The book is an amazing invention.
It can convey information in any number of ways. When I went to college, the University of Washington rare book room contained some of the best—and oddest—formats for the book ever seen. A diorama could be a book. A stone tablet could be a book. A set of wind chimes with words scrawled on them could be a book. And let’s not forget the book we’ve come to know and love—two boards, a spine, and pages in between.
What can be done with the traditional book is still being discovered. There is an art to the book that cannot be denied and some people have the ability to beautify a book or they don’t. Subterranean Press does. They do some of the most gorgeous work out there today, taking the mere trappings of a book and turning them into something beautiful. They do this with great artwork, great layout, great font usage, and great design. There is a reason why many of the best writers working today also partner with Sub Press and it shows in their books.
To understand a little better what Sub Press is all about, I decided to interview its owner, William Schafer.
Subterranean Press Interview: Why They Beautify Books?
Shawn Speakman: Hi Bill! Subterranean Press is one of the best speciality presses out there right now for fantasy/sci-fi. Tell us a little bit about Sub Press’s beginning and why you do what you do?
William Schafer: SubPress started in 1995, with all the work done at a small kitchen table, and at a computer workstation in an apartment that Tim Holt and I shared. It stayed that way for many years, with us scrounging boxes for shipping and using a shredder on old manuscript pages for packing material.
Eventually, as the number of titles we published grew, along with our inventory, the apartment was overrun with stacks of boxes in the living room, the bedrooms, and just about every square inch of floor space.
When we moved to a house, inventory was kept in a climate controlled basement, and shipping done out of a three-season sun room, but we eventually outgrew that, as well.
SS: Sub Press books are usually gorgeous, with great artwork, great design, and great layout. What is it like working with and leading authors, artists, graphic designers, etc.?
WS: Thanks. You’re very kind. As I see it, our job is to help each author bring their vision of a book to life. Sometimes, as with Ted Chiang or Lewis Shiner, this involves getting the hell out of their way, and allowing them to dictate the design, with a small amount of kibbitzing from me. With others, such as Dan Simmons — who remains one of my favorite writers to work with, in part because his input is so specific — we present a range of design options, and go from there.
SS: Do you have a favorite Sub Press book? One that you think encapsulates Sub Press?
WS: There are a few that stand out for me:
The City & The City (China Mieville) — It’s a knockout of a novel, and one in which we had enormous fun, playing with the two-color printing and design. I’ve long been a fan of Raymond Chandler, and especially the Boris Artzybasheff dust jackets to The Long Goodbye and The Little Sister. Vincent Chong’s dj for the Mieville strongly echoed those classic images.
Deathbird Stories (Harlan Ellison) — Harlan and I labored over this book for a decade. I think we came up with a presentation that’s worthy of the legendary volume. Along the way, he became one of my best friends in the business.
Collected Stories (Robert Silverberg) — As he’s made clear, Bob considers these books his legacy. I’m honored he’s entrusted us with them. As a huge bonus, publishing them has afforded me the time to go back and reread a great number of the stories. I joke with Bob that he was laying the groundwork for this series when I was a teenager in the eighties, first reading now-classic novelettes and novellas, and, slightly later, my favorite Silverberg novel: The Face of the Waters.
Finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention our work with Carlos Ruiz Zafon. An extraordinary, generous Stephen King quote led me to his nineteenth century-tinged novel, The Shadow of the Wind, which remains one of my four or five favorite novels. We pulled out all the stops for the limited edition of it and its equally impressive related novel, The Angel’s Game.
SS: Authors love working with you. You are a huge fan of the genre. Who are the authors you love to read and who is an author you are dying to work with?
WS: Running SubPress has definitely cut into my personal reading time, though I’ve found it’s essential that I always be reading for fun. Just a few of the writers I never miss: Stephen King, Dan Simmons, Michael Connelly, Lawrence Block, Cherie Priest, Patrick Rothfuss, Alastair Reynolds, Charles Stross, and John Scalzi. I could easily go on from there.
SS: You have some high profile projects coming up, one I know with Brandon Sanderson for sure. What projects can us fans expect in 2012?
WS: Ah, you’ve heard about the Sanderson, which arrived out of the blue in my inbox. We’re going to keep the details on that one quiet a bit longer. In many ways, I think of 2012 as the year of Robert McCammon. His newest Matthew Corbett adventure, The Providence Rider, is due in May. At other points throughout the year, we plan to release a limited edition of his early novel, Bethany’s Sin, as well as the trade hardcover of The Hunter from the Woods, which features Michael Gallatin from his classic werewolves vs. Nazis novel, The Wolf’s Hour.
Finally, I’d like to invite folks to check out the free fiction at our online magazine, Subterranean (www.subterraneanpress.com). Our next issue, which starts posting in January, includes a novella by Tad Williams, and short stories by the likes of Joe R. Lansdale and Jonathan Carroll, as well as Kat Howard, a young literary fantasy writer we’re quite high on.
To learn more about Sub Press and what great books are in their current catalog, visit www.subterraneanpress.com!
