Hal Johnson's Blog, page 15

Truly Wordless Comic Panels

Still only 99¢! Adventure!

Still only 99¢! Mystery!

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John Severin!

A garland of quotations C

Still only 99¢! Mystery!

Still only 99¢! Adventure!

When water stinks I break the dam,
In love I break it.
•Graves, Seven Days in New Crete (1949).

That there was a deluge once seems not to me so great a miracle as that there is not one always.
•Browne, Religio Medici (1643).

Said a witty misanthrope to me à propos of the iniquities of men, “It is only the uselessness of the first Deluge that preserves us from being visited by a second.”
•Chamfort, Maxims, Thoughts, Characters and Anecdotes (1796).

Dey m...

Cruelly negative reviews

As you may have heard, I write books for a living, and when you write books, getting negative reviews is just part of the game. Here are two mediocre reviews for Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods I pulled off Amazon:

Shame Such a great book…two stars

Of course, some people just genuinely don’t like my books

“Alot” sic

and that’s fine. It’s fine. That’s part of the game. And, honestly, in my case, when I get a stinging review, I remind myself I deserve it, because I personally am horribly cruel w...

Truly Wordless Comic Panels

Makes a great gift (I'm told)

Hal Johnson Books is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Carl Barks!

A garland of quotations XCIX

Tryyyyyyyyyy one

Look at them,
busy, making an iron frame
for a bubble on the water
to make it safe!
•Basavanna, vacana 162 (C 12).

They relate that :—Nimrúd sate in an iron-closet around which was kindled a fire; and, in fancy, said—“Behold! how will the Angel of Death come here, and take my soul?” ¶By the power of God, the Omnipotent, a gnat crept into his brain (by the ear), began to bite, and so distressed him that finally, in great torment, he died.
•H. Wilberforce Clarke, notes to The Sikandar ná...

Truly Wordless Comic Panels

Could it be you'll need a gift soon?

Hal Johnson Books is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Joe Oriolo!

A garland of quotations XCVIII

My books make great gifts!

(Other books cause leprosy)

When hempe is ripe and ready to pull,
Then, Englishman, beware thy skull.
•Thomas Heywood, Life of Merlin, with His Prophesies and Predictions Interpreted and Made Good by Our English Annal (c. 1635).

Away with astrologers! Deaf is the augur, the soothsayer blind, and the prophet mad. To know present things is permitted to man; God alone knows the future.
•Geoffrey of Vinsauf, Poetria Nova (ca. 1210).

For ’tis to me the power is given
Unclosed the b...

Truly Wordless Comic Panels

(Come see me tomorrow at Concentric Brewing, Portland, CT, 12–4; flier at the bottom)

I write, for a living, books

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Al Alvison!

A garland of quotations XCVII

(Come see me this Saturday at Concentric Brewing, Portland, CT, 12–4; flier at the bottom)

They make great gifts yo

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedMenoitas of Lyktos dedicates thus his bow:O Serapis, thine are the bow of horn and the quiver.The quiver is empty. The enemy has my arrows.•Callimachus, epigram (C3 BC).Look atlove’s marvellousways: if you shoot an arrow plant it till no feather shows; if you hug ...

Truly Wordless Comic Panels

Dig my crazy books!

Hal Johnson Books is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Springer & Mushynsky!