Update from the Bindery at Pegana Press

Just a quick update to let you know where I’m at with the binding process. As you may know Pegana Press is a small press run by the two of us, Mike and Rita Tortorello.

Under ordinary circumstances our books take about 8 to 10 weeks to bind from start to finish, and most of that time is spent under weight.

I am experiencing a delay of about 3 to 5 weeks due to the pandemic, but am just about ready to get books under weight in this upcoming week.

I will continue to update you with progress reports as the books are bound.  You may expect your books to be finished by no later than June, if all goes as expected.  We are doing our best to stay safe and we hope you are too.  Thank you for your patience and your understanding at this time.

New For 2020: Pegana Press Podcast

Several years back, we tried doing a Storycast, where we read rare stories.  We tried posting them on our blog and website, but didn’t really have the proper platform to do it.

Over time this idea has been resurrected in two ways.  One is where Mike Tortorello in partnership with Daven Tillinghast creates audio stories with music.  You can find out more about that on Dreamer’s Tales on Patreon .

The second evolution of Storycast comes in the form of a podcast on anchor . fm.  We’ve just put out our first episode.  You can listen on Pegana Press Podcast 

We hope to make this a regular thing and plan to release two episodes a month for now.

We invite you to join us.

Lost Tales Volume 5 Sneak Peek

Lost Tales Vol 5 available for pre-order at Pegana Press

Pegana Press Update for February 2020

From the Bindery:

First of all, Happy Spring.  The nights are frosty but the days are sunny with clear skies here in the Maritime Pacific Northwest.  I’ve got spring chicks in the brooder and seed catalogues are spread out before me.  But what I really want to talk about is what books are being bound right now here at Pegana Press.  The answer to that is-almost everything in our catalogue.

Thanks to the enthusiasm of our customers, we currently have sold out of bound copies of our books.  Which means I need to hustle.  So for the next several weeks I will be filling the book press with freshly bound copies of almost everything we have.  The books will need about 5 weeks to sit under weight after they’re bound and then once they get their titles they will be ready to put on the shelf, (or into a box to be shipped to their new home).

You can learn more about how I bind the books at Pegana Press, on our website at the bottom of the About Pegana Press page.

From the Press:

In other news Mike is busy working on Lost Tales volume 5.  A collection of more short stories from the pen of Lord Dunsany.  The Lost Tales series are ideal for Dunsany collectors, as they contain stories which are either previously uncollected or previously unpublished.  A real treasure provided to us all with the blessing of the Dunsany Estate.

The stories for this volume are currently being hand type set for letterpress on Hahnemühle paper.  You can learn more about the printing process at the link provided above.  

We are also excited to reveal that we have commissioned an original work from fantasy artist Amelia Leonards to use as frontispiece and are very much looking forward to see what she envisions for this piece.

Mike expects to be finished printing the book early this Summer.  Then he will hand it over to me at the bindery, where it will be bound uniform with the other Lost Tales volumes.

To find out more about the Lost Tales series or to pre-order a copy of Lost Tales volume 5, you may go to Pegana Press/Dunsany. 

Thank you for your interest in Pegana Press.

Of Spirits and Trees

We wanted to give a status update on a couple of Pegana Press editions by Clark Ashton Smith.

Zothique Prism I "The Empire of the Necromancers" illustrated by Robert H. Knox is nearly out of print. We only have a handful of copies left of this fantastic tale presented in a limited letterpress chapbook.

Zothique Prism III "The Tomb-Spawn" illustrated by Jim Pitts will begin shipping the 2nd half of January. The special pre-order price on this edition ends January 10th.

More information about these editions, limited to 55 copies, may be found here at our Clark Ashton Smith page. https://peganapress.com/clark-ashton-smith

Also, if you like your fantastic fiction in a sound format, I'm creating audiobook dramas of authors both known and lesser known. I invite you to my page to hear some great fiction. https://www.patreon.com/dreamerstales

Recent Press Activity

Greetings from Pegana Press!

We've been very busy this fall...

Rita has been binding the pre-order copies for "Dark Dreamlands II" by H.P. Lovecraft.  Slow going as she has to cut the endpapers by hand, the sheets are too large for my cutter.  The binding boards we use are much denser than standard boards and resist board shears so she's also cutting those by hand.  In addition she's working on slipcases for the last 3 sets of Lost Tales 1-3 by Lord Dunsany.

I've been enjoying typesetting the new Zothique Prism story  "Tomb-Spawn" by Clark Ashton Smith.  Such interesting words in this story.  We're eagerly awaiting the artwork from Jim Pitts.

I'll begin recording narration and music for "Annals of the Jinns" by Robert H. Barlow tomorrow. These will be fun to do, very atmospheric.

After I finish the CAS book I'll begin work this winter on Lost Tales Volume 5 by Lord Dunsany, again with many early unpublished stories.

We hope you all have a festive Halloween and we thank you for your interest in our work.

Warmest regards

Mike and Rita Tortorello

Working Into Autumn

Hello from Pegana Press!

Rita has been busy cutting boards, cloth, and endpapers for the new Lovecraft edition; all by hand of course.

I've begun printing a new Clark Ashton Smith story for the "Zothique Prism" series.  More on story choice and illustrator soon.

The first Zothique Prism "The Empire of the Necromancers" illustrated by Robert H. Knox is now down to 4 remaining copies, more information about the chapbook may be found on the CAS page.

For those of you who like Lord Dunsany, the audiobook "The Vengeance of Thor" is now available on CD Baby to audition and download.  We picked some of the most bewitching stories from the Lost Tales series for this dramatic presentation as well as some classic Dunsany stories. I've collaborated with a pro narrator and musician to produce these.

I was able to pick up a couple of spare parts for the Vandercook Press but am still in search of a couple of other key replacement parts.  Thanks to our Patreon supporters for helping!

That's all for now, we hope everyone is finding time to read.

Warmest regards

Mike and Rita

Pegana Press

https://peganapress.com/