DEAD MONKEY RUM: Behind the Scenes with Artist Joseph Dunn

Since thousands of Tiki enthusiasts are now flocking to the annual Tiki Oasis event in San Diego to bask in the Southern California sun, lounge by the pool at the Town & Country Hotel, attend the midnight burlesque show, and imbibe a variety of exotic tropical cocktails conjured up by alchemical mixologists, I thought this would be the ideal time to offer a "behind-the-scenes" look at the process used by artist Joseph Dunn to design the fabulous cover for my 2023 Tiki-centric novel, DEAD MONKEY RUM, which was nominated for a Rondo Award earlier this year. 

Joseph managed to nail the exact vibe I had envisioned for the cover when I first began writing the novel one sunny spring afternoon while sitting near the koi pond in the luxuriant Japanese Garden at CSU Long Beach, Sven Kirsten's THE SOUND OF TIKI blasting into my ears through my headphones. Appropriately enough, Martin Denny and Si Zentner's "Tiki" (from their 1962 album EXOTICA SUITE) was the song playing when the idea for the novel first struck me. (In an earlier CryptoPost, I listed many of the exotica albums I was listening to obsessively while writing the book.) I don't believe reading DEAD MONKEY RUM would be quite the same experience without Joseph's artistic contribution. Laid out below is the step-by-step process Joseph used to reach the final image that adorns the cover of DEAD MONKEY RUM. If you like what you see (and I'm sure you will), you should check out Joseph's Etsy shop by clicking right HERE...

PRAISE FOR DEAD MONKEY RUM:

"A remarkable rush of entertainment and thrills."

--Alan Moore (V for Vendetta and Watchmen) 

 

"Robert Guffey's fantastic novel, DEAD MONKEY RUM, will at least bring your brain out of a coma, if not get your imagination off the couch. This is a thinly masked tribute/adventure to the late Stanislaw Szukalski and his boundless imagination. This book is a mental gymnasium."

-- Robert Williams (Visual Addiction, Hysteria in Remission, and Through Prehensile Eyes)

 

"A fantastically rich and entertaining piece of work with an original sharp edge."

 -- Jim Woodring (writer/artist of Weathercraft, The Frank Book, and One Beautiful Spring Day)

 

"Stanislaw Szukalski would love DEAD MONKEY RUM. This novel is addictive like a heavy drug. Make space in your calendar to read it all."

-- Irek Dobrowolski (director of the Netflix documentary, Struggle: The Life and Lost Art of Szukalski)

 

 "Yetis, Tiki Gods, Cryptozoology, and rum-filled adventure! Sign me up and tell me when the ship sails! I'm recommending this Robert Guffey novel to all my friends, family, and foes to take their minds completely off whatever they are thinking about. Wonderful."

-- Loren Coleman (Mysterious America, The Field Guide to Lake Monsters and Sea Serpents, The Field Guide to Bigfoot, Curious Encounters, and 40 other books - Director of the International Cryptozoology Museum)

 
"DEAD MONKEY RUM succeeds at being a pursuit thriller, with suspense and tension as the monkey and Stephanie evade their cryptid enemies, and comedy as the two exchange jabs at each other. It is cinematically fast. DEAD MONKEY RUM should be adapted to a [...] Ralph Bakshiesque animated film where both the zaniness of the narrative and the latent satire would really flourish."

-- Exotica Moderne

 

"One of the weirdest romps you'll ever read."

-- Fortean Times

 UNBOXING DEAD MONKEY RUM: