About a year ago, I found myself wondering about a collection of cartoons Walt Carr had put together called
Just Us! He had supposedly self-published it in mid-2019, but over a half a year later and I couldn't find any way to buy a copy! On a whim, I did some searching again just now and found that it is indeed
now available through some independent sellers on Amazon! (I can't find it at
Powell's or on
BookShop.org however.) The Amazon page even lists a 2019 publication date although, as I said last year, it was very much not available via Amazon at that time.
I also happened across
this Washington Post piece from September that, along with a decent biography of his life so far, also notes that his book tour got cut short because of the pandemic. In trying to read between the lines a bit there, my guess is that he's basically selling these out of the proverbial back of his trunk. That is, he's selling them to bookshops on a one-on-one basis and, given that he doesn't seem to have a website or online store, probably only in-person. Meaning he's selling
at the most a handful at a time. It's a very pre-internet business model (which, given that he's almost 90, shouldn't be all that surprising) and I suspect he's doing it more for the sense of personal accomplishment than actually trying to make any money. (I know that's how I approached
my book on fandom -- I haven't kept track lately but despite publishing it over a decade ago and only doing them POD, I'm pretty sure I'm still technically in the red on that project! It was more about doing it for the experience and being able to say I did it than about making any money on it. Although, hey, if you'd like to
buy a copy, I'm not averse to some additional sales!)
Last year, I found mention that Carr was doing some illustrations for a Pamela Woolford book. That doesn't seem to have come out yet, but there is
a dedicated site to the book,
Disrupt/ed (a mem-noir), and an associated film,
Interrupted: Prologue to a Mem-noir. Some of Carr's early character sketches for the book can be seen if you scroll down a bit. I'm not sure if Carr has completed his work on that or not, but that
Post article I referenced quotes him as saying as hoping to start on his next book soon, so I presume he's close to, if not completely, finished with his work on that by now.
Anyway, I am glad to see he's still pressing ahead. I'm pleased that I was able to order a copy of
Just Us! and I'm looking forward to reading it. I hope I'm still as sharp and active as Carr is when I get to be his age!
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