The Hawthorn in the Hands of the Dead will be a beautifully produced, black-and-white, 72-page collage novel, a surreal/Gothic fantasy, an exploration in word and image of the grotesque, sexuality, love, and death. A shape-shifting pursuit for an elusive villain. From detective fiction to heroic poetry, The Hawthorn in the Hands of the Dead channels different genres and time periods as it journeys into mystery.
The novel will be made up of 80+ black-and-white illustrations with accompanying text largely composed using a cut-up technique. The illustrations are done using stippling, which is a difficult and wildly time-consuming art technique used to create texture, shading, and other optical illusions in drawings by means of hundreds of thousands of very fine dots.
The aim is to produce two smyth-sewn bound editions of the novel — a regular hardcover edition with a printed cover with glossy film lamination, and a slipcase edition with matching foil stamping, a foil stamped cover, and a glossy dust jacket.
My goal is to raise $40,000. Now, I understand that this might seem like a lot to ask for, but in reality any campaign will end up costing its creator quite a bit of both time and money to fulfill production costs, rewards, and miscellaneous fees. I will be working nonstop throughout the next year toward the book’s completion and its eventual release, and only part of the money raised will go toward its creative production.
The novel has already been laid out, designed, and written, plus several of the illustrations have already been inked, so all I need to do now is finish with the pen-and-ink stippling of all remaining pieces which, given its intricate nature, will still take me time.
My brother (the author of this work) and I have been working on this novel for over a year now, and all that’s left is your generosity to bring it to published life.
Backers of this Kickstarter campaign will receive postcard sets featuring selected artwork from the novel, museum-quality art prints, a miniprint featuring an original illustration exclusive to our backers, limited commissioned portraits, and the collage novel in either standard printed-cover or special slipcase edition.
Please support this project and help me spread the word. Thank you.
