Academically Inclined

From time to time, someone like a doctor, professor, or student will cite me in an academic paper, usually for Mom’s Cancer but sometimes A Fire Story, too.* It's always a bit of a dizzying honor when smart people find my work deep or interesting enough to write about. It's especially interesting when they infer things I never implied--or never meant to, anyway--but that's OK. Once my stories are out in the world, whatever you take away from them is usually fine by me. It often makes me seem cleverer than I was.

No such reservations about this article by P. Ardhra and Sathyaraj Venkatesan, which focuses on A Fire Story in the context of climate grief, which is a good lens to see it through. I think it's thoughtful and insightful, and not just because it's quite complimentary, although I'm sure that colors my opinion 😉. 

This is the sort of recognition you never think about when you sit down in front of a blank page to write/draw something, but it turns out to be among the most gratifying. A happy unintended consequence. My thanks to the authors and the "Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics."

*Still waiting for someone to do a Ph.D. dissertation about an old man and his giant robot.