Subterranean Press, the Michigan-based publisher best known for its fine editions of science fiction, fantasy, and horror titles, just announced a new letterpress edition of Ted Chiang’s Story of Your Life — easily one of the most influential sci-fi novellas of the century so far (and the basis for Denis Villeneuve’s 2016 film Arrival).
The $150 signed, limited edition is currently in stock and shipping (500 copies) as of this writing, though the $1,000 lettered edition (26 copies) is already sold out.
Subterranean’s letterpress edition includes six full-color illustrations by Henry McCausland, the London-based author/illustrator of Eight Lane Runaways (Fantagraphics, 2020), one of which (a heptapod) is teased on the front of the slipcase.
The interior includes two-color printing on Mohawk Superfine 100# paper with an eggshell finish by DWRI Letterpress in Providence, Rhode Island, while the illustrations are offset printed on 80# Finch paper.
On the exterior, both slipcase and cover are bound in Verona cloth in complimentary shades of green, alongside two-color stamping in light green and black. The back of the slipcase “is stamped in light green foil with the various [flutters] of the aliens’ language,” according to Subterranean.
Ted Chiang’s “Story of Your Life” was originally published in 1998 in Starlight 2, a short fiction anthology series by Tor Books, before winning the 2000 Nebula Award for Best Short Story. It was republished in Chiang’s first short fiction collection in 2002, Stories of Your Life and Others, also by Tor Books. Since then, Chiang has published roughly one short story or novella per year, including a second collection in 2019, Exhalation.
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