By Amanda
They (whoever “they” are) say that writing a book is a labor of love. Well, it’s labor. Having birthed two kids, there’s really no part of labor that I enjoyed. I know women who refuse drugs because they want to experience “the most quintessential female experience.” Ummm, I’ll take the drugs.
On April 25th, my 40th birthday, I have a scheduled delivery of my Ebook, Good Friday and Other Misconceptions; A Collection of Graphic Short Stories, to be available from my website. These stories and ultimately this day, is a culmination of decades of writing, self-discovery, travel, heartache, spiritual wrestling and reckoning. I’m ready. I’ve never been more ready to bare my soul, reveal my characters, show my art and allow my words to speak for themselves, in their voices, of which I’m convinced I’ve had little control. They are their own creation, as characters often are.
This book is a collection of 5 short stories with my accompanying artwork – it’s like a comic book, without the superheroes – maybe they’re anti-heroes, but I think they look a lot like you and me when we’re naked and vulnerable.
The Stories:
Good Friday, the first story in the collection, shares the conflict of a young woman as she faces the moral dilemmas brought on by war. Set in the southern region of Hungary, on the Serbian border in the 1990′s, she comes face to face with male refugees bringing baggage heavier that what they carry in their hands. As the objective of one man, she surrenders to his tactics and makes a choice, on Good Friday; it dirties her more deeply than she fears God can cleanse. She takes redemption into her own hands.
365 is an autobiographical depiction of my personal struggle with depression. My years of mental illness are condensed into 1 year, 4 seasons, 365 days. The story plunges near suicide and reaches into recovery and tackles the multi-layered complexities of marriage, motherhood and God. While rooted in reality, I venture into the fantastical while grappling with the tricks of the mind.
Hope is the third story and divides the collection with a whimsical tale of love told from the perspective of a book. Although simple in design, the book takes on the emotions of the main character and ventures into his life of love and loss. The artwork consists mostly of small squares of watercolors and is almost entirely shown from the point of view of the book. The simplicity of the design echoes the idealized misconceptions regarding young love.
Eleanor is the semi-autobiographical account of my first pregnancy. Nestled in the hills of Central Europe, she (the character) finds herself lodged between a pregnancy and a complex relationship with the baby’s father. Caught between commitment and the guilt, she and the father begin reading a book to pass the months as her belly grows. At the book’s climax, she loses control of her situation and must depend upon the grace she doesn’t feel she deserves.
Ink was birthed from a dream I had and employs fantastical realism to share the tale of a tattoo artist, Salvador, who takes on the burden of his clients. Told mostly from the eyes of his customer and friend, Maggie, it depicts the wonder and confusion that shroud this miraculous artist whose unassuming nature quiets even the raging heart. Set in Latin America, the story is laden with spiritual overtones and Catholic superstition.
Good Friday and Other Misconceptions; A Collection of Graphic Short Stories
To read more about the book, the artwork and me, please visit my website.
