The Secret Library discussion

Thanks to Troy for suggesting the first graphic novel in The Secret Library!

Shooting War by Anthony Lappé and Dan Goldman was originally published as a serialized web comic, which was greatly expanded for the hardcover edition from Grand Central Publishing. The Eisner-nominated web comic is still available online and we encourage you to read the webcomic if you can't find a copy at your local library or bookstore.

Shooting War is the near-future story of Jimmy Burns, a video blogger who is in the right place at the wrong time and becomes an overnight Internet celebrity. Soon, Jimmy is video blogging (or "vlogging") from a war-torn, occupied Iraq instead of the Starbucks around the corner.

We'll be discussing Shooting War on the podcast sometime in May; watch this space for further details.

Cool, this will be a good excuse to read the whole book now. I read about 5-6 chapters of the webcomic, I'll probably get the hardcover from Amazon to give the authors some love and compare it to the webcomic.

Further proof that I've got some excellent local libraries: I got home from recording the show, logged on to my library's website and had a hold placed on Shooting War in about two minutes. A quick check of my account status reveals that the book is waiting for me to pick it up (and that I've got $1.00 in overdue fees).

Don't discount your local library, minions! If you don't already have a library card, get one and use it!

Or just buy the book, if that's more to your liking, Mr. Moneybags.

Was it the ONLY copy again, Johnson? Did you drain the Cleveland Public Library branch of the ONLY copy?

Heh. Maybe I'll see if I can pick it up at the comicshop up the street.

Can I help it if I'm a quick draw when it comes to nabbing these books from the library? Gotta catch 'em all!

If it makes you feel any better, I put the hold in at the wrong library, so now I've got to drive all the way to the Wickliffe library to get it.

To give credit where credit is due, I initially discovered Shooting War when I heard an interview with the authors on the Dragon Page:Cover to Cover podcast.