048: ....pation! A BOOK RELEASE ANNOUNCEMENT!
Breaking from format today because it is a momentous day here at Muppet Labs. I am officially releasing THE FAILURE EXPERIMENT on March 21st! You wanna see the cover? Of course, we all do. Here it is:
Look at that fuckin’ thing. It’s amazing. This one, like the cover to A Void and Cloudless Sky, was done by glitch artist Zoem Fox, whose work I have loved for ages. They really nailed this one.
Some amazing people have blurbed this thing; I was lucky enough to get all three of my ideal picks. Here’s what they have to say about it:
Similar to drifting through water, each page of this collection camouflages itself into explorations and queries about the strange things we remember when we try to forget. What does one do when they sink to the bottom of their being? You move through the depths of self that feel like spilled ink; you embrace the multi-limbed thoughts and out-of-sync memories. The Failure Experiment does what any experiment an artist requires- to test every hypothesis of where the line between myth and memory begins and ends, and make you wonder what [else] one does with grief that changes color.
- haydée r. souffrant: writer, artist, and delusional optimistThe Failure Experiment is a lyrical explosion, at once intimate and personal while exploring the far reaches of the universe. Ricki Cummings's poetry collection contains a delightful electrical tangle of words and feelings, exploring the nuances of life. What is real? What is artificial? There's no single answer and we don't have to settle on one when the options before us are so brilliant.
- K.B. Wagers: author of And the Mighty Will FallAt once visceral and mechanical, detached and tragically invested, yearning and stoic, this work sways between the stubborn momentum of humanity and the quiet freedom of something other, something more. To read it feels like entering the same dazzling city again and again, taking a different route each time--forms springing up like detours and references littering the streets. You get to the end, thinking you've got a handle on everything you've seen. And then you reach the back matter--a tremendous work in and of itself--and you immediately go back to the beginning, giddy to start again.
- Katie West: editor
So you can see why I’m so dang excited about this whole project finally coming to fruition. Four more weeks!
The unfortunate thing is that Amazon (yes I went with Amazon, but it’s still the market with the highest royalty rate that goes to the actual author) doesn’t do presales on print books. So I can’t send you to a link and tell you to preorder a copy. Best I can do is hope you mark it on your calendar, and that the email I send you on the 21st is well-met and motivating enough.
They do offer presales on Kindle copies, but I haven’t finished the layout on that one. Because I haven’t started the layout on that one. Also, I personally find poetry to be difficult reading on an ereader/tablet. But if you don’t have a problem with that, I’ll be putting that up hopefully in a couple weeks. I digress.
Another big thing! Something that has been kicking around here with the marketing boys is a collaboration with Elle Billing, whom some of you may know as the co-producer and usual voice of the HOORF! Podcast (and my partner.) But here’s the thing: her first job is as a visual artist in collage and painting. So she’s been working on a collection of works, also called THE FAILURE EXPERIMENT in conversation with my book, which will be released on the March 21st as well.
The paintings are largely collages, based in a decidedly cyberpunk colorway, and brings in so much of Elle’s unique process and personal mythology to the canvas that I am continuously delighted and surprised to see them develop. I genuinely can’t wait til they’re released into the wild.
In closing, I’m so proud and excited to get this project out there. The book itself started out in the beginning of the COVID pandemic (which we are still in, make sure your boosters are up to date and you’re masking up at least in crowded or busy places!) and it’s been in continuous development since. But I have finally finished the Amazon listing, I received my proof copies yesterday, and I cannot tell you how proud of this object I am. It’s gorgeous to look at. It’s even wonderful just to flip through. It’s done, now it’s just waiting, like Cthulhu, for the stars to be right to unleash its madness into the world. I hope to see you then.
One last thing that I’m not putting out on the socials quite yet is that I’m reducing the price of confessions from a drainage ditch for the next month in case you haven’t picked it up and would like to. (It’s possible that the price change hasn’t populated through the system quite yet, so if it’s still listed at $9.99/$4.99, you might have to wait a bit, sorry!) Do note that this book is nothing at all like THE FAILURE EXPERIMENT except in a few poems. Spice makes interstellar travel possible.
Thanks for coming along with me on this ride. I’m really proud of all my work, and this is the latest installment of something I’m so glad to have done, and to have people interested in. Here’s to connections.
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