IMPAVIDE PUBLICATIONS was established in 1997 so that I might publish my father's memoirs about his WWII and CIA experiences. I did not want this excellent bit of history to be subject to the whims of a commercial editor whose eye might be too firmly fixed on the bottom line to appreciate all the wonderful lines above it. At the time, I really had no idea that I would be an author as well. Perhaps, like the Scarecrow in the "Wizard of Oz," who didn't believe he was intelligent until the Wizard gave him a diploma, I didn't consider myself an author until I had a publishing house. Four books, a play, and a choral piece later, I guess - with the help of some expert friends - I am one.

I took "Impavide" (from the Latin meaning "bold," or "fearless") from our family motto going back many centuries. Anyone starting an enterprise like this after having retired twice already might be excused from immodestly applying such a soubriquet to himself. I hope you will indulge me. The shield is a bit of family heraldry that we have traced back to the 1500's, but it probably goes back to the Norman conquest of England. The horse (caballo, in Spanish; cheval, in French); the "k" and the bell; and the ship's "cable:" all are plays on the name "Cabell." The date, 1726, is the date our first ancestor arrived in America.

IMPAVIDE PUBLICATIONS will be branching out. Already we plan a follow-up to "Chordially Yours," our book on harmony, and we have just published a book of poems by a remarkable poet, Price Strobridge, called "Unmasking the Heart." After that, I may do a book on "Systems Engineering for Managers," a subject that I spent many years doing and teaching.

Charles P. Cabell Jr., President