Sneak Peek – Palace of Memories

I’m excited to announce that I’m officially working on a new graphic novel! Palace of Memories / Palais des mémoires is a black & white sci-fi/fantasy tale that will clock in at ~160 pages. Test Page — The Wanderer

Palace of Memories is the story of Ilyana, a fierce warrior and the exiled heir of the fallen kingdom of Atlantia, a desert kingdom far to the south. Traumatized by the loss of her family and her homeland, Ilyana wanders strange lands, driven by drink and unfocused rage, on a path to self-destruction.

Sketch of Ilyana

All this changes when she meets Argen, a Northern witch who has studied the secrets of black magic. Despite their differences of culture and temperament, the two women become fast companions… But their newfound happiness is threatened when the ghosts of the past come knocking.Test Page — Ilyana Arrives

The seeds of Palace of Memories are to be found in a story I began in 2011, “Memento Mori,” the first (and only) chapter of which was published in my fantasy anthology ELFWORLD.  There have been some major changes since then… Not least of which is that I’ve drawn two graphic novels in the interim and know what I’m doing a bit more, haha!Page from Memento Mori, 2011

Palace of Memories shares a lot of DNA with TITAN, which was written after I set aside “Memento Mori” and in fact incorporated some of my ideas for the earlier story, but it’s very much it’s own thing at this point. Like TITAN, Palace of Memories uses the structures of the sci-fi form to examine elements of politics and interpersonal relationships while exploring a world that darkly mirrors our own. The book touches on a wide range of themes, including ecological and cultural evolution, the power of memory and nostalgia in both political movements and personal life, national identity and emigration, and the conflict between domestic happiness and the desire for power and wealth. The story is a mix of influences, including a dose of Frank Herbert, a bit of Fritz Leiber, a big helping of Gene Wolfe, and as always a good amount of Ursula K. Le Guin in the mix.

The plan is to draw Palace of Memories over the next year-and-a-half, with a release in 2021 in French followed by an English version shortly thereafter. I’ll definitely be posting behind-the-scenes updates here my blog and on my Patreon as I go, but I won’t be serializing the book in its entirety online here or anywhere. There are a good amount of twists and turns to the plot and I’m going to try my best to keep things spoiler free as well.

Thanks so much for your continued interest in my work! I’m really excited to be able to share Palace of Memories and much more with you in the coming year!