Hi group,

Prior to his passing Al Campbell was working on a book about beginning fly tying as only he can explain the subject. During a recent conversation with Deanna she mentioned his book and that it would never be finished - the thought made us both sad. Long story short I asked her to send me the book to see what it would take to bring it to Frank Amato Publishing standards (a FAOL sponsor). What I received was a couple of 3 ring binders with slides and text for 21 chapters of a 27 chapter book.

Unfortunately the first 6 chapters were missing AND there was no disc with the text files on it for the other 21 chapters. I rebuilt the first 6 chapters by pasteing Al's internet articles in MicroSoft Word and rewriting them into book format. Then I scanned the last 21 chapters and used an OCR program to convert them to text. Now I'm working my way through them putting the formatting back into the text and rearranging the files/text into the format Amato expects their writers send them in a manuscript. I still have 10 chapters to rework and will complete them as my schedule allows.

What I need is several someones who are equipped to shoot slide film(Fugi Chrome Sensia ASA100), can adjust their lighting so they get a light blue background like Al has in Part 14 (Marabou Damsel) in the Basic Tying area, and are willing to take my direction so we can reconstruct those first 6 chapters. EX: Part 1 has 9 flies illustrated in it. I want someone to tie the exact same flies, photograph them with a light blue background (so I can keep the publishers happy), and send them to me for inclusion in the book.

I plan to write an "About This Book" chapter telling how the book came about and who helped get it to press. You may or may not get photographic credit for your slides. I'll submit the slides with your name on them but it's up to the publisher to sort that out and often they don't get the job 100% right when you are looking at a book with over 1000 slides to keep track of - I guarantee it can be a real night mare.

Look over Parts 1 to 6 in the Beginning Tying area and see if you are interested and to get an idea of the scope of the project. At the very least I would be looking for people to tie the flies needed for the photography (in size #8 or larger so I can fill a 35mm frame if I do the photography myself).

After I get a rough draft complete I will need someone who is a good proofreader to find mistakes. This is a very important job, possibly THE most important in producing a final manuscript Amato can put to press.

If we don't have anyone WITH THE SKILLS who can donate their time I can get it done myself but it will take time (I'm already under contract for 2 other books and they take priority over Al's book). That could delay completing the manuscript by a year or more.

I look forward to receiving correspondence from those who want to get involved. Send me an email telling about yourself, experience, and how involved you want to be. Harry Mason and Ronn Lucas, I sure hope I hear from you.

Every one, thanks for your time. Take care & ...

Tight Lines - Al Beatty [url=http://www.btsflyfishing.com:b3155]www.btsflyfishing.com[/url:b3155]