Avventura Press established itself as an independent imprint in 1996. The start of an adventure, as the title translates, the picture of Louis Vanvitelli's 18th-century Caserta aqueduct seemed an appropriate kind of image for it - like water, literature flows and requires a beautiful conduit to bring it to people from distant sources. Begun by Jack Dale, he published three of his books in a period of six years. His aim was to provide an outlet for stories that for various and different reasons would not be catered for by the major publishing houses. In this respect, a degree of success has been achieved. Although not all the books in rather small print runs were sold, resulting in some financial loss, where readers chose to purchase novels by a new writer and publisher, the response was uniformly excellent and encouraging. These books are still in print. However, because costs of printing, advertising and distribution have risen, conditions are exceptionally difficult for a small independent imprint, so there is at present a moratorium on further publishing despite there being some distinctive novels waiting in the lists.