The Liberal Politics & Current Events Book Club discussion

It's true: An agent in NYC was all in on the novel, nodding and smiling, and then asked who the villains were. I said the Republican Right, the Tea Party, Fox News, etc. This was the response: "I am so tired of people like you writing books like this."

Anyway, here's a brief summary. You decide:

In the tradition of classic American political thrillers like Seven Days in May, Nowhere Man is the story of Tom Fargo, a former anti-war activist who became the “new face of patriotism” after his estranged father died in the Sept. 11 attack on the Pentagon. When the all-but-announced choice for Secretary of Defense dies in a Saudi plane crash, Tom – now the top aide to the likely Republican nominee for president – is assigned to investigate.

He’s instantly plunged into a global conspiracy that will take him from the hidden offices of the Senate to the safe rooms in a Blackwater-type security firm to terrorist strongholds in Europe, the Middle East, and South America. As he peels back layer after layer of deceit and tries to unravel a mystery whose clues don’t add up, he’ll threaten to expose the people behind a new form of terrorism, one in which the thirst for power trumps the national interest.

Racing against unseen enemies at home and trapped in an international power game whose players will stop at nothing to safeguard their secrets, Tom Fargo will suddenly go from patriot to prey. And in the shattering climax, he’ll be forced to face the hard choices that have confronted America since the Twin Towers fell: How far should one man go to protect his country and preserve its values in a world that conspires against both?

Doug, when I was thinking about hiring a publicist, I talked to this very helpful guy whose name I've now forgotten, and he told me what I already knew: The publishing industry is very conservative. When I decided to save money and just try Piece of Cake (don't waste your $145.00 or whatever it costs), I described my book and said clearly that it was written from the perspective of a liberal. However, I also criticize people like Bill Maher and former NY Mayor Bloomberg in the book for being what I call missionaries. Interestingly, the news release that the Piece of Cake guy (who was British) wrote claimed that my book was balanced and made a point of mentioning how I called Maher an atheist missionary and called out Bloomberg for trying to dictate how much soda New Yorkers could drink. He didn't mention how I called out Republican governors and state legislators for trying to control women's reproductive organs. I think quite a few people who read the press release checked out the sample passage from the book on Amazon and realized that I was a liberal. Not one media person contacted me for an interview.

By the way, one point I make in my book, which is called THE BRONZE RULE, is that Al Gore was a patriot because he said, "George Bush is my President" right after 9/11. He didn't use the attack on our country to try to smear the man who stole an election from him. And I also point out that Republicans actually cheered when Chicago lost the bid for a Summer Olympics just because it happens to be the current hometown of Obama. I suspect that's why the Europeans gave Obama the unearned Nobel Peace Prize that year. They were embarrassed by the way their American relatives were behaving. At any rate, we know which party is patriotic, and which one is not.

Your novel sounds interesting. Good luck with it.

Mary wrote: "Doug, when I was thinking about hiring a publicist, I talked to this very helpful guy whose name I've now forgotten, and he told me what I already knew: The publishing industry is very conservativ..."

Mary, thanks, and I think you're right. Ann Coulter can dis 9/11 widows, and every right-wing mouthpiece can go after Obama, but God forbid a publisher should step out on a limb for the progressive point of view (even in a novel). Anyway, if you're interested, I'd love to send you a digital file of the book -- ePub, MOBI, whichever works for you. Thanks again.

Okay, Doug. Send it to sistermary@live.com.

Doug wrote: "Mary wrote: "Doug, when I was thinking about hiring a publicist, I talked to this very helpful guy whose name I've now forgotten, and he told me what I already knew: The publishing industry is ver..."

Cool. Just tell me what format you prefer.

I don't know anything about ePub or MOBI, Doug, so whichever format can be opened on a dell laptop, using Windows and/or Word will work for me. I'll check my "Junk" inbox for the next few days because my screeners are pretty nasty; they sent one manuscript that someone wanted me to read directly to "Junk." These computer operators are probably also conservative.

Doug wrote: "Doug wrote: "Mary wrote: "Doug, when I was thinking about hiring a publicist, I talked to this very helpful guy whose name I've now forgotten, and he told me what I already knew: The publishing in..."

Will a pdf work?

I think so, Doug. I'm not sure because my computer skills are minimal. I'm usually able to open attachments.

Doug,

I sympathize, but I have several reactions to your agent's comment:

1) If it came from a partisan of mindless jingoistic bellicosity deeply invested in the plutocratic takeover of all forms of media in this country, I would wear an accusation of "non-patriotic" ideology as a badge of honor.

2) I have always loathed the term, "patriotism," in any case:

first, because it appears to imply that a geopolitical accident of birth constitutes enfranchisement to engage in organized military adventurism (involving murder and genocide) against victims of other such geopolitical accidents
AND
second, because the word is invariably appropriated by militaristic sociopaths of the ultra-right-wing as a means whereby to compel people who might actually possess consciences to abandon them and become complicit in the abovementioned behavior.

3) Your prose is well-crafted, and your narrative premise is interesting (albeit so entirely verisimilitudinous that the reality we all inhabit is scarcely at all worse -- which diminishes the "thrill" somewhat). I think it would be a compelling read, though, and perhaps you ought to find a non-coopted publisher (if one exists). Or go Indie.

4) If you think that 9/11 was not unambiguously a spectacularly egregious false-flag attack, I recommend you read:

9/11 Ten Years Later: When State Crimes Against Democracy Succeed

(which is not to say that positing the counterfactual official narrative might not still form part of an engaging thriller)

Best regards,

Mark

Hi, William!

Thanks for your comment! For some inexplicable reason, it was posted in quadruplicate, so I have removed three of the four identical copies. It's been about four months since Doug last posted, but I hope he'll reply. Since Doug's book is a novel, I'm a little unclear on the "sourcing" issue, though. Usually, fictional thrillers (even political ones) don't really need to be sourced, but anyway, I do hope Doug will be able to provide you with more information. If you're interested in sourcing for the contention that 9/11 was a false-flag attack (which claim I don't think Doug was making), then I do recommend 9/11 Ten Years Later: When State Crimes Against Democracy Succeed

Hi again, William.

I'm afraid your posts continue to be made in duplicate copies, so I deleted the extra.

Griffin's book obviously isn't a novel (nor do I know him at all), so I'm assuming you must be referring to Doug's novel. To be honest, I'm utterly baffled as to why you should think I know Doug personally (I had actually never met or spoken to him before online or in person prior to his post, and had no idea who he was). It seems as though you feel I would have to know someone personally to like his or her book (or talk about it). I like Charles Dickens, and I promise you, I have never met him, either. :-)

If you have questions about Doug's book, I'm afraid I haven't read it, so it would probably be a good idea either to post your question here, or perhaps even better, to message him directly, since he seems not to have been active on this group for a while.

Hey Doug, can I get a pdf copy to read? nancymbrennan1@gmail.com

This thread seems to have died. So I will attempt to bring it back to life.

I thought the novel description read a lot like reality! One of the reasons the agents like the right-wing is they have an incredible network to push right-wing books. You'll notice there almost are right-wing books on the best-seller lists.

A number of right-wing organizations and websites will push the books. Sometimes they will give them away in promotions. I have heard that many of these are bought in bulk and distributed at meetings, etc. So, there is a ready market. Ann Coulter basically writes the same book about every three months and they always sell.

My first novel, A Light Not of This World, is a thriller about a nuclear attack on the U.S. by terrorists. I couldn't get an agent to take it so I self-published it, and since it was my first venture, I basically did it all wrong. I rewrote parts of the book and updated it and re-issued it last September. I am selling a few copies. I've written three books since then, two of them mysteries.
A Light Not of This World (the title comes from a New York Times reporter's description of the first A-bomb explosion at White Sands) has a an extensive bibliography at the end. I did a great deal of research, coming close to learning how to make an atomic bomb. There are instructions on-line but I think they have a built-in flaw. At least from some CIA scuttlebutt I read, the design was screwed up so it wouldn't work. But it was enough for me to construct the part of my plot where bombs are constructed.

Dan wrote: "This thread seems to have died. So I will attempt to bring it back to life.

I thought the novel description read a lot like reality! One of the reasons the agents like the right-wing is they ... One of the reasons the agents like the right-wing is they have an incredible network to push right-wing books. You'll notice there almost are right-wing books on the best-seller lists. ..."

That makes a great deal of sense, and I had definitely been aware that idiot right-wing screeds had been being "bought in bulk" by right wing organizations subsidizing the people or (oxymoron alert!) "conservative think tanks" that churned them out.

I very much appreciate your effort to revive this thread (and your efforts to advance the conversation in the general chat), and though I'd forgotten your novel, you've now reignited my interest. To be honest, since "terrorist attack" novels more commonly emanate from conservative writers, in my experience, not having known you when first I glanced at your profile, the book made me think you might be of a less progressive cast than you obviously are... and I'd be interested in reading a "nuclear countdown thriller" written by a progressive, since I do enjoy those sorts of thrillers when they're not written to advance a "Jack Bauerish" agenda. I see that I can borrow it as a Prime member, so I 'll give it a read and won't need to trouble you for an ARC. I'm actually surprised, given your background, that you couldn't get an agent, but as you say, it's the right-wing books that are automatically assured of sales, whether or not basically fraudulent in the respect of suggesting the existence of an actual readership, so you were intrinsically at a political disadvantage.

I hadn't thought about the aggregate effect on the publishing market of bulk purchases of right-wing books, more properly to be consigned to the lining of bird cages (which perhaps they are... who knows?), but your experience certainly demonstrates that the right wing has manipulated the ideological nature of novels readily published, on the "supply side" at least, because agents and publishers won't allow some of the liberal ones through the mainstream "filter." It's comparable, in a way, to their attempts to ensure that children are taught egregious non-science by influencing the availability of non-compromised biology texts, since they sell nationally, and they have to appease "the Texas market." I rather wish they'd just publish two variants, and label the ones to be sold in the "Gilead" states, This Is the Stupid Version.

I'll be interested in your reaction. Only a handful of people have given me feedback. There is one review on-line that must be of the first printing. He criticizes my grammar, which is a head-scratcher. That has never been a problem for me and I don't think it is with the book.

Dan wrote: "I'll be interested in your reaction. Only a handful of people have given me feedback. There is one review on-line that must be of the first printing. He criticizes my grammar, which is a head-scrat..."

From my reading of your posts, anyone who criticized your grammar needs immediately to take a course in remedial English. :)

As idiotic as it may seem, conservatives being critical of your writing makes perfect sense. Even their refusal to publish makes sense on some level. Conservatives, in general, are wealthier than liberals (or at least consider more of their income as "disposable"), and thus tend to purchase more of the print market (though due to age-related technology "ceilings" they are less likely to purchase electronic books, although the companies that publish are in general the same). An easy way to figure out whether it is even worth it to attempt publishing with any company is to take a quick look at their PAC contributions. Since individual gifts from CEO's and other employees are confidential, companies will form PACs to donate more than their allowed individual contributions. The PACs don't have the company directly listed, but the founders (Board of Directors) can typically be matched against the executives of the company you want to publish under. Donations to Conservative PACs should tell you that rejection is likely (not absolute though) and donations to Liberal/Moderate PACs will tend to render the same response. The premise of the book does not seem particularly offensive but if its portrayal of conservatives is what is preventing you from being published, perhaps modifying it to be a metaphor or renaming the protagonists' organizational structure to placate the publishers. Either way, hope this helps and if you have a copy of your manuscript, I would love to read it. http://jamesbiancoesq.wordpress.com - some of my writing you may enjoy.