Well, here it is, almost May, and I have yet to finish Grind Your Bones To Dust. I had originally hoped to be done with the manuscript by the beginning of January. The book, alas, had other ideas. Suppose I cannot complain too much since the delay has been nothing but good news for the book. Grind Your Bones To Dust may be the best work I’ve ever committed to the page. And as the title will be my first full-length novel, I’d call that a win. Still, I’ll be happy as a clam when the damned thing is over with. These murderous men and flesh-eating donkeys have consumed most of the last eight months of my mental real estate. Other projects are waiting patiently for this rental to open up. As is, I’d wager I am less than 10K words out from calling it a wrap. That’s hardly more than a short story’s worth of material left to jot down, so the end is certainly nigh.

In the meantime, cover and interior art (courtesy of Daniele Serra) is finished. I will probably hold off on sharing the interior art until a later date, but I will gladly drop the cover art in here for you, because it is simply gorgeous:

And, because I find these things interesting, I’ve included a look at the original sketch proposal(s):

…and here is the initial layouts for what would become the finished image:

As I said to Daniele, the art is fittingly contemplative, nearly elegiac, as is so much of the novel. Yes, horrific events take place, but there are moments of beauty and emotional insight, often within or close proximity to the most violent moments of the book.

If you made a Venn diagram of Clive Barker, Raymond Carver, and Cormac McCarthy’s works, then I feel like you could place Grind Your Bones To Dust somewhere in the middle of that.

Grind Your Bones To Dust should be available in October 2019 from Excession Press.