Description

---

An absurdist, psychedelic crime fantasy / graphic novella from an acclaimed artist and printmaker.

The Astounding Magnus has been hypnotizing audiences at the Feedbag cocktail bar with his resplendent dancing dog act, Salome, and her “Serpentine Dance of the Seven Veils.” Yet despite his success, the pearl of life has lost its luster for Magnus. He visits the psychologist, Dr. Silkini, who promises to massage Magnus’s id into a higher dimension: the pearly gates of full life satisfaction. Meanwhile, Salome’s crowd-pleasing performances have attracted unwanted attention from sinister forces who want to know the dog’s secret.

Daria Tessler’s new graphic novella, Salome’s Last Dance, showcases her phenomenal talent for incorporating elements of collage and pen-and-ink illustration to create a beautifully phantasmagoric experience under the guise of an absurdist, psychedelic fantasy (including an extended visual tour de force depicting a hallucinogenic tea trip), one that favorably compares to Yellow Submarine or the comics of Jim Woodring. Tessler’s rich ear for language and sharp sense of humor also liven every inventively stunning page of Salome’s Last Dance.

About the Author

---

Born in Finland, Daria Tessler is a cartoonist and printmaker based in Portland, OR. Her books include Cult of the Ibis, Loop of the Sun, and Music of Changes. She also creates silkscreen prints, stationary, and more that are found on her website animalsleepstories.com.

Praise For…

---

"[An] absurdist fantasy, rendered in hallucinatory ink drawings and collage."
— The New York Times

Tessler’s art has always existed at a self-created intersection between archaeology and alchemy, piecing together folkloric texts and historical artifacts in order to conjure something unique from disparate elements…[Her work] feels very much like a vision channeled from a cosmic source beyond the reach of most of us mere mortals.
— Four Color Apocalypse

Daria Tessler combines collage with pen-and-ink work to create phantasmagoric illustrations as she unfolds the story of a jaded nightclub performer’s attempt at reviving his joie de vivre, which results in an interdimensional catastrophe.
— Library Journal

Incredibly imaginative, and there are lots of little visual gags hidden around the edges that make it a real pleasure to read again and again.
— Cinema Sentries

Tessler’s illustrations, dense with imagery, invite the reader to slow down and look for visual jokes.
— Real Change News