Good friend and fellow Blacksmith for Literary Progress Tim Hall hit a bit of a milestone this week: his own imprint, Undie Press, turned five-years-old. Quite an accomplishment, especially when you look at the quality of the books Tim’s released in the past five years.

I can still remember sitting in his apartment in Jersey City and hearing him say, “Undie Press, get it?”
Tim looked at me with excitement, mouth open, waiting for my positive reaction.
I stared at him blank faced, as in the dark as I always was to the inner workings of Tim’s genius.
“Underground and Independent,” he finally said.
“Oh yeah, I get it now,” I replied.
“And my logo will be a pair of underwear,” he then added.
“Underwear?”
“Yeah, get it, Undie.”

Thus a literary empire was born.

And Tim never stopped. Five years, four books. That’s a pace most lit writers can’t match. Every book was different and interesting, with his heart, soul, and blood on each of the pages. When I finally got off my ass to write and release my first book, Tim’s approach to underground publishing was the inspiration for the whole damn operation. I always admired his drive in finding a way to bring his art into the world, by any means necessary, with that distinctive mad genius that is Tim.

So to celebrate, I leave you with a bit of Undie Press history: a signed first edition of my still-favorite UP release, Half Empty.