Tales from the Loop Hardcover – 11 July 2017

The books of Simon Stalenhag are their own mini-genre. You will never have experienced something quite like this unless you have already seen his other books. There are only three of them. Until this reprint was published in April 2020, copies of the original were trading at five times the cover price. Maybe we have to be grateful to Amazon for making a TV show out of this concept. I reckon those who own the first edition [without the Amazon logo on the cover] will forever treasure their investment. There is a hint at the back of the book that ‘Tales from the Loop’ (TFTL) was a product of a Kickstarter campaign. Not a bad cult following in under four years is it? From crowd-funded book to TV show in the blink of an eye.So, what do you get in TFTL? Unlike ‘The Electric State’ (which came out only a year later) TFTL is a collection of childhood anecdotes with Simon the star of his own science-fiction-tinged universe. You wonder if the ideas in the TFTL text were dreamt up before, during or after the art was composed? It matters not. ‘The Electric State’ is different in that it follows one single story from beginning to end and the art looks mainly like it was designed around the plot. Yet it is truly hard to tell as there is only a slightly hazy relationship between art and narrative. So loose is the connection that pages of unexplained visual images fly by that add to the mood-music of the book. So, is it a science fiction story or an art book? Yes, no, maybe. Who cares? You just don’t experience Simon’s work in the same way you experience normal sci fi. His work is designed to evoke emotion. It conjures up a pre-pubescent childhood in the freezing depths of Sweden in the 1980s. You just need to immerse yourself in the book and let it flow over you. The text is your guide and holds the disparate pieces together into a whole. It isn’t quite dystopian yet a chill of fictional super-science haunts every page. These kids have adventures that are equally mundane and out-of-this-world. You may yearn to be in their place yet recoil in horror in equal measure. It isn’t quite dystopian yet a chill of fictional super-science haunts every page. The mysterious buried ‘Loop’, and its complex of research establishments, have littered the landscape with engineering waste product that serves as a vast playground for the local youth. The Loop haunts every aspect of local life. The local population’s interaction with this mysterious & sparse man-made landscape forms the concept behind the childhood memories. Everything is imbued with a sense of tragedy, waste and human frailty. The denouement has no sci fi element. It is just kids growing up and families falling apart. You will be moved. I was.

I was really pleased to find that this book had been reprinted as the first English language print was no longer available. A great book but unfortunately this edition by Skybound books is spoilt by the orange ‘Amazon Original Series’ sticker on the front cover as it’s not a sticker but is in fact an imprint on the cover and so cannot be removed.I suppose this may not bother some people but it does me.

Simon Stålenhag is an amazing artist and writer, his world building is second to none and this book is a must have for any retro sci-fi fan.That artwork of the book is amazing and has such a unique style. The stories and text are equally as amazing with such an imaginative plot.The book itself is beautifully bound in hardback with the front image printed on a matte cover with the orange spine in a cloth material. The pages are printed on a nice and thick paper stock which make each page turn an experience in itself.

This book sits behind the Amazon series of the same name, which I thoroughly enjoyed. It provides the context behind the series and individual episode storylines along with some really imaginative illustrations beautifully executed which do correlate directly with the imagery used in the Amazon series. I’m pleased with it and I got it for a fairly decent price which was a bonus.

Love Simon Stålenhag's art.I decided to support the artist by buying this book, and the others in the series.For me, his art style has flavours of high end shin-hanga Ukiyo-e.Nothing remotely similar in production, of course, however his work triggers a lot of the same internal toggles of admiration of the technical skill and the aesthetic appreciation of the beauty of art to me.05 September 2020

Beautiful artbook of an alternative 80s. I adore this book so much, which also provides some lovely themes for the Tales from the Loop RPG as well. Just flicking through makes you think back to growing up in the 80s and day dreaming about adventures a la E.T., The Goonies, Explorers, and more recently Stranger Things and Super 8. The accompanying story by Stålenhag is so intriguing with its allusion to larger conspiracies and perils that never quite intrude directly into the narrators life but are instead experienced from a distance.

Been following Simon on Twitter for a while, and loved every image he's uploaded there. He's highest on my list of names from whom I'd like to purchase an original canvas. Absolutely stunning, evocative imagery. Unfortunately, I was clearly late to appreciate his work and had no idea there were actual published books with stories to attach to the images, and not only that, but this has apparently already been adapted into a series that completely passed me by.Whilst I'm absolutely certain the TV show will never be able to evoke the same raw appreciation of the imagery as the original illustrations do, I'm sure I'll look it over at some point, but plan on poring over this for a while beforehand.Maybe one day I'll be able to afford an original canvas.

Watched the series on Amazon which was amazing. The book was a nice souvenir from watching it. This guys artwork is amazing and he tells the stories in an almost believable manner that make you question if you missed an era. Beautiful piece of imagination put down on paper.