A short while ago, Ben Galley sent me the first two books of his self-published fantasy Emaneska series for review: The Written and Pale Kings. As anyone who has read my Reviewing Policy knows, I don’t accept self-published works. However, I had seen Ben’s work pop up on a few other blogs I follow, and I found myself intrigued despite my reservations. I intend to give at least the first one a read at some point in the future. In the meantime, I learned about another project Ben’s involved in: turning his books into graphic novels. Since Civilian Reader features ever-more comic and graphic novel-related content, I thought it would be nice to learn a little more behind Ben’s motivations for taking this latest step.
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“Fantasy In Colour” by Ben Galley
I’ve recently embarked on a new chapter of my self-publishing career. With the help of the crowd-funding site Kickstarter, I’m attempting to turn my debut novel The Written into a graphic novel.
The question is, why?
It’s a damn good question. One with many answers. A lot of authors seem to be toying with the idea of migrating their tomes to artwork recently. The eminent Mark Lawrence, author of the Broken Empire trilogy, has been blogging a lot on his eagerness to turn his books to art. Even as I write this I see a tweet from Lauren Beukes of Zoo City and Moxyland fame saying:
“Oh man, I would LOVE a graphic novel of Zoo City (hint, hint...)”
It’s a popular feeling, that’s for sure. Not a new one, though. Fantasy graphic novels already exist, and have for quite a while. A most recent and high-profile addition was the adaptation of Game of Thrones, following in the wake of the cash-cow that was the HBO series. Another example: Robert Jordan’s Eye of the World. Stab at merchandising or not, it seems to me, as an author and fantasy fan, that there’s a buzz around graphic novels at the moment. So, why? Why am I, and others, so keen to see their prose in paint, and is it a good idea?
