Sex Fantasy

Relationships emerge and deteriorate in this collection of ten Ignatz Award–winning self-published zines by illustrator Foster-Dimino. The character designs are elegantly simple, each composition beautifully contained, each line crisp and clean, every emotion naked. The collection opens with two chapters of diverse, nameless people declaring idealized, lovingly practical tasks—“I carry my best friend up a hill,” “I fix the wires,” “I water the plants.” But in subsequent stories, notes of doubt and uncertainty emerge. A girl in a patterned sweater is embraced from behind by someone who whispers a string of devastating observations—“You bore people, have you noticed that?” A fashionista tutors a frazzled acquaintance on the rules of dating and tricking people into believing she is normal. A couple go on a Hawaiian vacation that nearly ends their relationship. Potential adulterers confess their feelings in a cave. Each tale is intimate and mysterious, the fantasy of the title often a denial of the harmful effects of desire. With her deceptively simple line, Foster-Dimino has captured deep, dark places where the conscious mind rarely goes. (Sept.)