Among Wolves
Hi. My name’s Scott O’Connor, and I get to be your guest blogger this morning. (Thanks, Amanda!)
I’m the author and designer of Among Wolves, a somewhat comic/somewhat terrifying novella about a young boy who believes that his parents and older sister have been replaced by nefarious imposters. You may have seen it—it’s the smallish red paperback with the blue gargoyle face on the cover (a disquieting photograph I took on a merry-go-round in San Francisco, adding to the argument that most things adults devise to enrich their children’s formative years—clowns, public schools, etc.—lead more often to 50-minute hours in the therapist’s office than pleasant childhood memories).
I hadn’t necessarily planned on designing the book. By last fall, I had finished the manuscript and was desperately in need of a vacation, or at least a decent night’s sleep. But when my esteemed publishers at The Swannigan & Wright Literary Matter suggested that I might be the guy for the job, I jumped at the chance-interpreting their offer as a show of unprecedented faith in my artistic ability rather than a weasely way to avoid paying an outside designer.
It took about three months, from first sketch to finished book. I learned a lot in the process-mostly about the thorny technical realities of translating an idea into something that people can actually, you know, read. And along the way, I developed a renewed sense of appreciation for the folks this site celebrates: people who design books well —books that I not only enjoy reading, but enjoy holding in my hands and showing off on my shelves.
And now my book is out, available online and in the fiction section of finer bookstores, right between Flannery O’Connor and John O’Hara. You can pick it up and hold it in your hands. You can smell the ink on the pages and feel the glossy spot varnish on the cover. You can stick it in your purse or your back pocket until you have an hour or two to grab a cup of coffee or a beer and sit and relax and read.
Hopefully it won’t send you running to your therapist.
Comments:
Congratulations Scott! What’s next? Another book?
Sleep, then another book.
This is a beautiful book AND it’s funny and scary and odd and makes you second guess your own reality. And it smells good too!
Mr. O’Connor has not only impressed the hell out of his readers, but has established himself as one of the most brilliant up and coming authors. We can’t wait until the next one.
I’ve read this book and it opens the pages of youth. You’re quickly drawn into a world that you’ve forgotten and are glad to remember. Can’t wait for next book!
i read scott’s book in class this year. i enjoyed it thoroughly, which i found startling, as it kept trying to mess with my head and defy logic. i’d come to a conclusion about this boy’s delusions, and the next sentence would say something to disprove my theory, then back again. it makes no sense! and that’s the beauty of it, i feel.