Ep. 352 Ergo, I think?

Bookbinding

Ergo is a 100-page, A6 (pocketbook)-size, blank notebook that I Coptic-bound. 

Three things make this book different from other A6, 100-page, blank notebooks I’ve made in the past.

One: Window for a title on the front cover.

Two: Colored in the spaces between threads with random colors. Also, colored the head but not the tail.

Three: measured the distance between stations so they were the same. There are six station with three toward the top, head, edge and three toward the bottom, tail, edge with a space between the two groups.

Everything except the thread was from my To-Be-Used-Someday pile: upcycled paper that sat on my shelf for 15 years, book cloth, book boards.

Fiction

First, other authors’ fiction. In order to reduce my screen time (I’m aware I’m typing this on a computer), I’ve started reading real books more often. And alternatively; first one, then the other without leaving my reading post: ie, bed.

I finished a detective story set in Valencia, Spain just yesterday. Blood Med by Jason Webster.

I’m currently reading Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. This book is a re-imagining David Copperfield by Charles Dickens into Appalachia. (Is this different from fan fiction?)

I’m re-reading Copperfield to see how it jives with Copperhead. Cool.

Finally, I’m nearly finished with a slice-of-life aka cozy Japanese novel (in translation) of Tsubaki Stationery Store by Ito Ogawa. A woman with a troubled relationship with her grandmother takes over the family stationery store after the grandmother dies and deals with customers, friends, and her own past.

In cozy Japanese novels, there is no dramatic action like a murder or conspiracy; it’s relaxing.

In my fiction: Dmitry the Scavenger is the only novel I worked on this week. Dmitry landed in Japan, discovered he wasn’t in Sicily, has met a vibrant woman who speaks English, and is aware and worried that he is an illegal immigrant who can be deported back to Russia at any time where he’s sure he’ll be jailed or, worse, drafted into Putin’s little war in Ukraine.

Talkies / Flicks / Moving Pictures

I’ve uploaded a seven and a half minute video of Ergo (TDGB 95: Ergo) created for your viewing pleasure.

In it I also discuss Demon Copperhead and David Copperfield, like I do in this podcast.

I think I have a better video of making the coptic stitch on this video than previous videos. 

The first and second signatures are shown in a speeded up version because watching me manipulate the thread, book, and my hands for 20 minutes might be boring.

Books

Your Audio book of The Merchant of Venus is up on Apple Books for your listening pleasure.

In this 16-page short story, men take body parts from other men, add herbs and spices, to create women. Fully formed 20-year-old women who will be the wives of the men for 20 years.

Marshall, the artist who makes females, has used two of his own fingers to make this two wives. At 60, he’s a two-time widower when a bureaucrat hires him to make him wife. Marshall fails and is threatened with jail time.

The e-book of The Merchant of Venus is up on Apple Books, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble. Please enjoy.

 

Apple Barnes & Noble Kobo