7 minute read!

Yesterday a package arrived in the post. As I popped the tip of a Stanley knife and took it to the tape, I tried to remember who would be sending me exciting box post.

It was full of The Book of Murmurs.

I was instantly taken back to 2018.

Excerpt from the original web comic, The Summer of the Shenk . 2018

I began writing The Summer of the Shenk as a stream of consciousness. I was back in hospitality after a year in Yorkshire working with Idle Women. That tome of a graphic novel was on hold and I needed something to keep me focussed.

My comic life began in 2013 with Loup Garou, a weekly strip that I drew for fun. The self-imposed deadline worked, so I decided to try a similar approach with a narrative project.

These drawings of The Goblin and Little Moon are from 2016. The Goblin was a little bit more like a small bear. Cat and dog and gnome and troll all rolled in to one. They had grown out of the the grasses and the gorse, the shadows and shapes and the trees of Scottish landscapes I’d walked.

“Hiding in the summer smells like coconut gorse bushes and sounds like flies.”

Indeed.

The tale between these two characters had been growing steadily in my head for a couple of years so the web comic felt easy at first:

These early images show how little the beginning of the story changed over the years. It’s strange to see everything in black ink, grayscaled into the tones and textures I needed. Quick to draw and quick to dry.

Long Loup Garou episodes were written to be scrolled through in one continuous story because I’d never learned how to tidily paginate when I was building my website. The Shenk manifested in the same way.

The images often sat narrowly on A4 paper, round panels taking up unnecessary space, centrally aligned text. I liked how it meant that sometimes all you’d see was arms and eyes. A screen full of monster.

The online comic stopped in 2019. I must have become busier with other things. Perhaps a sack of mushrooms like this one. And then it was 2020…

I was lucky enough to have freelance work during the turbulence of the lockdowns. I lived alone out by some hills and got to go into nature when it was safe to do so. I finished ‘Idle Women on the Water’ and worked on a commission or two while the Covid-19 Pandemic traumatised the globe and swallowed our years like oysters. Gulp. Gulp. Gulp. It still casts such a shadow over us…

I’m not sure what brought me back to The Shenk in 2021 but that year, amidst the chaos, I decided to send it out to a publisher.

Comics are still a little bit feral and many of the big publishers read unsolicited manuscripts. I drew these character cards, numbered the pages that appear on the previous extract, condensed the vague mess of a story the into a synopsis, crossed my fingers and sent it all into the void.

I didn’t get the publishing deal of my dreams but a generous editor sent me some constructive criticism.

They told me that the story was a bit too complicated (I’m not sure I ever fixed that one). They couldn’t see what age I was aiming the book at (also something that might still be a grey area). How about some colour? (I was terrified of colours. What medium do I use? What colours? Do you know how many colours there are? A. Lot…)

I considered my next steps.

It was a chance conversation that same year. A summer walk with an author friend of mine who nudged me towards applying for funding.

I asked Creative Scotland for three months worth of money and told them that’s all the time I needed to complete a whole graphic novel. It was black and white and the first chapter was done so it would be easy.

At first I got an email telling me I didn’t get the money. My friend had warned me that this was a likely scenario and that I might have to tweak my application and try again. Then a few minutes later I got a phone call telling me the email was a mistake and I had actually got the funding (!!!)

The Shenk, Little Moon, The Goblin, Heron, Catwitch, Oja and a Librarian . 2023 .

I didn’t write a complete graphic novel in three months because it was impossible.

However, in between work and feeling really guilty, I had a pencilled draft by the end of 2022. During this time the characters began to take on real personalities and drove the narrative in directions I hadn’t anticipated. Writing felt exciting and that December I sent a newly drafted (still black and white) first chapter and a more coherent synopsis out again.

More good feedback but no takers.

So I decided two things. I would try colour. And I would self publish the comic as a series.

I literally turned over the pages I had spent that year drawing and began again. (Paper is expensive).

Introducing colour gave life to the world of the Fault in a way I hadn’t anticipated. It made me see the plethora of tales the characters told in a new light. The Shenk is a story about storytelling and suddenly it made sense to separate these moments out of the main narrative. The black and white of the folk tales became a reprieve for my colour-fatigued brain and a nod to the comic’s monochrome roots.

My partner and I got to spend August 2023 in Prague. She was learning marionette carving and I was drawing comics. Prague is a beguiling city for visual artists and getting to be immersed in its puppet culture was really special. The Tiger and the Crow was born in this city and I think it’s dark carnival setting is testament to that.

Then we came home and I set myself the most ridiculous deadline yet…

Covers for the original comic series . 2024 .

We now refer to 2024 as ‘The Year of the Shenk’.

I wrote, drew, printed, promoted and sold a chapter of the graphic novel a month until it was finished. The colour parts were 24 pages and the black and white were 12 pages. There were 12 parts altogether and 12 months in a year and my pattern based brain nodded and said ‘This. Is. Perfect.’

But the book wasn’t written written. I’m not entirely sure it had an ending. I was writing as I drew, combining the improvisation of the early storytelling with the abject terror of having to finish a book a month. I started a Patreon and I love that handful of folk who joined to this day. Their support ensured that every other batch of comics was guaranteed so I only had to worry about funding for the main chapters.

When I got a last minute table at Thought Bubble in November ‘24 it became the beacon of an ending. Somehow I managed to finish everything by October. It was my first ever comic fair and I apologise to anyone who tried to talk to me. I was a wreck by that point.

Murmurs in the wild by wonderful editor Conrad Groth

My last act in 2024 was to send a packet of comics, spells and all, to Fantagraphics. I went to sleep for December and the rest is history.

I spent 2025 in edits with the wonderful Conrad Groth and trying to remember my name, but that’s a story for another time. I can feel the years in this post!

As of writing, I am on the brink of launches and events for what is now The Book of Murmurs.

LAUNCH! - Lighthouse Books . Edinburgh . 14th May . 7-8pm

Signing - Gosh Comics . London . 30th May . 1-2pm

Event TBA - La Belle Aventure . Edinburgh . 13th June

The image below are two of the limited edition of sketchcards available at the Gosh! event. Come and celebrate with me! And thank you to any and all of you who supported this project while I was writing it or have been into it since. What a world this comics life is.

The Goblin Comic Library

The Book of Murmurs