No offense to the authors of all the great books I picked up at this year’s Toronto Comics Art Festival (new works by Chester Brown, Vera Brosgol, Stuart and Kathryn Immonen, Rina Piccolo, Jay Stephens, GB Tran, Jen Wang, and a bunch of nifty minicomics as well), but nothing compares to this:
Yes, an attractive box. But it’s more than that. When you open it, you find this:
And when you turn the box around and open it again, you find this:
Yes, I was given the gift of science and art and a lucky (or is it unlucky? or is it both?) cat with Xs for eyes…at least half the time.
Many of my friends write books that lend themselves to the creation of tangible, precious talismans. (Tokens is the usual word for this, but I think it’s too small a word.) Their readers present them with these as a thank you for the stories and it’s always warmed my heart to see it. I didn’t think my books lent themselves to such things, though.
Wrong again.
Emily and Skye: Thank you. I just about fell over when you handed this to me, and I still get goosebumps when I pick up the box and do an experiment concerning indeterminate quantum states.
