The Wild One: Why We’re Making a Survival Story That Isn’t Just About Survival
Building a story from the North Pole to North London and inviting you along for the ride.
Like a lot of good things, this started with a gut feeling. Then a bit of luck. Then just a meeting.
I first came across Dwayne Fields on TV. He’s a face here in the UK — you’ll see him in the Metro newspaper, maybe a segment on Countryfile, maybe a quick piece of content with Catherine, Princess Of Wales — he’s funny, sharp, honest. If you then dig a bit deeper, you’ll quickly learn he is the first Black Briton to reach the North Pole. He has a good way of talking about adventure, survival — not just in the extreme, ice-and-snow sense, but survival as something you carry inside. The way you turn real life into something mythic just to make sense of it. That hit home.
What took it a bit further, though, was how close our paths had almost crossed. We grew up pretty close to each other in London. We haven’t figured it out yet, but I’m pretty sure we know some of the same people. I nearly even went to his school, and I had relatives who lived on his school road. So for me, there’s this familiarity, a guy from my area, my part of North London, had been to the Arctic.
If that kind of story pulls you in, we’d love you to follow along. Click “Notify Me” on Kickstarter and join us as we build this together.
I’ve been working in publishing (as an author for nearly 20 years and a publisher for 3), and it was a mutual friend of ours — Georgie, who is the engine room behind the Wilbur Niso Foundation who I shared a co-working space with in Finsbury Park. Dwayne sits on their board, and it kind of transpired that Dwayne being Dwayne was itching to make a graphic novel. Something artistic, something more than a novel and immediately asked Georgie to put me in touch.
When we did speak, it wasn’t about expeditions, survival, travels. It was about art, creativity, and North London. It was about his story in a fantastical way, it was something he wanted to talk about, about finding someone’s true self. And it was clear he had a vision for creating something big and bold and maybe even weird and hopeful, and I knew I wanted to be part of it.
That’s basically how Cimarron started. I won’t bore you with all the decision-making or the dynamic building, but it quickly became this idea of a survival-meets-self-discovery graphic novel. Not a memoir, not a documentary, but something a little more wild. Think folklore meets polar freeze. Think real-life pain refracted through the lens of wonder.
As a publisher, this isn’t my usual lane. At Soi Books, we’ve spent over a decade working with artists and illustrators through Stickerbomb. Books that sit at the edge of street culture, art, and design. But graphic novels? Not really our zone. And Kickstarter? Definitely not. And maybe that’s why this feels correct — it’s far out of our comfort zone, and not a day goes by when we don’t learn something.
To make it real, we pulled together a team who just got it. Through the excellent Broken Frontier platform, we — and by “we” I mean my colleague and teammate Suzi Robinson — found Shuning Ji, whose artwork is somewhere between manga expression and fantastical beauty. She’s been named one of their “Six to Watch” this year, and when you see her pages, you’ll understand why.
The writing is handled by Sophie McVeigh, who I’d actually shared a co-working space with until just a few months ago. Her credits include Canneseries and upcoming projects with Silverprint and ZDF and brings real drama and craft to the mix. It’s Sophie who brings the narrative, the drive, the soul — and understands that the best stories start with people. With place.
And now we’re here. Putting together a Kickstarter. Building this book. Making something that didn’t exist before. And doing it all a bit publicly, a bit experimentally, on a platform like Substack — which we’ve got right and wrong in the past.
Which brings me to this newsletter — and it is a newsletter. Before, we’ve treated Substack like a mail-out. But I think this project allows us to talk deeper, and more honestly, about themes and making books in a non-salesy way. Of course, we need support — and we’re still finding our voice here. Still figuring out who’s reading, who’s watching, who might be curious about this kind of story. Hence, we’re not here to spam you with updates. We’re here to invite you in. Into a process, into a conversation.
So here’s a question I’d love to ask:
When was the last time you had to survive something?
I don’t just mean in the literal sense. I mean creatively. Emotionally. Quietly. What got you through it?
Reply to this email if you feel like sharing. We’re thinking these types of questions could be part of the supplementary content pages in the book. They could be a driver for the themes. We’ll feature some responses in future posts alongside more behind-the-scenes art from Cimarron.
And yes, we’ll also be sharing sneak peeks: rough sketches, panels in progress, even ideas we’re still unsure about. We want this to feel open, because honestly, we want your input.
If you're interested in the journey, the best thing you can do is click “Notify Me” on the pre-launch page. It doesn’t commit you to anything — it just means you’ll know when we go live. And it helps us build a signal, not just of interest but of a community behind this story.
Thanks for being here. More soon.
Suridh Hassan (Shaz), Publisher at Soi Books and Co-founder, Stickerbomb World