Bibliophiles Delight–The Chemical Wedding

The Chemical Wedding – Small Beer Press Numbered Edition

Back in May this year there was a Kickstarter campaign by Small Beer Press to publish various exclusive hard cover editions of the 400 year old romance The Chemical Wedding in a new version written by the marvellous John Crowley.

I couldn’t resist pledging for a Numbered Edition:

Kickstarter Exclusive Signed, Numbered, Limited Edition.

Limited to 200 numbered copies (not including presentation copies to author, illustrator, and designer).

Signed on a two-color tipped in page by the author John Crowley, the illustrator Theo Fadel, and the designer Jacob McMurray.

Presented in a black cloth slipcase stamped with gold foil and accompanied by an exclusive woodcut hand printed, signed, and numbered in her studio by Theo Fadel.

Smyth sewn in oatmeal linen with black and red foil stamped cover. Printed in black and red ink on a beautiful 70# Finch Opaque Vanilla paper with black endpapers and a black ribbon.

It arrived in the mail yesterday and is a beautiful book as special as promised in the Kickstarter, with an attractive variation of red endpapers and a red ribbon instead of black as described above.

Theo Fadel’s illustrations are playful and apt and the numbered edition includes a separate numbered and signed woodcut by the artist.

Theo Fadel special woodcut

I’m a sucker for slipcased editions and I love ribbon markers. The Chemical Wedding will look splendid  on my bookshelf next to the few precious slipcased editions that I already have in my personal library.

A paperback and ebook will be published on the 400th Anniversary date of the original, 8 November 2016.

There has been no recent news on the other John Crowley book, the 25th Anniversary Edition of Little, Big that I have been awaiting for close to 12 years. 

The last newsletter received in August indicated that the book may go to press by the end of the year, but I hold out little hope of that happening and live in expectation that it will be finally published in 2017.

The Chemical Wedding–Book Collectors Delight

Chemical Wedding cover image from Small Beer Press

I know, I know, I’m still waiting for the publication of John Crowley’s 25th Anniversary Edition (I wish she would wake up!) of his best loved work, Little, Big, but I couldn’t resist pledging to the Kickstarter for The Chemical Wedding, a four hundred year old romance by Christian Rosencruetz (Johann Valentin Andreae), re-imagined by  John Crowley, who dubs it the first Science Fiction novel ever written.

To mark the 400th Anniversary of the work, first published in 1616, Small Beer Press will be publishing this new version in November 2016 in diverse editions, paperback and eBook, and have launched a Kickstarter to fund the more exotic limited editions – an exclusive Hard Cover Edition, a Numbered Edition and a Lettered Edition.

Small Beer Press is an American independent publishing company founded and run by husband and wife team, Gavin J Grant and Kelly Link. They publish a range of fine speculative fiction and non fiction. They also established Weightless Books, a DRM free source of eBooks from independent publishers. 

Anyway, The Chemical Wedding looks as if it will be a splendid edition and a real collectable, destined to become a rare book classic. Illustrated throughout with whimsical woodcuts by Theo Fadel, John Crowley’s artist of choice for the book, makes it extra special.

The Kickstarter offers many reward levels, and there are some tempting goodies, such as (limited) signed and inscribed first editions of John Crowley novels, if you pledge for the Hard Cover. Every level from $10.00 upwards receives a DRM free eBook of The Chemical Wedding in the eBook format of your choice.

If you are a serious bibliophile and love fine editions, the Kickstarter for The Chemical Wedding gives you the opportunity to acquire an exceptionally beautiful first edition at a good price.

Fortunately we will not have to wait 11+ years for it to be published, as Small Beer Press expect the books to be available in October or November 2016.

It will be interesting for me to see which book will arrive first in my mailbox – Little, Big 25 or The Chemical Wedding. Let’s say, I’m not holding my breath for Little, Big as there has been no news on its publication since December last year.

The Tesla Effect

At about this time last year, I was eagerly following the progress of a Kickstarter project for a new Tex Murphy game.  The producers, Big Finish Games, reached their target with some to spare, so production of the game is in full swing and the game is likely to be released by the end of this year.

On Nikola Tesla’s birthday, 10 July, Big Finish Games released a video teaser, that thrilled the pants off this old Tex Murphy addict and announced the title of the game at the same time. It is Tesla Effect – A Tex Murphy Adventure. (see video below)

Very few details of the new game have been released, for which I am grateful. I want to be surprised, wowed and amused when I finally have the game installed on my computer, though I gather that it will be full FMV (full motion video) with an immersive 3D environment and involve multiple narrative paths ala Pandora Directive.

What Tesla has to do with the story remains a mystery, an intriguing one at that, but it got me to go and check him out. Here’s a great overview of his life and work in comic book form.

Needless to say I am keenly awaiting the completion of  Tesla Effect aka Project Fedora and really look forward to playing a new Tex Murphy game after 15 years of waiting.

A Quiet Interlude

For some reason or other, I have felt disinclined to blog over the past week or so, but tonight finds me back in the mode.

On the home front, chaos reigns supreme, due to impending house renovations. We have to clear out all the front rooms and living area, in order to have new flooring and a new bathroom installed.

It’s probably fortunate that Lizzie will not have to put up with the disruption, but poor Willy is already disturbed by all the changes to his familiar environment.  It’s the depth of winter as well, so he is more inclined to huddle indoors than hang around outside when it’s cold.

I’ll have to move out during the renovation, fortunately only a few doors up. The neighbours who live there are going away for five weeks, and would normally leave their cat at a cattery. This time though I’ll be there keeping company with the sweet little Russian princess, Talia. I’ve always felt sorry for poor Talia as her owners seem to be away more often than they are at home, so she has spent most of her short life in catteries. 

Along with coping with the trying domestic situation, I’ve been intermittently keeping tabs on the progress of the Tex Murphy Kickstarter, and am delighted to report that the funding goal of $450,000 has been met. Kickstarter really sucks you in, and you find yourself supporting any number of other projects at the same time. It’s all due to the astonishing community there – they all support each other’s projects in a give and take kind of way.

Also I’ve been following Black Caviar’s preparations for taking on the world at Ascot.  She travelled in state in a special compression bodysuit, and arrived in good order according to reports. Can hardly wait for the Diamond Jubilee Stakes on the 23 June at Ascot.

And today, I took time out to enjoy a sweet and gentle in store at Basement Discs this afternoon.

The artist was Alison Ferrier, another local singer songwriter. Her short set, promoting her debut solo album Sugar Baby, was a soothing interlude in my day, her music being romantic with an old time sensibility - pretty melodies set to waltz time. Lovely stuff.

You can check her out at the link above.

Tex Murphy Project Fedora

I’ve become obsessed with watching the progress of the Tex Murphy Project Fedora Kickstarter. In six days, over half of the funding has been pledged, which is a good sign that us die hard Tex Murphy fans will finally get to play a long awaited new game, albeit in the future. After waiting for well over a decade, 12 months or so seems hardly any time at all.

I had never heard of Kickstarter prior to this project announcement, but it is a very clever idea on the part of its instigators. It is basically a crowd funding platform which enables projects of all types to solicit backing from the Internet community.  And it is very community orientated with ample opportunities for backers to comment on the project or connect directly with project managers.

Backers are rewarded concomitant with the amount of money pledged and start as low as a $5.00. For that sum on the Project Fedora Kickstarter you are rewarded with a downloadable pdf poster. A $15.00 pledge rewards you with a digital copy of the game DRM free. The more money you pledge,  more desirable rewards are offered.

You pay your pledge through credit card or, interestingly, through an Amazon account.

Just as interesting as watching the progress of the kickstarter are the frequent updates, which in this case are all cleverly executed videos.  The video below is Big Finish Games promotional video for their Kickstarter page. As a fan of the Tex Murphy games it was all very nostalgic for me, but it will also amuse those who have never played the games or even heard of them.