A mad king barks and shits while his horror show court of grinning zombie jesters dances the country into oblivion in a circus performance not one citizen would have believed just couple of years ago. If there was ever a time to shine a light on the filth that has been hidden just under the surface as the money and power of the country have plundered the world, it is now when it has turned on its own citizens. George Bernard Shaw has been credited with “If you want to tell people the truth, you better make them laugh or they’ll kill you.” Add a measure of The Little Prince, a dash of Dr. Seuss, a pinch of Snatch Comics, mix with generous portions of Lewis Carroll and Jonathan Swift, toss in a slice of Hunter S. Thompson, and you will find yourself with more than a few laughs. OLIVER'S ILLUMINATIONS is a 50,000 word graphic novel with 160 magic realism illustrations, a whimsical children's book of American Empire that softens the painful truth of history with humor, hope and compassion.   

     OLIVER wakes from a sordid nightmare into the American nightmare of 2006 swaying on a tightrope over a crazed stock market about to crash, a ballooning housing bubble about to burst, and two wars. When he throws himself into the crowded city streets in search of a double scotch on the rocks, his nightmare finds him and almost consumes him. He is saved by a pair of flying dogs who launch him on an extraordinary voyage of American coups, assassinations, invasions, subjugation and domination all coming home to roost, an exceptional journey of American Empire illuminated by a psychedelic bestiary of teachers and lovers, thugs and devils, a fantastic voyage in a parallel world where a saurian fabulist introduces him to a breathtakingly beautiful Chilean who takes him on a tour in her balloon of Banker Skins, where a revolutionary matchmaker hooks him up with a lusty Minotaur who boards him on a tramp steamer christened The Hot Sheets Hotel. Furious sphinxes, fanged prophets, society hags, lecherous publicans, ravenous politicians, crooning mummies, man-eating centipedes, giant dancing geoglyphs, naked purple end timers, iguana commodores, winged catamites, screeching drag queens, putrid CEOs, enraged Komodo dragons, Jakarta wise men, Persian princesses, all loaded with the grizzly details of American Empire await.    

     OLIVER’S ILLUMINATIONS and its extensive bibliography shine a thoroughly researched light on what the people who run our country have been doing to the world without our knowledge in practice for what they are doing to us now. Our knowledge of history is their greatest fear.

     I am an award-winning artist and have published fiction and illustration.

     Thank you for your time and consideration.

Rick Hill - rthill13@gmail.com, Website: rickhillsf.com, Instagram: rthill13, Facebook: Rick Hill SF - 415-793-4279