Evertype mail

Truly, my main motive for writing Evertype was to find out what it would feel like to create a world using typewriters and imagination. And it felt great! It would have, even if no one else had ever read the story.

But I am human, more or less, so it's gratifying to see some compliments from readers on Amazon, and still more pleasing to receive typewritten letters about the novel. A couple of correspondents say that the idea that got this story started—leaving the contemporary world behind—is a recurring fantasy for them. Not surprising for typewriter users.

If you'd like to check it out, it's available from Lulu and The Other Place. (And if you want to wait for something less affordable, a hardback edition should be ready soon.)

 

Good mail day.

Now, that's what I call a good mail day.

OK, seven of these nine were waiting for me at Xavier after a month's break, so they didn't all arrive on the same day. But this still makes me feel great to be part of the typosphere.

Revolution in the mailbox: Great graphics from south Florida

What a sweet envelope turned up in my mailbox this morning!

Congratulations to Patton Horton on his Constructivist design skills. I'll be replying soon. Meanwhile, you can follow him on Instagram or join his South Florida Typewriter Association on Facebook.

Want to type me a letter? My address is on the envelope.

The Slow Communication Movement

I was surprised and honored to receive this card in an envelope from Canada.

Of course, the movement of slow communication precedes the Slow Communication Movement and my Manifesto. If we keep it slow enough, it will outlast and outwit the most artificial Artificial Intelligence that can be devised. But if, in due time, you'd like to write a letter to Mark Leier and request your own membership card, you can look him up at the Department of History at Simon Fraser University. My own letter of thanks is currently wending its way there.

Tim Youd: World's most dedicated typist?

Artist Tim Youd's 100 Novels project is not for the faint-hearted: retyping a hundred 20th-century novels, in places appropriate to the author or story, on typewriters of the same model used by the author. As I explained in The Typewriter Revolution, Tim puts two sheets of paper into the machine and keeps typing over and over on them until they are blotted, illegible rags. They survive the performance as testimony to his work.

I had the pleasure of meeting Tim a few years ago in California.

Yesterday, I received a postcard which shows that the novels aren't enough typing for Tim. I believe he creates 500 of these for each performance! To quote him, "Holy mother, that was a lot of work."

Portraits from Tim's Instagram.

Rage, fury, and a Scriptor

These passages from a letter I received today speak for themselves. If you're seeing this, correspondent, my reply is on its way.

 

Revolution in the mailbox: All we have is Time

Typed by Claudia Tan Danwei

 

Lili Marlene, the dancing Olympia

 A delightful illustration by Marni Doidge on a recent letter.

Manifest de la màquina d'escriure

The insurgency continues to spread! The latest translation of the Typewriter Manifesto comes from a correspondent who has rendered it beautifully into Catalan.

Romance languages that have expressed the Manifesto now include Catalan, French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish ... and the original Romance language, Latin.

Revolution in the mailbox: Ink will be spilled

Revolution in the mailbox: typewriters and border collies

A gratifying volume of letters, cards, and longer typescripts have been reaching me recently. Among them is a letter from a recent recruit to the insurgency. 

He includes an extensive meditation on typewriting and typewriters.

I was especially surprised and delighted to read this passage on the agency of typewriters:

The simile struck me because there's a new addition to my household: Della, a 10-week-old border collie. She's sweet, inquisitive, and playful. Border collies grow up to be so smart that I fully expect her to beat my words per minute—if only I can find a typewriter whose keyboard is adapted to a dog's paws.

 

Time for an update

More about this Remington

To see a 1939 Remington 17 in original condition, visit this post.

Austin Typewriter, Ink.

The plot of Evertype, represented in a webwork diagram à la Harry Stephen Keeler.

The Writing Cabinet

PoetryFox.com

Hal Wildson

Red Door Magazine

Freddy is a very helpful companion.