I’ve alluded to the fact that I’ve got a new book coming out soon. There’s been a longer-than-usual break between books — I switched publishers after St. Martin’s dropped the ball so badly on the last one, which threw things off. Which means this one’s a little longer than the standard two-year compilation, with work going all the way back to the runup to war in 2002. So when I was putting it together, I was trying to think of a title and a cover image that would succinctly sum up everything we’ve been through since then … and, well, this is what I came up with:
Think I’m gonna get any crap for this one?
You can pre-order it here. (…available March 23.)
Comments open.
… I know the Amazon ranking numbers are essentially meaningless, especially when comparing a few pre-orders today to absolutely no sales yesterday. But still, you gotta love this:
Let’s hope that trend continues.
January 30th, 2006 at 12:38 pm
I don’t see a 666 or a microchip implant anywhere. Other than that it seems to mirror reality.
January 30th, 2006 at 12:43 pm
Get any crap for this one? Probably not. They’ll just call you a “moonbat” for the rest of your life. A Taliban-loving moonbat that wants the terrorists to win.
January 30th, 2006 at 12:45 pm
…and that would be different how?
January 30th, 2006 at 12:48 pm
I’ll get it, certainly. I would have called it “The War on Error” but that’s probably more subtle than things should be at this point. No sense mincing words about it.
January 30th, 2006 at 12:57 pm
Greetings Tom,
Before I pre-order it, are you going to be in Portland, Or on your book signing tour? If so, I’ll wait until then… Otherwise…
Where did you get the cover photo? I don’t remember hearing about that Presidential photo shoot before.
Z.
January 30th, 2006 at 1:01 pm
“a handbasket”…with wheels and rockets (as a friend of mine used to say).
You won’t get any grief from me. It’s the first accurate description/depiction of reality I’ve seen in five years.
January 30th, 2006 at 1:05 pm
Hey!
January 30th, 2006 at 1:06 pm
Great image, Tom. I like Lynddie England outside the window! Dick actually looks more natural with th’ horns!
January 30th, 2006 at 1:08 pm
Book tour is pretty much finalized as:
Washington DC
New York City
Los Angeles
San Francisco
Seattle
Would like to do more, but I’m already squeezing that much into an unbelievably short time.
January 30th, 2006 at 1:08 pm
I think it overstates the intentional nature of their actions. Most of what we suffer from under this administration is better described by
Nixon - Brains = Bush
Loyalty above all else, I’m never wrong, don’t bring me bad news, the truth is what I decide it is.
January 30th, 2006 at 1:11 pm
What? No Boston on the book tour? That’s just sad.
Or would that be kind of a coals-to-Newcastle visit?
Anyway, congrats on the book. Many happy returns… oh no, wait, I mean Break a… no, that’s not it. Mazel tov? Sure, that’ll do.
January 30th, 2006 at 1:15 pm
I’ll be in Hardy, Arkansas, in the near future to see my grandmother who lives in nearby Ash Flat. I’ll let you know if I see any copies for sale there . . . and what kind of impact it’s made on the cultural conciousness as she sees it.
January 30th, 2006 at 1:17 pm
Oddly enough, I lived in Hardy Arkansas for several years, as a teenager. Seriously.
January 30th, 2006 at 1:20 pm
Where in DC?
January 30th, 2006 at 1:34 pm
Yeah–you know the NYT doesn’t allow caricatures! Do you want to destroy your chances of ever gracing their editorial pages again?!?!?!
Seriously, though: When the hell will this thing finally be available (with or without this cover)?
January 30th, 2006 at 1:37 pm
Aren’t you ever gonna come to Austin, Texas? An island of blue in a sea of red! Music! Scenery! Barbecue and Tex-Mex! And lots of people who still read books! I’ve BEEN to Amsterdam and this place is better. Oh, sure, they’ve got tulips and that Van Gogh thing going and Heinekin is pretty good beer but I think Austin trumps that with bluebonnets, Willie Nelson, Molly Ivins, Shiner Bock, and the largest urban bat colony in North America. I once even served jury duty with Jerry Jeff Walker. Now, I know you’re thinking, “Texas? The land that spawned Dubya, Karl Rove, and Scott McClellan?” But that ain’t this city! In fact, we are often derided by the rest of the state as “The Republic of Austin”. The Tom Delay-run state legislature has popularized the sport of “Austin-bashing” because we DON’T fit the right-wing stereotype. Last year, only one county in the entire state (and there’s over 250 of ‘em) voted against a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. Yep, Travis County, home of Austin, I’m proud to say. So don’t give me that lame crap about being too busy and get your sorry ass to Texas!
January 30th, 2006 at 1:38 pm
Jeff, I’m actually trying to squeeze in a trip to SXSW to see Neil Young, Steve Earle, etc. But that’s a week and a half before the book is released, so the timing doens’t work to do an event there.
January 30th, 2006 at 1:39 pm
I *love* the cover. Call me crazy, but I think it’ll really sell. Because it’s spot-on.
Pre-ordered.
January 30th, 2006 at 1:41 pm
Brilliant cover! When did you sneak into the White House to draw it?
January 30th, 2006 at 1:50 pm
An instant classic!
January 30th, 2006 at 1:56 pm
That cover is brilliant.
January 30th, 2006 at 2:12 pm
Love it! Does it work out better for you if folks buy from their favorite online shop or from the regular brick and mortar stores? My inclination is to wait for a book to hit the shelves and then go shopping. I often end up taking a small stack of books to the checkout, which is good for the bookstore owner I’m sure but does it affect sales figures more or less or about the same, if I buy in a store verses online?
January 30th, 2006 at 2:12 pm
Sniff, Sniff, Seattle and then San Francisco… Passing over Portland on the way… Sniff…
Oh well, if I can’t make it to Seattle then I’ll just have to pre-order it.
My wife keeps suggesting a trip via Amtrak to Seattle, perhaps I can persuade her that one particular day would be good.
Z.
January 30th, 2006 at 2:21 pm
Jeff Kerr: I’ve never been to Austin, but I drink Shiner Bock when ever I possibly can, it’s a fantastic beer. I’m a Madison, WI micro-brewery beer snob and even I have to admit one of the best beers you can drink is brewed in Texas. The Hefeweizen is pretty awesome too.
January 30th, 2006 at 3:07 pm
Excellent cover, title, and subtitle.
You won’t get crap for it from your friends and admirers.
January 30th, 2006 at 3:08 pm
It’s a great cover. My only tiny comment is that (to me) the look on Dubya’s face is too neutral….maybe he could be in one of his “explaining blatantly obvious truths to mentally disabled six-year-olds” postures?
January 30th, 2006 at 3:13 pm
Tom, Tom, Tom… (tsks quietly)
Really now… devil’s horns? hellfire? Why, is that ANY way to depict our commander-in-chief, even if you don’t agree with anything he does and believe that he’s a thief, a liar, and possibly missing a chromosome? The important thing for Democrats is to consistently repeat how much we respect and admire the man, and how ultimately -dissimilar- to the Prince of Darkness he is. After all, Americans simple -adore- him. And if we want to cash in on that action, we must make ourselves as similar in policy to him as we possibly can.
Hm. This comment took longer to write on account of I had to switch keyboards after the original one stopped working. This was possibly a consequence of my vomitting on it.
January 30th, 2006 at 3:30 pm
I can only hope you catch hell for that one. And I know who’ll lead the charge. The only man with the B-A-L-L-S to do it: Stephen Colbert. You’re not going to get away with such slander. Because, after all, there isn’t a shred of truthiness behind it.
January 30th, 2006 at 3:37 pm
Well, I hope you can make the music fest. If you do, may I suggest you at least try to arrange an interview with the Austin Chronicle? They carry “This Modern World”: in fact, reading the Chronicle is how I learned about the best political cartoon in America (you know, that one with the penguin).
January 30th, 2006 at 3:43 pm
I give it six horns up!
January 30th, 2006 at 3:52 pm
I love it. Love it. love it, love it. If only I could write comments as funny as those above, but …yeah, it’s not going to happen. When will you be in San Francisco?
January 30th, 2006 at 3:58 pm
I note that Amazon.com has a slightly different cover: In addition to everything pictured above, that version aslo includes the disembodied heads of Ann Coulter and (I think) Sean Hannity, with batwings attached, flying around in the background. Tee hee!
January 30th, 2006 at 4:03 pm
Hey, I thought Matt Groening had dibs on any comic strip collections with the word “hell” in them. :)
January 30th, 2006 at 4:08 pm
John D. you have a sharp eye. I put up an earlier version of the art without realizing it.
January 30th, 2006 at 4:09 pm
I may be your only reader here in McPherson Kansas, but I think the cover tells it like it is. I recall reading in Revelations something about how the antichrist will destroy Babylon, then rebuild it. War sure is satanic if you ask me.
possible bumpersticker that might make the bushwacked masses out here stop and think: WAR IS AN ABORTION OF THE BORN
One question - why not
TO hell in a handbasket
isn’t that the saying? “we are going TO hell in a handbasket”?
Thanks for all you do, you give me hope that there are, in fact, some sane people out there somewhere.
January 30th, 2006 at 4:20 pm
Y’all know, W.’s complexion in y’all’s cover art kinda reminds me of the line about calling Nixon out of retirement: He’s tanned, he’s ready, he’s rested!
Ol’ W. sure looks tan in ya’ll’s cover, and lord knows he’s well-rested from all those vacations whenever trouble is brewing. But ready? Okay, maybe not.
Great cover! I’d buy it! When and where are you signing in NYC?
(P.S. — a question about one of your recent posts. Are you sure that Tom’s near Columbia was the inspiration for the Vega song? Some folks say it was Tom’s Diner in Brooklyn on Washington Avenue in Prospect Heights.)
January 30th, 2006 at 4:28 pm
Larry4–100% certain, from a personal conversation with SV herself.
January 30th, 2006 at 5:54 pm
I like the cover, but think Cheney should have a serpent’s forked tongue.
January 30th, 2006 at 6:53 pm
The cover makes good use of Red and Yellow.
I like it.
MYOB’
.
January 30th, 2006 at 7:56 pm
Any idea on the date for your trip to LA? I’ll gladly miss school to catch a signing.
And I didn’t know you were a photographer. That photo of Bush is just spot-on. Funny…I thought you were just some crazy cartoonist.
January 30th, 2006 at 8:27 pm
i’m not 100% sure of the specific confirmed dates right now. It all takes place between 3/23 and 3/31. I know that I’m speaking in New York City one night, catching a redeye and signing in Los Angeles the next. I should be good and exhausted by the time this one’s over, but I can’t afford to take too much more time off. I wish there were a midwestern stop in there, and I wish I had time for Portland — Powell’s has always been very good to me. But to paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld, you go on book tour with the time you have, not the time you want.
January 30th, 2006 at 9:20 pm
In response to Greg’s:
One question - why not
TO hell in a handbasket
isn’t that the saying? “we are going TO hell in a handbasket”?
The answer Greg is that we are alreay there.
January 30th, 2006 at 10:57 pm
love it! and i concur with your implicit assertion that the time for sublety is over…as Stephen Colbert would say, out with the ‘truthiness’!
January 31st, 2006 at 7:13 am
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0007106130/qid=1138709551/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/026-6826137-8418830
From the British equivalent of a slightly calmer Rush Limbaugh. Not accusing you of ripping him off, it just occurs to me that you’ve got more of a case for the title than he has.
January 31st, 2006 at 11:08 am
Thanks for the info re Tom’s. Don’t think I’ll share it with the folks at Tom’s in Brooklyn, tho’. They have a tattered copy of SV’s lyrics on a wall in a corner. Everybody there is too nice to disappoint. It’d be churlish.
January 31st, 2006 at 5:58 pm
Am I the only one who finds the inclusion of the hooded iraqi disturbing? That’s one image I have to say is categorically anti-funny, and I think it’s detracts from the otherwise great cover. I just don’t think that after all that dude went through he deserves to spend eternity with the bush administration. Even an insurgent deserves better.
(eh, I tried)
January 31st, 2006 at 9:41 pm
If the trend of reducing your sales rank by 789-fold continues, tomorrow you will be at #4. The next day at 0.005. After that you fade into utter insignificance. Don’t do it, dude!
February 1st, 2006 at 12:05 pm
Dude, you actually lived in Arkansas? Far Freaking Out!!! Come to Fayetteville sometimes and we’ll call out the troops for you!!! Love the cover, been with you since we all were one! Loved ‘R. Crumb’. The Old Lady, most astute videophile, did too. Gotta go. My Music program just freaked out!
February 1st, 2006 at 5:57 pm
I ordered ONE copy from Amazon, just to give you the numbers right now, but I’ll be getting several more as gifts when they are stocked in the local bookstores. Incidentally, in little old Willits, California, we have TWO independent booksellers–one for new books, the other for mostly used and some new. Our population hovers around 13,000 (mostly in the hills and valley outside the city limits) so I think that must be some kind of a record for independent booksellers per/capita.