Flow - by Paula Sevenbergen (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Three adolescents at camp convince a naive girl they can cure her "curse" (really her first period) if she does everything they say. Ten years later, they find themselves the target of an actual curse that mirrors the torment they inflicted upon her.

When blood began to run down Dara Lund's legs at summer camp, she thought she was dying. Homeschooled by her conservative and protective father after her freespirited mom's mysterious death, Dara has no way of knowing her bunkmates' claims that she has been stricken by a curse aren't real! What follows is a week of torment under the guise of "lifting the curse," from carrying a fish head with her to sprinting naked through the camp, finally culminating in Dara's near death! But the curse "ends," and so does the summer, sending them all their separate ways.

10 years later, the campers have gone into the world as adults, embarking on careers and lives of their own. When strange and horrific recreations of the torments they inflicted upon the naive girl begin happening in their own lives, her three campmates must reunite to track down the source of their own curse... the vengeful Dara!

Born of the political discourse around the discussion of menstruation in schools in America, Flow explores a rite of passage through the eyes of a sheltered young girl and the rage that boils up when she is betrayed by those around her. Written by celebrated television and comic writer Paula Sevenbergen (Stargirl) and illustrated by Claudia Balboni (Killer Queens), Flow is an exploration of guilt, shame, bullying, and the horror and wonder of the human body sure to appeal to fans of Carrie and Yellowjackets.

About the Author

Paula Sevenbergen has written for television (the Warner Bros. series STARGIRL) and comics (DC Comics), as well as essays and stories for THE WASHINGTON POST, BUST Magazine, MAD Magazine, and other publications. She has also served as an editor for MAD. An Iowa native, she divides her time between her home state, Los Angeles, and New York.

Claudia Balboni is an Italian comic book artist. She began her career in 2005 working in various animation studios as a storyboard artist and environment designer. In 2009, she shifted her focus to comics, starting as a layout and pencil assistant on Star Trek: The Movie Adaptation and other projects at IDW Publishing.

Since then, she has illustrated titles such as True Blood: French Quarter, Star Trek, Robyn Hood, and Grimm Tales of Terror, collaborating with publishers like Convict Comics, Take-Two Interactive, and Bugs Comics.

In 2014, she teamed up with writer Brian Schirmer and artist Jeremy Saliba on the creator-owned series Black Jack Ketchum, followed by Fairlady.

From 2020 to 2021, she illustrated the comic book series Killer Queens, written by David Booher and published by Dark Horse Comics. In 2022, she drew the first miniseries of The Addiction, written by Vincent Zurzolo and David Queen.

In 2023, she was nominated for an Eisner Award alongside David Booher.

Most recently, she has worked on other titles for Dark Horse, including He-Man and Ghostbusters. She is currently developing a new project with Mad Cave Studios and is beginning work on the second miniseries of The Addiction.