I’m a library grazer. Yep, I confess it. Each time I visit my local public library I can’t help but shop the shelves for all the new arrivals in all genres–even the entertainment ones that often astonish me with their very existence. The downside of this book/dvd/cd grazing is that it about triples the time I spend in the library’s physical location. It also generally about triples the number of items I haul to the self check out computer and from there to the ever overflowing parlor couch where they get to catch their breath. One of the items my grazing discovered was this book of photographs from one of America’s dark actions against its own people–Japanese Americans. (Btw, there was talk of rounding up German Americans too, but that never got going. Don’t believe that? Check out the holdings at the National Archives, KCMO–oh yeah.) Not only were people forced into camps but their personal property was confiscated and they lost everything–for nothing. Is this bit of American history more than a tad disconcerting? It should be considering all the lip service paid to “human rights.” The Native Americans had/have prisons without walls via the reservations. Japanese Americans had prisons with barbed wire. As I viewed Bill Manbo’s photographs I was struck again and again at the incongruity of everything in them about people trying to maintain some sense of normalcy in a decidedly NOT normal situation–a downright irrational situation to my thinking. Usually prison/confinement is the end result of doing something “wrong”–illegal–criminal. But these families had done nothing at all — except be Japanese Americans. There’s definitely something askew in thinking that leads to such treatment of people innocent of any wrongdoing. I wonder about the American population at large that was aware of people being taken from their communities and yet allowing it, accepting it, agreeing to it. And I wonder if our current prison system is just another sign of this confining mentality. Maybe it is. Or it’s something even darker? At any rate, here is one man’s photographic record of history which shames the Americans who created and implemented this action. It also shames all those who knew it was wrong and watched it happen in silence.
Much thanks to the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University for this Vimeo film featuring Bill Manbo’s photographs.
Colors of Confinement, Rare Kodachrome Photographs of Japanese American Incarceration in World War II, Editor Eric L. Muller with photographs by Bill Manbo. Published by the University of North Carolina in association with the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, 2012.
Ever wish book publishers paid some real attention to what really interests your reading brainpan? Hmm? Care to put your dollars and scents, yes that’s a deliberate misplay on words. Cents is so predictable. Let’s play with sense a little more. After all they’re very important to your nose, your taste buds and your memory–scents are. Got that? Okay, now let’s get back to Unbound–as in being unfettered, untied, unchained, unhindered–and free to move about at will. Would you like to pick the books you’d like to have published? You can at Unbound. Seriously. You might have to forgo some of that instant gratification that characterizes much of modern culture but eventually you can get what you want–as long as some other folks want it too.
Case in point:
Author Paul Kingsnorth is pitching The Wake on Unbound. The Wake is a historical novel about resistance fighters after the Battle of Hastings in 1066. What the novel needs are pledges, supporters, interested potential readers willing to pay for the digital, hardback, or collector’s edition of the novel. There are other perks offered for greater levels of support for Kingsnorth’s novel–such as Dark Mountain’s anthology. The book has garnered 70% of the pledges necessary for publishing via Unbound. Unbound is a bit like Kickstarter for publishing. Sort of. Agents are still part of the publishing mix. View that tidbit as you will.
Visit Unbound’s home –>> http://unbound.co.uk/ Yes, you can buy books already published here too. See if what the authors are serving agrees with your reading taste.
Kingsnorth chatting about The Wake:
PS. Some bait to get you to take a gander at all Unbound offers.
A freebie from Unbound for which the clock is ticking now. Click the cover art to get there asap! midnight-Deadline November 30, 2012 at midnight -their midnight I suspect.
Sign in/up at Unbound, it’s absolutely free, to get a digital copy of Evil Machines FREE. Be quick–this offer ends at midnight on Nov. 30, 2012.
Kristyn Dunnion strikes hard punk gold again in The Dirt Chronicles, a Lambda Literary Award Finalist, which is mis-identified as a collection of short stories. I can see how that labeling came about. These can be read as short stories. But, in reality, this is a novel presented from several different characters’ viewpoints and fully individual voices. It’s a little disconcerting unless you’re a fan of Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury. The story is dark, hard, gritty and it’s all about the lives of several punk street kids in Toronto. It’s not pretty. There’s the corrupt cops, drugs, rape, murder, sexual identity issues and relationship issues galore. This may not be an easy read for some folks. But if you’ve got a rebellious teenager overflowing with angst–you might want to take a hard look at the issues Dunnion deals with head on–from the perspective of the kids instead of the adults they run from. Dunnion’s ability to present convincing male and female voices and perspectives is uncanny. Writing about such subjects with harsh realism is the forte of few. It’s verification of Dunnion’s talent as a writer every time you cringe while discovering the very dark side of street and squat life. Oh and yes, again, this is also a love story (ies). How much does Oreo love Ferret? Enough to leave the entire world behind while pole dancing. What will Eddie do to get back to protecting Ray Ray? Whatever it takes.
Warning: This is not Patsy Cline crooning on this video.
Click the boot to see the video trailer and more at Red Deer Press. If you find this an unsettling view of teenage girls then I suggest you consider all that’s been written about their physical and psychological cruelty. Science fiction has nothing on the daily reality strutting through school hallways everywhere.
Rustle: I think of all the clicking, whirling cams, the screens and monitors, the hidden mics tracking our movements when we least suspect it–the never knowing when they’re watching. And I surrender to my own inevitable defeat. A tear rolls down my sorry check as I flashback to the Treason Times. I rememory all those twisted cores, those poor broken specimens struggling, impaled on their death sticks, waiting for the pain to end. Our ancestors, the human mothers who bore us, ridiculed ’til the very last milli and Beyond. That’ll be me soon. Sniff.
O thank you, Red Deer Press for your “…respect for the intelligence of the reader at every level…”–WOW–when’s the last time you read that in any American Publisher’s mission statement? Like NEVER! I mean what American media outlet of any sort has any respect for the intelligence of its audience??? Red Deer Press is a Canadian operation–smirk, smirk. Come on, be honest. I’m willing to entertain any suspects dishing up tomes to feed the intelligence hunger of Americans anyone is willing to offer up. Is it fair to argue that the fact that books in any form are still being produced by American publishers for the market is a good sign that we’ve not been entirely written off as complete morons–yet? Big Big Sky is definitely not mental junk food for a dumbed down Young Adult audience. The very talented Kristyn Dunnion makes the most of every page to infiltrate and stretch the imagination of whoever picks up this totally engaging novel which raises a multitude of issues about blind obedience, genetic manipulation, love, leadership. loyalty and survival of the fittest–”Decline, Deform, Disobey.” This is one hell of a science fiction/fantasy adventure into uncharted waters and beyond for the all female crew of a StarPod of young assassins: Rustle, Loo, Solomon, Shona and Roku. Dunnion creates a tightly controlled world of young people trained by ScanMans to exterminate other humans. Then Dunnion turns the tables on the core group and soon they’re deep in a swim for their own lives to the lands beyond the mountain of total mind control. There’s good language craft fun with all the lingo Dunnion devises for this unruly passel of rampaging lasses as the plot unfolds from the shifting perspectives of each. You don’t have to be a teenager or a female to jump into this novel and enjoy it immensely. Keeping an open mind about love relationships and science fiction could be a tad useful at the onset–until the characters themselves yanky yank you into their world of troubles and tribulations and transformations. Ever dream of becoming a big bird? How about an amphibian? What’s your control freak conformity factor? All is fair in love and war, right?
I’m eagerly awaiting more of Kristyn Dunnion’s wicked writing wonders. I promise to share with the other girls nice nice.
Violating copyright births bad karma---imagine a mad hacker you'll never see coming--nor catch going. Respect = my work is my work and your work is your work.
Everything posted here is my work, copyrighted, unless otherwise noted. Comments aside. Om
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