Nevermore: The Oval Portrait

Posted at 7:11AM, Nov. 17, 2007

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So, what's Nevermore?

Nevermore is an antholgy of Edgar Allan Poe stories, published by Self Made Hero (an imprint of Metro Media Ltd, the people behind the recent Manga Shakespeare series).

There are nine stories here, all presented in comic book form. But, what makes Nevermore different from most other attempts to illustrate stories by Poe, is that this one seeks to reinterpret the stories in a new light, avoiding the more literal "Gothic" presentations with which readers of Poe will be all too familiar.

So, why am I telling you all this?

Well, partly because there's some cool stuff in this anthology. The writers responsible for adapting the stories for comic book include Leah Moore and John Reppion, Jamie Delano and Jeremy Slater. The artists responsible for bringing those adaptations to life include Steve Pugh, Shane Oakley and John McCrae.

That's part of the reason. The other part is because I've got a story in there, too. (Woo hoo!)

So, what's The Oval Portrait?

The Oval Portrait is the short story by Poe which I chose to adapt and which has been illustrated by UK indie artist Natalie Sandells.

Poe's original story tells of a guest's fascination with the portrait of a young woman, hung in the room in which he is spending the night. Reading about the painting in a catalogue, he learns the secret behind the portrait - the story of how the artist's obsessive love for his model eventually killed her. (You don't get many happy endings with Poe!) In our version, we made the painter a 1960s David Bailey type photographer and - to make the "story within a story" rather more visual, we replaced the catalogue with a casual dinner party conversation. I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out!

So, where can you buy a copy?

You should be able to get a copy of Nevermore in any book shop which carries graphic novels but, since it's winter and I just know you won't want to go out in the cold, you can also buy it online. In fact, buy it at Amazon and, right now, it'll only cost you £7.79 instead of the usual RRP of £12.99.

A bargain if ever I saw one!

Posted at 4:11AM, Nov. 18, 2007

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Hooray! Self Made Hero, the publisher of Nevermore, has now sent us some sample pages that we're allowed to use for promo purposes, so I can actually show you what the book looks like!

I've posted the sample pages at my main website. Start with the sample page for my story, The Oval Portrait, and then click on the image to see the next.

(Note: Each sample page is a collection of images from different pages, so don't expect them to read through fluidly!)