Stan Hart won’t have to wait much longer to see his life all bound and done. Happily finished.

The order has been placed for copies of his novel; paperbacks should be available by early next week. And a proof copy of his other, nonfiction book was delivered to his bedside on Wednesday.

Which is great, because for awhile it was not clear which would be finished first, the books or Mr. Hart. Now it looks as if he’ll meet the deadline imposed on him by his cancer. Another week or so and he can die, content that he has recorded everything he wanted to in this life.

“It’s like life is a sack, and now I’ve been able to tie the endings, and it’s done,” he said. “I have nothing left to say about anything. In the epilogue [of the second book, Significant Others] I even put some of my feelings about the government, just to get it off my chest. It’s a wonderful, cathartic experience.”

But Mr. Hart, never one to keep things to himself (he says no aspect of his life remains secret), thought it was also a story.

“It’s a good human interest story,” he pitched. “About a guy who turns 80 and is racing to get his books out before the end of his life — two of them. About a guy who is not well known at all, trying to get out the big one before he dies.

“James Baldwin wrote a book years ago called Nobody Knows My Name. I want someone to know my name before I die.”

In truth, though, his name is known — although not as widely, or always as approvingly as he would like.

Mr. Hart has had six previous books printed, including one called Fumblefinger, which documented his privileged and dysfunctional upbringing and his young adulthood in such detail that some reviewers suggested he was over-sharing.

“I went right into my life and all its seedy imperfections. It shocked some people,” he said.

That remains his favorite, along with a novel, called When Truth Calls, a book he “wrote so easily I can’t believe it’s any good.”

The two forthcoming ones did not come so easily.

“I started the novel, Late in the Day, seven years ago. It’s had at least six major revisions, trying to get it right. And it’s so hard, and it’s been a long journey, but now I have it right, right under the wire.”

Trouble was, he knew there was no time to shop it around to major publishers; that could have taken years.

“To my rescue came the Tisbury Printer. They couldn’t have been better. Janet Holladay and Chris Decker. Very nice people, and they did it all in no time. I was bailed out by them. A big plug for them.”

See, it was only weeks ago that Mr. Hart realized he had only weeks to go.

“I’ve had leukemia diagnosed for about six years,” he said. “But it’s a slow form called lymphocytic leukemia. It could take 30 years to kill you, so I never worried about it.

“Then in August of 2009 I was struck down with cancer of my esophagus.”

He had radiation treatment, felt strong afterwards and still thought he could live, but the cancer metastasized and spread.

“It’s all over my body now, and I have no strength left, but I didn’t know it was terminal until about six weeks ago. So then I really had to go on these books.

“That’s the only course I had. I didn’t want to leave a bunch of manuscript pages lying around in a box. I mean, if you were an artist and you were painting a painting and got terminally ill, had a time limit, you’d want to get that damned painting done and get it in a frame, and get it on the wall of the house.”

Of the two books, Significant Others is the one that really ties up life’s loose ends.

“I went round to find significant people in my life, growing up. I found nine. One guy I hadn’t really seen since 1947, I found him out in California. I wanted to thank them for being there for me, growing up,” he said.

Then he profiled them.

The problem with that, from a book marketing point of view, is that no one would know who these people were.

“Someone told me over dinner nobody would want to read that book. So I decided I would enlarge the book with famous people I’ve known. Celebrities.”

Turns out, he’s known, or at least had unusual chance encounters with a lot of them: several presidents, lots of movie stars and sporting figures.

“I’m a recovering alcoholic. Back in the old days I drank a lot, but in classy bars. Hotels where I would meet people for companionship.”

Like, when Mr. Hart was 22, John Wayne.

“Gregory Peck I met in the American Express ticket office, after having a nervous breakdown on my honeymoon,” he said.

But of all the stories in the book, he reckons, the nine nobodies remain the most interesting.

“I think I have a hit book in Significant Others,” he said.

But more important is the feeling of having no more stories inside him, untold.

“I’m hanging in, at considerable discomfort, to get this stuff done, and then in a couple of weeks I can go to my maker.

“I’m planning to die here at home. I just want to go to sleep and not wake up. I’ve had a tumultuous life, I’m worn out by it. It’s going to be nice just to go to sleep.”

And after death?

“I’m going to be in a cemetery here on Abel’s Hill, and my kids can go over and talk to me, like I talk to my father, who’s up there. We had a lot of good times here. They can go and stand on that grave and look back,” Mr. Hart said.