Brian Fies is a writer and cartoonist of the award-winning graphic novels Mom’s Cancer and Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow? Although Fies lost his home, he and his wife have rebuilt and are living once again in their old neighborhood in Santa Rosa, California.
3 STARRED REVIEWS
“Drawings, words, and a few photos combine to convey the depth of a
tragedy that would leave most people dumbstruck.”
*Kirkus Reviews - STARRED review*
“Fies' personal, journalistic writing is more than matched by his
massively appealing, bright, and pleasantly old-school comics style
. . . Sometimes incorporating photographs and often communicating
emotion with color, he affectingly relates the grief, rage, and
powerlessness of losing one's home and possessions; each time he
remembers another thing he's lost—home videos he'd been meaning to
digitize, for instance—the pain feels brand-new again. Inviting,
empathy-driven, and ultimately hopeful in the face of
hardship.”
*Booklist, Starred Review*
“‘On Monday, my house disappeared,’ begins this quietly devastating
graphic memoir . . . Despite the pain he and his wife endure
sifting through the ashes, Fies goes light on sentimentality,
instead focusing on the realities of surviving the crisis and
rebuilding literally from the ground up . . . Without pleading or
preaching, this affecting record guides readers through the
experience of enormous loss, then out through the other side.”
*Publishers Weekly, Starred Review*
“…a full-length graphic novel that shifts between his own tragedy
and the larger picture of how the blaze devastated his Santa Rosa
community. Breakout stories spotlighting some of his neighbors
deepen the book’s emotional tug.”
*The Washington Post*
“Subtle and heart-wrenching.”
*Press Democrat*
“As striking as it is detailed.”
*Entertainment Weekly*
“An effective snapshot of a broad disaster.”
*io9*
“Vibrant coloring and fascinating secondary stories create a
gripping read that will attract graphic memoir fans and anyone
seeking firsthand accounts of surviving a natural disaster.”
*Library Journal*
“Brian Fies sat down with some Sharpies and some paper to process
his pain the way he knows best. He began to draw. The result is A
Fire Story . . . a webcomic that recounts the heart-wrenching
devastation the California wildfires has wrought. Fies is a graphic
novelist, one of the best in his field. A few years ago, when his
mom was battling terminal cancer, he processed his grief by writing
the comic Mom’s Cancer. It won an Eisner Award, one of the comic
world’s highest achievements. Now he’s had to do it all over
again.”
*CNN*
“The unimaginable has been laid out on the page by author and
artist Brian Fies. Brian’s own story provides the framework, but he
also incorporates the vivid recollection of others to paint a
picture of a horrendous night and its aftermath. A Fire Story is
more than just a graphic novel, it is journalism and memoir at its
best.”
*Jean Schulz, President, the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research
Center in Santa Rosa, California*
“A Fire Story is that most potent of accounts, both immediate yet
timeless. Brian Fies’s deceptively simple words and pictures drew
me in from page one, then delivered a triple punch to the gut:
clutching dread, followed by hollow despair, and ultimately quiet,
unquenchable determination. You don’t merely read this, you feel
it.”
*Richard Pini, ElfQuest*
“A Fire Story grabs you from the first page, drawing you in with
its harrowing and uplifting tale of loss, survival, and the power
of community. Fies is a master storyteller who uses his skills as a
cartoonist to create deeply personal stories with lasting
impact.”
*Jeff Kinney, Diary of a Wimpy Kid*
“‘I inhaled my neighbors’ lives.’ Brian Fies‘s description of his
first sensory encounter after a fire destroyed his entire
neighborhood took my own breath away in this powerful graphic
account of a family’s loss from the devastating California
wildfires. Though a heartbreaking read, Brian still inspires with
his honesty and humanity while taking us on a journey of recovery
after losing both home and possessions.”
*Ann Telnaes*
“A Fire Story is urgent first-person journalism, encompassing the
wider stories of fellow survivors and global climate change.”
*Paul Gravett*
“A Fire Story is a perfect storm of a book, an individual graphic
memoir that tells the larger story of a community, a comic that is
the result of both long years of work and a viral internet
sensation, a literal perfect storm of weather and human behavior
that resulted in one of the most devastating wildfires of all
time.”
*The A.V. Club*
""A Fire Story" has the feel of a touchstone book, something that
will only (sadly) gain relevance as more and more of us are
displaced by severe weather incidents that take our loved ones and
our possessions, wiping away whole neighborhoods. It's exquisitely
and subtly told.”
*Boing Boing*
“It’s a moving and informative piece of journalism, one that
relates not only the Fies couple’s ordeal, but the experiences of
others.”
*Bay Area News Group*
"Fies emphasizes the well-intentioned people who operated within,
around, and despite these bureaucratic challenges. These acts of
kindness, extended to Fies and others, made navigating the flawed
systems of rebuilding and recovery-and coping with the emotional
toll of loss-slightly more bearable, offering an important insight
for disaster scholars and practitioners." -Tilly E. Hall, Project
Muse
*Project Muse*
 |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
