Hello!

It’s less than a week before Boldly Going Nowhere is deployed. I’m excited, terrified, happy, scared, exhausted and elated.

As a completely self-published writer, I’d like to take this opportunity to explain why you’ll see “published by Vividarium Books” when you turn/swipe the first page. This is my sole trader, self-employed, Doing Business As company name. It’s not being published by some New York publishing house where people keep their toes warm by hurling piles of hundred dollar bills into the fire or anything like that – it’s an entirely self-published endeavour.

I mean, I could have just put “published by Steven McKinnon” – on account of that being my name and all – but I figured, I don’t know where this independent writing adventure will take me and it would make sense to cultivate a publishing identity at the outset.

“If you prepare for success, you may attain it; if you don’t, you never will.”

That right there is a quote. You can tell by the quotation marks. I don’t know who said it. Maybe I just made it up now. I doubt it though, it seems a bit profound for me and it doesn’t even contain a single reference to Batman.

And the meaning behind the name “Vividarium”?

I wanted a name that stoked the imagination, something that felt tangible – something that felt like you could step inside, run around, climb up and explore. Something that felt connected to the imagination, like how a planetarium is connected to planets. Books are the best medium for firing up the imagination and letting us walk through magic corridors and hallways (which is why the logo, by designer extraordinaire Sophie Taylor at Rotten Core Design, looks like a book), and what’s an imagination if not vivid?

I’m also delighted, thrilled and frankly perplexed at being featured in an upcoming anthology in memory of my favourite author, in which my piece is called The Vividarium. The name for the publishing company came first, but it fit with the story. (I’ll be making a more formal announcement on this very, very soon…)

So there you have it. An explanation behind The Vividarium, what it means, and what I hope it will come to-

Sigh.

I can’t keep this up. It’s actually a nonsense word that appears in a puzzle in Final Fantasy VIII.

I just liked the sound of it.