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Published October 19, 2010

Q & A with Karen Horton, Design:Related

It is possible that the cover for Follow Me by Joanna Scott — with its lovely typography and curious undertones of David Lynch’s small town America — was the first time I noticed the name of designer Karen Horton. But then again, it might have been because of something on Design:Related, which she co-founded, or her blog Daily Design Discoveries, which is (as the name suggestions) a daily source of eclectic design inspiration.

Certainly, once I started to notice Karen’s name, I kept noticing it.

I’m grateful to Karen for taking time out from her busy schedule to reply to my emails and questions, and for providing all the amazing covers accompanying the Q & A (full credits and notes can be found at the end of the post).

What inspired you to become a book designer?

Working as a book cover designer almost happened by accident. Shortly after graduation I moved to NYC. I wanted to work on print design and started by applying to either magazines or book publishing houses almost exclusively. If the right opportunity came along to work at a magazine, I might be on a different track today. I liked the idea of designing something tactile and I already loved books.

Until recently you were the Art Director at Little, Brown & Company. Where did you work previously?

The first position of my professional career was as a Junior Designer in the Ad/Promo department of St. Martin’s Press. One of my responsibilities involved being a liaison between the Ad/Promo department and the Trade Art division. This might’ve been my lucky break. I felt that I was a nag visiting the cover designers weekly to remind them we needed layered files and cover tiffs for an upcoming catalog. When a junior level position opened in the cover art department, the art directors thought of me and suggested that I apply. I’m so thankful that I had the chance to work among such a talented group of designers and mentors. The job was very challenging and after a couple of years I began to question if I was a book cover designer just because I fell into that role and if it was my real niche. I wanted the experience of designing more than what fits within the constraints of a 6×9 rectangle. This led to my next position at The Children’s Museum of Manhattan where I had opportunities to work with my hands with an endless variety to the kinds of projects I collaborated on. The people working with me were fantastic, but I knew from the beginning that I missed book publishing. It took leaving it for me to appreciate what I left behind.

My next book-publishing job was at Oxford University Press where I started as a Design Associate and quickly moved up to the level of Art Director (partly due to unusual circumstances). It was surreal to have a team reporting to me, and this proved to be very rewarding. I have an incredible amount of respect for the editors and quality of books published by OUP, and there are many reasons why I loved the culture within a university press. All the same, I didn’t have the personal confidence yet to be in this leadership role and believed I still had much to learn before becoming the kind of art director I aspired to be. Also, I sought the opportunity to work on fiction in addition non-fiction books. After OUP, I worked at Little, Brown and Company as a Senior Designer and was later promoted to an Art Director.

Could you describe your design process?

This varies dependent on the kind of assignment.  For fiction titles I will always start with reading the full manuscript if available. I spend a good amount of time thinking, researching, and when applicable looking for historically appropriate typefaces. Although, sometimes I might be better off spending more time on the execution of my ideas than the preparation before-hand.

What are your favourite books to work on?

This is a hard question; there isn’t a clear favorite. Having a personal connection to an aspect or subject can greatly contribute to my enjoyment. Last year I had the privilege of designing the Picador paperback edition of Israel is Real. My mother is Israeli so I naturally had an interest.

What are the most challenging?

The same things that can make a project enjoyable can also contribute to the challenges. When you feel too attached to a cover design it can become tough to edit down your ideas and discard ones that you have an attachment to and may not appeal to the wider audience. In the past I’ve had the habit of saving my favorite projects to the end, wanting all the time to try out all options and make the design perfect.

Now you’ve left Little, Brown & Co., What’s next for you?

It’s too soon to tell. I’m still spending a good portion of my time designing book covers for various clients, including Hachette. The flexibility of working from my own studio will eventually allow more time to devote to the Design:Related project. The responsibility of managing a social community while having a full-time job was becoming increasingly difficult. I didn’t bring my Design:Related tasks to the office, but at a point it was evident that I was needed in a greater capacity if the site would succeed. I was always feeling behind (and lacking sleep) and the CEO and fellow co-founder of the site also had a full-time job he recently left. We both decided to make a greater investment of our time in order to take the project past the level of a side project and onto the next chapter.

For people unfamiliar with the site, could you describe Design:Related?

Design:Related is an online community where designers can share inspirations and resources to fellow creatives in a broad range of fields related to design. It also provides networking opportunities and portfolio tools to help with your online presence as a creative professional.

What motivated you and your co-founders to start it?

While Matt Sung (CEO, co-founder) and I were in school at the University of Florida we started conceptualizing a site for designers to share their work and ideas. It took a few years after graduating for us to transform our initial concept into a fully functioning design network.

Approximately how many users does it have now?

For now these numbers are subjective to me and the figures change daily. What’s interesting is how many quality members we have who contribute to the integrity of the site by sharing relevant design news, inspirations, comments, and encouragement to students. We are working on enhancements to the overall experience and functionality of the site that we hope will help continue to grow the network in a positive direction.
What is your current role at Design:Related?

I’m the Co-founder and Content Director. Since we are still a small team with limited resources, all who are involved with the project are continuously juggling tasks outside of their designated responsibilities.

You also blog at Daily Design Discoveries. Do you think it’s important for designers to have a strong presence online?

It’s important for a designer to have an online presence separate from Facebook, but I don’t think having a blog is necessary. For me it is just a welcome distraction from my real work. As a co-founder of Design:Related, all of the content I make is tied to our brand, which adds importance and value. With my Daily Design Discoveries blog I don’t overthink my posts, which is nice from time to time.

Where do you look for inspiration?

One of my favorite past times is browsing a flea market or used bookstore.  As a kid I used to beg my mom to take me to garage sales on weekends. I’m fortunate to be walking distance from The Strand and the Chelsea Flea Market. This is dangerous for my bank account though. Some book assignments can lead you on field trips. For the book Worst Case by James Patterson, the kind of imagery I was looking for was limiting with just search browsers. My Creative Director suggested that I spend a couple hours browsing the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Right when I was about to leave, I found the perfect book at the museum’s shop. It is more exciting when you find imagery in an unexpected source.

Who are your design heroes?

Although I admire many designers, Alvin Lustig comes to mind.

What does the future hold for book cover design?

I wish I knew. At times I think the profession of being a book cover designer is in jeopardy with the increasing popularity of reading on smartphones and other portable devices. There may be greater emphasis placed on starting with a strong design, without the luxury of relying on fancy printing effects or being neatly displayed in a shop window. For example, designers may need to review their covers as small thumbnails to determine the legibility of delicate text and elements when sitting in an iBooks shelf. Who knows? Maybe in an over-saturated marketplace, with rampant closures of bookstores, design could be more important than ever before.

Thanks Karen!

Images:

  1. Follow Me by Joanna Scott
    Jacket photograph ©Christine Callaghan/Arcangel Images
    Creative Director: Mario J. Pulice
    Publishing house: Little, Brown and Company
  2. The Natural History of Uncas Metcalfe by Betsey Osborne
    Art Director: Michael Storrings
    Cover illustration from Bibliotheque des Arts Decoratifs, Paris/Archives Charmet/The Bridgeman Art Library
    Publishing house: St. Martin’s Press/Griffin imprint
  3. I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You by Matt Dobkin
    Art Director: Michael Storrings
    Cover photograph of Aretha Franklin ©Michael Ochs Archives
    Publishing house: St. Martin’s Press/Griffin imprint
  4. Dictionary of American Art and Artists by Ann Morgan
    Jacket photograph: Installation view: 20th Century American Art, 1989. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
    Paintings, left to right: Summer Table (detail), 1972-73 © 2007 Brice Marden/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Day One (detail), 1951-52 © 2007 Barnett Newman Foundation/Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York. Three Flags, 1958 © Jasper Johns/Licensed by VAGA, New York, New York.
    (Karen’s note: securing the image rights for this photo was very difficult/tricky because not only did it include an interior wall from the Whitney Museum, but included artwork from three different artists. I worked with a photo researcher who helped with dealing with the vendors directly.)
  5. Discovering Modernism by Louis Menand
    Cover photograph of T.S. Eliot and Virginia Woolf courtesy of Princeton University Library
    Publishing house: Oxford University Press
  6. The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova
    Creative Director: Mario J. Pulice
    Jacket painting credit: Leda, 1832 by Francois Eduard Picot, Paris collection © Peter Willi/Superstock
    Publishing house: Little, Brown and Company
    (Karen’s note: final jacket has foil and embossing, printed on Neenah Eames painting paper stock)
  7. Israel is Real by Rich Cohen
    Art Director: Henry Sene Yee
    Cover painting of Jerusalem: William Holman Hunt/Getty Images
    Publishing house: Picador USA
  8. Kabul in Winter by Ann Jones
    Art Director: Henry Sene Yee
    Cover photograph © Ann Jones
    Publishing house: Picador USA
  9. The Lion’s Eye by Joanna Greenfield
    Creative Director: Mario J. Pulice
    Cover photograph of lion © blickwinkel / Alamy
    Publishing house: Little, Brown and Company
  10. My Paper Chase by Harold Evans
    Creative Director: Mario J. Pulice
    Cover photograph of Harold Evans © Lord Snowdon
    Publishing house: Little, Brown and Company
  11. Angel Island by Erika Lee & Judy Yung
    Art Director: Brady McNamara
    Jacket photos provided by authors and the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation
    Publishing house: Oxford University Press
  12. China: Fragile Superpower by Susan L. Shirk
    Art Director: Kathleen M. Lynch
    Jacket photograph © Andrew Wong/Getty Images
    Publishing house: Oxford University Press
  13. Worst Case by James Patterson
    Creative Director: Mario J. Pulice
    Jacket photograph from Faces in Stone: Architectural Sculpture in New York City by Robert Arthur King. © 2008 by Robert Arthur King. Used by permission of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc
    Publishing house: Little, Brown and Company
    (Karen’s note: final jacket has foil and embossing)
  14. Don’t Blink by James Patterson & Howard Roughan
    Creative Director: Mario J. Pulice
    Jacket painting credit: Leda, 1832 by Francois Eduard Picot, Paris collection © Peter Willi/Superstock
    Publishing house: Little, Brown and Company
    (Karen’s note: final jacket has foil and embossing)
  15. The Postcard Killers by James Patterson & Liza Marklund
    Creative Director: Mario J. Pulice
    Jacket Photo imaging by Debra Lill
    Jacket photographs: man running ©Yolande de Kort/Arcangel Images; woman in running © Roberto Pastrovicchio/Arcangel Images; street in Stockholm, Sweden © Karin Smeds/Getty Images
    Publishing house: Little, Brown and Company
    (Karen’s note: final jacket has foil and embossing)
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Published October 18, 2010

Just My Type

Journalist Simon Garfield talks about book design, typography and his new book Just My Type in this video for The Guardian:

The Guardian also has an excerpt from the book here.

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Published October 18, 2010

John le Carré, Writers & Co.

Eleanor Wachtel’s two part interview with John le Carré about his new book Our Kind of Traitor for CBC Radio’s Writers & Company:

Part One:
Writers and Co. John Le Carre Interview

Part Two:
Writers and Co. John Le Carre Interview (Part Two)

Eleanor Wachtel writes about meeting John Le Carre here.

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Published October 17, 2010

Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics

88.2% of statistics are made up on the spot. Or something like that. This neat, animated promotional video for London-based marketing agency Dare uses infographics to make fun of, well, infographics:

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Published October 15, 2010

PKD Documentary

After mentioning Philip K. Dick earlier this week, it only seems appropriate to post A Day In The Afterlife, a 1994 BBC documentary about the author:

(via Largehearted Boy | Open Culture)

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Published October 15, 2010

Something for the Weekend

The stunningly beautiful book design work of FBA, a graphic design consultancy based in Coimbra, Portugal, seen at Cosa Visuales.

The Cosa Visuales post also introduced me to Spined, the design blog of Spanish graphic designer Álex Durana. Worth a look.

Wall of Sound — Alex Ross, music critic for The New Yorker and author of The Rest is Noise and Listen to This, talks about his workspace at From The Desks Of…

My study is stereotypically overstuffed with books and CDs. On the desk I keep well-thumbed reference works—the Chicago Manual of Style, Strunk’s Source Readings in Music History, and Paul Griffiths’s Penguin Companion to Classical Music—together with two books that my spirits when sagging: the Wallace Stevens collection Palm at the End of the Mind and William James’s The Varieties of Religious Experience. I leaf through Stevens in search of a fresh word or rhythm I can apply somewhere on the page: for me, he’s the supreme magician of the modern English language. I look to James for philosophical guidance—he shows the way out of ideological traps and abysses.

Also of interest: Designer Jarrod Taylor, shares an annotated photo of his desk in the art department of HarperCollins, New York.

But speaking of The New Yorker… James Surowiecki on what we can learn from procrastination:

The idea of the divided self, though discomfiting to some, can be liberating in practical terms, because it encourages you to stop thinking about procrastination as something you can beat by just trying harder. Instead, we should rely on what Joseph Heath and Joel Anderson, in their essay in “The Thief of Time,” call “the extended will”—external tools and techniques to help the parts of our selves that want to work. A classic illustration of the extended will at work is Ulysses’ decision to have his men bind him to the mast of his ship. Ulysses knows that when he hears the Sirens he will be too weak to resist steering the ship onto the rocks in pursuit of them, so he has his men bind him, thereby forcing him to adhere to his long-term aims. Similarly, Thomas Schelling once said that he would be willing to pay extra in advance for a hotel room without a television in it.

And finally…

Jackasses and pirate-loving Monkeys — Author and illustrator Lane Smith talks (apparently to himself) about the charming It’s a Book (via The Second Pass):

I like arranging and rearranging books on my bookshelves. In other words, I am a nerd.

Not to say that I’m not excited by the new technologies and reading devices introduced (it seems) nearly every month, I am. But I’m sure on some level I’ll always be a traditional book guy. Then again I’m the kind of guy who still watches silent movies and listens to vinyl.

Unlike Grandpa (me), today’s kids are whip smart and tech savvy. I know eventually everything will be digital and kids won’t even know from a regular old book book and that’s fine. Truthfully? The reason I made the book? Certainly not to “throw down the gauntlet” as one critic has stated. Naw, I just thought digital vs. traditional made for a funny premise.

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Published October 13, 2010

Midweek Miscellany

A new monograph on Japanese un-brand MUJI to be published by Rizzoli later this month (via Swiss Legacy).

Finishing Touches — Type foundry Hoefler & Frere-Jones on the little details that make their typefaces:

In the middle of Gotham, our family of 66 sans serifs, there is a hushed but surprising moment: a fraction whose numerator has a serif. So important was this detail that we decided to offer it as an option for all the other fractions, a decision that ultimately required more than 400 new drawings. Why?…[I]t’s something that we added because we felt it mattered. Even if it helped only a small number of designers solve a subtle and esoteric problem, we couldn’t rest knowing that an unsettling typographic moment might otherwise lie in wait.

And on the subject of typography… A handy PDF chart for mixing typefaces (via Smashing Magazine)

Blade Runner Will Prove Invincible — Philip K. Dick on Blade Runner, the film adaptation of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, in a letter to the production company (via Coudal):

The impact of BLADE RUNNER is simply going to be overwhelming, both on the public and on creative people — and, I believe, on science fiction as a field… Science fiction has slowly and ineluctably settled into a monotonous death: it has become inbred, derivative, stale. Suddenly you people have come in, some of the greatest talents currently in existence, and now we have a new life, a new start… My life and creative work are justified and completed by BLADE RUNNER. Thank you… It will prove invincible.

And by coincidence, not only did I just watch the director’s cut of Blade Runner again just the other day (for approximately the bazillionth time), it was recently announced that Blade Runner director Ridley Scott would be producing a 4-part TV adaptation of The Man in the High Castle for the BBC. Awesome.

Deceptively Simple — Three Percent’s Chad W. Post on OR Books innovative publishing model:

The OR Books business model is deceptive in its simplicity. In many ways, it’s a throwback to a time before supply-chain intermediaries permanently altered the bookselling business—a time when publishers were also printers and bookstores. It’s a model that—if successful in the long run—thrives on both satisfying the needs of customers and maximizing the publisher’s return.

And finally…

Part One of Eleanor Wachtel’s interview with John le Carré about his new book Our Kind of Traitor for CBC Radio’s Writers & Co.:

Writers and Co. John Le Carre Interview

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Published October 12, 2010

Q & A with Daniel Justi

Twenty-nine year old Brazilian designer Daniel Justi graduated in graphic design and art direction from centro universitário belas artes de são paulo, and has been working in editorial design and type design in São Paulo for the last 6 years.

Regular readers of Caustic Cover Critic and Design Work Life will already be familiar with his distinctive book jackets and typography, but I’m happy to post a new interview with Daniel here.

Daniel and I corresponded by email, and he was good enough to answer all my questions in English.

How did you get into book design?

When I was finishing university, I received a proposal for an internship job at an publish house called Editora Manole. So I started working as an editorial assistant. After a while, I started to get very interested in the various methods of making books, so I started studying typography, grids, proportions and many things about Fibonacci, Villard and the golden ratio more deeply. Today, I think that designing the interiors of books is one of the most technical fields of graphic design.

What is your current role in the industry?

Fortunately, I got a position that is rather rare nowadays, which is working with both the cover design and the interiors of books. Sometimes there isn’t enough time so I need to hire freelancers and, in these cases, I need to act as art director. Besides, I run my small type foundry and also do freelance work for some publishers.

Are there a lot of opportunities for book designers in São Paulo?

Yes and no. The publishing field in São Paulo is quite busy. There are many publishers and most of them hire freelancers. At the same time is unusual to work for several publishers. It is more common to do work for only one or two. The editors don’t seem to like to vary their freelancers. So when an editor trusts you, you usually get a lot of work.

Could you describe your design process?

My design process is often not linear. Of course I always start with basics like color, shape and typography, but I think its important not to have total control of the process. The accidents, incidents and coincidences are important in my process. For books, I usually say, “let the text control.” The content is what sets the decisions like to using or making illustrations, pictures, collages, textures, typography, etc..

There is nothing better than content to define the shape.

What are your favourite books to work on?

Definitely literature and art.

I believe that literature books are the best. They don’t need obvious solutions. You can be daring, try something new or maybe weird, since that has something to do with the content and, most important, makes the reader think.

I think the main function of a book cover is to create a communication with the reader and not just give you all the obvious way. It is important never to underestimate the reader.

I also enjoy working on academic books, containing information graphics, charts and timelines. I like to find the visual solutions for these kind of books.

What are the most challenging?

Medical books.

The publishing company where I work is well known for his books on medicine. It’s always a great challenge to make good design books on this topic. Currently I think it’s a fun challenge, but a few years ago, it was terrifying!

When did you become interested in type design?

In my last year of university, I had an extra course of a project called Tipocracia.

Tipocracia is a project of a graphic designer and professor called Henrique Nardi. The purpose of this project is to disseminate the typography and type design in Brazil. It is a very important initiative and encourages students to engage in the field.

I’ve always had a great interest in typography, but contact with Tipocracia was what motivated me to start my own type foundry.

Does working so closely with type inform your book design?

Absolutely! Work with type design completely changes your view of typography.

Currently, my attention is more focused on covers, but I never want to stop designing the interiors of the books, which is where all your technical knowledge is put to the test. So, for me, doing both (cover and interior) will always be enjoyable.

What are some of the current design trends in Brazil?

Hard to say. Brazil is a very big country and many things happen outside of São Paulo.

In São Paulo, for example, I don’t think there’s a specific local trend. I think it’s more like trends that exist in other large cities and urban centers, like London or New York.

Trends end up becoming more global. This year, for example, designers from Pentagram (including Paula Scher and DJ Stout ) came to São Paulo to promote workshops. At the end of the year Stefan Sagmeister is coming. Maybe it’s all about a global trends.

Who are some of the Brazilian designers we should look out for?

There are so many names, but I’ll try to summarize my favorites by area:

Book covers: Retina_78

Graphic Design: Rico Lins

Type design: Fabio Haag

Illustration: Thiago Queiroz

Photo: Cia de Foto

Where do you look for inspiration and who are some of your design heroes?

I try not to look for inspiration in graphic design field. I think it’s necessary to have other interests to inspire you. Things that inspire me are simple like skateboarding on a Saturday afternoon, reading a book, listening to some music, photography and going to the movies or art exhibitions.

Some of my heroes are Paul Rand, Alvin Lustig, Neville Brody, László Moholy-Nagy, Josef Müller-Brockmann, Jan Tschichold and so many others…

What does the future hold for book cover design?

I believe that things tend to increasingly professionalize. The market is saturated of free stock images. It’s important to create customized solutions so we don’t repeat what has already been done.

My central philosophy is to never underestimate the consumer. Design is communication, and for it to exist, you must not deliver everything and let people think for themselves. There must be an interaction.

I really like Massimo Vignelli’‘s phrase:

“I disagree with people who think the word dog should look like a dog. Even worse are people who think the word dog should bark.”

Thanks Daniel!

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Published October 8, 2010

Grand Openings: Fight Club

In a 5 part series of video essays for Moving Image Source called ‘Grand Openings’, critics Aaron Aradillas and Matt Zoller Seitz analyze the credit sequences of David Fincher’s films.

Part 3 in the series looks at Fincher’s adaptation of Chuck Palahniuks Fight Club:

(vis @mdash)

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Published October 8, 2010

Something for the Weekend

More Than Words — Yves Peters takes a typographical look at the winners of British Book Design and Production Awards 2010 for FontFeed. The winners all look wonderful, but, as Peters notes, it is a shame that only the publishers are credited, not the designers of the books.

An Archaeology of Business Cards — Penguin book designer Coralie Bickford-Smith discusses her workspace and her work with From the Desk Of…:

Right now I’m in the middle of designing a 20-book series, as well as sundry standalone titles, and my desk is usually a mess of ideas and scribbles on innumerable scraps of paper. There’s a whole archaeology of business cards, post-it notes and other treasures under there. I like to be surrounded by the current proofs to make sure the designs are working and that any tweaks are made in time for the final print. I like my desk – it’s my own tiny world in a big office.

My Q & A with Coralie is here.

Reading the Process — The New Yorker’s Book Bench interviews book designer Rodrigo Corral:

Reading is always part of the process when we’re working on a book jacket or cover for fiction. I read, I take notes, I take breaks. I’ll stop on the title, re-read it, and think about how it plays into the book and its overall message and intent. It’s rare to be able to illustrate the tone of the entire story by only depicting one moment from the book, so I prefer using a new image or design that I feel represents the story accurately.

The Rejection of Literalism — Steven Heller talks about his biography of designer Alvin Lustig Born Modern* with Imprint:

I did not get the impression that Lustig went into the book jacket biz with a literary bent. He did, however, have the temerity to try just about anything. And since, as a kid, he was interested in designing his way, he just, well, designed his way. So, I guess “confidence” is the right word. It was ballsiness. He had a vision—wherever it came from—and he pursued it. He was largely self-taught.
And, also via Imprint…

Design Dossier: Graphic Design for Kids by Pamela Pease published by Paintbox Press, seen at The Daily Heller.

12 Reasons to be Excited About Publishing’s Future — Following up an earlier post about the love of books, Digital Book World‘s Guy LeCharles Gonzalez asks book industry folks why they’re excited about publishing.

And finally…

“Help Me Destroy Public Radio” — Alec Baldwin channels Jack Donaghy for his “Do Not Pledge To Public Radio” pledge drive promo for NPR.

* Born Modern is published by Chronicle Books, who are distributed in Canada by my employer Raincoast Books.

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Published October 6, 2010

Bruce Mau and the Problems of Success

“Most of the problems we are facing are the problems of success, not failure.”

Canadian designer Bruce Mau, author of Massive Change, talks about sustainability and framing the issue positively with Jeanne Park of the PBS show Need to Know.

When asked which approach — carrot or stick — is more the effective way to change people’s habits,  Mau replies, “I think you have to paint the stick orange”:

(via Bookslut)

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Published October 6, 2010

Midweek Miscellany

The Man With the Getaway Face — Cartoonist Darwyn Cooke talks The LA Times’ Hero Complex blog about his latest Richard Stark (AKA Donald Westlake) adaptation, The Outfit, released this month:

With the first book, I was really trying to get Don Westlake’s worldview across to people. The story had already been told several times in films… and what-have-you, but it had never been told down the line, so it was really important for me to do that. With “The Outfit,”  I was able to sort of step back and say, ‘OK, the plan is we’re doing four books here; are there ways I can make this one stronger in terms of how it relates to the three other books?’ We don’t have, say, 20 books to get our readers acquainted with this entire world, so are there things that I can do here to help in that regard? So I changed a few things. And to be honest, I fixed a couple  of tiny problems with the story that I think Donald would have giggled about if I had brought them up. ‘Oh, geez, good point…‘

And on the subject of Richard Stark, David Drummond recently posted the final 3 covers (there are 18 in total) for the University of Chicago Press’ Parker reissues  (mentioned previously here):

Where the Wind Blows — Stephen Page, CEO of Faber & Faber, outlines the challenges facing existing book publishers at The Guardian:

Publishers perform roles that writers need. The question now is whether writers will continue to turn to existing publishers to perform these tasks, and whether they believe they offer value. Some authors will bypass publishers (some always have) but among most authors and agents I deal with, there is no appetite to do so, because publishers continue to perform essential roles for writers in both the physical and digital worlds (editorial, marketing, distribution, and so on). However, urgent questions are rising about how a successful 21st-century publisher ought to look and function, and whether existing publishers can adapt quickly enough…

A Hipster Never Teaches  a Square Anything — Over at Good, Lexicographer Mark Peters looks at the origins of the word “hipster” and why, these days, nobody admits to being one:

“Hipster” first popped up in 1940, and The Historical Dictionary of American Slang’s first use includes the statement that “A hipster never teaches a square anything.” The OED’s early examples include semi-definitions such as “know-it-all” (1941) and “man who’s in the know, grasps everything, is alert” (1946). Those descriptions sound groovy, but in the HDAS’s definition of “hipster,” we can find the seed that grew into today’s widespread hipster-phobia: “A person who is or attempts to be hip, esp. a fan of swing or bebop music.” It’s that attempting—especially in clumsy, transparent ways—that make the hipster horrible.

And finally…

What Batman Taught Me About Being a Good Dad — The headline tells you just about all you need to know about Adam Rogers post for The Atlantic (what dad doesn’t secretly believes that Batman is full of very important life lessons?), but hey…

I am trying to build a good human being here, someone who will make the world better for his presence. Because I don’t know any other way to do it, that means I’m building a little geek… I want him to think that these stories have weight, that they mean something; they are our myths. I give my son comics and cartoons and episodes of Thunderbirds because I want him to understand right and wrong, and why it’s important to fight the dark side of the Force. The mantras spoken in this corner of pop culture are immature, but they have power: With great power comes great responsibility. Truth, justice, and the American Way. The weed of crime bears bitter fruit. No evil shall escape my sight.

secretly
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