Yesterday I opened the PO box to find a package from Lisbon. I have a publisher there, Editorial Bizancio. Luis Alves and his wife discovered my work on line years ago when they were starting a new book publishing company. I was their first comic collection... since then they also publish Baby Blues and Zits book collections for the Portugal market.
Stone Soup drew their eye because it translates literally... Sopa de Pedra, which is the national dish of Portugal. The fairy tale for which my strip is named is part of their culture, making how that relates to my cast of characters an easy jump for them. Besides... family life is family life, and the (barely) controlled chaos of the Stone Soup family is familiar territory to parents around the world.
"Estado de Sitio" translates into "State of Siege." This cover art is from a cartoon where Joan is saying "The children are winning". I think it's a great title, and maybe Luis should pick my book titles from now on.
If you are wondering why you've never seen this book cover or title in English... Editorial Bizancio chose to publish the 5th book collection, "Not So Picture Perfect", in two parts (it's a substantial 320 pages).
It's really fun to look through a translation of the strip. The dialogue is interesting to peruse... here's Val and Phil running late for a movie—
And then there are the sound effects, like CRASH! —
And finally, even though I don't speak Portuguese, I think I know what this means:
Speaking of book titles...
readers have been asking if there's another Stone Soup collection in the works. The answer is yes... in fact, there are two. The first will be officially released in January, but hopefully available for order in the fall, before Christmas. The second will be a June release. Book publishers everywhere are struggling, but Four Panel Press, with it's singular focus (me) and devoted founder (M.S.) marches on. I am truly blessed.
Title ideas anyone?
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