I just put the finishing touches on the cover (shown here) of ALUMNI NOTES, the forthcoming novel by my father, Andrew S. Levitas, which will be released by Star Cloud Press in January of 2011. For obvious reasons, I had a lot of personal investment in this image, and I’m quite pleased with both the image itself and the reaction from all involved. I encourage everyone to read the novel when it comes out – and not because it the author happens to have created me, as well. I was skeptical when I picked up the manuscript, and I quickly found that i couldn’t put it down. Everyone who has picked it up has said the same, so it seems that my father is on to something.

Also – look for an exciting announcement in the coming days concerning Throwaway Horse, LLC. and out project ULYSSES “SEEN”, which has recently garnered international attention. More to come!

The last month has been full of incredible new developments. We released an iPad app for ULYSSES “SEEN”, and when the press found out that Apple asked us to edit out some very minor nudity (no black boxes or figleaves), the story began to appear everywhere from The New Yorker to The New York Times to Time to Slate.com, and a whole host of others media outlets. We were given an interview and a 4-minute piece on NPR’s All Things Considered, and my Throwaway Horse, LLC partner, Robert Berry did a call-in interview for Irish radio. As if that weren’t enough, Rob’s comment was also one of Time Magazine’s quotes of the day. There have been even more exciting developments with the project and with Throwaway Horse, all of which will be announced in due time.

In addition, my father’s novel, ALUMNI NOTES will be published in January, 2011 by Star Cloud Press. I will have the honor of doing the cover, and I will post that image when it has been completed and approved.

Through all of this, I have been working as a contractor with the wonderful people in the Creative Services Department at Independence Blue Cross. I could not have wished for a better environment in which to work, and I am very grateful to have been invited back for a second run with them.

More to come…

2010 has already brought an unending flood of new work, with an identity package and ad campaign for the law firm of Rothamel Bratton, a poster/post card image with my ULYSSES “SEEN” partner Robert Berry for Simpatico Theatre Co.’s production of PYRETOWN, a web site for Havins and Associates an in-house stint with Beach Communications that will yield posters, recruitment brochures, and informational booklets for the Phila. Housing Authority, a 100 pg. book layout job for LimmudPhilly 2010.

More exciting jobs are on the horizon, as is A LOT of work on the next chapter of ULYSSES “SEEN”. I’ve already spent quite a number of hours in libraries and in contact with institutions like the University of Texas and the Irish National Museum, researching various details of 1904 Dublin homes and streets.

Here’s a pic of the PYRETOWN poster. More to come when time allows.

The 2009 Ulyssses “Seen” holiday card has been posted on the Ulysses “Seen” blog. I warn you, it is, as Haines says at the end, rather blasphemous. To anyone who may find it at all offensive: I assure you that Joyce was poking fun at Oliver St. John Gogarty, not at the Almighty. Buck Mulligan’s act is very Vaudevillian, and so I thought it fitting to use lettering and backgrounds from old Vaudeville posters. A fun little promo piece for the project, I think.

On the topic of Ulysses “Seen”, we should be finishing Chapter I: Telemachus in a few short weeks. The storyboards for the next chapter are coming along quite well, and we’re really looking forward to presenting it.

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I have just completed work with the wonderful people at Beach Communications on a 200-page commemorative book for the anniversary of the Philadelphia Tribune. The process was grueling, but the people were wonderful. The product has proven to be well worth the trouble. Click the pic on the left for a larger version.