Edith Finch Book Cover Reveal and Release Date!
Today is an exciting day. Today, I reveal the cover of my newest book, a book about my favorite video game of all time, What Remains of Edith Finch!
I’ve worked on this book for the last two years. Of all the books I’ve written (many), this is my most important. I’m a life-long gamer and a devoted thinker, and this book is the culmination of a life spent writing about video games both as essays & blog posts and as hundreds of visual essays, editorials, and comedy videos on YouTube. With Suddenly I was a Shark!: My Time with What Remains of Edith Finch, I feel like I’ve finally made a valid contribution to this world of video games that I love so much.
The release date is June 12th, 2023!
(The paperback version will be available closer to the release date)
Paid subscribers here on Substack will get the .epub version of Suddenly I was a Shark!: My Time with What Remains of Edith Finch as part of their subscription. Upgrade to a paid subscription now.
Now, without further ado, here is the book cover…
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About the cover design
Much like Creative Director Ian Dallas wanted to evoke feelings of the sublime with What Remains of Edith Finch, I wanted the cover of Suddenly I was a Shark!: My Time with What Remains of Edith Finch to do the same. The bathtub floating within its own impossible overflow is surreal, awe-inspiring, and definitely sublime.
Additionally, the flooded bathtub might remind some readers of a specific scene in the game, but I won’t ruin your day with that absolutely heartbreaking event. Play the game. Read the book. You’ll know.
The oversaturated colors give off a dream-like quality that compliments the dreaminess of the image’s subject. This cover is a window into the impossible.
The title text is angled to highlight the buoyancy of objects within the flooded bathroom. Much as the table, the chair, and the bathtub itself are powerless to escape the flood’s lift, so too are the title’s letters.
My favorite little detail is the way the table juts out in front of the “a” which forces the title to become part of the scene, rather than just a layer on top of it. But, then the shark shape, a flattened, very non-real portrayal of the animal, which is attached to the letter “l,” stands defiantly in contrast to the realness of the world that the overlayed table tries to pull the text back into. I love this conflict of surreal dreaminess and iconographic stability. I have to say, though, it seems the dream is winning this battle.
(The paperback version will be available closer to the release date)
About Suddenly I Was a Shark!: My Time with What Remains of Edith Finch
What Remains of Edith Finch was released in 2017 amid a gaming public that had largely already dismissed the game’s genre. A walking simulator game exchanges the traditional ‘shoot, jump, run’ mechanics of most popular video games for a passive ‘walk, investigate a thing, walk some more’ set of mechanics. With no points, no combat, no puzzles, and no goal other than narrative progression, What Remains of Edith Finch’s success came as a surprise to most. But for those few who appreciated the power of a combat-less, story-driven video game, What Remains of Edith Finch would become a beacon for an emerging trend of games that aim to change the gamer themself. Jimmy Fallon, Saturday Night Live alumnus and host of The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, says of the game, “it’s one of my favorite things… it’s gonna change your life.”
In Suddenly I was a Shark!: My Time with What Remains of Edith Finch, author, and lifelong video game enthusiast, Caleb J. Ross explores the life-changing impact of this unassuming video game about a young woman’s attempt to understand a curse that has killed every member of her family. By mixing developer interviews, personal stories, and examinations of the game’s many literary inspirations, Caleb delivers a powerful story of personal change via one of the most important walking simulator video games ever made.
(The paperback version will be available closer to the release date)
Tell the world!
Do you know someone who loves What Remains of Edith Finch? Do you know someone who loves reading about video games? Share this post with them or consider buying a copy of Suddenly I was a Shark!: My Time with What Remains of Edith Finch for them. They will love you forever…probably.
