W W N
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from - words worth nattering |
| Unbooked! -
9.01 slams coffin lid on F N Lyre's posthumous memoir |
news - October 31, 2079 - the
publishers - WordlyLit Productions - regret to announce that DeTALES
(Department of Truth and Accountability in Literature, Enforcement Section) has
attached a 9.01 censor notice to WordlyLit's preannounced publication -
The Remote (the literary book) by F N Lyre citing (among other
factors) classification errors:- "non-fiction, memoir, biography, history,"
and attribution errors:- "work claimed to be the creation of the correctly
named author".
Consequently the book has been withdrawn, and all
related pre-orders are canceled immediately without further notice.
The
publishers will review their application and on the advice of legal counsel have
asserted that they will exercise their rights under the TAL Pathways Ammendment
to resubmit at the earliest possible date (May 11, 2080). WordlyLit apologizes
to readers and its associated publishing outlets for any inconvenience this may
cause.
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WWN Editor's Comment:-
Speaking as a long established competing publisher (since 2057) you might think
I take pleasure in seeing an upstart stumble so hard on its first step. But I
have mixed feelings about this.
Undeniably this setback is a great
embarrassment for the recently formed WordlyLit which inherited the literary
works of the late Effin Lyre and acquired at a snip the business assets of his
arrogantly named "the Great Lyre Himself" publishing brand. It must be
especially galling to get a 9.01 for this - his last work - given Lyre's many
successes in his lifetime skating around the edges of the censorship laws even
as they were being drafted.
I can't say I was ever a fan of Effin's
writing style - and that was long before that "interview" and the "literary
thesis" incidents about which so much has been written elsewhere.
Nevertheless, like many others in this strange words business of ours I had
developed a sneaking admiration for his longevity twinged with mild envy at his
money making prowess so that along with millions of others now bumped out of the
preorder queue I had been looking forward to getting a glimpse of what this -
his last work - might reveal.
Gven the automatic confiscation of
rights and prison sentences which attach to all DeTALES infringements - and this
book being whatever it may be - (not political) and therefore likely worth the
risk of "piratical" leaks - it looks like we'll have to wait longer to
see.
No doubt there will be speculation as to what lies behind the
errors cited. Is his memoir really so much a work of fiction?
Apart
from the lawsuits in his later life it was always assumed that his projected
aura of the hermit was simply a branding statement.
The most peculiar aspect of the errors listed in the press release to
my mind however is the attribution factor. One would have thought that given the
"hostwriter" (sic) fiasco which precipitated Lyre's exit from the
tick-tock of book releases and self-imposed literary exile thereafter the
natural questions arising from the 9.01 are:-
- What's the true backstory behind the banned book? and
- Who's qualified to judge which parts (if any) were written by him?
There
is only one person living who can answer that.
You know who I
mean...
But given the venom and animosity which took place between XX
(who I don't name here due to that well known settlement which still constrains
publishers coupling his name with Lyre's literary works), and the university
which awarded XX his PhD and their costly legal battle with Lyre's legal
ninjas (which became more popular for a year on author news networks than videos
of cats) is there any realistic prospect that these once warring parties - XX
and the inheritors of Lyre's books (WordlyLit) would ever agree to bury the
hatchet, and collaborate to deliver a definitive answer to the censors which
would yield up this book to the public in a timeframe in which anyone might
still be interested to read it?
Speaking for myself - as one (still)
professionally curious - I'd welcome such a turn of events - however unlikely.
Identity
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