John Hodgman reveals the cover for 'Vacationland'
Comedian, actor, podcaster, and writer John Hodgman will publish a memoir of sorts this October called Vacationland. In it, he’ll expound upon his experiences growing up in Western Massachusetts and his later travels in Maine - but we won’t attempt to describe it any further, because Hodgman himself has written a far better overview exclusively for EW. You can read it below, along with our reveal of Vacationland’s fantastic cover - which the author says matches “both the promise and sadness of every vacation.”
Vacationland won’t hit shelves until Oct. 24, 2017 - but it’s available for pre-order now.
John Hodgman on Vacationland:
“Though my career on The Daily Show and as a writer was founded on fake news and alternative facts, that didn’t seem as funny to me any more for some mysterious reason. Maybe it’s because everyone is doing it now.
Disarmed of falsehood, I was left only with the awful truth: I am an older white male monster with bad facial hair, wandering like a privileged Sasquatch through three wildernesses: the hills of Western Massachusetts where I disposed of youth; the painful beaches of Maine that want to kill me and perhaps are right; and the metaphoric dark forest of middle age.
Good books have metaphors in them. And Vacationland is definitely a book, and so it definitely needed a cover. Aaron Draplin, creator of Field Notes, is an unstoppable genius, the Da Vinci of Thick Lines, and a super guy. Draplin knows his ’70s era tourism pamphlets cold, and so I knew his style would match both the promise and sadness of every vacation: a fresh start that announces its own end.
Plus, look at that awesome lighthouse. It’s based in part on an actual tiny island in Maine that is for sale. Doesn’t it look like a great place to live and then die? If you buy enough copies of this book, America, I will buy that lighthouse and go into it and I promise you will never hear from me again.”
