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Flung Out of Space: Inspired by the Indecent Adventures of Patricia Highsmith Hardcover – April 19, 2022

by Grace Ellis (Author), Hannah Templer (Illustrator)

4.6 72 ratings

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Flung Out of Space isa fictionalized graphic novel account of infamous author Patricia Highsmith caught up in the longing and obsession that would inspire her groundbreaking work of queer fiction, The Price of Salt.

A New York Times Book Review 100 Notable Books of the Year
A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice
Named a Book We Loved by NPR

New York Times bestselling author Grace Ellis and illustrator Hannah Templer have teamed up to tell Patricia Highsmith’s story through her eyes—reimagining the events that inspired her to write The Price of Salt, the book that would become a foundational piece of queer literature. Flung Out of Space opens with Pat begrudgingly writing low-brow comics. A drinker, a smoker, and a hater of life, Pat knows she can do better. Her brain churns with images of the great novel she could and should be writing, what will eventually be Strangers on a Train, which would later be adapted into a classic film by Alfred Hitchcock in 1951.

At the same time, Pat, a lesbian consumed with self-loathing, is in and out of conversion therapy, leaving a trail of sexual conquests and broken hearts in her wake. However, one of those very affairs—and a chance encounter in a department store—give Pat the idea for her soon-to-be beloved tale of homosexual love that was the first of its kind: It gave the lesbian protagonists a happy ending.

This is not just the story behind a classic queer book but also of a queer artist who was deeply flawed. It’s a comic about what it was like to write comics in the 1950s, but also about what it means to be a writer at any time in history, struggling to find your voice.

Author Grace Ellis contextualizes Patricia Highsmith as both an unintentional queer icon and a figure whose problematic views and noted anti-Semitism have cemented her controversial legacy. Highsmith’s life imitated her art with results as devastating as the plot twists that brought her fame and fortune.

Print length

208 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Harry N. Abrams
Publication date

April 19, 2022
Dimensions

7 x 1.05 x 9.8 inches
ISBN-10

141974433X
ISBN-13

978-1419744334
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Flung Out of Space also provides a window into the nature of both comics and prose publishing at the time, and the particular challenges that faced a lesbian attempting to navigate that landscape.”―Comics Beat

“Flung Out of Space is an impressively good comic. Which is funny, because much of the book shows us Ms. Highsmith writing comics and hating it. Yet this story of some of her life is easily one of the best graphic novels of the year.”―Comics Worth Reading

“When Highsmith encounters the woman who will inspire her touchstone lesbian novel “The Price of Salt” — a goddess in full ’50s feminine drag, radiantly filling up a full page — well. Nobody could have done it better. . . Ellis and Templer take for granted that women can create great comics. It’s queerness, not female power, that they’re fighting for.”―Etelka Lehoczky, the New York Times

“Pat is thrilling, disturbing, charming, deeply unpleasant, all at once. “Flung Out of Space” gives us room to detest her at her worst and admire her at her best―fnewsmagazine.com

”It’s welcome addition to the queer graphic novel and lesbian history canon. Like everything Grace Ellis writes, it just leaves me wanting more.”―Heather Hogan, Autostraddle

“Ellis’ savvy writing combines with Templer’s stunning illustrations to create a work that will intrigue and fascinate comics fans.”―Multiversity Comics

“Highsmith devotees will appreciate this glimpse into how a life of secrets extended beyond the pages of her fiction.”―Publisher's Weekly

“Ultimately, the book balances the inspiration for The Price of Salt with the reality of the price Highsmith’s life took on her, while acknowledging that she is far from a perfect person . . . Ellis and Templer celebrate the work she was able to do, despite those struggles, while also showing her to be the flawed person she was. They see her as a human with talent, which is all any of us can ask for.”―Solrad

“It is a critical, caring, funny, and heartbreaking story in which the hands of the artist and author are visible and essential to depicting Patricia Highsmith as a whole, complex person . . . Flung Out of Space beautifully and deftly paints a portrait of a complex, cruel, and charming woman who gave the world equally complex and enticing stories. I was enraptured by this comic, by Ellis and Templer’s brilliant approach to engaging with a flawed but beloved subject, and, somewhat begrudgingly, by Pat herself.”―Women Write About Comics

“This graphic novel — the funny and sad tale of a great lesbian writer’s struggle to find herself — is deftly told, and the spare illustrations are infused with idiosyncrasy and energy.”―New York Times Book Review, Editors’ Choice

About the Author

Grace Ellis made a name for herself in the industry by creating unforgettable, lovable, and funny characters. She burst onto the comics scene with The Lumberjanes, which she cocreated and cowrote. It was a New York Times bestselling, Eisner and GLAAD Award–winning comics series that broke the mold of both YA and superhero comics. She is also the author and creator of the series Moonstruck, illustrated by Shae Beagle, and writer of the series Lois Lane and the Friendship Challenge for DC Comics. Ellis lives in Columbus, Ohio.
Hannah Templer is a queer cartoonist currently living in Baltimore, Maryland. She has worked as a colorist, cover artist, and interior artist on titles such as GLOW, Samurai Jack, Jem and the Holograms, Captain Marvel, and Tomb Raider. She is also the creator of Cosmoknights, an original graphic novel series published in 2019 by Top Shelf Comics. Her work as a cover artist—with clients like Dark Horse, IDW, Valiant, BOOM! Studios, Marvel, HarperCollins, and Abrams Books—is as extensive as it is dynamic and stunning.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harry N. Abrams (April 19, 2022)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 208 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 141974433X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1419744334
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.75 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7 x 1.05 x 9.8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #758,477 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #216 in LGBTQ+ Graphic Novels (Books)
- #811 in Historical & Biographical Fiction Graphic Novels
- #898 in Contemporary Women Graphic Novels (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.6 72 ratings

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Grace Ellis
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Grace Ellis is a script writer. Her comic books include the Eisner- and GLAAD Award-winning, New York Times-bestselling "Lumberjanes," as well as "Moonstruck" and several books for DC Comics. Her latest book, "Flung Out of Space: Inspired by the Indecent Adventures of Patricia Highsmith," is available now.
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Hannah Templer
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Hannah Templer is a cartoonist and has also worked as a colorist, cover artist and interior artist on titles such as Samurai Jack, Tomb Raider, and Jem and the Holograms. She enjoys life with her trusty dog Thistle, and plays tabletop roleplaying games as often as she can.
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4.6 out of 5

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JBee

beautiful and telling

Reviewed in the United States on June 29, 2022

Verified Purchase

Pat Highsmith much like many white writers of note was a racist & surprisingly a homophobic jerk. But damn could she write. More than that she created a world with Carol stealing from her own but where she was weak Terese was brave & where she was cruel Carol was kind. Flung Out of Space solidified my feelings about Highsmith which is the old adage don’t meant your heroes they will only disappoint. While also creating something beautiful from her life & struggles. Highsmith is not a character to be admired or pitied but rather she was a real person complex and that’s why her characters are complex.
This is a beautiful illustrated graphic novel of a snap shot in a complex person’s life. Just as out of place as Highsmith and just the right place too.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Great introduction to a complicated person

Reviewed in the United States on April 21, 2022

This is a book about Patricia Highsmith, writer of comics, novels that were adapted for film, and Carol (previously-titled The Price of Salt), the first lesbian novel with a happy ending. I'd heard of a few of the movies based on her works (Strangers on a Train, The Talented Mr. Ripley) but didn't know anything else about her. And even though I knew that there was a time in which no queer love stories had happy endings, I didn't know when or how that changed. I enjoyed reading about Highsmith's accomplishments and artistic struggle, as well as the journey to finally getting Carol published. I'm grateful for the chance to read this book.

The art is excellent, as is the use of color. This is a great exploration of a complicated person. I appreciated that the note at the beginning praised the author's accomplishments without shying away from mentioning her problematic characteristics. This is not a book that glorifies a problematic person; it shows her flaws while also acknowledging the significance of her work.

This book also brought a new imprint to my attention: Surely, part of Abrams Comic Arts, is "dedicated to expanding the presence of LGBTQIA creators and content in the comics world." I'm thrilled to learn about them and can't wait to read more of their titles!

Note: I received a free copy of this book via Goodreads's Giveaways program. That has not affected my review in any way.

Helpful

Daniel Eulis Creasy

An enjoyable hour’s read.

Reviewed in the United States on April 21, 2022

Verified Purchase

I've read many summations of Highsmith’s emotional path to The Price of Salt, but this illustrated work of creative nonfiction is a special delight.

2 people found this helpful

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Blake Wood

Fan of the movie CAROL. Now a fan of Hannah Templer and Grace Ellis.

Reviewed in the United States on May 13, 2023

By identitarian standards, I'm not the target demographic for this book. Like, at all. But I had liked the movie CAROL and I have a budding interest in graphic novels. I was in a comic shop and decided to pick up a few books. This was one of them.

Damn, I couldn't put this down. I literally read it in one sitting, utterly devouring the story and imagery. Highsmith was a complicated person, and good on Ellis for rendering her humanity. Hannah Templer's imagery really brings the story to life. I'll read this again, probably several times.

Helpful

Johanna DC

Outstanding must-read

Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2022

An impressively good comic. Which is funny, because much of the book shows us Ms. Highsmith writing comics and hating it. Yet this story of some of her life is easily one of the best graphic novels of the year.

Highsmith was a lesbian but despised herself for it. She smokes but says she’s quitting. She writes comics but refuses to put her name on them, calling them “garbage”. She goes to a psychoanalyst to try and cure her homosexuality, but even though she’ll sleep with a man as part of her attempt to be respectable, she won’t commit to marrying him.

She meets Stan Lee, and they get drunk debating writing and talent and whether comics are only for the illiterate. Then he makes a pass and she turns him down. She writes Strangers on a Train, her first major novel.

The book is colored in monochrome, a burnt orange that makes browns and tans and the flare of a cigarette lighter, and, when Highsmith is thinking about the adventure comics she hates, a lurid orange. It contrasts beautifully with the black-and-white of the life she doesn’t like, as well as giving a historical feel, the look of a faded photograph.

The art by Hannah Templer has a streamlined feel that matches the mid-century time period. It’s gorgeous and expressive and a pleasure to read, handling layers of imagination and romance and practicality. The cost of her treatment drove her to work she hated, and we see bits of it woven through the panels that tell her story. Comics is the only medium that can do this so effectively.

Highsmith seems like an interesting person to know, cracking, when shown into group therapy with other women who are “latent homosexuals”, “Surrounding me with like-minded women is surely the answer to my problem.” (Probably one of the imagined conversations the writer acknowledges in describing the book as a “fictionalized, narrative version of a true story.”) But in real life, she was racist, unpleasant, and yet magnetic, a topic covered in writer Grace Ellis’ foreword.

When asked “Why do you have to be such a bitch?”, she answers “I only know how to be myself.” I know a lot of women who can relate to that, both the name-calling and the essential self. (Review originally posted at ComicsWorthReading.com.)

4 people found this helpful

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Mikel Norwitz

A reasonably entertaining read

Reviewed in the United States on August 20, 2022

An account of the early career of Patricia Highsmith, detailing her time in comics, the publication of her first successful novel Strangers on a Train, and her (originally pseudonymous) lesbian novel Carol. While one never gets an in-depth sense of Highsmith's personality, it's a reasonably entertaining read, and worth it for anyone interested in comics or queer literary history (with the caveat that the work is interpretive rather than strictly factual).

Three and a half stars.

Helpful

Words, Images, & Worlds

Beautiful literary biography

Reviewed in the United States on August 3, 2022

I was truly impressed with the depth and beauty of this graphic novel biography. The author and artist explore a noteworthy figure from literature. I learned a lot about Patricia Highsmith — and I enjoyed the visual style of this book along the way.

Helpful