Forty years after he was busted for obscenity, New York has pardoned Lenny Bruce. Justice delayed, I'm afraid, is no justice at all. But how nice for us, to feel we're more virtuous now.
Today, he'd probably just get sued. Repression is always mutating.
Barry Trotter (Book 1)
The Hogwash School for Wizards was the most famous school in the wizarding world, and Barry Trotter was its most famous student. His mere presence made sure that every year twenty candidates applied for every open spot, no matter how rapacious Hogwash's tuition became. As a result, Barry and the school had come to an unspoken agreement: regardless of his grades, Barry could remain at Hogwash for as long as he wished. He had just begun his eleventh year...Freshman
Sleepy with boredom and gassy from lunch, Hart Fox sat in the hard plastic chair outside his dean's office. A kid walked in the door, pink detention slip in hand, bobbing his head a little so that the purple spikes of his mohawk didn't get bent on the transom. He slumped down next to Hart. Hart nodded--he remembered tis joker from sophomore American History, constantly arguing in favor of anarcho-syndicalism. Was his name Henry?...Sophomore
Arcing lazily through the air, the Frisbee smacked against the window. “Ooo-oo!” a chiseled and shirtless boy teased as it wobbleplummeted to the ground. “Sarah's in troub-le!”The beauty-boy was righter than he knew: Of all the windows on campus to hit, this one was the worst. It belonged to Stutts’ Professor of Clandestine Affairs, Glenbard North, who had destroyed more students than there were blades of grass on the freshly resodded Old Quad below...Coming Soon!
All you really gotta know is, I'm writing new things constantly and the more I write, the better my books get. So if you've read my earlier work--and millions of you have--we should keep in touch. This fall, at least one and maybe two new books will be available: a Dickens parody AND a comic mystery loosely based on The Beatles. Drop me an email at mikesnewbooks[at]gmail[dot]com, and I'll be sure to let you know release dates, special deals, etc.Wednesday, December 24, 2003
Tuesday, December 23, 2003
Hooray, I think
Friend Ed Page pointed me to this profile of publishing's latest phenom, the 20-year-old author of a book called "Eregon." Home schooled, he lives at home in Montana with his slightly strange family. His success is wonderful, but there's really a bizarre undercurrent in the story, a sort of free-floating "Flowers in the Attic" type weirdness that I can't really put my finger on...Ah, well, I'm prepared to chalk it up to the cynicism that comes with living near people you're not related to you.
By the way, I just got a copy of The Beatles' White Album in mono. Really quite different--I like it a lot (even though the last three songs are seriously effed up, something was wrong with the source tape, maybe. Anyway, any serious Beatle fan oughta track a copy down.
By the way, I just got a copy of The Beatles' White Album in mono. Really quite different--I like it a lot (even though the last three songs are seriously effed up, something was wrong with the source tape, maybe. Anyway, any serious Beatle fan oughta track a copy down.
Monday, December 22, 2003
After seeing "Return of the King"...
In addition to general approval, numb buttocks and a sense of visual surfeit, I wondered how much Tolkein's experiences in World War I seeped into the stories. The relationship of Sam and Frodo struck me as very similar to a batsman and his officer; and the terrain of Mordor looked blackened and churned-up to me, just like No-Man's-Land. Turns out I wasn't the only person to think this. Here's a very interesting essay from TheOneRing.net.
Gee, if I'd read this article, I wouldn't have spent my Twenties starving in New York! It talks about how many people in their Twenties and Thirties are choosing to live at home while their lives are in professional/romantic development. It's fun to read, especially if you're NOT living with your parents anymore, but it gives fairly short coverage to the real reason that this "new life stage" exists: Starting jobs don't pay much, or they're internships and don't pay at all; yet inflation marches on; and the jobs that do pay often require post-college education costing thousands of dollars. This was not the case in 1960 or even 1970. And, I would wager, the financial gap between top management and everybody else wasn't so huge, either. The ladder is longer, and the space between the rungs larger, that's a fact. Damn Baby Boomers.
Gee, if I'd read this article, I wouldn't have spent my Twenties starving in New York! It talks about how many people in their Twenties and Thirties are choosing to live at home while their lives are in professional/romantic development. It's fun to read, especially if you're NOT living with your parents anymore, but it gives fairly short coverage to the real reason that this "new life stage" exists: Starting jobs don't pay much, or they're internships and don't pay at all; yet inflation marches on; and the jobs that do pay often require post-college education costing thousands of dollars. This was not the case in 1960 or even 1970. And, I would wager, the financial gap between top management and everybody else wasn't so huge, either. The ladder is longer, and the space between the rungs larger, that's a fact. Damn Baby Boomers.
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