One of the joys of putting together the bibliography I’m finishing for synaesthesia has been rediscovering books I’d almost forgotten. And the stories that go along with them.
Around 1997, while I was in graduate school, I struck up a brief correspondence with Chris Offutt after he responded to a newsletter I mailed to collectors—a simple list of fifty or so modern first editions I was trying to sell to help pay the bills. Fifty or so books mailed out to about the same number of people. Over my time in grad school, I think I got a half dozen or so mailed out. Chris was a collector!
We traded emails, a few phone calls, and eventually I worked up the courage and asked if he’d consider letting synaesthesia publish one of his stories? He generously sent two! As a small-press dude, I felt like I’d won the lottery. I chose 211 All Around, but a simple mistake in my next newsletter—accidentally giving his new book (The Good Brother) the wrong title (The Good Son)—ended whatever friendship I’d managed to build. What a terrific brain fart! I apologized, but the damage was done. Never heard a word back from Chris again. He had accepted some books in lieu of cash payment for the story, and while I debated what to do, another small press published 211…. This left me with the other manuscript, A Dog & His Boy. And, honestly, a little butt hurt.
That chapbook eventually found its way into print, though not without a few more bumps along the road. Looking back some twenty-five years later, I can see that we probably both overreacted a little? I know I did. But that’s the nature of small presses. They’re built on passion more than profit, and sometimes feelings get bruised more easily than they should. It certainly wasn’t about making money—I was lucky if I earned minimum wage after paying for materials, all the hours of hand-setting type, printing, binding, and marketing was completed—but I wouldn’t trade that time for anything. And while looking at A Dog & His Boy today makes me want to change all sorts of things about it, I stand by that book.
Every one of synaesthesia’s books has a story behind it. This one just happened to have a few more twists than most.
