my mind has an endless capacity for useless information

poem by david gate.

[alt: If God created night & day & dawn, of course & dusk & the tangerine rosepink sunset & the deep amethyst twilight & the infant bright of morning

Romancing the Vote Auction is LIVE July 1 - July 5, 2026

All proceeds benefit Vote Riders and the Southern Coalition for Social Justice.

... and ... my humble Offering:

A set of all three MERCENARY LIBRARIANS novels, re-imagined in hardcover with hand-sanded, hand-painted edges and metallic titles for a matching, themed set. Each novel is complemented by a quote on the rear cover and marbled endpapers. Each rear endpaper includes a library pocket and colophon commemorating the RtV 2026 auction. These copies were assembled from library de-accessions and hand-bound in a modified three-piece bradel binding.

In addition, each book has been SIGNED by the authors, who have authorized and approved this re-bind.

These books were made with love and determination in a home with three cats, at least two of which contributed to extensive quality control testing and blessed the final product by sitting on the covers.

wow. so, this took a while. i began typesetting this project in june/july 2025 and pasted down the last endpaper on 25 june 2026. 😅

the story: manacled by senlinyu. published as alchemised in september of 2025.

archive notes: since this is a recent pub and a fairly recent fic surrounded by a swirl of Disk Horse, i took the opportunity to collect as much contemporaneous reaction as i could, including:

the AO3 meta, including a list of all tags, collections, and translations related to the fic

fan art. every linked piece that sen called out in their chapter notes (that was still active/public) is included

examples of fan binds

selections from sen's manacled sideblog where they answered asks and gave meta/background on their process

podcast transcripts about the fic

meditations on P2P in general that used manacled (and other recent dramione pubs) as a hook

the binding:

all of Avendell's "official" art is included within the text

i utilized the "official" manacled font (Morpheus) for key parts of the typeset

there is a palimpsest on each chapter heading (and on the front cover) calling back to the original HP fandom

the text is printed on red river bright white coated paper to facilitate the inclusion of the images

all interior text rendered in Alegreya; chapter heds in Morpheus, chapter subheds in Harry P

typeset from a PDF, with an extra volume consisting of compiled contemporaneous notes and news articles/blog posts

rounded and backed casebinding (adapted/faux three-piece bradel binding with french groove)

oxford hollow spine

faux raised bands across spines to create a sense of the editions

made endbands in chiyogami paper with crane motif

dubletta bookcloth with leather spines

titles in holographic black HTV from teckwrap

notes on alchemised:

first edition, first printing US hardcover

signed on tip-in FFEP

published 23 september 2025

condition: fine / new