{"id":307109,"date":"2026-02-26T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/?p=307109"},"modified":"2026-03-18T11:18:46","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T15:18:46","slug":"exclusive-cover-reveal-of-asmodeus-by-rita-indiana-translated-by-achy-obejas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/exclusive-cover-reveal-of-asmodeus-by-rita-indiana-translated-by-achy-obejas\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive Cover Reveal of \u201cAsmodeus\u201d by Rita Indiana, Translated by Achy Obejas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Electric Literature is pleased to reveal the cover of<\/em> Asmodeus<\/a> by Rita Indiana, translated from the Spanish by Achy Obejas,<\/em> which will be published September 1, 2026 by Graywolf Press. You can <\/em>pre-order your copy<\/em> here<\/em><\/a>!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asmodeus <\/em>is a hallucinatory thriller about a failing demon\u2019s search for a new host in post-dictatorship Santo Domingo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asmodeus, a millennia-old demon, has inhabited Rudy, a once-legendary Dominican rock star, for decades. But in 1992, the demon\u2019s powers begin to fade. What follows is a desperate weeklong odyssey as Asmodeus ricochets through the bodies of the inhabitants of Santo Domingo\u2019s underworld: from Guinea, a young metalhead plotting a warehouse heist, to Mireya, the daughter of a former torturer, to other souls caught in his chaotic orbit. Each possession reveals another layer of a city still reeling from the Balaguer dictatorship. And each new host engenders a surprising tenderness in the demon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From acclaimed musical artist and author Rita Indiana, Asmodeus<\/em> is written in urgent prose punctuated by original d\u00e9cimas, ten-line rhyming poems drawing from Latin American musical and oral tradition. Indiana weaves together Dominican heavy metal, black magic, and political trauma. Asmodeus<\/em> is a supernatural noir, riotous thriller, and searing portrait of a nation grappling with its complicated past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Here is the cover, designed by Lu\u00edsa Dias: <\/p>\n\n\n

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Rita Indiana: <\/strong>For the cover of the English translation of Asmodeo<\/em>, I wanted something that resonated with the headbanger I once was\u2014the 13-year-old kid who read Dante and The Possession of Joel Delaney<\/em> by Ramona Stewart a hundred times. I knew I didn\u2019t want a demon with a human face; Asmodeus has no body of his own, no fixed form. I love the old-print feel and the typography. It\u2019s the perfect cover for the metal mixtape living inside the novel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lu\u00edsa Dias:<\/strong> Designing the cover for Asmodeus<\/em> was a project of pure visual intensity. I have long admired the books Graywolf Press publishes, so it was a joy to be introduced to Rita Indiana\u2019s work through such a powerful vision. It turned out to be one of the most intensely creative projects I have worked on, as it asked for a mix of heavy metal, Dominican history, and psychedelic dread, paired with colors that \u201ccan cause seizures.\u201d As a designer, that is a terrifying but incredibly exciting challenge, as I rarely get the chance to be that aggressive and honest with a cover design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To meet that challenge, I looked at the author\u2019s inspiration in the artist Skinner, whose abstract figures pushed me away from classic imagery. Since my process involves taking existing forms apart, I searched for a figure that could serve as a skeletal host. I found that presence in a 1915 woodcut by Huib Luns titled \u201cBellona.\u201d Its raw, jagged energy felt like the perfect vessel to be possessed by a new kind of horror.<\/p>\n\n\n