‘Shards Of Time’ Series Moves

Into Its Second Chapter

By Shannon Hicks

While the release of Mark Aldrich’s second book is coming a little quieter than his debut book did in 2001, the publication of Shards Of Time: Decision At Dover is no less a cause for celebration.

The Sandy Hook author and illustrator has spent the last year working on the second book in a planned 15-volume graphic novel series “Shards of Time,” which concerns the adventures of a group of architectural preservationists. Introduced in last year’s The Poison Swamp, this year the members of Sisters for the Preservation of Old Landmarks, or The SPOOL Society, find themselves onboard the luxury ocean liner The Normandie, constructing a house in the shape of a martini glass, and fighting with each other.

The “sisters” of the society, it should be pointed out, are cats. Each character is named for a different country and each book follows one character in particular while the other “sisters” are also involved. For Decision At Dover the principal characters are Bargello Doré (a/k/a Kusanagi Tsokaga, “Hollywood screenwriter and master swordscat, and aesthete extraordinaire”) and Stiletto Doré (whose Japanese name is Wakizashi).

This second book in the series is heavily influenced by Japanese culture, which Mr Aldrich did a lot of reading about before delving too deeply into the writing of the book. The girls’ names translate to “grass cutter” and “short sword.”

Last year’s debut novel was accompanied by at least two exhibitions of Mr Aldrich’s original artwork. The “Shards of Time” series is a series of graphic novels –– fictional stories for adult readers presented in comic strip format and published as books. Graphic novels were originally published as the collected set of a series of monthly or weekly comic books, which allowed readers to “consume the whole story in one go, rather than having to wait for each new issue to come out before you can read on. And frankly, it’s our preferred way of consuming comics,” explain the editors of Grovel.org.uk, a source for graphic novels and their history.

Occasionally readers find graphic novels that have been specifically written to form a longer book, the editors also explain. This is the category Mr Aldrich’s books find themselves in. Like other reading materials, graphic novels can be followed by a reader’s enjoyment of a particular artist, author, or genre. Graphic novels are written in adventure, crime, drama, fantasy, horror, humor, mystery, love story and sci-fi genres among others.

Shortly after the October 2001 release of his first book Mr Aldrich was honored with an exhibition at C.H. Booth Library in Newtown that offered panels and text from the first volume as well as the book covers for the full series, which have already been completed. That show was followed by a similar exhibition in July 2002 at Small Space Gallery at Arts Council in New Haven.

Mr Aldrich is hoping to present similar exhibitions of the artwork from his second book within the next few months.

Decision At Dover has been printed by Miracle Graphics of Bethel, the same firm that handled the first volume in “Shards of Time” for Mr Aldrich. Thanks to some suggestions by the staff of the graphic design company –– including drawing closer to scale –– the asking price for the second release is a little lower than the first book. While The Poison Swamp was priced at $37, Decision At Dover is being sold for $25.

Proceeds from the sales of the new books will help Mr Aldrich finance the creation of reproductions for the future exhibitions.

The outlines of all 15 stories have already been written, and Mr Aldrich plans to flesh the details of each as he works on each volume.

For the second book the author and artist decided to use additional art mediums: watercolor and pastel.

“I took some risks. I was a little afraid while first using the watercolors and pastels,” Mr Aldrich admitted this week, “because my usual mediums are colored pencil and marker.”

The author and artist said he is happy with the results of the new works, and he should be: the details are fascinating, the colors are strong, and the subtleties that the author has injected into the storyline makes it an enjoyable read. Panels pay homage to artists as wide-ranging as the American painter Edward Hopper, a number of Japanese artists, and even the 1934 Boris Karloff-Bela Lugosi feature film The Black Cat.

Next in the series will be To The Snakehouse, for which Mr Aldrich has already begun collecting source materials. The third book will be taking place in part in the Amazon, so Mr Aldrich has made trips to the library to read up on its images and transportation. He has even contacted the Brazilian consulate who replied to his email, Mr Aldrich said, “with a very nice note recommending some good source materials.”

A former set designer, Mr Aldrich was a self-taught artist until 1986 when he began attending art school. From 1985 to 1988 he did coursework in architectural history, course design, illustration, and graphic design at Paier College. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of California at Los Angeles and a master’s in history and a library media specialist’s degree from Southern Connecticut State University.

Since the mid-1980s Mr Aldrich has been involved in freelance art projects including the creation of a mural for the exterior of a fish market on Black Rock Turnpike that used the talents of teenagers from homeless shelters and emotionally disturbed high school students.

Mr Aldrich is currently the library media specialist at Garner Correctional Institute in Sandy Hook, a job he had held since 1996. He also teaches college level speech and communications classes at the prison.

To purchase The Poison Swamp and/or Decision At Dover,  Mr Aldrich can be contacted by calling 426-9327 or sending email to MarcusAldrich@snet.net.