Happy Anniversay, AK Press!

This year is the 20th anniversary of AK Press, the premier anarchist book publisher. 20 years is a long time for any publisher these days. For a publisher of leftist, radical literature it is almost unheard of.

Here's to another 20, AK. Keep up with the good work.

The Crying

I'm trying my hand at writing some fast, dark, twisted pieces for Associated Content. Here is the first out of the bunch.


The Crying

Fiction Up

I've decided to start putting some of my old fiction up on Associated Content. You can find an odd one I wrote called "Comedy Night at the Fine and Dandy" (link below) there until someone complains.

I may post more. The more people who read it, the more money I make, so it seems like a good deal. We shall see.

Comedy Night at the Fine and Dandy

The Cannibal Manuscript

No word yet on the manuscript I sent out. I can't tell if that is good or bad. Based on timelines given, I should be hearing from the publisher any day now. I continue to fear that the manuscript's length will be a problem.

I don't expect the publisher to take it. I never do. When you write, rejection is the status quo. However, I would be thrilled if I was wrong for once. Perhaps rejection would be best, too, as I would wind up shopping it around to other publishers who may give me better opportunities.

Horror is not a hard sell, but good horror is. Right now it seems like publishers all want teen vampire love stories or women who cavort with werewolves. This is not horror. This is soap opera with horror elements. Backwoods cannibals who terrorize a family is not sexy. It won't attract the teen crowd to read it or see a movie made of it. It is bloody and brutal, and there isn't a good ending that leaves the reader filled with hope. There are no funny or romantic moments.

That's where I think most of my problems will come from.

I know it is written well. I'm sure there are places it needs editing beyond me. I am fine with that. I just don't want rejection (again) because it is too depressing or dark. That will put me over the edge with this thing, and I may just beat up the first Twilight fan I come across.

Alice in Wonderland, Meet the Living Dead

I'm sure people are looking forward to the Living Dead Dolls in Wonderland book coming out soon. You can read a piece I did for Associated Content on this here:
The Living Dead Invade Wonderland

Mixing creepy dolls with a timeless story is a good way to move product, but this book is more than just another unit. It's made as a collectible, and I think it will do well. Book collectors will want it due to its rarity. Living Dead Doll fans will want it. Alice fans will want it, too. Lots of crossover appeal here. Will I buy it? No. It's too much money for too few pages, and I'm not a huge fan of the properties, though the dolls are cool, and I have a few.

The story of Alice and Wonderland is a classic, and it's enjoyed by all sorts of different people. In fact, I think it's the one story loved by literature fiends and LSD addicts. I can't think of another story that has the same type of appeal. The upcoming Tim Burton film will only help things in this regard.

If creepy dolls in classic stories are your thing, I imagine you'll grab this book quicker than you can say, "Depp rules!" You're gonna have to be quick, though. There's less than 2,000 first editions being printed. If you don't care about what edition you get, though, you may get lucky and Mezco, the company putting it out, will do a second printing. If not, well, enjoy the high prices on eBay

Required Reading

Anyone who is a political junkie of the progressive variety has heard the name Noam Chomsky. The famous linguist, anarchist, speaker is one of the most quoted people on the planet (just not in America), and he has a virtual library of reading by and about him. He changed the way I watched and read the news, and if any one of his books don't have you heading for a dictionary you aren't reading closely enough.



AK Press,which is an essential publisher of political material, has plenty by Chomsky. (And if you're a Friend of AK Press you'd get all his AK Press books delivered to your door by a uniformed government agent as they are hot off the presses.) AK Press isn't the only publisher of his work, either, but it should be noted that due to what he writes, mainstream publishers are hesitant to publish him.

Chomsky doesn't write to tell you "how it is." He writes to tell you that you should look these things up for yourself to see if you agree that this is how the world works. American dominance, capitalistic greed, war, control -- these are all issues he covers. His thoughts are not just random bits, either. He backs up what he writes about with copious footnotes (hundreds a book usually) so that you can go to the source material and see for yourself. Try getting Rush Limbaugh to do that.



Someday Chomsky will no longer be with us. I'm sure many of his publishers will keep his work in circulation as long as possible. My main concern, though, is that no one will step up to the plate to carry on where he has left off. There are other writers attempting it, but none seem to put it together as well as Chomsky does. His knowledge is broad and amazing. His informational resources are vast. He makes the connections that should be obvious, but aren't. Once you see them, however, you can't turn away.

Chomsky is, quite simply, required reading for anyone into politics. Left or right. Agree with or not. You can't make any argument you want, but you can't say he doesn't get you to think, which may be the most important job of all.