#874 of 1001 · December 22, 2022

Darkness must surely be one of the few truly universal fears. In the absence of light, we grow acutely aware of our inability to see. Adult rationality succumbs to childhood terror; modern humanity regresses to primordial wildness. Distilling this stark emotion, @porliniers has created What There Is Before There Is Anything There, an offbeat and eerie look at an all-too-familiar phobias. Each night at bedtime a young boy is faced with a recurring fright—bizarre little creatures begin floating down from above. One by one they come, some standing ominously beside him, some perching on the bed itself, until he is completely surrounded. Then, the final horror—the ceiling itself melts away to reveal a sentient, shapeless void with black, branchlike tendrils stretching out to ensnare him. The sinister presence then speaks, identifying itself only as “what there is before there is anything there.” Who among us would not flee, as the boy does, to the warmth and safety of their parents’ bedroom? With simple, foreboding text (translated from Spanish by Elisa Amado) and thick-lined, cross-hatched art, Liniers conjures up a creeping nightmare—and steadfastly refuses to banish it with the comfort of a happy ending. #dark #darkness #night #nighttime #bed #bedtime #fear #book #books #childrensbooks #beautifulbooks #picturebook #picturebooks #picturebookillustration #picturebookillustrations #picturebookart #childrensbookillustration #childrensliterature #illustration #kidlit #kidsbooks #bookworm #booklover #booklovers #bibliophile #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagrammers #instabook #instabooks