Polyglot & Spleen - a whimsical comic book profile picture

Polyglot & Spleen - a whimsical comic book

About Me

The continuing whimsical tale of seekers who travel through the lands of literary transliterations, mystical ruminatios anachronistic destinations & gothic imaginations...

Seraphemera Books:
The publisher of Polyglot & Spleen
A gothique boutique publisher of handmade books, handmade journals, gothic novelties, new writer chapbooks, comic books and more...

..
Polyglot & Spleen is another Goth comic.
Two kids, who dress in a lot of black (with splashes of purple and red and *gasp* white), in Victorian clothing and fishnet and face paint - with imaginations that border upon the creation of reality.
They go out into the world and talk to people, find adventure, learn something about themselves. They begin to realize that there is so much more to the world than what they had been taught, and as much as their desirous imaginations demanded and dreamed.
They have friends with names like Norbert Phinneas (named after the Knickerbocker School writer N.P. Willis) and Franston (who is, happily, named after nobody).
Polyglot has moments of being a computer technician. Spleen works in her Uncle Grumble’s bakery.
Wait a moment...reconsidering, this doesn’t sound like a Goth comic at all. Where is all the angst and gnurl? The tower and the gor(e)y? (Where is all of the merchandise without even having a story yet told?)
Uh...Spleen likes to bake cookies in the shape of bats. For every holiday. Green bats in March. Red bats in February. Of course, orange bats for Halloween.
Polyglot helps people understand the un-understandable world of computers. He isn’t sarcastic about it either. You may even find him on the other end of your frantic call for help.
They begin to see that all of their actions, chance encounters, no-such-thing-as-coincidences, are leading toward...that which they cannot (quite yet) put into words...and if I did, would give away the story.
Suffice that the tale is one of evolution come quick...of tasty desserts...of music...of lyric...of beautiful clothing...of the comings and goings of people...of stories that seek truths and truths that seek what comes after...of stories that will extend over the life of the comic as opposed to small tales that expire and never return.
Thus, in the midst and betwixt of the daily and the divine, the darkness of the cloth and the lightness of an actual smile, the wings of dragons and bats and angels give breeze and set in motion a series of events that may or may not be believable to any other than Polyglot & Spleen. To them, however, there is no doubt that these happenstances are real. And that belief, as with any good experience, is all that is necessary for vision to shift, knowledge to flow, and the world to change in ways you will have to read to see.



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My Interests

I'd like to meet:

We'd like to meet...Dragons, Unicorns, Pegasi (the plural of Pegasus), Bats, Wyverns, Hippogriffs, etc.

click to purchase POLYGLOT & SPLEEN #1

The first book of Polyglot and Spleen (Gothic Dreams or How I Met My Spleen part 1) introduces us to our title characters in a fantastical trip through 1600s England, 1800s London, dreams, whimsical cinemas, the Minotaur's labyrinth, a performance by a most magnificent violinist and a run down an alleyway that leaves Polyglot wondering whether or not the shadowy figure that has haunted him all these years, might be the most beautiful girl he has ever met.

36 pages - ISBN 0-9778989-2-X - $3.99

click to purchase POLYGLOT & SPLEEN #2

The second book of Polyglot and Spleen (Gothic Dreams or How I Met My Spleen part 2) brings our two protagonist together for the first time. However, shyness, starts to rule the day and it takes the teamwork of their friends Norbert and Franston, a book dragon and a free-tail bat, to bring them together - using their shared love for Tennessee Williams' play Camino Real. Once the veil is lifted, a midnight picnic ensues and with Mr. Moonlight granting sight, and a plea to Von Eldritch at hand, we conclude the story of how our beloved characters came to meet for the first time.

40 pages - ISBN 0-9778989-5-4 - $3.99

click to purchase POLYGLOT & SPLEEN #3

The third book of Polyglot and Spleen (A Night with the Elders part 1) begins with Polyglot's internal narrator throwing a bit of a fit which leads to a trip to the local bookstore to search for a birthday present for Spleen's Uncle Grumble. While at the store, the ever-accepting Lily Stiny approaches our duo. While introductions occur, the chivalrous Edward Stiny defends our duo, striking up a friendship, and leading to a dinner invitation and a most magnificent doorway - which leads to...?

Also inside, a recipe for Spleen's Bat Cookies.

40 Pages - ISBN 0-9778989-6-2 - $3.99

click to purchase POLYGLOT & SPLEEN #4

The fourth book of Polyglot and Spleen (A Night with the Elders part 2) finds Edward telling the tale of the Stiny clan - from patriarch Darby's birth in 1799 in Boston, through Darby's years in the circus, flight to Paris on the back of a Pegasus, as an apprentice to Etienne Gaspard Robertson (the master of the Phantasmagoria), to New Orleans, back to Boston and a reuniting with his childhood love Dahlia. Thus begins a dance through four generations of the Stiny clan, cameo appearances by historical figures such as the aforementioned Robertson, H. H. Richardson and Dr. Solomon Andrews. Thus begins the relocation of the family, house and all, to Figment Texas on the wings of Pegasi and The Aereon - a most magnificent and historical aeroship.

48 pages - ISBN 0-9778989-7-0 - $3.99

click to purchase POLYGLOT & SPLEEN #5

The fifth book of Polyglot and Spleen (A Night with the Elders part 3) concludes the two hundred year tale of the Stiny clan. At the helm of The Aereon, Darby and Dahlia (the Stiny patriarch and matriarch) along with four generations of their family and the last clan of Pegasi, move ever so southward to lands left to Darby by old friend Bernard Leroux. This book is a story of stories, including Dahlia's reminiscence of the circus, Figment the Pegasus' revelation of the tale of the birth of her children, a retrospective upon Darby's seventy seventh birthday, and the result of the reconnaissance of the Sonora Aero Club - all rolling into The Last Flight of the Lost Kind - a parable on what it is for the mythological to survive in our modern, and non-imaginative age.

52 pages - ISBN 0-9778989-8-9 - $3.99

click to purchase POLYGLOT & SPLEEN #6

The sixth book of Polyglot & Spleen begins our third story arc - "A Muse Is Not Simply To Amuse". Here, the story turns back toward our main characters. Finally, we get our first glimpse of Polyglot in his role as computer technician while simultaneously Spleen, in her Uncle's bakery, receives a rather odd pastry request. Their day finished, the story segues into night with Polyglot & Spleen taking a trip to their local club for Dance of the Living Dead - a costumed event that is half dance marathon, half competition for the prize of tickets to the opening show on the Absinthe Faith tour. Of course, all these events are entwined with our heroes' usual whimsical turn on the world - the least of which is their costume choice for the event. Hint: The costume inspirations are mentioned in book three.

40 pages - ISBN 0-9815516-0-9 - $3.99

click to purchase POLYGLOT & SPLEEN #7

...is the second book in the "A Muse Is Not Simply To Amuse" story arc. Here, the night ends (with the winner of the dance marathon revealed) and dawn begets a breakfast at a diner when sleep has not yet occurred. There, at Benny's where one hundred some-odd varieties of pie await our humble protagonists, they meet Mel - who may or may not be amused, may or may not be a muse, and may or may not lead Polyglot and Spleen to meeting Hepseybeth Knight...the lead singer of Absinthe Faith.

44 pages - ISBN 978-9815516-1-6 - $3.99

My Blog

Polyglot & Spleen 8 delayed...

(The following is being cross-posted to all things seraphemera - myspace / livejournal / mailing list and whatever else there is in this modern disclosure age)It is the end of November.In the back of ...
Posted by on Sun, 30 Nov 2008 16:13:00 GMT

Review in Gothic Beauty 26

The current issue of Gothic Beauty talks about Polyglot & Spleen. Thanks to Jonathan Williams for championing our cause!
Posted by on Thu, 21 Aug 2008 18:49:00 GMT

Polyglot & Spleen 7 now available

Hello Friends of Polyglot & Spleen!We hope this finds you well.This small note is to inform you that book 7 of our beloved Polyglot & Spleen is now available!This is the second book in the "A Muse Is ...
Posted by on Tue, 29 Jul 2008 12:27:00 GMT

comicpalooza...video link inside

seraphemera books and polyglot at comicpalooza on saturday july 19th...video link
Posted by on Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:00:00 GMT

copywrong. hee hee

A number of months back I finally got around to sending our books in to the Library of congress. Months later, I have received no confirmation of filing, but the checks have cleared long ago.Happily,...
Posted by on Sun, 16 Mar 2008 08:08:00 GMT

Polyglot & Spleen 6 - available March 22nd!

Available March 22nd!
Posted by on Sat, 15 Mar 2008 20:49:00 GMT

Polyglot & Spleen at STAPLE!

Thanks to everybody at STAPLE! (http://www.staple-auston.org) for planning / hosting / attending such a great event.
Posted by on Sat, 15 Mar 2008 20:47:00 GMT

See us at STAPLE! Expo in Austin - March 1st

We'll be at the STAPLE! Expo in Austin on March 1st
Posted by on Tue, 04 Dec 2007 20:48:00 GMT

cover for issue 5 - available dec 30th, 2007

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Posted by on Tue, 04 Dec 2007 20:45:00 GMT

cover for issue 4

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Posted by on Tue, 04 Dec 2007 20:41:00 GMT