waiting for the promised structure
5 July 2022
The words I’ve been saying to myself in recent days, which I plan to go on saying for as long as breath remains to utter them, go something like this: “I am my ancestors: my very body is made out of my ancestors. The hydrogen in my body is 14 billion years old; the iron in my blood, and the oxygen that iron carries to my cells, are at least six billion years old. There is no part of me that is younger than Mother Earth, save the thoughts in my head and the memories and dreams that fill me, and many of those have roots that reach far beyond me. Ten thousand foremothers sing in my blood, and more. I carry all of these things to the children of Earth who are still to come. My life, and the lives of everyone around me, are the means by which the universe continues to evolve, and the nature of that evolution is changed by what we do and fail to do. We are the Eye and Agent of Creation. Our lives matter in ways beyond anything we can imagine. I am ready for the transformation. Are you? It begins with us: with each one alone, with all together.
— Ron Drummond, letter to Mary Lou Staight, 23 May 2008
Printing was completed in June. John D. Berry flew from Seattle to Philadelphia yesterday. Today he’s at the printer, overseeing the sorting of the 4-page Letter and Number autograph sigs and their insertion into the final 16s of the two limited editions, and other things related to the proper packing of the unbound sig sets so there are no mix-ups when they’re shipped to and received by the bindery.
We’ve received three wonderful essays from three stellar writers for use on the dust jackets of the three editions, one essay per edition. The dust jackets are nearly final, essays included; final adjustments will occur after the editions are bound and we can use precise measurements of the 800- and 820-page bound books to get snug fits for the dust jackets.
Yes, we’re looking forward to making all three essays available as broadsides after the books are out. However, we cannot field enquiries about the essays at this time.
Books will ship in September / October.
We’re still asking for donations of a further $50 to $100 to help defray increased production and shipping costs. For folks outside the U.S., the cost of shipping heavy books has increased outlandishly in the last decade; if you purchased a book more than two years ago, we will need a further $50 to $100 to help cover shipping costs alone. A finished book will be weighing in at just under six pounds or 2.6 kilos.
All correspondence should now be directed to Ben Kamm at sales@littlebig25.com; payments that do not go through the PayPal interface on the website should be sent to Ben at benkamm@sonic.net. Separately, folks that wish to write to me can do so at editor@littlebig25.com, though I may be slow to reply.
On 5 June 2022 I had a stroke. I lost my right-handedness, my beautiful autograph, and all my conscious control over the right side of my body. Very slowly, it returns. I have been in hospital for a month, but face discharge in a week’s time either to a facility that will maintain my life while offering me no physical therapy to recover (I have no health insurance; in my country, that’s almost a crime), or to spend 11K raised in a fundraiser for three or four hours a day of intensive professional physical therapy for not more than seven days, or to spend the same amount for one or two months of private therapy at a much slower pace together with simple help to recover at home under my own auspices, which carries its own dangers. I do not want the conundrum, but conundrum I have. Those who want to help can do so by contributing to the GoFundMe fundraiser Samuel R. Delany launched on my behalf at
https://www.gofundme.com/f/physical-therapy-in-the-aftermath-of-a-stroke
Ron Drummond
Publisher