Tenebris

Starfield Creations

Lulu storefront of the day for Tuesday, March 22, 2005: Andrew Dickman - Comics! Early Times, the product of Starfield Creations, which is to say of Mr. Dickman himself. He also has a blog.

Independently published novel in Kirkus Reviews

Mark Jeffrey's independently published fantasy novel The Pocket and the Pendant has been reviewed in Kirkus Reviews, which is a testament in part to Mark's ongoing application of a systematic business marketing strategy to his book. He reproduces the review on his web site. The book was also reviewed in December on Slashdot.

Verne's city under Scotland

Lulu storefront of the day for Wednesday, March 16, 2005: Jules Verne's lost novel, The Underground City, unearthed by Lulu (via the efforts of yours truly). You can read the Lulu press release here, but the more interesting material is elsewhere, in this story from The Independent UK and this one from The Scotsman.

On an unrelated note, I look forward to reading the new book by Dean Karnazes, "Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner," written about in today's NYT: "A Runner's Quest for the Ache of Life."  As some of you know, much of my spare time is spent residing on the lowest rungs of the ultramarathoning culture doing 50k's and long trail runs (as well as more conventional marathons). I especially appreciated Karnazes' assertion, in defense of this mad activity, "Dostoyevsky had it right: 'Suffering is the sole origin of consciousness.' "

Administering Oracle Applications, the books of Barbara J. Matthews

           

Lulu storefront of the day for Tuesday, March 15, 2005: Barbara J.  Matthews, author of Administering Oracle Applications Releases 10.7/11.0  (or, Herding Cats Made Easy) and other technical books, and publisher of a small cluster of genealogy books including Whispering Mountains:  A History of Lewis, New York.

As usual, the curious titles being published through Lulu fly past me at a speed beyond my ability to capture them here. Just to get a few out of my system while I'm thinking about it:

•  ASIA.PERU Exports, details of Latin American (Peruvian) fruit trees that are cultivated in Singapore, Asia-Pacific, their growers and other Peruvian exports
• Some Assembly Required: 53 Illustrated Sermons, illustrated sermons for use by ministers to aid in preparation of sermons, by Pastor Chris Bowen of Living Faith Tabernacle in Forest Park, Georgia.
• Habitat for Humanity Charlotte Construction Manual; Approved Home Building Methods, by Anna Gallant Carter.
• Luciferian Witchcraft, by Michael Ford
• The Ultimate Tattoo Guide, by D. Herren
• Clever Homes: The New Home Building Technology, by Scott Redmond

A Guide to Classic Pinball Machines

           

Lulu storefront of the day for Monday, March 14, 2005: The PinBotz Guide to the Greatest Pinball Machines of the 80's and 90's, by Kevin Strasser. [the Pinbotz slogan: Art + Science = Pinball]

Writing about writing

Having reached a stage in my life in which one of my least favorite genres is writing about writing, or about teaching writing, or about the powerful force for self-discovery that writing can be, I nevertheless found this brief, simple essay in the Chronicle of Higher Education to be moving: "Learning From My Students," by Laurel Santini. Santini has the unenviable job of teaching writing at a community college, but recognizes the importance of the work even in the midst of its tedium.

I would pray for a foot of snow, for plumbing failures, for a fire that wouldn't hurt anyone -- anything to cancel class. All of those things happened, but class, like the light at a Motel 6, was always on. My teaching career was like a stale marriage, where even on the edge of an argument there is only apathy. I couldn't write; I barely read. I rewarded myself for grading a stack of papers with a glass of wine. It's probably safe to say that when one has fantasies about becoming a migrant worker, something has to change.

Speaking of writers' narratives of their own experiences, this is as good a time as any to post a note I received a couple of weeks ago from Jules Siegel, the author and publisher of Cancun User's Guide and Mad Laughter, among other works. Siegel originally posted it to the discussion group at NEWSROOM-L@LISTS.NETSPACE.ORG, but he has given me permission to publish it here as well. The post was prompted by questions asked about independent publishing by another user, whose name I've blocked out. This author's experience and outlook are instructive, largely because he has been writing for some time and has quite a bit of experience with both conventional (magazine) publishing and independent publishing.

########## wrote:

I'm now wondering if printing on demand is now a serious option for a writer who has to live from his or her pen. 

In my case, it's my only option. Political problems aside, publishers don't like my work for a variety of reasons that I discuss in the introduction to Mad Laughter. I understand their concerns about books fitting a distribution slot, but I feel that much of that is really a cover for censorship.

A long answer follows here, so jump ahead if easily bored by windbag authors talking about their own works.

Mad Laughter is a difficult book for a conventional publisher for several reasons:

[1] Although it fits the drug confessional slot, I fail to show any remorse for my drug use. I don't feel it ruined my life. To the contrary, I make it clear that I feel it made me a better person, although there were some negative consequences.

[2] I designed the book myself. I'm not aware of any modern author outside the graphic novel genre who has been allowed to design his own book, much less set it in type and illustrate it. This is a crucial issue for me. I'm a much better graphic designer than most of the people who work for book publishers. I agree that many of them have a much greater command of book design nuances than I do, but there's no way that they can integrate design and text the way I do. See <http://www.madlaughter.com/digital.htm> for more on this, especially the illustration of book covers toward the bottom of the story.

[3] Mad Laughter is explicitly sexual involving real people. It includes a vivid description of a wet dream and several nude photographs, one of which is blindingly beautiful but way too revealing for a conventional publisher, more like something by Bob Guccione than Edward Weston.

[4] There is no plot, no encounters with famous people (although I interviewed many), no gimmicks or hooks. Parts of the book are pages from my journals in my own handwriting, presented without any explanation, along with other pages from my unpublished typewritten manuscripts. The design is very coherent, indeed, a bit rigid and conventional, but the style of the text varies from chapter to chapter (and sometimes within chapters), depending on what was going on in my life when I wrote any given segment. I deliberately did not iron this out. I think this may be one of the most significant obstacle to Mad Laughter's publication by a mainstream house.

Example: In 1977, the publisher of Horizon Books was very seriously interested in publishing the work, but he pointed out that it contained many contradictions. In one place, he said, I complimented myself for my honesty. In another, I revealed that soemthing I had written was a lie. He felt that I had to eliminate the contradictions before he could publish the book. I didn't feel that way.

[5] I come off too confident and self-appreciative, although quite rueful about my many failings, especially the way I treated the women in my life.

The late David Boehm, publisher of the American edition of the Guinness Book of World Records, my long-time friend, tried very hard to get the original version of Mad Laughter published in 1980. He felt that the last point was probably the most significant. They like the author to come off as a jerk, he said. Publishers feel that the worst thing about publishing is the author, he explained. They would prefer to publish books without authors, he told me.

When he agreed to help me after reading it, he made a list for me of all the reasons the book was impossible to publish. I wish I had saved it. My heart fell when he showed this to me. I said, "So you don't like it."

"No, no," he replied. "I *loved* it. I just can't publish it and I don't believe that anyone else will either. Look, Jules, they don't make decisions in any rational way. They are more concerned about what people like Roger Straus will say at literary cocktail parties than whether or not a book will actually sell. Your book is too embarassing for them. It's too Californian. It glorifies drugs and hippies and sex. This is New York. They hate all that. You have to condemn drugs. Sex has to be painful and weird. Hippies have to be dirty street people, not heroic social workers without portfolio. So it doesn't matter how well written it is. They won't publish it. They definitely will not let you handle the design either. Even mentioning that or showing them a dummy could kill it before they even read it."

Despite that, Dave paid to have the manuscript professionally typed and Xeroxed and bound and he set up an auction. Every publisher who was invited to participate asked to see the book, and he had to have more copies made. Only two replied, Ted Solotaroff (who complained that the book sounded as if it were spoken rather than written -- duh, amazing how they get the exact point and then punish you for it), and Gordon Lish, who was then a fiction editor at a mainstream house (and a very big fan of my work).

Gordon regretfully sent it back and called me himself to tell me that he couldn't publish it. Cutting him off, I said bitterly, "So it's not a good book." He replied, "I didn't say that. It's a great book, Jules. I just can't publish it."

Now this may sound incredibly self-serving, but I have gotten precisely the same answer, in almost the same words, from two other mainstream publishers during the last two years. One actually put it in writing in a letter so appreciative that I at first thought it was an acceptance.

You reach a point in your life where you have to face reality. I don't have a lot of time left. I will enter my 70th year in October. Last Sunday, Anita and I walked past the tall hedges and thick wild Australian pines bordering the golf course facing the lagoon, and we talked very calmly about my making a will. My only property consists of my writings. I have to get them into publishable shape the way I want them to be published before it is too late.

I feel an intense pressure to finish my books so that I can leave Anita something that will pay back even a little of her goodness when I am gone. Our children can take care of themselves, I'm sure (actually they are already beginning to take care of us), but Anita gave up everything that her generation's feminist ideals hold worthy to dedicate herself to our children and to my independence as an artist. It crushes my heart to think of her having to struggle in my absence or -- worse -- to feel that she threw her own chances away on someone else's folly.

Do such books sell, and can you use such venues as Amazon to sell them? 

They sell. I earned $186.82 in royalties for January, the first month Cancuncun User's Guide was onsale. And yes, you can get them on Amazon and other online book outlets, and in bookstores as well. It involves a lot of very tedious work. This is discussed at some length by Dorothy Mills at <http://www.cafecancun.com/bookarts>

What are the requirements for an author to be able to sell books on demand--does he have to be known,

Become known, yes.

have a good website,

Very big yes.

have been published widely, etc.?

No.

Do you need special equipment,

Just a computer and a word-processor.

or a company that prints and binds the books?

I'm very satisfied with <http://www.lulu.com>, one of the few companies that doesn't require an advance order or set-up fee. The customer service is just superb. I was especially pleased by the way they corrected a billing error and refunded the PayPal charges in less than two hours after being notified.

HazMat Training

           

Lulu storefront of the day for Friday, March 11, 2005: Industrial HazMat Technician Level Training Manual by John Sherrill. There's not much of a storefront, really, but I do love the cover of this book. Looks like I do when  emptying the cat litter box.

[On an unrelated note, those interested in copyright reform should remember that the coming week brings the deadline for public comment on Orphan Works.]

Puritan Publications

Lulu storefront of the day for Wednesday, March 9, 2005: Puritan Publications, publisher of A Simple Overview of Covenant Theology and The Two Wills of God, by Dr. C. Matthew McMahon.

Guide to Alternate Reality Gaming

   

Lulu storefront of the day for Tuesday, March 8, 2005: Immersive Gaming, home of This Is Not A Game: A Guide to Alternate Reality Gaming (First Digital Edition), by Dave Szulborski, a book which "promises to be a how-to resource for the casual game developer and media strategists wishing to explore the genre of alternate reality gaming (ARG), also called immersive gaming. " (from the press release)

Malcontent Games

Lulu storefront of the day for Saturday, March 5, 2005: Malcontent Games, home of Rêve: the Dream Ouroboros, a role-playing game.

[And more from the Games category.]

Lions commentary on Unix

Lulu storefront of the day for Friday, March 3, 2005: Lions' Commentary on UNIX.

This one is a bit of a mystery to me. There's no real storefront on Lulu, but the book is still available via various sellers on Amazon.com, and the publisher, Peer to Peer Communications, still maintains a web site (where, curiously, no link to the book on Lulu appears). The Lions Book also warrants its own Wikipedia entry. [Not to be confused with Lions' Commentary on Eunuchs.]

250,000 images: The New York Public Library digital gallery goes online

I am pleased to note that the New York Public Library's Digital Gallery went online today, although the servers are so hammered I haven't been able to view many images. The Gallery was

developed to provide free and open online access to thousands of images from the original and rare holdings of the Research Libraries. Spanning a wide range of visual media, NYPL Digital Gallery offers digital images of drawings, illuminated manuscripts, maps, photographs, posters, prints, rare illustrated books, and more. Encompassing the subject strengths of the vast collections of the Research Libraries, these materials represent the applied sciences, fine and decorative arts, history, performing arts, and social sciences. (link via OL Daily)

The site offers the ability to order  "8" X 10" color Fujix prints - in glossy or matte finish    - from digital captures between 300 dpi and 400 dpi are available for purchase    at $30.00 per print," which makes me wonder who exactly will be reaping the profits from the sale of these images--presumably the NY library and its delivery & fulfillment partner. I wonder if it is Zazzle? I couldn't tell from the order process, although it seems unlikely in that Zazzle offers a much greater range of delivery options.

       

The collection includes a section I plan to revisit often, Classic Illustrated Zoologies and Related Works, 1550-1900, and where I hope to find the inspiration for next year's Umstead Trail Marathon logo (an event I help coordinate each year).

Rangefinder Photography

           

Lulu storefront of the day for Thursday, March 3, 2005: Rangefinder Photography: 25 Photographers, One Passion--a book of photographs taken entirely using Rangefinder cameras, and published by the folks behind the Rangefinder Forum.

Operation Blogfest, the novel

Lulu storefront of the day for Wednesday, March 2, 2005: Operation: Blogfest -- A Novel of Bloggers, Terrorism, Love and Loyalty, by Lila Meyer (Mamamontezz). Interesting.

Hitherby Dragons: Primal Chaos

Lulu storefront of the day for Tuesday, March 1, 2005: Hitherby Dragons: Primal Chaos, collected stories and columns by Rebecca Borgstrom, who is also the creator of a role-playing game called Nobilis.

[I posted a week or so ago about a growing number of RPG books on Lulu.]