A damn good book... FREE!
Escape From the Future and Other Stories
I am not afraid, but I am concerned, and angry, about the bias against traditional authors like myself in Big NYC Publishing. Early on I managed to publish a series (3 books) with Putnam/Berkley in the mid-90s. Then one with St. Martin’s Press in 2004. But after that, it became just about impossible. The power of the story and the quality of the writing used to be the criteria. But in the new woke-world, it’s not about that. It’s all about the message, the culture, the memes, and the story world.
There are new rules, unpublished, but everyone knows what they are. In sci-fi/fantasy, time-travel, pseudo Historicals, female characters MUST BE ‘strong,’ not strong in spirit or morals, but strong, as in tough, hard fisted. If they can wield a sword or a laser, that’s even better. Men characters should be submissive to and supportive of, these strong women. Watch your ‘world-building.’ If you’re writing a thriller, the world you build had better be one where the ‘good gals/guys’ are ‘green,’ or they’re Robin Hood-types, taking from the rich to give to the poor. The bad guys must be greed-bag industrialists, with names like Sven, or Hans, maybe Schmidt. Think of the KISS formula- keep it simple, sweetheart. The evil antagonists must always be white; the heroes must always be minorities, preferably black, but perhaps black and Hispanic or black and Asian. Oh… and there’s a new hero in town, the ‘Trans.’
The Trans is new to fiction. He, she, it, they, them, us, what tha fuh, scuse me, wattevah… You must get their pronouns right if you’re gonna put Trans people in your stories. Otherwise, you’ll never get past the soy-boi and femmigurl acquisition editors and interns.
Well, I ain’t down with any of that bullshit. I still prefer the real world to the woke one. And my latest book demonstrates that. My latest is a ‘reality attack’ on woke. Like a slap in the face, it is designed to compassionately bring people back to reality.
When you write something like that, you have to ‘self-publish.’ And I do these days. But I have ‘people.’ I have a good story editor, and a wonderful illustrator, and a formatter. My books are every bit as good in those regards as are books out of the big New York Publishing houses.
But because the book does not have the imprimatur of a ‘House,’ people are wary. So, the big challenge is getting eyes on your book, and then, hopefully, WOM, that is, ‘word of mouth’ sales. If you don’t, your book will languish with millions of awful things that never should have been published. (Sorry for judging, but I've seen some of them and I know they're out there.)
So, to get people to try my latest book, I’m giving it out for free for the next four days. You know, sort of like the pretty young ladies with trays of donut holes standing outside the bakery… I’ll provide a link below.
Literary question of the day: Did you know that Margaret Atwood, Salman Rushdie, and Michel Houellebecq are contenders for this year's Nobel Literature Prize. I wonder who will win. 😉 My money is on Margie.
Please download a copy of my book, Escape From the Future and Other Stories. Even if you’re not a fan of Speculative Fiction, just downloading it will boost its ranking and perhaps drive other sales. Plus, you’ll be sending a little love to this crabby old scribbler.
Thank you!
In the natural world, I believe, some species succeed via tricks such as protective coloration and mimicking other animals. That might come in handy in making publishers think a manuscript will serve their interests when the author has other fish to fry.
A couple very successful books come to mind. One is Tara Westover's "Educated," which the East Coast publishers must have seized upon because it confirmed their prejudices about people in flyover country. While I don't think that author had a subversive intent, what she seems to have wanted was not so much an exposé of her family's culture as just an honest coming to terms with her past. A better example is "Hillbilly Elegy," likewise attractive to publishers, I'm sure, as a way of dumping on all those low-brow types outside the NY - DC corridor. Except J.D. Vance used it as a springboard hopefully to a seat in the Senate.
So maybe the answer is to be a little indirect or ambiguous. (The average reader in publishing houses is no rocket scientist, after all.) Ponder ways of letting them think your next story can support the accepted narrative--when actually it doesn't. There must be other examples of this.
Incidentally, I often think of the scene in your book "In the Shape of a Man" when the guy giving the nature tour warns about invasive species even while mouthing the platitude that no human is illegal. There will always be room for that kind of irony!