Ten Thousand Stories: An Ever-Changing Tale of Tragic Happenings

(Hardback)

Publishing Details

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Description

A new story unfolds with every turn of a flap in this playful jigsaw puzzle of a book. Each page is divided into four tunable mini-pages that mix and match to create 10,000 different story combinations, each with its own unique watercolour illustration. Some story combinations make sense, some come out downright surreal and each one is as quirky and imaginative as the next.

Reviews

Just the titles [of the ten basic stories] suggest their frisky, dadaist quality: 'The Sordid Aftermath of Drunken Karaoke, ' 'The Exquisite Torment of Maternal Deception, ' 'The Uncanny Allure of Cheerful Livestock, ' 'The Temporary Blessings of Suggestive Lederhosen' as well as six others equally unsettling. All of them relate tales of desperate yearning, lost hopes, sexual transgression and broken hearts and bodies. This same slightly macabre Edward Gorey/Lemony Snicket style comes through in the new narratives that result by haphazardly shuffling the strips.... What draws me to the various books of Swanson and Behr - there are more than 50 - is their never-ending exuberance and flair for mischief. - Michael Dirda, the Washington Post
Ten Thousand Stories takes ten sordid short, short stories illustrated with depraved misfits and then horizontally divvies up all the pages into quarters, giving readers the chance to create 10,000 unique stories and accompanying illustrations. With just a few flips of the pages, tales like The Sordid Aftermath of Drunken Karaoke and The Uncanny Allure of Cheerful Livestock become The Tragic Habits of Eccentric Messiahs. The authors have done a great job keeping everything lively without anything coming off like a gimmick. - Imprint
The book is made up of 10 morbidly funny stories about eccentrics ('The Puzzling Habits of Eccentric Messiahs, ' 'The Intoxicating Thrill of Combative Lovers') who all seem to end up somewhere unfortunate. Behr's illustrations have a scratchy, just-fallen-out-of-bed, Ralph Steadman quality, while Swanson's stories are vividly episodic that isn't damaged by the inherent randomization. - PublishersWeekly.com

Author Bio

Writer/illustrator duo Matthew Swanson and Robbi Behr live, work, raise kids and make books together in the hayloft of an old barn in Chestertown, Maryland. Since 2006, they have collaborated on more than 50 illustrated titles, all published by their two small presses: Idiots'Books (satirical picture books for adults) and Bobbledy Books (books and music for kids). Robbi and Matthew also teach, speak and run workshops on collaboration between artists and writers. They blog daily about family, creativity and life in the barn (idiotsbooks.com and bobbledybooks.com). Ten Thousand Stories is the first of their books that someone else has had the gall to publish.