Confession time.
Jim Pritchard doesn’t exist.
Or rather, maybe he does and maybe he doesn’t. And his story, The Neighbors, became the very first synaesthesia press chapbook.
As a publisher, I was heavily influenced by the Beat chapbooks of the mimeograph era, and The Neighbors reflected that aesthetic perfectly. The original plan was for the entire press to follow that model: small-format chapbooks, modest editions, and an emphasis on writing over production values. Of course, plans have a way of changing. By the time I published Friends and Enemies and A Dog & His Boy, the press had already begun moving in a different direction.
Still, looking back, I stand by The Neighbors and Pritchard’s second synaesthesia appearance, The Man With the Buzzer in His Throat. They’re products of their time, certainly, but they remain close to my heart.
The Man With the Buzzer in His Throat was later published in a little magazine out of Albuqurque called Vox. The cover was silkscreened by the artist Brian Marsland in his backyard in Tempe, Arizona, on a warm spring afternoon. Two variants were produced. One featured only the red image of the unfortunate gentleman with the buzzer in his throat and the story title. Most copies, however, included a yellow background that gave the cover a little extra life.
As for Jim Pritchard himself, his trail eventually went cold.
The last reports placed him in a one-room hotel in San Francisco’s Tenderloin District cohabitating with a sex worker he met at the Mitchell Brothers’ notorious O’Farrell Theater, driving a cab, reading too much, and working on a novel. Shortly thereafter, he disappeared; the sex worker he was associated with was held for questioning and then later released. So, if you happen to know his whereabouts, please let me know. He owes me money.
A lot of money.
