Apparently we in the United States and Canada are now known as "occupied Turtle Island." Well! Who knew! Thanks, Students for Justice in Palestine! I'll be sure to change all my documents.
Guess I'll pack up and go back to...where do I come from now? 🧐 🤔 🤨 🤦♀️
Meanwhile, as long as we're rewriting history, maybe we'll get in our time machine and ask some questions about who's indigenous to Judea. Or where the First Nations came from when they crossed the Bering Strait.
We should probably also adjust all the borders that were shifted after WWII. And WW1. And the Norman Conquest. If we're talking indigenous return and kicking out occupying powers, maybe we should look at Occupying China's repression of the Uighurs. Or Myanmar and the Rohingya. How about Yugoslavia? Sudan? Eritrea, Ethopia, hell, let's just start with what used to be Prussia! Saxony! How far backward and forward to we want to push this thing? Are there enough boats, planes and trains to return everyone back to what they perceive as their ancestral land? I mean, Lincoln proposed it during Reconstruction. Most newly freed people rejected it.
There's such a thing as HUMAN MIGRATION. Human population movement. We're actually in the middle of one of the greatest periods of global population shift in history, right this very minute. Have we got time to separate the grains of sugar from the grains of salt? Humans move. We mix. In the age of 23 and Me and Ancestry.com, are we really having this conversation?
This is all so pointless.
This was honestly one of my favorite pieces of the year to work on. If you'd like to get your hands on this special illustrated edition of Nicholas Kotar's novella Son of the Deathless, you can get it through our Kickstarter here:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1402845448/jolabokaflod-christmas-book-flood-in-a-box
We're so grateful that we were fully funded in about 4 hours, so there are new perks opening up for everyone! We're almost at our 3rd stretch goal, which is very exciting. Go on over and choose your level!
My husband Ben is creating a series of short book trailers for BERLINERS, and I swear, each one is better than the last! Here's the first! Feel free to share on your social media!
This isn't the official trailer, but I wanted to talk about how the idea for Berliners came to me. You can pre-order at https://bookshop.org/books/berliners-9780593428375/9780593428368 and, you know, that other place that starts with an "A".
Hi all,
Since I haven't been as active on here as in the past, I'm going to officially disband this Locals community. If you'd like to stay tuned with my work, the best way to do that is via my email newsletter. Just go to https://vesperillustration.com and at the bottom of every single page there is a newsletter signup. I don't send a ton of mail, just important updates like appearances and new projects. Let's see if I come back in the future, but for now, if you've been a supporter, feel free to end your support and stay in touch via the newsletter or Instagram (@vesperillustration). Thanks to all of you—nothing's over, just paused!
Vesperisms Community, dears:
I'm so excited to announce today that I am doing a collaboration with fantasy author Nicholas Kotar (the Raven Son series, and the fabulous fairy tale/fantasy podcasts In a Certain Kingdom and Fantasy for Our Time).
The dead will rise. The living will fall. The Deathless will reign...
This collaboration is a very special edition of Kotar's novella, Son of the Deathless, available in hardcover with illustrations by none other than Yours Truly—just in time for the Holidays! Here's an illustration in progress to whet your appetite.
With book design by Graphic and Surface Designer for film and television, Heather Pollington (Harry Potter, Malificent, Marvel, and more.), this is going to be a beautiful, gift-worthy edition that will be perfect for yourself or for your holiday giving. Son of the Deathless is one of those cozy winter reads that you want to pair with a warm beverage, a blanket and a crackling fire.
So how does one obtain this ...
