Three Scenarios in Which Hana Sasaki Grows a Tail

I designed and paged the interior of A Strange Object’s first book, Three Scenarios in Which Hana Sasaki Grows a Tails by Kelly Luce. You can find more information about the book at http://www.astrangeobject.com/.

• Designed interior and typeset book
• Made edits to cover design
• Adapted cover image for the title page spread

I worked with the cofounders of A Strange Object for years at American Short Fiction. When it came time to design their premiere book, we just sat down with a pile of books that had elements that Jill and Callie liked. Then I asked them questions: Do you want a deep sink for the chapter opening text? Do you want an ornament at the spacebreaks? What about a phrase in small caps? Like that. It was a great experience. I was so familiar with their tastes, I didn’t have to ask too many questions. We were in sync.

One of my favorite things about this design is the slashes under the story title and in the running heads. There are the same number of slashes as there are stories in the collection.  The position of the black slash among the gray slashes reflects the position of the story in the collection. It’s not necessary for the function of the book, but it’s a nice addition. And the slash recalls the slash from the press’s logo.