SPACECRAFT is
a micro-press that publishes printed chapbooks of experimental poetry and prose
inspired by science and technology. All titles published by Spacecraft are available exclusively from https://spacecraftpress.wordpress.com/. SPACECRAFT seeks
submissions of experimental prose and poetry inspired by science and
technology. Whether this means that the work was generated using an automated
procedure of some sort, operates under a science or technology inspired
constraint, engages with scientific or technological language, emerged from a
discourse happening within or between certain scientific fields, or some
combination of these aspects, SPACECRAFT is
interested, so long as the work is experimental, compelling, and evocative.
Email submissions to spacecraftpress@gmail.com. To
make a purchase, please email Ken Hunt at jkchunt@gmail.com.
For three years, Ken served as editor of NoD Magazine,
the University of Calgary English Department’s publication of prose, poetry,
and visual art. In 2010, Ken co-founded The
Scribe and Muse, a University of Calgary club that promotes writing
and literacy, offering a free peer-editing service to students across all
faculties. Ken lives in Calgary.
1 – When did
SPACECRAFT first start? How have your original goals as a publisher shifted
since you started, if at all? And what have you learned through the process?
SPACECRAFT
began a few weeks ago, during a meeting with a friend of mine, visual poet and
Calgary Poet Laureate derek beaulieu. Beaulieu, who runs his own small press
called No Press,
suggested that I start my own, since I have a moderate obsession with
formatting and typesetting. My original goal was for SPACECRAFT to
emulate No Press,
in terms of acting as a compact venue for both emerging and established
experimental writing to flourish. This goal has not changed. Throughout the
process of establishing the press, I have learned, to my pleasant surprise,
that there are more writers looking to publish experimental writing inspired by
science and technology than I had expected.
2
– What first brought you to publishing?
My affair with publishing began in 2011,
when I became the editor of NōD Magazine,
a small press publication that has operated out of the English Department at
the University of Calgary since 2006. Working for NōD introduced me to a program called Adobe InDesign. Formatting
the issues of NōD published during my
three years as editor taught me how to use InDesign, which I was consequently
able to use to typeset and format my first published book of poetry, Space Administration.
3
– What do you consider the role and responsibilities, if any, of small
publishing?
Small publishers should be primarily concerned
with presenting the work they choose to promote in the most appropriate way
possible. This means maintaining attention to detail, and making formatting
choices that accentuate the content of published works in as many ways as
possible, whether by reflecting or complementing said content.
4
– What do you see your press doing that no one else is?
I founded SPACECRAFT
because I wanted to see more experimental poetry and prose that engages with,
or responds to, science and technology. SPACECRAFT exists to
provide the authors of such works with a venue uniquely attentive to the
nuances of such works. The uniqueness of SPACECRAFT’s
publications stems from this attentiveness, from my personal goal to bring out
the uniqueness of each work by accentuating content through compelling
formatting choices.
5
– What do you see as the most effective way to get new chapbooks out into the
world?
Spreading the word about small presses
using social media is an excellent way to promote the publication of chapbooks,
especially when groups of creative writers, in both academic and broader
communities, learn about these presses while browsing.
6
– How involved an editor are you? Do you dig deep into line edits, or do you
prefer more of a light touch?
As an editor, I prefer as light a touch
as possible. If I ever find what I suspect might be an unintentional departure
from grammatical or syntactical consistency in a text, I contact the author of
that work before altering the text. In terms of the formatting of the text, I
find that the content of a given work usually compels me to make whatever
choices I think would best suit that work.
7
– How do your books get distributed? What are your usual print runs?
SPACECRAFT
prints either 40 or 50 copies of each chapbook (a single run), depending upon
the length of said chapbook (for lengthier prose works, perhaps 30 copies). In
any case, the author of a given work receives half of the printed copies of
that work, while the remaining copies are sold on SPACECRAFT’s
website. This model is based on the way beaulieu conducts print runs with No Press.
8
– How many other people are involved with editing or production? Do you work
with other editors, and if so, how effective do you find it? What are the
benefits, drawbacks?
I work alone, but often consult my
partner Nicole (a graphic design student). The benefits of acting as sole
editor include the flexibility of the work, as well as the ability to maintain
a consistent vision with respect to how the press formats and publishes
chapbooks.
9–
How has being an editor/publisher changed the way you think about your own
writing?
Learning how to use digital formatting
and typesetting software has completely changed how I view my work. This
knowledge adds another layer of editing to the process of refining written
work. While this often lengthens the process of refinement, it expands writers’
opportunities to not only enhance the evocative effects of their texts, but
also to present themselves as individuals whose familiarity with formatting and
typesetting can be a positive trait for publishers considering their work.
10–
How do you approach the idea of publishing your own writing? Some, such as Gary
Geddes when he still ran Cormorant, refused such, yet various Coach House
Press’ editors had titles during their tenures as editors for the press,
including Victor Coleman and bpNichol. What do you think of the arguments for
or against, or do you see the whole question as irrelevant?
Refusal to self-publish does not
necessarily constitute integrity or virtue, nor does it imply anxiety or
reticence. If a publisher puts forth the effort to promote their own work, and
that work turns out to lack the compelling or evocative merits that the press
advertises, then the embarrassment falls on the self-publishing author rather
than the press. If the author is confident that their work will reflect the
standards of quality established by the press they run, as well as the personal
standards they set for themselves, and they are willing to put forth the effort
necessary to promote their work using their press, then then question becomes
irrelevant.
11–
How do you see SPACECRAFT evolving?
I see SPACECRAFT
becoming a hub for experimental writing similar to No Press, the kind of
venue that generates shared publicity for its founder and the authors it
publishes. I envision SPACECRAFT
providing experimental authors interested in writing science and technology
with a home for their work, in the same way that No Press does for authors
of visual and other genres of experimental poetry and prose.
12–
What, as a publisher, are you most proud of accomplishing? What do you think
people have overlooked about your publications? What is your biggest
frustration?
I am most proud of the consistency, the
evocative strength, and the formatting of my first book of poetry, Space Administration, and of the print
quality of the most recent edition. The print quality of the first few copies
of the previous edition was frustratingly low, since the original high quality
.pdf had to be converted to a word document, which resulted in a significant
loss of image quality. I would encourage anyone interested in experimental
poetry inspired by science and technology, or in erasure poetry, not to
overlook this publication, a free .pdf of which can be obtained here.
13–
Who were your early publishing models when starting out?
14–
How does SPACECRAFT work to engage with your immediate literary community, and
community at large? What journals or presses do you see SPACECRAFT in dialogue
with? How important do you see those dialogues, those conversations?
I can see SPACECRAFT engaging with No Press, as well as
other Calgary-based presses, such as NōD
Magazine and Filling Station.
These kinds of dialogues are integral to the survival of small presses. When we
cooperate, we combine the networks of authors and publishers we have
established, creating a larger network that authors and publishers can
collectively access.
15–
Do you hold regular or occasional readings or launches? How important do you
see public readings and other events?
SPACECRAFT
does not currently host readings or launches, however I plan to collaborate
with presses such as NōD Magazine and
Filling Station to promote SPACECRAFT at local
readings organized by Flywheel and Single Onion. Regular public readings
are important for both authors and publishers, since they provide a form of
community engagement that the internet cannot.
16–
How do you utilize the internet, if at all, to further your goals?
SPACECRAFT
sells its publications online, and also solicits submissions online. We are an
online publisher of printed chapbooks.
17–
Do you take submissions? If so, what aren’t you looking for?
SPACECRAFT
is always seeking submissions of experimental prose and poetry inspired by
science and technology. Whether this means that the work was generated using an
automated procedure of some sort, operates under a science or technology
inspired constraint, engages with scientific or technological language, emerged
from a discourse happening within or between certain scientific fields, or some
combination of these aspects, SPACECRAFT is
interested, so long as the work is experimental, compelling, and evocative.
18–
Tell me about three of your most recent titles, and why they’re special.
Three of SPACECRAFT’s
upcoming titles are Jade McGregor’s Psychiatric
Update: May 10th, an excerpt from Ian Whistle’s Anomaly, and Kevin McPherson Eckhoff’s Time Machine. McGregor’s Psychiatric Update explores the internalized
objectification facilitated by technical, clinical discourse, in order to
experiment with blurring the distinctions between the disciplines of Creative
Writing and Psychology, and between the genres of poetry and prose. Whistle’s
excerpt from Anomaly dissects aspects
of literary theory using scientific and technical terminology. The consistent
strength of the Anomaly series is in
Whistle’s use of collage, in the mercurial manner with which the poems wend
their way across disparate language, reassembling a rigorous attention to
language in order to reflect on and investigate the roles of structure and
meaning, even as the order works to deliberately trouble and unsettle. Finally,
Eckhoff’s
Time Machine is a hot-wiring of The Time Machine by H.G Wells. Eckhoff
used an online randomizing program to reorder the sentences in the first
chapter of Wells’s canonical text, so that the jumbled sentences of the
resulting text perform the act of temporal teleportation central to the
original tale.
