Some interesting early modern-set historical fiction and well-made books too: Christopher Moores *Fool* and its new sequel, *The Serpent of Venice*: I had to share this description of the book itself, (from my rep friend Chris Kerr). amazon/The-Serpent-Venice-A-Novel/dp/0061779768 priceless author copy: ...printed in red, pressed from the still-bleeding back tattoo of a passed out drunk girl. My publisher has asked me to share this ad copy description of the physical edition of The Serpent of Venice, because people like books and stuff: The book, too, is a veritable work of art. Rich creamy stock is enhanced by two-color printing, a technology on the cutting edge of printing almost 500 years ago, and featuring part/chapter titles, running heads, and folios printed in red ink – that’s right, as if Shakespeare, or Jesus, said the titles and running heads themselves. In red! The text block has blue-stained edges, hand stained by children force-fed blueberries and made to crawl across them on their sticky little hands and knees. The book opens to reveal two-page spread endpapers decorated with a sepia-toned antique map of Venice; an antique map of Italy graces the book’s front matter, printed in red, pressed from the still-bleeding back tattoo of a passed out drunk girl. The jacket sports a matte finish, not unlike that found on stealth fighters and Mad Max vehicles, as well as embossed author and title type; gold foil embellishes the title and illustration detail, as if Midas himself wiped his junk on it. You’ll luxuriate the many pages edges gilt with gold leaf, artfully inspoogened with wisdom, dragonfly wings, and with a mild hallucinogenic that alleviates anxiety. The E book may have the story, but is the story really whole when you can’t feel, touch, smell, taste the very essence of the book, know the book, become one with the book. Slap the book’s cover and call it SASSY! Oh no, you go on, “click to download” your empty, lonely, e-book and you will have a wonderful few hours together, it will live in the cloud, like your girlfriend from Canada that you met at camp and who was totally perfect. Yeah, you do that.
Posted on: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 15:31:58 +0000