Something PRINTED this way comes

This summer, Mind The Moss makes its hardcover book debut

Dear Moss People,

Some of you might recall that long update from December when I let it slip that Mind The Moss was approaching a major evolutionary event. To celebrate the half-decade anniversary of the newsletter, all the strange ground we’ve covered, and where we’re going, I’ve been hard at work creating a new, hardcover anthology of Mind The Moss stories. This upcoming book, simply titled Mind The Moss, will be released this summer. It’s going to weigh in at nearly 400 pages and it will contain not just a hefty handful of spruced-up Mind The Moss stories, but some book exlusives too; stories that were either rewritten entirely or never published in digital form. (The final story within the book, which I’ve been working toward for a long time, falls into the latter category.) To show that I am not full of shit, here is the final cover of Mind The Moss.

While I don’t have a specific release date for the book finalized just yet, that step is now very close. The interior has been proofread and locked in. The test copy will be ordered soon. From there, it’s full steam ahead to the printer! BUT, there is still one task left, and I’m writing to ask for your help. One of you will reap a reward for this.

When a book is released, it’s customary for the back cover to be emblazoned with enthusiastic pull-quotes from the author’s friends and peers; endorsements for the book. If I were publishing Mind The Moss through a traditional publishing house, I would currently be hitting up all of the big names in my rolodex, at the publisher’s instruction, fishing for some splashy pull-quotes to throw on the book. But let me explain why I’m not doing that. The foremost reason why I wanted to publish this Mind The Moss book is to preserve something that thousands of you have made possible; by reading and supporting the newsletter for five years. I wanted to turn Mind The Moss into something that could be read beside a stream, on a stoop, or at the top of a mountain, without any digital interface. In other words, this book is for all of you. And what I would really love to feature on the back cover is short, colorful pull-quote from someone who feels like expressing why they like reading Mind The Moss.

So here’s the deal. For the rest of April, I will be accepting email submissions for the back cover pull quote. You can submit as many as you like, but please keep ‘em on the short side. Ideally a sentence, but no more than two. Feel free to be irreverent, sentimental, deadly serious, or whatever feels most natural. I will take a hard look at all of the pull quotes and by early May, I will choose one to feature on the back cover of Mind The Moss. The author of that pull quote will get a free copy of the book!

Again, none of this would have been possible without your enthusiasm for Mind The Moss and your direct support, which allowed it to grow from a sapling into a lichen splotched behemoth. I’m so excited to get this book into the world by the summer.

Cheers,
Miles