(This was the first attempt at documenting a neat little adventure in Washington, DC. The watercolor is by a good friend and by permission).

We enjoyed the warmest temperature of this day right at dawn. The darkness blended with departing night in petulant clouds hanging low over the west wing of Big Pink. There were still some publishing issues to get through before anything creative could get started. One of them is the nature of the business.

The first publication issued by Socotra House was the noir detective story set on an America ship of war. It was typed on an IBM Selectric Typewriter and ran for nearly a hundred days in the ship’s newspaper. “The Collected Adventures of Nick Danger, Third Eye” has been out in the publishing world for more than forty years. Or, better said, has been laying around the floors of several dozen closets across the Rim of the Pacific. It was the start of a long journey filled with mirth, excitement and a mild dyspeptic view of the way this world works.

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We started with the latest kinetic news from the Middle East. Apparently we launched some airstrikes in Syria in response to a drone attack that killed some American contractors. You may recall we have been adjacent or direct participants in the war there over the last couple decades. What is interesting is the Iranian aspect. Tehran provided the drones. One thing you may not have heard about is the new treaty bringing the Iranians back into full relations with Saudi Arabia. It was brokered in China, so it is part of a global re-shuffling we probably won’t like.

That got us into a legal discussion almost immediately, so that shows you how this gray day will see temperatures falling and moisture doing the same thing. The initial question was about copyright reversion, formatting and uploading with updated publication information. It is a fairly simple process that used to be done by actual businesses. There was a profound development in that industry that pre-dates the Pandemic Panic. Someone- we are not sure exactly who is responsible- kidnapped the entire workforce of editors. It probably started around the time our society started to tug at the old rails that carried us generally along the same path.

We agreed, as a group who have been scribbling things through the big change. So, as a group we have members who sold College Textbooks, signed up authors, attended publication events and the appurtenances of “launching” a new book. The old system was frustrating but we understood how the laborious slow process worked. Now, there is a new world in publishing that produces volumes-on-demand in at least three major formats: traditional hard-back, Trade and paperback editions and direct digital delivery. The people that do the new stuff, posting, linking, annotating is done by a new set of people who do everything except the marketing.

That drew us off the legal stuff and into the sales side of the business. We have published several books without much thought about what was next for them. Which essentially was not much. There had been an early effort about living in large Condominium Buildings adjacent to the Most Powerful City on Earth. With a remarkable cast of residents. That was fun but unlikely to hit the best seller list.

The one we wound up talking about was “Stones of the District.” That was an adventure from the early ‘Oughts. All of us worked in the District at various points in military or academic careers. We knew the city mostly in the shape of passing through parts of it to get to our Government jobs or customers. Being immersed in it, the early history of the new capital city had a certain magic, since those people were creating something entirely new in the ways of nationhood.

One of those things was the creation of the District of Columbia, a square blob of territory spanning the Potomac in what had been the colonies- now states- of Virginia and Maryland. Ten miles on a side, it was intended to be undisputed territory and the home to the national government. The lay-out was carved through the trees and over streams by some hardy young people, and a great story that inspired a crew of reprobates to follow their trail from the Southern stone through the ten mile borders of the District’s SE, NE, NW and SW quarters.

There were forty markers of the miles around Washington. All but two are still in place. The Federal Part is- was- pretty safe. The twenty stones on the west quandrants were easy to find and document. Except for some reservoirs and canals which require special permission to access. And deer in the placid river-carved ravines in the middle of the city. The further from the Federal stuff, and nice homes of senior residents who work there, things range quickly into other adventures. Encounters with people who use stones as centerpieces of other commercial activities. Safety and security concerns rose as did security for the exploration parties. A few stones required multiple visits, since they were also social center points for groups of young people who did not appear to wish to share the venues.

One of the stranger visits was to the Last Stone. The significance was palpable, since it was located in a place no one wants to go. Ever. The DC Impound Lot just inland from the Potomac. We enjoyed that one a lot in the context of our times. We are pleased to have gone, found the Stone and completed the trek. But it was weird and felt dangerous at the time. These days, it may be fatal.

We may get to that tomorrow. It was fun, but we do not recommend actually doing it until things settle down a bit. It might be more fun to just read about it.

Copyright 2023 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com