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Interview

Jordan Shiveley p3

Grimalkin Press founder Jordan Shiveley cites some favourite novels and talks about publishing...

READERSVOICE.COM: What are some novels or biographies or magazines or anything else you’ve enjoyed reading?

JORDAN SHIVELEY: The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano;
Knives at Dawn by Andrew Friedman;
Lucky Peach magazine.

RV: Where did you grow up, and learn about printing and book binding?

JS: Well, I grew up in southern Louisiana and the state of Oaxaca in Mexico but I didn’t start learning printmaking and bookbinding until I was in Missouri working on my masters. I started making band posters and putting together zines and chapbooks and it just went from there, trying to make each one better than the last.

RV: When did you first start publishing and what are some lessons you’ve learned about it?

JS: I started officially doing things under the name Grimalkin Press in 2009.

Lessons:

Do it for love and not for money or it will break your heart. It will still occasionally break your heart.

Never pursue a project solely because you think it will be a financial success. Because if it fails you will have nothing but disgust for the endeavor. If you fail commercially on a project but you believe in the artistic vision behind it and are emotionally invested then the very act of creating it makes it a success.

Don’t talk shit.
Pay your artists.

It’s better to publish fewer books of higher quality than a flood of shoddily thrown together crap.

RV: Are there any HIVE comics anthologies coming up?

JS: Yes. Possibly in 2015.

RV: Is there some way to produce a printed version of the anthologies on a bigger scale, or would it sacrifice too much in the end product?

JS: No, I think each anthology is different in design and aesthetic so I don’t think something with a larger print run and thus a lower price would preclude artistic integrity. I just haven’t felt the urge to print a anthology in that manner yet.

RV: What are some of your plans for books published by Grimalkin Press and other endeavors?

JS: We will be publishing a beautiful full length book by Simon Moreton sometime in late 2014/early 2015, a children’s art activity book by Nicholas Straight, a new HIVE, I am working on some food based illustration/ recipe books, and several other projects that are in their infancy so it wouldn’t be prudent to put a clock on yet.

– Visit jmshiveley.blogspot.com.
– copyright Simon Sandall.