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blue sparkles de sissy pantelis e vurore

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blue sparkles

here I am

I usually read accompanied by the sound of good music. I almost always choose between a touch of jazz by the master Chet Baker or I lazily listen to the Stabat Mater of Dvořák. After all they are the CDs that are almost stapled to my old CD player. These musical choices did not work with Blue Sparkles by Sissy Pantelis. So, I read the book without sound and then in the second passage through the final lap – kaaapooooom, I chose Wrath of the Lich King (OST) for a new reading – magic!

… odd thoughts …

  • In the two spreads in which the prince ventures with his mother the rags of the fog create an atmosphere of perfect melancholy – secrecy.
  • The prince’s mount, “a bird” has brought memories of World of Warcraft. How can I ever forget the gryphons of the Alliance!
  • After the talk with Feather-Horn we have three spreads with so many, but so many details – delicious – that they alone raise the bar of what can be expected. Is the step bigger than the leg? No, it was not.
  • Throughout the book one can discover immense references to works of fantasy, just throw the cards and be very careful with the queen of hearts.
  • We have Firework Dancers, Pixies and even an owl piper. Ah! And Swan Knights… So much visual detail that each spread should be read-seen-seen-read repeatedly (loop-on mode) so that nothing gets lost – okay?
  • I do not know how the collaboration between the artist and the writer was; maybe healthily sick? Watch the first panel of the story; in the anguish of the mushrooms; how much they suffer from the fiddly music of the frogs – brilliant!
  • Individualized balloons that make the characters’ voices different.
  • The moon red spread is abysmal.

Blue Sparkles is a musical book. Mysterious. A kaleidoscope of text, image and sound. Venetian masks, apple, shoe, Hansel, snow, red hood, crows – explosion. TAM. TAM. TAM.

If I already loved Sissy, the inclusion of crows was a tasty “Nevermooorrre” that made me smile with my mouth open. Dear Poe.

TAM. TAM. TAM. And the drums come to life and set the pace. TAM. TAM. TAM, in the background. Here I go to the end of a love story … Will a good story have an unfortunate end? End. Beginning. Perfidia. Mistake. Con. End of the nightmare, perhaps? Intermezzo and opening of a new chapter with a rainbow that reminds me of the Bifrost bridge, but without the presence of the mighty Heimdall.

TAM. TAM. TAM. Books inside a book and we have a wonderful library, naturally full with books, but equally filled with the tree of knowledge and a cat and a rabbit, too – Alice where are you?

A book that I read quickly, but that should be slowly tasted as a dream of a summer night, right brother Oberon?

Here are my loose and incoherent thoughts. I can do much more with a story full of changes, turns, with the introduction of details and more details and more characters around the corner.

Blue Sparkles with texts by Sissy Pantelis and drawings by Vurore is a mesmerizing book. As hypnotizing as that brown butterfly that flies through the book spying the unfolding of the story

“Are beauty and love not the most powerful magic?” – yes and also good books.

red nightmare by sissy pantelis and danilo antoniucci

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This opinion will not have an order, rather an orderly disorder.

Let’s see …

It’s not easy to make an acceptable “society” using animals that behave like humans. But the society of anthropomorphized animals created in Red Nightmare, by the perfect choice of species is an excellent “mirror” society. I can identify, in the facial expressions of animals/characters, the savagery, love, hatred, fatigue, perfidy, wisdom, fear, courage, revolt… The detail of the hyenas, the rabbit ghetto – perfect.

Danilo Antoniucci with a sturdy and musical trace created credible characters who transpired the good and the bad of humanity. If I have to choose a favorite character I point the finger at Night Wanderer: it’s the touch of humor in the story, the element that breaks the tension; the character that we envy for the freedom with which he flies for adventure.

Visually, Red Nightmare is a crazy, fun, colorful – wonderful trip.

The pages where the transition from the real world(?) to the dream world(?) occurs, are very well achieved – excellent color work.

The initial page is delicious: a towering castle, guards with an evil grin, a mother that wards off a child and the soliloquy of an anonymous actor deepens the text of the caption and so… the magic begins.

First, flip through the pages and see the images …
Second, read the text and see the images …
Third, read the pictures and see the text …
Reverse this order and mix everything up …

The text begins, from the very start, by embracing the images and soon on the fifth page we have the words ‘I can only help you see the future through me’ which will make the story take a magical leap into another more magical world – magic within magic, story within story; rabbit inside the magician’s hat. Text, image, special effects – kaboom!

Another kaboom and pause. Shock, surprise. Wow, what now?

And the words of Sissy Pantelis go along with the images and the images go along with the words without competition, in union. And the two elements well combined, oiled, offer the reader astonishment, pain, suspense, confusion …

‘CRI CRI CRI’ is fear to one and a surprise to the reader. ‘That’s … not good!’ is said – but it’s good, it’s, very good.

We have pages without text in which Sissy Pantelis boldly lets Danilo Antoniucci write with images; a wonderful writer who writes words in the silence of expressions, in the silence of moments. The reader is invited to think for himself, is gently pushed there, there, beyond.

And the story hurries, runs very fast and even flies (new inclusion of a story in the story – a bit of homage to another story, perhaps Peter, maybe Pan – I do not know!)

And when the artist and the writer finish without the consent of the reader, but with meaning, the story, I say:

You have got to be joking – it’s over?! How? And I begin to leaf through the book until, without any other solution, I place it there beside me on the shelf.

magical interview to sissy pantelis

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I first met Sissy Pantelis in The Ironic Fantastic # 1, the story “Hunted”; it was love at first letter – two “first” can be a redundancy, but it was what I could write.
She creates the most charming stories that I’ve read with words that are endearing and amusing. I can feel, always, alive the sense of wonder and imagination that inhabited Sissy’s heart and mind; completely drawn into her worlds don’t knowing if I am going to cry, laugh… hypnotic and touching words she have.
“How fine is the line between fantasy and reality? And if we unleash our imaginations, just how far will they take us?” – answers that can be found at Sissy’s stories.Shame on me for not knowing her soon – but the fault is all mine.

1. Do you have a specific writing style?

I always try to write clearly for the readers. My priority is to be understood – not to make beautiful, long sentences. I don’t think that my style is literary and complicated. I prefer short, clear sentences that people can understand and I try to keep writing in this style. I am also very attentive to rhythm issues – but this is something intuitive, I cannot explain it rationally. I am not good at long narratives and long and complicated descriptions, so I try to avoid them.

2. What books have most influenced your life?

Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream. All fairy tales and mythology- maybe Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales more than the rest. Greek mythology and Aesope’s myths. And the Brothers Karamazov by Dostoievsky – Crime and Punishment too. When I read Dostoievsky, I felt something difficult to put in words- like an earthquake in my head. I have always loved everything by Oscar Wilde and my philosophy is very much influenced by the Tao Te Ching and the Taoist Philosophers (NOT the religion – the philosophy).

3. If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?

Oscar Wilde. Also Hans Christian Andersen (he also was a major influence for Oscar Wilde) and Shakespeare with Midsummer Night’s Dream. I have found out that many of my stories were influenced or inspired (even at a sub conscious level) by Midsummer Night’s Dream).

4. What are your current projects?

My comics. If you want to know more about them, please read my interview here:
http://forums.jazmaonline.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=7235

blue sparkles

blue sparkles

Her current comics projects are, and quoting:

Blue Sparkles is a story of a cursed love. The two young lovers escape to Dreamland to be together, but even there, it seems that the curse follows them. The story is inspired by Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, one of the major influences on my imagination. Art in Blue Sparkles is by wonderful French artist Aurore Barois (aka VURORE).

Sissy Pantelis


Red Nightmare is a story about change and its consequences. It is a story of a cruel king, who decides to change after a hallucination he has while he visits a witch (whom he tortures at first). It is also about being at peace with your own self, about inner harmony. I found out that it was a very important thing and maybe one of the most difficult tasks one can attempt in his lifetime. Now, Red Nightmare is NOT a philosophy book; it is a fairy tale featuring anthropomorphic animals. As all my stories, it is first aimed to entertain and make readers dream. But change has always been an important factor in my life and the main theme of this story is change. The artist working on this story is Italian artist Danilo Antoniucci. I am extremely happy and honored that Danilo accepted this collaboration. I love his art, but I am not the only one to admire Danilo’s talent, so he has a lot of work with his own comics and I can only be grateful that he also works with me.

Sissy Pantelis


Dark Siren is the story of a young girl that discovers that she has a wonderful gift, but her gift can harm other people – especially those who offend her. The young girl is scared, so she leaves her home fearing she may inadvertently harm her family. Then she finds out that she is not alone to possess that kind of poisonous gift. Dark Siren is a special story to me. First, there is something of me in the main character of the story. For a long while, I thought that dreaming and writing was a sort of curse cast on me… To come back to Dark Siren, my young niece helped me a lot in making the story and gave me many ideas for the plot; that was a wonderful experience. And last (but not least), the artist working on this story is José Leonardo aka The Chulo. José is from Colombia and his style is very special. I believe that José has really given this story another dimension. He is extremely gifted and he is now also working on the characters of a movie (by the people who did How to Train Your Dragon).

Sissy Pantelis

I have other projects- among other things, I have one or two novels in mind, but that will be for much later so we would rather speak about them in the future than now.

5. How much research do you do?

Quite a lot actually. Most of my stories are pure fantasy and the true things in them are very few, but I need to do a lot of research to get inspiration.

6. Do you write full-time or part-time?

I write full time and I don’t wish to change this – writing is a passion and doing something else at the same time is a big mistake, I found out at a great cost a few years back.

7. Where do your ideas come from?

I am not sure. Sometimes from fairy tales; but I also get a lot of ideas by listening to music or through my dreams!!! 🙂

8. How can readers discover more about you and you work?

I am on Deviant Art: http://gliovampire.deviantart.com – I try to keep the journal updated when anything new comes out.
I am also on FB: https://www.facebook.com/sissy.pantelis and this is my author page:
hhttps://www.facebook.com/pages/Sissy-Pantelis/232168253548554
I have also created a page for Blue Sparkles:
https://www.facebook.com/PuckBlueSparkles
and José and I created a page for Dark Siren:
https://www.facebook.com/darksirengn

If you want to follow my work, you are welcome to follow any of those pages and I am always happy to see comments and answer any questions of the readers.

for 5 days 3 positive things of my life

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I’ve been nominated by Rhys Hughes to post for 5 days 3 positive things of my life

My 3 positives for day 1 are:
  1. I’m a human fan, not a electric one, of Rhys Hughes: the one writer who truly made a difference in my life.
  2. I finished reading a new story: “Trolls de Troy -18- Pröfy Blues”
  3. The barber shave me. I did not recognize myself in the mirror. I shouted. He yelled. The cat ran away. No mirror broke.
My 3 positives for day 2 are:
  1. I hired a goblin to clean my glasses. I now see a more colorful world. I go, however, constantly against the poles – a painful side effect.
  2. When I was 15 years I went for the last time to a witch she told me and to my mother that I had an open body. However I don’t find nothing abnormal with my body, except a huge appetite for knowledge.
  3. I had a vasectomy in 2010. The good thing about this is that I can sin without fertilize. The negative: have been surrounded by so many nurses I could not have since that date more sexual fetishes with nurses.
My 3 positives for day 3 are:
eu a true nerd

a true nerd!

  1. I had an enormous lucky to have outstanding grandmothers and grandfathers. My grandmother, by my father side, was a devout Christian. Every holy Sunday I went with her to the church, but I disliked going to the church and I pass the time counting how many bald heads where in the church. Now I have also a bald head but I am not part of any statistics.
  2. One day I told to my daughter that I don’t have a zero in the head but a airfield. She, then, glued on my head a plane toy. I was the proud owner of a portable airfield.
  3. Today I lost weight. I’m so happy. Now I can tell that I walk and not roll. Wait, what I see so far away but getting closer? Oh! Is my weight, I didn’t know that my weigh was equipped with GPS.
My 3 positives for day 4 are:
  1. I love beer. So I drink beer, like right now
  2. My son is at home. We are now all together, the four. A gestalt family.
  3. Tomorrow is the day before holidays!
My 3 positives for day 5 are:
  1. I love my wife Carla Carvalho Faria and my daughter and my son, and my mother and my father and all you that know that I love you.
  2. Like Jason E. Rolfe I have a sister. Is only one but she is equal to seven sisters. Thanks Glória Brito. Without you I am not me.
  3. I’m so luck to have virtual meet so amazing people like Rhys Hughes, Jason E. Rolfe, David Rix, Fiona Duffin, Adele Whittle, Ricardo Acevedo Esplugas, Ian Towey, Mercie Pedro E Silva, Sissy Pantelis, Carlos Rocha, Garrett Cook, Brendan Connell, Gisela Monteiro and many others (I only use the left side). I’ve meet equal nice and good people like César Figueiredo, Diogo Carvalho, Hugo Teixeira, Susana Leite and many, many others – all of you can turn my gloomy days into sunny days. Because all of you are so fascinating and true people.
    1. A special thanks to my dear friend Hugo Cardoso
    2. A special hug to my like sons Jorge Dias and Patrícia Marques and a big kiss to the mother of this two Lurdes Marques. And I miss you so much my forever friend Jorge Dias, the father.
    3. I know I miss someone but you know I love you, and you and you…

beau présent – first round

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Since 08th August. I have publish a Beau Présent every single day.

08 – Ian Towey
09 – Fiona Duffin
10 – Nina Vangerow
11 – Sissy Pantelis
12 – Ricardo Acevedo Esplugas (Spanish version)
13 – Ricardo Acevedo Esplugas (English version), Amira Ana Amyth and Kseniya Gomzjakova
14 – David Rix
15 – Garrett Cook and Gio Clairval
16 – Tseng Lan Hui
17 – Hugo Cardoso and Roshi Khji

I made others Beau Présents but they aren’t published on the site.

Time to another round – I think!!

beau présent: sissy pantelis

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‘cause @LadyFii I create a Twitter account.
She find that an anagram of my name is equal to: Oulipo Brat

So I will post/tweet, just for fun, some Oulipo stuffs.

The fifth (11.08.2014) is a Beau Présent that I made for Sissy Pantelis.

I lay in a petals satin sea,
listen a pianist play a senility tale.

A tale easily paint in sepia:
an ape steals a siesta – a patsy sin.
an ape eats a planet – a nasty sin.
an ape snipes a saint – a saintly sin.
an ape slaps….

I spit in style: silent pitiless… pianist!
I say in style: eat salty pastels … pianist!
I slap in style: pay… pianist!

I spy in a petals satin sea,
an alien ape in a plane spin in style.