Printing the Covers for Ghost Box Evolution in Cadillac, Michigan

In mid-June we gathered in Boston to letterpress the covers of this year's winning chapbook, Rosie Forrest's Ghost Box Evolution in Cadillac, Michigan. This year we printed at a new location: Union Press in Union Square, Somerville, enjoying the amazing help of Union Press’ Eli Epstein. Over two warm New England days, we mixed ink, set type, and cranked out over 400 beautiful 2-color covers on a Vandercook press.

Highlights this year included working with a large piece of artwork with both empty and ink-filled spaces (the broken windows at grace the cover), and creating a rust-red ink to complement the olive tones of the paper and artwork ink. Though many of Forrest’s stories feature teenagers, there’s a feeling of unease and decay in the background of most of these stories, so we wanted the cover colors and artwork to reflect that rusty, broken atmosphere. The covers came out great and the finished books look amazing, complete with rust-colored endpapers. The book launches August 5, and ordering is available now.

Here are some photos of this year’s printing process:

The beautiful print shop at Union Press

The green ink and artwork on press

Inks ready for mixing

Not a crime scene—rust-red ink in the making

So many to print!

Rust-red ink on press creating finished cover

The finished cover

The printing crew at the Vandercook with the finished cover! From left: Kathleen Rooney, Abby Beckel, Rebecca Saraceno, Eli Epstein. Photo by Katie White.

Huge thanks to Eli Epstein of Union Press for his help, expertise, and use of Union Press' equipment and inks. Special thanks as well to Maria DiPasquale for her help printing on day 1 and Katie White for her help printing on day 2!

The finished chapbook is now printed and bound and ready to read. Order your copy of this limited edition contest-winning chapbook!

Order Geoffrey Forsyth's IN THE LAND OF THE FREE

Rose Metal Press is pleased to present the winner of our Second Annual Short Short Chapbook Contest: Geoffrey Forsyth's IN THE LAND OF THE FREE. His limited edition chapbook, selected by judge Robert Shapard, will be published on July 1st, 2008 and is available for pre-order now!

“Although the collection deals with dismay, disappointment, and death, it is a symposium on love […] In the Land of the Free makes me see how a short short story chapbook can be a great thing.” —Robert Shapard, editor of Sudden Fiction

At once sad and comical, always a little magical and strange, Forsyth’s young characters stumble towards maturity In The Land Of The Free. From the night a baby is born onto a cutting board in his mother’s kitchen, to the day a rhinoceros mysteriously escapes from the zoo, to the morning a young man wakes to find his mud-covered relatives back from the grave, Forsyth’s ten very short fictions aim to capture the elusive nature of our relationships in geographies wholly recognizable to all of us. Through hallways and houses in the suburbs, through graveyards and wooded nooks, through bars and high school parking lots, Forsyth brings his youngsters to the heart of the American moment, where the pursuit of freedom inevitably begins.

Order your copy today!