I WROTE THE original story “There Were No Bullets in the Gun,” eventually retitled Failure, three summers ago now. In the fall of 2004, after Delirium Books agreed to publish it as the debut volume in a new “hardcover chapbook” series, I also created cover art for the book, using a wild mix of photos I took when I was in Philadelphia a year ago, some bullets and a gun from my dad’s, a bit of roadkill (yep – that’s real blood on that cover!) and more.
Shane Staley, the publisher at Delirium liked my cover work so much that he also contracted me to do the cover for the next title in the series as well, Patrick Lestewka’s Imprint. And the “prison” story of Imprint gave me a great reason to dig out and use some photos I took the last time I was on vacation in San Francisco and visited Alcatraz. And of course, I had to use a photo of my long-wielded trusty hammer!
This past week, at long last, Failure finally hit the streets (get your copies now!!!) And Lestewka’s book was also announced, so both titles are floating around in the ether now!
You can see full versions of the covers in my Artwork area, but I’ve posted the thumbnails here. It looks like I’ll be designing more covers in the Delirium hardcover chapbook series, and I’m looking forward to it. These were fun collages to create.
