Blue Cactus Press, paperback
Publication Date: November 11, 2023
Publisher Marketing: Multidisciplinary artists Shin Yu Pai and Justin Rueff have created Less Desolate, a stunning haiku comics book exploring Pacific Northwest and pandemic life. Less Desolate represents an hybrid literary artform that brings together the lyricism and associative qualities of poetry, while also drawing from the craft of sequential art. Within its pages, Pai and Rueff uncover the quiet moments of calm that anchor us within urban surroundings, while also contemplating climate change, poverty, homelessness, loneliness, parenting and mental health during isolation and confinement.
Less Desolate includes over 108 haiku comics panels within a hardbound cover, an introduction from comics artist David Lasky, and an author and artist interview between Shin Yu and Justin.
Less Desolate is also an important addition to the canon of Asian American literature rooted in the Pacific Northwest. It is one of the first of the interdisciplinary form of haiku comics in the U.S. Themes in the collection are wide-ranging, from climate change, civil unrest, protest, and activism to urban poverty, crime, homelessness, and life during the COVID-19 confinement.
