Progress Report on the Book

Progress Report on the Book

I've now settled on a title for the book: "General Discharge." I'm happy with it. The term is military, of course, which signals the subject matter of the poetry. This collection of poems is about service in the military, the difficulties of veterans reintegrating into civilian life afterwards--and about the culture they serve. But the term also invokes other ideas, I hope--about discharge in general (and poetry as a kind of discharge). All that is to say I like it.

And the actual design work is now under way to bring it to publication. I've been communicating with the publisher (who is very open to my ideas and preferences, by the way. Fomite Press are wonderful people to work with, who have opinions, and who respect mine.)

It's been interesting to think about the size of the book, the kind of paper it's printed on, even the font used for the text.

I believe the book will be 6" by 9" (a reasonably large trade paperback) on cream paper (as opposed to stark white). And, pending a look at the proofs, with Garamond as the font. I looked at a number of fonts, and Garamond (or some minor variant) is the one I keep coming back to. "Yes," I say, "this looks like poetry."

The proposed cover is still in work, and I'm looking forward to seeing what they come up with.

When will it be done? Some time early next year. I have been telling myself April Fool's Day. It may be sooner than that. When I learn more, I will be sure to share.