I love this selfie, which is not something I normally would say. But I like how Little Worlds, my daughter and friends are firmly embedded in my body and head. It certainly has felt that way to me in the eight years I’ve been working on this project. Here, I’m beginning to transport about 450 damaged copies back to my barn.
As many of you know, I lost 45% of my 1,000 print run to the Helene flood. It could be worse. My loss feels insignificant compared to many friends and neighbors. I had already dispersed about 350 copies to supporters, bookstores, people acknowledged in the book, and some out for review. And my printer is holding another 200 copies that will soon be delivered.
For those of you who have purchased Little Worlds, and people who were gifted a copy, be assured that you now own a rare book, for whatever that’s worth. It remains, in my humble estimation, a beautiful and prescient book. I will likely not do a reprint.
But I am giving serious thought to a second edition. An additional chapter that would speak to not only the Helene flood, but also to calamities that have affected other Little Worlds around the globe in the four years since the book ended - the wildfire in Paradise, California, Covid 19, the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, hurricanes, tornados, refugees, famine. It’s an endless list that will continue to grow.
In Little Worlds, in both the fiction and journal entries, I speak of a worldwide collapse. I don’t speak of specifics, but rather, a series of occurrences that happen over time - overpopulation, environmental degradation, politics, breakdown of our social and cultural institutions, unrelenting use of fossil fuels, and natural disasters. They add up and fifty years hence, in the fictional component of Little Worlds, the people in that future time find themselves beginning again, building a new little world.
I have a plan for the damaged books that I will announce in the next week or two. I hope some of you will participate in what I see as a fundraiser for county arts organizations that were radically affected by the flood.
There are 200 copies of the rare Little Worlds available. The price is $55 plus $10 shipping and handling. If I hand deliver in Madison or Buncombe counties, the shipping fee is dropped.
On my website:
robamberg.com/littleworlds
You can also order directly from me at my email address and avoid the middle man:
robambergphoto@gmail.com
Thank you all for your long running and continued support of my work
Rob