“It’s like everyone tells a story about themselves inside their own head. Always. All the time. That story makes you what you are. We build ourselves out of that story.”
– Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind
Earlier this month, I was browsing online and searching for some graphic novels. I forgot what tags I used when I accidentally came upon The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories. I was thrilled to find out that it was a completed project by hitRECord.
What is hitRECord? As stated on their website, hitRECord is an open collaborative production company online. Anyone can contribute text, images, audio, and video to their collaborative projects. I first learned about it when hitRECord decided to go live on national television on January 2014. The entire first season is available on Netlfix.
Actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt and his brother Dan started the website in 2005, mainly to get feedback from people on the videos that they produced. Eventually, the website has grown into a major creative outlet where people can create, record, review, and remix projects. If you wish to learn more about hitRECord or be part of this company, you may visit their website.
“Stories you read when you’re the right age never quite leave you. You may forget who wrote them or what the story was called. Sometimes you’ll forget precisely what happened, but if a story touches you it will stay with you, haunting the places in your mind that you rarely ever visit.”
– Neil Gaiman, M is for Magic
To date, three (tiny) volumes of The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories have been published by It Books, an imprint of Harper Collins Publishers. The first volume came out in 2011, followed by the second and third volumes in 2012 and 2013, respectively. Tiny Book’s tagline is:
“The universe is not made up of atoms; it’s made up of tiny stories.”
Tiny Book lives up to its name, as it is only slightly larger than my palm. (I have small hands so the book might be even smaller for some people.) The micro-stories in this collection are complemented by a variety of mostly black and white illustrations – cute, whimsical, scary, weird, and breathtaking. The stories are made up of only a few lines and sometimes a few words. It reminded me of The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories by Tim Burton.
The collection is suggested for people 18 years of age and older. Tiny Book Volume 1 is my favorite because I loved most of the stories in it. Volumes 2 and 3 were okay, with only a few favorites. Check out the following sample pages from the collection.
The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories – Volume 1
The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories – Volume 2
The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories – Volume 3
“There are books full of great writing that don’t have very good stories. Read sometimes for the story… don’t be like the book-snobs who won’t do that. Read sometimes for the words–the language. Don’t be like the play-it-safers who won’t do that. But when you find a book that has both a good story and good words, treasure that book.”
– Stephen King
Filed under: Adult, GB Miscellany, Personal Notes/ Thoughts/ Ideas, Poetry, Thoughts on Books and Reading