No More Lies

Part I: CENSORING THE UNDERGROUND

The attention being given the conglomerate-produced "Dishwasher" book, while ULA books are shut out, tears the mask away from the last justification for the censoring actions of the literary establishment.

Haven't we been told time and again that it's about the writing?

Yet our new releases are better written books than the hyped book from the ex-zeenster who's now being used as designated stooge. Wred Fright and James Nowlan are actual WRITERS, have always been, while Dishwasher Pete is a one-trick pony. Those of us who were involved in the zeen scene of the 1990s were well aware of who the real writers were, and who were merely being cute or quirky.

No matter! The media monsters have found their guy, and can now proclaim about how cute it is that this bottom-level individual is given so much attention. Wow! Maybe life is fair after all.

WHAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY
As can be seen at the thread "Gritty as Opposed to Magical Realism from Latin America" at the NBCC blog, www.bookcriticscircle.blogspot.com, I had to lobby just to have a post kept on the National Book Critics house blog. This while Carrie Kania, publisher of the Murdoch-owned Harper-Perennial is given a free forum to plug the media monster's books. The bias is obvious. NBCC has gone beyond mere snobbery into bigotry against the literary underground. Hyperbole? I don't think so.

The title of this post is "No More Lies." The problem with the Insiders at NBCC-- the board members anyway-- is that they lie to themselves, in that they imagine themselves as concerned liberal progressive et.al. It's not true as long as they behave like mere shills for the giants.

Or maybe their attitude is because I've criticized them (which would make the behavior of these "objective" journalists vindictive)? (This wouldn't explain the long-time exclusion of novelists Jack Saunders and Bill Blackolive, who were sending their books around long before I became involved with literature.) Maybe it's because the ULA is a whistle blower organization which has called groups like NBCC on their support for the poster boy of literary corruption in this country, whose moral and aesthetic crimes against writers and literature are easily documented. (If so, this would further discredit the NBCC.) Maybe they just don't like me personally. But why still shut out the ULA's writers? NBCC has no problem dealing with the Murdoch gang, though I'm sure these committed liberals are no fans of Murdoch himself. The hypocrisy is all over the place.

What should be remembered is that the NBCC willingly signed up for tax exempt 501c3 status. As such, they have obligations to the community beyond obligations to monopoly.

Rupert Murdoch is not the public. The Publisher of Harper-Perennial is not the public. Time-Warner's People magazine is not the public. They're all part of the current media monopolies. It's obvious that the reason the ULA is censored is because we're not well-monied Members of the Club. We're completely independent, beholden to no one, with obligations only to our own integrity.

What do we ask? For open access; equal treatment. We ask for the NBCC board members and others like them to begin living up to their OWN ideals. I wouldn't think that's asking for a great deal.