A few words with the original owners of Pinkum Press, Hi and Hattie Kerlin...

Interview has been edited for length and clarity.

How does it feel to see Pinkum Press back online?

HI    Good.

HATTIE    Hi, he wants more than that.

HI    It feels good to see Pinkum Press running again.

Why did you start Pinkum Press?

HATTIE    We always felt it was important work.

HI    We don't know the words, but we can spread them.

HATTIE    I like to use my hands. 

HI    It's getting hard for her to hold a needle.

What's "Pinkum"?

HI    Hard to say.

[long silence]

HATTIE    Well—

HI    It was a word I thought up.

HATTIE    A name, for his little brother. But it turned out to mean a lot to [Harry Hardiner].

HI    He went to camp there.

HATTIE    Said it was a little town up around [redacted], but I never found it. We went looking. Thought it was so strange. Looked all around the state line, looking for that little white mountain.

HI    Said there was a white mountain he saw from his cabin.

HATTIE    Never found it. We asked about it, didn't we?

HI    No.

HATTIE    We did, we asked all around.

HI    Never asked him.

HATTIE    No. We never did find it.

Which one of you decided to take Harry Hardiner's deal?

HATTIE    At that time, Hi was doing most of the typesetting and I was making most of the deals and arrangements, and we (were both—)

HI    We both did the binding.

HATTIE    We were both doing the binding, together. So normally I would have been dealing with the folks coming in and calling in by myself, and there was never much negotiation or contracting, just fairly straightforward print orders except for our university contract.

HI    The day he came in I had hurt my back.

HATTIE    Hoisting too much paper.

HI    I lifted wrong.

HATTIE    So Hi was with me that day, kinda laid back on his side, moaning.

HI    I was not moaning.

HATTIE    Moaning and carrying on because he lifted wrong and he was in a lot of pain, so I've just given him a little something to calm it all down when the little bell jingles. And Hi just pops his head up like "what back?"

HI    He looked wild in love.

HATTIE    He came in wild, yes, he was in and talking before I even turned around, but Hi popped his head up and goes, say it,

HI    I said, "You're finally here."

HATTIE    [laughs] He was high as a kite and having to make the most important first impression of his life, not that he knew it. Not that we knew it. But there was something important about him. The way he kept his shoulders maybe, or that little glint in his voice. 

HI    In his eye.

HATTIE    He had a spring in his eye.

HI    It's a good thing I talked first.

HATTIE    He says, "You're finally here!" like a loon, but instead of walking out Hap laughs, and laughs, and finally comes in and hugs us both, didn't even tell him about his back, and he tells us, "Then it's a deal." Like we'd already talked something out.

HI    So I guess Harry Hardiner decided.

HATTIE    I'd say that's right.

Did Harry Hardiner ever have any strange requests?

[both laugh]

HI    I'd say he made some pretty strange orders.

HATTIE    Do you know—Tell him the black book.

HI    The original, have you? Well I'll tell you: the seventh book [in the Rosewire series] was printed up on stark white stock, but everything else—solid black. Thread, bookcloth, even the edging, jet black, special lightfast dye, hell on the hands. No title, no author, no image, solid black backstrip [spine], and he was very clear he wanted the binding to be highly visible when the book was open. In fact, even the thread was a special order from (Romania—)

HATTIE    Oh come on honey just tell—Listen to this: that was not what Hap wanted at all! Listen to what he wanted, Hi, tell them.

HI    You took down the order.

HATTIE    Black cover, black backstrip, black binding, black ink on BLACK PAPER!

[she laughs]

HI    That's not even the strangest.

HATTIE    He had us sew little strips of his childhood blanket into the headbands of Lights Low.

HI    The scratch and sniff spine for Burnt Lace.

HATTIE    Bake-a-Book!

HI    Bake-a-Book, that was my favorite.

HATTIE    He wanted heat-activated ink and what, and—

HI    Heat-resistant materials. 

HATTIE    I tell you what's a joy to make: heat-resistant paper.

HI    Point was, put a blank book in the oven at three-seventy-five for an hour, pull it out and read pages of text.

HATTIE    Had he even written the book?

HI    He hadn't even written the book, wanted to call it The Furnace. Never did get to it.

What do you think happened to Harry Hardiner?

HI    Died.

HATTIE    I loved little Hap, but he didn't live with the rest of us. I like to think he just skipped the dying part and went wherever he belonged.

HI    I don't like to think about it.

What was your favorite project?

HI    Number four [in the Rosewire series Green Stone Story]. I can't tell you why.

HATTIE    Don't tease them. 

HI    I can't tell you why.

HATTIE    My favorite project... My favorite project was either ["The Energy of Significance" by Patrick Lemorder], because, you know, the first is always special, and it turned out to be so important, and I liked the bright binding. Either "Energy" or Lights Low. It felt special, magical, to hold that finished book in your hands. I started crying when I saw them stacked to go out.

What was it like to shutter Pinkum Press?

[Hi shakes his head.]

HATTIE    It was very, very hard. Like watching a cancer eat and eat and then... 

HI    We killed it. It was our choice. 

HATTIE    It was a very hard choice.

What words of advice would you give to young writers?

HI    Don't stop.

HATTIE    That's good, Hi. Don't stop.

A big thank you to to Hi and Hattie Kerlin for their time, their words of encouragement, and their approval as the new Pinkum Press puts down the thread and ink and picks up the CSS!