FollowI just finished reading a few health articles(I read a 12/ day). Redemption for abstaining from red meat; it may keep me from the lonely world of dementia. So will exercise. Actually exercise might be the stuff Ponce De Leon was looking for in Florida(fountain of youth) Why talk about this when I’m supposed to be discussing a novel cover? I don’t know. Blame the creamer in my coffee. Does artificial cream obviate artificial sweetener?
Questions about relevancy and meaning of a train station, two strange figures on a bench, all stuck inside a bottle with limited light and brooding color. It was a vision. The cover was a 4 month project working with artist (Joe Carroll), beginning with a visit to the train station in Maplewood, New Jersey last August. Firstly we sat, masticating two slices of pizza for two hours, getting to know one another; followed by a walk across the street (with pre-revolution wooden benches and a joyously urban painted tunnel under tracks). The color of the novel (lack thereof) is a bit of a hint to what lies within. No rainbow, fun colors, but funereal, except for a piece of lamplight and a strange green leaf on the track. Remember Schindler’s List, in black and white, except for the scene when Schindler saw people being rounded up for the ride to the gas chamber and a little blonde girl in a red dress running aimlessly and unnoticed? The green leaf in a sea of gray, black and white (if you read novel) is, according to the strange silhouetted figures on the bench, a metaphor of life, Darfur and a most horrible word, silence.
The cover took the artist 6 weeks (or so) to oil paint after a few months of back and forth drawings to capture mood and intent. I wanted novel cover to be a story in itself, like the novel, a thought provoker. In this world of video games and text messaging, more than perhaps, we need exercises to think, expand, flexing cerebral muscle. On September 18th, I learned from a high spiritual source, that this whole bottle thing was ordained a long time ago and probably needs something novel length to fully explain. So not now. Suffice. Enjoy the cover. Go figure, my first dream profession, that which I’d love to do more than anything (not a doctor, journalist or astronaut-I wouldn’t fit inside, anyway) is to be a stand-up comedian. It’s like I came to a fork in the road and took it. Somebody else said that. Can’t remember who. Need more creamer in my coffee.