William Michaelian

Michaelian has also published numerous drawings. Most are portraits of imaginary people with exaggerated emphasis placed on the eyes, which draw attention and help convey a range of emotion. A progressional study of the drawings on Michaelian's website reveals that his subjects have taken on a more sorrowful or troubled aspect over time. This is especially evident in the pencil drawings that accompany his Songs and Letters, a mostly autobiographical collection of poetry and prose he began in 2005.

The novel was first scheduled for print publication in 2002. Michaelian published the work himself, however, in 2003, after publicly documenting the difficulties, business irregularities, and delays he experienced with the book's contracted publisher. The self-published edition can be found on his website. The title page includes a preface to the complete electronic text; the original cover art for the unpublished paperback print edition; promotional copy intended for the cover; and several short reviews. Since the author made the novel available, there has been an increase in demand for an unspecified number of review copies distributed by the publisher to the book trade prior to the time the publisher broke its contract. The original retail price for the book had been set at $14.95. According to the author, prices for a single review copy on Amazon.com have ranged from $33.00 to $707.00. In an explanatory note on the same site, he certifies the text in the review copies as authentic and complete.

William Michaelian, (born May 20, 1956) is an Armenian-American novelist, short-story writer, and poet. Born in Dinuba, California, a small town southeast of Fresno, Michaelian grew up on his family's farm. He has lived in Salem, Oregon, since 1987. His stories, poems, and drawings have appeared in literary periodicals in the United States and Armenia; his work has been performed on Armenian National Radio. His fiction and poetry have appeared in Ararat (New York), a quarterly journal devoted to literary and historical work on Armenian subjects. He is also a contributor to the multilingual Armenian Poetry Project, curated and produced in New York by Lola Koundakjian. In 2003, he launched an open online literary dialogue, "The Conversation Continues", with John Berbrich, publisher and editor of the small press literary quarterly, Barbaric Yawp (Russell, New York).