My excitement levels are almost unbearable! But then I put that aside, to get on with the job of checking the manuscripts for the final time. Already I discover why hard copy proofs are so necessary – there’s a layout problem with one volume. I hadn’t realised until I saw it ‘in the flesh,’ so to speak, instead of scrolling down onscreen. A lesson in trust Initially I forgot to ask the printer to supply proofs before going ahead! It’s so long since I was involved in the production of a physical book, not just ebooks. That hiccup made me wonder if something had suddenly gone wrong with the serendipity with which this project has so far been blessed. (What? Did the Universe not support it after all?) Oh, me of little faith! The printer had only got as far as doing the covers when I realised and called a halt – and the covers are lovely. Whew! Then, the resulting delay actually worked to my advantage. I’d invited my stepdaughter to visit, to help me (finally!) go through her late f
I’m excited that I can now share with you the covers of the Pentridge trilogy, as I am calling the forthcoming three books. (To see the writing on the back covers more clearly, click on each pic.) The trilogy label might be a little misleading, as I wrote only two of the three, although I have some writing in the third (which was actually the first). But I can claim a degree of authorship of that one too. The first edition of Blood from Stone, the poetry anthology emanating from Pentridge Prison, was published in 1982 under my then imprint Abalone Press. I am also the publisher of this new edition, under my own name. Simultaneously with writing my memoir of that time in my life, and with all the renewed interest in both the history of Pentridge and that of the Melbourne poetry scene of the eighties, it seemed the time was right for a new edition of Blood from Stone . The Memoir, as you 'll see from the first illustration, is called Breaking into Pentridge Prison: Memories of