It’s A Book!
At long last, my book has been published. It has been quite a long process! I began work on “Mince of Heathermere” while still in art school, 1977. When school let out for summer, I stayed on for an extra month in order to finish this book project. It did not get done! I carefully packed up all materials, and figured I would finish it… someday.
Having moved to Tryon, NC, I met a neighbor who just happens to be a retired book designer. Mike Havecott volunteered to design my book. Over a few months, we hammered out just how the tome would look and be organized. Even though I had painstakingly typeset all of the text on Tyler School of Art’s state-of-the-art type-setting equipment, those galleys were not to be used. My wife had the dubious pleasure of typing out the story for the computer’s benefit. Mr. Havecott explained that, in order to prepare the book for printing, we had to go into Adobe’s InDesign program and put it together digitally. The InDesign process was mysterious, and took many turns. In the end, we had a package that we considered pretty solid. I paid over $100. to have a printed proof made, just to be sure. When it arrived, my designer was somewhat disappointed. The positioning of cover art was not quite where he had intended it to be. Back to the computer we went, to nudge the art into place. Finally, I plunked my money down with BookBaby and gave them the green-light to produce 250 copies. I was not disappointed. The end-product is an impressive thing to behold.
Here’s a sneak-peek to whet your appetite, Dear Reader. I may entice you to purchase a copy… while they last! (See the green “My Book” button above.)
Front Cover
While most of the illustrations in the book were completed in 1977, I chose to create new art, as needed, in 2024-5. The above cover illustration was completed recently, for example. Let’s go inside…
Author Portrait, 2024
That’s me, as I look today. I borrowed some effects from Rembrandt, having lately seen some of his original prints at a museum in Florida. (Yes, it’s at the beginning of the book.) Next, let’s select a chapter to read. Here is Chapter Three:
Now, you have an idea of the kind of story I wrote back in 1977, when I was a mere 21 years old. Here are some more of the illustrations contained in the book…
There is a surprise ‘bonus drawing’ at the end, after the tale is finished, It is of me at the time of composing this story. A fitting nod to the author and a reference to my youth, when I came up with the fanciful idea of writing a book.
Postscript: My Thanks to Sarah Jones, who added color to my black-and-white illustrations and decorative graphics.
