Mountain Energy is a work which combines drawing and experimental fiction to tell the story of two climbers (We and Them) who attempt to climb a Mountain (The Dog’s Ears) in order to obtain a mysterious prize which they believe will grant them access to  an infinite energy source, which they call ‘The Goldseam of the Inexhaustible’. The Story is told through various voices and types of syntax, the higher up the climbers get the more slippery and perilous the language becomes employing a portmanteau style of word formation and a non linear series of connections between phrases. At other times the language in Mountain Energy becomes much more grounded, especially in sections where the narrative is carried through a series of questions and answers. The events of the book culminate with the climbers falling from the mountain face after their greed and tenacity overcomes their judgment. This book was written as a commentary on the creative process, which is so often underscored with a feelings of strife and futility, but yet also euphoric moments of vision, imagination and insight. The book took its initial inspiration from a song by The Fall of the same name, which speaks to how societies mundane rules and obligations block the free flow of ideas and creation. 

 

“So I went fishing

A note from a fish said

"Dear dope

If you wanna catch us

You need a rod and a line

Signed, the fish"

 

Water is flowing

Down the mountain

But a tree is blocking

The water flowing”

 

The text is accompanied throughout with drawings which I made throughout the process of writing the book. They are not intended to be illustrations of events in the book, but rather a parallel series of works which loosely connect or hold parlance with the text.  

​