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Creating Handmade Books and Writing Fiction in Kanazawa, Japan 金沢市
Episodes
Tuesday Oct 15, 2019
Tuesday Oct 15, 2019
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
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:
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:
Wednesday Oct 09, 2019
Wednesday Oct 09, 2019
Bookbinding
Not much to report on the bookbinding front today as I’ve been busy on Fiction Mountain. I have, however, torn apart one pop-up book, designed another one, and have pieces of a pop-up book scattered all over my worktable.
I added mull and the spine piece to both Giapan (yes, my Don Quixote inspired historical novel) and Fear Zero (book O of The Fear Trilogy.)
Fiction
In fiction, however, I have been abundantly busy. First, writing on Book One of The Fear Trilogy called Fear Itself. I’ve added numerous pages, tightened it up, made it faster, and more aggressive. I’m nearing the climactic finishing chapters. I want to finish it this month and write Book Two, Fear the Dead, during NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month).
In NaNoWriMo one must write a 50,000 word novel in one month (November). I have done this on a few occasions. My novels in the Calvado Pentalogy were either started or finished during this marathon of writing. I believe three of the five books in Calvado were finished during NaNoWriMo.
I have also started recording Fear Zero as an audio book. The first chapter can be heard on this episode of Tedorigawa Bookmakers. Recording and editing the audio file takes some time but as I record I find things I want to change. This is like a final Final edit.
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.
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.
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.
Monday Sep 30, 2019
Monday Sep 30, 2019
Bookbinding
I have made a bunch of pop-up books and they have grabbed my imagination. I enjoy building things and obviously pop-up books is building a story. I have learned how to make pull-tabs, v-folds, and another fold that twists the picture. I don’t know what it’s called, but it’s fun. I have no pictures of the pop-up books I have made because once I make them, I tear them apart to re-make them or make them slightly differently. By the time I realize I should’ve taken a few shots, they’re gone.
However, pop-up books, while frustrating to construct, are a new passion that I hope I can continue making, continue improving, and have something to show you in the near future. They are not something you can think about and then produce, like writing. I have to have the paper, tape, and scissors in my hands and manipulating everything in order to make it. It’s fun.
Fiction
The Fear Trilogy
I have published Fear Zero on iBooks, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, and Scribd. It is BooK 0 of The Fear Trilogy. This trilogy takes place in a dystopian future war with conspiracies. Book One Fear Itself is in the writing stage. I am up to 30,000 words and I plan the book to be between 50,000 and 60,000 words so I am half-way there.
I am using, for the first time, a rough outline that includes which action I want in each chapter, plus how it leads to the next chapter. I usually write with just a general outline in my head. With an outline written down, I find it easier to write, quicker to write, and satisfying to strike a chapter off the list.
See a three-minute YouTube video of me sewing Fear Zero.
The Oregon Murder Mystery Series
Feeding Vicki’s Corpse and The City of Cocks (available on iBooks, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, and Scribd) are two related murder mysteries that take place in the same town with many of the same characters but spread about 20 years apart. Chronologically Feeding Vicki’s Corpse is before The City of Cocks. However, you may read them in either order. I wrote them in reverse chronological order so for me Feeding Vicki’s Corpse is a prequel.
Matt McKenzie, 10, is thrown in prison for murdering his mother. He must contend 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.
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.
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.
Monday Sep 23, 2019
Monday Sep 23, 2019
Update: Feeding Vicki’s Corpse now available on Apple iBooks! (Sorry for the interruption)
I have dipped my creative toes into the world of pop-up books. These books, when done by really creative professional pop-up bookmakers like Colette Fu, Matthew Reinhold, Duncan Birmingham, and this site which has many, many more artists, are fascinating. When done by beginners like myself, well, not so much. But we all have to start somewhere and for me that is being confused. However, I did make one pop-up book. A small one with three tricks.
Trick one was the ‘normal’ one of a picture popping up. In this case it was the Japanese kanji for kanji (漢字), which, as you can see, is two kanji. Trick two was the Japanese kanji for heiwa (peace) which is 平和. Also two kanji. While the kanji for kanji popped up, the kanji for peace involves a pull-tab. The 平 (hei) portion of the kanji slides up to the 和 portion to make one word: Peace (Heiwa). The third trick used the kanji for laugh: 笑 or warai. It uses a pull-tab but the kanji moves up and down as if it were dancing. At least, that was my hope; so far everyone who has seen it dance has laughed so, Mission Accomplished! (?)
If you zip over to my Instagram page you can click on a short video of the parts moving. Please remember it is my very first pop-up book; be kind.
Fiction
Fear Zero has a video on YouTube video, so if you have about three minutes you can spare check out TDGB 024 Fear Zero. I have written about 5,000 more words on the first book of The Fear Trilogy: Fear Itself, bringing the total to 25,000. I have tightened it up as well. It is approximately 50% finished. After it is finished, I have two more Fear novels to write. Wish me luck.
The sequel or prequel to City of Cocks is available as well. Feeding Vicki’s Corpse is a murder mystery. A retired Boston police detective with a troubling past is asked to investigate a seemingly random murder. He soon discovers a rape and a conspiracy. As he deals with a ghost from his past and his own alcoholism, he unravels the conspiracy and links the murder with the rape.
Feeding Vicki’s Corpse has many of the same characters as City of Cocks. Feeding Vicki’s Corpse takes place when they are younger, but we can see how they will mature in the future.
On Sale Now
Tuesday Sep 17, 2019
Tuesday Sep 17, 2019
My project for this coming few weeks is learning how to make a pop-up book. To that end I scurried off to YouTube to check out two video series: Pop-up Channel with Duncan Birmingham and Matthew Reinhart . Birmingham has an extensive tutorial collection and Reinhart is one inventive pop-up artist (paper engineer). Between the two of them they taught me how to make two folds that I practiced often. More, I hope, to come.
Importantly, I finished Fear Zero (iBooks link), the prolog to The Fear Trilogy. It is an action-oriented prelude to a dystopian future on an unnamed planet that must deal with government corruption, aliens aiming to take jobs for ‘real’ people, and war. It is not only finished but Up For Sale at Apple iBooks, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble.
Besides as an e-book, Fear Zero will be available as a real book, too. I sewed it up (Soon, I hope, there will be a video on YouTube of the process). Contact me if you’d like a real version of Fear Zero. It is about 120 pages.
The main character – Matt McKenzie – is thrown in prison for murdering his mother. He is ten years old. He must survive sadistic guards, violent prisoners and loneliness. He meets and befriends, he thinks, two other inmates: Monster and Ferrell. Upon release from prison - it can only keep them until they are 16 years old – he must survive in the world, but because he is an ex-con, he cannot find a decent, ‘normal’ job or a place to live.
Secondly, I sewed up Giapan, my Don Quixote-inspired episodic novel of a nun, two guards, and a Japanese artist traveling across Spain in 1600. Again, hopefully, there will be a video up on YouTube of me sewing all 16 signatures of Giapan while doing my laundry.
This was finished the Same Day I discover that Salman Rushdie’s new novel is his Don Quixote-inspired, Quichotte. Either Great Minds and all that or coincidence. Fortunately, he has taken the meta-fiction aspect (the characters know they are being written about) while I have taken the action bits, more or less. In other words, my Giapan makes a great companion piece to Rushdie’s Quichotte! Great!
Available for Purchase
City of Cocks ~ a poetic murder
A murder mystery. An ordinary husband is arrested for the murder a teenage son of a local businessman. He soon discovers there are forces in the small town that want him convicted. Only his wife and a friend, a drunken poet who sees ghosts, can prove his innocence.
Fear Zero
A ten-year-old boy is thrown in prison for murdering his mother; a crime he insists he didn’t do. In prison he must survive sadistic guards, violent prisoners, and loneliness. He makes two friends in prison. One is violent and the other is severely withdrawn to the point he can only write what he wants to say.
The prolog to The Fear Trilogy (Coming Soon!)
Tuesday Sep 10, 2019
Tuesday Sep 10, 2019
What I learned on my latest adventure of building a tunnel book: 1) make sure the art in front is not so big that it obscures the art in the back. 2) Fold the accordion sides correctly so they can, you know, fold. And finally, 3) explore, learn more about tunnel books, find more exciting subject matter, make it happen! I just finished my third tunnel book which uses Japanese kanji such as 友 - friend, and, as I said last week, 希望 - hope.
This was my third tunnel book after making three clamshell boxes. I continue exploring and pushing my boundaries a bit. I find tunnel books intriguing. I mean, it's possible to put a whole story in one three-dimensional space that allows the viewer/reader to explore, manipulate, turn, and view from many angles. I like that idea.
Next up I am thinking of working on a pop-up book in a very, very pale imitation of Colette Fu who makes magnificent pop-up books; these are not your 
childhood pop-up books of dinosaurs and butterflies. I, on the other hand, might just make a very simple pop-up book. Perhaps using butterflies. It is a challenge I have not yet challenged.
On the second picture of the Kanji Tunnel book is, on the right, Tomo in kanji (友) which is Friend and, on the left, is Warau in kanji (笑) which is Laughter or Laugh. You’ll notice, as I did, you can’t really see the kanji behind these two. Something I learned, yeah!
~ Fiction ~
I have finished writing my Don Quixote-inspired novel Giapan! Yes, finished. The novel follows four people as they travel across Spain in the 17th century and the adventures they encounter: A Romani nun who quit the church, a Japanese artist, and two guards assigned to protect a tax collector played by a real-life tax collector, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, real-life author of Don Quixote. The nun wants to find her biological parents because, as a Romani, she was suffered the racism and discrimination that minorities endure; she wants to learn the Romani life from her parents. The two guards protect her on her journey home.
The book very very loosely follows Don Quixote including encounters with giants, lost love, marauders, and sexism. And, unlike most Hollywood endings, no one falls in love with the nun. The three men find her attractive, intelligent, and an equal, but they do not end up marrying her.
Now I must read, proofread, and edit this tome to make sure the correct number of horses is portrayed and the nun’s clothing is correct (she dresses and acts like a man in order to hurry across Spain with the minimum of harassment from thieves, vagabonds, and men.) and the right number of people are in the right place at the right time (they meet a number of people, some of who tell stories and those stories might have a few errors; I must check them out.)
If you are interested in being a beta reader, drop me a line at Tedorigawa Bookmakers.
Also nearly finished is a post-conglomerate takeover/pre-apocalyptic world prolog novel of a trilogy. The trilogy is called The Fear Trilogy and the prolog is called Fear Zero.
The Trilogy follows the life of a wounded veteran of a future war. The veteran goes 
from soldier to politician’s assistant to politician. He ends in a position of power and finds it is not as easy as when he was a soldier.
Fear Zero, the prolog, starts when the soldier is in prison for murder. He is ten years old. It ends when he and two fellow inmates join the military to escape the horrors of prison and the Conglomerate takeover of the world.
This trilogy is a genre-based action/apocalyptic fiction so I am using a pseudonym so as not to confuse myself with my other books which I think are non-genre and could be lumped in with literary fiction (although that seems to be a category book sellers use when they can’t find a convenient category for the book.)
The two other books I wrote that are genre-based are City of Cocks and Feeding Vicki’s Corpse. These are mysteries. But not straight forward Dashiell Hammett/Agatha Christie/JA Jance mysteries; they might be called Character-Driven mysteries. Which is why they are not written under a pseudonym.
Available on
Apple Books, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble
Coming Soon:
Feeding Vicki’s Corpse
Tuesday Sep 03, 2019
Tuesday Sep 03, 2019
In bookbinding I am still working on my third tunnel book. This book will have six Japanese kanji. The first two will be white, the middle two light blue, and the back third a darker blue with the back wall of the tunnel white to show off the kanji. The kanji are mostly positive such as friend (友) and hope (希望). As you can see hope is intricate and requires a lot of exact cutting with the old exacto knife so it has taken more time than I expected.
In my Don Quixote-inspired novel, Giapan, I wrote a scene where the female character gets attacked by two thugs. In Version One of the scene, she defends herself quite competently and sends the two thugs to the ground bleeding and in pain. In Version Two, she gets beaten and raped. I was unsure as to which version I should use in the novel. I thought about it. I decided to go with Version One. However, Version Two is more powerful and displays a bit of kindness on the part of the male characters. A bit of a dilemma. I opted to include Version Two as an Alternative Chapter: readers can read it after they finish the book.
Available Now
City of Cocks ~ A Poetic Murder
A local businessman is accused of murder. His wife and an alcoholic poet must prove his innocence. They must deal with corrupt politicians (redundant, I know), drunk witnesses, an angry bartender, the owner of a fast-food chicken restaurant, and a ghost with a dynamite fried chicken recipe and a cocaine habit.
Now! Available on Apple iBooks, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble
Wednesday Aug 28, 2019
Wednesday Aug 28, 2019
After making four clamshell boxes for small books, I moved on to the tunnel book. The tunnel book offers the ability to tell a story in one viewing, sort of like a painting. But without the painting part. I have made, so far, one tunnel book. I’m working on my second tunnel book. This second book requires me to learn how to draw the human figure in motion; something I have not been able to do so far in my life. In fact, drawing the human figure in stasis has also not exactly been my forte.
Nevertheless, I venture on pushing my personal boundaries of creativity in both drawing and creating books. In this first tunnel book you can almost see a rabbit, an elephant/bear and a cat/giraffe. Such are my drawing skills that these animals are easily confused. The final part of the tunnel is green paper which, I hope, shows off the animals and et cetera. By the way, the last panel of the tunnel are buildings. Animals and buildings mixed together; that was my idea.
My next tunnel book is in the pre-making/planning stages. This tunnel book will be people doing things: walking, using a computer, smoking, playing the flute and other difficult to draw activities that will a) Push my drawing abilities to their limits b) Engage the viewer, I hope. I think tunnel books will allow the viewer to see a complete story in one place; rather than read several pages or look at pictures on several pages. For this reason, I must work more.
Finally, I picked up everyone’s favorite Japanese binding book, Japanese Bookbinding by Ikegami. In the back are several ways to make boxes for books. After I make four or five tunnel books, I am going to try my hand at a four-sided case and, maybe, a box case.
Available for Purchase
The City of Cocks - a murder mystery starring an alcoholic poet who sees ghosts, the wife of the suspect, and a host of oddball characters who either help or hinder the wife and poet’s investigation into the innocence of the suspect.
Available from Apple iBooks, Kobo, Barnes & Noble
Also available for purchase on iBooks
The Venetian Slime Woman – A Biological Love Story
A deadly slime is discovered in a canal in Venice; it has killed at least one woman, maybe more. The slime is sent to the EPA in Seattle for diagnosis. The researcher is stricken with a disease that eats her alive. No cure can be found.
At night, in the slime mold, a female emerges from it. She is discovered by an EPA water specialist who fears she will kill him, too. Instead, she tells him her strange story. He believes her. She finds out about the sick researcher and insists the water specialist take her to her. Once in the hospital, the slime woman cures the researcher’s sickness. However, an agent — from the CIA? the FBI? Homeland Security? — finds the slime woman and wants to dissect her. The water specialist helps the slime woman escape. They find a mysterious tunnel in St. Augustine, Florida that leads them to safety. Book Five of the Calvado Pentalogy.
Tristram’s Printer – A Typographical Love Story.
A young female bartender embarks on a long strange ride across the US. She meets her first husband, the hyper-jealous accountant; she meets an obese egotistical artist and his skinny devoted wife.
She learns about paper making, bookbinding, drugs, jealousy, and letterpress printing. She has a drugged up lesbian affair, escapes from a police raid, and tries to be the good wife to the financial officer of a small company in a small Vermont town.
Through the artist, she meets a letterpress printer old enough to be her father. He believes she is his daughter who died in a car accident on graduation night. They fall in love. Book One of the Calvado Pentalogy.
Bookbinding Videos by Tedorigawa Bookmakers
Wednesday Aug 21, 2019
Wednesday Aug 21, 2019
I expanded my skill set to include clamshell boxes, learning and improving at each box. A success 
story. Why? Well, let me tell you my plan. I write a book (currently I’m working on Giapan, see below.). After I write it, I case it in nicely and finally, I make a clamshell box for it. It all becomes beautiful! And fun.
Also, I am attempting things I have not done in the past or not done well. I believe this is called stepping out of your comfort zone; I prefer to call it improving. Or expanding my skill set. About a month ago I did some conservation work which is something I have never done. My skill set aided me in successfully doing the conservation work. More knowledge, despite what some politicians say, is a good thing.
Next week: My first tunnel book.
Fiction
I have been writing quite a bit on Giapan, a Quixotic Love Story. In fact I have added a whole new chapter that follows Cervantes’ Don Quixote. It is separate from the main story, takes place not in 1600 Spain but in 1590 Nagasaki, follows not the main characters but a defrocked Portuguese priest Giapan meets in a café owned by the former priest and his wife. A Love story, if you will. This added about 6,000 plus words or, in terms of a reader, about ten pages.
I have also been writing on a book that is more than half-finished. Fear Zero. In Fear Zero, the main character of the Fear Trilogy is in prison for murdering his mother. He savagely defends himself against guards and inmates. He is soon regarded as a fierce and merciless fighter. He has six to eight more years in prison. He is ten years old. Fear Zero is the prequel book to the Fear Trilogy which takes the main character from age ten to when he is an elder statesmen seeking to alter the course of a war.
~ For Sale ~
The City of Cocks on Apple iBooks
Kobo and Barnes & Noble
Bookbinding Videos!
Thursday Aug 15, 2019
Thursday Aug 15, 2019
I made three clamshell boxes in the last week.
On the first, the corners were not covered very well at all; a complete botch up on that. I did some quick Google/YouTube research and, on the second one, did a tad better. The first one has a raised cover, is completely red, and taught me a bit about making clamshell boxes. It was made to contain a book I made called Yes! Moat Banana which is a blank notebook with graph paper, pictures of people related to bookbinding or paper making, and is A6 in size (pocketbook).
I made a very basic and simple mistake doing the corners again on the second clamshell box but, and this is important, I knew what the mistake was so it I could correct it on the next clamshell box I made. It has raised cover and my latest innovation. It has a concave bit on the fore-edge where you can put your forefinger to open it. A useful addition but difficult to cover properly, although I think I did okay. I didn't do okay securing the book cloth with a sufficient amount of glue so it is loose.
It is, however, good practice!
The third one was a small box for a small accordion book. The corners were covered well, the measurements were precise, and it worked out well. I measured not only the book board but also the paper I used to cover the boards. Rather than leave it to chance, measurements come in hand. I have not finished it; I have not covered the inside of the box, as you can see.
The book fits in the palm of my hand so the box itself is small. The book itself is an accordion book which opens up from about A8 to A4. It is blank but it is also a prototype to see if I can make an accordion book, which I seem to be able to. Next comes some content!
Writing
I wrote on four novels this week: Giapan, Botchan's Bartender, Fear Itself, and Fear Zero. Fear Zero is the prequel to the Fear Trilogy. We learn of Matt's incarceration at ten, his life in prison, and how he survives. For Fear Itself, I added about 2,000 words and moved it along with a little more tension, a little more anger. For Botchan's Bartender, I wrote the penultimate and the last chapter. Now I need to go back and fill in the gap from those chapters to the chapters where I stopped writing; should be... easy? And for Giapan, I added two more chapters. The end is definitely nigh.
Finally, available from iBooks is my murder mystery that takes place in a small Oregon coastal town. City of Cocks follows a man accused of murder. His wife and her friend, an alcoholic poet, have to find evidence that he is innocent.
The Sequel is coming soon. It is called Feeding Vicki's Corpse. It is about a murder/rape in the same town in Oregon. It pits a retired Boston policeman against the financial and political power of a local family. The characters are the same as in City of Cocks except younger. A 40-year-old in the first book is 15 or 20 in this volume.
City of Cocks by George Stenson
Available on