From: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com (aml-list-digest) To: aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: aml-list-digest V1 #581 Reply-To: aml-list Sender: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Errors-To: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Precedence: bulk aml-list-digest Monday, January 21 2002 Volume 01 : Number 581 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 23:47:34 -0500 From: "Tracie Laulusa" Subject: [AML] re: Books By Your Bed (was: Reading Programs) I am, unfortunately, currently out of books by my bed. I had to go through my bookshelves today looking for something I had managed to miss. (There are a few on there I have missed on purpose and they are going to stay missed for now.) I ran across one by General Schwarzkopf, It Doesn't Take a Hero. It's actually a better read so far than I expected. I noticed that my copy of Tuesday's with Morrie was missing and I'm wondering if one of my kids is finally reading it, or if it's one that I loaned to David's parents while they were and they left sitting on a shelf somewhere. If it had been there I would have read that even though I've read it several times before. It's one of my must-reads. Tracie Laulusa - ----- Original Message ----- Now, here's an idea for a new list: if you're like me, you have a pile of books next to your bedside that you intend to read any moment now. The list of books currently piled next to my bed is below. What's next to your bed? - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 21:45:11 -0800 From: "Jeff Needle" Subject: [AML] YORGASON & MAGNUM, _All I Really Needed to Know I Learned in Primary_ (Review) Review ====== Title: All I Really Needed to Know I Learned in Primary Author: Brenton G. Yorgason and Donald P. Magnum Publisher: Printed by Press America, American Fork, Utah Year Published: 1997 Number of Pages: 148 Binding: Paperback ISBN: 0-9659559-0-7 Price: $9.95 Reviewed by Jeffrey Needle Two things militated against my reading this book at all: first, I'm not generally a fan of Yorgason. I find his story lines a bit timid and generally uninteresting. Second, I have an inherent dislike of books that crib from other book titles. You all know that a very successful secular book was published some years ago, having to do with learning everything in kindergarten, or some such thing. Nonetheless, the book passed my way, and I decided to give it a read. I'm glad I did. The story revolves around Richard and Maria Allred. Having met in college, they married and moved to New York State to raise a family. Faithful church members both, they've each fulfilled important callings. Maria has served as Relief Society President; Richard has been called to many offices, including Bishop. When Richard was a young child, he received from a favorite uncle a Treasure Box. Upon opening it, Ricky (as he was called as a child) was disappointed to find it empty. His uncle explained that he should fill it with mementos of his childhood, things that would be meaningful later in life. Fast forward to today. Richard is rummaging in his attic, and he comes across the Treasure Box. He brings it downstairs, and discovers that his children are fascinated by its contents. He uses Family Home Evening to remove the objects, one at a time, telling how he had gotten the object, and the lesson he'd learned. But Maria has absented herself from these sessions. We know that Maria came from a broken family -- her father had walked out on her and her mother when she was very young -- and Maria simply can't bear to hear about Richard's happy childhood. She begins to distance herself from her family. Later, Maria reconciles with her father, bringing about a sweet healing, one that unites them all into one big family. The early chapters of the book are filled with delightful views of Ricky's childhood. We enter into the mind of an 8-year-old in such a real way, peering into the way their minds work. When Richard meets Maria early on in Primary (a meeting they just faintly remember), he realizes at that tender young age that he's in love. His mother asks, "What's her last name?" And Ricky realizes he doesn't know. So he answers, "She doesn't have a last name." Later, he learns Maria does have a last name, and wonders anew at how his mother knew so much. Even the pet dogs make a memorable appearance: Nosty was Buddy's enormous Labrador Retriever. Buddy didn't come up with the name, however. The story was that his older brother named the dog upon returning from college one summer. It seemed that the name 'Nosty' was short for Nostradomos, who was some kind of a prophet -- not a church prophet, as you probably know, but some other kind. Buddy's brother said that the dog wasn't exactly a prophet, but he *could* change someone's future. That took no further explanation, even for a fifth grader. (p. 55-56) The book goes along in such a lighthearted manner, I was a little disturbed that it took such a serious turn toward the end. I thought Yorgason might be able to revisit his delightful observations, but he never does. I did like this book. It's a lovely read, especially for older children who are ready to learn the value of cherished memories, and the need for forgiveness and reconciliation. I have no idea why this book was not published by one of the regular LDS publishers. - ----- Jeff Needle jeff.needle@general.com "We're all only fragile threads, but what a tapestry we make." Jerry Ellis, "Walking Walking the Trail" - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 10:56:46 -0800 From: harlowclark@juno.com Subject: [AML] GILMORE, _Shot in the Heart_ (Review) Part 1 [R. W. Rasband and I must be some sort of brothers. While I was reading this book he wrote a review of it, with a phrase which stuck in my head, "spectacularly dysfunctional family." More recently R. W. has mentioned Paul Fussell's _Wartime_, a book my wife graced me with for Christmas a few years ago after I lost my job at UVSC and therefore access to their library. (I was moved to open the present and see what it was, as I was moved when our niece got me (the very expensive even at 20% off (BYU Bookstore Christmas sale) _The Collected Poems_ of Reynolds Price.) I originally posted this review in 3 parts two years ago, intending to include a 4th part. This year is the 25th antiverserary of Gilmore's execution so I thought I'd repost the review with the 4th part, and add a 5th to consider R. W.'s phrase, "spectacularly dysfunctional family."] Lives of Serial Disaster A review of _Shot in the Heart_ by Michael Gilmore. Doubleday, 1994. HB $24.95 404 p. (probably out of print). ISBN 0-385-42293-8 PB, Anchor Doubleday 1995, $15.95. Audience: General readers. In literature, as in our dreams, death does not exist. - --Isaac Bashevis Singer _Passions_, page 6. Shortly after [his grandmother died in 1946], Gary started having nightmares. They were always the same dream: He was being beheaded. (page 105) On Monday morning, January 17, in a cannery warehouse out behind Utah State Prison, Gary met his firing squad. (page 349) January 17, 2002 Twenty-five years ago today I was recovering from brain surgery. I had been home about a week and turned on the television. Gary Gilmore's lawyer was talking, describing the sound of the shots, the blood appearing on his t-shirt and spreading. I listened intently, felt ashamed at being part of something so gruesome. "I suppose in Utah your church gets pretty much what it wants," said the Episcopal minister in the barbershop in Elmira New York, about a year later. One missionary defended the execution. The other kept awkwardly quiet. Or did I say something? Capital punishment is difficult for me to defend. It is too easy to start imagining what it might be like. Two years and a week ago I was thinking about Kenneth Branagh's _Henry V_, how he has Henry give a speech about honor under Bardolph's body, whom he has just hanged in a tree for looting. Early the next morning I dreamed I was about to be beheaded by a loved one, looking svelte and lovely (and pregnant?) in a black leotard and mask. I don't remember how I answered the minister's implication that the Church had wanted Gary Gilmore dead. I didn't think it would be seemly to have two representatives of the Church arguing with each other about the death penalty in front of a representative from another church, and my companion didn't seem particularly bothered by the idea that the Church, the institution we represented, had an active role in getting people executed. I suspect he was thinking more about his own stand on the death penalty than about the implications of the minister's statement. A lot of people in Utah did want our state to show other states the way, to become the first to start executing again after the Supreme Court lifted its ban. It's hard for me to think about Gary Gilmore without remembering the ward choir Christmas party when brother Bullock had said, "There's no doubt about it. He's guilty." Someone had asked about the death sentence he'd pronounced on Gilmore, implying a wonder if there were extenuating circumstances. Was this in 76 or 75? I'm not sure. I don't associate Christmas 1976 with the ward choir and the superb programs it put on. I probably participated, but that was the year Dr. Gaufin asked, "Would you rather spoil your Christmas by anticipation or by being in the hospital?" so I associate Christmas 1976 with anticipating brain surgery on the 29th. I made a very quick recovery, something like 6 weeks instead of 6 months. So here I was a week out of the hospital listening to a description of someone being killed by the state, remembering the police officer who volunteered to serve on the firing squad. Without pay. The minister in the barbershop had perhaps seen that newscast, or was it an article? Perhaps he had even heard, as I had, people saying that Gary Gilmore had to be executed to atone for his sins with his own blood. (After Donna and I returned to Utah I read a news story about a Springville bishop confessing (that was the word in the story, maybe even the bishop's word) he'd visited Gilmore in jail (prison?) and convinced him he needed to be executed to pay for his murder--one of those articles I wish I'd kept--I guess I'll have to look in the BYU library's inadequate paper subject index to the Daily Herald.) I think the minister asked us (derided us? challenged us?) about this idea that there were certain things Jesus's blood didn't cover. Ten or twelve years later I had set my story "The Covenant Breaker" there in Elmira, a story about a teen-aged boy, Brendan, molested by a returned missionary on the banks of the Susquehanna river, (that part doesn't happen in Elmira) who, not knowing the boy is LDS then tries to preach the gospel to him, and was working on another Elmira story, _Bedpans and Pizza_, exploring some unresolved issues in "The Covenant Breaker," particularly the difference between child molesting and homosexuality. Now a short novel, it's part of a group about Cefyn (pronounced Kevin) Hunter and his mission. This story involves Brendan going on split with Cefyn's companion, Elder Gardner. During the evening Brendan tells Elder Gardner his secret, who helps him understand that he is not unworthy to serve a mission, and can tell his bishop about what happened. When I started writing Eden Gardner I had read Carol Lynn Pearson's memoir _Goodbye I Love You_ and was intrigued by her mention of a homosexual friend's decision that more than sexual gratification he wanted a wife and a family. I knew that Eden was very much like this man. I also knew he had been a debater in high school, and an activist against abortion. As I wrote I found out other things about him. From an article in the Wall Street Journal mentioning how some groups of former hippies got themselves born again and took up the fight against abortion after the hippie movement slowed down, I learned Eden had taken up with such a group, former Jesus Freaks, and that the group opposed the death penalty as well as abortion, and had been there at the vigil outside the state prison when Gary Gilmore was shot. I knew I'd have to write a novel about Eden's pre-mission experiences, which would end there at the vigil, with Eden explaining to his Born Again friends his decision to serve a mission. "What was that news story about Scott Matheson and Gary Gilmore?" I asked Donna, coming upstairs one night. The governor had died several years ago, and there was no execution scheduled, and it wasn't the anniversary of Gilmore's. "His brother's just written a book," she said. The Pleasant Grove library had the book, and I checked it out a few times, but never read much. I was intrigued by the transparent plastic dustjacket, the family portrait on the front cover with a red triangle over the middle child, the words _Shot in the Heart_ over the triangle. When I saw the book on the library's sale shelf at the end of 1988 (not their copy from the stacks--undamn that curse--fortunately) I plunked down my dollar and bought it for Donna to give me for Christmas, on which morning I sat on the couch with my newly broken foot and began reading what I knew would be a disquieting, very sad book. ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/. - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2002 12:41:46 -0700 From: Steve Subject: Re: [AML] Geoffrey CARD, _God's Army_ (Review) on 1/17/02 11:18 AM, D. Michael Martindale at dmichael@wwno.com wrote: > (where's the novelization of _Testaments of One > Fold and One Shepherd_?) Wasn't the movie based (loosely at times) on various existing written works? ;-) Steve - -- skperry@mac.com - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 12:58:35 -0700 From: "Eric R. Samuelsen" Subject: RE: [AML] Life in Mormon Culture There's gonna be a lot of response to this, but I thought I'd chime in = briefly: >Mormon culture is boring and it's supposed to be. Yes, it's boring, but no, it's not supposed to be. It's boring, I = maintain, because so often we knee-jerk reject the post-modernness of = contemporary life. I mean, this is the coolest, most exciting, most = amazing time in world history. If we're careful about embracing what's = going on in the world, that carefulness will lead to blandness and, well, = boredom. =20 Eric Samuelsen - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 23:57:09 -0800 From: harlowclark@juno.com Subject: [AML] GILMORE, _Shot in the Heart_ (Review) Part 2 [Note: Toward the end of part 1 I said, "When I saw the book on the library's sale shelf at the end of 1988" Of course I was off by one key, 10 years, or a proofread, and I didn't catch it this time either. It should be 1998. Also, the upside down triangle on the front cover is white with three red bands on it, the words "Shot in the Heart" in white on the red bands.] Part 2 "lives in which the bequests of the dead have never ended" (p. 373) And it was a sad book. Seasons changed as I read off and on, and changed again, and I read it when Matthew wasn't up at bat in his coach-pitch games, and sometimes I looked over at the Lindon city hall and wondered, if some kid could hit a ball hard enough from one of the 4 diamonds to go through that half-wagonwheel window, what would the punishment be? I thought about the irony of teaching children to play hard then putting a building close enough to the playing fields that if some child did a really spectacular hit the building could be damaged. _Shot in the Heart_ has a lot to do with the expectations we place on our children and the punishments we mete out. Notice how that sentence grammatically connects expectations and punishment. American society is built around the idea of expectations and reward or punishment. It is reasonable to expect a reward for doing what we are supposed to, and a punishment should be reasonable as well. We don't throw someone in jail 10 years for jaywalking or beat a child for getting home late from school. But what if you live in a world where expectations may be unclear and rewards and punishments seem arbitrary, where you don't even have to get home late to get beat up? "If anybody wants to beat you up," Gary told Mikal one year at Christmas, "even if they want to hold you down and kick you, you have to let them. You can't fight back. You _shouldn't_ fight back. Just lie down in front of them and let them beat you, let them kick you. It is the only way you will survive. If you don't give in to them they will kill you" (171). Mikal promised Gary that he wouldn't fight back. "I thought he was telling me how to survive in jail. I realize now he was telling me how to survive in our family" (172). Gary Gilmore thus associated his family life with prison, and prison with his family life. Gary's father beat him brutally and often, and prison records indicate Gary was particularly brutal towards older inmates. Punishment was a fact of family life in another way too. "This book is dedicated to my brother, Frank Gilmore, Jr. He endured much to help me tell this story." One memory Frank, Jr. endured reliving was his mother's fretting about the new baby (Michael--he adopted the present spelling later) not behaving like she thought the medical books said he should. >>>>> "Well, one day we found her standing over your crib with a pillow. She was getting ready to put the pillow over the top of you. She was going to smother you. Dad grabbed her. She was all worked up and said something like, 'We can't let this baby live.' And Dad ... he just knocked the hell our of her. He beat her up real bad and told her never to try it again. We were all there when it happened, me, Gary, and Gaylen. "I have to admit, from that day on, I never felt quite the same toward her" (111). <<<<< Gilmore notes how shaken his brother was to tell the story, but that he doesn't connect it to himself or his mother. He feels she was suffering post-partum depression with no chance of a proper diagnosis. "Instead, she got a savage beating." The home that should have been a refuge provided only punishment. And yet, Mikal believes that incident spared him the violence Frank Gilmore administered to everyone else in the family. Frank maintained a rented house in Seattle, where he conducted some of his business, returning to Portland occasionally. He took Mikal with him to Seattle, where he had some degree of a father's love. But Mikal grew up feeling left out of the family. So deep the hunger to belong to a family that more than once Gilmore expresses his longing to have been included in the early sorrows of his family's life. (See pages 97-99.) Hunger and families. More about that in part 3. Harlow Soderborg Clark ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/. - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2002 13:39:36 -0700 From: "Jacob Proffitt" Subject: RE: [AML] American Book Publishing (was: Part Time Editing Work) Very interesting analysis, Jonathan. From your description, it looks to me like there are two concerns that need to be addressed in very specific, concrete ways. First, trust is absolutely foremost a consideration for the model you describe. The trustworthiness of American Book Publishing is going to be revealed over time, and that will work against them. It's a catch-22. One feature of the advance structure in publishing is a reassurance to the author that the publisher is serious--it cuts down on the initial reliance on trust. Second, and related to the first, is the issue of marketing. Books are tough to sell. They *look* like mass-market media, but they are in no way *actually* mass-market media. Too often, people assume that books can work like movies or TV because they tell stories and are a leisure activity. The problem is, delivery of books requires delivering a physical product to the hands of individual consumers. That means that marketing has to be tied in with distribution and possibly retail shelf-space considerations. Added to that is that only a very small portion of the population reads regularly (33% or so read more than one book a year--up from the low 20s a couple decades ago, actually). And even the reading public is cut up further into narrowly focused genre interests. That makes book marketing something of a black art even for experienced professionals. It looks to me like they *could* do well if they can overcome the trust and marketing issues. The question becomes who are the people? Do they have experience with marketing books? Are they trustworthy? Jacob Proffitt - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2002 13:40:48 -0700 From: "Christine" Subject: Re: [AML] American Book Publishing I'm also a part-time/contract editor. I sent American Book Publishing my resume this morning, and have not heard back from them yet. I agree with Jonathan's points and am feeling as cautious about this as he seems to be. I'd like to add my nit-picker's observations. I read their web-site before I sent them my resume and the first thing that struck me was that it needed some serious editing! I'm not saying that to be snarky -- it made me wonder what their standards are. If their books are as poorly edited as their web-site, this company will not be successful. I know that there are a lot of people who write brilliantly, but who don't punctuate (or spell, or whatever) well. If these talented people rely on an editor assigned by their publisher, (and if said editor is no better than whoever edited ABP's web-site), no one will know that the author has talent because his books will not sell. And the author wouldn't necessarily know that the editor did a bad job. Good editing can be like cutting the facets in a diamond. Bad editing, well . . . bad editing doesn't even let you see the potential in the rock. Just my two cents. - -Christine Atkinson - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2002 13:53:35 -0700 From: "Jacob Proffitt" Subject: RE: [AML] Annual Movie Tabulation - ---Original Message From: Linda Adams > >I *love* Clueless. It is not only one of the greatest comedies ever > >made, and a wonderful LDS film. It is also one of the sharpest > >adaptations of Jane Austen's "Emma" I've seen. Lovely, lovely film > >with a wonderful moral, entertaining heroine, and a great > adaptation of > >regency (was Austen Regency? I can never remember) privileged > >society. > > > >Jacob Proffitt > > ??? > I had to double-check with my husband that I had named the > correct movie, > after reading these two rebuttals. Yes, it is "Clueless." > Background: I > watched it for the SOLE purpose of seeing whether I could > allow my 11-year > old could watch it at a sleep-over. Perhaps this colored my > view of it > somewhat. (We always preview PG-13's before showing them to > the kids. It's > just our rule, until they actually ARE older.) I did let her > watch it at > home after we previewed it--nothing in it she doesn't already know > about--then they ended up NOT watching it at the party > anyway...sigh... > what a waste. I would hesitate to let an 11-year-old watch Clueless. Sex *is* frankly discussed, and there's the few drug scenes (marijuana at the party and a bong later at the relief drive). > I didn't get any good report, lovely, or praiseworthy out of > it at all. > > I got: Basic teen movie about How and When will I Finally > Lose my Annoying > Virginity. Huh? How'd you get that? The heroine is not ashamed of being a virgin. "You know how picky I am about my shoes. And they only go on my feet." She's not annoyed by her virginity at all and never *does* lose it. Further, after her attempted seduction of Christian, she tells her friends "I can't believe how capricious I was." Hooray for a film with teens that treats virginity as if it were a big deal. Teens who treat sex as if it were a big deal. > That was the theme of this movie. I didn't get any "moral" > out of it at > all. All through the film, the girl is waiting (making > several abortive > attempts, some of which admittedly _are_ funny) to find the > "right" guy to > do it with, which she does at the end; although the lucky > fellow is > not the one she supposed it would be. Thankfully she is less > of a spoiled > brat by the end. And there are some funny scenes (driving on > the freeway, > for one), but overall this was not, not, NOT about morality as any > Latter-day Saint defines it. It's a teen flick about How To Get Laid. She's not trying to find the right guy to do it with. She's trying to find the right guy, period. It's actually a good movie for exploring what the right guy might be. Take the handsome, rich boy who is "meant" for her. When he pulls his move, she shuts him down. And the last half of the movie, she isn't looking for the right guy at *all* (which is when she finds him where he's been all along--right under her nose). She learns to accept people as they are, to love them even when they don't confirm to her ideals, and to work with them as much as they are willing to be worked with (like with Travis, the skateboarding guy when he comes in with his 12 steps program). > Then again, I only read Jane Austen because I was forced to > in lit. classes > in college, and she leaves me dry--I allow all of you Austen > fans out there > your undying and (very likely) deserving devotion, but she > isn't to my > taste and never will be. Maybe that's part of my problem with > the movie, as > well? (...Except of those required readings, I think I recall > I disliked > _Emma_ the least; I think I almost liked it.) I'm sorry to hear you don't like Jane Austen. She's one of my favorite authors. Melissa had a paper in college where she called Austen a proto-feminist, which I think is apt (she certainly has strong heroines, though her inherent support of class segregations won't endure her to Marxist analysts). Further, her dialogue is simply sublime. She's worth reading just to hear her characters talk (or even not talk, as their pauses are often as informative). Jacob Proffitt - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2002 13:55:49 -0700 From: Melissa Proffitt Subject: Re: [AML] Public and Private Mormon Lit On Thu, 17 Jan 2002 17:57:41 -0800, Richard R. Hopkins wrote: >While editing Disoriented, I saw an opportunity. The author had a scene >where the hero (and LDS RM and scientist) is changing his shirt in a car >which the heroine (a non-LDS scientist) is driving. It is Arizona and = they >are driving in the desert. They are romantically interested in each = other, >and it seemed to me that she would see his garments and wonder why, = under >those climatic conditions, he didn't remove them. I asked him to include= a >brief dialogue in which she notices and asks about them, and he explains= why >he intends to wear the T-shirt she has given him over them. Is that an >example of what you're talking about here? I ask because that is = consistent >with my definition of "private LDS fiction." In other words, I'm not = talking >about "secret LDS fiction." What I'm referring to is actually where, in your original post, you mentioned that for you, "even Sunday activities are hard to write about." An aversion to even mentioning the kinds of activities peculiar to = Mormons would be *too* private. So would using all sorts of euphemisms because you're afraid of making our Church look weird. This is what I mean by = "too private." But the gist of what I said is not that public and private LDS fiction doesn't exist, but that it's not in my opinion correlated to where you = live. I knew "Utah Mormons" in Vancouver, Washington, and I know "non-Utah Mormons" here in Salt Lake, and if the environment really is the = determining factor, then I can't account for those anomalies. Melissa Proffitt - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2002 14:01:04 -0700 From: "Cathy Wilson" Subject: Re: [AML] American Book Publishing Jonathan gives some details about this company, in particular: Payment is on the basis of 5% royalty on each book edited (after bookseller's markup and printing costs are deducted). This appears to be the only compensation. * Editors must be able/willing to wait 18-24 months to receive any money for editing work they do. I would never work on this basis. Many authors ask me to work on spec, which is what this is. I ALWAYS refuse. Fact is, as most of us know, the publishing business is a very iffy proposition. An excellent, well-edited book just may not sell. What other professional do you know would work 8-10 hours a week on projects they may never be paid for? Or--if they do get paid --what other professional would wait up to two years for payment?? For me, it's an untenable proposition. After all, why do we editors work? For fun? Hardly. I do writing and editing to help pay the bills. If money were no concern, I'd be spending more time on my OWN projects. Cathy (Gileadi) Wilson Editing Etc. 1400 West 2060 North Helper UT 84526 - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2002 14:02:49 -0700 From: "Jacob Proffitt" Subject: RE: [AML] Ayn RAND, _Atlas Shrugged_ - ---Original Message From: Peter E. Chamberlain > You could also say that everything we do that is seemingly > altruistic is ultimately selfishly motivated because of the > beneficence of God. We know that God blesses us beyond any > effort that we make. So in the back of our heads we know > that ultimately any good we do will be paid back to us > tenfold by God. I think in this way Rand's idea of supreme > selfishness fits with the gospel. It may be cynical but I > think it works. Brigham Young said as much when he called himself the most selfish man on Earth (or words to that effect--I really should look up these quotes). His point was that the truly informed Mormon performed every good work he is capable of because reward is assured. That said, I don't think that's quite the message of Ayn Rand. She's saying specifically that supreme self-interest pays off on its own and not due to the promise or intervention of a divine hand. You can reconcile that with LDS belief as you've noted, but doing so alienates the translation from the source. At least in my opinion. Jacob Proffitt - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2002 14:07:38 -0700 From: "Cathy Wilson" Subject: Re: [AML] Annual Movie Tabulation This is not one of this year's films, but did anyone like "The Fifth Element?" Back in the badold years my family didn't have TV and didn't watch movies. Ya know, Babylon-the-Great stuff. (Probably you DON'T know. Just as well). Anyhow, I have a 15-year cultural gap. So I only just recently got to see "The Fifth Element." And now it's one of my favorite movies. Anyone else like this one? Cathy (Gileadi) Wilson Editing Etc. 1400 West 2060 North Helper UT 84526 - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2002 17:02:31 -0600 From: Jonathan Langford Subject: [AML] re: American Book Publishing [MOD: I received the following reply to a forwarded copy of my post from C. Lee Nunn, head of American Book Publishing. At her request, I am forwarding this to the List.] Thanks Jonathan; I can appreciate your views, while not in agreement with many of them. For example, our business model will much more likely enable us to be in the publishing market for decades and even generations to come, if you were to do a careful study of the financials of other publishing companies today, (as we did for 6 months when forming our business model), we will not be at risk to incur the hudge losses or be locked into small rates of return on investment as are their challenges. A close study of the mergers that have happened among the large and less large houses would be quite helpful to you in deterring just how financially strong or insolvent many of them have become. Since we have a zero debt policy in the company and we "pay as we go" all our expenses monthly or quarterly, we have no financial burdens on our future, are doing very well now and are well capitalized and do not foresee no dark clouds in our future. We will be converting our books to electronic versions this next year, but this is an extremely minor part of our focus. The e-book market is only about 1-2 % of book sales at this time and our attention is 98% focused on print books. We are very interested in keeping up with new technology and want to cover all the bases well, but we realize that it will be quite some time before it is financially wise for us and our authors to place much time and effort on e-books. I agree with you that perhaps many currently working and experienced editors will not opt for our compensation arrangement, however we have never had a problem filling this position at all with talented and highly skilled professional editors. We also help many get a needed break into the business, and add to their professional credentials, that lead them to increased opportunities in the publishing business. One important element you left out of your discussion is our company mission which is to provide wholesome quality works to the market. The reason we wanted to make this opportunity available to our fellow members of AML is that we believed that they may of them have similar goals to produce clean, uplifting and inspiring books." Most of our management is active LDS and we have a goal to produce LDS literature and sell it locally and also to widely distribute it to the Christian market. To any of those who would like to bash us for our sincere and hardworking efforts I will not be responding to any of the postings, but would like to end with this quote from President Teddy Roosevelt: "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and seat and blood; who strives valiantly..." Jonathan, I dislike contention and negativity, I've seen it before in many discussion groups, it just brings me down, there are so many wrong assumptions made and reputations destroyed that should never be, that I don't join them and spend time that I really can't spare from my other responsibilities in reading and posting to them. I wish I had time address all the issues you brought up in your posting but that would make quite a long positing and no one is likely to read it and I don't have time to write it today. C. Lee Nunn Director of Operations operations@american-book.com AMERICAN BOOK PUBLISHING http://www.american-book.com" - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2002 14:41:23 -0700 From: "Sammie Justesen" Subject: [AML] Re: [AML-Mag] American Book Publishing I read this post on American Book Publishing with great interest, because in December 2001 I signed a contract with ABP to publish my novel, and I'm planning to send them a nonfiction book within a few weeks. We're just beginning the publishing process, but so far I have no complaints. They've assigned me an editor who has many years of experience, both editing magazines and working for larger publishing houses. I'm extremely impressed with his professional attitude and the changes he's suggested on my manuscript. In fact, I consider this man a Godsend. They did not request money from me, because I'm already published, but after reading their 50 page author guidelines I understand why they ask for a deposit (although it does sound strange). They expect a lot from the writers, including a large time committment to each project. I can see people backing our and losing interest after a few months, and some writers won't tolerate much editing. ABP's methods are unorthodox, but I signed with them because I want to see this book in print and I'm tired of dealing with the East Coast publishing bureaucracy. (I have a book out by Prentice Hall, and they are terrible to deal with. Just try getting money from them!) If you like, I'll keep AML posted as I continue this journey. Sammie Justesen sammiejustesen@msn.com www.thewritersroost.com - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2002 14:12:58 -0700 (MST) From: Ivan Angus Wolfe Subject: [AML] NORTHERN VOICES, _Redemption Road_ (CD Review) CD Review: "Redemption Road" by Northern Voices=20 (Sam Cardon, Don Stirling & Friends). Shadow Mountain (Deseret Book) Retail Price: Around 15 bucks depending on where and when you buy it= [Reviewed by Ivan Wolfe] . One quick note before I begin: I have always maintained that LDS "po= p music" is better than its "fluffy & bland tripe" reputation. Many people I tal= k to who condemn LDS pop music for its blandness have heard perhaps one album = and judge all subsequent LDS pop music by that standard. When I try to play so= mething for them that is actually quite good they tend to filter it through their= previous biases and hear it as cheesy and trite no matter how good it is. Eve= n Michael McLean has a few really good songs - even though he tends to be synon= ymous with this negative image of LDS music. I admit much of his music is not t= o my taste - - but there are three songs by him that rank in my all time top twent= y. The man has talent - he just needs a really good producer who can tell him to= throw out eighty percent of what he writes. He's released something like twent= y albums when he really should only be on number three or four. Anyway - that's a digression. LDS music has the talent, even among t= hose traditionally dismissed as lightweight. It just needs a better criti= cal community. The FCMA (Faith-Centered Music Association - the LDS musi= c association that runs the annual Pearl Awards) is a great step in thi= s direction although it still seems to suffer from the dichotomy of simultaneousl= y rejecting and embracing the "creamy & fluffy" aspects of LDS music - but I have= faith that the FCMA is the best hope LDS music has right now. Anyway - enough on LDS music in general - here's the review: The first Northern Voices album "Faithful" (which I have in the rare= "Sam Cardon & Don Stirling" CD cover) kept me sane on my mission. My miss= ion presidents were fairly strict on music, but since "Faithful" was rele= ased by Deseret Book (even though it was under their Shadow Mountain label), = it was allowed. While the rest of the music I had was generally restricted = to MoTab and Michael -- the Northern Voices album, while still fairly mellow, = at least had some semi-upbeat songs that imitated some of my favorite pop star= s. The very Sting-like "Days of Living" and the obviously influenced by Rod = Stewart (post-disco) "If She Only Knew" made the album a joy to listen to. = =20 But it was far from derivative. It had its own unique voice, and won= derful songs like "All I Can Say" and "Hello Morning" were not only well wri= tten but had very intelligent lyrics. Not brillant on the level of say, Paul = Simon, Roland Orzabal, or Suzanne Vega - but very well thought out. In fact= , "Faithful's" main strength was in its combination of wonderful music = and strong lyrics. While it didn't totally avoid clich=E9, it managed to take t= he route of the best in pop music and use clich=E9 to say something original. Ev= ery song managed to create a character and tell a story. The song "All I Can = Say" for example, seems at first glance to be full of clich=E9s and clumsy phr= ases, but the character the lyrics create acknowledges his shortcomings and inabili= ty to express his thoughts - and by so doing, he says something new and uni= que, much like the Elton John tune "Your Song". The clumsy phrases and awkward= clich=E9s added up to something more than the sum of its parts. While Don Stir= ling was by no means an amazing lyricist, he had a definite natural feel for pop = lyrics. This new album, coming some eight years later (no hurry to get a soph= omore album out, apparently) has none of the charm or appeal of the first album. = Everything about it seems forced. It sounds derivative. It sounds like it want= s to be a bold new direction in LDS pop but in a way that will offend no one. = The lyrics descend to the level of clich=E9 and rarely leave it. There are no u= nique characters created or stories told. Each song seems to be attempting = to describe moods rather than tell stories, which is fine - but the moods ultimat= ely mean nothing. The music also fails as the songs all wind up sounding near= ly the same even with different instrumentation and vocalists. There are a prepo= nderance of slow ballads (easy to write, but very hard to write well), and even t= he "up-tempo" sounding songs are somewhat slow, and are "up-tempo" in a = way that won't offend anyone who thinks up-tempo music is of the devil. My wife summed it up best. After hearing the album she turned to me = and said "Hmm. Kinda cheesy." Here?s a sampling of a few of the songs and some commentary on each: A. Dance Upon Orion: A very bad Sting rip-off, made worse by the fa= ct that the music sounds more like Michael McLean than Sting. The first track on= "Faithful" (Day of Living) also was derivative of Sting, but it sounded like Sti= ng while still managing to sound original. "Day of Living" was based on Sting= s style while not being based on any particular song. "Dance Upon Orion" is = clearly derivative of the song "Fields of Gold" (though in this song they're = walking through "fields of silken green").=20 In "Fields of Gold" Sting managed to capture a mood through a lyrical= version of a surrealistic painting. He gave the listener images - hair hanging = down, fields of barley, summer days, that by themselves were hardly strikin= g. But when combined, the images formed a complete whole - but Sting left it= up to the listeners to create this image. "Dance" gives us banal confusing ima= ges that don't seem to add up to much. It attempts to get metaphysical but is= burdened by its all too earthy images. The music might have helped, but since= it sounds like something from an early McLean album (minus the catchy melodies)= , this song fails to reach the stars it seem to think its been living on for year= s. (that comment on McLean was serious - he actually has some very catch= y melodies). B. For You: This song is perhaps the worst offender in the clich= =E9 category.=20 Rather than using the clich=E9s to say something fresh, this song is = content to merely list them, as though a list of clich=E9s is all it needs to do= (some examples: "This one's for you" - "When the moment's just right" - "Fr= iends there to lift you up"). The music is a little catchier, but the melody is = not very memorable. C. Silent Night, Lonely Night: Not a Christmas song, and with such = a horrid title I didn't expect much - and I got nothing. Another list of clic= h=E9s like "a thousand miles from you" or "I will go anywhere in the world to hold = you close."=20 Neither the music nor melody is very distinguished. The fills and cr= escendos are in all the right places, but it just comes across as bland. D. Late, Great L.A. Boys: The fifth song on the album, and suddenly= it seems like an up-tempo song is finally going to appear. But despite the ob= vious Hip-Hop influence on the music and lots of cool effects on the guitar= , this song is bland. Why? Well, it's hip-hop, but in such a way as not to offe= nd people who don't like hip-hop. The lyrics are a little better with a few pr= omising metaphors (police sirens likened to a choir) - but its bland, inoffen= sive hip-hop wannabe instrumentation offends my sensibilities. E. Come to Know: If a song starts out with a line including "red, r= ed rose" it had better be a Burns poem set to music, because it will almost immed= iately lose my interest. Again, I expected little and got less. The lyrics agai= n merely list clich=E9s without doing anything original with them. The music = is even worse. It sounds like the illegitimate offspring of a song cut from = the musical Les Miserables and the orchestral score from any 1980s LDS seminary f= ilm. F. Mother Lode: It takes until the seventh song to get to something= really good. The song starts out promising, with a flamenco guitar and a ca= tchy drum loop, it actually sounds different than the other songs so far. It?s= still a fairly mid-tempo type ballad, and the lyrics don't do a lot, but it w= as nice to have something that didn't sound like most of the other songs on the = album. G. She Got Cha-Cha: Another horrid title, and an unmemorable additi= on to the overused pop song genre about a beautiful woman who can dance. Howev= er, you can Cha-Cha to it, so at least it's faithful to its title. H. Redemption: A rather nice piano solo. It's also the theme from t= he movie "Brigham City." However, it's nothing you can't get from a George Wi= nston album, and it seems oddly placed as the last song on the CD. This is= the only track that's keeping me from getting rid of the album entirely - but = I got the album for free. I wouldn't buy it for this track alone. I was obviously disappointed with the album. It's not that it's a pa= rticularly bad album, it's just that it?s only a particularly competent one. Th= ere is nothing here to distinguish it from any of the other thousands of "ad= ult contemporary" or "soft pop" albums out there. LDS pop music will not= make a name for itself by being just like everyone else. I want LDS pop to = succeed, but if it's going to it needs to be better than this. Nothing here m= akes it competitive. Shadow Mountain was created to make it easier to market= LDS products to a national market. The first Northern Voices album did f= airly well nationally from what I'm told. I have no idea how this one will do, = but it does nothing to distinguish itself. If LDS pop wants to break into the ma= instream the way Christian pop did, it needs to create its own image, not be a far-too-faithful mirror of what is already out there. "Faithful" gave the pop world a unique LDS voice in pop music. It was= imitative without being derivative. The song "Day of Living" on that album was= full of LDS theology without being preachy. All of the tunes had resonance in= LDS culture and belief - yet without being didactic or even obviously LDS= . This new album is, unfortunately, a "we're just like everyone else" album rath= er than a "we're a lot alike - but here's a snippet of our unique view of the w= orld that you might be able to understand" album. - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ End of aml-list-digest V1 #581 ******************************