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9781419750700

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... it's a beautifully designed piece of art with a compelling, at times hilarious, story behind it. -- The Hollywood Reporter A monumental, wildly creative new novel that pushes the boundaries of storytelling. --Foyles An alien invasion story like no other [that] raises the bar for science-fiction. --The Big Issue Compulsively readable. Its ideas are grand, and it moves like a thriller. Come for the lush design, stay for the Clarkeian ideas and sly sense of humour. --SFX Every single page has been meticulously crafted, appearing exactly as the author intends. Not a single piece of punctuation is without point or purpose. --Sci-Fi Now To have conceived, written, and designed a sci-fi extravaganza on the intricacies of AI where complex, nuanced typography is essential to the narrative structure, and in effect redefined the structure of the graphic and illustrated novel is nothing short of miraculous. --Design Observer Vastly ambitious, XX is the most astonishing blend of narrative, meta-narrative and visuals. Real 'wow' moments and big ideas combine with brilliant typographical flourishes to create the Moby Dick of sci-fi. --The Daily Mail XX ... delights in exploring design's potential to amplify meaning. ... That does not mean XX is a triumph of appearance over content ... like the best pulp tales, it keeps you turning the pages, engages with big ideas and delivers an authentic jolt of awe as it takes its galaxy-spanning conceit to the limit, and then some. --Neville Hawcock Financial Times XX is a page turner that transcends the typical alien story, becoming an engaging treatise on the nature and development of written language and its indelible impact on human culture. -- The Boston Globe How can UK graphic design, illustrator, comics artist, author of a stack popular culture books, and now novelist, do it all?...to have conceived, written, and designed a sci-fi extravaganza on the intricacies of AI where complex, nuanced typography is essential to the narrative structure and, in effect, has redefined the structure of the graphic and illustrated novel, is short of miraculous. --Steven Heller Design Observer The combination of hard sf elements and Hughes's background as a cartoonist create a vivid, expansive reading experience. This will especially interest readers who are excited by hybrid novels that blend traditional and illustrative formats. -- Library Journal

... it's a beautifully designed piece of art with a compelling, at times hilarious, story behind it. -- The Hollywood Reporter A monumental, wildly creative new novel that pushes the boundaries of storytelling. --Foyles An alien invasion story like no other [that] raises the bar for science-fiction. --The Big Issue Compulsively readable. Its ideas are grand, and it moves like a thriller. Come for the lush design, stay for the Clarkeian ideas and sly sense of humour. --SFX Every single page has been meticulously crafted, appearing exactly as the author intends. Not a single piece of punctuation is without point or purpose. --Sci-Fi Now Vastly ambitious, XX is the most astonishing blend of narrative, meta-narrative and visuals. Real 'wow' moments and big ideas combine with brilliant typographical flourishes to create the Moby Dick of sci-fi. --The Daily Mail XX ... delights in exploring design's potential to amplify meaning. ... That does not mean XX is a triumph of appearance over content ... like the best pulp tales, it keeps you turning the pages, engages with big ideas and delivers an authentic jolt of awe as it takes its galaxy-spanning conceit to the limit, and then some. --Neville Hawcock Financial Times XX is a page turner that transcends the typical alien story, becoming an engaging treatise on the nature and development of written language and its indelible impact on human culture. -- The Boston Globe How can UK graphic design, illustrator, comics artist, author of a stack popular culture books, and now novelist, do it all?...to have conceived, written, and designed a sci-fi extravaganza on the intricacies of AI where complex, nuanced typography is essential to the narrative structure and, in effect, has redefined the structure of the graphic and illustrated novel, is short of miraculous. --Steven Heller Design Observer The combination of hard sf elements and Hughes's background as a cartoonist create a vivid, expansive reading experience. This will especially interest readers who are excited by hybrid novels that blend traditional and illustrative formats. -- Library Journal

"""... it's a beautifully designed piece of art with a compelling, at times hilarious, story behind it.""--The Hollywood Reporter ""XX ... delights in exploring design's potential to amplify meaning. ... That does not mean XX is a triumph of appearance over content ... like the best pulp tales, it keeps you turning the pages, engages with big ideas and delivers an authentic jolt of awe as it takes its galaxy-spanning conceit to the limit, and then some.""--Neville Hawcock, Financial Times ""XX is a page turner that transcends the typical alien story, becoming an engaging treatise on the nature and development of written language and its indelible impact on human culture.""--The Boston Globe ""A monumental, wildly creative new novel that pushes the boundaries of storytelling.""--Foyles ""An alien invasion story like no other [that] raises the bar for science-fiction.""--The Big Issue ""Compulsively readable. Its ideas are grand, and it moves like a thriller. Come for the lush design, stay for the Clarkeian ideas and sly sense of humour.""--SFX ""Every single page has been meticulously crafted, appearing exactly as the author intends. Not a single piece of punctuation is without point or purpose.""--Sci-Fi Now ""Extraordinary stuff... There are ideas larger and more mind-bending, I think, than those I have come across in any other sci-fi novel.""--Mark Haddon, author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time ""How can UK graphic design, illustrator, comics artist, author of a stack popular culture books, and now novelist, do it all?...to have conceived, written, and designed a sci-fi extravaganza on the intricacies of AI where complex, nuanced typography is essential to the narrative structure and, in effect, has redefined the structure of the graphic and illustrated novel, is short of miraculous."" --Steven Heller, Design Observer ""The combination of hard sf elements and Hughes's background as a cartoonist create a vivid, expansive reading experience. This will especially interest readers who are excited by hybrid novels that blend traditional and illustrative formats."" --Library Journal ""To have conceived, written, and designed a sci-fi extravaganza on the intricacies of AI where complex, nuanced typography is essential to the narrative structure, and in effect redefined the structure of the graphic and illustrated novel is nothing short of miraculous.""--Design Observer ""Vastly ambitious, XX is the most astonishing blend of narrative, meta-narrative and visuals. Real 'wow' moments and big ideas combine with brilliant typographical flourishes to create the Moby Dick of sci-fi.""--The Daily Mail"

Author Information

Rian Hughes is a graphic designer, illustrator, comic artist, and typographer who has worked extensively for the British and American advertising, music, and comic book industries. He has written and drawn comics for 2000 AD and Batman Black and White and designed logos for the Avengers, the X-Men, Superman, record label Hedkandi, MTV, and James Bond. He has edited books on mid-century lifestyle illustration and custom typography, and written on semiotics, culture, and collecting vintage science-fiction pulps and paperbacks. In 2020 he was nominated for an Eisner Award for his book Logo-a-gogo. He lives in London.

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