For the second time, Editions Griffe d’Encre offers an anthology based on one of our four elements. After Earth, the most immaterial of all, the most mysterious, but also the most vital: Air. Fifteen authors interpret the one we will never see or touch. Take a deep breath before diving into this delightful anthology prepared by Magali Duez.
Of all the elements, Air is the one we forget most easily. Because it is always there, ever-present, beneficial, vital. It is on this theme, with a slight ecological tendency, that a selection of authors contributes to this anthology. Some, already published by Griffe d’Encre, such as Hélène Cruciani, Benoît Guiseppin, or Yann Marchand confirm their talent. Others, such as Aurore Perrault, Dominique Bélière, are being honored for the first time. The anthology has this advantage of allowing the discovery of many authors in one volume, and this one is no exception. We find ourselves laughing at people’s naivety in Aurore Perrault’s short story Merchandairsing. We are moved by La remontée of Luvan’s heroine. We shiver alongside Fervier in the short story Juste pour un souffle by Isabelle Guso.
Each short story delivers its share of emotions, ranging from laughter to tears, to anxiety, to revolt. Because a property is almost always recurrent in this collection, in our future, at least its interpretation by these authors, Air is often tainted, polluted, unfit. It is rarely synonymous with optimism or joy.
All these texts are very well-written, fluid, quality texts that will not leave anyone indifferent. Texts from which it is impossible to choose just one because, despite their identical theme, the results are different. Impossible to choose between the insolent and happy rocker, Anamoly by Li-Cam (L’air d’en rire), and the touching little girl in Marie Leblion’s Un souffle de tendresse. The anguish of a former soldier devoured by the khamsin (Le vent du désert – Magali Lefebvre) or Absal’s crazy project in Privilège Insupportable. The tender relationship of a father with his daughter in Hélène Cruciani’s short story (Du mystère dans l’air) or a man’s terrible obsession to keep his house and family protected, in pure air in Sous-vide by Benoît Guiseppin.
One cannot choose. We dive breathlessly into these stories, clinging to these heroes, who reveal their destinies page after page. We will close the book with a newfound attention to what surrounds us and that which, generously, allows us to live. The desire to preserve this Air.
The Griffe d’Encre Editions
It was in the aisles of the Mouans Sartoux book festival that I first came across the books from Griffe d’Encre editions. Immediately attracted by the bright covers, with neat graphics, emerald green, deep blue, intense gray. It is impossible to remain indifferent before these multiple works, these covers so smooth and so full of promises. The artistic director of Griffe d’Encre, Magali Villeneuve, has illustrated many of them, but we can also cite Zariel, who multiplies his activities within GdE and directed the first title of the Carnets collection, or Alexandre Dainche, Fablyrr, and we can even count a cover by Caza (all the illustrators who collaborated with GdE are listed in the catalog on the website https://www.griffedencre.fr/spip.php?rubrique14).
In front of the Griffe d’Encre stand, we hesitate and then take the plunge. We leave with one, two, three books under our arm. We discover. We are captivated and return, impatient, the following year to choose new books, new journeys.
Griffe d’Encre is a young publishing house created in 2007 by Menolly, Magali Duez, and Sophie Dabat with “a shared passion for literature and the desire to discover texts and authors.” Their publications are oriented towards the Imaginary, not strictly science fiction or fantasy, but something that remains close to reality, “the aim being, apart from appealing to fans of the imaginary, to introduce this genre to those who are ‘afraid’ of it because they find no reference points.”
And it is a goal achieved since each book read creates a desire to delve a little further into a bubbling Imaginary, where, with authors unafraid of anything, the limits are always stretching… the territory of the Imaginary can only grow.
