Cover Reveal: The Walls Are Closing In On Us
We are so pleased to be able to share the cover for Joshua Trent Brown’s forthcoming novel, The Walls Are Closing In On Us.
We asked Boxcutters author John Chrostek to design this cover on rather short notice and he came through, getting the book immediately. With the first draft he sent us he wrote, “I felt a clear symbolic pull to the river and the snake, two curling fingers entwined, life and death like DNA strands.” With draft one he was right on the money thematically, and from there it was just a few tweaks until the final cover was ready. It doesn’t seem fair that John gets to be both a brilliant writer and designer, but at least he’s on our side. We also have two more books on the schedule for which he is the designer, so stay tuned for more great covers.
The Walls Are Closing In On Us will be published on March 3, 2026, and is available for preorder now. If you preorder through the Malarkey website your copy will be signed by the author and come with a bonus poetry zine and a copy of King Ludd’s Rag No. 20, featuring one of Trent’s stories.
The Walls Are Closing In On Us is Joshua Trent Brown’s first novel. Based ever so slightly on a true story, this Southern odyssey explores what it means to be anyone at all, and how even the simple act of reading someone’s name is enough to bring them back to life—no matter if they wish to remain forgotten.
Praise for The Walls Are Closing In On Us
"With traces of Paul Harding's Tinkers and Denis Johnson's Train Dreams, The Walls are Closing In On Us is a moving novel about racial tensions, segregation, and coming of age in a rapidly changing America. This is a book that examines not only the soul of a man but—perhaps—the soul of a nation."
—Austin Ross, author of Gloria Patri