Comics 4 All Podcast

I had a great time Sunday afternoon doing a LIVE podcast for Jameson Rohrer's "Comics 4 All" show. Jameson is a librarian with a passion for comics in general and graphic medicine in particular, so we took some deep dives into those subjects plus pretty much my entire life as a cartoonist. 

Two notes: 

1. The Australian psychiatrist whose name I couldn't remember at 24:40 is Neil Phillips. To be fair to me, I haven't seen him in nine years. To be critical of me, I bought two pieces of artwork from him, so I probably should have been able to conjure his name.

2. I didn't realize until I watched some of the replay that I was blinking weird. I just want to reassure viewers that my twitchiness is not due to an undiagnosed neurological condition, but because I have terrible hay fever irritating my eyes right now and my choice was to either blink weird or claw at my corneas with my fingernails. I think I chose wisely.

Thanks to Jameson for the invitation and his time, I appreciate it!

No Kings Day 2026

Karen and I getting into position for the start of the march. My "Antifa" sign got some attention from people who said they'd also had relatives who served in World War II and had partly come to honor them, as I did. Grandpa fought fascism; I figure I owe it to him to do the same.

Karen and I made a little good trouble in Santa Rosa, Calif. this afternoon. Our daughters were also with us, but I only post photos of them (as adults) with their permission, which I definitely didn't have. Demonstrators gathered in two areas and then converged on Old Courthouse Square in the center of the city. 

Police estimate attendance at 6,000; the local newspaper says 12,000. I honestly lean toward the lower end of that range, but will say that I've been in that square for a lot of events, including a past demonstration that drew about 5,000 people, and it was much more packed than I've ever seen it. Like a summer Saturday at Disneyland. 

This stream of demonstrators, which included us, approached from the south. Another stream approached from the north. We converged in the heart of the city.

A giant bird marionette in Santa Rosa's Old Courthouse Square. Contrary to common belief, the building with the clock tower in the background is NOT the old courthouse, which was razed decades ago. However, that building, which is called the Empire Building, does make a cameo in Hitchcock's "Shadow of a Doubt," so I like to include it as a landmark when I can.

As always, demonstrators were good-natured good citizens. Karen and I both thought that the march wasn't as well organized or policed as past marches. There was some poor traffic control and confusion. Organizers needed more people shepherding the crowd.

Quibbles. As our family discussed afterward, the real value of these things isn't imagining that the four of us made a real difference. It's being part of a community. Letting each other know we're not alone. Being a pebble in an avalanche, a snowflake in a blizzard. 

That's worthwhile--at least it's worth a couple of hours on a nice Saturday afternoon.

I ran into two good old friends, Jana and Bill. Nearly forty years ago we were all chemists working in the same lab. Bill in particular was sort of a mentor to me. Now none of us is still a chemist and we meet up at demonstrations. Two of the smarter and better people I know.

I liked this.

A slightly higher, standing-on-a-planter-box angle on Old Courthouse Square as it filled up.

Mom's Cancer in the Press Democrat

My hometown newspaper, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, published a feature today about me and the Mom's Cancer Anniversary Edition. Writer Dan Taylor has been a real champion of local arts in general and comics in particular, and it was good to talk to him again.

Dan also interviewed my friend MK Czerwiec, who did me the favor of writing a new foreword for my book. I wasn't surprised that Dan quoted MK, since I asked her permission to give Dan her contact info, but I was surprised he also reached out to librarian, teacher, and graphic medicine wrangler Matthew Noe, who luckily for me also said nice things. Thanks to them both!

Two quick stories about the photo. Photographer John Burgess, who is a pro's pro, came to my studio and tried to wring some liveliness out of me. He was joking "Work it, work it!" and got me laughing, until I said to him, "Here's the thing. I don't want to look like I'm yucking it up promoting a book about my mother's cancer." John immediately switched gears. "Got it. Mona Lisa smile." Click.

Second story about the photo is that in the top left corner you can see an out-of-focus stained-glass hummingbird hanging in my studio window. Mom made that, and my sisters graciously gave it to me after the fire. If you'd like to interpret that as Mom literally watching over my shoulder, be my guest.

PNW

Karen and I are home from a vacation in the Pacific Northwest to celebrate our anniversary. We spent three days in Seattle and two in Victoria B.C. I figure you don't really want to hear a long travelogue or see my 200-photo slide show, so just assume we saw and did all the things, got lucky with the weather, and had a great time.

Instead, I'll tell three stories in two photos. First is a spray of glass flowers by Dale Chihuly at the base of the Space Needle. Karen and I agree that the Chihuly Garden was a breathtaking highlight of our trip, a guaranteed must-see. 

Second is two stories in one photo. Story 1: there's a great bookstore in Victoria called Munro's that had one copy of the "Mom's Cancer Anniversary Edition." So if any readers in the vicinity want an autographed copy of the book, Munro's has one. I didn't stealth-sign it; I asked a clerk (I'm always astonished that when I say "I wrote this book, do you want me to sign it?" nobody ever asks for I.D.) and they put a sticker on it, so it's official. 

Story 2: We discovered a neat little hat shop in Victoria called Roberta's, where I finally found a hat I like. I've been looking for one for a long time, but choosing a hat is no simple chore. It's more like the hat has to choose you. So I explained to the clerk that I used to have a fedora-like hat I loved but lost years ago, and I've been looking for one since. I tried on the one I'm wearing in the photo and said, "I like it, but I don't want to look like Indiana Jones."

She replied, "Oh, I don't think you could ever look like Indiana Jones."

To which I said, "Thanks, that's very nice--HEY!!"

But she was good-natured about it so, despite the insult, I bought the hat. 

Good trip.

250 Words on the Colbert Questionert: Part One

[I try to start my day writing 250 words on anything. I’ll post one every Tuesday until I run out of good ones.]

Talk show host Stephen Colbert sometimes challenges his guests to take the “Colbert Questionert,” which he says is meant to reveal a person’s soul but is mostly for fun. Since Colbert’s final “Late Show” episode airs May 21, I will never get the opportunity to have him quiz me (as if I had a chance otherwise), so I’ll share my answers here. 

His questions vary, but have included: 

Best sandwich? Reuben, although I could make a case for classic grilled cheese.

First concert? In high school, I took my friend Andrea to see Victor Borge. We were nerds. He was great.

Scariest animal? The spiny candiru fish of the Amazon, which reputedly swims upstream into human urethras, although scientists say those claims are exaggerated. 

Apples or oranges? I like both but if forced to choose: apples.

Cats or dogs? I have loved both but if forced to choose: dogs. 

Earliest memory? I remember climbing out of my crib.

Exercise: worth it? Absolutely! That doesn’t mean I will do it.

Have you ever asked someone for their autograph? Apollo astronaut Dick Gordon signed a model of his command module for me. Generally, autographs don’t mean much to me. I’d rather have a conversation. 

What happens when we die? I think we are the sum of the thoughts, personality, knowledge, and memories contained in our brains, and when our brains are gone, so are we. There's beauty in that. 

Favorite action movie? “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”

More Colbert Questionert next week!

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250 Words on Reframing

[I try to start my day writing 250 words on anything. I’ll post one every Tuesday until I run out of good ones.]

I once read about a foreign diplomat who met with the elders of a remote village and was offered a cup of tea. The tea was a revolting, nearly undrinkable sludge, but it would have been a grievous insult to refuse. 

“Then,” he said something like, “I found that if I didn’t think of it as tea but rather as soup, it was actually pretty good.”

That stayed with me. Adjusting your perception of a situation can entirely change your feelings about it.

For example, we’ve all had a driver speed past us, weaving dangerously through traffic just to get a minute ahead. “They must be a surgeon on their way to an emergency operation,” I joke to anyone in the car, but I’m half-serious. I remember driving through the city at 2 a.m. to get to my wife in the hospital before my daughters were born, and strictly following traffic laws was not my top priority. 

Yes, the driver in that careening car is probably an angry, rude, arrogant idiot. But I don’t know that, or them, or what’s going on in their life. I might have looked exactly like them racing to the hospital in the middle of the night. Since I can’t do anything about it anyway, reframing the situation is a good way to get on with my day a bit less stressfully. 

I don’t know you. You don’t know me. Nobody’s always at their best. Let’s try to afford each other a bit of grace. 

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PLEASE SUBSCRIBE! I am sharing these little "250 Words On" essays via Substack, which will email a new one to your In Box every Tuesday morning. Just follow this link and enter your email address. It's free, and I promise to never use your address for evil purposes.

Book Launch by the Bay

Evidence of how beautiful a day on the Bay it was. This was on the ferry to San Francisco (if you're not familiar with the geography, the skyline of S.F. is just out of frame to the left). Alcatraz is on the right and the Golden Gate Bridge is in the background. Clear skies to the horizon.

Had a pretty good event at the Book Passage Bookstore in the San Francisco Ferry Building yesterday. Turnout was light--fewer than a dozen--which the store manager warned me might happen. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day in the City, and she explained that in her experience people would rather enjoy a blue-sky afternoon on the Bay than in a bookstore. 

Still, I got to take my new Mom's Cancer: Anniversary Edition talk for a spin (verdict: solid!), sold a few books, and met some good people. In addition, as my friends and readers may recall, yesterday was my daughters' birthday so we made a whole family day out of it.

Stack of books by the door. Book Passage actually stocked copies of ALL my books for people to buy, which is unusual. They went the extra mile.

My introduction. Most photos by my wife, Karen (thanks!).

Cartoonist/teacher/fellow-Abrams-author Justin Hall showed up to interview me as part of the program. I’ve met Justin a few times but don’t really know him, but his questions were so good and thoughtful, and our discussion so lively, it was like we’d planned and rehearsed it for weeks. I wish I could take him everywhere. Thanks so much, Justin! I owe you.

Justin Hall really did a fantastic job with this Q&A. As a cartoonist himself, he asked all the right questions and built thoughtfully on my answers without getting too deep in the weeds for "civilians." I could have talked with him for hours, and wouldn't mind a chance to do that sometime.

Book Passage had a nice display of Abrams books, which I was happy to see.

When you write a book like Mom's Cancer (or A Fire Story), you meet some extraordinary people in the signing line, and yesterday was no exception. My last was an older woman who’d just happened into the store while waiting for her ferry, and explained that her daughter had died of cancer three months ago and left her to care for her two grandsons. She cried, I almost cried, and she bought the book to help explain to the kids what had happened to their mother. 

Other graphic novelists don’t make those connections.

Thanks to Book Passage and Justin for a good launch on a great day.

The Book Passage store is inside San Francisco's historic ferry building, which for several months has been guarded by a giant woman made of steel and chicken wire. This sculpture was controversial when it was installed but I think people have come to appreciate her. I do.

Here's how hard my day's transportation was: the ferry that we took from Larkspur Landing to San Francisco, the "Mendocino," is on the right. The Book Passage store, as shown by the sign above the pedestrian walkway, is on the left. That's a short commute. When we were done we had dinner nearby and then caught the same ferry back toward home.

Happy Birthday, Pooters

Their first birthday party. More parties followed,
including one later today. They're neater eaters now. 

The Ides of March have had a bad reputation since 44 B.C.--thanks, Caesar!--but at least for me the date was redeemed when my daughters were born on it. Happy Birthday, Laura and Robin. Thank you for making me a Dad!

See You at S.F. Book Passage, Sunday at 2 p.m.

S.F. Bay Area Friends! If you find yourself near the San Francisco Ferry Building this Sunday, March 15 at 2 p.m., I'd sure appreciate it if you'd drop by the Book Passage Bookstore, listen to me talk, and maybe even buy a copy of Mom's Cancer: Anniversary Edition. I can think of worse ways to spend a beautiful day in a beautiful city! Thanks.

https://www.bookpassage.com/event/brian-fies-mom%E2%80%99s-cancer-anniversary-edition-ferry-building-event

The Intellectual Life #28

A Peek into the Intimate Intellectual Life of a Long-Married Couple, Part 28:

Me: "Can this serving spoon go into the dishwasher?"

Karen: "Yes."

Me: "I never know which can and which can't."

Karen: "Two of them are stainless steel and can go in the dishwasher. One is silver-plate and shouldn't."

Me: "I can't tell them apart."

Karen: "They're very different."

Me: "Not when you're only looking at one of them."

Karen: "The sliver-plate spoon has a daffodil pattern."

Me: "Now I have to be a BOTANIST?!"

Karen: "It's pretty obvious."

Me: "I'll just keep asking to be sure."

This has been a peek into the intimate intellectual life of a long-married couple. 

Review: "I Felt Myself In It."

Here's an insightful review from writer Susan Palmer, shared with my thanks. Nobody's opinion of Mom's Cancer means more to me than that of someone who's been through it themselves. 

"I didn’t understand until I read Fies’s book the kind of deep skill it takes to bring the right words and the right images together. His mother’s journey was quite different than mine. Yet I felt myself in it. For anyone in any stage of that landscape, I imagine the book may have that effect."

250 Words on the Next Guy

[I try to start my day writing 250 words on anything. I’ll post one every Tuesday until I run out of good ones.]

Rebuilding my home taught me one nearly universal constant: no matter what trade you’re dealing with—concrete, framing, electrical, HVAC, tile, flooring, painting—the next guy you call in will tell you that the previous guy didn’t know what he was doing.

(I’m using “guy” generically, recognizing that both men and women can be skilled professional tradespeople, although my experience is limited to men.)

“Who put in this 20-amp circuit breaker?” asks the first guy. “Were they trying to burn down your house?” He puts in a 30-amp breaker.

“Who put in this 30-amp circuit breaker?” demands the next guy. “Were they trying to burn down your house?”

You seldom find such staggering levels of confident incompetence as you do when building a home. We did have a good prime contractor, and what made them good was that they recognized the work of bad subcontractors and corrected it fast. We also learned quickly ourselves.

It’s hard not to conclude that documents like the National Electrical Code or state Building Code, which to a layperson seem like detailed engineering manuals with explicit regulations for every situation and contingency, are matters of opinion and debate. More guidelines than rules, really.

I’ve mentioned my observation to a couple of tradespeople we've hired to do work for us, and every time they seem unamused and deeply insulted. And then they take a look at whatever the project is and say, “Whoever did this didn’t know what they were doing! Good thing you hired me!”

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PLEASE SUBSCRIBE! I am sharing these little "250 Words On" essays via Substack, which will email a new one to your In Box every Tuesday morning. Just follow this link and enter your email address. It's free, and I promise to never use your address for evil purposes.

BOOK EVENTS AHOY!

I wanted to announce three upcoming book talks and signings for the release of the Mom's Cancer: Anniversary Edition so you can put them on your calendars. Heck, why not attend all three? (Nobody but me should do that.)

March 15 at 2 p.m. I will be at Book Passage in the San Francisco Ferry Building. That's next Sunday already! Book Passage is one of the great West Coast independent bookstores that big-time authors make sure to hit when they're in the Bay Area, and they've always been good to me. 

April 9 at 7 p.m. I will be at the Copperfield's Books store in Montgomery Village, Santa Rosa, Calif. Copperfield's is another great indie chain whose support has meant a lot over the years. They're a real champion of local authors, with terrific managers and staff. 

May 16 at 2 p.m. I will be at the Charles M. Schulz Museum, also in Santa Rosa, Calif. I've attended and participated in so many events at the Schulz Museum that it feels like my home away from home, and the ones they held after the 2017 wildfires are personal and professional highlights for me. 

The last two events are not yet on their respective hosts' event calendars, but trust me: I'm booked.

I have other podcasts and interviews in the hopper, which I'll be sure to announce as they emerge. I have no real book tour planned. Those are a lot harder to come by these days. However, if any bookstore within the sound of my electrons is interested in hosting a talk and signing, please let me know!