June Bottleship

Hello, wonderful humans—

This is a big one for me. I've spent the last month planning the first half of my 2018 tour, and it's finally kicking off this week. Tell your friends you're going "on tour" is always a little strange when you're an independent, self-published Internet Human, so I wrote about what it feels like. It's a phrase most folks seem to associate with rock stars and penthouse suites. The reality is often a lot messier, but also (to my mind) a lot more fun. I've been so humbled by the friends who have volunteered couches and contacts as I've thrown this thing together, and I think every single one of these stops is going to hold something unique and magical.

Last night I cut up 500 of these name tag stickers. I also bought a big guest book. I'm going to have everyone stick their labels in at the end of each event (and draw their own demons, if they want to), hopefully ending up with a physical artifact that proves we're all in the same boat.

When I asked people this question at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival last month, about 80% said their demon's favorite phrase was "nobody likes you." Imagine, just for a minute, being at a book event and realizing that everyone else there is just as scared as you are. And then knowing there's something you can do or say to put those other people at ease (and maybe even, in the process, go easier on yourself). I think there's a lot of power in that.

Of course, this is all hypothetical right now. The thrill of doing something like this is not knowing exactly how every stop will go—so let's find out together. Without further ado, here's...

The 100 Demon Dialogues US Tour: Leg 1

• 100 Demon Dialogues Book Release Party with Derek Powazek – June 4th, 7pm-10pm, Ford Food + Drink, Portland, OR
• Brick and Mortar Books with Glenn Fleishman – June 8th, 7pm, Redmond, WA
• Outsider Comics & Geek Boutique – June 9th, 2pm-4pm, Seattle, WA
• Magers & Quinn – June 12th, 7pm-8pm, Minneapolis, MN
• SECRET CHICAGO VARIETY SHOW (RSVP for venue details) with Trin Garritano, Craighton Berman, and Others – June 14th, 6:30-9:30pm, Chicago, IL
• Ann Arbor Comic Arts Festival (A2CAF) – June 16th & 17th, Ann Arbor, MI
• Escape Pod Comics – June 20th, 5-8pm, Huntington, NY
• Eight Cousins Books – June 23rd, 7pm, Falmouth, MA (Boston: I'm coming back to you for MICE in October, so no worries if you can't make it to the Cape for this event.)
• McNally Jackson Books – June 24th, 4-7pm, New York, NY
• East City Bookshop – June 29th, 6:30-8:30pm, Washington, D.C.

Here's a couple other Good Things to read and enjoy this month:

• I'm on the Seattle Review of Books today talking about (and illustrating) what's on my bookshelf right now. (Spoilers: SO! MANY! GOOD! BOOKS!)
• Thanks to my Most Enthusiastic Friend, Jason, I learned about KENNINGS this month! I mean, I'd encountered the concept, but never knew there was a WORD FOR THEM. More about kennings here. (There are 268 separate entries for "sea" alone.)
• This tweet about scurvy is making the rounds again, and I think it actually has a lot of relevance to the work I'm doing with 100 Demon Dialogues? I mean, isn't our Inner Critics' childish fear and worry just a lifelong hurt that we must learn to treat gently? (Speaking of which, here's a lovely thread on "re-grieving" that echoes the idea of wounds never truly going away.)
• ANOTHER THING ABOUT SCURVY: Maciej Ceglowski wrote this thorough essay on the history of the disease, which is a perfect expansion of Scurvy Dogs, my comic about the same topic.
• Christina Tran made a flowchart about Pay What You Will comics on the web. It grapples with stuff I chew on all the time: money, gratitude, and art.

• My selected sketches from a trip to Iceland last summer are on display right now at Light Grey Art Lab in Minneapolis as part of their latest show, IMMERSION. I'm planning a visit to the gallery around 11am on June 12th, so stop by if you wanna say hi. (Also: if you'd like to own a print collection of my sketches, they're available in my online shop.)
• Sea School NW is a new program aboard the tall ship Hawaiian Chieftain aiming to shift the gender imbalance in the global maritime workforce. If you've ever wanted to run away to sea and become a sailor, but worried you wouldn't fit in, give it a look.
• And since we're on a nautical theme, here is a very nerdy visual sea shanty joke.