Communications student publishes second book

Logan Benedict, first-year communications student at Delaware Technical Community College Owen’s Campus, published his second book, “fagart.” The book was published February 2017 and holds 112 pages of Benedict’s poetry coupled with artistic photography.

Benedict said he has always been a creative person. When it came time to complete his high school senior project, a graduation requirement, he said he chose to publish his first book, “Search + Destroy.”

“’Search + Destroy’ was a really hefty portfolio of art I made throughout my high school career,” he said. “It’s 230 pages of my art and articles of people I interviewed.”

He said he didn’t feel he would be represented to his fullest in the school yearbook, so he made his own in creating “Search + Destroy.”

“All of my art encompasses a theme of fragility - being I’m a feminine man in society with a different personality and a gender identity that contradicts the binary,” Benedict said. “My mind’s stuck in the 1980s, I have a mullet, and I wear lipstick. When you’re both gay and weird, nobody knows where to put you.”

Benedict said he was compiling his creative work for years and wanted to produce a physical manifestation of his art. He searched online for ways to self-publish a book and found www.CreateSpace.com, a www.Amazon.com company.

“Basically, Create Space was the vehicle for getting my book made and out there,” he said. “I uploaded my manuscript to them and they made it into a book.”

Benedict said he put his manuscript together in Microsoft Word. Once he had all his pages together, he uploaded it to the Create Space platform. He said the website then gave him a web view of how the book would look and guided him through an editing process. After completing edits, he said the book went through the proof process.

“After approving the proof, I picked the finish for the cover, wrote my biography and summary, picked a price range based off their production and manufacturing costs, and selected options for distribution,” he said. “I could choose whether I wanted it to be available in libraries, if I wanted it to be indexed, and where it could be sold.”

Although he was proud of his first book, Benedict said he was not happy with the suggested price range, and in being self-professed perfectionist, he saw a lot of flaws in “Search + Destroy.” He said he knew he would put together another book because his first one did not encapsulate his true vision.

His first book was published January 2016 and by the end of the same year, he said he began working on his second book, “fagart.” He said he decided to make a smaller book of his art and poetry just from 2016 alone. He expressed he had grown emotionally and his art had progressed through the year.

“’fagart’ is a collection of poems and self portraits all about my experiences in 2016 with love, lust, and loss,” he said. “It’s basically a really intimate diary of a year in my life with a major theme of heartbreak.”

Benedict said he self-published “fagart” in the same fashion as his first book, but with more experience. He feels he was able to give people a more manageable and affordable book option.

To add more detail and further capture his voice in “fagart,” he said he created and used a font made out of his own handwriting.

“When you open my book, you see my face, you see poetry about my life, and you see my handwriting,” he said. “It can’t get any more personal than that.”

Benedict said his future is blurry right now. He said he’s in the Communications program because it’s such a broad major. He said he’s currently gravitating toward photography, newswriting, and film with hopes of eventually joining the world of journalism or something in the arts.

Regardless of his current studies, he said he has caught the publishing bug, always has ideas brewing, and plans to produce more books in the future.

“I’m obsessed with ‘fagart’ right now, so maybe I’ll wait a little longer before publishing a third book,” Benedict said. “I’d rather wait on another really good idea and see where it takes me.” “But I really like using the mediums of poetry and art mixed together,” he added. “Prose coupled with photography helps people understand my vision.”

Michael Husni, Middletown High School Spanish and theatre teacher, first came to know Benedict during his freshman Spanish class and has supported Benedict’s work ever since.

Husni said he was the first to purchase a copy of “Search + Destroy.”

“I wanted to become Logan’s first patron because he has an incredibly unique sense of voice and honesty in his writing,” Husni said. “Through his writing, Logan has engaged a more precise dialogue of gay culture than anyone else I’ve experienced in my life.”

Husni said he appreciates Benedict’s courage in choosing to focus on potentially risque topics.

“It’s very easy to allow writing like Logan’s to become heavy-handed, but I continue to appreciate the reflective tongue-in-cheek voice he uses when he hits on some really emotionally charged themes,” Husni said. “In nearly every piece, I hear the sounds of a comically self-loathing artist who I cannot help but want to hear more from.”

In the future, Husni said he hopes Benedict’s work will gain a huge following online or in galleries.

“Not everyone is going to like the content of Logan’s writing, but I find it hard to believe that anyone could look past the truthfulness and enchanting vulnerability Logan can accomplish in just a few words,” Husni said. “When he talks about his life, we could read narcissist or we could place ourselves between the letters to find connections to our own humble lives – faulted, imperfect, and yet still able to talk about the guilty pleasures that get us through each day.”

Ryan Hackal, senior at Laboratory Institute of Merchandising (LIM) in New York, has known Benedict for more than two years and is a fan of both “Search + Destroy” and “fagart.”

“Logan has this innate ability to take his pain and turn it into something thoughtful and beautiful,” Hackal said. “Not only are his artistic abilities inspiring, he also has a way with words that goes well beyond his 19 years.”

Hackal said both of Benedict’s books are uniquely raw and honest, allowing readers to see the artist’s soul.

“Nowadays, everyone is either phony and fake or a copy of someone else, but I truly think Logan’s beautiful individuality will take him far in life,” Hackal said.

“fagart” can be purchased for $14.99 here.

“Search + Destroy” can be purchased for $32.50 here.

Communications student Logan Benedict recently published his second book, "fagart." Photo by K. Rohrbaugh.

Video by K. Rohrbaugh

Above, Logan Benedict’s second book, “fagart.” Below, his first book, “Search + Destroy.” Photos from amazon.com.