Eight-Legged Marvels

Sent to printer (finally): Eight-Legged Marvels: Beauty and Design in the World of Spiders

About Time

Just uploaded to the printer, About Time: The Forerunners of Time Travel and Temporal Anomalies in Science Fiction and Fantasy. 15 stories from 1819-1916 that rely on time travel, time shifts, and other temporal tamperings before the "golden age" of science fiction.

Mussels are Big

I'm amazed at the good start that Al Spoo's Pearly Mussels of Pennsylvania has had. Particularly as it's not a cheap book. Besides having a wide local readership, though, (Al does the nature column for the Lititz paper), I guess freshwater mussels are fairly important conservation-wise, so he's gotten lots of orders from state and federal employees (F&W, USGS, etc.). Will be interesting to watch how it does in the long run. He's gotten some nice compliments for the artwork. Al's next project is a compilation (or two) of his newspaper column, and then maybe we'll look at some other overlooked species in PA. Maybe snails...

Archaeology and False Antiquities

Sent to the printer...

Bog-Trotting for Orchids

Sent to the printer...

Cryptofiction: Beyond the Great South Wall

Here's the wraparound for a classic (1901) cryptofiction novel, Beyond the Great South Wall, by Frank Savile, sent to the printer.

Mussels Cover

The Pearly Mussels of Pennsylvania, by Al Spoo (coming soon)

Pearly Mussels Sent to Print

I've sent Al Spoo's The Pearly Mussels of Pennsylvania to the printer. Full-color plates of 66 freshwater species, extant and extirpated, from the Keystone state. At about 210 pages, 8.5 x 11, it will retail for $59.95. (And, believe it or not, that's about average for shell books...) A 40% discount will be made available to booksellers who order direct from Coachwhip Publications.

A Year at the Shore: Cover

And the wraparound for the cover. Nothing fancy. This is a small book, 5.5 x 8.5, but runs about 182 pages or so. Being a "color" book (to allow for the color plates) it is a tad more expensive than most of my titles, but it's a book that is rarely reprinted. (The only other available right now is little more than a black-and-white photocopy...)

A Year at the Shore: Plate Samples

Some of the images from Gosse's A Year at the Shore.

Finishing Up

Almost finished with Al Spoo's Pearly Mussels of Pennsylvania. Waiting for the CIP data block, need to do the cover next week.

Also, finishing up Philip Henry Gosse's A Year at the Shore, which will be a small-size paperback with full color plates (36 of them) illustrated by Gosse (in 1870). The book is about the various small marine life that can be found along the coast of Britain. Great images, and Gosse's passionate descriptions of fascinating sea life.

Something To Look Forward To (In 2019)

Sad to say, but I've postponed my edition of Gould's Case for the Sea-Serpent due to copyright reasons. While going over a last-minute consideration, I ran across mention that when a book is published outside the US more than 30 days before the US edition, the copyright policy must follow the first country's rules. Drat it all. The US edition was published 4 years after the UK edition, with no substantial changes as far as I know. This means my edition can't be published until 2019. (Unless I can track down and make arrangements with the Gould estate; unlikely, but I'll make inquiries.) [To the lucky few who ordered copies prior to my cancellation, you've got a very, very limited edition.] What's killing me is there is a Singing Tree reprint from the 1960s or so, and I'm pretty sure they considered the text public domain. But... that's the way it goes.

Case for the Sea-Serpent

Sent to the printer... Here's the wraparound, nothing fancy, same basic design (and same size) as my Oudemans and Lee sea serpent reprints.

UK vs US Copyright

I'm trying to finish up my reprint of Gould's Case for the Sea-Serpent this evening, and after a little investigation realized that I'll only be able to offer US distribution of the title, rather than US/UK as with most of my books. UK copyright is life of author + 70 years, which means this book won't be public domain in the UK until 2018, another ten years. Because it had a US printing in 1934, without copyright renewal, it is public domain here. While my UK sales are trifling, I was expecting to sell at least a few copies over there, so this is a little annoying, but not much I can do about it. (Technically, my books would be "published" in the US, and "printed" in the UK, but I'm too uncertain of legal liability in this instance to take a chance.)

Gould's Loch Ness book would also have the same copyright period in the UK, but it never had a US printing (as far as I know). So, in the US, it won't be in the public domain until 2029, 95 years after publication in the UK. So, we won't be seeing reprints of those (legal ones, at least), unless the Gould estate gives permission.

Similarly, I would love to reprint Gandar-Dower's The Spotted Lion, but it's not in the public domain, and I have no idea how to get hold of his estate.

Sneak Peak

Here's a quick look at a sample plate from the currently in-production book on Pennsylvania freshwater mussels, by Al Spoo. This is the Round Hickorynut.

Catching Wild Beasts

Sent to the printer: Catching Wild Beasts Alive.

Humbugs of the World

Sent to the printer: Barnum's Humbugs of the World.

Earthline: A 30-Year Anthology

And another full cover, for naturalist Bob Chance's newspaper column anthology, also sent to the printer.

Madge the Magician's Daughter

Here's the wraparound cover, title just sent to printer.

Boss Snakes Finished

OK, Boss Snakes is finished, and available from Amazon, though the data hasn't yet propagated to Amazon UK or Barnes & Noble. (Oddly, my last title also isn't on B&N yet; I'm thinking it needed to be entered into Bowker first, for some reason, so have done that and will wait and see.)

Next up, trying to finish Eight-Legged Marvels.

Caught It (A Little Late)

Being a one-man shop, I can always look forward to seeing some dumb editing problem in a newly published book. It's due to a sort of word-blindness, where I can look at a phrase, read it, and completely overlook an incongruency. Usually, it involves prepositions on my covers. I'll put one preposition on the title page, and a different one on the cover. Almost put "Sightings and Stories" on the new Boss Snakes cover, when it was "Stories and Sightings." Quickly caught that before I sent it. But, last night, several days after uploading the book to the printer, was going over a few things in my head, and thought, 'I did use Mark Chorvinsky's name, right?' I mention the late Strange Magazine publisher briefly... and a quick check confirmed I had, of course, inserted Mark Opsasnick's name instead. Well, they're both from Maryland. A few choice words, a quick change and re-upload, another $40 down the drain, and the book will be bumped back a few days, but will have the correct name in it.

And, noting some odd little comment elsewhere about the use of a black racer on the cover of Boss Snakes, it's a bit sad to see that cryptids as social (ethnozoological) constructs has taken such a turn in popular culture that we are so certain that they must in fact be strictly based on unknown species. That's one reason I dislike over-generalizations in the attempt to name or describe a mystery animal prior to physical confirmative evidence. (Or rather, the effort to make specific claims about a generalized far-flung topic.) The giant snake phenomena in North America is based on a wide range of folklore: hoaxes, misidentifications, exaggerations, tall tales, as well as credible sightings involving larger than expected specimens of native species, introduced or feral exotics, and maybe (just maybe...) unrecognized variations or species.

Giant Snakes Map

I don't know if I'll be able to finish it by the end of the month, but I'm trying to complete Boss Snakes as soon as possible. I'm thinking it will end up being somewhere between 360 and 400 pages. Here's a teaser, a map plotting localities of alleged sightings of giant snakes (8+ feet in length). These are mostly historical reports, as I still need to add some of the more recent sightings. Also, localities may have multiple sightings, or a single sighting; number of sightings is not factored into the map. And, of course, many of these sightings have other possible (often probable) explanations than an unknown species of snake. And, lastly, this is for "typical" (colubrid-like or boid-like) snakes, not alleged sightings of giant rattlesnakes.

Heart of an Addict

Here's the wraparound cover for the second book by Dave Hain, Heart of an Addict. (It is being sent to the printer today.) Dave's first book, From Addict to Disciple, is my second-best selling title overall, mostly through direct sales at Dave's seminars. The first book is a step-by-step one-on-one (or small group) guide to helping someone break free from substance abuse and other addictions with Biblical counseling. This second book focuses on the importance of ministering to those with addictions, and should be very helpful to those who find themselves with an addicted family member or friend, giving insight (often from the words of addicts themselves) into the very real struggle that takes place.

The Rational Creation

Another title just uploaded. This is from the same era as Paley's Natural Theology and similar science/theology books, but includes discussion from both nature and direct revelation regarding man, angels, and God's plan for redemption. Brodie was a Scott minister with the Bow of Fife Free Church, and is very readable. I was pleasantly surprised when I first came across it. I think this is the very first reprint of the title since it's initial publication in 1855.

Now that I'm looking at it, I don't think I like my cover layout quite so much, the image needs more "greenspace" around it, and the top seems a little unbalanced, but it will have to do for now. I might like it better once I've seen a print copy.

This is another title that will have a 55% wholesale discount, from a list price of $19.95, so should be reduced from that on the online bookseller's websites.

The Rational Creation
Rev. James Brodie

Title will be available by end of October.

Lincoln's Own Stories

I've just uploaded this title to the printer. There are a few other publishers reprinting this book, also -- one came out in September -- but my edition will be a fair bit less expensive. I'm also going to test the 55% discount, which may open up some direct brick-and-mortar bookstore sales, and should put up a decent discount on the online bookstore list prices.

Lincoln's Own Stories
Ed., Anthony Gross

Title should be available ($11.95 list price) by end of October.

Lots of Scanning Ahead

Just got a package in the mail, a manuscript by Gary Mangiacopra and Dwight Smith, on Atlantic marine cryptids, that was put together a few years back. It's somewhere in the neighborhood of 800 pages or so, which I'll be scanning and sorting next. I'll then be able to determine what needs updating, revising, etc. Who knows, might have it out by the end of the year...

Next, then, of course, will be their Pacific volume.

The Other Oudemans

Cosimo has put out their reprint of Oudemans' The Great Sea Serpent. They've gone the hardcover route, so it is not directly competing with my paperback version. Amazon, of course, merged the two books together under the same title, the hardcover being primary, which is annoying, but Barnes & Noble lists them separately in search results.

Champ Book Available

Well, this book is a long time coming. I've been working with Gary & Dwight for 2-3 years, trying to get everything together. There are more books coming (particularly one on Pacific marine cryptids), as well as some bird books by Dwight, who is a professional ornithologist.

Amazon still hasn't corrected the author names (for some reason, Amazon always mixes up the first and last names of an author when they import the data from Ingrams, so I have to email them to correct it), but I'll go ahead and start marketing the book now. Info at the book page, or order from Amazon.

Sent to the Printer

Does Champ Exist? is at the printer, and should be available for sale within a week or so.

Champ Cover

Here's a peek at the wrap-around for the upcoming Champ conference book.

Minor Milestone

Well, this past month, Cryptozoology: Science & Speculation passed the 1,000 mark for online sales (not counting other distribution paths). That comes from 40 months of online sales, so an average of 25 copies a month. Obviously, there were higher per month sales the first year, but continuing sales are still not bad.

Admittedly, I haven't done much marketing of the title, so it probably could have done better, faster, if I was focused on direct sales and did a lot more advertising.

Interestingly, (to me), this title is apparently being used in a course this fall at a Michigan college. The bookstore contacted me for details, I pointed them to Ingrams, and they ordered 18 copies earlier this week. They didn't offer details, so I am uncertain if the course is actually about cryptozoology or not.

Great Auk: Sample and Supplement

I've added a sample chapter (PDF) as a download from the Great Auk title page. Also, a downloadable color version of the black-white map printed in the book. The map is slightly smaller than the original foldout map, and includes some uncorrected holes from a library ownership punch. It is a printable map, so if you print it out on a color printer, you can overlap the pages to get a good idea as to what the original looked like.

Great Sea-Serpent Cover

Here's the cover for the upcoming Coachwhip Publications edition of Oudemans' The Great Sea-Serpent. Decided to go very simple for this one, something reminescent of the old gold-leaf on carmine style.