Books
Events
Thursday 8 Edinburgh
Lin Anderson, Alana Knight and Alex Gray Borders Books. [hit 26. lion Kinnaird Retail Park. 657 4041. 7pm. Free. ()pimrtunity to hear the top l'emmes latales in discussion. as they talk about crime writing in Scotland.
Glasgow
Dava Sobel (ilasgow Science (‘entrez Scottishl’ower Planetarium. 50 Pacific Quay. 42() 5()()(). 7~ 8.30pm. £4.95. Where better for the author of international bestseller Longitude to discttss her latest publication The Planets than under the glittering stars of the (iSS's Planetarium'.’ See next issue tor a preyiew ol' TIM I’lu/ii'ls.
Edinburgh
Rik Mayall Waterstone's. I28 Princes Street. 226 2666. 6.30pm. Free. The l'oi'mer Young ()m' signs copies of his modestly titled autobiography Bigger “It!!! Hit/vi: Br'lh’l‘ Than ('lirisl.
Wednesday 1 4
Glasgow
New Writing Scotland: Queen of the Sheep Borders Books. 98 Buchanan Street. 222 7700. 6pm. Free. The latest volume in the New Writing Scotland series is launched with readings from some ol' the established and emerging authors included in the anthology.
Glasgow
Terry Butcher Borders Books. 98 Buchanan Street. 222 77()(). Noon -2pin. l‘ree. The Motherwell manager takes time out l'rom ills Sl’l. woes to promote the launch ol his autobiography.
Sunday 18
Edinburgh
Songs and Storytelling: The Jacobites Royal Museum llawthornden ('ourt. 2 ('hambers Street. 247 4210/4422. l2.45pm. l.45pm. 2.45pm & 3.45pm. l-‘ree. Join storyteller Stuart
28 THE LIST 8 '2}? Sep 2005)
Mcllardy as he explores songs and stories from the time of' the .lacobites.
Tuesday 20
Edinburgh
Susan Curtis ()ttakar‘s. 57 (ieorgc Street. 225 4495. 7pm. £5. A qualified homeopath for over 25 years. (‘urtis has written many books about her profession. Here she is joined by herbalists and aromatherapists from Neal‘s Yards Remedies as she discusses some natural alternatives to keep us in tip—top shape.
Wednesday 21
Glasgow
Margaret Thomson Davis ()ttakar‘s Bookstore. L'nit 6. Buchanan Galleries. Buchanan Street. 353 1500. 6.30pm. Free. ticketed. In a departure from her normal bestselling genre. the celebrated Scottish author launches her first crime novel.
Glasgow
Ian R Mitchell ()ttakar's Bookstore. Knit 6. Buchanan Galleries. Buchanan Street. 353 1500. 6.30pm. Free. Mitchell talks about This ('r'ry Now. his expose of the hidden architectural. cultural and historical riches of Glasgow‘s working- class districts.
Edinburgh
Joan Lingard National Library of Scotland. (ieorge lV Bridge. 623 3845. 7pm. The celebrated. best-selling author of both adult and children's literature. launches her latest work Ifnmrm'm 's Journey. an evocative noyel taking in mysterious liaisons with Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury Set. in l‘)2()s Spain and lidinburgh's New Town.
Vikram Seth The Hub. (‘astlehilL Royal Mile. 225 4495. 7pm. £4. The award- winning author discusses 'l'im 1.1m. his biographical account of the lives ol’ his great uncle and aunt who had to overcome racism. Hitler's Reich and WWII and begin their new life in Britain.
Check out the
on page 13
Rik Mayall talks himself up at Waterstone’s,
Edinburgh,
Tue 13 Sep
Comics
HELPBOOK
ALAN MCKENZIE How to Draw & Sell Comic Strips
(Titan Books) 0000
First released in 1987. the most obvious addition to this third edition is the exploration of how advances in technology have affected how comics are drawn and exhibited. This might also be its greatest weakness. as these updates. particularly the section about publishing on the web. can seem cursory and simplistic even by a technophobe's standards.
Still, there's no denying the fact that covering the artistic and commercial aspects of comics in under 150 pages is a big task. McKenzie. a former editor at 2000/40. tackles it in a logical fashion, with uncluttered. colour co- ordinated chapters on everything from a short history of comics to how to master the basic elements of motion and perspective.
As McKenzie takes the time to break comic production down into its constituent steps. from lettering to printing. demystifying the process for complete beginners. novice artists do seem to be the book's obvious audience.
But despite the name. there are also scripting tips for writers and publishing advice for WOLiId-be moguls. while a bibliography and a section on useful comic contacts in Europe and America mean those who have worked thr0ugh the book will know who to contact with their freshly minted artwork.
In his foreword. Dave Gibbons. the legendary Watchmen artist. describes it as 'a shiny.
newly out set of keys to the comics business'. While it won't be able to magically open doors for those who don‘t already have some artistic talent. this is an invaluable resource for anyone embarking on a career in the funnies. (Dave Martin)
SOAP/SATIRE DANIEL CLOWES Ice Haven
(Jonathan Cape)
O...
This neat repackaging of the last issue of Clowes' comic Eightba/l actually better suits the material: a series of loosely connected stories featuring various eccentric inhabitants of a Mid West small town. together creating a vivid. wickedly satirical picture of the community.
_. a
' .'
Now reformatted as a graphic novel (and with extra material. the cheekily self-referential ‘Harry Naybors. Comic Book Critic' bookending the original), Ice Haven stands up to more than one reading. Clowes‘ deceptively simple storytelling is more complicated than it initially seems. with the tangentially related stories (each rendered in a different style based on old newspaper funnies) pegged together by the disappearance of an odd little boy named David Goldberg.
The book's most fully realised creation, the curmudgeonly, forever procrastinating wannabe novelist Random Wilder. is another of Clowes' semi-autobiographical self-castigations. Elsewhere. he explores the pSyche of a pair of
HIV.
troubled teenage girls Violet and Vida (remarkably successfully for a middle-aged man). while the sociopathetic- psychopathic Blue Bunny generates the biggest laughs.
(Miles Fielder)
SATIRE
TIM KREIDER Why Do They Kill Me? (Fantagraphics) 00000
Tim Kreider is a pathetic misanthrope, a man so petty he publicly names and shames online boys who bullied him at school. He is also probably the finest. most vital political cartoonist of his generation, a modern hero whose rage against the machine manifests itself in his splenetic satires of the American hegemony.
Although earlier in his career Kreider concentrated on the personal. for the last few years he has been lobbing bilious artistic bombs at Bush. Cheney et al on his website and in the pages of the Baltimore City Paper, collected here beside his infamous artist's statements.
These are at least as scathing as the cartoons themselves. and alternate between ad hominem attacks and the odd mea culpa for what he perceives to be sub-standard work. He needs have no such fear; every page here pulses with intelligence and humour. trailing the anaemic competition in its wake. (Dave Martin)
Why Do They Kill Me?