#typesetting

My first illustration for my typesetting of the amazing fic I wish you were my husband 🤭

I just bound what is essentially THE Merlin continuation/ fix it fic also know as 'And Like the Cycle of the Year we Begin Again' and I am so happy with how it turned out! It’s my first time trying a keyhole cutout style cover and it was a bit of a challenge with the faux leather, but I think in the end it came together. I do wish I would have seen Beth’s Binderys video on which glue to use so that your endpapers (dye ink) don’t bleed but ohh well I still love them! If anyone has any other tips on that particular issue I am all ears! 

[Source]

Seasons by @stinglesswasp

Fandom: Call of Duty (Video Games) Ship: John "Soap" MacTavish/Simon "Ghost" Riley Start Date: 01/03/2025 End Date: 02/24/2025 Second Printing: 07/11/2025 Pages: 127

Ok. So, surprise, it's a paperback.

Season's provided a very specific challenge for me that I haven't face before - which is, technically, that it's a short fic. 'Short' as in this fic is 51K words - so it's not actually a sort fic, it's just shorter then the fics I have bound till now. Additionally - Wasp is a artists as well as a writer. I found them on twitter when I first fell into Ghost/Soap, and I instantly was obsessed. So when I asked if I could bind their fic, I also asked if I could use their art as well.

So! I spent a lot of time weaving the fic art into the typeset. I….need the practice, truly - there is a skill to inlaying images that i have not had the pleasure of practicing yet. I did the best i could and im...really happy, actually.

Ok! I pulled quite a few topographic maps from the rough areas where each chapter takes place. I jazzed them up, surprise, and added color and overlays to better matched the season that was being referenced. I did my best to match the typical font that Wasp uses for their art too in the drop caps and chapter headers - so that everything was as consistent as possible.

Should i have offset the gutter more for this print - so that I didn't cut off the word CHAPTER for every single header? Sure should have. Put it on the list of lessons learned.

Inline breaks match the cover design - which started out fucking crazy, but I pulled back with the design stuff and kept the map idea to be consistent. I printed the cover on 80LB marker paper, which…works for what i needed it to do. It's heavy enough to feel pretty good in hand, but not to heavy to go through my printer.

Is the spine text in the wrong place? Sure is. Could I have fixed this when I reprinted the fic again? Sure could have. Did the spine glue down in a curve that I couldn't fix? Yep.

I followed a DAS Bookbinding tutorial on making soft covers to put this book together. Its….easier then you think? And less expensive. Is it perfect? No, but until I get a better handled on how to do it, it'll just keep working at it. Say it with me: Ya can't be good at a thing the first time you do it.

So I need a better printer, for sure. Especially if I'm going to do more things like this. Some of the images really did not print well, and with the SotM bind in the wings I'm gonna NEED a better printer to chew threw that m o n s t e r.

Yes it's March and I'm still at the cottage, but I at least you're all still here with me.

Who else has been reading Hollanov fics like there's no tomorrow? Do you love the WAG Ilya tag as much as I do? If so, this anthology is for you!

Featuring 10 fics, 9 with the Montreal WAGs plus a bonus of when he's texting the Montreal team. (Fics listed and linked below)

HUGE THANK YOU to @mina-logan for letting me use they're perfect art for the cover and endpages!! I can't wait to use the Shane version for the Boston Edition whenever I get around to finishing that.

This anthology was actually fun? to typeset? I love learning how to do new things and I can now say with confidence that I know how to typeset text messages, I used Affinity to typeset.

please leave a message and across the wires by @subcorax

Thank You Notes by SiladhielLithvirax

Sock Puppet by @smugrobotics

The Pact by @pucksandpower

Jackie & Lily World Domination by GoldenGalaxies

Lily's Pic by wlwmlmsolidarity

Sacred Sisterhood of the WAG Chat by Mathgeek12

Boston Tea Party by TiredAndBoredNerd

Use nonbreaking spaces between em dashes and closing double quotation marks. PLEASE. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. I cannot handle multiple instances of an em dash at the end of one line and the closing quotation marks at the beginning of the next.