Tom K
Tom Kaczynski is a cartoonist, writer, publisher, and teacher. He is the author of the Eisner Award nominated graphic novel Beta Testing the Apocalypse (Fantagraphics), Cartoon Dialectics series, and the forthcoming Trans Terra graphic novel. His comics have appeared in countless anthologies, including The Nib, Mome and many more. Tom K is the founder of Uncivilized Books, a boutique graphic novel publishing house. Since its inception, Uncivilized Books has published acclaimed and award nominated graphic novels by Gabrielle Bell, Noah Van Sciver, David B., Joann Sfar, Sam Alden, Sophie Yanow, and many others. He also teaches comics at Minneapolis College of Art & Design and the University of Minnesota. He lives in Minneapolis with his partner Nikki, two cats, and a dog.
Hey there — it’s Ben, of . . . well, . . . Stranger Encounters.
I read through Vague Cities and Trans-Siberia. Not to degrade you to my level — but I feel like Vague Cities in the design and the way it’s written is the story I have in my head and would have made eventually had I my shit together and the talent to do so. I’ve had half-ass attempts at the block designs, and I’ve written early-20th-century-like testimonial stories to the monster city and intimacy within in. Anyway, thought I’d say I appreciate it.
Also, your Robot26 site is psychotically well designed. Very, very well done!
Oh, have you read any Arthur Schnizler?
Hey Ben,
Thanks! I don’t feel ‘degraded’ no worries. I read the first story in Stranger Encounters and I could see right away a similar sensibility at work. Definitely keep me posted about your future projects! I haven’t read Schnizler, but a quick Google search showed him to be a somewhat contemporary (and fellow Austrian) of Stefan Zweig whose work I really admire. Any suggestions where I should start with Schnizler?
Thanks for your thoughtful comment,
Tom K
Actually, I spelled his name wrong — Arthur Schnitzler. I can’t find the book I read in his list of works, and am wondering if it’s completely obscure. I read it in the class of a professor who runs this site you might be interested in:
http://www.artmargins.com/
Ah, upon researching a particular phrase I remember, I have everything wrong. Schnitzler may write on themes you’d be interested in, but the particular phrase that reminds me of Vague Cities is from “Kakania” by Robert Musil:
“For some time now such a social idee fixe has been a kind of super-American city where everyone rushes about, or stands still, with a stop-watch in his hand.”
. . . and its surrounding text.
(http://www.xs4all.nl/~jikje/Texts/kaka.html)