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Gregory Blecha Whose Farce? In the last twelve months, it seems that we Apocalypse writers are facing some heavy competition from the Federal government. Before the bailouts, the insolvencies, the mounting deficits, a trillion dollars seemed astronomical; the industry of ten million Americans, toiling for a year. Now, in a climate of collapsing institutions and a financial crisis brought on by greed and bad math, we see the government shovel trillions of dollars out the door.
Those of us who write satire are looking nervously in the rear view mirror as this momumental farce overtakes us. January 28, 2009
Shop-Dropping I have discovered my market price - it is 50¢, and at that price, the demand for my book is seemingly inexhaustable. For the past several years, I've practiced the fine art of planting copies of my book, Love in the Time of the Apocalypse where I figured strangers were likely to encounter them - at coffee shops like Starbucks, for example, or left seemingly abandoned on vacant seats of public transportation, such as the subway in New York City. My goal has always been to put my book in "help's way" hoping that someone would pick it up, read it, enjoy it, and tell a friend.
I've just learned that this fine art is a well-establish practice known as shop-dropping, and that it even has its own web site:
To quote the site, the definition of shop-dropping is:
SHOPDROP: To covertly place merchandise on display in a store. A form of "culture jamming" s. reverse shoplift, droplift. *
* As defined by Ryan Watkins-Hughes
I had no idea that I was participating in a counter-culture phenomenon and that I had kindred spirits in other areas of the arts, such as music.
Once a week I plant a copy of Apocalypse at my local library, on the book sale stand, which advertises hardbacks for one dollar, paperbacks for fifty cents. On each weekly visit I notice that the book I'd left the prior week is gone. I know the librarians are not throwing the books away, so that means some curious reader must have contributed her 50¢ to the commonweal, and taken my book home with her. Not once have I found the book was returned, so I can only conclude that it remains on the reader's shelf (or ends up on eBay, I can't tell which). There are actually no copies of my book for sale on eBay, but a number of used copies are available at amazon.com, so I hope I am not feeding some online bookseller!
With my fingers crossed, I calculate that the demand for my book is one copy a week, at the price of 50¢.
I was greatly encouraged in my shop-dropping venture by an article I read about the book, "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" by Ron Hansen, which was just made into a movie starring Brad Pitt. Evidently the movie's director (or producer, I can't tell which) had visited a used bookstore when he came across Ron Hansen's book. The book resonated with him, and compelled him to make a movie about it. Now, I confess I've not read the book, nor seen the film (though I've just ordered it on netflix) but I was really intrigued about the prospects of using serendipity to get Apocalypse in the hands of someone who might read it and encourage others to do the same.
What am I after? Why give away a book that costs me $10.00 for a tithe of the price (which, of course, does not even accrue to me)? Well, soon after Apocalypse was published, I had two very favorable incidents, and I truly covet a reprise. First, I did a reading of the book at a bookstore in Davis California called the Avid Reader. I must confess I had an absolute blast! I really enjoy reading to an audience, especially if it's my own work! Second, Apocalypse was the "book of the month" for our neighborhood reading club. I really enjoyed trying to explain my literary quirkiness to a group of friends! I am hoping that sprinkling copies of my book around like heartfelt love letters will one day score me another book reading.
There - now you know something intimate about me and my aspirations. If you have two quarters in your pocket and find your self in the vicinity of the library in Jupiter, Florida, you can read about the apocalypse at a serious discount!I January 13, 2008
When Words Were More Precious than Gold In the year 2013 a fleet of alien ships descended on Earth. With beams of intense heat and energy they melted the polar ice, crushed the great mountain ranges of Asia, sundered the might groin of the Grand Canyon. Then they issued an ultimatum in Mandarin, English, Urdu, baby talk, the language of the Kalahari: every soul, every man, woman, girl, boy, savant or imbecile, must write the story of what their life would be like for the next fifty years. A child too young, or a mind too feeble, could trust her mother or father, an aunt or a loved one, to write her story for her. In a month's time, the aliens would read each person's story and decide the many who would be slain, and the few who would be spared to live out the honesty of her words. Then, for a brief time, artists, dreamers and storytellers were in great demand, exalted more than financiers, rulers, war merchants, performers or heiresses. And then, for a brief time, words were more coveted than gold, a simile could purchase a castle.
October 8, 2007
Reading by Flashlight When I was a child I would often take a flashlight to bed with me so I could stay up past my bedtime and read under the covers. Then I read fabulous stories like 1001 Nights, Through the Looking Glass and Gulliver's Travels. These days I tend to read authors such as John Barth, Umberto Eco and Salmon Rushdie. Though the books may have changed over the years, my passion for reading continues unabated.
There are many places where I wouldn't be caught dead without a book. For instance, if I know I have to wait in line, I will make sure I have a book tucked under my elbow. This is a particularly useful strategy in the post office, where lines are long and the people around you are less than joyous about their wait. With a book in hand, I could not have cared less how long the line was, how impatient my fellow patrons were, or how surly was the postal clerk.
I have been known, in fact, to leave the house, drive several miles down the road, and, upon realizing I neglected to bring my book with me, to drive back to my house and fetch it. Who wants to be caught dead without a good book in hand?
As a long-standing lover of a good story, I have always wanted to write a book that was worth driving back home for. December 2, 2006 | | Love in the Time of the Apocalypse 
And a quirky, satirical, witty, surreal apocalypse it was
- Daniel Jolley "darkgenius" (Amazon.com top 50 reviewer)
Brilliance + heart + humor = a uniquely wild ride - Nicole Hunter, author "Waiting for the World to End"
Undoubtedly one of the best books of the year VoodooLord7 (Amazon.com top 500 reviewer)
Love in the Time of the Apocalypse is a work of playful conspiritorial pop-delirium and pastiche full of lovable terrorists, state run breeding houses, Amish casinos, vulgar action scenes, the antichrist, tongue and cheek hyper-masculinity ("perhaps sit-ups can save the world") and a bourgeois love story to top it all. Author Greg Blecha writes in a style, humorous and sensual, that draws the reader into a world just beyond our own. The Aryan Nation has congealed into a proto-state along the border of the collapsing U.S. Eco-anarchists, nihilists, the Mormon underground, and opium cartels defended by armies of children, circumambulate the dissolving centers of bourgeois frivolity where, despite plague, war, economic collapse, and the excesses of a police state, some are still able to ignore the coming catastrophe, throwing their money away at casinos and other luxuries. Click to read more... Disclaimer: This is not an "apocalyptic novel"; this is a work of literary fiction using a hypothetical apocalypse as a backdrop for storytelling (I don't want to disappoint any apocalypse die-hards, since this is not an apocalypse-genre story)... | |