[texhax] Control blank area at beginning of chapters

[Lars Madsen]

Below is my version without the use of titlesec or titletoc

I removed the use of \chapter*, \addcontentsline and \markboth, since 
that just adds unnecessary extra typing that are not needed if the 
document is designed correctly.

/daleif



\documentclass[12pt,english,oldfontcommands]{memoir}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{geometry}

\usepackage{fix-cm}
\usepackage{lettrine}
\usepackage{graphics}
\usepackage{longtable}
\usepackage{times}
\usepackage[normalem]{ulem}
\usepackage{babel}

\geometry{verbose,paperwidth=5.5in,paperheight=8.5in}

\makeatletter
\pdfpageheight 8.5in
\pdfpagewidth 5.5in
\paperheight 8.5in
\paperwidth 5.5in
\addtolength\topmargin{-0.25in}
\addtolength\oddsidemargin{-0.25in}
\addtolength\evensidemargin{-0.5in}
\addtolength\textheight{1.25in}
\addtolength\textwidth{0.75in}
\setlength\headsep{12pt}
\setlength\marginparsep{0pt}
\setlength\marginparwidth{0pt}
\setlength\footskip{0pt}


\makeatother



% TOC stuff


% add '.' after chapter numbers
\renewcommand\cftchapteraftersnum{.}
% no dots in the toc
\renewcommand\cftdotsep{\cftnodots}
% font setting for sectional entries in the TOC
\renewcommand\cftsectionfont{\normalfont}
\renewcommand\cftsectionpagefont{\normalfont}


% chapterstyle

\makechapterstyle{Dukleth}{
   \setlength{\beforechapskip}{50pt} % space above chapter heading
   \setlength{\afterchapskip}{40pt}  % space below
   \renewcommand\printchaptername{}  % no chapter name
   \renewcommand\printchapternum{}   % no chapter num
   \renewcommand\afterchapternum{}   % no \midchap
   % specifying how chapter titles should be printed, notice the use of 
\MakeUppercase
 
\renewcommand\printchaptertitle[1]{\centering\Huge\scshape\MakeUppercase{##1}}
}
% activating the style
\chapterstyle{Dukleth}

% page style, basically we do not want to write 'South Sea Tales' all
% the time, we also make use of the build in uppercasing that memoir
% uses inside these marks, then the header stuff generated by
% e.g. \chapter is enough
\makepagestyle{Dukleth}
\makeevenhead{Dukleth}{\thepage}{}{\slshape \MakeUppercase{South Sea Tales}}
\makeoddhead{Dukleth}{\slshape\rightmark}{}{\thepage}
\makepsmarks{Dukleth}{
   \createmark{chapter}{right}{nonumber}{}{}
   \createmark{section}{right}{nonumber}{}{}
   \createplainmark{toc}{both}{\contentsname}
   \createplainmark{lof}{both}{\listfigurename}
   \createplainmark{lot}{both}{\listtablename}
   \createplainmark{bib}{both}{\bibname}
   \createplainmark{index}{both}{\indexname}
   \createplainmark{glossary}{both}{\glossaryname}
}

% activating the pagestyle
\pagestyle{Dukleth}

% PART stuff
\renewcommand\printpartname{}
\renewcommand\partnumfont{\scshape\Huge}
\renewcommand\midpartskip{\par}%
\renewcommand\parttitlefont{\scshape\Huge}

% section stuff
% how far down the chain to number things
\setsecnumdepth{chapter}
\maxsecnumdepth{chapter}

\setsecheadstyle{\centering\Huge\scshape}
% space before and after a section can be controlled by
% \setbeforesecskip{-3.5ex plus -1ex minus -.2ex}%
% \setaftersecskip{2.3ex plus .2ex}%
% it is a good idea to include a bit of stretch/shrink, note that the
% space before is the absolute value of the number given, see manual
% for explanation

% simple text
\usepackage{lipsum}


\begin{document}
\frontmatter
\thispagestyle{empty}

\begin{center}
{\fontsize{30pt}{36pt}\selectfont{
\hfill{}\\}}
{\fontsize{36pt}{42pt}\selectfont{S}}{\fontsize{30pt}{36pt}\selectfont{OUTH}}
{\fontsize{36pt}{42pt}\selectfont{ S}}{\fontsize{30pt}{36pt}\selectfont{EA}}
{\fontsize{36pt}{42pt}\selectfont{
T}}{\fontsize{30pt}{36pt}\selectfont{ALES\\}}
{\fontsize{36pt}{42pt}\selectfont{
\hfill{}\\}}
{\LARGE{
\hfill{}\\
\hfill{}\\
bla, bla, bla\ldots{}\\
\hfill{}\\
\hfill{}\\}}

\end{center}
\fontsize{12pt}{15pt}\selectfont{}

\newpage{}
\thispagestyle{empty}

{\parindent=0em
Library Publication Data.

{\LARGE{
\hfill{}\\
\hfill{}\\
bla, bla, bla\ldots{}\\
\hfill{}\\
\hfill{}\\}}}

\newpage{}

% \thispagestyle{empty}
% \markboth{SOUTH SEA TALES}{CONTENTS}
\renewcommand{\contentsname}{CONTENTS}
\tableofcontents*

\newpage{}

%\chapter*{ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS}

% a bit of cheating to get 'acknowledgements' indented, but still
% easier to type than using \addcontentsline
\chapter[\numberline{}Acknowledgements][Acknowledgements]{Acknowledgements}
%\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{\numberline{}Acknowledgements}
%\thispagestyle{empty}
%\markboth{SOUTH SEA TALES}{ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS}

{\parindent=0em

 From the Project Gutenberg Ebook notices,\\
http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext98/soset11.txt:\\

{\LARGE{
\hfill{}\\
\hfill{}\\
bla, bla, bla\ldots{}\\
\hfill{}\\
\hfill{}\\}}}

\newpage{}

\mainmatter

%\chapter*{THE HOUSE OF MAPUHI}
\chapter{The House of Mapuhi}
%\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{\numberline{1.}The House of Mapuhi}
%\thispagestyle{empty}
%\markboth{SOUTH SEA TALES}{THE HOUSE OF MAPUHI}

\lettrine{D}{espite}
the heavy clumsiness of her lines, the \emph{Aorai} handled easily in
the light breeze, and her captain ran her well in before he hove to
just outside the suck of the surf.

{\LARGE{
\hfill{}\\
\hfill{}\\
bla, bla, bla\ldots{}\\
\hfill{}\\
\hfill{}\\}}

\newpage{}

``Then give me something to eat, for I am hungry,'' said Nauri,
complacently. ``And after that we will sleep, for I am weary. And
tomorrow we will have more talk about the house before we sell the
pearl. It will be better if we take the thousand French in cash. Money
is ever better than credit in buying goods from the traders.''


\section{test}


\lipsum




%\chapter*{THE WHALE TOOTH}
\chapter{The Whale Tooth}
%\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{\numberline{2.}The Whale Tooth}
%\thispagestyle{empty}
%\markboth{SOUTH SEA TALES}{THE WHALE TOOTH}

\lettrine{I}{t}
was in the early days in Fiji, when John Starhurst arose in the
mission house at Rewa Village and announced his intention of carrying
the gospel throughout all Viti Levu.

{\LARGE{
\hfill{}\\
\hfill{}\\
bla, bla, bla\ldots{}\\
\hfill{}\\
\hfill{}\\}}


\end{document}