COSMOPOLIS Number 53 September, 2004 Contents Volunteer Spotlight Hans van der Veeke Volunteer Spotlight . 1 Frontispiece Notice . 2 Hans van der Veeke, VIE volunteer coordinator and Paul Rhoads credit verifier, has made a habit of highlighting A Plea from CRV . .2 an outstanding volunteer each month. This is Work Tsar Report . .2 another initiative he has Joel Riedesel taken in pursuance of his self-created VIE post of VIE Work Credits . .3 Volunteer Coordinator. Compiled by Hans van der Veeke Now it is Hans’ turn. Hans volunteered many Jack Vance as Artist . .4 months after the project was underway but, after a Hans van der Veeke David Reitsema wait of weeks or months, he had received no response from the project. We had 38’s Crucible . .5 noted that this sort of thing was a problem: we were not Paul Rhoads properly tracking volunteers. So when Hans got in touch with me personally about his situation, emphasizing his End Note . 19 eagerness to contribute, he ended up becoming Volunteer Ombudsman, a sort of personnel manager. The problem of VIE Contacts . 19 volunteers ‘dropping through the cracks’ came to an end. Hans took his job to heart. Not only did he make sure each volunteer was integrated in a team, but took over administration of the VIE ‘Who We Are’ page and, even- tually, on his own initiative, created the ‘You Have Done It’ Cosmopolis feature. ‘You Have Done It’ is not a simple stat-grab from the tracking charts. Hans collects, collates and double checks work credits from several sources, and resolves credit problems prior to Cosmopolis publication as much as possible, in cooperation with other managers. The ‘You Have Done It’ Cosmopolis credit lists are thus the most up-to-date and accurate credit information. As modified by Cosmopolis reader input, which Hans carefully documents each month, it then becomes the input for com- position of volume credit pages. Typical of Hans’ attitude are his strong feelings about the credits; as he says they are the only payment the volunteers get and should be as accurate as possible. In this sense Hans is the conscience A Plea From CRV: of the project. Hans is the sort of dynamic, generous and creative In cugelx-fin-v2-ti-ppv.doc we find this plaint from Bob person that makes the VIE function. Luckin, which deserves our earnest attention: In addition to his important management work, Hans Reminder to all reviewers: please include some contextual text when has also done over 100 jobs, including Proofing (pre and logging problems, so the location can be determined more easily after post), Scanning, Technoproofing, Jockeying, Implementa- the item has been adjusted. tion and RTF-diff. Hans, a Dutchman, lives in Holland and works for the ciawaic gas company on European gas transportation via pipeline. It was a pleasure to receive a visit from Hans and his Work Tsar Status Report family this summer, in France, the first occasion I have had to meet him personally, after several years of VIE as of August 29, 2004 work together. There are only two texts remaining in TI: Lurulu and The ciawaic Star King. [continued on page 3] Frontispiece Notice Cugel the clever the palace of love tschai he 22 etchings for the Wave 2 volumes are laboriously taking shape. I have submitted some samples for reproduc- Ttion in Cosmopolis this month. For those interested in the technical aspects of engraving, these are done on copper, 25% larger than the VIE book frontispiece reproduced size. For bite nitric acid and vinegar have been used, followed by a mixed and exploratory technique of burins and further needle work. An attempt to recover the old techniques is no simple matter and fraught with frustration. Hours upon hours of work are dissolved by a spoiled bite or poorly adjusted press. The details of crucial manipulations at critical stages, as practiced by the Dürers and Hogarths, remain obscure. One can only try one’s best and pray that the results may not be radically unworthy of their high function. cosmopolis 53 • 2 cosmopolis 53 • 3 Two texts are in composition review. a. go to www.vanceintegral.com There are three texts in Post Proof and nine texts in b. click on Editors only Post Proof composition updating and review. c. click on Volunteer Credits (second link from top) We will be reviewing the last 11 volumes before the d. Or go to the page directly: www.vie-tracking.com/www/ end of September, one way or another. Completion of the credits/ 44 volumes of the VIE looks to be on target for spring cgc of 2005. The Secret Composition John Schwab Last month: Finished 17 August 2004 + In-TI: 2 texts (2.44%) RTF-diffing Digitizer + Post-TI: 16 texts (19.51%) Deborah Cohen Gan Uesli Starling Charles King + Volume Ready: 64 texts (78.05%) + Volumes Ready: 0 (0%) Pre-proofers Composition Review Wayne Henry + Volumes Completed: 11 (50%) Mark Adams John McDonough Christian J. Corley Joe Ormond Marcel van Genderen This month: + In-TI: 2 texts (2.44%) DD-Scanners Correction Validation Joel Hedlund Bob Luckin + Post-TI: 14 texts (17.07%) Sean Rainey + Volume Ready: 66 texts (80.49%) Peter Strickland Post-proofing + Volumes Ready: 0 (0%) “Sandestins” DD-Jockey + Volumes Completed: 11 (50%) Jeffrey Ruszczyk (team manager) Damien G. Jones Charles Ashford Deborah Cohen Joel Riedesel DD-Monkey Michael Duncan Charles King Patrick Dusoulier S.A. Manning ciawaic Technoproofer Eric Petersen Bob Moody Glenn Raye You have done it! Mark Straka TI Anthony Thompson VIE work Credits Alun Hughes Steve Sherman Guyal of Sfere Compiled by Hans van der Veeke Tim Stretton Finished 12 August 2004 Only 2 texts have reached the Golden Master stage during Implementation the holidays. This is not much but at least there is some Joel Hedlund Digitizer progress. Only a few more texts to go; you can read the Damien G. Jones Tim Stretton full status report from the Work Tsar to get detailed information. This time I would like to put the spotlight on the volunteer who went even so far as to get special number plates for his car to show his dedication for the Vance Integral Edition. I photographed him (or her) when I was riding my motorcycle in the area known as the Eiffel, in Germany. During my stay there I noticed that a lot of Germans are fond of the VIE because I saw lots of these plates. Maybe we could put in on our own merchandising list? Please check the credits below. If your name is mis- spelled or missing; let me know at [email protected]. The credits of all finished (Wave 2) texts can also be found on the VIE site: cosmopolis 53 • 2 cosmopolis 53 • 3 Jack Vance as Artist DD-Scanners kTk Richard Chandler he VIE volunteers at G2 in Chinon attempted, while sampling various single-malt brews and Chinon vintages, to discern the common thread in Jack Vance’s works DD-Monkey T Suan Hsi Yong which bound them, the volunteers, together. All agreed that they thoroughly enjoyed reading Vance’s works. But why? Various explanations were attempted, and none Technoproofer seemed satisfactory. The crux of the matter clearly lies in the art of Jack Vance. Joel Riedesel A recent op-ed piece by Paul Rhoads (‘Form and Desire’, Cosmopolis 50, p.13), Special tasks attempts to equate Vance’s writings with ‘genuine art’. In that article, genuine art David A. Kennedy was defined in rather conclusory fashion as based in ‘an erotic thrill’ expressing TI the artist’s ‘desire’, without any attempt to describe what was ‘erotic’ about Vance’s Rob Friefeld writings. This surprising assertion needs to be addressed. While it can be conceded Steve Sherman that art can be erotic, it certainly cannot reasonably be argued that all great art is Tim Stretton rooted in erotic desire. And to quibble over the meaning of erotic is pedantic at best Implementation as the Greek root word eros is well enough known to convey the meaning. An artist Mike Dennison can be full of desire and yet never be a great artist. Hans van der Veeke Art has certain identifiable elements including the artist’s imagination and the Composition resulting image wrought by the artist in whatever medium is chosen to communicate Joel Anderson it. Rhoads identifies these elements as ‘conceptualization’ and ‘realization’. But to be ‘great’ and not just ‘genuine’, art must also possess the power to communicate the RTF-diffing Mark Bradford artist’s message which produces a response in the reader. And the response may Bill Schaub not be purely intellectual because many things besides art provoke varying mental responses. The artist’s power must touch a person’s soul. Perhaps this is what Rhoads Composition Review Christian J. Corley intended by the term ‘genuine’ in requiring that the artist incorporate ‘desire’ into Marcel van Genderen his art, but he comes at it from the wrong direction. The artist’s desire is not what Charles King makes the art great, it is the viewer’s response to that art which makes it great. The word ‘power’ in this context means the ability of the artist to view something Correction Validation Bob Luckin (whether it is an object, an experience, an idea), to internalize and to assimilate it, and then to communicate (‘create’ and ‘image’) it in such a way as to empower the Post-proofing viewer to identify the artist’s handiwork with something in the reader’s own experi- “King Kragen’s Exemplary Corps” Robert Melson (team manager) ence.