isn’t all napping in Canadian Literary Hunt in 2010. sunbeams and curling up on laps. There are funny noises emanating from an upstairs room, a tomcat in the alley who doesn’t like to be crossed, is thrilled and a strange man on the corner who is always giving you free samples of catnip. to announce the book ver- sion of the project, complete Inspired by the gamebook fad of the late 80s — You Are a Cat! is both a parody and homage, with a letterpressed wrap- focusing on a dysfunctional family, but told through the eyes of their cat. Fully a third of the around jacket printed at book is lavishly illustrated from the feline first-person floor perspective. The different choices Gaspereau Press. Embracing you make effect people and events! Even something as seemingly trivial as whether or not to a variety of genres, from purr can result in dramatic changes. As the first book in the fictional Pick-a-Plot series, You Are poetry to relational art to a Cat! includes numerous fake preview advertisements for improbable future titles in the series, graphic novel, Unspent Love like You Are a Cult Leader! You Are Homeless! and You Are Obsessed With Johnny Depp! is as varied as the characters who populate its quintes- Also by Sherwin Tjia: sentially human stories. This is a first solo book from a The Hipless Boy multitalented artist.

June 2009 / ISBN 978-1-894994-40-8 / 6.75x8.25 inches 224 pages / duotone / $19.95 Shannon Gerard works across a variety Nominated for a Doug Wright Award of media. She writes and draws comics, crochets Nominated for an Expozine Award soft sculptures, binds books and makes prints. Nominated for four Ignatz Awards About her collaboration with No Media Kings’ Munroe on the graphic novel Sword of “Sully’s skill as a writer as well as an artist is evident in My Mouth, boingboing wrote: “Gerard’s stellar every frame. It takes unique talent to discuss organiz- illustrations are jagged line drawings that play ing a strip spelling bee, bowel movements as a mode of with time-series and an expressivity of posture to revenge, and suicide, all without losing the reader.” convey emotion with unexpected punch.” — McGill Tribune Recent backlist

Collier’s Popular Press David Collier

March 2012 / ISBN 978-1-894994-60-6 / 8×10 inches 208 pages / $20 / Introduction by Jeet Heer Nominated for an Expozine Award

This book collects Canadian cartoonist David Collier’s work published over the last 30 years in various publica- tions such as: The , The Nerve, , The Saskatoon Star Phoenix, Geist, The Comics Journal, and many more. With new introductions by the artist himself and plenty of added ephemera, this is the volume that Collier fans have been waiting for.

“Over the last century there has been a rich tradition of that have not only appeared everyday in newspapers but have also made the plain events of daily life a prime subject matter. This is the tradition of observational cartooning that stretches from John T. McCutcheon to Clare Briggs to H.T. Webster to J.R. Williams... These cartoonists were masters at noticing the common experiences that were shared by millions. Unlike gag cartoonists, they didn’t aim for the big laugh but rather gave the pleasure of making us notice the world around us. David Collier is perhaps the premier living embodiment of this tradition of observational cartooning. He’s very conscious of this older tradition and has in particular been shaped by the work of J.R. Williams. Like Williams, Col- lier draws a roughhewn, gnarly line that wins us with its homespun honesty.... In the single panel strips, notably the Saskatoon Sketches and the 24 Simcoe Street strip Collier did for The National Post, the drawings are deployed in the service of anecdotes. Each individual strip might seem slight but as you read them they add up to a quirky autobiography. It’s a mistake to read these single pan- els in the spirit of The Family Circus or Marmaduke, expecting a big laugh. Rather you have to look at each one as a snapshot of a day’s event, a diary entry in form. As you read them consecu- tively, you start to appreciate Collier’s devoted attentions to homey details.”

Also by David Collier: CHIMO

ISBN 978-1-894994-53-8 / 7×10 inches / 136 pages / $17 Nominated for a Doug Wright Award Nominated for a Hamilton Literary Award

“Chimo is an idiosyncratic, compelling and hilarious musing- in-comics that I couldn’t put down. Seemingly a quirky memoir about soldiering, it’s really a quest for survival — both basic and artistic — and a on aging, family and the fight to simply try and understand oneself, all told by one of the most unpretentious cartoonists in North America. There’s an eye for mundane detail and a sort of animal fear running through it all that it leaves one shaken yet oddly refreshed. It’s unlike anything I’ve read before. I loved it.” — Discover Quebec’s Underground Comics in English for the First Time! BDANG IMPRINT

My Life as a Foot Suddenly Something Happened Richard Suicide

Collects the storylines from Quelques Pelures and “You’ll never see an intensity like the one embedded in Le Moral des Troupes (which won the 2005 Prix de his thick, inky lines and his stories of big-nosed paupers, l’Espoir Québécois), as well as many new pages, to whores and insurance company clerks. Suicide’s inimitable form the definitive edition of this autobiographical and enviable aesthetic reminds a little of , work. “It’s a strong document in a small literature with a touch of Kim Deitch and a smidgen of Gary describing the subtle ways in which we all quietly Panter, but it’s so very Montreal.” — HOUR grow up.” — Comics Reporter ISBN 978-1-894994-26-2 / 8×10 inches / 80 pages / $15 ISBN 978-1-894994-51-4 / 7×9 inches Translation by 256 pages / $20 Translation by KerryAnn Cochrane

Poof! Ruts & Gullies: Line Gamache Nine Days in Saint Petersburg Philippe Girard When Lili’s inspiration jumps out of her mouth and runs away she undergoes an epic -like journey With both adventure and introspection Philippe to get it back. With the help of her dog, Kiki, she Girard has turned a trip to a comic festival in Russia proceeds to chase her trickster inspiration. Whether into an inner journey. Comparable to ’s by plane, train, balloon or automobile one strange travel journey graphic novels. character after another joins her. In Poof! is a story about the creative process itself. ISBN 978-1-894994-46-0 / 6×9 inches 160 pages / $17 ISBN 978-1-894994-43-9 / All Ages / 7×10 inches Translation by KerryAnn Cochrane 96 pages / $15 / Translation by KerryAnn Cochrane

Hello, Me Pretty Killing Velazquez Line Gamache Philippe Girard

“I still have chills a day after reading Killing Velazquez. The “This humorous, touching and downright inspirational book cover art, innocuous and serene, puts a panic in my chest recounts the real life story of Gamache’s little sister Josée. like drowning. But this graphic novel is as important as it Born mentally disabled in 1964, we follow Josée through the is disturbing, it’s a shocking confession of his first-hand decades. The prejudices and negativity she encounters are re- encounter with a priest sexually abusing teenage boys in corded, along with her happy, sometimes difficult and always the 1980s in Quebec. In sparse, haunting panels of unset- innocent approach to life.” — tling silence, Girard perfectly imparts the terror he faced.” ISBN 978-1-894994-23-1 / All Ages / 7×10 inches — Telegraph-Journal 64 pages / $15 / Translation by KerryAnn Cochrane ISBN 978-1-894994-54-5 / 6.5×8.5 inches 216 pages / $20 / Translation by KerryAnn Cochrane backlist backlist Monster Island Three Snaps by Rebecca Kraatz edited by Billy Mavreas May 2011 / ISBN 978-1-894994-55-2 / 6.5×8.5 inches July 2007 / ISBN 978-1-894994-27-9 / 7×8.5 inches 144 pages / $15 144 pages / $15 “Tender and thought-provoking, Kraatz has a knack for subtle “A clutch of terrific Montreal cartoonists in a compact page- confessions, desire and quiet curiosities. Part dreamy, part pensive, turner. As an editor, Mavreas has a sweet tooth for the peculiar, Kraatz’s dip into yesteryear portrays a time when war was ubiqui- and he’s gathered a mittful of like-minded independents, most tous and loss inherent.” — Telegraph-Journal of them direly underexposed.” — eye Also available by Rebecca Kraatz: House of Sugar ISBN: 0-9781242-0-0 / $11.95 Winner of a Doug Wright Award Witness My Shame Shary Boyle So I’ve Been Told by Maryanna Hardy

October 2004 / ISBN 1-894994-03-5 / 6×8 inches November 2010 / ISBN 978-1-894994-52-1 / 5.5×7.75 inches 160 pages / $19.95 96 pages / 80 illustrations (16 in colour) / $17 Nominated for a Doug Wright Award “To describe her work is to gush. Looking at Boyle’s images is Nominated for an Expozine Award like falling into murky puddles of memories… Boyle has cap- tured both the bliss and discomfort of childhood. She illustrates People are more interesting than they give themselves credit for. In the nebulous sexuality of adolescence in dream-like landscapes.” So I’ve Been Told Hardy narrates their stories, drawing their asides, — their inside jokes, cautionary tales, secrets, and lies. Gilded Lilies: Comics and Drawings Inkstuds October 2006 / ISBN 978-1-894994-19-4 / 6×8 inches Interviews with Cartoonists by Robin McConnell 160 pages / $20 CDN / $17 US Nominated for a Doug Wright Award October 2010 / ISBN 978-1-894994-49-1 / 8x9.5 inches 296 pages / many b&w illustrations / Bibliography / $20 The first book from the award-winning artist behind and Introduction by Jeet Heer Indooor Voice. Contains illustration work and minicomics as well as a longer original scroll comic. These 30 interviews focus on the creative process and influences of artists who cover the range from the older generation of under- ground cartoonists to the new generation of the comics avant don’t get lonely don’t get lost garde. This book is an invaluable resource, not just for comic enthu- Elisabeth Belliveau siasts but anyone interested in the artistic process. Hermoddities by Temple Bates July 2010 / ISBN 978-1-894994-50-7 / 5.5x 7.5 inches 144 pages / full colour / $25 / DVD of animations included July 2011 / ISBN 978-1-894994-57-6 / 6×6 inches / 192 pages full colour / $20 / Introduction by Andy Brown “The impression is of an artist’s diary, nearly unexpurgated. There’s Nominated for a Doug Wright Award something appealing about the immediacy and honesty of these pages. Elisabeth Belliveau’s drawings gently capture people in odd Within these pages of comics and exists an extraor- moments, unsuspecting. Her perspective is detached, cautious, and dinary world made up of furry oddities, anthropomorphs and spare, seeking out meaning in the mundane. Her moments of lyri- omnipotent creatures. Why not pay them a visit? cal clarity are lovely.” — Montreal Review of Books backlist backlist

Dear Council / Our Starland : Nog A Dod (ed) Emily Holton Kerry Byrne: Lillian the Legend Howard Chackowicz: Howie Action Comics October 2008 / 978-1-894994-36-1 / A reversible book of two Michael Hind: The Undertaking novellas and b&w drawings / 6×7 inches / 160 pages / $17 Lesley Johnson: The Banana Story of Agony Billy Mavreas: The Overlords of Glee “Less a narrative than a stream-of-consciousness or poetry, Holton Marc Ngui: Enter Avariz weaves together an odd assortment of images including the late ce- lebrity reporter Brian Linehan, a family of deaf-mutes and the Incas, Marc Ngui: The Unexpurgated Tale of Lordie Jones with simple illustrations that Scriver fans will love. Once again, Joey Dubuc: Neither Either Nor Or Conundrum Press makes a gorgeous artful book that’s just a little Yvette Poorter: Dwelling for Intervals out of the ordinary.” — The Coast Elisabeth Belliveau: the great hopeful someday Little Lessons in Safety Emily Holton Shary Boyle: Otherworld Uprising (out of print)

May 2007 / 978-1-894994-22-4 / 7×6 inches / 192 pages / $17 Nominated for a Doug Wright Award Fiction Backlist: A collection of Holton’s scratchy intelligent line drawings which play with the format of children’s readers, comics, celebrity fashion magazines, and cut and paste murder mysteries. Smart, strange, and Lance Blomgren: Corner Pieces funny, Holton’s work recalls artist Raymond Pettibon, filmmaker Lance Blomgren: Walkups Miranda July and southern gothic writer Carson McCullers. J.R. Carpenter: Words the Dog Knows The Big Book of Wag! Corey Frost: My Own Devices: Airport Version Joe Ollmann Corey Frost: The Worthwhile Flux Catherine Kidd: Missing the Ark Oct. 2005 / 978-1-894994-11-8 / 7×8.5 inches / 192 pages / $17 Catherine Kidd: bipolar bear Catherine Kidd: Sea Peach For over a decade (1991-2004), Joe Ollmann made his way through Alisha Piercy: Auricle / Icebreaker the indy comics scene with Wag!, his micro-books of fictions and comics. Influenced by artists such as Katchor, Edgar Allen Poe, Andy Brown: The Portable Conundrum (ed) Ralph Steadman and Edward Gorey, Ollmann draws the inhabitants Nathaniel G. Moore: Bowlbrawl of his world with remarkable craft and an eye for detail, making each Maya Merrick: The Hole Show character unforgettable. Maya Merrick: Sexant Papercut Heart Robert Allen: The Encantadas Ian Sullivan Cant Chandra Mayor: Cherry Chandra Mayor: All the Pretty Girls Ryan Arnold: The Coward Files May 2009 / ISBN 978-1-894994-38-5 / 4.25×5.5 inches 172 pages / $15 Liane Keightley: Seven Openings of the Head Valerie Joy Kalynchuk: Beauty is a Liar “In one story we follow a string of Morse code through a dream-like Josh Massey: We Will All Be Trees sequence of ribbons, staircases, cell phones, and birds. In another, Julia Tausch: Another Book About Another Broken Heart hand-shadow wings flap across several notebook pages in a flutter of smudges, while a sentimental but heartfelt poem tags along.” — MRB Ordering Information:

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Conundrum Press “The most challenging and original list in Canada.” — eye Andy Brown, publisher [email protected] “Perhaps the most noticeable and innovative aspect of the books Brown publishes are their refusal to be constrained by outmoded concepts of Mailing address: genre.” — The Globe and Mail 10224 Highway #1 Wolfville, NS, B4P 2R2 “Conundrum Press challenges readers, writers, Canada and publishers to expand their ideas of what books can be.” — Ottawa Express

Conundrum press acknowledges the financial assistance of the for the Arts and the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund toward their publications.

Front Cover: Detail from Jettison by Temple Bates