Two Books for the Work of One-and-a-Quarter

He guys. So, Dan called me yesterday to ask some questions about that email I sent about Robot Crickets. I haven't really put any data up on any of the blogs yet, but this could be the first little preview.

Don't worry dad, this isn't the novel I've been working on; rest assured you'll be receiving portions of that for look-taking when they're ready to go. Robot Crickets is a collection of polished blog posts about my broken leg, along with a tiny piece that I call "a morphine vision masked as short fiction".

I actually drew the cricket and hammer on the cover. The idea for me was to pick out the main background color as one that will stand out--hence Vitamin C orange. I'm thinking of having those serious stickers made with the cricket and hammer "logo". That image is something I wanted that people will instantly associate with the book. It's all really an experiment in critical mass and underground exclusionary marketing. The fact that each book is part of a cause is the kicker.

Here's a look at the entire cover:

The thing is, really, this is a small book. It's only, like, 92 pages, and being pocketbook makes it all a little thin. Trying to have folks want to be a part of the bigger thing I guess is the critical mass experiment.

So far, the way it's working is: I've ordered a proof copy to approve or revise as necessary. Then once the material is either approved or revised-and-approved, I okay it, and it goes live for sale.

The second book of the "Two Books..." from this post's title is a picture book I put together on Shutterfly. So far I've printed two copies; originally one was for myself to either show off or maybe convince a picture-book-making company to maybe take a flyer on and see it the idea's marketable. The other copy I've mailed to the White House.

Obama, during high school and early college, went by Barry. It wasn't until later that he decided regularly go by his original first name, Barack. After he was elected I noticed pictures of him all over my Brooklyn neighborhood, in storefront windows and the like. The pictures were from newspapers and magazines. I thought it would be cool to go around and take pictures of all the faces. In my head, and on my computer's filing system, I called the project "Barry in the 'Hood".

Eventually I put together the pictures with a few words (recommissioned blog posts and captions) and made the book on Shutterfly. You can see from the back, themselves all shots from Bed-Stuy (except maybe the picture from under the tracks--that's from the Bushwick side of Broadway, and across the street is Bed-Stuy), aren't from the winter and aren't of Obama pictures:

I had a limited number of pictures to use, so you can imagine how the total project worked out. Well, not too bad, anyway. I'm trying to figure out how to make it available for folks who may be interested in adding it to their home library. (Which really means I'm having troubles with my Shutterfly account.)

So, really, between these two books, there was only the work of editing, polishing, and placement. I'll be keeping people updated on when Robot Crickets goes live.