The Fellow Utopian - A Novel by Wilfried F. Voss

The Fellow Utopian – Cover design

On September 24, 2009, in The Fellow Utopian, by Wilfried F. Voss

Design is not just what it looks like or feels like. Design is how it works.
- Steve Jobs

The Fellow Utopian - A Novel by Wilfried F. Voss

Now that my personal blog is also connected to that at Amazon.com I need to reiterate: I am currently working on my next novel The Fellow Utopian. If you read this entry on Amazon.com please log on to my personal blog at FrogenYozurt.com to read the whole history.

As I wrote in a previous entry, I had the idea for The Fellow Utopian long before I started writing my first novel The Bleeding Hills. Consequently, the title, story line, and cover idea had been brewing in my mind for a long time.

The idea for the cover is based on one of the numerous discussions I had with a friend of mine, Brian. That was actually several years ago when I still lived in Northampton, Massachusetts. After moving farther North I saw Brian only sporadically when I returned to Northampton. I believe, he might still take his strides on Main Street, always on a mission to educate people that war and killing people is not the answer to any problem. The last time I saw him, he had his little daughter with him, which was a surprise to me, since he was already in his mid-fifties when I met him.

Brian was a soldier during the war in Vietnam, and, according to his record, he killed twenty-eight people during his line of duty. He is not proud of his record, and he refers to “butchering” rather than killing. Brian was illiterate when he was drafted to serve in Vietnam. After he returned from Vietnam, he taught himself to read and write, so that he could write about the war. What impressed me about him was his great love for this country, while condemning the view that everything American is perfect. Like many of his comrades he believed that the war in Vietnam served the purpose of protecting American values, but serving in the war changed his mind.

During one the many alcohol-induced conversations at our favorite watering hole, Packards, he told me about his plan to join a group of young people and conquer the United States Bullion Depository at Fort Knox in Kentucky. Brian was very popular among those young people who hang out on Main Street at virtually any weather. He always carried an extra supply of cigarettes, and he was more than willing to share.

“I am an American,” he said, “and as American citizens we have the right to access Fort Knox. This is our country, and Fort Know belongs to the American people.”

I don’t think they ever made it to Kentucky, but, nevertheless, I loved the time I spent with Brian. I learned a lot from him.

Since The Fellow Utopian is the story about an immigrant who develops a great love for this country, combined with some Chaplinesque features and a dash of Ephraim-Kishon-Humor, I adapted the Fort Knox idea. In the same sense of invading the depository at Fort Know, every American should be allowed to have breakfast on the most important American icon, the Statue of Liberty.

I contacted Jeff Duckworth, a graphics designer, told him about my idea and the result of numerous e-mail discussions is shown in the image above. It may seem strange to create a cover long before the actual novel is finished, but I did it merely for the fun of it. Jeff did a great job! You can read the The Life and Adventures of Jeff Duckworth, or you can log on to his business web site at DuckOfAllTrades.com.