Literary transcripts

Does anyone know please, if or when the literary transcripts for the last event in 2009, will be published?

I understand that the publication of the Transcripts of the 2009 Literary Weekend at Cambridge has been delayed due to the illness of the Editor. However, progress will soon be resumed and publication will follow fairly soon - watch out for further announcements on this Website. 

Thank you, Peter. Wish the Editor well please.

Joy Wotton, the editor of the transcripts, has been very ill earlier this year, but is now a lot better, and working on them currently.

I am hoping to publish by the end of September, and the book will then be available from the TARS Stall. 

Joy is gratified that a member who wasn't at the Cambridge Weekend is anxiously awaiting her efforts!

I always regard the literary transcripts as a sort of bi-annual Mixed Moss. I look forward to the end of September or October.

(or is it a race like Swallow v Amazon to see which appears first!) - or will Signals overtake them both??

Signals is in the press, and imminent. Moss shouldn't be out till November/December, so the transcripts should come second.

Thank you Alan.

Glad to hear you are on the road to recovery, Joy.

As far as I am concerned, please do not feel under any pressure to produce the Transcripts whilst you are still recovering.

Over the last 7 years, I have had several jousts with the surgeons and know that health comes a long way up the list of importance compared with hobbies and interests.

A quick message to say that the transcripts are now out with the authors and have been proofread. I hope to get them to the printer the other side of next weekend.

If you gave a talk at the 2009 weekend and have not received a proof from me, please let me know!

Many thanks - and apologies again for the truly unavoidable delay.

Joy

Thank you Joy. I hope this means you have fully recovered.

There is going to be an interesting amount of reading to do, with the LTs, MM and presumably Fair Cops etc.

Perhaps if Alan has time, he could update his predictions of what will appear and when please. Perhaps they will all arrive just in time for Christmas which will give a good excuse to avoid some of the festive activities!

Hi Owen. Still not fully recovered - and the surgeon I saw this morning wanted to treat me with nitro-glycerine (I persuaded him that this was rather an explosive way of dealing with difficult patients, and he agreed to use silver nitrate instead) - but definitely on the road to recovery. Another set of proofs arrived this morning ... So I hope to polish them off at the weekend. Joy

I see that Owen has asked me for another forecast of publication dates. As Joy has explained, the Literary Weekend Transcripts are nearly ready to go to the printers, after which I have to post them out to the members who were at Cambridge, and the rest go to the TARS Stall.

Mixed Moss is already at the printers, and should be out in 2 or 3 weeks' time. It will include a flyer from Amazon Publications, apologising for yet further delay of "Glowworms", while calling for subscriptions from trusting Tars for next year's (rather exciting) offer.

Signals, including Outlaw and Despatches (details of next May's IAGM) is not due till next month, and at present is being assembled by the editor. No delay foreseen at present.

Thank you Joy - I hope the treatment works well and that you recover quickly.

Thank you for the revised forecast on publication dates, Alan.  I am not too bothered by the actual publication dates except that other TARS, in off group correspondence, ask me if I know anything. Perhaps I am foolish in saying that I will try to find out.

Maybe at some stage, there could be a section on the site - somewhat like a train platform indicator that indicates whether publications are on time or running late and an estimate of by how much.

"other TARS, in off-group correspondence, ask . . ."

I am encouraged to hear that TARS members do ask about the publications. Those of us who have been, or are, involved with the TARS publications get rather disheartened sometimes when the mailing out of a new Signals or Mixed Moss is greeted by a wall of silence. Any comment, critical or favourable, on the contents would be very much welcomed. A Signals editor said to me recently that he had come to the conclusion that no one read Signals, so poor was the response. It may be that the silence indicates that members are totally satisfied, but . . .I don't know. Could Owen encourage the 'off-group corresponders' to voice a few opinions on this Forum perhaps?

I will pass on the message, Peter. Usually emails are regarding articles I have written or am about to write with a BTW at the end about what is happening to a publication.

Signals does what it says on the tin - I am not sure that it needs alteration or comment - although one does have to read it through carefully to pick up all the TARS information contained therein.

As I occasionally contribute to MM, I will not comment except to say that a splash of colour or even complete colour might be an improvement. In a toy steam group, to which I belong, we voted to increase the subscription so we could have all colour publications.

In Margaret Ratcliffe's former library catalogues you can see the difference made by a splash of colour.

Thanks, Owen and Peter, for your feedback, particularly concerning colour images in Mixed Moss. An 8-page colour insert was included in the 2005 Mixed Moss, and seems to have been welcomed by the members. Unfortunately, this was not followed up in subsequent issues, and I would agree that some colour at least is pretty much conventional in club journals these days. I'll pass your views on, and if anyone else feels they would appreciate a bit of colour in Mixed Moss (and/or Signals) please post a message. The more comments we have, the more pressure can be exerted  . . . .

I haven't received my "Mixed Moss" yet, but clearly it is out, since I am receiving a lot of order forms for next year's book from the Amazon flyer.

Literary Transactions are in the final phase of proofreading.

Peter, I think colour printing in Signals would be a nice touch, if it was affordable. There are always photos from recent events that would benefit. I am guessing that Mixed Moss typically shows more B&W photos anyway?

Thank you for letting us know, Joy.

Will you be providing pencils to colour in the line drawings?

Or perhaps a Literary Transcripts colouring book?

The latest update is that despite me having two (two! bang goes the NHS budget) operations his year, the transcripts are now with the printer. I am so sorry about the delay.

Joy