Liked your book. Now, about that title...

As senators, representatives, presidential candidates, lame-duck White House residents, and at least some corporate CEO's are looking for a place to hide or a ledge off of which to jump, David Lereah may be walking around with a paper bag over his head. After all, a couple of years ago, Lereah wrote a book called, Why the Real Estate Boom Will Not Bust -- And How You Can Profit From It.

Of course, as this Wall Street Journal article points out, David Lereah was not the first author to write a book with a title that inaccurately predicted either the end of the world or the coming of Paradise. And sometimes you can make it pay off -- if you don't get too greedy. Steve Gill wrote a book called The Fred Factor about Fred Thompson's highly anticipated presidential campaign and quickly sold through a first printing. Then he ordered up a second printing -- and Thompson's campaign promptly tanked. The well known political analyst Shelby Steele came out with a book last December called, A Bound Man: Why We Are Excited About Obama and Why He Can't Win. One can't help but wonder if Steele is now a strong McCain supporter for reasons that have nothing to do with politics.

However, being the author of a disastrously titled book doesn't automatically mean you will sink into oblivion. Back in 1999, Kevin Hassett wrote a book carrying the now ludicrous title of Dow 36,000. And where is Kevin Hassett today?

He's an economic adviser to John McCain.

A Dangerous "Jewel"

This year, September 28 - October 4 marks the annual observance of Banned Books Week, an event sponsored by the American Library Association, to promote awareness of issues surrounding censorship and intellectual freedom. It thus seems sadly appropriate that the controversy surrounding an American novel called The Jewel of Medina reached a new level when the office of its British publisher was firebombed early Saturday morning. The Jewel of Medina was recently published in this country by Beaufort Books after its original publisher, Random House, dropped the book for fear of inciting violence.

It all began last year when Random House signed author Sherry Jones to a two-book, $100,000 contract, the first book being The Jewel of Medina, a novel about Aisha, one of the wives of the prophet Muhammad. The scheduled publication date for this first book was this past August 18. As is common practice , Random House sent out pre-publication galleys to a number of individuals, looking for endorsements. At the recommendation of Jones, one of those galleys went to Denise Spellberg, a professor of Middle Eastern studies at the University of Texas.

From this point on, what happened is a matter of dispute and controversy. According to a Wall Street Journal article by Asra Nomani (herself a Muslim writer), Spellberg was appalled by what she read and called the editor of a Muslim website warning him of this "incredibly offensive" book that was about to be published by Random House. Soon, word of the book began to spread across the Internet, and it was being called "an attempt to slander the Prophet of Islam" by bloggers who, of course, hadn't actually read it. Spellberg also called Jane Garrett, a contact of hers at Random House, and warned her that publishing the novel could have serious repercussions.

In a letter to the Journal, Spellberg denied that she was solely responsible for Random House's subsequent actions, and claimed that she was just one of a number of experts who expressed their concerns to the publisher. She added: " I do not espouse censorship of any kind, but I do value my right to critique those who abuse the past without regard to its richness or resonance in the present."

Whatever the situation, Random House made the decision not to follow through on its contract to publish the book. In a public statement, the company said it had received "cautionary advice not only that the publication of this book might be offensive to some in the Muslim community, but also that it could incite acts of violence....we decided, after much deliberation, to postpone publication for the safety of the author, employees of Random House, booksellers and anyone else who would be involved in distribution and sale of the novel." Random House returned the rights for the novel back to Sherry Jones, and it was published in the US earlier this month by Beaufort Books (the same company that ended up publishing the controversial O J Simpson book, If I Did It).

As might be expected, there was wide outrage at Random House's decision, though not everyone was equally convinced it was a dangerous precedent. Law professor Stanley Fish, who blogs for the New York Times, said it was more a matter of "judgment" than "censorship," pointing out that other publishers were free to publish the book if they chose to. However, Bill Poser, writing for the "Language Log" website, disagreed: "A free society cannot permit anyone, government, corporation, church, or individual, to decide what may or may not be published. That a publisher should cancel publication of a novel out of fear of violence by religious fanatics has everything to do with the Western tradition of free speech."

What happened to Gibson Square Publishing in England this past weekend seems to have raised the stakes. Three men were arrested for the firebombing on charges related to terrorism, and a hardline Islamic cleric said that, in his opinion further attacks could be expected since publishing the book could call for the death penalty under Sharia law. As of now, Beaufort Books in this country hasn't reported any threats, but has taken action to increase security.

Nobody is arguing that The Jewel of Medina is a book of tremendous literary value. In an early review, Publishers Weekly labeled it "not bad for a first novel...a page turner, but not outstanding." Still, the fact that one company decided not to publish the book, at least in part due to fear of attacks from extremists; and the fact that another publishing company has evidently experienced such attacks; should be of great concern to those interested in the freedom to read and the freedom to exchange ideas.

More about this controversy, with links to various documents, can be found here.

On vacation -- the sequel

Yes, Page 854 is taking time off again (man, sounds like I work for the government or something). Happy Mabon/fall equinox, and remember, Charles Price will be here next Friday.

Page 854 will return around the beginning of October, and, in the meantime, you can keep up with things via our website.

Patrick

Friday, 9/26, at Accent on Books: Charles Price

Charles F. Price is a writer who has always occupied a special place in the world of Accent on Books. We have held launch parties for two of his novels, and have always enjoyed his visits to the store, both formal and informal. Alas, he and his wife Ruth have not been traveling to Asheville from their home in Burnsville much recently, but we are delighted that Charles will be coming back "home" to Accent on Books next Friday at 6:00 to talk about and autograph copies of his new novel, Nor the Battle to the Strong.

Charles' previous four novels, which comprised the "Hiwassee" series, were set in Western North Carolina during and immediately after the Civil War, and were based on his own family history. In his new book, he moves a bit further back in time to the American Revolution and General Nathanael Greene's military campaigns in the South. Again, Charles calls upon family history, as a main character, Private James Johnson, is one of his ancestors.

Charles Price is a stunningly gifted writer whose books have won a number of awards. The reviews of his new novel have been uniformly positive, which hopefully will lead to the kind of success he so richly deserves. We hope you can join us on September 26 at 6:00 to celebrate his latest accomplishment.

In the meantime you can check out Charles' website. And ours.

The Spy Who Almost Went to the Cold

A former British intelligence agent with MI6 named David Cornwell -- better known as the spy novelist John Le Carre -- made a rather startling admission last week: he once considered defecting to the Soviet Union.

In an interview with the London Times, Le Carre emphasized that he wasn't tempted for ideological reasons or a desire to betray his country. Rather, he was quoted as saying, "...when you spy intensively and you get closer and closer to the border...it seems such a small step to jump...and you know, find out the rest." (Come to think of it, that sounds like it could be a quote from a Le Carre novel.) Le Carre worked with British intelligence from 1959-1964. Ironically his own career was ended by a defector: he was one of the agents betrayed to the Soviets by Kim Philby.

By the way, John Le Carre has a new novel coming out in early October. It's called, A Most Wanted Man, and deals with issues raised by the "war on terrorism."

An AP article on the Times interview can be found here.

David Foster Wallace, 1962-2008

American literature lost one of its most prodigious talents when David Foster Wallace was found dead in his home last week, an apparent suicide. Wallace had suffered from depression for years, and, according to his father, his condition had gotten significantly worse over the last several months and no form of medication or therapy seemed to have a mitigating effect. David Foster Wallace was 46 years old.

Wallace's abilities were evident from the start. His first novel, The Broom of the System (1987), brought him national attention and critical praise. A collection of short stories and a book of non-fiction followed. Then came Infinite Jest (1996), a sprawling, audacious, postmodern riot of a novel which ran to more than 1000 pages, including more than 100 pages of footnotes. It centered on a film which had an hypnotic, addictive effect on anyone who watched it and the battle for control of the film by a wide range of (mostly unsavory) characters. Time Magazine later named it one of the 100 best English-language novels, and a year after its publication Wallace was awarded a MacArthur "genius" grant.

In the years that followed Wallace wrote nonfiction essays and articles on an almost impossibly wide range of subjects: cruise ships, tennis, lobsters, pornography, David Lynch and the 9/11 attacks, among many other things. His last book-length work was about John McCain, whom Wallace covered for a time during McCain's 2000 presidential campaign.

In November, 2007, Wallace was among a number of writers invited by The Atlantic to write an essay on "the future of the American idea." Wallace audaciously suggested a "thought experiment" in which it was assumed that "a certain baseline vulnerability to terrorism" is part of the American idea. He went on to suggest that "a democratic republic cannot 100% protect itself [from terrorism] without subverting the very principles that made it worth protecting." "Have we become so selfish and scared," he asked, "that we don't even want to consider whether some things trump safety?"

An appreciation of Wallace's work by Michiko Kakutani, the chief book critic of the New York Times, can be found here.

Pandemonium in Wasilla

It's tempting to ascribe psychic abilities -- or perhaps political savvy -- to Shannon and Leonard Cullip. That would be one explanation as to why, this past June, they named their new bookstore in Wasilla, Alaska, "Pandemonium Booksellers." Wasilla is, of course, now known for having the most famous "former small-town mayor" in the country, and "pandemonium" might be one way to describe what has taken hold of the town since Sarah Palin joined the Republican presidential ticket. Not surprisingly, Pandemonium (the bookstore) has been quite busy, and sales of political books from all parts of the ideological spectrum have been strong. Shannon Cullip observes, however, that if there are townspeople who aren't fond of their ex-mayor they "aren't saying much."

The Cullips have no additional information to clarify the question as to whether Palin really wanted to ban books from the local library back when she was mayor. However, this does give me an opportunity to mention that Banned Books Week is observed nationwide every year during late September. You will no doubt be hearing more about this from us in the near future.

More about the Cullips and their bookstore -- and about Banned Books Week -- can be found here.