An unpublished Sci-Fi novel written in the 1970s by her grandfather inspired Casey Massey’s project Only Humans Cry. Stored in the attic, there had been several fruitless attempts to publish the novel over the years, but for Massey this was an opportunity:

“I wanted to see if I were to fully illustrate and design the novel would it become more appealing to both the general public and publishers.”

Massey juxtaposes the imagery of horror and sci-fi novels of the period her grandfather was writing, with a more modern feel produced by the use a vectors, hinting at a re-imagination of the novel in the present day.

The hand-typed manuscript had many smudges of ink throughout which is reflected in the ink splatter theme throughout Massey’s illustrations, around which she set the text of the novel before hand-binding it.

Massey’s upbringing in the medieval, myth-soaked town of Conwy in north Wales encouraged her fascination with comic books and graphic novels – and storytelling

“I am a sequential artist who really enjoys story telling. I think that storytelling is one of the most human traits”.