Ep. 222: Pop-ups and Audio

 Bookbinding

First, I put together three pop-up books.

One is a simple yet elegant photo book. I found it most pleasing to both build and look at. I used pictures from a souvenir/coffee shop called HoHoHoZa which is on a lagoon of the sea of Japan. The book only has one kind of fold so it is simple, but I tried to do it well and almost succeeded. The base has a photo of a sign for the shop; the two pop-up bits have photos of the exterior and the view from across the lagoon. Perhaps a more complicated pop-up book will include the same photos plus a bit more trickery, such as in the second pop-up book I made.

The second pop-up had two different kinds of pull-tabs. One opened a whole new page. The other pulled the visible art in the opposite direction. The picture here is the bare bones; before art was added. The center piece, with the two supports? that is the new page opened by those supports, which actually move. It is flanked by two pull-tabs that display two more pictures. The next time I make this type of book, I will add the photos before constructing it; to avoid movable parts and to insure the photos phit. (phit?)

The third book is more of an un-folding book than a pop-up. It opens like a book but has four rooms wherein you can put photos, secrets, drawings, coins (if you so desire.) I did notice that when I make a pop-up book, my workbench becomes instantly messing; lots of cutting going on.

Second, I managed to case in my 290-page Don Quixote-inspired novel Giapan. This is a novel I have spent considerable amount of time setting up. I have large, red, drop caps at the beginning of each chapter and other typographical niceties such as fitting the text-wrap to the shape of the image rather than a square block.

As I was gluing the mull and spine piece, I noticed an error or two in the text. I also saw sentences I want to change, so I didn’t use expensive endpaper for the endpapers or expensive bookcloth for the cover. I experimented a bit, though, with the cover. I put an outlayed G (obviously for Giapan) and a outlayed strip down the side of the front cover. With nothing special on the back. I’ll use this edition to look for errors such as typos, sentences I’d like to rearrange, and for more blatant mistakes such as have four horses in one chapter but in the next continuous chapter having three.

What is Giapan about? (this veers dangerously close to the Fiction segment so if you’re not interested in Fiction, this is the end of the bookbinding bit.) A nun who is a friend of Saavedra (Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, author of Don Quixote), is discriminated against by her mother superior because the nun is of Romani descent. She sets out to return to her Romany parents. Saavedra insists two guards who are supposed to guard Saavedra, who is a tax collector (as Cervantes really was), ride with her for protection. They take the nun to find a traveler who will help her. The traveler is an artist from Japan wandering Europe in search of art teachers and great art. He meets, for example, El Greco and Caravaggio.

The four set out on adventures that show up in Don Quixote while others are influenced by Don Quixote. Along the way they discuss gender, Christianity, Islam, love, and discrimination. Since we are so close to the fiction section, why don’t we just meander into that territory, shall we?

Fiction

I am continuing to write on Fear Itself, Book One of The Fear Trilogy. The major power struggle between a Senator and the President has begun while the war between the Conglomerate forces and the alien forces heats up. The Conglomerate forces are not always on the winning side. In fact, their capital is in ruins. McKenzie, a wounded war hero, is investigating a possible spy in the Senator’s office. The more he learns about politics, the less he understands the power struggle and the war itself.

Also, I am recording Fear Zero as well. As you heard from last week’s podcast. I am reading and finding things I would like to change, and carrying on reading it some more. Of the 17 chapters, I have read ten.

And now, a bit of a background about The Fear Trilogy. Aliens from the moons of Jupiter, Titan or Io, have landed on our Earth-like planet. The aliens, called Jeeters, (derogatory slang for Jupiterians) have four arms. This planet is run by the Conglomerate which dictates everything. The Conglomerate relegates the aliens to an inferior status as they can not help the Conglomerate make a profit. Eventually the Jeeters rebel and a war starts between them and Conglomerate forces. The Jeeters have a very long supply line: from Io to the Earth. But they are also difficult to kill, can shoot with four weapons at once, and are intelligent enough to succeed at inter-planetary travel. 

 Books Available for Your Reading Pleasure

Fear Zero

Matt McKenzie, 10, thrown in prison for murdering his mother, must battle with sadistic guards, violent inmates, loneliness, and fear. 

This is the prelude to The Fear Trilogy, a dystopian future war novel which follows McKenzie from war to peace and back to war through power-hungry politicians, conspiracies, and intrigue.

 Available at

 iBooks  • Kobo • Barnes & Noble  • Scribd

 

The City of Cocks

 Sol is wrongly arrested for murdering a teenager. The teenager’s father works with important people in this small Oregon town and they all want someone, Anyone!, arrested and convicted of the murder. Sol must rely on his wife and a friend who is an alcoholic poet who sees and talks to ghosts. Not a strong defense team.

The City of Cocks is a sister-novel to Feeding Vicki’s Corpse.

Available at:

 iBooks  •  Kobo  •  Barnes & Noble •   Scribd

                   

 Feeding Vicki’s Corpse

 McCorkle, a retired Boston police detective, is haunted by the death of someone he loved as he wanders around the US. In Oregon, he saves the lives of four teenagers. The chief of police asks him to help solve a cold case. In his investigations he discovers the murder is related to a rape. But the most powerful businessman in the town doesn’t want the murder solved or the rape exposed.

Feeding Vicki’s Corpse is a sister-novel to The City of Cocks.

Available at: 

iBooks  •  Kobo   • Barnes & Noble  ª  Scribd