Whew...it's been a long and frustrating month.
Everything's been changed. Regrettably, I am now no longer able to publish Will's work surrounding the Ohio River Valley. Due to unforeseen circumstances that are no one's fault--you could call them "acts of God"--I've had to completely switch gears. Talk about a total 360...I am now publishing a collection of 18th century graveyard poetry (I might squeeze a 19th century piece in there). See
here, and
here.
Why did I pick this? Well, first and foremost...because the above unforeseen circumstances put me many weeks behind schedule, and I've got a lot of catching up to do. Compounding the problem, my hard drive failed a few days ago. I was able to save a lot of data to an external hard drive before it kicked it, but I did lose some...mainly, all the work I've done in my classes this semester. So, it's sort of like jumping into the middle of the semester with nothing and trying to catch up to where you're supposed to be. My time, very suddenly, became very precious.
I don't have time to find another author, negotiate a contract, find new cover art, etc, etc. Right now, I should have a printer's estimate and I should be well into the layout. Solution: Public Domain. And, for me, the obvious choice really is graveyard poetry...
I haven't come across too many collections of graveyard poetry and find it very underrated. I spent my undergraduate studying 18th and 19th century gothic literature, so, I have in interest and a background in this (if you'd like, I can send you a doc file of my thesis
The Influence of Swedenborgianism on the Supernatural Literature of Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu...ooOOooo..). I like the stuff and I think it holds an important, though quiet, place in the gothic tradition. No graveyard school, maybe no
Otranto, or
Vathek, and so on...well, I'm sure they would have come along, or something like them, but the graveyard poets, I think, set the literary stage for these sorts of musings, and I appreciate that. So, there you go...
As for cover art, I've got that covered, many times over. Any time I visit a big city anywhere, I try to hit their cemeteries, so I have literary hundreds of decrepit cemetery photos. I'll post a handful I'm considering for the cover and/or inside artwork.
And that's that. Desperate times, desperate measures. I'm hoping to be at the printer's tomorrow getting an estimate, and on Saturday I'll be continuing the layout, which I have actually started. Right this moment, I'm going to do some proofing...fun...
