Local author Rick Palkovic, along with his family, will sign copies of his new book, Limit 55, a micro-fiction collection published in a miniature book, at The Avid Reader on Saturday, April 19.
Rick, who wrote all of the stories in the collection, said that the idea for the collection came from his brother Mark, who is a collector of miniature books.
“It was Mark’s idea to do 55-word short stories since it would fit the miniature book format so well,” Rick said. “There’s some precedent as a newspaper in San Luis Obispo has a contest for stories of that length. None of these stories were ever entered for the contest, as they’re original for this project.”
Rick said he eventually warmed up to the format, since it required a bit of thought on his part to write the stories.
“There’s a lot unsaid in these stories, because I don’t have the words needed to spell them out,” Rick said. “It was surprising once in a while that I needed to add some words to get to the 55-word quota. I did some songwriting and some of the same concepts apply, such as keeping the stories to one idea, keeping the story concise and so on.”
The project, which took about nine years to complete, features illustrations from Rick’s siblings, Caroline and Tim.
“It went back to Mark who was active as producer,” Tim said. “He would suggest the kind of illustrations to do, which was usually something that would suggest the story but not give away the resolution.”
The project was a bonding experience for the siblings.
“It gave us an excuse to get together and work on something,” Rick said. “We’re all adults living in different states so we needed an excuse once in a while to get together.”
Caroline also enjoyed working with her siblings.
“We had a lot of good laughs over it,” Caroline said. “It’s just quirky enough to be a really fun thing to do. It’s nice to be a published illustrator and pull a tiny, tiny book out of my pocket.”
The project will be available at the book signing at The Avid Reader. The Palkovic siblings will be there to show some other miniature books as well as to sign copies of Limit 55.
“If anything, you have to come and see how we’re signing this teeny book with teeny signatures,” Tim said.
The book signing will take place at The Avid Reader, located at 617 Second Street, on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
— JOHN KESLER
