Electric Literature is pleased to reveal the cover of Distortion by Kathryn Bromwich, which will be published on March 9, 2027 by Two Dollar Radio. You can pre-order your copy here.
A knife-sharp, deliciously sexy story about a young actress and the lengths she will go to fulfill her dream, under the guidance of a shadowy and eccentric auteur.
Natalie is prepared to give up acting forever before being abruptly cast as a leading role in maverick director Robert Langford’s secretive new horror film. It’s the opportunity of a lifetime, so while Natalie has questions about the actress who mysteriously dropped out of the role before her, as well as how her disability will be portrayed in the film, she brushes them aside. Natalie joins the star-studded production for weeks of rigorous rehearsals that employ strange methods and arcane talismans, leading to dangerously deep bonds between cast members.
Once shooting starts on location at a remote Scottish castle overlooking the sea, a series of unsettling phenomena haunt the set, leading to whispers among the local population that the film is cursed. As filming progresses, Natalie debates whether she is using Robert’s film or it is using her, as well as what must be sacrificed in the service of art.
Hypnotic, disquieting, and surprising, Distortion is a modern gothic tale of seduction and survival.
Here’s the cover, designed by Eric Obenauf:
Kathryn Bromwich: There is a mismatch in the way we see ourselves, the way we wish to appear to the world, and the way the world actually perceives us. In Distortion, I wanted to explore the friction and contradictions between these states, thinking about the limits of perception both in ourselves and others. The world of cinema and acting was a natural setting for these questions: the elevation of reality into something grander and stranger, the often fraught behind-the-scenes underpinning the mirage, film’s seductive appeal speaking to a deep and primal part of us. In the dark of the auditorium, the outside world temporarily ceases to exist and we willingly enter a game of make-believe with the film-maker, whose vision becomes the lens through which we experience the universe they have created, the characters they have breathed life into.
The moment I saw the cover I knew it was right: the uncanny Hitchcockian mood, the delicate crack in the veneer, the reflection that isn’t quite as it appears. I have always been fascinated by artistic representations of doppelgängers: a splintering of the self that threatens to undermine your sense of identity, the aspects of yourself you have kept so carefully hidden rising up and breaking through to the surface. Visually, the cover echoes the book’s preoccupation with doubling, and the lies we tell ourselves in order to survive. Growing up with a disability, mirrors have long been a source of trepidation, lest I catch a glimpse of myself unguarded; to counteract internalized feelings of shame, I choose instead to believe in an idealized version of myself, a futile game of self-deception that distorts reality into a shape of my choosing. There are few books that explore beauty, desire, and disability. I hope Distortion will force readers to contend with preconceptions they may not even realize they have: make them look in the mirror and be honest with themselves about what they see.
Eric Obenauf: I love Kathryn’s work. There’s something both very filmic and very Shirley Jackson about her books, while being completely her own distinctive style. I always thought her first novel, At the Edge of the Woods, would make a tremendous movie. Now the new novel, Distortion, actually takes place on a film set. I designed the hardcover and paperback covers for At the Edge of the Woods, and I believe I wanted them to invoke movie posters. The hardback design wants to convey a timeless, classic story, and a paperback thriller from the mid-20th century, when the book is set, while the paperback wants to be an A24 movie.
For Distortion, much of the design inspiration that Kathryn shared with me felt more contemporary while conveying a sense of the uncanny. There is the doubling in the story that Kathryn mentions, which felt important to represent visually, and while the book is a psychological thriller, it’s also a love story, and about self-perception, and acceptance. I really love the end design. It’s nice when it works out, isn’t it?”
