Failure to Comply...the cover reveal!

Hello all! With my next monthly rec post impending, I wanted to take a moment to announce that Failure to Comply (forthcoming Aug. 6, 2024 with featherproof books) now has an Official™ cover and is available for pre-order (US) now. You can add it on Goodreads and Storygraph, too, and reach out to me to get hooked up with an ARC for review.

Zach Dodson, cover designer extraordinaire, describes the design process for the Chicago Review of Books in our exclusive cover reveal:

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when published“My son loves to draw, usually cars, but this caught my eye because at first I didn’t understand what it was. He told me he was missing a favorite game of his, one with a city grid, so he decided to recreate it on paper. I love the down and dirty depiction of a grid, where every single square failed to comply in some way. It gave off a mysterious vibe, slightly eerie. And the abstraction of it spoke to the smart, subversive, underhanded nature of Cavar’s text. A glance doesn’t give you all you need to know, there’s a subtlety and depth to the variation and detail, and I liked that you had to concentrate, and try to understand it, to read into it.”

My take:

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when published“This cover struck me in that it spoke to a certain feeling, a certain uncanniness, I associate (and sense myself) in the bowels of RSCH, the institution that governs the lives of those living in Failure to Comply. White, empty boxes stand in a line. Above them hangs a hook – a knife – an axe? What is it reaching for, what does it seek? Who is on the other end? And who strikes out the boxes beside my name? This cover raised so many questions in me, as well as goosebumps on my arms. I felt the same sense of dread as I feel when I see an abandoned doll in a horror film, or a child’s drawing. Obviously, when Zach mentioned that his son made the drawing, this association fell into place. I’m in love with the simplicity and strangeness.”

You can read an excerpt at featherproof’s website, on travesties, and at dog teeth lit. I’m thinking of releasing some more excerpts/insights into the creative process in the next few months for paid subscribers, so if you like what I do, consider signing up for a paid subscription!

I can’t tell you how thrilled and overwhelmed I am by all of this, and how grateful I am to have you all to tell. Thank you, thank you, and thank you again. And also, thanks in advance for dealing with me being Very Annoying [affectionate] about this for the next 6 months :,)

Love,

Cavar