The Invisible Library

Congratulations! We’ve Never heard of You

On top of all my school work, I’m trying to smooth out the last few wrinkles in my submission letter. Hopefully, this time I’ll be able to attract some attention from an agent or publisher instead of just another vague form-rejection letter.

This is the hard part of writing.

It’s not that the rejection letters I’ve received thus far have been negative. It’s that they’ve been neutral and impersonal. I’d almost prefer to read, “You must be kidding if you think this is publishable. Instead of sending your MS back I’ve decided to save the world the misery induced by your writing and have burned it. Enclosed you will find the ashes. Fuck you very much.”

This would at least mean they read the sample chapters.

But instead I get vague responses of, “We’re not interested in your work at this time.” Does that mean try again later? Keep trying, just not here? What?

The most aggravating rejection letter so far was the one that said they weren’t interested in even reading my MS because I wasn’t a best selling author and thus would not make them lots and lots of money but if I happened to become a best selling author they’d be happy to look over my next MS. Sort of that whole publishing catch-22: We won’t be your agent because you aren’t already published but you can’t get published without an agent.

The indie publishers I’ve sent queries to, the ones who don’t require agented middlemen, haven’t bothered to write back at all.

But am I discouraged? Yeah, slightly. But I press on, just the same.

No More Shushing, This is a Free speech Zone

John Ashcroft; or as I affectionately like to call him, Crisco Johnny, is pissing off librarians with the Patriot Act, specifically provision 2115 which requires them to hand over user records at the drop of a hat. But the librarians are fighting back.

See, people forget how important librarians are. We know where the books you want are located. If you have information needs, we have the information. That article on microfiche? I have it. And if you want it, then you’d better not step on my toes, Mr. Attorney General. Or suddenly, you might not have the legal briefs you nee to prosecute Tommy Chong for making glass pipes. “Oops, sorry, I don’t know where that law went, Mr. Ashcroft.”

Don’t fuck with Librarians. We know what you read.

A Simple Question, Late At Night

OK, I understand why Heather Has Two Mommies is on the list of 100 most banned books (at number 9). I don’t approve of it, or banning books in general but I can grasp why some people (bigots) would want to ban that one. But will someone please explain to me why Where’s Waldo is on the list? Sure it’s number 87 but why is there at all? And by having it at 87 does that mean it’s not as banned as, say, A Wrinkle in Time (23)? And is it really wose than Little Black Sambo (90)?

Still Singing

So, we were there all afternoon, in that shadowy room, and it was one of the finest afternoons I’ve ever spent, and definitely the worst interview I’ve ever done. We hardly talked. This is how he’s choosing to communicate, I realised. By singing. Which from a singer is not unreasonable - in fact it’s possibly more right, more true, than answering interview questions. Also - I turned the tape recorder off. Why? A one-on-one personal Johnny Cash concert on the sofa and you turned the tape off? Why? Answer: because I knew this was not something which could be repeated. Couldn’t be, shouldn’t be.

He did say one thing I remember: “You have to be what you are. Whatever you are, you gotta be it.”

And I came out realising that I didn’t want to be a journalist any more.

Although it was journalism that had given me this extraordinary day, I didn’t want to be the person oohing and aahing on paper about Kris Kristofferson, John Steinbeck and Johnny Cash. I wanted to be the person writing and making the stuff that makes the other people ooh and ahh. Cash loving Kristofferson’s song; Kristofferson loving the way he sang it, both of them loving Steinbeck’s book. I wanted to be one of them.

Louisa Young wrote this about a “failed” interview with Johhny Cash. It’s over at The Guradian. Read it. Then go be what you are.

Cobra Commander for President

I realized that a few of my readers may not know what I mean when I refer to the PNAC Platoon. As a budding Librarian, I am more than happy to address the needs of my users:

The Project for the New American Century [PNAC] is a non-profit educational organization dedicated to a few fundamental propositions: that American leadership is good both for America and for the world; that such leadership requires military strength, diplomatic energy and commitment to moral principle; and that too few political leaders today are making the case for global leadership.

This is from the front page of the PNAC website and was penned by none other than William Kristol, chairman of PNAC and editor of the Weekly Standard.

Personally, I’m bothered by the statement, “American leadership is good both for America and for the world; that such leadership requires military strength…” since this seems to me to boil down to good old fashioned World Domination. Think I’m exaggerating? Go read this letter concerning our need to invade Iraq. It was addressed to president Bill Clinton, on Janurary 26, 1998. Notice also that half of the names at the bottom of the letter belong to current members of the Bush administration.

These People, now in office, wanted to invade Iraq 5 years ago, using the same faulty judgment and questionable evidence presented to us by President Bush back in March. For those of you keeping track, that�s 3 years before 9/11, which sort of shoots down that whole idea of Saddam being even remotely responsible for that event, an idea that is faulty in so many ways I�m not going to even bother to dignify it by deconstructing it.

So this is the PNAC Platoon. The people who currently control our government. I don’t know about you but I’d prefer Cobra Commander to these jackasses. At least with the Commander, you know where you stood.

An Antidote to Lies

I just finished reading Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them this morning. And I have to say I want more. It was witty, inciteful and well researched. The thing that impressed me most was that Al Franken and his research assistants, TeamFranken, managed to keep a steady, even handed tone the whole way through. Sure, he called Anne Caulter and Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity names but well, they deserve it. And you can be sure he did it “On the Square” and not with even an ounce of the venom and hatred that the aforementioned pundits have heaped on him and Bill Clinton, little old Ladies and the survivors of the WTC disaster.

What also impressed me was that even though he was pointing out the most damnable and despicable lies and corruption, the book inspired me to reinitiate my own activism in getting the PNAC Platoon out of office. If you want to help, read Lies, then go to MoveOn.org. You’ll feel better, trust me.

That Dewey and His Decimal System

Who knew that the Dewy Decimal system was copyrighted? Not I. Neither did I know that there is a hotel in New York that uses the DDS to organize it’s rooms, at least not until I read about it on Neil Gaiman’s journal. Of course, they’re being sued for copyright violation because, as we all know, if just anybody were to start using the DDS, civilization as we know it would crumble. But the remains would be very well organized.

Too Much Oil in the Hummus

While waiting for our plane last Friday, I started reading After the Quake by Haruki Murakami. The six stories all center on the emotional and intellectual aftermath of the 1995 Kobe earthquake in Japan. My favorite of the six stories was �Super-Frog Saves Tokyo� in which a man who is put upon by his family and his job but who does so gladly is asked to help prevent an even worse earthquake by a giant talking frog. The frog needs him to simply believe in him so that he can go underground and fight Worm who will cause the earthquake. It�s a strange and very touching story and like the others, deals with the helplessness that people feel after horrible yet unavoidable natural catastrophes upset our daily lives. The fact that I was reading this during th eaftermath of a hurricane didn�t even strike me until just now. How weird is that?

I�ve just started reading Al Franken�s book, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them which I�m sure will add another pound of psychic tension to Bill O�Reilly. Maybe if enough people read Franken�s book Bill will have an episode on TV and they can finally ship him off to a nice quiet retirement village for overwrought, mentally undernourished talking heads.

Lies is even better than I had heard. Really. It�s that witty, informed and just plain accessible. Franken takes the lies these right wing hacks spew on a daily basis and deconstructs them one at a time, offering level headed discourse and most important of all, facts to counter the bile. The book should be required reading in every Public School Government class in the country. Do they still teach Government in High School? Or are they calling it Civics again? Or do they just watch Fox News for an hour and call that Being Informed?

Normally I�d go on a little rant here about the Neocons and their attempt to create an under educated class of surfs. But after reading the first part of Lies I�m not feeling the anger. It�s not just that Al Franken�s book makes taking the lies palatable but it gives me courage and a feeling that we can beet these asshats, not by stooping to their level but by simply and calmly staying informed and standing up. It also helps that President Chimp�s approval ratings have fallen bellow %50. Just a few more points to go before he hits the unelectable lower forties. So do your part. Go out and read Lies right now.

***
By the way, chapters 2 and 3 of The Tragic Circus are up. Take �em for a spin. Kick the tires. Let me know what you think.

Staggering in Through the Front Door, Winded

Blown off course by the hurricane, I find myself at a wedding in Boston. It’s OK though, I’ve been invited. My wife and I had fun, though I’m swearing off single malt, 17 year old scotch for the foreseeable future. I think I’m still hung over.

Barring 150 mile per hour winds, I’ll have something interesting to post tomorrow. So batten down the hatches til then.

Over at Quizilla, you can find out which Greek God you are.

I’m

Morpheus

?? Which Of The Greek Gods Are You ??
brought to you by Quizilla

I have to say, this kicks ass, since I’m a huge Sandman fan.