First, let me point you in the direction of these two titles, on whose pages you can read the wonderful things people have said about The Winter Triptych and Jack o’ the Hills. More information will be posted as it becomes available, and we’re still on schedule for a Valentine’s Day release (that’s February 14 for those of you who don’t follow such things).
And secondly, over on her Livejournal, Amal El-Mohtar is re-running the blog posts that became The Honey Month, with bonus DVD commentary. If you have a sweet tooth like me, you’ll want to savour each post as Amal shares the secrets “kept between me and the page”.
Just a quick note to let readers know that the latest issue of Scheherezade’s Bequest is now live on Cabinet des Fées.
This is the 12th issue since CdF went live in 2005. At some point during those years, Papaveria absorbed CdF into its array of publications, so from now on I’ll try to remember to post here when an issue goes online. I’m very pleased with this one, and hope you will be, too.
Things have been a little hectic around here lately, but not to worry. I’m still working on the ebooks and everyone who got in touch about helping out will hear from me this week. I am very grateful to you all.
Since 2005, Papaveria has been known for its limited editions–handbound books in miniature or other odd sizes, lovingly crafted, glued and sewn objects of words made art. What has not been so evident is my love of technology, but from the beginning I have always been interested in advances in the field, especially where book creation is concerned. Limits on time and resources have historically prevented me from doing some of the things I’d like to do, and until now I’ve watched the ebook revolution unfold around me with some envy. No, I will never stop making traditional books. I love them too much. But I also love books, period, no matter what form they take. I in no way feel threatened by ebooks – I embrace them as a new medium to explore and I need your help.
Papaveria has created its first ebook, and I need you to test the files for me. I am giving away The Winter Triptych (forthcoming in February 2011) in two ebook formats (.epub and .mobi) for purposes of testing the files to see how they work on your device(s). These are test files, meaning the text has not yet had its final edit, and some changes may be made before the release of the book. Everyone who takes me up on this offer will receive a copy of the final ebook upon its release.
If you would like to help Papaveria, and get a free ebook in return, all you have to do is contact me and ask for the file in the format of your choice. I’ll email you the file (you can have both if you like) and all you have to do is let me know if it works. I am especially interested in how it displays on the Kindle, as I haven’t got one of those.
Please email me at papaveria (at) gmail.com if you’d like to help. Do not use the contact form on the website – I use the gmail address to track special offerings like this. Thank you!
Erzebet
The final cover of The Winter Triptych by Nicole Kornher-Stace has arrived. Oliver Hunter, the artist, has outdone himself on this one. Nicole and I are both very pleased with the way this came out and are now even more excited to see this book in print. We have scheduled a release date of February 14, 2011 for both the print and the ebook version. I’ll post more about both very soon.
Some months ago, over on the Erzaveria blog, I talked about the forthcoming release of a limited edition of The Glastonbury Tarot by Lisa Tenzin-Dolma. First released by Gothic Image Publishers in Europe and by Weiser in the US and Canada in 1999, the cards and book have long been out of print. As of today, our limited edition of the deck is fully reserved. We will not be taking any further inquires about that edition, but do not despair! We will also be reprinting the companion book in 2011, and are discussing the possibility of producing a standard edition of the deck as well.
We’ll post more information about the book as it becomes available, and about the limited edition as soon as work on it begins.
I hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday season! Unfortunately I was sofa-bound with the flu for most of it, and so now I’m rushing to get caught up on some work that should have been done before Christmas. It’s always the way, isn’t it, that we need a holiday to recover from the holidays!
One of my friends recently sent me this photo of the books they have collected from Papaveria and other artists/publishers. How wonderful, to know that my books have good homes. Now there is another one to add to the shelf:
Two Coins by Alex Dally MacFarlane
A limited edition of 18 copies, 15 of which are being released into the wilds today. Including two coins for two eyes each.
These should be finished up by next week. The mess on this table may not look like much more than a mess, but I promise that eighteen tiny books will emerge from the current chaos.
As an artist, I’m always trying to do better, to exceed my own expectations of myself and my craft, to improve that craft and my own understanding of it. I am rarely satisfied with a finished product. I think this is the way of art — whatever your chosen form of art is. Take sewing, for example. My grandmother tried to teach me to darn socks when I was a little girl. Now I wish I had paid attention! I didn’t, nor did I ever learn to sew a book at the hands of a master. Trial and error are my friends, and I’m always struck by the thought that no matter how much I improve in this area, no one will ever know but me. Unless of course you tear apart one of my little books. Please don’t do that.
Two Coins on the sewing frame
Two Coins, by Alex Dally MacFarlane (whose blog Tales and Foreign Markets you really want to see, considering that she’s just returned from a year around the world and has a wealth of wonderful photos to show you), is one of two handbound books in progress now. This is a true miniature. Each book will come with two coins from places far and wide.
Designing a clasp for The Honey Month
I wanted to share a better photo of the limited edition of The Honey Month, but here you can see the beginning stages of the clasp that will keep this book closed. The cover is trifold — remove the tiny vial of honey and the book opens upon the delights of Amal El-Mohtar’s journey through a month of honey tasting. The colours of this book are all golds and burgundy (this photo doesn’t do the colour justice). I’ve never bound a book this way, so this is a chance for me to learn more about the tensions and stresses that hold a book together and how the tiniest inaccurate measurement can make the whole process go wrong.
These are the next two limited editions coming from Papaveria Press. I’d hoped to have them both done in time for the holidays, but here in West Yorkshire we’ve been snowed in all week and the endpapers, ribbons and other assorted bits needed to finish these off are out there, somewhere, most likely stuck in a snow drift.
Northern England under the snow
“Wonder has no opposite; it springs up already doubled in itself, compounded of dread and desire at once, attraction and recoil, producing a thrill, the shudder of pleasure and of fear.” — Marina Warner
Thanks to everyone who entered Papaveria’s “Tell me my name” contest. We had a fantastic array of entries and the decision was not an easy one to make, but the fairy tale series does now have a name. I wanted something that said this is a fairy tale and I got it. While all of the entries were imaginative and delightful, it was the last minute offering from Deborah J. Brannon that took the prize. Papaveria is very pleased to announce the creation of our new series, Wonder Tales.
By the generosity of the authors, I was able to send out the full pdf of each book to every entrant. The winner, of course, will receive one each of the books themselves. And if you need a reminder, the two titles that will inaugurate this series are The Winter Triptych by Nicole Kornher-Stace and Jack o’ the Hills by C.S.E. Cooney. More information about each of these titles will be available shortly, but in the meantime I give you this peek at the cover art for Jack o’ the Hills, illustrated by the remarkable Rebecca Huston.
Thanks again to everyone who entered. Keep in touch, as we had so much fun reading the entries for this contest that we may just hold another one.
Remember the Snow White, Blood Red Series edited by Terri Windling & Ellen Datlow? Or Brian Froud’s Faerielands? How about Patricia A. McKillip‘s collection of wonderful novels, notable for their cover art by Kinuko Y. Craft, their gorgeous prose and their perfect size? Papaveria will be producing a series of fairy tale novellas inspired by the literary and visual aesthetics of these best-loved books. The only thing we are lacking is a name for the series itself!
The Contest: Suggest a name or names for Papaveria’s fairy tale series. It must be a word or short phrase that says ‘this is a fairy tale’. It can be drawn from any fairy tale or it can be something of your own creation, but it must not conflict with the series that already exist. This contest is running from October 15 through November 15, 2010. The winner will receive one copy of both The Winter Triptych and Jack o’ the Hills, the first two offerings from this series by Papaveria Press, to be produced as small paperbacks with lavish covers.
Please include your name and postal address in your email. I will choose a winner on November 16 and notify them by email. Please put FAIRY TALE CONTEST in the subject of your email. Send your entries to papaveria@gmail.com.
The Prize:
One copy of The Winter Triptych by Nicole Kornher-Stace, with cover art by Oliver Hunter.
Mike Allen, Nebula Award nominee and editor of Clockwork Phoenix, has this to say: “Nicole Kornher-Stace’s The Winter Triptych is an icily glittering marvel of storytelling construction. This wicked tale of evil queens, mad huntsmen, martyred witches and a terrible curse that unfolds over a century executes its slight-of-hand in diabolical layers. The immediate tableau before your eyes never flags as it pulls you in with its sweeping cast of characters, coldly terrifying villains and earnestly compelling heroines. And underneath it all, piece after piece locks and turns into place, until the entire triptych unfolds in a stunning revelation of inexorable fate, time-bending wonder and blood-curdling horror. I hold Nicole in both awe and envy: at the start of her career, she has already produced a masterwork.”
Oliver Hunter is best known for the gorgeous work he does for the ezine Goblin Fruit. He also created the cover for Nicole’s poetry collection Demon Lovers and Other Difficulties as well as Amal El-Mohtar’s The Honey Month (also published by Papaveria Press).
And one copy of Jack o’ the Hills by C.S.E. Cooney.
C.S.E. Cooney has spent the last two years perched in an aerie of the Windy City. Her fiction and poetry can be found in Clockwork Phoenix 3, Apex Magazine, Ideomancer, Doorways, Drollerie Press, Goblin Fruit, and Mythic Delirium. She has work upcoming in Strange Horizons, Black Gate and Cabinet des Fées.
You can get a taste of her writing here, at Subterranean Press. Jack o’ the Hills brings together Stone Shoes, originally published with Subterranean Press online in Summer of 2007, and its unpublished sequel “Oubliette’s Egg”.
Both are due out either late this year or early next, depending on how quickly our artists complete the covers, and both of them will be yours if you can tell us what the name of this series will be!
