New Website and Facebook Presence (More or Less)

I've redesigned my website with a new Storm in the Barn section. It's still a work in progress and I'll be expanding it soon with some behind the scenes stuff, but it's up and running.

Also, I've sort of plunged into Facebook land. There's not much there yet (still trying to figure it out) but if you are so inclined, stop by and say hello.

FORECAST FOR TODAY: STORM!

My first graphic novel THE STORM IN THE BARN is now officially available! It is a strange but good-strange feeling. I was looking through some photos and found this one of my studio from sometime last year. Pages from Storm are scattered about waiting for paint... general chaos and messiness about... I see some sketches for Jargo! that should have been filed away by this point... and a Hellboy book that I was re-reading for basic inspiration.

A year and a half later, all of the chaos has been transformed into a real live book. I put everything I have into this one and I hope you like it.

Fuse Reviews

There's a thorough, thoughtful review of The Storm in the Barn over at Fuse #8. She doesn't really write reviews that aren't thorough and thoughtful, so check out the review archive once you're there.

In other review news, Storm has now round up three starred reviews: Booklist ("Phelan turns every panel of this little masterpiece into a spare and melancholy window into another era..."), Kirkus ("This is not to be missed."), and School Library Journal ("A complex but accessible and fascinating book.").

Three more weeks until publication!

Booklist Review of the Day!

I just found out that Booklist's starred review for Storm in the Barn is the Review of the Day on their site!

You can read it (for free) HERE!

Quick Ape Sketch and Links!

Boys like gorillas. Boys like reading. And here are two great sites that think boys might also like The Storm In The Barn (spoiler warning: there are no gorillas in the book):

BOYS READ

GUYS LIT WIRE

Swimmin' circa 1908

I'm gearing up for another jam-packed year of drawing (a picture book, the final Lucky novel, and a second graphic novel, among other projects). To loosen up, I've been trying to do some sketches and paintings using materials that I haven't used before or haven't used for awhile. This was very loosely drawn on Fabriano hot press paper with a pencil then finished with ink (Hunt 102 nib and Liquid Acrylic ink) with an ink wash and some watercolor.

Blogger Appreciation in July

So, I thought this week was Blogger Appreciation Week. Turns out that it doesn't start until September 14th (mark those calendars). At any rate, I'd still like to send some appreciation out into the Blogosphere for some wonderful posts about The Storm In The Barn that have recently popped up. Please do click on the following and consider bookmarking these fine blogs!

educating alice

Writing and Ruminating

Shelf Elf

UPDATE: Kelly at Writing & Ruminating just posted a dramatic recreation of our recent caffeine-fueled, rambling, digression-prone sit down interview. It was great fun and we even talked a little about the new book. Go read it HERE, if you are so inclined.

UPDATE #2: Kerry at Shelf Elf just posted an interview with me HERE!

Sideshow!

Sideshow: Ten Original Tales of Freaks, Illusionists, and Other Matters Odd and Magical is now available from your favorite purveyor of quality literature. I contributed a graphic short story to this fine anthology that also includes stories from David Almond, Aimee Bender, Cecil Castellucci, Shawn Cheng, Annette Curtis Klause, Margo Lanagan, Danica Novgorodoff, Cynthia Leitich Smith, and Vivian Vande Velde. It's a dark and wondrous strange collection and I couldn't be happier to be a part of it. My story, Jargo!, concerns a freak that freaks out the other freaks.

Sideshow was edited by the brilliant, multi-talented Deborah Noyes. Deb has written a guest post over at Teenreads about Sideshow. Go Read It!

UPDATE: And here's another interview!

Thank You, ALA!

Just a quick note to thank all the wonderful people I met at the ALA convention. Your passion for books and libraries is inspiring. Also a big thanks to my new pals Tony Fucile , Chris Van Dusen, and Silas House who made signings and speaking in public far less daunting (p.s. get their BRILLIANT books!) and to all my friends at Candlewick Press for bringing me along for all the fun. And it was great to see old friends like the incomparable Holm siblings, Jenni and Matt. The banquet was amazing and for detailed coverage, I'll send you to the blog of the smashingly tattooed Ms. Bird.

And Neil Gaiman is as cool as you would think and also amazingly gracious and nice.

A Good Reminder

Two of a Kind by Jacqui Robbins has just been released. Here's a small anecdote that reminds me that the Children's Book Industry – with its publishing expos, conferences, reviews, competition, and big awards – is still, ultimately, all about making books for kids.

ALA Chicago

Hey there, librarians! I'll be at your annual shindig in the Windy City this weekend. On Sunday from 2-3, I'll be signing ARCs of Storm In The Barn (and possibly copies of Sideshow) at the Candlewick booth (#2147). If you're wandering the stacks, please stop by and say howdy. As added enticement, I'll be signing alongside the immensely talented Tony Fucile and Chris Van Dusen! Hope to see you there.

Newsarama Interview!

An interview I did with the comics website NEWSARAMA is now up! It's fairly detailed about Storm in the Barn but I think spoiler-free.

BOOK TRAILER!

Grab your popcorn and check out the trailer for The Storm In The Barn!!!

If you're so inclined, you can visit my own cozy section of YouTube by clicking HERE. That way you can see some of the videos that I actually like and recommend as opposed to the random stuff YouTube spits out on the generic page.

Paint First, Ask Questions Later

A little experiment to loosen up. I plopped down a few splashes of paint without thinking about it and then later went back with a brush pen and quickly doodled the first thing that came to mind.

Ruff

Japanese brush pen and watercolor sketch.

The Gunsel

The Coming Storm

Only three long months until my graphic novel The Storm in the Barn is released! About this time last year, I was finishing up the pencilled pages. They still needed inking and painting, but it seemed momentous enough to take a snapshot of the stack.

Some early reviews have started popping up on the web such as here and here. Previews magazine has just named it one of their June Staff Picks and Graphic Novel Reporter has called Storm in the Barn one of the Hottest Graphic Novels of the Summer. And last but certainly not least, Storm made a list of recommended new graphic novels at BEA last week.

A book trailer will be debuting sometime next month and I'll also be revamping my website, so keep checking back.

Winter Sketch

Back to the Drawing Board

Stitches

Just one more quick word about David Small. I just finished reading an advance copy of his new graphic memoir, Stitches. It is as good as graphic storytelling gets, told with breathtaking precision and, of course, masterful drawing. It comes out in September.