Welcome! This is a PREORDER 

Swallows is a graphic novella (at 50 pages) which follows several interlinked stories with a general focus on my grandfather Antonio Santospirito, his migration to Melbourne Australia from the Aeolian island of Salina in the 1890's through to his death in 1959. Set across a few continents and times, Swallows looks into migration and how we map stories in our landscapes and cities. 

Migration, movies, pop culture, paintings and train stations - Melbourne is the central character. Cities are not just buildings, but are psychic holographs that live within our minds and souls. The heady recipe that has created the city of Melbourne has been one part concrete and one part poem. Swallows dwells on ideas about the migration experience and its effect on the heart. 

The early drafts were first written in 2013, and (at the time of writing) it is almost finished - all my favourite projects are a labour of love, and this is one of them. I got the germ of the idea after my dad Tony gave me and my siblings a copy of a booklet he'd made which told us all about our grandfather, who died before any of us were born. My grandmother was a very prominent Italian woman in Melbourne and I always heard about her, but I hadn't known much about Antonio and his story and I was fascinated. 

The book will also contain an essay about Melbourne Italians which will also include a series of drawings of Italians footballers who've played for the Carlton Blues - including Serge and Stephen Silvagni, Anthony Koutoufides, Fevola, and current player Andrew Carrazzo. 

In May/June we will get cracking on the book design and in July we'll get to printing for RELEASE IN AUGUST!
Maybe some Booklaunches! WOW

Swallows is only part one of what I plan to be a three part series. 

This is a direct preorder that will go directly towards the cost of the print-run.
We hope to print 1000 copies of Swallows, which might last quite some time, (we hope it doesn't last long). 

Any extra money gained over the cost of the printing will assist with the extra printing costs, and the costs of Nadine Kessler's beautiful book design. If you haven't come across Nadine's book design work - you really should check it out at NADINE'S WEBSITE (hint - she recently did David Walsh's autobiography, the owner of MONA in Tassie). 

Breakdown of Costs
* Printing 1000 copies of Swallows = $8000
* Book design costs = $4500
TOTAL = $12500

Breakdown of money sources 
* Pozible = $4500
* Crowbar Initiative funding (if Pozible is successful) = $2000 (From Arts Tas - Yay! Arts Tas)
* Josh's personal funds = $6000
TOTAL = $12500

It isn't really possible to make money off comics in Australia - this is really all about getting stories out into the world, and into as many people hands as possible - which is the most exciting bit about book-making.

Producing a book is a LOT of work!!! 
With Nadine Kessler on board, we have a better chance of making this a smooth process because she is very experienced with book design and has been producing some incredible books in recent years with some very prominent clients (check out her website). 

I will be finalising the art for the book by the end of May - which is achievable, which gives Nadine plenty of time to finish the design of the book by the end of June - allowing some weeks for the printing. There are ALWAYS unforeseen issues that are inherent to the printing process and we will have to work them out when they crop up. 

August is the aim because we'd like to have book launches in Melbourne, Hobart and Sydney in August, September and October. It's these launches at certain festivals that will keep the deadline VERY strict - there's a lot of work to do: so I'm off to finish off some work right now before BED! Ciao xo