Dear Friends,

Following my regular production call with the managing editor at St Tikhon’s Press end of last week, I wanted to give you a quick update as we head into what I truly hope are the final review stages before sending the book to print.

The transition to the new printer, Gomer Press of Wales, UK, has gone very well, with confirmation of paper stock, binding, cover materials and colors, leather material (for the Deluxe Limited Edition), and foil imprint options for both the hard cover and the Deluxe Limited Edition completed.

One unexpected occurrence was the addition of several pages due to the manufacturing process, which requires the book be fashioned and bound in multiples of a set number of pages (I can’t recall the specific number). This has the benefit for us of allowing the layout to expand slightly, providing some “breathing room” for the Preface in the front part of the book, and for the Acknowledgments and end matter at the back.

Thanks to these new pages, we appear to be able to add a couple of full page images as a sort of “Coda” to the main book, sort of like brief scenes left out of a movie, which might be worked into the end credits so as to reveal some meaningful or beautiful scene for viewers to enjoy if they watch to the end. The main book is itself unaffected by the page additions, as the sequence and “storyline” has been finalized (with one or two exceptions) since earlier this year. The options for these new pages will be decided in our production call this week, and the final layout decisions will be set over the coming days.

So, we draw nearer. As always, thank you for your prayers and patience, your support and encouragement. I look forward to sharing some big news in the near future, and towards both a literal and metaphorical “fulfillment” of this amazing project.

Your fellow pilgrim,

zosimas