Wednesday, October 17, 2012

More on "The Alligators of Abraham" by Robert Kloss

One of the first creative opportunities to come my way once my book Moby-Dick in Pictures had been released was the chance to create the cover for Robert Kloss' phenomenal Civil War novel The Alligators of Abraham. I wasn't sure what to expect when asked to do this, so I agreed before even reading the work. After reading it though, I was certain I had made the right decision and that in a sense my path lay directly through this novel. To be blunt, the book blew my head apart. It is honestly one of the most visceral, powerful, visionary, lacerating, gut-wrenching fever dreams I have ever experienced. Some stories claim to offer hope, or joy, or a glimpse into the lives of others. Not this one. The Alligators of Abraham offers blood and smoke and slime and war and hate and violence and lust and greed and murder, but more so than any of those, it offers the reader Knowledge. It is that important. Creating the cover was an honor, and I was so gripped by what I had read that I offered to create three interior illustrations to lead off each of the three sections. Here is my cover, along with the three interior pieces.





And all of this work is finally bearing fruit. First you can, and should, pre-order the book from Mud Luscious Press at that link. Second, the savage "scorched earth literature" magazine Sundog Lit has started posting a series of texts and other works inspired by The Alligators of Abraham right here. First up is a reading of a portion of the text with an accompanying video by Sean Kilpatrick. I will have a few additional pieces of art, this time reactions to and explorations of the text, in early November on that same page. I will post a link here when they go up.

Finally, there is an excellent book trailer video using incredible images from the Civil War set to a suitably grim song. It's on that page but I am including it here because it does a perfect job setting the scene for the novel.

2 comments:

  1. Sounds pretty interesting....will have to order book!

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  2. It really is a remarkable book Dierdra. A grim and difficult read, but essential.

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