Internationally bestselling author Audrey Niffenegger and her husband, graphic artist Eddie Campbell, collaborate on this quirky, irreverent collection that celebrates and satirises love of all kinds. With thirteen different vignettes about love, loss, fairies, misbehaviour, regret, wanton wrongheadedness, cats, supernatural exterminators, spies, ghosts, more cats, more fairies, and a handful of ex-boyfriends, Bizarre Romance runs the gamut when it comes to relationships. It explores the good, the bad, the ugly and the just plain weird – with Niffenegger's sharp, imaginative prose and Campbell's diverse comic styles, always with a sense of humour and cosmic justice.
About the Author
Audrey Niffenegger is a visual artist and writer who lives mostly in Chicago and occasionally in London. She has published six books, including the novels The Time Traveler's Wife and Her Fearful Symmetry. She helped to found the Columbia College Chicago Center for Book and Paper Arts. Her art has been exhibited by Printworks Gallery in Chicago since 1986. She is a Professor in the Fiction Department of Columbia College. Her recent projects include a ballet, Raven Girl, in collaboration with Wayne McGregor for the Royal Opera House Ballet.
Eddie Campbell is a Scottish comics artist, probably best known as the illustrator and publisher of From Hell (written by Alan Moore). Campbell is also the creator of the semi-autobiographical Alec stories collected in Alec: The Years Have Pants, and Bacchus (aka Deadface), a wry adventure series about the few Greek gods who have survived to the present day.
Industry Reviews
A captivating set of short stories... most appealing... meanders down some quirky byways, full of thwarted fairies, unusual fantasy realms and plenty of cats. -- Sarah Hughes * i *
In Bizarre Romance art and love have combined in person and on the page... Niffenegger is very much a child of Angela Carter. But there's a lightness to Niffenegger's writing that rubs off here on her husband... in its combination of pictures and words it has an elusive thrill to it... beautiful. -- Teddy Jamieson * Herald Scotland *
From gentle whimsy, through to magical realism and disturbing horror, Niffenegger and Campbell shepherd us through a series of off-kilter settings in which the ordinary rubs up against the surreal... Campbell's images perfectly capture the juxtaposition of the everyday with the extraordinary. -- Lucy Scholes * The Times Literary Supplement *
I would recommend taking your time with Bizarre Romance, give yourself the chance to luxuriate in each piece in turn. Nifenegger's prose is straightforward and magical - just the right mix of the two, but knowing this is a collaborative work between a married couple brings an extra edge of magic to the stories. They are far from schmaltzy, but rather bittersweet, pragmatic and tender. Both creators have a playful but thorough grasp of the potential of the comic book form. -- Jenny Robins * Quietus *
