id: halfire_press
region_id: mirror_coast
city_id: avenford
display_name: The Halfire Press
kind: publisher
character: |
  An old literary publisher in Avenford. Older than anyone working there, passed down through four families in succession, independent through every consolidation wave. Operates out of three floors of a narrow townhouse with a street-level reading room open to anyone. Publishes around thirty titles a year — literary fiction, essays, and a small philosophy list kept alive more from principle than profit. Its imprint is recognised across the world, and turning down an offer from Halfire is a kind of minor career milestone in itself. Rights to copy-edit are fought over. The editor-in-chief writes a column for the weekend papers that no one important admits to reading.