Gasp!

Call for Submissions

Roger Armbrust has asked me to post this announcement.

Call for Submissions for the Our National Conversation Series

"Our National Conversation book series covers vital American concerns including—but not limited to—water supply, health care, energy, homelessness, public education, taxation, our Constitution, as well as presidential, Congressional, judicial, and corporate accountability."

He notes that they are "primarily concerned with vital issues directly impacting the American continent, or a region thereof, but will also consider topics international in scope. Any matter affecting the common good. Accepted projects most likely will involve informational manuscripts bearing on a critical national issue, but may also range from personal and professional experiences to photojournalism."

An additional item: "For Discussion series, we'll look for tight writing, probably 150-200 typewritten pages."

The website: www.pbros.net

On a personal note, if you don't know Roger Armbrust, you should. He was national news editor for Backstage, taught writing at New York University and has a whole host of other credits to his name. I've also posted a series of interviews with him on Project 1968. He's a friend and a good guy.

To email him: jra@pbros.net

Feeling the American Century

What It Felt Like: Living in the American Century
by Henry Allen.
Pantheon Books
pg. 176, Copyright 2000.

Henry Allen's book, "What It Felt Like: Living in the American Century" is a fabulous book. Starting with 1900, each chapter is dedicated to a decade's worth of memories, product name-dropping, and random dialogue. Allen picks an underlying theme with ties each of these elements together.

In books like these, it's usually the earlier part of the decade that gets short shrift. The writing sparkles in the chapters which the author remembers. In this case, Allen's best work is done in the first few chapters. His voice is dispassionate, allowing readers to feel the full effect of the words. "You stand at attention in restaurants whenever the band plays, 'The Star-Spangled Banner,' which it does a lot, and there's a punch in the nose waiting for any man who doesn't. Sauerkraut becomes 'liberty cabbage.' German measles are 'liberty measles.'"

Renaming words was a 1910-1920 phenomena, which as you remember, played out again nearly 90 years later. Such patterns are subtly underscored throughout the book. Greed and rampant materialism appear and then disappear; waiting for each generation to discover it anew. And they always do.

From the 60s onward, the book takes a more dour tone; paranoia and narcissism laced with disappointment. Greed makes life simple in the 80s, but scheduling life becomes complicated. And the 90s, the "Whatever" decade in which technology imposed itself on relationships. In this book, he sees America as a lonely place - by choice. "Memoirs replaced novels as the fashionable sport. Internet games and chat rooms replaced social life, even offering the change to change your identity and sign on as someone else."

Allen allows readers to reach their own conclusions about the American Century. But with this evidence, it's hard not to be worried about the future.

Amazon strongarms authors

Head:Sub/Head got my attention today with his post talking about Amazon's new sales policy. It seems that Amazon will not allow books published through Lulu, iUniverse or other print-on-demand service to be sold through their site.

Why on Earth would they ever do that? Because they have their own in-house print-on-demand service - BookSurge. Of course, they will sell books published through BookSurge.

To verify the story, I checked with a few of my own online sources - including a self publishing group. For awhile, there was some debate about whether or not this new policy was rumor. But then someone provided a link to the Wall Street Journal story, and ergo, it appears that it is true.

For those who still think that self publishing is the same thing as vanity printing, it is not. It has reached a level of respectability.

Bill Mize, author of the Denton Ward and Monty Crochetti Mystery Series was nominated by the Private Eye Writers of America for The Shamus Award in 2001. Who was his publisher? iUniverse. It was the first print-on-demand book to be nominated for a major award.

Since that time, Lulu and others have come on the scene, producing attractive, quality books. Newspaper editors have a difficult time separating the "real published books" from print-on-demand books. If you don't know the signs, you'd never know the difference.

So what does this mean for the industry? In general, doors are opening for print-on-demand books. I think that there will be a backlash of monumental proportions. The Wall Street Journal suggests that Amazon's business will go up. That's highly doubtful. I can easily see Indy publishers and print-on-demand authors banding together to come up with a new way to get their work to the marketplace. And of course, let's not forget about boycotting Amazon.

As for me and Gasp, I have often linked to Amazon when talking about a book. We'll see if that continues.

Why Books are Safer than TV

I'm not in an overly paranoid mood... At least I wasn't until I read this article. Comcast turning our televisions into two-way devices? Cameras in our sets watching us? Surely you jest...

So my writer friends, the possibilities are endless. Anyone wanna come up with a good story/script/play?

And you, in the corner, we don't want to see that! COVER UP!

Reading List for 2008

You guys left some amazing recommendations for me during my time off. It's taken me a while to figure out which one resonates with me the most since they all look so good. Let's take a look at what was left in my comments section.

(Please note that the summaries are from my research on the net, and probably don't fully describe the experience of reading the book. In fact, if you have anything to add to these descriptions, feel free to comment. We all know that the net is SO reliable.)

Ether Books and the Written Word

I get a visceral thrill from books. The musty smell of old paperbacks, the slight tinge of yellow on the page. Finding little pieces of ephemera in used books makes me happy. To date, I've discovered hardware receipts from the late 1960s, notes on the meaning of certain passages, and grocery lists. People collect this stuff. What are they going to do now?

Thick books make noise. Try putting one on a table - you can feel the impact. It's noisy. All of that research in one place. These words have manifested and can now be measured. 853 pages plus a ton of footnotes. Unlike ether words, they exist in the physical world for everyone to see.

Books require nothing more than the book itself. They don't require tools to read, unless you need glasses. There are no hidden costs.

Books and death are the great equalizers. A rich man or a poor man can read a book. They can both keel over from brain tumors, but the chances of them being buried next to each other is quite slim.

Books are unique. Cover art changes, according to when a book is published. Beautiful cover paintings, like the kind you find from the pulp fiction days. Those book covers were created by artists, with very little interference from technology.

But every now and then, I need to find a quote in a thick book. Unless I put a post-it note on the page at the time I'm first reading it, I will never be able to find it again. It disappears and even if I'm able to find the quote, it is never how I remembered it. I wish there was something like a find function for thick books.

And when I get a bunch of books from the library, I have to lug them around in my bag. Those fancy backpacks are no relief for overburdened shoulders.

Sometimes, when I go on vacation, I work. Which, of course, requires bringing a bag full of books. Several years ago, me and my books took a brand new suitcase on a trip. It fell apart by the time I got to Texas. Picking out which books to bring on trips is a drag, since I always have to leave some at home, alone, where they can do no damage.

I don't know if the written word will be cheapened by these ether books. But I would love to see how the Kindle Reader handles cover art.

If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer

IF I DID IT: Confessions of the Killer
by The Goldman Family
Beaufort Books. 254 pages. $24.95

Unreliable narrator doesn’t begin to describe O.J. Simpson. Within the first pages of his text, "If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer" readers will become keenly aware of being manipulated.

Simpson’s literary voice is charming. He assures us that he will share the facts of the murder because he knows them better than anyone else. Maybe everyone is right. Maybe he did do it. What if he did? A few pages later, he assures us once again that he will tell the truth.

By the end of the book, the only certainty is that two people are dead. This man, acquitted of murder, is telling us that he did it. He is also telling us how he killed them, and why. But then, it’s all hypothetical and he’s telling us the truth.

The death of Nicole, his wife and Ron Goldman, an innocent bystander, made instant celebrities of court reporters. It riveted the country and divided a nation along racial lines. It informed the public about domestic violence and made jury nullification a household word.

Those who cheered at the nonguilty verdict will not find a rallying cry here. Simpson is all about himself. There is no mention of race. Nothing other than building a case that Nicole had it coming to her.

She was materialistic, "venomous and full of rage and anger." But it’s the domestic violence charges that annoy him the most. He didn’t hit her, he grabbed her. "The ones (bruises) on her arms – I put them there. Her face? I didn’t hit her, but it’s possible she hurt herself while we were scuffling."

In his defense of her famous 911 call: "I hit her once – not even hit her technically – and ever since that day I’d been known as a wife-beater." Hit but not hit. Kill but not kill. His capacity for rationalization is boundless.

Much is made of Chapter 6, which describes the murders, but Chapter 5 is more problematic. Throughout the text, he has built a case that Nicole’s friends were into drugs and other sordid activities. It appears that he will make a case that her friends killed her. Instead, he says, "If you’ve got kids, you’re stuck with that person for the rest of your life. It was not a pleasant thought."

He wasn’t going to be dragged down. So he killed her... Maybe. When confronted with a knife-wielding Simpson, Ron Goldman, an unlucky fellow that night, adopted a karate stance to defend himself. It only made Simpson angrier. He killed him, too... Perhaps. There are no gory details because he claims he doesn’t remember them. He only recalls being soaked in blood afterward.

So we don't really know if he killed her or not.

There is no introspection and no sense of responsibility. Even in murder, Simpson is the hero, the rescuer, the one who dispenses justice. There is no empathy.

His name isn’t in the credits. Officially, the author of this book is The Goldman Family. The copyright for Simpson’s text is under the name of Lorraine Brooke Associates. LBA, for short, was founded so Simpson could profit off the book without paying the family for the civil judgment owed them.

Both a Federal and California court ruled that the company was a sham, according to The Goldman Family’s commentary in the beginning of the book. While LBA was founded to provide money for his children, Simpson used the entire book’s advance to pay off an IRS debt and pay down his mortgage.

Pablo F. Fenjves, the ghostwriter and collaborator for the book wrote the prologue. Ironically, he also testified at Simpson’s trial – for the prosecution. Fenjves heard the dog’s wail that night. He tells us that this fact didn’t figure into the collaboration. Simpson had complete editorial control over the book and didn’t hesitate to use it.

When the Goldmans won the rights to Simpson’s text, they were also compelled by the court to publish it. A portion of the proceeds benefit the Ron Goldman Foundation for Justice. Nicole’s family fought against the book, and only later changed their minds. By then it was too late.

Regardless of how one feels about the Goldman Family or the entire affair, exposure is closure. Simpson’s narcissism, his manipulations and inability to accept responsibility are clear throughout the book.

Emerson once said that "People do not seem to realize that their opinion of the world is also a confession of their character." Ambiguity and distraction might work in the U.S. Justice system, but in this case his words convict him.

(Update: I forgot to include a small edit that was in a later draft of this review. The ambiguous chapter six paragraph was made slightly more ambiguous in this review. After all, he did did not sorta mighta maybe had something to do with whatever went on that night.)

Oh, if it were really this simple

"Books are where things are explained to you; life is where things aren't."

---Julian Barnes, author

(Courtesy of my desktop calendar - updated to fix typos, etc.)

The Book Behind the Quotes

I never blog about a book while I'm reading it since the book could redeem itself - or screw itself in the end. This book, Black Like You: Blackface, Whiteface, Insult & Imitation in American Popular Culture by John Strausbaug, is an odd duck. The book gives new meaning to the phrase "uneven." Paragraph by paragraph, it either makes an strikingly valid point or the author has written a WTF statement.

I'm posting quotes that I think are valuable, mostly for myself. If you find them interesting, cool. And if you want to argue them, then by all means... I'm not sure what or if I can defend anything just yet.

NBCC Survey for Reviewers

I received an email yesterday from the National Book Critics Circle. They would like all members to take a survey on the ethics of book reviewing.

“This past year, the NBCC Board decided it would be illuminating, particularly given the brave new blogosphere that's become a large part of our world, to ask whether ethics in book reviewing has changed, and to inquire about fresh ethical issues that have cropped up.”

It’s a mighty quick survey, and the questions had a familiar ring to them. It appears that the theater blogosphere isn’t the only tiny world that’s questioning ethics, mainstream media and blogs.

Here’s a sample of the questions asked, along with my answers.