About the Author

Born in South Africa, John Dunning has lived in London since graduating from university. He has written for The Guardian and Metro newspapers, and has contributed to magazines like Esquire, GQ, Arena, iD and Dazed & Confused, to name a few. He also acted as features editor at Port magazine. Writing comics is Dunning’s main passion. His work appeared at London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts as a part of the Comica Festival in 2003, and his series `Salem Brownstone’ with artist Nikhil Singh in award-winning UK anthology Sturgeon White Moss alongside work by Charles Burns and Daniel Johnston. Extracts of `Salem Brownstone’ were included in the book `Pictures and Words’ that also featured work by Marjane Satrapi, Joe Sacco, David Shrigley, Jason and Jim Woodring. He is curating the show 'Comics Unmasked: Art and Anarchy in the UK' at the British library in 2014 as well as writing the accompanying book with co-curator, comics critic Paul Gravett.

Nikhil Singh was born in 1975. His artwork has appeared in magazines internationally, including GQ, Dazed & Confused, Sturgeon White Moss, Creative Review and Art South Africa, amongst others. Aside from his illustration work, Nikhil performs in his post-punk band.

Reviews

A wonderfully imaginative and stylish piece of work and a perfect example of the

adventurous new directions that comic books should be taking in the future.
*Alan Moore, author of Watchmen and V for Vendetta*

John Dunning and Nikhil Singh have crafted a haunting, hypnotising master of the mystic arts in Salem Brownstone. Their sharp, surprising storytelling and intense, imaginative illustration combine to create real magic on the page.
*Paul Gravett*

Salem Brownstone is a hypnotically beautiful gothic fantasy
*Jefferson Hack, Dazed & Confused*

Salem Brownstone kicked my ass and made me believe in the beautiful darkness of the world again.
*Harmony Korine*

Salem Brownstone is a graphic novel that is both original and compelling. There's a seamless relationship between the images and the text, and the characters linger in the mind.
*Anthony Minghella, Director of The Talented Mr Ripley and The English Patient*

Our new century demands a new charismatic comic-book magician to weave his spells on us. Updating classic conjurors like Mandrake and Doctor Strange with a twist of Oscar Wilde and Aubrey Beardsley, John Dunning and Nikhil Singh have crafted a haunting, hypnotising master of the mystic arts in Salem Brownstone. Their sharp, surprising storytelling and intense, imaginative illustration combine to create real magic on the page.
*Paul Gravett*

So thrilling are Salem's adventures, you are torn between galloping through the fluidly told story and lingering on Singh's lovingly languid panels writhing with bizarre, Lovecraft-inspired demons… Rarely has a comic book felt so sensual; your eyes demand time to caress each swirling curl and line…. I for one wish for another Salem Brownstone book
*The Metro*

An extraordinary-looking Gothic graphic novel, with a plot to match
*The Sunday Express*

Delightfully intricate, trippy and surreal
*The Financial Times*

A beautiful-looking graphic novel... The artwork is gorgeous; intricate and stylised, with flowing Art Nouveau lines reminiscent of Aubrey Beardsley and Alphonse Mucha
*SFX Magazine*

A stylish and cult-forming graphic novel which blends gothic with psychedelia in a gripping tale
*The Bookseller*

Deliciously strange and wonderful
*Forbidden Planet*

An extraordinary, sexy, obsessive, decadent thing of wonder
*The New Statesman*

Inside you will find beautifully defined graphic images that marry up with the text extraordinarily well… If this is the future of graphic novels then we are headed towards exciting times indeed.
*Devolution Magazine*

A tactile and visual joy; an artefact that makes you happy just to hold it in your hands.'
*The Guardian Review*

If it doesn’t become an instant cult classic then the goths of this world are losing their usually impeccable taste.
*The Sunday Herald*

Eye-catchingly beautiful book
*School Librarian Journal*

Who would have thought that a children’s book publisher like Walker would get behind such a creepy, quirky, freaky tale of a teen-magician..
*Paul Gravett*

Weird and wonderful
*Carousel*

A beautiful, strange book, and one that would make anyone glad to have read it
*Inis*

The elegant, intricate pen-and-ink illustrations on the oversized pages are as unpredictable as the text, switching seamlessly from gothic to magic to starkly realistic to reflect Salem’s odd journey; the moody yet controlled black lines often recall Aubrey Beardsley in their languid blend of stylish and disturbing.
*Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books*

This lovingly produced graphic novel has a flavour of 1970’s underground comic book art with Art Nouveau leanings and sharp contemporary humour.
*Books For Keeps*

Here is a book both exotic and exquisite, a delight to the eye and a call to the imagination. The visual appeal of the book is striking. Singh’s confident line drawings conjure vertiginous angles and complexity, contrasting the sharp clarity of faces against a backdrop of extraordinary detail. The alchemy of Dunning’s imaginative storytellng and Singh’s illustrations make Salem Brownstone a book to explore at leisure.
*The Independent*

Gr 8 Up-A telegram arrives, informing Salem Brownstone of the death of the father he never knew. The loss leaves him holding the key to his father's mansion and its strange contents. There he meets a mysterious contortionist in possession of a scrying ball and, as Jedediah Brownstone forewarned his friends, the deathly Shadow Boys have come for it. Like Alice going down the rabbit hole, Salem descends into Dr. Kinoshita's Circus of Unearthly Delights, and the eerie adventures take off from there. Singh's artwork in this oversize book is similar to Edward Gorey's surrealistic pen-and-ink illustrations. It lends itself perfectly to Dunning's dark tale. Fans of H. P. Lovecraft, Lewis Carroll, and Edgar Allan Poe will enjoy this eerie graphic novel.-Lisa Gieskes, CA Johnson Preparatory Academy, Columbia, SC Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information.