Tedorigawa Bookmakers

Ep. 347 In June, is it the Dead of Winter?

Bookbinding In bookbinding this week we have, for your visual pleasure, a novel. We have an A6-size, about 60-page, case bound edition of The Dead of Winter: A Novelist’s Kanazawa Afterlife. Printed, folded, sewed, and cased in fairly quickly (for me) in a day or two. Most of the time was attempting to align the title on the cover and spine. Properly. I think I succeeded in that endeavor. Case bound in red book cloth with the titles in black and photographed in front of a coffee shop.  Fiction In fiction, I’ll talk about the book bound in Bookbinding: The Dead of Winter. The premise: The Novelist, a famous unnamed novelist, dies and moves to Kanazawa where he’s tutored by Judy, the female owner of a coffee shop, on how to write about females. The Dead of Winter is a very character-driven plot with most of the action in a coffee shop near Kenrokuen, a famous and massive garden here in Kanazawa. Judy tells The Novelist he doesn’t write female characters very well. Judy’s vivid, vibrant personality sits in juxtaposition to The Novelist’s female characters, which Judy calls ‘cardboard characters with boobs’. It turns out this version, which I gave to a reader, is the first draft. After giving it to the interested person, I re-read it and found several – I mean Several – things I wanted to change. Not merely typos but entire scenes that neither moved the plot nor developed the characters. These were cut. Some were replaced but others were ignored entirely. But this is what writers should do: re-write. This resulted in the second draft. I started recording an audio version. As I read I found awkward, illogical leaps, and confusing wordage. I changed them, rearranged them, or rewrote them. I found longwinded passages that were reduced in scope but increased in effectiveness. Again, this is what writers should do. This, then, resulted in the third draft. Talkies / Flicks You can watch the creation of The Dead of Winter [https://youtu.be/u5bn9FKbCQ4]on my YouTube channel if you’d like. It’s 9:40-ish and includes some talk about writing fiction. Missing from this visual documentation is the time spent aligning titles on the front cover and spine as that would require too much time and is basically me sitting at my computer and slapping my printer when it fails to function properly, which is often. I’m hoping in the future to have an audio book of The Dead of Winter. Watch this space. Books I have several books from sale on Apple, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo which you might like. For starters you can choose: • The Lonely Izakaya Down a Quiet Street [https://books2read.com/u/bO5NVK] • The Merchant of Venus (ebook [http://books2read.com/u/bP5eoj] & audio [https://books.apple.com/jp/audiobook/the-merchant-of-venus/id6777468294?l=en-US]) • The Madrid Mariposa Murder Mystery [https://books2read.com/u/mgX0B0] The audio book of The Merchant of Venus is only available on Apple Books. Take a listen to the sample. Apple [PASTE_YOUR_SPECIFIC_BOOK_URL_HERE] Barnes & Noble [https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/x/x?ean=2940183148237] Kobo [https://www.kobo.com/search?query=9798233530197]

Ep. 346 What Happened June 5th?

Bookbinding I made a B6-size, Coptic-bound, mostly blank, 120-page, seven-signature notebook for my visual pleasure. Meaning, I made this notebook for myself to use as a notebook, a depository for my doodles, ideas, plans, and to expand my horizons. One horizon I wish to improve on is cursive writing. People my age were taught cursive in school, maybe elementary school. This has fallen by the wayside in the last 50 years. I want to improve mine. Plus, I want to practice drawing; mostly people but also landscapes, cityscapes (i.e. a building), and something from my imagination. I realize this will take time. Years. I’m not impatient. Anymore.  To distinguish between the front and back of the book, I added a strip of leftover red book cloth from previous books (i.e.. The Lonely Izakaya Down a Quiet Street and Madrid Mariposa Murder Mystery)  Fiction The fiction today leans mostly toward The Dead of Winter A Novelist’s Kanazawa Afterlife. I saw the main female character, Judy, in a different light. Rather than be a café shop owner, she is now a more philosophical image; one that the main male character will learn from. Fortunately, the novel is only 20 pages long so I can go back and fix Judy easily. Hopefully, this will propel me further into the development of both characters and spur me into finishing the novel quickly. Or quicker than before. Dmitry the Scavenger has been placed on the back burner for a moment but it has an advantage. While The Dead of Winter is character-driven, Dmitry is plot and action driven. This makes Dmitry a little bit easier to write. Talkies / Flicks / Movies / Videos Race on over to my YouTube channel [https://studio.youtube.com/video/A5P2j27UqFY/edit] to see the latest upload for your audio, visual, and educational pleasure. I think you can learn a little bit about coptic binding. If you’ve never seen it before. Or have never folded a piece of paper. Plus nice music! Books First, The Madrid Mariposa Murder Mystery is available on Apple, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble if you enjoy what used to be called hard-boiled detective novels. This one is less hard-boiled and more aware of his surroundings. body text about books goes here. It is part of my Marsh Mystery series. Carmen and Joe live in Madrid with her brother. One of his employees kills someone. And with her brother’s pistol. These leads to more complications than in the US.  Joe and Carmen investigate why the employee kill the person and discover something odd.  Second, years ago I published a novella called The Merchant of Venus [https://books.apple.com/jp/book/the-merchant-of-venus/id1425898917?l=en-US]. (Available on Apple Books.) However, I’m here to tell you that an audio book version is also available on Apple Books [https://books.apple.com/jp/audiobook/the-merchant-of-venus/id6777468294?l=en-US].  The Merchant of Venus takes place in another universe; one where females are born as an adult from a body part of a male. The people who make females require a man’s body part, some herbs, and time.  The Merchant of Venus: In a World where Men make Women and the Woman has a set Life Limit, Marshall is an Artist. The audio version on Apple Books was recorded using AI. This is a requirement of Apple Books. You can listen to a free sample before deciding to purchase it or not; please check it out and tell me what you think of the AI voice.  Apple [PASTE_YOUR_SPECIFIC_BOOK_URL_HERE] Barnes & Noble [https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/x/x?ean=2940183148237] Kobo [https://www.kobo.com/search?query=9798233530197]

Ep. 345 What is Mariposa?

Bookbinding In bookbinding this week we have, an A6-sized, 45-ish page mystery novel completed for a friend who also corrected my Spanish as the mystery takes place in Madrid. This is the second time I made the same book because I totally screwed up the first one; cover was wonky, endpapers didn’t set straight, signatures were loose. I didn’t like it so I remade it.  The first version was B6 in size. This one is better at A6 because at the larger size, there were too few signatures for a case-bound book. At A6, the number of signatures was just right. Also, to indicate which was the front, I added a triangle of red (which was a scrap left over from another book).  Fiction I’m working on two pieces of fiction this week. The first one, Dmitry the Scavenger, is progressing nicely with Dmitry in Odessa having evaded or bribed his way past both Russian and Ukranian military guards. It is more action-plot oriented with, of course, strong characterization of the people involved. After Odessa I have to get him to Japan by ship. It’s about a 40-day trip and I don’t feel like recreating a sea voyage ala Joseph Conrad. Perhaps he can be drugged? For 40 days? Ah, yes, a connection with a Mideast religious leader who disappeared for 40 days and 40 nights. Or a flood. Hmm.   The second is about a famous author who dies but refuses to leave Kanazawa. He befriends a café owner and they hash out life’s little problems, including his writing about women. This one is titled The Dead of Winter with the subtitle of A Novel of a Kanazawa Afterlife. Maybe I should change it to: A Kanazawa Afterlife? or A Novelist’s Kanazawa Afterlife? (without the question marks.) This is definitely character driven. The café owner is a very strong and opinionated woman in her early 20s and the polar opposite of the male author’s descriptions of female characters in his books.  Talkies / Flicks For your audio and visual pleasure, you have an ten-minute flick about the making of the second edition of The Madrid Mariposa Murder Mystery [https://youtu.be/_35IQCJof9Y] just discussed in your Bookbinding section. Also, other videos pertaining to bookbinding are up on my YouTube channel [https://www.youtube.com/@TedorigawaBookmakers]. Please enjoy. Books Available for your reading pleasure (and some Spanish lessons included) is The Madrid Mariposa Murder Mystery. This is book 3 of the Marsh Mysteries. Joe and Carmen investigate another murder. Carmen’s brother, Símon. runs a successful and expensive restaurant. One of his employees is accused of killing her husband. Her defense: he was abusive.   Because Símon’s pistol was used in the killing, he is under investigation, too.  What Carmen and Joe discover saves Símon but his restaurant is tainted; customers dry up. They also throw the police’s case against the employee into a complete freefall. Is she innocent, though? The Madrid Mariposa Murder Mystery is available at these fine online locations. Apple [https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-madrid-mariposa-murder-mystery/id6775096468] Barnes & Noble [https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/x/x?ean=2940183148237] Kobo [https://www.kobo.com/jp/ja/ebook/the-madrid-mariposa-murder-mystery?sId=b076072e-0760-4ad9-8610-ba8ceb5b18e6&ssId=dJkegkeTJuJX4f16vkw8u]

Ep. 344: Will She Like It?

Bookbinding I made the spine different from the front and back covers. Before last week, it had been about five years or more since I did a quarter binding. For some reason, it was quite stressful.   The front cover also has the title. Adjusting the printer, book cloth, and position was an added stress, so the entire book seemed to be a stress-festival. But I accomplished it and felt good about that (finishing it, not the stress). Fiction In fiction, The Madrid Mariposa Murder Mystery continues to be available for your (short) reading pleasure. It comes in at about 60 pages and is full of suspense, conspiracy, and redemption (plus, spoiler alert: some domestic, physical, and fatal violence). Having finished and published The Madrid Mariposa Murder Mystery [https://books2read.com/u/mgX0B0], (available here [https://books2read.com/u/mgX0B0]), I’ve been writing on Dmitry the Scavenger. Avoiding, bribing, and using his charm, he dealt with soldiers on both sides of the war and has arrived in Odessa. He must now seek his ‘friend’ who will arrange a ship to take him to Sicily. He wants to go to a town on the southeast coast of Sicily called Noto [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noto], famous for its baroque architecture and wine. Dmitry wants to work in the wine industry, perhaps starting his own brand (?) Talkies / Flicks This week we have the partial making of the book I mentioned in the Bookbinding section of this blog. It is only partial because, as in last week’s video, I was more nervous and stressed out about making sure the book was cased in properly than filming it.  There’s a full narration about what I’m doing and sometimes why I’m doing it for your listening pleasure. I try to explain the stress of getting the title on the cover. I used about six pages of computer paper adjusting and testing fonts. Fortunately, the printer didn’t eat the book cloth when it printed it out.  Books The newest of my novels available for purchase at Apple, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo is The Madrid Mariposa Murder Mystery. Domestic violence is met with violence, a conspiracy, and escape.  Joe and Carmen Marsh set out to defend one of Carmen’s brother’s employees who is accused of murder. Her defense? Her husband was a domestic abuser, hitting her often, and drinking too much. What Joe and Carmen discover shakes everyone’s lives.   Apple [https://books.apple.com/jp/book/the-madrid-mariposa-murder-mystery/id6775096468?l=en-US] Barnes & Noble [https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-madrid-mariposa-murder-mystery-george-stenson/1150294718?ean=2940196590467] Kobo [https://www.kobo.com/jp/ja/ebook/the-madrid-mariposa-murder-mystery?sId=ec673b46-d30e-4658-9941-a25765436c75&ssId=T-RJ8qiVdO7cwfv-faSUH]

Ep. 343: What is 'Frérot'?

Bookbinding Kanazawa has two rivers. The Saigawa and the Asano-gawa (gawa meaning river). Next to the Saigawa near the Sakura Bridge is a restaurant serving good French-fusion food and wine, whiskey, and beer. It is called Frérot. I fashioned a book for Frérot called Frérot. It is about 120 pages, 7 signatures, and case bound. The right page is lined (faintly) while the left side on alternating pages has small photos of the food found at Frérot.  It was the first time in a very long time that I made a book with the spine different from the front and back covers (which are the same). It took me awhile to balance everything out.  Fiction I’ve been working on The Madrid Marital Murder Mystery because I’ve a self-imposed deadline: sometime in June. I want to finish it, fashion it into a B6-size book, and give it to a beta reader sometime in June. I finished it! And it’s no longer B6 but A6 because at A6 it’s 90 pages and 5 signatures of 5 folios each. At B6 it was 60 pages of 3 signatures; and I didn’t do well in making the B6 version, so I made the A6 version and will deliver it to a customer next week! Let’s hear it for the panic of deadlines. A man is killed. (In the book, not in my life. So far. Fingers crossed.) He’s known to be physically abusive to his wife. The wife is arrested and her lawyer proposes a domestic violence defense. However, Joe and Carmen Marsh discover the wife has also beaten her husband. They also find out something odd in the coroner’s autopsy report. Who was killed? Who killed him? Joe and Carmen want to find out because her brother’s revolver was used in the murder. He’s in legal trouble; a problem that could destroy his business. Talkies / Flicks This week I have a silent – as in me not speaking; there is music – video of the creation of a B6-size, 120ish page, notebook with lines on the right page, photos of food on the left page, and covered in book cloth (not a collage). Yes, it’s the book I made in the Bookbinding section of this podcast. It can be seen here: What is Frérot [https://youtu.be/XoP3v3I3Oro]?  First, I must apologize. I didn’t film the entire construction. I was more worried about casing in the textblock correctly than making sure I filmed it. So, the winner was a proper casing in rather than a viral video. You can still enjoy the music, though. Books Still pushing The Lonely Izakaya Down a Quiet Street. Please check out one of these fine distributors of digital books to learn how Rie and Nagi spent a night together without being sexually or physically abusive.  Apple   [https://books.apple.com/us/book/id6762007154] Barnes & Noble   [https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/x/x?ean=2940183148237] Kobo [https://www.kobo.com/search?query=9798233530197]