Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1148959
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 28 JULY 2019 7 THIS WEEK BOOKS to first, to help me distinguish wheat from (a lot of) chaff. I was extremely glad and grateful that he would let me involve him so actively in this project. I printed an initial selection of images and text separately on A6 paper, spread them around a room in my apartment, and brought him over to help me piece things together and start structuring. After an initial selection, we met once more to set the order. In no more than five hours net total, I laid out an initial digital document to send to publishers and it was basically done. The title is strong and perhaps telling. Does 'soon out of context' refer more to the work itself, or the ever-changing, hyper-distracted times we live in? After the initial intuition (men- tioned before) came to mind, I started thinking about it and why the idea lin- gered in what I thought of as a very meaningful way. I could think of vari- ous reasons, eventually. In these times of generation of data beyond any conceivable control, it's increasingly tough to keep track of the 'original' context in which something was said or published. This original context then becomes an elusive, negotia- ble 'player' in the game of attaching 'meaning' to most of the things our urban environment regurgitates at us relentlessly in our daily lives. This 'player' soon enough grows tired of playing and just retreats, abandon- ing all data to the mercy of people's twisted agendas. This, of course, went completely off the rails on social me- dia etc., and all signs show that it will only get more and more pronounced, like all things that feed on rotten in- centives. 'Soon out of context' then becomes a comment on all this… highlighting the whole process by making a poetic tool out of it. The archival images lend themselves perfectly to this cause, be- ing remnants of probably the last age whereby the original context of data was fairly concrete and unambiguous. How did you first establish contact with Unsolicited Press, and why did you believe they were the right publishers for your work? Upon finishing the digital document mentioned earlier, I just started look- ing around online at small independ- ent presses worldwide and reaching out to some which I thought were relevant. I kind of always knew at the back of my mind that the US in gen- eral would be more receptive to the book, partly because my work, espe- cially in writing, is so much informed by American literature. Having start- ed my reading experience very late in my life, I am by no means a litera- ture buff of any sort. However, this has allowed me to somehow be more selective of what I read, for better or worse. I immediately gravitated to- wards 20th century American short stories and poetry, which has pretty much stuck ever since. It felt natural then to favour American press in my search, within wider American distri- bution networks and so on. Having, therefore, gotten in touch with mostly American publishers, I awaited feedback, and Unsolicited Press immediately took on the idea, showing great attitude and enthusi- asm. This surprised me, especially considering that they had effectively merely received a random emailed PDF accompanied by one of those invariably awkward cover letters by some unpublished nobody with an internet connection hailing from a stranded rock in the middle of the sea on the other side of the planet. Soon out of Context is published by Unsolicited Publishing. For more information, log on to: https:// nigelbaldacchino.com/soon-out-of- context/ "Now that the generation of data is growing beyond any conceivable control, it's increasingly tough to keep track of the 'original' context in which something was said or published" Nigel Baldacchino