Leopold Borstinski's Blog, page 33

Inappropriate feminism words of 2017

I know it’s late to mention, but I can’t help myself: here are some of the words of 2017. The only reason I reach back a month or two is because of the resonance with what’s been going on in 2018 too.

The doublethink of “inappropriate” makes sexual molestation and rape sound like a minor misdemeanour. Classic. The power of language to change how you feel about what people do. It is up there with “collateral damage” for the murder of a civilian by a member of the armed forces.

Over the last few years, I have seen women apologise for being feminist (no idea why) and others apologise for not being feminist, but now the word has ceased to hold the disrepute the so-called “alt-right” have tried to attach to it.

Of course, alt-right is a piece of doublethink in itself. The people who are called alt-right nowadays used to be called neo-Nazi or cryptofascist. The implication that there is an alternative to being right wing that is more right wing than average is apparently acceptable. Not with me it ain’t.

If any of this has offended your political sensibilities then suck it in. Nice.

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Fury and no fire at Fire and Fury

As most of the Western world has noticed by now, there’s a book been released about the presidency of one Donald Trump – called Fire and Fury. Those on the right are aghast that free speech in America means lefties can publish alleged truths about righties. Those on the left consumed the text to reaffirm their convictions that the man should be convicted.

Me? I don’t care. To be clear: I don’t care about the book; I do care that someone I didn’t elect (as I don’t live in the US) has so much power over my life. So the content might be true or it might be not. I am in no position to judge so I don’t – at least not on this issue.

Why mention the thing at all? Well, I read an interesting take on the whole affair which boiled down to the front cover design: why was it so rubbish?

Perhaps the idea was to find something fresh to say, which was controversial, about an already controversial book. Dunno. But I actually disagree with the article. The stark, simplistic design perfectly echoes the content. It screams out: I am a non-fiction book about politics. The picture of Trump supplements this idea by honing the message about politics to a simple phrase: Donald Trump. What more does it need to do?

I have just been figuring out what the front cover of Powder is going to look like. The tale is crime fiction and focuses on the business of drug dealing: cocaine, heroin and the like. And I also wanted to add an air of mystery and not make it a white mountain reminiscent of every scene of the de Palma version of Scarface.

That’s all.

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The Getaway has Got Away

Several months later than I envisaged, The Getaway is finally going live on Amazon on Feb 12, 2018. Thank you to those newsletter subscribers who took advantage of my pre-release offer and thanks to everyone else who buys the book in the future.

I can say without any fear of contradiction there is blood, sweat and tears in the pages. All metaphorical, I hasten to add. You’ll be purchasing an electronic book which is an exact facsimile of the original I uploaded to the Amazon servers. No blood, no sweat and no tears will drip out of your e-reader of choice.

For me, the good news is I’ve already started on the next installment of the Lagotti Family saga. This one is called Powder and covers the lives of the Lagotti clan two years after The Heist and The Getaway.

Part of my motivation in writing these particular stories is to get inside the heads of people who steal vast quantities of money. I don’t mean in that tiresome “Oh, why do they do such a thing?” way. Instead, I am always more concerned with the banality of wrongdoers. I doubt very much that felons do what they do for the adventure. It’ll be for the money, mostly. This means that much of the time they are just like you and me: living through the tedium of their lives one step at a time. If they entered the criminal life for the adrenaline rush, they’d be far better off trying to cross the road in front of an oncoming bus. Much easier to organize and if you survive the attempt, you can do repeat the experience only a few minutes later.

It’s all about the money and the dullness of waiting to get the money, deal with the money and then hide the fact you’ve got some money. The Lagottis live inside that world. Does that mean the read is as tedious as their lives? Hope not. There is tension, fear and excitement (but I would say that, wouldn’t I?). But the heart of the drama is not a series of set-piece explosions but the relationships between the characters. It is my version of crime noir.

Fill your boots.

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Bloomsbury Blames Brexit for Bashing Britain

Far be it from me to write anything about Brexit but a major publisher has pointed out that post-Brexit (I shudder just typing the phrase), the UK will no longer have the same rights over the English language as it did before the UK voted to stab itself in the eye repeatedly until dead.

How so? Under EU conventions, the UK traditional publishers hold rights over English versions of published works across the EU. Once the UK leaves the club then they will be treated as any other non-EU member might be and will be forced to compete with, say, US publishing giants for the rights to publish works in English in the EU.

And the result? Less money made by UK publishing companies so less money to invest in new authors. Profits will be down and you can bet there’ll be a reduction in the number of big publishing houses within ten years. That’s how markets operate.

Of course, that is no argument for suggesting there should be a second referendum. But I hope common sense will prevail at some point in the proceedings. Surely?

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UK Literary Fiction in Crisis: Phones to Blame

I don’t want to spread fear and panic across the Internet – and I surely won’t – but hot news from the UK’s Arts Council is that sales of literary fiction are down. The reason? People prefer Candy Crush.

Seriously. Literary fiction is difficult and costly and people prefer to play cheaper games on their smartphones. That’s what we’ve been given, ladies and gentlemen. You cannot make this up.

For clarity, the data is culled from Nielsen and covers physical sales, as far as I can see. And if it is Nielsen data then you know it ignores self-published novels. What I find most interesting is the assumption that traditional literary fiction is expensive. Let’s face it, the cost of production of a 400 page novel is the same whether it is Shakespeare or a Drongo as the author. This means literary fiction is expensive because traditional publishers make it so. Big whoop.

The other element that made me titter was the idea that the target market for Candy Crush (it is explicitly cited as an app) is the same as for some grandiose statement on the human condition. Methinks not.

On a more positive note, the same data trawl showed that the crime genre is alive and well, although most of the victims are quite naturally dead.

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Is Jane Austen a bad writer?

There has been a series of online discussions about the qualities or otherwise of female writers, centered around a totemic Jane Austen. More specifically, there have been a number of men who have complained about the literary ability of female writers and this has created a social media storm.

Now, I am male and I did not enjoy the Jane Austen novels I read when I was younger. I can imagine there is a genuine connection between those two facts. Chances are teenage boys do not respond positively to nineteenth century tales based on relationships and so on. I liked the Dickens I read so I was able to respond positively to some writing from that period.

But I do not believe that makes Jane Austen a bad writer. It makes me a bad reader for a Jane Austen novel – and that is very different.

I also accept that the portrayal of the lot of women and the social fabric of nineteenth century England contained in those novels is exemplary. When I read them, those issues were low on my priority list and so I  remain silent about them today. My ignorance laid bare for all to see.

Does this make all Chick-Lit essentially good because it reflects female experience in the world? No. It makes good Chick-Lit good and the rest remains the dreck that it is. Why? Because crap is crap whoever writes it.

If I am asked the question whether Chick-Lit is undervalued because it is generally written by women and often aimed at them as the primary readership then I will agree. But I am not best placed to judge it as it’s not my genre.

See? Sometimes instead of reading people flame each other across the Internet, you can listen into a civilised monologue and get matters resolved once and for all.

Sorted.

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One hundred years of Clarke, Arthur C

During my hiatus due to festive times, the centenary anniversary of a great writer came and went: Arthur C Clarke. As a teenager, I was enthralled by his science-fiction tales that tasted of science. And anyone involved in the screenplay of the film 2001: A Space Odyssey deserves a mention any day of the year.

In the article duly linked above, there is an honest summary of his failings as well as his strengths. I am tempted to position him as a man trapped in his times: the 40s-60s were hardly the high point for female emancipation in the mainstream media. This lets him off the hook and in my heart I want to. His stories kept my up late into the night as turned page after page engulfed by his words.

My head is less forgiving. If he could envisage alien species using black obelisks to communicate to us from beyond the stars, surely he could imagine planet Earth where half the population were treated the same as the other half of the population. Apparently not.

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Diversity in publishing is not Black and White

Another year may have started but at the tail of end of 2017, we received another article on the lack of diversity in publishing – this time focused on the UK. I mention this because I would like to see greater diversity in diversity articles.

They are all the same: statistics showing that white middle-class people are responsible for the vast majority of book generation – either in the production of the novel or in its generation. They constantly contain interviews with people of gender, sexuality, colour etc stating how hard it is for them to be successful or get published in the first place. Now I know this sounds churlish, but it’s a hard business and the fact they have hitherto been overlooked doesn’t make it a gender/race/disability issue. Might do, I don’t know.

What I do know is that I am white and middle-class and I gave up trying to get published the traditional route after two years of rejection. Was it because I was white, male, middle-aged and middle-class? I’m not blaming my facticity on my failings – I leave that to other people. If you don’t like the old system then use the Internet and cut out the broker in your relationship with your readers.

The other thing I’d like to point out – and this was the real point of this post – is that writing newspaper articles about the parlous state of equality in the book publishing industry doesn’t achieve very much. Most industries in the English speaking world – and beyond as well I am sure – are run by white middle-aged men. Why should we imagine book publishing to be any different? The only thing I find interesting about the demographics in this industry is the extent to which it mirrors primary and secondary school education ie the high proportion of women in the majority of roles. Of course, we then see more men in positions of absolute power at the top of the hierarchy.

Oh, and happy New Year!

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Welcome to 2018

I purposefully did not post towards the end of December 2017 because I figured people had better things to do with their time than read my letters from the dark side: like eating to excess, opening presents, watching a large amount of TV. Oh and reading, of course.

Well, now we are the other side of the monstrosity known as Xmas (insert any politically correct phrase if you rankle at the use of such a Christian term). And I’m back.

Over the last few weeks I’ve been suffering a writer’s block that has meant The Getaway launch has been delayed. I only finished the first draft at the end of December – 6 weeks behind schedule. So that was disappointing and then a bunch of personal matters descended on me that means I haven’t been able to start editing the thing at all yet. I intend to turn this around and hope to be close to production-ready by the end of January. But that is not a promise, not by a long way.

The hiatus has given me the opportunity to flesh out more ideas for the Lagotti series: I’ve plotted the sequel to The Getaway, provisionally titled Powder, and have added another book to the series itself – at least I’ve written down a new idea and can see it having enough content to count as a separate story.

My plan has been to publish four novels a year for the next few years but, given what happened since October, my expectations may be greater than my capability to deliver. That said, I think I know what sent me into an inability to write (it happened once before). I’m hoping I’m sufficiently self-aware, finally, that when it happens again, I’ll be better placed to get myself out of the hole.

And on that cheery note, I wish you all the very best for 2018: keep on keepin’ on.

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Amazon for Oz

The world’s best known game-changer in online purchases is hitting the Australian shores.

Now any sensible comment by myself on this topic will clearly be conflicted which is why I mention this fact upfront. I write books and publish them on the Amazon platform so I am a client of the giant retailer.

If other markets are anything to go by – and I think they are – the Antipodean independent bookseller in the major cities had better start planning an exit strategy from publishing because the chances are it is going to lose its customer base.

Now a lack of choice in book purchase outlet does not mean there will be a lack of choice of books themselves. That will come when margins for the major publishing houses get squeezed by Amazon’s pricing policies which morph once it picks up market share. This is a function of free markets and in itself is not a criticism of Amazon.

The opportunity for Australian readers to gain access to fresh reading from new writers will come as Amazon acts as a catalyst for independent publishing by writers themselves ie self-publishing. This is where my conflict of interest comes to the fore. I am aware of the arguments that Amazon destroys traditional publishing but I must admit I don’t have much sympathy with traditional publishing. Why? It shunned me for several years leaving me with the option of self-publishing or not getting published at all. Amazon has given me a customer base into which I can sell. I have tried other platforms but at this point in my writing career, Amazon has been more successful for me than the other platforms.

If that situation changes then I shall jump ship or expand my sales reach via different sales platforms but it was the revolution created by Amazon that has enabled me to get to publish my work. And I am happy about that.

Good luck in Oz – I hope the smiley-logoed company only shakes your world for the positive.

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