Book 2, Reimagined Art: Another Roadside Attraction by Tom Robbins

So, as you may have seen in the last Another Roadside Attraction post, I had a lot of elements I could have worked with for this cover. I eventually came to the conclusion that I needed to keep it very simple and create a design that would jump out at you from across the bookstore. So, the two elements I chose to focus on were... hot dogs and Jesus. Didn't expect that now did you?

A little back story: The book is about a hippy couple, John Paul and Amanda, who open up a hot dog stand along the highway in Washington State named "Captain Kendrick's Memorial Hot Dog Wildlife Preserve".  At the same time, through a series of misadventures, their friend Plucky Purcell gets wrapped up in a militant Catholic secret society and comes into possession of the corpse of Jesus Christ... which he steals and brings back to the roadside attraction. 

So, in honor of Captain Kendrick's, I started off with a basic picture of a hot dog which I myself took and then ate (the hot dog, not the picture).

Then I imported this picture with an older painting of Jesus on the cross into Adobe Illustrator. 

I traced both photos with VERY bright colors, cleaned them up a bit and removed elements. To top it all off and to make the site a little more sacrilegious, Jesus is now nailed to a giant hot dog.

 

Throw in a radial gradient background and some wispy, neon-like type and we have a very bright, very offensive cover:

Keep in mind, this is my very first cover exclusively using Adobe Illustrator (so be kind). The floor is now open for comments, questions, suggestions, and critiques.

Book 2, Update: Another Roadside Attraction by Tom Robbins

So you may have noticed that I've posted book 3 before the reimagining of book 2, Another Roadside Attraction. No, you didn't miss it. I just haven't done it yet!

In my defense, I've hit one of those good problems with this book: too many great ideas. I've been thinking about what I'd like to focus on but keeping it simple. Keep in mind that these were the things discussed in the novel (in no particular order):

- a roadside hot dog stand with 30' X 9' sign -

- a flea circus -

- Jesus -

- a white man who has taken on an African Tribal lifestyle (see animal skins, filed teeth, etc.) -

- a woman who goes into trances and has visions -

- an anthropomorphic baboon -

- mushrooms -

- a black-ops, militant section of the Vatican -

- butterflies -

- a rock n' roll circus -

- a child named Thor with electric blue eyes -

- endangered garter snakes -

- the 60's counter culture -

- etc. -

I think I've finally figured out what direction I'm going to go in and will be working on the cover this weekend. Be sure to check back next week for the update!

Book 2, Background Info: Another Roadside Attraction by Tom Robbins

The reason I originally picked up Another Roadside Attraction was the fact that it had to do with… wait for it… roadside attractions! In the novel, a circus/naturalist/mystical/hippie couple open up a hotdog stand in Washington state called “Captain Kendrick's Memorial Hot Dog Wildlife Preserve”. The draw to this site is the 30-foot tall hot dog sign on the roof, an endangered garter snake habitat, flea circus, and a certain corpse of a Christian persuasion.

I think I’ve a certain affinity for these slowly disappearing roadside oddities. I could be due to the fact that I’ve grown up with one in my backyard ever since I was little.

The Big Blue Bug is Rhode Island’s strangest and most visible landmark. Directly looking out over I-95, its New England Pest Control’s highly inventive piece of advertising. I don’t think there’s a single person in Rhode Island who doesn’t know the name New England Pest Control because of that giant blue landmark. If you’re ever driving through Providence, RI you can’t miss it.

Some other sites you might also be interested in:

The Thing?, Dragoon Arizona

What is The Thing? Drive out to the middle of nowhere and find out!

The World’s Largest Peanut, Ashburn, GA

Along I-75, it’s the county’s tribute to the peanut.

Clark’s Trading Post, N. Woodstock, NH

My Favorite place in the entire world! Check out the performing bear shows and get chased by the crazed hillbilly “Wolfman” on a scenic train ride… I’m not making this up.

To learn more about roadside attractions near you, be sure to check out Roadside America, the definitive website for those weird little places around the country.

Book 2, Original Art: Another Roadside Attraction by Tom Robbins

ANOTHER ROADSIDE ATTRACTION by Tom Robbins

Published by Bantam Books, Copyright 1991; Original Cover Design by Les LePere

"What if the Second Coming didn't quite come off as advertised? What if 'the Corpse' on display in that funky roadside zoo is really who they say it is--what does that portent for the future of western civilization? And what if a young clairvoyant named Amanda reestablishes the flea circus as popular entertainment and fertility worship as the principal religious form of our high-tech age? Another Roadside Attraction answers those questions and a lot more. It tells us, for example, what the sixties were truly all about, not by reporting on the psychedelic decade but by recreating it, from the inside out. In the process, this stunningly original seriocomic thriller eating a literary hotdog and eroding the borders of the mind."

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