I remember seeing a T-shirt one time with a quote attributed to Umberto Eco about the value of being surrounded by books. I don't remember it exactly. It was clearly meant to justify frequent sojourns to the local bookstore and the stack of books at the bedside table.
I don't know if Eco said or wrote anything about the intrinsic value of being surrounded by physical books. Feels like something he might have said... or wrote...
Or at least something someone wished had said...
Either way, I am personally a firm believer in the value of the physical nature of books. They are human. They are real in a way no digital artifact can ever be. They connect me to the people on the other end of the creation process.
They also can't disappear when we have a really bad solar storm.
I think that is why I don't feel like any of my books or magazines are done until I have the physical copy back from my printer, Print Ninja. This week I got two new items, the newest issue of Yggdrasil MGZ and the final volume of my book, Testament Swepnos.
Both are available now, though if you want to avoid shipping cost and live in the northern Illinois or southern Wisconsin area, I will be manning a table at Rock Con this November.
A quick reveal video I worked up for Yggdrasil MGZ Volume Two, Issue Two
Volume Two, Issue Two
Deep below the Sea of Glass, beyond the endless mourning song of the dirge gate lies the Bone Forest. It is a vast territory in which every tree, hill, and structure is constructed of calcified bones. It is in a perpetual twilight cast by the God Eye overhead. There are no reliable paths or trails in the Bone Forest, just endless skeleton trees, mounds of skulls, and the occasional structure or hamlet to break the powdery monotony.
Testament - Swepnos
Swepnos is the final thought before sleep comes. It is the last myth told before the fire. Like those that came before it, each page was block printed, hand painted, and handwritten. Those pages were then faithfully reproduced within.
