About the Book:
When one sad ghost, alone at a crowded party, spies another sad ghost across the room, what happens next changes everything. Because that night, they leave the party and start the Sad Ghost Club – a secret society for the anxious and alone, a club for people who think they don’t belong.
Follow the Sad Ghost Club as they navigate the joys and complexities of opening up their community – and their hearts – to new members.
In Volume 5, the Sad Ghost Club organise a fundraiser, but one of its key members is suspiciously absent. Can the rest of the team rally together to take on the challenge, and find a way to support their missing member?
Find on Goodreads. Find on Bookshop.org UK (affiliate link).
About the Author:
Lize Meddings is the creator of the Sad Ghost Club, a club for anyone who’s ever felt sad or lost. The Sad Ghost Club community has over half a million followers on Instagram. Lize loves drawing, especially plants and animals. She currently lives and illustrates in Bristol.
Letting go of the club:
I started drawing comics about a ghost over 12 years ago now. I have drawn thousands of ghosts, in a myriad of styles, countless predicaments and pretty much every colour that exists (probably). I’ve made 100s of little comics about this character, and a whole series of books imagining what a real life club would be like.
And so, you might be thinking, after a 5 book series, is it time to hang up the sheet?
Well, the short answer is no, I can’t. And I don’t want to. Even during the last few weeks of deadline stress for vol.5 I found myself doodling new artwork featuring the sad ghost, I apparently just cannot let him go.
The long answer I guess is that I have needed the sheet. I found a way to share my thoughts and feelings with the world without feeling too vulnerable about it, and I have clung to that outlet like a life-raft at times.
You also might be thinking, huh, she must really love ghosts. And honestly the answer is also, no. I like a good scary movie as much as the next person (maybe a little more so), but I have never thought of myself as a ‘ghost fan’. And that makes me even more surprised that I can’t stop drawing the guy! But I guess, really, it’s not that surprising when you think about it.
The ghost let me wear a suit of emotion and put it out into the world without feeling too much like I have signed my name. It lets me be honest, and it makes me feel like I’m not being perceived (quite so much) which gives me a freedom that I think I am cherishing as I get older. It’s not me, it’s the sad ghost. I can tap into my deepest feelings and then don the sheet and no one close to me has to ask how I am. Maybe that sounds like a bad thing, but for someone who’s whole job became sharing their feelings, it isn’t.
The character came from feelings of isolation, not fitting in, and feeling directionless. And posting them online also added to the relief I felt from exorcising them. Now I can never stop, knowing I wasn’t alone in those big feelings 12 years ago kept my head above water, and honestly, changed my life. Those big feelings got weaker (in a good way) but seeing others resonate with the club and the series has made me want to share even the smallest of them for ever now! How could I stop? I want the other sad ghosts out there to know they’re not alone in their saddest of thoughts and feelings, no matter how intense or temporary they may be. The best way to do that is just to draw basically every thought, feeling and emotion, and I literally feel like that’s some strange goal deep in my ghostie-soul!
The sad ghost has embedded itself within me and will always be there. The muscle memory in my hands can attest to that.
So, the sheet stays on. I will just draw ghosts forever I guess. Yay.
Thank you, Lize!
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