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Interview

Derek Evernden p1

READERSVOICE.COM aims to collect a few interesting reading tips. One-panel gags have a long history. They were ubiquitous in magazines in the mid- to late 20th century. The best one-panel gags were just humor for humor’s sake. Bogart Creek Volume 1 by Derek Evernden continues the tradition. It's like the dark side of the far side.

READERSVOICE.COM: Where did you go on your vacation?

DEREK EVERNDEN: I vacationed in England just outside of London, visiting family for the holidays. Got around to Oxford and Wales and really enjoyed a hiking/driving trip through Snowdonia [a mountainous region in North Western Wales].

RV: What are some of your favorite fiction and nonfiction books of all time, whether or not they are about humor?

DE: The “of all time” title is tricky because I can’t help being biased towards books that had a recent impact. Most of these are from the last five to 10 years.
Non-Fiction:
A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy (by William Braxton Irvine); Solitude: A Return to the Self (by Anthony Storr); The Hidden Life of Trees (by Peter Wohlleben); How About Never – Is Never Good for You?: My Life in Cartoons (by Bob Mankoff), and How to Catch a Mole (by Marc Hamer).
Fiction:
Favourites from my youth: The Princess Bride (William Goldman), The Illustrated Man and October Country (Ray Bradbury), The Running Man, Different Seasons, and Graveyard Shift (Stephen King).
More recently I’ve really gotten into detective/crime stories. I love anything by Raymond Chandler (The Big Sleep, The Lady in the Lake) or Dashiel Hammett (Red Harvest, The Continental Op); the Jack Taylor series by Ken Bruen, the IQ series by Joe Ide, The Kenzie & Gennaro series by Dennis Lehane, and the Cormoran Strike series by J.K. Rowling.
I always come back to King and recently very much enjoyed Joyland, The Outsider, and The Institute.
Graphic Novels: Ed Brubaker’s Criminal series, Blacksad (Canales and Guarnido), Essex County Vol. 1: Tales from the Farm by Jeff Lemire, and The Park Bench and Alone by Christophe Chabouté. And The Invention of Hugo Cabret and Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick are beautiful blends of literature and sequential art.