I guess the usual way to go about it would be to produce a video book trailer before the book comes out, and honestly, that had been the plan. But the months leading up to last year’s publication of To Sleep as Animals were hectic and weird. As were the months that followed. Of course, my life this morning feels hectic and weird and all I’ve succeeded in doing so far is to boil water for tea and steep in the usual unproductive self-doubt. So clearly, I’m hunting for excuses. The truth is, I do not have a good reason for my lack of a timely book trailer. But it is also true that I do, at long last, have a video trailer for To Sleep as Animals.

One facet of last year’s book launch event for To Sleep as Animals (in addition to the actors and soundscaping and surprise a cappella rendition of “The Ballad of Gary Gilmore”) was a pair of dueling video projectors set back-to-back at the center of the room. On one wall played a 1950s home movie of the Nevada desert and surrounding mountains. On the opposite wall ran a compilation of nuclear tests conducted by the U.S. government in that very same desert. The trailer below—built around audio from a collaborative radio performance with Scott Sell—is a redux of that latter projection. I do not think the resulting trailer is inappropriately spooky.

If you enjoy what you see and hear, you can read excerpts from the novel here and here, or purchase a copy—in two distinct print formats as well as an electronic edition—directly from Publication Studio Hudson / Pilot Editions.