Stu Jenks' Fezziwig Press

The PBRC at North Topsail Island

"Pamela's Baby Rocking Chair, North Topsail Island, North Carolina" (c) 2021 Stu Jenks.

I went down to the beach, on a rainy day, to try out a new hand board for body surfing I had recently bought, but the waves were only wind-made, very choppy, and the current was too strong for me to really effectively use the hand board.

I'm just old school, I guess, about body surfing. Just put me in the ocean and see if I can catch some waves. I had a 10 foot long board, before it was stolen a few years ago, but given the smaller waves here on the East Coast, body surfing without the weird hand board, for now, will do just fine. 

I got beaten up pretty good by the waves, and the current was a lot to fight, but I had a great time. I like being beat up by the waves. I think most surfers feel that way: We like to catch waves, either on a board or with our bodies, but the stories and the big-time-fun comes from wiping out. I laughed out loud a few times as I was getting thrown around by the sea. So much fun.

Before surfing, I took these pics of the PBRC in the surf. Business before pleasure, don't you know.

A free ePub download of The Transpersonal Papers (1861-2010) by Stu Jenks.

 

Download The Transpersonals Papers by Stu Jenks epub (c) 2013 Stu Jenks.

I was just at a Starbuck's buying an Egg Nog Latte, when a homeless woman came in and asked the clerk, "Do you have anything for just a dollar?"

I'm not struggling like her obviously, but as my father used to say, "It's not what you make but what you spend." And having my own business, Fezziwig Press, costs money and my little company isn't making enough money right now.

So I'm doing an Amanda Fucking Palmer thing. If I don't ask, you don't know to give.

Fezziwig Press and I have been struggling financially for the last year or so. Namely, I'm not quite breaking even, still a few hundred dollars in the red each month, even with my part time counseling gig and all. I'm making some sales with image rights, book sales, music sales, etc, but not like I did five to ten years ago. So I'm putting out the artistic begging bowl. And I'm giving shit away.

The Transpersonal Papers (1861-2010) was released in 2011. Cost a boat load to produce but I only sold seven ebook copies. (Thank you to the seven, by the way.) So I'm offering it today, to you all, for free.

If you like The Transpersonal Papers, or the StuBlog, or my work, I ask that you give a little money to my Paypal account. My log-in is my email address, stujenks at gmail dot com, spelled like you normally would type it. Donate to my Paypal, or buy some books, or send money to P.O.Box 161, Tucson, AZ 85702. Whatever you like. No expectations, but if I don't ask, you don't know. And of course, if you don't give, that's perfectly all right too. We're all tight these days, don't I know. Or you just might not like my stuff that much. It's all good, as the kids say. Except for my ever-shrinking savings account.

I hope you enjoy the photographs and the stories in this book. Perhaps someday I'll have enough money to print it as a large coffee table book, like it was originally envisioned. Perhaps not, but you can have it right now for free. Enjoy.

And just download the Adobe Digital Editions free software to see and read The Transpersonal Papers: (1861-2010), if you don't already have it on your computer.

Thanks, y'all, and have a Happy New Year.

Love and light,

Stu

Download The Transpersonal Papers by Stu Jenks epub (c) 2013 Stu Jenks.

"New Year's Day Surfers"

"New Year's Day Surfers, Rockaway Beach, California" (c) 2013 Stu Jenks

All 8 1/2" x 11" A/P archival pigment prints by Stu Jenks for $25, shipping, handling and taxes included...

Image: "Queen Esther Baptist Church, Lancaster, Virginia" (c) 2011 Stu Jenks (Just down River Road from Victoria's house. Love that luscious red carpet. And for you nocturnals out there, it was handheld. Rare for me.)

In this time of making photos on iPhones and Macbook Pros and only looking on screens, I forget I'm a old-school guy. I make a 8 1/2 x 11 work print on archival paper of EVERY image I make. EVERY one. It's the only way, for me, to accurately check for color shift, density, composition, etc. I really like my iPad screen but it's no way to make a good print.

And I have hundreds, if not thousands, of work prints artist proofs at my studio.

If you see an image of mine on The StuBlog or on my old website or on the Fezziwig Press Store or in any of my books, there's a beautiful small print in a box somewhere, perhaps with your name on it. And since I'm organized, I can find it.

Many of you can't afford my larger prints. I understand. I don't have an extra 50 or 100 lying around either. But I do have an extra $20 for stuff I really like.

So if you see an image of mine on any of my sites or in any of my books and you want it, it's yours for $25, shipping, handling and tax included. (I believe in paying taxes, sales and otherwise.)

Just email me at my facebook page or through the StuBlog or at [email protected]m, and tell me what print you would like or just pull the jpeg and send that to me.

I was just watching the Tarhells lose today in basketball, working on images at my computer when I thought, 'I bet people don't realize I have boxes of work prints here.'

You all do now.

Love and light,

Stu

p.s. Ignore the catagories belows. The computer went wacky. Another reason why I prefer a print in the hand as opposed to an image in The Cloud.

...The first draft of the novel is done!!!...

The first draft of the novel is done!!! It came in at 149,000 words, 552 pages in my document. Yeaaaa! I can't tell you how good it feels. The ending made me cry, as I hope it does you. (Last word in the novel, which won't change in revision: Sighs.) I want to jump right back to the beginning and start revisions, but Mary Ann suggests I take more than just a couple days off. OK. I'll take off three or four days. LOL. But then it's fixing this and revising that, then off to the editors. And I have ideas for the next novel in this series, too. I have some pretty great characters, I think, and I want to see what they will do next. But first things first. Get this novel to print.

One serious note: It took about a year to write this novel, but it almost didn't get done. With Mary and Pamela dying and all, I didn't work on it for about six weeks and it was so hard to get my momentum back. But I did. But it was difficult. If you are working on a novel or a large work, I recommend you plow through, even if the field is frozen. I've been told I'm very lucky to have gotten back on track.

Speaking of track, good luck to Danica Patrick tomorrow in the Daytona 500 and in the rest of Sprint Cup and Nationwide races this season. I might just have to go up to PHX next Saturday to watch her race.

By the way, did I mention I finished the freaking first draft of the novel?

Yeaaaaaaaaa!

Now available, on the Apple IPad: The Transpersonal Papers (1861-2010) and Bozo In Love

Been a long time coming for The Transpersonal Papers (1861-2010).

Three editors, two proofreaders, two designers, four printers, and hours, days, weeks, months, years, lifetimes, (I know I'm overstating), of writing, traveling, shooting, editing, remembering, hiking, and more writing, shooting, and editing, but I'm not complaining. No, no, no.

And apologies for not having the dough right now, to print The Transpersonal Papers as a coffee-table book as I had originally planned. ($10,000, it would have cost. Maybe someday.) But you now can buy it, for $14.95, as an Ebook on the Apple IPad, and I expect it to be available within a couple days on the Nook and the Kindle as well.

I just looked at it on my new IPad. The photos, text and design look grand.

And as an extra surprise, Bozo In Love is now up on IBooks too, ($9.95), as well as the rest of my catalog: Flame Spirals, Hoop Dancing, and Dementia Blues, on IBooks, Nook and Kindle.

Just in time for Christmas.

And don't worry. All but The Transpersonal Papers can still be bought as a book book through Fezziwig Press. I have plenty. Just go to www.fezziwigpressonline.com, for the hardbounds and paperbacks, but go to ITunes, today, (and Kindle and Nook, soon) for the ebooks.

Heavy sigh from my third story apartment balcony. I look out onto the Tucson city lights in the valley below. Cold, dry air embraces me. I inhale deeply. Exhale.

A very good night in the desert.

Think I'll make a cup of coffee with egg nog and play some Angry Birds on my new IPad.

Time to celebrate.

 

"Rockaway Beach After First Light" (Gladstone Mothershead)

 

My first music video, with the title track from my third CD, "Gladstone Mothershead" accompanying the loud crash and video images of breaking waves at beautiful Rockaway Beach in Pacifica, California, soon after first light. And if you want to purchase "Gladstone Mothershead", you'll find it at ITunes, CDBaby and at other digital purveyors.

Lastly, I just got the Baldwin spinet tuned by master piano tuner Dan Davis on Monday. It has never sounded so sweet, like a piano that has descended from Heaven. I expect to go into the studio and record "Soundtracks For Photographs, Vol. Four" in the near future. The Dmin7 now makes my mind fly away, leaving just fingers and a soul behind.

"Tijuana River Surf" (and a tropical storm in Louisiana)

"Tijuana River Surf, United States/Mexico Border" (c) 2010 Stu Jenks

    The breaks are just too gnarly here, with the strong rips and all. Plus I’m just a beginner, a grom, surfing mostly wave scraps. But it hasn’t rained recently so there shouldn’t be much sewage in the water, and it is a beautiful day; but there might be a dead cow or two, bobbing in the sea. That doesn’t bother me. It’s the rips that scare the hell out of me.
    I’ll just walk along the shore, take in the crashing sound of the beach breaks, and feel the warm sand between my toes. I'll surf another day.

    [Note: The above image and story are from earlier this year. Today, August 17th, I'm in Southern Mississippi, soon to drive to Vicksburg. And last night, I drove through what I found out this morning was a tropical storm. Makes senses. I pulled over into the little town of Tickfaw, Lousiana after large parts of trees flew in front of my car. Talked with a trucker named James at the Shell station there while we waited for the storm to pass. I'll tell that story later. Hell of a nice man though. Oh. I'm same and sound but it was quite the frog strangler last night. I've seen rain like that, but I've never driven through a storm like that before. But you know me. It was fun, and I got some videotape of it all while driving over Lake Ponchartrain. Soon to be on a YouTube near you.]

"Stu at IB"

"Stu at IB, California" (c) Annie Gordon (with Stu Jenks) 2010

"Big Wind at Rockaway: At The Breaking Of A Wave, There Is."

"Big Wind At Rockaway: At The Breaking Of A Wave, There Is., Pacifica, California" (c) 2010