The novel My Uncle Oswald tells the story of the young protagonist discovering the world's most powerful afrodisiac (crushed blisterbeetle), which he cleverly and profitably markets to horny aristocrats. The enterprise eventually twists itself into a devious plot to steal semen from the world's most influential men (Freud, Proust, Monet, Picasso, Stravinsky, etc.) to sell in a black-market sperm bank.
Switch Bitch contains several shorter Oswald stories (including what might be considered the pilot episode for My Uncle Oswald), as well as a few other assorted sexual tales.
These designs seemed to be doing pretty well (especially the black one) right up until the Dahl estate rejected them in favor of importing these UK designs by Jon Gray. Can't say I'm not disappointed by this one, but that's just the nature of the publishing industry.
On a happier note, my jacket for the upcoming Jonathan Tropper novel is approved (and soon to be a movie):
...as is this design for Paul Johnson's biography of Charles Darwin:
...and this fun little "Story Generator" for Chronicle:
...and the new Penguin hardcover, Midnight in Peking; a true story of the unsolved 1937 murder of a young woman living in a small British expatriate community in Peking. The entire front cover is printed over silver foil, and the dragon designs are gloss-only (not actually printed in ink).

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That's a shame about the black Oswald cover, the black one is very striking and I'd want to buy it if I came across in a bookshop.
ReplyDeleteI'm a huge fan of both of those books and I think your covers are truer to the crazy and fun nature of the books than those icky UK ones which seem just sort of boring. Boo. Yours are better.
ReplyDeleteLove your Roald Dahl covers, shame they were rejected.
ReplyDeleteAnd love your cover for Darwin! And omg Chronicle Books!! Did you get to illustrate any of the inside pages too?
Thanks,
DeleteNo, I didn't get to do any inside pages, but hopefully someday!
So sorry to hear about the Roald Dahl covers! But congratulations on the others...I have added Darwin to my wishlist.
ReplyDeleteBummer, I loved your illustrated versions of the Dahl book. Great stuff!
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