Art director of FrizzLit Editions meets with the printer

Plus, an update on the Kickstarter that's making all this possible

Corianton Hale, left, is the art director of FrizzLit Editions. Here he is meeting with Pioneer Square Press to talk printing techniques, paper stock, color options, and more. Photos by the Frizzler

On July 17, the art director of FrizzLit Editions, Corianton Hale, met with the folks that run Pioneer Square Press.

Pioneer Square Press is on First Avenue S, right there in the center of the photo, across the street.

The FrizzLit Editions Kickstarter has already funded our first two books!

The first will celebrate its release on Friday, August 22 at Elliott Bay Books. The release will be followed by an afterparty in my apartment (aka the Space Lounge), and only contributors to the Kickstarter will be invited.

With luck, we’ll reach our goal of 38.4k and be able to publish three books this year. If we surpass our goal, we already have other amazing projects in the works.

Phil Bevis, center, is also a book publisher (Chatwin) and the owner of Arundel (the bookstore across the street).

Time is of the essence to meet our goal of an August 22 release — thus the need to meet about materials, paper stock, cover options, and more. The budget for these materials is set by what we’ve raised through Kickstarter.

Our first release will be a novel based on a true story. (“Autofiction” is the fancy term: autobiography + fiction.) The book is called Nobuko, and the author is Trisha Ready, and it’s written in an inventive new form that we can’t wait to bring to life on the page.

Corianton Hale — or Cori, for short — is the art director of FrizzLit Editions.

Cori is an award-winning designer and the longtime art director of The Stranger.

We began collaborating on projects after meeting at Kinko’s on Broadway more than two decades ago. Back then, he invented new fonts for fun, drawing all the letters and numbers by hand.

We’ve been talking about making books together for some 25 years — and we’re over the moon it’s finally happening.

I love places packed with art like Pioneer Square Press is.

In addition to printing books, Pioneer Square Press makes art prints and sells them in their storefront art space up front, and across the street at Arundel Books.

Kickstarter donors who give $500 or more get to come on a field trip to visit Pioneer Square Press as our first FrizzLit Editions books are coming off the printer. Depending on how we print the cover, we may even need some extra hands on deck!

Our goal for the Kickstarter is $38.4k — which will allow us to publish books by Rebecca Brown and Charles Mudede as well.

As of this moment, we’ve raised $33,230.

We have 8 days to go.

Cori flipping through a copy of Rebecca Brown’s latest book, You Tell the Stories You Need to Believe, which was printed here.

Print supervisor Dean Kelly shows Cori a red option for the cover stock.

Thank you to everyone who has already donated!

Cori points to a foil option on a dark blue background. The foil catches the light nicely, although foil elements on covers are expensive. But it’s one of the options being considered.