Aegis & Owl Press
(Capital Museum. Olympia, Washington)
All Aegis & Owl books are bound completely by hand, by the author herself. Each page is folded separately, and then creased with a traditional book-binding tool called a bone folder. The pages are carefully nested into groups called signatures and individual holes are bored in each signature with a special brass-handled awl before the signatures are sewn together (again, by hand) using Irish linen bookbinding thread. The covers (or "cases" as they are known in bookbinding terms) are likewise hand-made, using high-quality materials such as dressmaker's cloth, garment-quality leather, and hand-woven silk. Every single book is created through a twenty-three step process, all of which is done by the author. The result is a product of exquisite quality and beauty.
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A Dream On Two Wheels
In a world where the automobile was never more than a passing fad, bicycles are the primary mode of transportation, and the best riders are the roundsdoctors. Embodying a mix of star athlete-cum-emergency respondant, they are the heroes of their society, responding to medical emergencies with skill and integrity. But what happens when that integrity is called into question?
From A Dream On Two Wheels:
"...The knocking was coming from the window in the hallway, quiet yet urgent. Confused, Emma went over and threw open the curtains. Eyes the color of a northern sea looked into hers. "Mike!" She blinked, discrediting at first the information passed along by her eyes. There he was on the fire escape, dark hair, azure eyes and all -but looking somewhat less dashing than the last time she had seen him... His skin glistened with a thin sheen of sweat and he was gulping in air, lungs trying to push oxygen back into blood depleted of it. He had been in a desperate race with something.
"Emma, please, I need to come in."
"What?" She opened the sash to hear him better. "Why are-?" He was quickly through the open window, dashing the curtain quickly behind him and glancing nervously out...
"Emma, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to come here. I wouldn't have burst in on you like this if I had any choice. I had to-"
THUD! THUD! THUD! Mike went pale, his gaze drawn to the thin door which shook as it was knocked upon. .. BANG!BANG!BANG! "Police." ..."
From A Dream On Two Wheels:
"...The knocking was coming from the window in the hallway, quiet yet urgent. Confused, Emma went over and threw open the curtains. Eyes the color of a northern sea looked into hers. "Mike!" She blinked, discrediting at first the information passed along by her eyes. There he was on the fire escape, dark hair, azure eyes and all -but looking somewhat less dashing than the last time she had seen him... His skin glistened with a thin sheen of sweat and he was gulping in air, lungs trying to push oxygen back into blood depleted of it. He had been in a desperate race with something.
"Emma, please, I need to come in."
"What?" She opened the sash to hear him better. "Why are-?" He was quickly through the open window, dashing the curtain quickly behind him and glancing nervously out...
"Emma, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to come here. I wouldn't have burst in on you like this if I had any choice. I had to-"
THUD! THUD! THUD! Mike went pale, his gaze drawn to the thin door which shook as it was knocked upon. .. BANG!BANG!BANG! "Police." ..."
A Dream On Two Wheels
(Cloth-bound version)
(Cloth-bound version)
$
40.00
A Dream On Two Wheels
(Leather-bound version)
(Leather-bound version)
$
49.00
A Dream On Two Wheels
Large Print Edition
(Two Volumes, unabridged)
(Two Volumes, unabridged)
$
90.00
A Dream On Two Wheels
(Book-art edition)
(Book-art edition)
The case (or, "cover") is made of wedding-dress-quality shot-silk imported from Thailand, where it was hand-woven using traditional methods. The trim around the title is cashmere, glass, and Austrian crystal. The ribbon book-mark is real silk, and even the end-tapes, a totally invisible element of the book's construction, are silk, as a mark of the creator's dedication to quality.
$
120.00
Tides of the Island Mountain (The Sequel to A Dream On Two Wheels)
What does Paris look like in a world which never depended on oil? In the absence of the Maastricht Treaty, there is no European Union, and the dogs of war are at the gate.
Emma Stein is an historian working at the Louvre when Germany invades. As the Huns overrun a country with few defenses, what can be saved? Who can be saved?
From Tides of the Island Mountain:
"...Through the Galerie Michel-Ange, up four more steps taking them in leaps, across a landing, eight more steps. As Emma leapt for the next landing, the marble below her trembled and a breaking, shattering, crushing cacophony slammed into her eardrums with the force of a physical blow. Her hands instinctively flew up to cover her ears, but for all the function it served she might as well have held a piece of writing paper between her eyes and the light of an atomic blast. From the soprano, crystalline crashing of the sound, Emma knew the glass pyramids of the Louvre's central courtyard had been hit. That destroyed the most straightforward escape route...
Onwards she ran, and the wooden floor took her steps and bounced them back to her, making her race seem all the more frantic. Through a smaller, dark room, and a sharp right-hand turn. I'm almost there, but can I get to it in time -and more importantly, can I get it and myself out? Another explosion rocked the floor beneath her, as if emphasizing her question. As the floorboards quaked and flexed, she heard glass cracking ahead of her, and only then did she remember that she still had the museum's own defenses to deal with..."
Emma Stein is an historian working at the Louvre when Germany invades. As the Huns overrun a country with few defenses, what can be saved? Who can be saved?
From Tides of the Island Mountain:
"...Through the Galerie Michel-Ange, up four more steps taking them in leaps, across a landing, eight more steps. As Emma leapt for the next landing, the marble below her trembled and a breaking, shattering, crushing cacophony slammed into her eardrums with the force of a physical blow. Her hands instinctively flew up to cover her ears, but for all the function it served she might as well have held a piece of writing paper between her eyes and the light of an atomic blast. From the soprano, crystalline crashing of the sound, Emma knew the glass pyramids of the Louvre's central courtyard had been hit. That destroyed the most straightforward escape route...
Onwards she ran, and the wooden floor took her steps and bounced them back to her, making her race seem all the more frantic. Through a smaller, dark room, and a sharp right-hand turn. I'm almost there, but can I get to it in time -and more importantly, can I get it and myself out? Another explosion rocked the floor beneath her, as if emphasizing her question. As the floorboards quaked and flexed, she heard glass cracking ahead of her, and only then did she remember that she still had the museum's own defenses to deal with..."
Tides of the Island Mountain
(Cloth-bound version)
(Cloth-bound version)
$
40.00
Tides of the Island Mountain
(Leather-bound version)
(Leather-bound version)
$
49.00
Tides of the Island Mountain
This book-art edition of the "Dream On Two Wheels" sequel is covered by real silk charmeuse, carefully pleated and hand-sewn into tidal ripples. Genuine freshwater pearls are sewn onto the waves to represent sea foam. Peering inside, one sees that the end-papers are cut from a map of pre-automobile Paris.
$
120.00
The Selected Short Stories of Sarah A. Chrisman
A delightful collection of 'what if's and 'it really happened'! Enjoy a heady whirl through worlds and historieslight-hearted to tragic, frivolous to thought-provoking. This collection includes:
Hope's Temple
A surprise is in store for a young archaeologist as she works on unearthing the remains of a ruined Greek temple...
Carraigphágánta (Paper, Scissors, Rock)
We know it as a children's game, but it was once in deadly earnest. The menhirs remember.
The Foul Wind of Dysanemos (A Myth Which Classics Departments Never Reference)
A hilarious spoof of Greek mythology
Shells of Ancestors
Poetic musings on the origins of a family.
Where Justice Has Flown
A story of the nature of mythic Justice.
Xenophobia
An ambassador fights for her people's right to representation in council, with some help from an unorthodox (but highly charming) ally.
YpII
Can one man hold off Armageddon, even while it's being delivered by the same force which once killed half of Europe?
Moonlight
Chilling flash-fiction. After reading it, you'll find yourself wondering how an eighty-three word short can keep you looking over your shoulder at night.
Why Waits the Tea to Bloom?
In this work of historical fiction, a maidservant in Victorian England endeavors to rise above her station.
Planetary Agent
What happens when an entire planet of artists goes up against a world of critics?
The Fabulous Beast
The colonists' ship is dying. Most of the crew is dead. The only chance for survival lies on a small, primitive planet. But they have brought the plague with them, and the only way to fight it is to invent a creature destined to live in the imaginations of the new planet's inhabitants for centuries to come...
(Note: This story received Honorable Mention in the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest in February of 2008.)
Hope's Temple
A surprise is in store for a young archaeologist as she works on unearthing the remains of a ruined Greek temple...
Carraigphágánta (Paper, Scissors, Rock)
We know it as a children's game, but it was once in deadly earnest. The menhirs remember.
The Foul Wind of Dysanemos (A Myth Which Classics Departments Never Reference)
A hilarious spoof of Greek mythology
Shells of Ancestors
Poetic musings on the origins of a family.
Where Justice Has Flown
A story of the nature of mythic Justice.
Xenophobia
An ambassador fights for her people's right to representation in council, with some help from an unorthodox (but highly charming) ally.
YpII
Can one man hold off Armageddon, even while it's being delivered by the same force which once killed half of Europe?
Moonlight
Chilling flash-fiction. After reading it, you'll find yourself wondering how an eighty-three word short can keep you looking over your shoulder at night.
Why Waits the Tea to Bloom?
In this work of historical fiction, a maidservant in Victorian England endeavors to rise above her station.
Planetary Agent
What happens when an entire planet of artists goes up against a world of critics?
The Fabulous Beast
The colonists' ship is dying. Most of the crew is dead. The only chance for survival lies on a small, primitive planet. But they have brought the plague with them, and the only way to fight it is to invent a creature destined to live in the imaginations of the new planet's inhabitants for centuries to come...
(Note: This story received Honorable Mention in the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest in February of 2008.)
The Selected Short Stories of Sarah A. Chrisman
(Cloth-bound version)
(Cloth-bound version)
$
40.00
The Selected Short Stories of Sarah A. Chrisman
(Leather-bound version)
(Leather-bound version)
$
49.00
What happened to Waisted Curves?
What happened to Waisted Curves?
Waisted Curves: My Transformation Into A Victorian Lady was so popular that I couldn't keep up with the hand-bound copies! When I received an offer from Skyhorse Publishing to produce this book on a major scale, I gratefully accepted. Starting in November, that same wonderful book will be available from Skyhorse under its new title, Victorian Secrets: What A Corset Taught Me About The Past, The Present, And Myself (ISBN 978-1-62636-175-1). Amazon will start taking pre-orders this week!
Waisted Curves: My Transformation Into A Victorian Lady was so popular that I couldn't keep up with the hand-bound copies! When I received an offer from Skyhorse Publishing to produce this book on a major scale, I gratefully accepted. Starting in November, that same wonderful book will be available from Skyhorse under its new title, Victorian Secrets: What A Corset Taught Me About The Past, The Present, And Myself (ISBN 978-1-62636-175-1). Amazon will start taking pre-orders this week!
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Children's Fiction
The Wiggly Tooth
Allie has a problem! Her tooth is loose, and she's afraid to go to the dentist. That's still not as bad as her Grandma Peep's problem though. Can Allie conquer her fears, and help out Grandma Peeps too? Maybe, with some help from her beloved cat Fluffbusset, and a magical visitor!
The Wiggly Tooth
(Children's book - paper-covered cover)
(Children's book - paper-covered cover)
$
15.00
