Updates

I apologize for not having updated this blog for so long. We have been doing a lot of practical work getting things ready to print our first books. I also found out near the end of January that my wife is pregnant. Busy times, but Gravitas Press has been coming together.

We obviously have not kept to our original deadlines, but the business has gone through more of an organic development through discussions between myself and other writers/contributors/friends. We're getting close now to publishing our first books, and I already have some shorter essays prepared that will be published as pamphlets.

Here's what's happened: we are (both for cost reasons, and because we promote decentralized economies) trying to keep production in house as much as possible. We recently purchased a large high-powered laser printer, which will more than match our presently low demand. The binding will be done by hand on wooden binding rigs-- actually the same process by which most perfect-bound paper backs are put together, except it's not automated. This is cost effective, allows us direct control over our product, and allows us to do on-demand printing. In the next week we will be getting a laminator to increase the durability of our covers. Thus these books will be "perfect bound," meaning a folded cover glued to the spine as is seen on most paper backs. Some of the shorter works may simply appear as staple bound pamphlets.

We have two books which are nearing completion:

The Minaret by Sean Kater. This medium length narrative poem weaves American Indian Folklore and classical mythology together with the author's own experiences. The poem is all written, so now it just needs some editing, an introduction, footnotes, and then we'll print it.

My first book, Poetry Against the World, is also nearing completion. This book contains an essay on the nature of poetry as vocation (rather than as hobby, art, diversion, field of study, etc.), followed by a collection of my recent poems.

My longer work The Legend of St George will still take some time to complete, but I'm hoping to have it finished by the time my child is born in late September. It's developing nicely, but also slowly as I have given a lot of time to other shorter works along the way.

I also have a number of essays that are ready to print as pamphlets. I'll give the topics rather than the titles: one takes a philosophical approach to environmentalism, arguing that a appraoch that does not involve a clear philosophical conception of human nature and our relation to the natural order may be able to counter certain problems of environmental destruction but cannot offer an alternative ideal of what constitutes a normal or healthy relationship between humans/civilization and nature. Next, I have an essay giving the basic philosophical arguments in favor of local economies, against both the centralization of private corporations and public institutions. I also have a dialogue defending metaphysics as a legitimate field of study. This dialogue is fairly non-technical, and straightforwardly answers many of the claims of various modern schools of thought which have made claims about the "impossibility of metaphysics," or even the "death of philosophy." These three works are implicitly based on principles from Catholic philosophy, but are written in an open "common sense" manner so to appeal to a broader audience. Lastly, I have a work on Christianity and Buddhism in which I demonstrate how the Buddha's refusal to discuss the origin of the world in the Four Nikayas (the earliest Buddhist texts in existence) are ultimately the foundation for all the other more subtle distinctions between Buddhism and Christianity, and explain why a Buddhist who already admits an "unconditioned" reality (to use the term of the Buddha himself) should also admit the doctrine of creation and all that comes with it. These four shorter works need a little bit more editing, but they're basically ready now if anyone is intereted in them.

If everything continues at the pace it's going now, those two books of poetry should be available within a few weeks. Sooner or later we'll have to set up a paypal account, but just keep it personal and email me if you're interested in any of the above. Now that things are getting rolling, this blog will hopefully be updated more often.