Story Gallery Festival: Great Day!

We had an excellent afternoon participating in the Story Gallery Festival at Britannia.  My The Drive Press shared a table with the Grandview Heritage Group (see below) and we were cheek-by-jowl to the other festival producers:  the Downtown Eastside Studio Society’s “The View From Here“; the Our Roots oral history project and their book “Vancouver Dialogues“; and the Under One Umbrella’s “Voices From Grandview Woodland.”

There was good music throughout the afternoon, and a steady crowd of interested folks.  I sold a few books but the highlight was meeting some of the people I already know from my research. Folks who have lived on the Drive for 50, 60 and 70 years, and who are happy to chat about the way things were.

I gave a couple of readings: “Shoot Out At First and Commercial” which seemed sharper with the proximity of today’s police-shooting incident at Grandview Park; and “The Creation of First and Commercial.”  They both got a good reception from small groups of listeners.

Today was the official outing of the Grandview Heritage Group, the local group of historians and local enthusiasts that has been meeting informally for the last few months.  We are interested in all aspects of Grandview’s history and heritage, physical and cultural.  We launched ourselves into the public today with the distribution of a flyer explaining who we are and offering an email address (grandviewheritage@gmail.com) for others who might care to join us.

I also met some old friends I haven’t seen in way too long.  It was a good day.

Thoughts On A Walk On the Drive

So I took advantage this afternoon of what might be the last warm sunny day for at least a week and probably much much longer.  It was perfect for short-sleeves and shorts.

I found this poster on most every pole in the neighbourhood.  It’s for the “This is Strathcona” Festival next Sunday down on Maclean Park. Looks like fun. One of the Tall Brothers who are playing there is a close neighbour of mine – grand fellow; and they play good music. You can get more details at: http://bit.ly/pvnVsz

I love it when a community has the ass to come out and declare itself worthy of celebration!

And talking of celebration, the owners of the Riot store on Commercial have taken over its windows to declare their love for the Drive after 15 years in business:

The wording begins: “I can’t believe we’ve been lovers for 15 years!” These folks have been leaving messages on their windows for a long time and this is a fitting memorial to their longevity.

A commenter on an early post about the “Grandview Sniveller“ suggested this morning that production of the “Sniveller” was perhaps “in hiatus.”  I have to report that I didn’t find any new copies, and I looked in a few places.  It was due out a day or so ago, I think, so perhaps it is just late. I hope so.

I finished off my walk with a coffee at Pane Vero which was busy and reveling in the warm sunny day; the patio was full.  Good stuff.

Grandview Sniveller

Just last night I discovered the existence of the “Grandview Sniveller” published by Kevin Potvin (formerly of Magpie Magazines and “Republic of East Vancouver“). I wish I had seen earlier editions.

This is a truly local four-page newspaper available only in print and is only distributed inside the area bounded by Powell, Commercial, Kingsway and Clark. As they proudly proclaim they are “not online” there are “no comments, no forums, no links.”

It’s great to see Kevin back in print, and I’ll be looking for future editions.

The Small Side Of Budget Cuts

I was researching at the library today and decided to ask why, two months after they bought copies of my book, “The Drive” is still not available on the shelves.  It has made it to the catalog but all copies are listed as  “unavailable”.

It was explained to me that budget cuts have hit the library hard, and the reduced number of acquisitions staff are months behind.  Apparently they have an immense line of books to get through, falling behind all the the time.

I know this isn’t as important as losing women’s’ shelters or schools closing, but really — what’s the point of buying books if they can’t be read?

 

I’m Back!

Where have I been? Here, of course; but my mind has been elsewhere — mostly on the final details of getting my “The Drive” published. This is the cover.

Now that I have gone through a couple of Proofs and the necessary edits, I can pretty much push the Publish button anytime.  However,  I’ve been fussing with email lists, drafting a release letter, getting review copies sent etc etc. I have to follow up on what Amazon needs from me by way of websites, previews etc. With luck I will publish on or about April 15th.

Is The Book More Important Than The Text?

The major Canadian literary prize, the Giller, has been won this year by Johanna Skibsrud’s “The Sentimentalists”. This book is published by a small boutique outfit called Gaspereau Press and is available only in a small edition typical of small presses (they specialize in runs of between 400 and 4,000 copies). The Giller would generally add tens of thousands to sales and a number of larger publishers have offered to print a large run. Gaspereau however has so far refused all offers, dismissing Random House et al. as people he wouldn’t want to do business with, and strongly defending tiny quality print runs.

That is one part of an interesting story. The other came in an interview that the publisher at Gaspereau had on CBC Radio this morning where it was noted that Gaspereau has made an e-Book version of “The Sentimentalists” available to anyone online. The publisher dismissed that as merely “the text,” comparing it slightingly with the “book” and being condescending to those who would be content merely “to consume the text” rather than hold the book in their hands.

I understand where he is coming from but I am sure he simply does not see how that diminishes the author, who in this scheme of things merely wrote “the text”, and puts the publisher/binder in the position of artistic genius above them. The book is mightier than the text. Hmmm, I don’t think so.

I’m not interested in reading rubbish no matter how beautifully the physical object is crafted; and I would be happy to read DeLillo and Dos Passos and Richard Brautigan on scrap pieces of paper rather than not read them at all.

 

Your Tax Dollars At Work

Having failed through the judicial route to shut down publication of an expose, the CIA is negotiating to buy the entire first-run printing of 10,000. When purchased they will be pulped, according to the Guardian.

And so it is for Anthony Shaffer, thanks to the Pentagon’s desire to buy up all 10,000 copies of the first printing of his new book, Operation Dark Heart. And then pulp them.  The US defence department is scrambling to dispose of the book , which threatens to be a highly embarrassing expose by Anthony Shaffer, a  former intelligence officer, of secret operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and of how the US military top brass missed the opportunity to win the war against the Taliban.  The department of defence is in talks with St Martin’s Press to purchase the entire first print run on the grounds of national security.  The publisher is content to sell the books but the two sides are in a grinding dispute over what should appear in a censored version and when it should be released …

The Pentagon is using Shaffer’s status as a reserve officer to block him from speaking to the press, but a source close to the publication of the book said that some of the sensitive material had been removed but the defence department was still seeking to purge it of other information that is 20 years old or even in the public domain.  For that reason, there is suspicion that the defence department is less concerned with the nitty gritty of classified material than its broader story of intelligence forays in to Pakistan and his claim that top US military leaders blew an opportunity to win the war years ago.

Should they really be using your tax dollars to help whitewash the intelligence community?