Trolling for Something Fishy

I’ll admit that I floundered while trying to come up with a hook for this post about Something Fishy This Way Comes, the new collection of Alaskan artist Ray Troll’s humorous and scientifically accurate depictions of fish and the wild world of nature. I needed something that would lure blog readers to check out the book. My coworkers at Sasquatch baited me about how on earth I was going to write something that would capture in words the absurd, provocative, and downright bizarre world Troll creates with his paintings and drawings. Luckily, an editorial chum came up with an idea that I snagged. I’m not fishing for compliments, but I hope you don’t find it crappie . . .

As soon as you cast a glance at a Ray Troll classic like “Rebel Without a Cod,” you know you’re angling for a good time. And then you’ll witness how Troll’s combination of visual and verbal puns spawns such masterpieces as “Truth Is Stranger Than Fishin’” and “Kvetch and Release.” And while most of Troll’s subjects swim in oceans, rivers, and lakes, land-dwellers are not speared by his fiendishly clever mind, as you’ll see in “Curio City Killed the Cat” and “The Family That Preys Together Stays Together.” And just for the halibut, the author throws in his uniquely skewed takes on “Pulp Fishin’,” evolution, life and death, and much more.

Rebel Without a Cod by Ray Troll

But by now you’re tired of hearing me carp on and on about Something Fishy This Way Comes, and besides, reading words describing this amazing collection of Troll’s work is bassackwards—you need to pick up the book and see it for yourself. Walk, catch a bus, or ride your bicycle, but whatever you do, hurry to your local bookseller and reel in this whopper of a book!