By John Cei Douglas (Liminal 11)
ISBN: 978-1-912634-23-1 (PB)
These days we’re all locked up in our own heads as much as in our homes or inescapably foredoomed lives, constantly in search of solutions to ease anxiety, however we can. Here then – in timely fashion and most serendipitously – is a sublime gem in the conceptual mould of Tove Jansson, laced with oblique yet helpful ruminations on healing mindfulness and enjoyed as a voyage of genuine inner discovery.
Not only is the message calming and helpful – and delivered in beguiling imagery guaranteed to restore your weary disposition – but it also guarantees a solidly entertaining mystery journey helping to moderate your hunger for physical travel and fresh experience.
Crafted in dreamy, silent passages, All the places in between follows a pensive girl by a barren seashore as she fretfully, nervously but determinedly passes from ‘All the places we’ve been’ to ‘All the places we’re going’…
On the way she meets her exact opposite and is cast ‘adrift’: occupying ‘the lighthouse’ before finding civilisation drowned and devastated. Time drags ‘between’ before isolation draws her to ‘the city’ where she finds ‘a companion’ to care for.
Eventually that temporary relationship sunders, ‘buried’ in the wreckage of the world and dwarfed by insurmountable chasms prior to a ‘tsunami’ that brings resolution of sorts as ‘the lighthouse returns’, prompting a revelatory resolution in ‘space’…
Filled with delightful human moments, and not a book to summarise, but definitely one to look at and wonder over and over again, John Cei Douglas’ oneiric ramble is a calming and enticing trip we can all benefit and draw comfort from.
© 2020 John Cei Douglas. All rights reserved.
Today in 1913, Mickey Mouse Sunday strip illustrator Manuel Gonzales was born, as was British strip maestro Harry Bishop (Gun Law, Bonanza, Tarzan) in 1922. Anticipating an end to war and no need to boost morale anymore(!!) Milton Caniff’s armed services strip Male Call ended today in 1946…
Max Allen Collins (Road to Perdition, Ms. Tree, Batman, Dick Tracy) was born in 1948, and Matthew Dow Smith (Astronauts in Trouble, Doctor Who) in 1950, with Dan Mishkin (Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld, Blue Devil) turning up in 1953 and Claudio Castellini Nathan Never) arriving in 1966.
Today in 1983 Hergé left us, as did Italian Disney superstar Giovan Battista Carpi in 1999.