Glog

Glenn Fleishman Interrogates the Past

Latest

Writing

New Articles on a Refreshed Newsletter List

For many years, I’ve maintained a personal announcements email list, which I send out about six to eight times a year, running through my latest projects and upcoming ones, and sometimes offering discounts. I’ve also had an active Patreon for several years, but I never quite got into the groove over there. Patreon has been very successful for people with a larger audience feedback loop, who are creating a recurring sort of thing: videos, podcasts, cartoons, fiction, and so forth. My particular writing niche never quite fit!

So last week, I upgraded the announcement list with a premium option. Regular subscribers still get infrequent project updates. But folks who pay a suggested $3 a month (you pay from $1 to whatever you like) receive at least one new article or essay every month, plus access to premium archives, where I’ll be posting my back catalog of articles.

Personal

A Short Remembrance of Toby Wolpe

Over a year ago, I was emailing with my friend Toby Wolpe, a fellow tech writer/editor who lived outside London. I thought I might get to London in 2025, and was checking on his plans. In his reply, he said all plans were off: he had a fatal illness, and it was a matter of likely several months. I wrote back in sympathy and thanked him for his friendship.

I don’t know the rest of his family, so had no loop to be kept in; every month or two, I would look for news. Just a few days ago, I learned he had passed away in September via a posting at the local athletic club at which he was very active and clearly much loved.

Toshi Omagari (left) and Toby Wolpe at The Type Archive in London, 2017
Toshi Omagari (left) and Toby Wolpe at The Type Archive in London, 2017

Toby and I met because I admired the work of

2025 in Review, 2026 in Preview

A couple days after surgery, surrounded by machines that don’t go ping. They keep the cardiac recovery unit quiet.
A couple days after surgery, surrounded by machines that don’t go ping. They keep the cardiac recovery unit quiet.

Back in October, I disclosed what was then my upcoming heart surgery. It happened! And it went according to textbook. I was told I was a “boring” patient by the nursing staff, with a laugh, because I had no medical issues while in the hospital for several honestly delightful days.

I’m now nearly six weeks post-surgery, and feel a reasonable percentage of back to normal. I’m still building stamina, in bed a couple hours more than usual most nights, but mentally getting close to pre-surgery cognition. It’s a process. Thanks for being here for the journey.

2025 in Quick Review

I sold out of How Comics Were Made around March. People bought a huge number of copies of Six Centuries of Type & Printing (still in stock!

Bookselling

What’s Up in Early November

Some happenings:

  • Getting heart surgery next week! Psyched to do it, frankly. Will feel better afterwards. If you’d like to help with medical expenses and lost income, buying a book as a gift (for yourself or another) would be an amazing thing. I’ll be shipping books through Nov. 12 before there’s a gap. Update, Dec. 17: It went great and I’m well into returning to normal!
  • I updated a host of ebooks for Take Control Books, where I’m also executive editor. We introduced a discount program, Take Control Premium, where, for $14.99, you get 50% off any book you buy over the next 365 days—including updates from previous editions. I believe I currently have 14 active books, and a few of those have additional updates coming in the next week!
  • My client Ben Zotto’s amazing book on the history of Sphere Computers
Special Edition of Shift Happens for Sale

Books

Special Edition of Shift Happens for Sale

You might remember that I worked for years with Marcin Wichary on his book set Shift Happens: three volumes, over 1,300 pages, shipped in a slipcase! The edition sold out in early 2024. However, Marcin has given me permission to sell a few unopened copies with unique extras that were offered in the highest tier of the crowdfunding campaign. (Marcin’s kindness in letting me sell these gems stems from my upcoming surgery, the cost of it, and lost income; you can read about that here, in A Heart-to-Heart.)

I have three of these sets, two of which I sold on eBay, one at a time. If you’re interested in the third set, you’re welcome to get in touch. (The third set sold in December.)

Bookselling

The 1970s Personal Computer Company You Never Heard Of

An OSI C1P: Ohio Scientific, Inc., Challenger 1-Port (via Vintagecomputer.net )
An OSI C1P: Ohio Scientific, Inc., Challenger 1-Port (via Vintagecomputer.net )

I lived through the personal computer revolution of the 1970s and early 1980s as a single-digita and double-digit youth. I used a Commodore PET and Radio Shack TRS-80 (models 1 and 3) in junior high, spent way too much time at a local computer store using their Apple IIs and other computers, and owned my very own OSI C1P (Ohio Scientific Corp.) in 1980.

I’ve also read dozens of books about personal computer history, some written contemporaneously, and some decades later. When Ben Zotto contacted me last year about a manuscript for a book about Sphere Computers, a Utah-based PC pioneer, my reaction was, “WHAT? WHO? WHEN? WHAT? UTAH?” Then I settled down and edited his book, now titled Go Computer Now! after the cheery headline on one of the many ads Sphere flooded magazines with during their

A Heart-to-Heart

Personal

A Heart-to-Heart

Hi, folks, a little personal news. In mid-November, I'm getting my aortic valve replaced via open-heart surgery. As scary as that sounds, my prognosis is excellent. This is fairly personal health news, and I'm posting publicly for two reasons.

First, I am so grateful for the friendships and collegial connections formed online. In the unlikely event that something goes wrong, I wanted to say thank you.

Second, of course, is the sad issue of money and American healthcare and disability support. We have a reliable insurer who approved all testing and procedures. However, the substantial out-of-pocket cost after insurance and the lack of earnings during recovery are the crux. My wife and I work for ourselves. Like most freelancers, we don't make money when we're not working, and my wife will initially be devoting significant time to my care.

I’ll be unable to work at all for a few

Books

Dig into iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 with My New (Beta) Book!

Every year, Take Control Books releases two ebooks early about Apple’s upcoming operating systems, and year is no different!* Joe Kissell’s Take Control of Tahoe (macOS 26) and my Take Control of iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 have just shipped! Even though those operating systems are still in beta testing, we know many readers have installed the public betas while others want to know more about what to expect.

Both books are 1.0 versions; at no cost, all buyers get the 1.1 release on the “day and date”—the day when Apple ships the production versions of iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS 26 Tahoe in September. (That date isn’t yet known.) You also receive free all future updates to this title, too.

Each book is $9.99, but you can purchase the two together for $14.99—25% off! (Use that link or code

Books

New Edition of Six Centuries Ships

The second edition of Six Centuries of Type & Printing is shipping! This revised edition contains numerous updates from the last few years of my printing research through site visits and primary document reading. Produced by Hemlock Printers in Canada, it’s offset printed (making it far more affordable than the previous letterpress edition), and bound in green cloth with foil stamping on the cover and spine, and a cheery red set of endpapers. The book is 64 pages in print, bundled with an extended ebook that contains a full index, end notes, and bibliography.

I’ve built a separate website with full details, including a sample of the ebook and a chapter of the audiobook. You can order the print/ebook bundle or get the ebook or audiobook by themselves. The audiobook is also available as a discounted add-on when you purchase the bundle or ebook.

Tutivullus is the demon who makes you spell things incorrectly.
Tutivullus is the

Bookselling

Seattle Times Q&A on How Comics Are Made

In advance of the June 3 release date of How Comics Are Made, a new printing of my 2024 book, Rebekah Denn interviewed me for The Seattle Times about how the book came to be and my interests! It’s exciting to appear in the local newspaper. Andrews McMeel Publishing acquired the book last year after I shipped my edition, and as happy as I was with the printing I arranged and oversaw, I am equally squealing over this edition—mine was a softcover with french flaps; the new one is hardcover with a dust jacket and endpapers! Due to advantages of scale, its list price is just $40, which seems very reasonable in today’s market.

To celebrate the book’s availability in stores worldwide, I’m doing a release event at Ada’s Technical Books & Café in Capitol Hill (Seattle) at 6 pm on June 3! If