Diana Gabaldon keepsake completed

06 Sunday Jul 2014

Posted by in Broadsides, ephemera, Letterpress, Traverse City National Writers Series Authors

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Finished the Diana Gabaldon broadside. 13×10″ sheet size, 2 colors. Additional bit of a tag line and credits tastefully printed on the back side. I had to print 200 of them as the event has been sold out. I wish I would have had more lead time on this and could have acquired type or had a plate made to composed the main display font in a more historically accurate font like Caslon but some beat up Americana will have to do, only off by about 200 years…

 

Diana Gabaldon keepsake

The Diana Gabaldon keepsake for the NWS event in Traverse City, July 7, 2014.

Post Event thoughts

A little update after last nights event. I don’t always like meeting authors or listening to them speak in public about their work but this was an exception. Diana is a genuine and real human being that, despite her amazing and deserved success, came off with wit and honesty about her process and was very engaging to the audience. She also liked the broadsides and was pleased with the additional copies I made for here on the nicer paper stock. It was a capacity sold out crowd at the Traverse City Opera House. I arrived late (of course) and was stunned to see the line for the door wrap around the block – that doesn’t happen in Northern Michigan very often. We got in, delivered the broadsides and settled for balcony seats which was pretty much all that was left. I always feel a little bad about the extra printed items I make for these events as then it is just one more thing that the author might be expected to sign but Diana was very gracious and stuck it out until the end of the line.

My wife and I got out early with still a long line behind us and went for dinner nearby. As serendipity and as luck would have it Diana, Doug Stanton and a few other people ended up at the same restaurant and asked us to join them, very nice end to the evening though already late. Ouch, how much do you pay your baby sitters? Not the best of pics here from the phone camera:

A keepsake for Diana Gabaldon

01 Tuesday Jul 2014

Posted by in Broadsides, ephemera, Letterpress, Printing, Traverse City National Writers Series Authors

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Diana Gabaldon

Last fall I started doing occasional ephemeral printing for the National Writers Series and started with a poem for Nikki Giovanni. Now, with very short notice, I’ve received the “go ahead” from Diana Gabaldon’s publishers to do something for her evening of conversation at the Traverse City Opera House with the NWS.

But I only have 7 days to do it. Ah well, deadlines are fun, right? Right?

Diana’s famed series began in 1991 with her first novel, Outlander, which became a wildly popular historical, sci-fi, adventure, romance, non-fiction, and fantasy series. Readers have been hanging on the edge of their seats ever since for the next thrilling installment of Claire and Jamie’s story. The seven book series has sold more than 20 million copies and a television series based on the Outlander series is currently filming and will premiere on Starz network later this year.

So here’s the deal, apparently I can pretty much use any of Diana’s writing that I want but I’ve not read her books. (sorry) My wife is a big fan, many other good friends too so I know some of the story – one thing I recall is that the heroine hooks up with a printer at some point in time which, obviously, piques my interest. So here it is from Voyager, book three in the Outlander series:

 

It was a longish, winding close, and the printshop was at the foot. There were thriving businesses and tenements on either side, but I had no attention to spare for anything beyond the neat white sign that hung by the door.

A. Malcolm

Printer and Bookseller

It said beneath this, Books, calling cards, pamphlets, broadsheets, letters, etc.

I stretched out my hand and touched the black letters of the name. A. Malcolm. Alexander Malcolm. James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser. Perhaps.

 

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What do you think? Captures enough of the essence of the series to be a memorable little bit with the first reunion between Jamie and Claire? Do you have a better suggestion? I need it quick to start playing with type and composition!

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The Traverse City National Writers Series was started back in 2009. Since its inception over 70 writers of note from around the world have come to Northern Michigan to give readings in the Traverse City Opera House, meet the local book culture and perhaps ingest enough of our region to spark their imaginations in other creative ways. On July 7th Diana Gabaldon will have a conversation with a host and talk about her book series and then, of course, you can buy her books, chat a little and, if you’re lucky, get something signed. As a bonus for buying a book on this evening you will receive a copy of the little broadside I am making for Diana and the NWS in an edition of no more than 100.