M.S. Harkness is going on tour to celebrate the release of Time Under Tension, a smart, funny, no bullshit work of autobiography! She’s joined at Floating World by Léonie Bischoff (Anaïs Nin: A Sea of Lies) and Caroline Cash (PeePee PooPoo) for a reading and book signing.

Time Under Tension is a smart, funny, no bullshit work of autobiography, a story of searching for dignity in a world that rarely affords it and taking agency of adulthood in the face of so many easy excuses not to. Harkness’s bold, precise black-and-white cartooning and eye for storytelling invites the reader in, while her sharp wit and naturalist ear as a writer takes it away from there. Never didactic, always real, Time Under Tension is a spirited and assured work of graphic memoir.

The cartoonist Léonie Bischoff traces the life of the prolific writer in the lushly colored Anaïs Nin: A Sea of Lies. It begins with Nin struggling to reconcile the man she married (who had artistic aspirations) with the banker she finds herself living with in the Parisian suburbs. Soon, her obsession with June Miller leads to inspiration. Nin’s life and art, the truth and fiction, are further intertwined as she recounts her many sexual liaisons including those with Henry Miller (whom she and her husband subsidize so he can write the controversial Tropic of Cancer), her psychoanalysts, and even her father. Although Bischoff’s drawing is largely representational, she occasionally depicts Nin’s sexual experiences in scenes as surreal as Nin’s own written portrayal of them.

Caroline Cash’s gay, modern take on the ‘60s underground comic continues! In the newest issue: Victoria’s Secret, lesbians, Chicago, and more late-night bad decisions.

WHO: M.S. Harkness, Léonie Bischoff & Caroline Cash
WHAT: Book reading and signing
WHEN: Sunday November 5, 4-6pm
WHERE: Floating World Comics, 1223 Lloyd Center

 

Tags: Caroline CashFantagraphicsLéonie BischoffM.S. HarknessSilver Sprocket