The · Affected · Provincial’s · Almanack

Not terribly delicate or obscure, but they are magnificent, majestic animals. You can't truly appreciate their massive size until you encounter them in person; we cage dived with them off the coast of South Africa a couple years ago, near Haansbaai. Saw about fourteen of them in a single afternoon, some as long as four meters. My wife actually pet one as it thrashed about her cage (which was made of fencing wire, not the steel bars you see in documentaries. There was no lid, and the lip teetered below the water's surface. Um, weee?)

So here's this week's big idea: A series of books, each with a different title and inconsistent volume number, but all with the same overall theme, tone and design. I like the idea of employing classical design elements but employing a modernist color system throughout.

The next volume would concentrate a bit more on visuals--charts, illustrations and diagrams--than the first did. Subject matter will vary throughout the series as always: a naturalist guide, a humorous epistilary format, a Munchausean faux-travel journal, and anything else I can shoehorn into them.

The feel will shift slightly from volume to volume (some more visual, some more humorous, etc.), but working on a couple at a time would lend itself well to some sort of editorial clarity, I think.

I'm not entirely sure if this will actually come to pass--these sorts of plans are meant to fall by the wayside once the actual process starts. We'll see. If nothing else it is a template, a departure point from which to start. If by some miracle it does manage to garner the interest of a publisher and I do manage to maintain a steady work schedule, then we are looking at about twelve to fifteen years to complete all six books. Smart money is on three or four in twenty, as I tend to work in fits and starts, and my interests rarely stay in one place for that long. ~W