{"product_id":"the-grot-the-story-of-the-swamp-city-grifters-isbn-9781603094665","title":"The Grot: The Story of the Swamp City Grifters","description":"\u003cb\u003e\"Anyone willing to get filthy can also get rich.\" In this dystopian swamp city, two brothers find that opportunity and exploitation lurk around every corner. But who's smarter: the hordes of people rushing to move in, or the equal horde desperate to leave?\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePenn and Lipton Wise have set out to Falter City to make their fortune. It's the future, obviously, and things are pretty grim. The Australian landscape is traumatized. Plague is rampant. Machines only work as well as the poor sod pedaling them. Things are hotter and wetter than they used to be, giving the whole place the vibe of a sweaty armpit. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLippy and Penn are hoping to set up shop in this grimy boom-town, but they've got to stay frosty, because it's teeming with hustlers, swindlers, and scoundrels. It's the sort of place where a lucky moron could make an outrageous fortune in an afternoon and lose it all before bedtime. The sort of place where two enterprising teenagers could really make something of themselves. Or so they say.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn his follow-up to the critically acclaimed \u003ci\u003eBlue,\u003c\/i\u003e Pat Grant confirms his reputation as \"the Australian Mark Twain\" (Craig Thompson, author of \u003ci\u003eBlankets\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eHabibi)\u003c\/i\u003e with a page-turning graphic novel about economic inequality, desperation, and the gambler's addiction to hope even in the worst of times.“\u003ci\u003eThe Grot\u003c\/i\u003e has the makings of a true Australian classic. As absurdly funny as it is disturbingly realistic.\" \u003cb\u003e— Shaun Tan, Author of \u003ci\u003eThe Arrival\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A twisting plot and a seething, filthy world thread together in these hand-made pages, each one a work of art and some so beautiful they take my breath away. \u003ci\u003eThe Grot\u003c\/i\u003e is comics magic in its purest form.\" —\u003cb\u003e Thi Bui, Author of \u003ci\u003eThe Best We Could Do\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A pus-filled adventure full of tricks, likes, and scams. A comic so disgusting that you can SMELL IT!\" —\u003cb\u003e Campbell Whyte, Author of \u003ci\u003eHome Time\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Grant develops this grotty world and its particulars steadily and surely, and it becomes impossible not to root for the brothers as they fall prey to con artists and a city without pity.\" \u003cb\u003e— \u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A timely quarantine read imagining Australian life in a climate-ravaged world... For a story written long before the COVID-19 pandemic, some of \u003ci\u003eThe Grot\u003c\/i\u003e's ideas feel eerily of the moment.\" \u003cb\u003e— \u003ci\u003eABC Arts News\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003ePat Grant\u003c\/b\u003e is a renowned cartoonist from Melbourne, Australia. His work has appeared in \u003ci\u003eMeanjin\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eGoing Down Swinging\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eThe Lifted Brow\u003c\/i\u003e, as well as in magazines such as \u003ci\u003eArtlink\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eAustralia's Surfing Life\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eTracks\u003c\/i\u003e -- but all of the best stuff comes out in his zine called \u003ci\u003eLumpen\u003c\/i\u003e. He is the recipient of an Emerging Writers Grant from the Australia Council for the Arts. His other comics include \"The Last Sharehouse\" and \"Waiting for Something to Happen.\"  His first graphic novel, \u003ci\u003eBlue\u003c\/i\u003e, was listed as one of the great graphic novels of 2012 by the US culture journal \u003ci\u003eSalon\u003c\/i\u003e.","brand":"Top Shelf Productions","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46304725762277,"sku":"NP9781603094665","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781603094665.jpg?v=1767739678","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/the-grot-the-story-of-the-swamp-city-grifters-isbn-9781603094665","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}