[Thursday, December 20, 2012
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{ A MICHAEL NUHN REVIEW }
The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories: Volume 2 is a deceptive little tome. For one thing, it's
actually less tiny than the first: although there are five fewer contributors this time around (62 vs. 67), Volume 2 is roughly 50% longer than Volume 1. For another, it's extremely hard to review without resorting to words like "cull" and "gamut," which sound like a good way to describe the submissions but don't really explain anything. There's also the artwork — it's contributor-generated, just like the text, but The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories and Artwork That's Roughly Postcard Sized just doesn't have the same ring to it.
This second installment preserves all the great elements of the first — it's digestible, but when you reread it you find lots of details you missed the first time. The artwork and the stories enrich each other and create whole worlds and entire lives, sometimes using less ink than a signature. The real genius behind hitRECord is the same, as well. The stories and artwork are uploaded to the hitRECord website by a thriving, positive, collaborative community of artists. Some of the stories and sketches are created by the same person, some are the result of writer and illustrator collaboration requests, and some are remixes or adaptations of work in the community database. The end result is as close as you can get to tangible zeitgeist — you can actually pick up the thoughts and feelings of an entire community and put them on your shelf.
The book itself boasts a higher expensive production value than the first, with slicker textures and debossed art and type. The two look comfortable sitting on a bookshelf together, though, with complementary color schemes and matching artwork, and they'll doubtlessly accompany their upcoming 2013 sibling prettily.
You can browse inside the book here and learn more via Joseph Gordon-Levitt below:
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