Synopses & Reviews
Words of Traitors: 7 Lives in Transition is the latest release from transmedia artist and author James
Curcio. Curcio has collaborated with a diverse, international team of artists to illustrate his collection of
short stories. This book lies at the intersection of art and narrative, fusing both together into a graphicintensive
emotional roller coaster. Described as "Beautiful!" by award-winning sequential artist and author
David Mack (
Kabuki, Daredevil, Dexter).
Words of Traitors is an attempt at laying bare the inner workings of hope and loss, love and despair, with the raw
fury of a complete mental breakdown. At the brink of death, our life flashes before our eyes. Are those memories
nothing more than lies? Our memories construct our sense of identity, but can we rely on them?
This work explores the fallibility of memory and how much our memories change over time and ultimately betray
us, becoming "words of traitors." Each story is based on a jigsaw of real memories told by a fictional narrator. The combination of magical realism and real life allows both the writer and the reader to explore the language of the
subconscious.
The production process was an intense alchemical experience, much of which was documented behind-the-scenes
on the Words of Traitors website. Each story was written as a part of the overall creative process, visual pieces inspiring
the narrative and vice versa. Many of the pieces are dioramas constructed from a wide array of materials ranging from
fragments of art, old love letters and mementos, and pieces representative of the concept of book-as-body: metal,
wood, flowers, water, bones, blood, even a heart given by a cow that didn't need it anymore.
This work features many edgy, innovative visual artists including the brilliant color sense of renowned
Philadelphia-based painter and muralist James Dupree, Bethany Shorb's pointed minimalism (echoed in
her creations at Cyberoptix Tie Lab), the hauntingly detailed dream-images produced by UK artist Laurie
Lipton, S. Jenx's gritty photography, Russian-based Alexey Andreev's surprisingly human CG work, and
many more.
About the Author
Jamie Curcio creates narratives, essays and various works of fact, fiction and
in-between for consumption by the general public as well as academia. Previous
projects have taken the form of subversive novels, essays, scripts for comic and
films, albums, soundtracks, podcasts, visual art, and performances. He lives with
a harem of feral lesbians and cats somewhere in the mountains of West
Philadelphia and lives exclusively on mochas, lion milk, and raw honey.