A Few Comments From The Author…

“We live in a world that is moving at an incredible speed, embracing technology in all of its forms.  I wanted to create a literary experience that provides an alternative from the rush and impersonal nature of reading a book on our Palm Pilots.  I wanted to create something that is more
three-dimensional.

"I recently finished reading a novel on my Palm Pilot, so I’m not opposed to the technology.  But our world is increasingly technology bound and racing from moment to moment.  I’ve enjoyed reading epistolary novels and journals and thought that this form would lend itself well to the type of experience that I was looking to create.  I am hoping to create an experience for the reader that is, at the same time, literary, visual, and sensitive to touch and scent; an experience that would have the reader momentarily suspending their disbelief in the reality of the story.

“With Dearest, I wanted to create an encounter that was literary at the base but was also an art project.  I’ve spent time in museums across the Midwest , where the story is set, and was able to learn about the papers of the period and the colors.  I studied penmanship from the 1700’s through the 1900’s and learned the style that was most appropriate to the years and areas about which I was writing.

"While traveling along the Ohio River , I thought about the artifacts and what might be found if one was so lucky to have discovered such a cash of letters and artifacts.  What would it look like?   How would it feel?  Would there be a scent?  Then I went to my art studio and began
to create.

“I’ve had this project on my mind for a number of years, just sort of brewing and churning until it was ready to be created.  I first developed the concept for Dearest  while teaching in the English Department of a mid-west university.  Later, while teaching art and writing in a large prison I contemplated the different forms that I might use for a container of this unbound book.

“I’ve enjoyed this experience and am committed to creating other such projects in the future. 
This is just the beginning.”

Michelangelo Altiére is an American writer/artist living in Ohio .  Trained as a playwright, and having completed a number of plays, Dearest is his first novel.  Mike is currently working on a new novel.

He may be reached at: altiere@londonhousepublishing.com