Shelter for Lost Dreams - Hardcover

by Alfonso Font (Author), Alfonso Font (Illustrator)

In a house of wonder, two children will learn life lessons through stories spanning across time.

During his first stay with his uncle, a boy discovers the magical world that is his uncle's house. Surrounded by eclectic antiques, a vast library of books, strange objects, and whimsical animals, he is overcome with curiosity. Here, he meets a girl who shares his sense of wonder. With his uncle's wisdom and an enchanted gift, the children will learn important life lessons through the diverse experiences of people throughout time--from common hikers encountering an unusual creature, to a general making the final decision to end a war, and many more!

Author Biography

Alfonso Font was born in Barcelona (Spain) in 1946. Even as a youth, he knew what he wanted to become, and since then he has only worked on comics.

He studied Fine Arts (drawing and painting), which was where he made his first contact with a publisher, Editorial Bruguera. In 1962 he began working as an apprentice in their graphic design department. While at Bruguera he worked mostly on black and white illustrations for mass-market novels, which were the specialty of this publishing house. Later on he was hired as an artist for Editorial Toray where he published his first comic strips in the magazines "Hazas del Oeste (Adventures from the Wild West)" and "Sioux." He worked there for several years before attempting to get a job with one of the professional agencies in Barcelona that dealt with foreign publishing houses, mainly in England and in the United States.

At the end of the 1960s, Font started to work for a publisher in the United States through the agency, Selecciones Ilustradas. At the beginning of the 1970s, through yet another agency in Barcelona called Bardon Art, he illustrated his first comics series, with a main character called Black Max, for the English publishing house Fleetway.

In 1972, once again through Selecciones Ilustradas, he illustrated the series called "Geminis" written by Carlos Echevarr僘, which dealt with stories of espionage set in World War I. After completing his contracted number of episodes, the opportunity arose to collaborate with the French publishing house Editions du Vaillant. There he illustrated stories penned by scriptwriter Patrick Cothias that were published in the magazine "Pif." He then relocated to Paris and in the following two years published the series "Sandberg, Pere et Fils." The French publisher, however, dropped the series because they considered it incompatible, since "Pif" was a youth-oriented magazine.
Now back in Barcelona he continued to collaborate with the French publisher, drawing a new series, "Les Robinsons de la Terre," which was scripted by Roger Lecureux. This series also did not last long due to serious disagreements between the scriptwriter and the artist.
His next job was with the news and informational magazine "La Calle" in Spain where he published two comic pages a week with the politically active female character "Tequila Bang." This time the script was written by the already famous Spanish writer V兤tor Mora.
Finally in 1980, Alfonso Font begins to work on his own scripts which gave birth to several series and characters that have given him international recognition. These include "Tales of an Imperfect Future," "Dark Stories," and "Clarke & Kubrick."

For Norma Editorial he created the science fiction series "Prisoner of the Stars" as well as "Taxi," about an investigative reporter who works for an international press agency, and "Privado (Private Eye)", a collection of astonishing detective stories. These were followed by "Jon Rohner," a series of stories about a sailor at the end of the 19th century who befriends Robert Louis Stevenson, who also appears as a character in the comic. Then comes "Bri d'Alban," the first album about the crusades against the heretical Cathars of Occitania. Font also created the comic strips "En busca del Cimoc perdido (Searching for the lost Cimoc)" and "Federico Mendelssohn Bartholdy contra el doctor Fut Maun Chut (Federico Mendelssohn Bartholdy vs. Dr. Fut Maun Chut)."
At that time he also created an indeterminate number of short stories in black and white such as "El As Negro (The Black Ace)," "Dios lo Quiere (God Willing)," "Blobul," "Interiores (Inside Lives)," etc., not to mention the album "Barcelona al Alba (Barcelona at Dawn)," created in collaboration with scriptwriter Juan Antonio De Blas, based on real events that took place in Barcelona in 1925.

Once again taking up Westerns, with which he began his professional career, he collaborates with Bonelli Editore in Italy, illustrating "Tex" stories whose scripts were written by Mauro Boselli.
The publishing and other media rights to all of Alfonso Font's works are exclusively represented worldwide by SAF (Strip Art Features). He just completed an album for SAF, which is dedicated to children and titled "Shelter for Lost Dreams." Also, he recently started to work on a new thriller/adventure series for SAF, which is again based in his beloved Barcelona.

For his work in comics, Alfonso Font has received a number of international awards, including the esteemed "Yellow Kid" award in 1996.

Alfonso is happily married to Pili, the love of his life, and they have one daughter, Anna.