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Pantheon. Aragi had read Ware as a fan, and after Kidd intro-
duced her to Ware, he became a client. “I knew Rusty Brown
would be a long book,
but as in the embar-
rassing cases of my
other experiments, I
never thought it
would go on as long as
it has, or metastasize
into such a sprawling
mess,” Ware says.
“Then again, sprawling
messes are what I aim
for, since they most
accurately reflect real
life.” In the middle of
working on Rusty
Brown, Ware com-
pleted Building
Stories—a boxed set
containing books and other printed elements that’s sold more
than 100,000 copies since being published in 2012.
With Rusty Brown, the delivery was staggered. Aragi had an
early draft in January, a near-final draft in May, and a completed
manuscript June 7. Her relationship with Ware is simple: “He
hands things in and I admire them!” she tells me.
And the admiration is mutual. “Ever since we met,” Ware
says, “I’ve thoroughly enjoyed her acerbic wit, fatalistic sense
of humor, and intolerance for BS in every letter and email she
writes.”
Of Rusty Brown, Ware says that he’s “tried to imagine people
different from myself and also to understand and empathize
with them as much as possible, since I believe that’s really the
only aim and hope for humanity and art, and also one of the
points of the book, more or less.”
Rights have sold to Jonathan Cape in the U.K. (to publish
simultaneously with the U.S.), and also in Brazil, France, Italy,
the Netherlands, and Spain. Publicity plans include an eight-
city tour, an extensive social media campaign, and, as Aragi so
succinctly puts it, “whatever Chris will let us do!” ■Chip Kidd