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Jason Gurley

Hi, I'm Jason.

I've written a few books, such as Awake in the World and Eleanor. I also write a newsletter, Letters from Hill House, about life and work. I live with my family on a hill in Scappoose, Oregon, where I work as head of design for an AI startup by day and write fiction by night. Now and then I design book covers, too. I'm a compulsive doodler, a semi-competent drummer, a pencil collector, a former picky eater turned food adventurer, and a fan of nice long walks. More about me.

What's new
What I'm working on

Presently I'm working on The Dark Age, a novel adaptation and expansion of a short story I wrote several years ago. As the book develops, I'm sharing my experiences writing it in my newsletter.

What I'm reading
  • The Bookshop, Evan Friss

(See my full reading list.)

Recent Posts

Members Public

Design books are open!

It's been years since I last opened my books to cover design projects, but things change. (What's changed: I miss it. Simple as that.) If you're an author or you know one, or an editor or art director, I'm available for a

Design books are open!
Members Public

My elegant universe

Sometimes you don't plan a thing for your weekend, and the weekend just rises up to meet you, and everything is just...wonderful. My weekend was like that. No big, spectacular plans. Just a succession of small, pleasant moments. Any one of them would have been the highlight

Members Public

Shake me up

A couple of weeks ago I had oral surgery. I was pretty concerned about this event; there was some risk my sinus might explode during the surgery. It didn't! But there was a bone graft involved, and some mention of the boundary between my mouth and sinus being

Members Public

Floating head, in graphite

Last month I mentioned I've been illustrating issues of Letters from Hill House recently. I've been tinkering with the medium, the level of detail, how casual or intentional it all feels. Was really pleased with the latest one. I'd forgotten how much I enjoy

Members Public

A northern light

Felicia collects fountain pens; I collect pencils. We each have an appreciation for the other's preferred tools, even with often vastly different tastes. This afternoon she showed me a pen she'd discovered. The pen was a dark blue streaked with clouds and wisps of vibrant green.