No balls, all books: it's July Things!

Have you had enough balls, refs and lairy lads chanting? Well, you’ve come to the right place. This is Things, and it has absolutely nothing to with football.

No balls, all books, check out our top picks from this month’s post, below!

Kitten Rain: It’s Gonna be A-OK as Long as the Cats Dance

“I’m Santiago, an artist and illustrator that likes cats very much,” reads the website of London based illustrator Kitten Rain. One look at this project It’s Gonna be A-OK as Long as the Cats Dance, or any of his other projects for that matter, proves his point. The square-format zine features a compilation of drawings and comics about cats and “the long wuthering road to being a-ok” and is brimming with the musings of chilled out, though slightly haughty cats.

Lucy Kirk: Dirty DIY: A Postcard Book

Lucy Kirk is a London-based illustrator and ceramicist whose distinctive illustrations have made their way onto It’s Nice That a time or few. This time, it’s her pocket-size book of dirty DIY postcards which have caught our attention. With the ability to tear each one out, the book is full of humorous black and white postcards for adults to draw on, write on or complete however they see fit.

Aga Giecko

Originally from Lublin in Poland, illustrator Aga Giecko moved to London to study at Camberwell College of Arts – from which she recently graduated. Her work comprises of wobbly line drawings depicting volcanos, fish and, more often than not, bananas with big googly eyes. The latter is certainly true for the three yellow and black postcards she kindly sent us. In one scene bananas lounge in bed, while in another two bananas torture another banana with a disembodied banana head. The final postcard shows a banana playing the flute and dancing. Bananas!

Aisha Franz: Shit is Real

Next up is this hefty graphic novel by German illustrator Aisha Franz. 287 pages long, it tells the story of Selma who experiences a series of “reveries and setbacks” after an unexpected breakup. The story follows Selma as she struggles through life, switching between realism and fantasy scenes which see Selma talking to fish in the swimming pool of her apartment block, for example. Printed entirely in black and white, the novel is completed in Aisha’s signature sketchy, hand-drawn style.

Pink Noise Zine

Created by Moira Letby and Anastasia Glover, Pink Noise Zine is for women interested in DJing and electronic music production and this is its second issue Do It Yourself. Rather than focusing on the negative gender imbalance that exists within the music community, Pink Noise Zine “sets out the rise above it” and give female artists recognition. Based off of a survey, issue two overs technical and practical information on how to DJ and produce music while also featuring interviews with the likes of Discwoman and Meat Free.

Jérôme Ruillier: The Strange

Our second graphic novel of this month’s Things comes in the form of The Strange by Madagascan illustrator Jérôme Ruillier. The novel follows an unnamed, undocumented immigrant who tries to forge a new life in a Western country where he doesn’t speak the language. Told through myriad viewpoints, each narrator recounts a tale in which they encountered the immigrant. The narrators vary from those who employ and feed him to those who report him, adeptly portraying the struggles many immigrants face every day.

Sindroms

Sindroms is a biannual “journal of monochrome states of mind”. Curating its content based on specific colours, “investigates them across culture”. After focussing on red for its first issue, Sindrom has turned its attention to all things yellow. With contributors including Wang & Söderstrom, even the adverts in Sindrom are yellow.

Still

The artists featured in Still “challenge creative conventions in form and/or content and include an eclectic range of international creators,” describes the opening paragraph of the latest issue (issue six) of the magazine. With a host of brilliant photographic contributions from the likes of Daniel Everett Eyal Pinkas, Still is predominantly a literary publication featuring fiction, nonfiction, poetry, essays and translations from emerging talent and more established names.

Tanyth Berkeley: The Walking Woman

Designed by Elana Schlenker and Christina Labey, The Walking Woman is an “extended portrait” of two women. Throughout the book, photographer Tanyth Berkeley documents the lives of Ruth and Spice, two strangers against the backdrop of the American Southwest. The beautiful but sometimes haunting images raise environmental but also feminist questions as Tanyth suggests both to be products of a capitalist and paternalistic society.