From: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com (aml-list-digest) To: aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: aml-list-digest V1 #377 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 Friday, June 29 2001 Volume 01 : Number 377 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 28 Jun 2001 22:18:07 -0000 From: "Andrew Hall" Subject: [AML] Cracroft's Book Nook The Summer 2001 BYU Magazine is out, and with it another of Richard Cracroft's Book Nook columns. Cracroft mentions three novels. _Dad Was a Carpenter_, Kenny Kemp, 1999, which has been purchased by HarperCollins for national distribution. _Burial in Beirut_, by Orin D. Parker, Writer's Showcase Press, 2000. Parker spent his career in the Middle Eastn, and this novel is political thriller about an American student in 1975 Beirut falling for a Palestinian activist, and getting involved in terrorism and the civil war. (Kemp and Parker are both noted as BYU alums) Cracroft is most effusive about Dory J. Peters' _Winds of Change_, Cedar Fort, 2000. I'll quote him. "Finally, I recommend a moving and memorable first novel . . . In this engaging, insightful, and culture-bridging novel, Dory J. Peters becomes the first Navajo LDS returned missionary to tell, in first-rate fiction, how it is to grow up in both Navajo and LDS families; how it is to be torn from a cherished, familiar, organic, inward, image-centered, and deeply traditional way of viewing the world and thrust into a vastly different, mechanistic, word-centered society, every bit as deep and traditional; how it is to become and remain part of both Navajo clan and Mormon family; and how he struggles to identify and cultivate the best of each, while remaining an Other in both cultures. Peters' story, grounded in his own experience but recounted by the fictional persona of Victor, a returned missionary visiting his reservation home on business, it poignant, powerful, enlightening and well told--a triumphant fictional first in Mormon literature, an important book which gently but movingly teaches racial and cutlural toleration, inclusion, and understanding. Every Latter-day Saint will enjoy this novel." Andrew says--It looks like this is the third quality novel that Cedar Fort has put out in 2000 (also Angel of the Danube and Wine-Dark Sea of Grass). They still put out a lot of hokey adventure stories, but someone over there seems to be on the look-out for quality. Cracroft also mentions several non-fiction works, most written by BYU alums: _Near Cumorah's Hill: Images of the Restoration_ (Covenant, 2000), by Paul Gilbert and Douglas Powell. _The Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History_ (Deseret, 2000), by Arnold Garr, Donald Cannon, and Richard Cowan. _Revelations of the Restoration: A Commentary on the Doctrine and Covenants and Other Modern Revelations_ (Deseret, 2000), by Joseph Fielding McConkie and Craig Ostler. _Printing in Deseret: Mormons, Economy, Politics, and Utah's Incunabula, 1849-1851_ (U. of Utah Press, 2000), by Richard Saunders. (What's an incunabula?) _All Things Restored: Confirming the Authenticity of LDS Beliefs_ (Covenant, 2000), by Matthew Brown. _Three Degrees of Glory: Joseph Smith's Insights on the Kingdoms of Heaven_ (Covenant, 2000), by Lawrence Flake. _The History of Joseph Smith, by His Mother_ (Covenant, 2000), edited by George A. Smith and Elias Smith. _I Don't Have to Make Everything All Better_ (Penguin, 2000), by Gary and Joy Lundberg. _Gift of the Whale: The Inupiat Bowhead Hunt, A Sacred Tradition_ (Sasquatch Books, 1999), by Bill Hess. Andrew Hall _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 Jun 2001 10:18:16 -0400 (Eastern Daylight Time) From: Amelia Parkin Subject: Re: [AML] Midstream Mormon Publisher Jeffrey Savage wrote: "The direction that concerns me, is that somehow allowing more profanity and sex in LDS fiction is an improvement. . . There are many great novels and movies that manage to tell amazing stories without any of that, but the popular trend is to add extra sex and profanity, just as tobacco companies add extra nicotine to their cigarettes. I really hope that as LDS artists, we focus on showing that outstanding art can be created without profanity and sex. . . Instead, it sounds like we are focused on seeing how much of that we can get into LDS novels. To me that sounds an awful lot like lowering the bar." I'm sure that many will jump at this one but I couldn't let it pass without comment. I agree that it is possible to tell amazing stories without sex and violence and profanity. However, I don't think the issue here is telling amazing stories. that's only one part of the issue. I think what most of the people who have commented on this thread are after is literature which can address serious issues. art which makes us stop and think about our ideas and beliefs, ideas and beliefs that we have accepted for truths for so long that we are dangerously willing to never think about them as being imperfect. And I see a desire in what has been said to create such art which is, while challenging, not so stringent or radical that it completely alienates its readers. And, I hope I am correct here, the desire for a midstream Mormon publishing house is not a desire to sell thousands and thousands of books to a wide Mormon audience in order to make money but rather a desire for a way of publishing the kind of art I spoke of above. I think the comparison to Stephen King fits in nicely here. King is a mass-market author. A good one, but still a mass-market author. Mormons have theirs, too. Where King puts sex or violence or profanity into his novels as an addictive element (added nicotine), Mormon mass-marketers put in their own forms, things I can't even describe well but generally call "warm fuzzies". the romance about a young Mormon girl who falls in love with a non-Mormon but remains true to the faith and he ultimately converts. the parallel tale of two young Mormon girls and two young Mormon boys: one couple remains good and meets at 22 and marries; the other screws around and then misses out on the perfect life they could have had. I suppose I'm thinking of all the ways I was manipulated through the Mormon lit I read as a teenager (I must admit I don't read much now because I was so turned off by it; although yesterday, because of things I've read on this list, I bought _The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint_ by Brady Udall and tried to find a copy of _The Shape of Things_ by Neil LaBute). It's wonderful that Mormon authors try to represent things Mormon: the happiness that can result from leading a good life; healings coming through priesthood blessings; the trials and struggles of the pioneers. But I do think that it is time to represent those realities along with other realities, realities that are less faith-promoting in a superficial way because they involve things that are questionable, like sex or violence or intentionally petty, vicious behavior towards family or neighbors. I want to read Mormon literature that makes me examine how it is that I, as a Mormon, can deal with the challenge of being Mormon but also being an educated, American, single female living not inside Mormon culture only but inside an amazingly beautiful but also incredibly problematic intersection of American culture and Mormon culture. I want to be made to stop and think about all the assumptions I've been basing my life on to this point. Right now I read contemporary literature to do that, people like Toni Morrison and Julian Barnes and A.S. Byatt. They make me stop and question my assumptions. But they can't help me figure out the Mormon side of my life. I would love to read good literature (and by that I do not mean high-brow, post-modern, literary novels though I vastly enjoy such works; I mean only well-written and provocative works which I do believe have a mass appeal) which explores the intersection of Mormonism and the world "outside" Mormonism. I put that "outside" in quotes because, really, there isn't a lot outside Mormonism. We just like to think there is. And that is really the problem. When the Mormon literature available creates a dichotomy between acceptable Mormon problems (any problem you can point to in a Jack Weyland novel) and unacceptable because un-Mormon problems (more than incidental sex, drug addiction, the kind of hypocrisy that comes with calling ourselves a chosen people which results in drawing lines of love--those we will love and those we won't, etc.), then there is a serious problem. It's like what happens in Disney movies. Where the traditional fairytales they are based on almost always create a heroine who contains the seeds of her own downfall (Beauty, in Beauty and the Beast, for instance, chooses to not return to the Beast knowing that her choice will kill him), Disney takes all of the evil impulses or the problems and personifies them outside of the heroine in a clearly despicable form (Gaston, in _Beauty and the Beast_, locks Belle up and then goes off to try to kill the Beast). Such representations teach girls (and I suppose boys, too) that there should be nothing remotely bad in them. Rather they should be perfectly good, and perfectly beautiful, and ultimately perfectly unreal. Mormon lit that does not address reality, even though it may address some problems, creates an image of what a Mormon is and should be and it's a false image. It's time to change that. To acknowledge what problems there are and to address them so that we can begin to change. To recognize that along side all of the good and beautiful parts of Mormonism there are problems, sometimes horrifying problems. To finally find the courage to admit that inside of us there lies the potential to do horrible evil things. It's only when we recognize that potential that we can battle it. I think that art and literature are one of the most powerful ways we can do so and it saddens me that those of us who want to do that while taking into account Mormonism do not have the forum in which to do so. [Amelia Parkin] - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 29 Jun 2001 16:46:29 -0500 From: Jana Remy (by way of Jonathan Langford ) Subject: [AML] Email Addresses Needed Jana Remy, AML-List's book reviews coordinator, had her computer crash and lost some email addresses. She would appreciate email addresses for the following individuals: Morgan Adair Sam Brunson Andrew Hall Please send replies to janaremy@juno.com. Jonathan Langford AML-List Moderator - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 Jun 2001 19:56:38 -0700 From: "Jeff Savage" Subject: Re: [AML] Sex in Literature (was: Midstream Mormon Publisher) D. Michael Martindale wrote: > I don't care so much about profanity, but sex is another story > altogether. I'd truly like to understand this. Why is sex so taboo? Sex > is not evil. Sex is a part of life, an integral part of life, a powerful > emotional force that motivates much of human behavior. Boyd K. Packer > gave a famous speech where he calls it "the very key" of the plan of > salvation. Maybe you are reading me wrong here. I am a big fan of sex. I think that it is good, fun, and hey it doesn't even make you gain weight! I feel that many characters in our stories, as in real life, use profanity and have both moral and immoral sexual experiences. I also think that those experiences can be a part of wonderful stories. I just don't think that good (and here I am using good in the quality sense, not the moral one) LDS writers need to have profanity or explicit sexual encounters in their books. I am not saying that our characters need to sleep in separate beds or walk around saying "Frick"or "Son of a Biscuit," But I am saying that I don't need to know what position my protagonist favors to understand that he/she is sexually avtive. > And we're supposed to pretend in our fiction that this vital aspect of > human beings doesn't exist? Fiction that does that is a lie! Agree completely. > The world sends the message that sex is fun, so do it. The only message > we send is negative--don't do it! It's bad to do it! Stay away? Pretend > it doesn't exist! But our kids aren't buying it, for one very simple > reason. They know we're lying! Sex is fun! I was a teenager once; I know > whereof I speak. Hey it's been almost twenty years since I could call myself any kind of teen and I still think it's fun. But that doesn't mean that I would encourage my teens to be sexually active before they are married. Can't we say in a novel, "Sex is a blast, but save it for your wife or husband?" > In my opinion, people who want to purge sex from all LDS literature are > lowering the bar. They are lowering the bar in real life where it > counts, not in mere fiction. Michael, I'll bet you didn't think we would agree on anything. But I wholeheartedly back your conclusion. I don't want all Mormon literature to be Disney. But I don't think that any Mormon literature needs to have graphic sex scenes or profanity to be good. Amelia Parkin wrote: >I think what most of the people who have commented on this thread are after >is literature which can address serious issues. art which makes us stop >and think about our ideas and beliefs, ideas and beliefs that we have >accepted for truths for so long that we are dangerously willing to never >think about them as being imperfect. And I see a desire in what has been >said to create such art which is, while challenging, not so stringent or >radical that it completely alienates its readers. Amen sister. Challenge me, stop me, make me think, question, ponder, and if you are really good, maybe even change. But don't tell me that I have to know the details of Dick and Jane's sex life or have every other word out of their mouth be four-letters to do it. Are you really suggesting that if a book doesn't include explicit sex or profanity it can't be deep? >And, I hope I am >correct here, the desire for a midstream Mormon publishing house is not a >desire to sell thousands and thousands of books to a wide Mormon audience >in order to make money but rather a desire for a way of publishing the >kind of art I spoke of above. The publisher that doesn't make a profit on it's books is not going to be able to publish very many books. (Unless it is owned by someone who is willing to back it herself.) The publishers that print Stephen King's books also take chances on less mainstream books. But they can afford to because they make it up on the big sellers. If a publisher barely makes a profit on its mainstream books, how many chancy books is it going to try. (And how many really promising new writers will it take a chance on?) >When the Mormon literature available creates a >dichotomy between acceptable Mormon problems (any problem you can point to >in a Jack Weyland novel) and unacceptable because un-Mormon problems (more >than incidental sex, drug addiction, the kind of hypocrisy that comes with >calling ourselves a chosen people which results in drawing lines of >love--those we will love and those we won't, etc.), then there is a >serious problem. Have you ever read a Jack Weyland novel? I did a quick scan on his themes over the Internet and came up with, bulimia, drug use, a girl disfigured by burns, immorality, & drug use. I'll admit that my first novel is more like "The Firm" than "War and Peace" (although there is a scene where a guy shoots a gun at his home teacher, does that get me out of the Disney movie rights?), but my second novel "Job" which I fully expect to be published by Covenant, examines a "perfect" Mormon family torn apart by drugs, backbiting, mistrust, depression, etc. I honestly believe that LDS publishers are much more open to these types of themes than they were ten years ago. I think what is missing is for more writers that are good enough to get published in the "outside' world to write for these publishers, and as I stated earlier, I think that a big part of this is economics. >Mormon lit that does not address reality, >even though it may address some problems, creates an image of what a >Mormon is and should be and it's a false image. It's time to change that. >To acknowledge what problems there are and to address them so that we can >begin to change. To recognize that along side all of the good and >beautiful parts of Mormonism there are problems, sometimes horrifying >problems. To finally find the courage to admit that inside of us there >lies the potential to do horrible evil things. It's only when we >recognize that potential that we can battle it. I think that art and >literature are one of the most powerful ways we can do so and it saddens >me that those of us who want to do that while taking into account >Mormonism do not have the forum in which to do so. Amelia, I disagree. I think that there are always outlets for high-quality fiction. I am not saying that Deseret would have published "Saints" the way that OSC wrote it. But it WAS published. I have a good friend who was very close to a young man who lived a very worldly, very hard life. Eventually he realized that what he was doing was wrong, but by then he had contracted AIDS and although he was a changed person at the end of his life, he died. He left her his journals that he started keeping at the age of 10, and asked her in his will, to publish his story so that others would not make the same mistakes he did. His story would undoubtedly include sex both homosexual and heterosexual, drug use, questioning his faith, etc. But I think in its own way it could be very uplifting. I am encouraging her to write his story and I have full confidence that if she writes it well it will be published. But I think his story can be told, and told very well, without graphic sex scenes or bad language. I guess that is where we differ, if we do. [Jeff Savage] - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 Jun 2001 21:05:08 -0700 From: Elizabeth Hatch Subject: Re: [AML] Where to Advertise? I agree. I really miss the advertisements that used to be in the BYU Today (was that the title then?) magazine. It was the only way I knew what LDS products were available. I enjoyed reading them. And I miss the ads that I used to get when I had the BYU Daily Universe mailed to me. I don't get the ads in the online version. Beth Hatch D. Michael Martindale wrote: > I look at it as, why shouldn't members everywhere find > out what's available to them, like some far-flung members of AML-List > have complained that they have a hard time finding out what LDS > literature is around? > - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 Jun 2001 21:29:07 -0700 From: Elizabeth Hatch Subject: Re: [AML] Institutional Art Jacob Proffitt wrote: > Melissa had a conversation recently where her Church superior (i.e. > Primary President) actually *said* that "there must be something wrong > with fiction if the brethren removed it from the Friend." Boy, we knew that was coming! It brings back nightmare memories of that Young Women president in Utah who told her Young Women that reading fiction was wrong. Yikes!! Beth Hatch - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 Jun 2001 23:54:57 -0500 From: Larry Jackson Subject: [AML] MN LDS Artist's Shakespeare Sketchbook Called "Cliff's Notes with Pictures": Salt Lake Tribune From: Kent Larsen To: Mormon News Date: Thu, 28 Jun 2001 12:00:00 -0400 Subject: MN LDS Artist's Shakespeare Sketchbook Called "Cliff's Notes with Pictures": Salt Lake Tribune 24Jun01 US UT StG A2 [From Mormon-News] LDS Artist's Shakespeare Sketchbook Called "Cliff's Notes with Pictures" SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH -- Well-known LDS artist James C. Christensen's collaboration this year with the Utah Shakespearean Festival has now yielded a book, in addition to the two large paintings Christensen already created for the Festival's 40th anniversary. Christensen and author Renwick St. James have produced "A Shakespeare Sketchbook," leading Melinda Miller in the Salt Lake Tribune to write, "If Cliff's Notes came with pictures, they would aspire to be what 'A Shakespeare Sketchbook' is." The book was created as a companion to the festival, including short, enlightened summaries of each of Shakespeare's plays, all illustrated with Christensen's fantanstic artwork. Christensen told the Tribune's Miller that he wanted the book to reach everyone, "I just want regular people to say 'Okay, Shakespeare isn't as elitist or difficult as I thought.' I learned a ton (working on the paintings)." The book marks the festival's 40th anniversary as well as the festival's most recent major achievement--producing every one of the Bard's 37 plays. The festival, which is still led by its visionary founder, LDS Church member Fred C. Adams, was last year given a Tony Award for best regional theater, solidifying an already solid reputation as an important theatrical institution. The Tribune's article also mentions that Christensen is currently working on murals for the church's new Nauvoo Temple. Source: Utah Artist Hopes His 'Shakespeare Sketchbook' Draws People to the Bard Salt Lake Tribune 24Jun01 A2 http://www.sltrib.com:80/06242001/arts/108192.htm By Melinda Miller: Salt Lake Tribune LDS Impresario's Shakespearean Vision Honored http://www.mormonstoday.com/000730/A4Adams01.shtml LDS Theater Producer's Festival Wins Tony Award http://www.mormonstoday.com/000514/A2Adams01.shtml Hallmark Adapts LDS Artist James Christensen's 'Voyage of the Basset' for TV http://www.mormonstoday.com/010202/A2JChristensen01.shtml >From Mormon-News: Mormon News and Events Forwarding is permitted as long as this footer is included Mormon News items may not be posted to the World Wide Web sites without permission. Please link to our pages instead. For more information see http://www.MormonsToday.com/ Send join and remove commands to: majordomo@MormonsToday.com Put appropriate commands in body of the message: To join: subscribe mormon-news To leave: unsubscribe mormon-news To join digest: subscribe mormon-news-digest - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 22 Jun 2001 06:16:14 -0600 From: "Nan McCulloch" Subject: Re: [AML] Midstream Mormon Publisher We have a friend who, when he became a GA, quit taking _Dialogue_ and _Sunstone_ because he felt that it wouldn't look good for him to be a subscriber. His wife would occasionally borrow _Dialogue_ from me when there was something they were particularly interested in reading. I don't think this is uncommon. There are probably more *closet readers* out there than we think. Nan McCulloch - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 29 Jun 2001 00:29:36 -0600 From: "mjames_laurel" Subject: [AML] Fiction in Church Mags (was: Midstream Mormon Publisher) > My take on a midstream Mormon publisher is that the General Authorities and > the great mass of church members who take their advice on all matters would > quickly identify it as disloyal. I think this fiction "ban" is metamorphosing into something a lot more sinister and large than it deserves to be. I've not been a reader of The Friend or the New Era for a while, but may I respectfully say the quality of fiction in those publications has frequently been--ahem--lacking. This is not a phenomenon limited to LDS magazines - a friend who was editor of a well-respected national magazine will tell you in spite of the flood of manuscripts received, good, publishable material is sorely lacking in the national magazine market as well. The universe of potential writers for church magazines is significantly smaller than that available to big nationally prominent publications so it stands to reason it's even harder for church magazines to attract top notch submissions. Could it be that the GA's were just sick and tired of lousy material showing up in the magazines and finally yelled Uncle? Or maybe they are like me, and find a great deal more lasting impact in the well written account of a spiritually moving true story, rather than in a story made up solely to prove or preach a point. (Come to think of it, the true story doesn't even have to be that well written to have lasting impact--although it helps.) I think we're going a little far when we extrapolate from this administrative policy decision that the General Authorities are denouncing fiction. And I think we're making a far too sweeping generalization when we assume they'd have any objection to a non-church subsidized effort to make a different type of literature available to the LDS market. Unless it was riddled with gratuitous filth, violence, and glorification of evil, I doubt they'd take any kind of stand at all. Personally, I would expect them to be a lot more offended by the shameless commercialization of the gospel that is erupting at LDS retail outlets as of late - sometimes I think I've wandered into a theme park souvenir shop when I step into a certain bookstore. Maybe the GA's would find it an improvement if a new crop of literary offerings succeeded in taking over shelf space from all those Temple and Book of Mormon themed socks, baseball caps, neckties, license plate frames, mugs, stationary, backpacks, knick knacks, pens, watches, and probably cookware and personal hygiene products for all I know. Laurel Brady - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 29 Jun 2001 01:00:30 -0600 From: "mjames_laurel" Subject: Re: [AML] Midstream Mormon Publisher > There's no real way to answer this question (focus > groups?), but what I'm trying to get at is: would > Mormon readers of non-Mormon fiction ever consider > buying and reading fiction by a Mormon author if it a) > matched their genre/topic interests and b) was of a > quality similar to the books they now read? This is the crux of the whole thing, and the reason why there is very little "midstream" Mormon fiction being published by the big boys of LDS publishing - they are convinced it won't sell. If I'd kept the letter, I'd quote it--but one prominent LDS publisher put it in writing: regardless of the quality of the work, unless it is historical fiction or a romance novel fitting their format, they will not publish it because their research indicates it won't sell. Period. The publishers that could afford to change things are not willing to go out on the limb to do so. More than one upstart has tried to rock this boat, but for a variety of reasons so far have not succeeded (and mostly not even survived the attempt). The reality is, it will not take a new publisher or a new batch of great books to bring about the change. It will take somebody who knows how to (and can afford to) market the heck out of a new kind of LDS book. If the LDS people could be exposed to good writing and good books, if you could get them to try them, I think they'd kick themselves for wasting all these years on what's out there now. At least, I hope they would. Of course, there's always the danger they STILL won't get it... Laurel Brady - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 Jun 2001 23:27:40 -0500 From: Larry Jackson Subject: [AML] MN Brady Udall's New Novel Looks at an Indian in Mormondom: Salt Lake Tribune From: Kent Larsen To: Mormon News Date: Wed, 27 Jun 2001 12:00:00 -0400 Subject: MN Brady Udall's New Novel Looks at an Indian in Mormondom: Salt Lake Tribune 17Jun01 US UT SLC A2 [From Mormon-News] Brady Udall's New Novel Looks at an Indian in Mormondom SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH -- LDS author Brady Udall's new novel "The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint" was called a "A witty, wise and heartwrenching tale of a naive orphan's struggle to survive an often unforgiving world" in the Salt Lake Tribune last week. The novel tells the story of an indian youth as he moves through an Arizona reservation into an LDS foster family and into adulthood. But Udall, who says he is an active LDS Church member, says he didn't write the novel for the Mormon audience, and that some Mormons may be uncomfortable with it. The story's main character, Edgar Mint, is the bastard son of a rebellious Apache girl. Edgar is severely injured when a mailman's jeep runs over his head at age 7. While his mother abandons him for dead, a doctor at a local hospital revives him, and Edgar is put into a reservation boarding school. There two LDS missionaries meet him and find him an LDS foster home in Utah. The doctor who revived him later finds Edgar and helps him meet the mailman, who is still in anguish over the accident, believing he killed Edgar, but after relieving his anguish, Edgar still has a difficult life with his foster Mormon family. He discovers that the family also has it problems, from marital infidelity to a sexually curious teenage daughter, and is himself troubled, lying, stealing and even committing a murder, although the Tribune's Brandon Griggs calls it "an arguably merciful one." The novel has received critical praise in early reviews, including Kirkus Reviews, which called the book "a remarkably assured debut novel that brings to life a unique world. A bit of a miracle in its own right" and from novelist Tony Earley who said, "If Dickens had been born in Arizona, he might have written a book like this." Udall says, however, that he is uncomfortable with the comparison to Dickens, "That's a little much for me. I think that's just because there's an orphan in it." But the reviews have also led to an option purchased by the Hollywood film production company owned by REM lead singer Michael Stripe. Udall comes from a Mormon background, growing up in rural St. John's, Arizona as part of the well-known family that included Arizona politicians Morris and Stewart Udall. He traces his writing career to winning a poetry contest at age 12. A BYU graduate, he went on to attend the prestigious Iowa Writers Workshop and in 1998 published his first book, "Letting Loose the Hounds," a short-story collection that won him a job at Franklin and Marshall College in Southeastern, Pennsylvania. He will start a teaching position at Southern Illinois University this Fall. But Brady doesn't want to be pigeonholed as a Mormon author, "This is not because I am embarrassed by my faith and culture, but because I am working hard to create the kind of art my culture seems set on rejecting," he says. "We, as a people, have always been a bit immature when it comes to art. We have always been threatened by anything that doesn't fit squarely within our system of belief. Good art will always be complex, contradictory and will resist easy judgment -- all things that would make any good Mormon nervous." And he admits that at least some Mormons may be offended at the way Mormons are portrayed in "The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint," "I can see a lot of Mormon people might be upset by the way that family is portrayed. I don't mean to offend anybody, but I think sometimes it's kind of necessary. It's high time somebody out there, if not me, wrote about Mormons in a real and honest way." But Griggs says that readers are more likely to root for Edgar Mint than get offended at the failings of Udall's Mormon characters, "it will make them root for the scruffy boy with the lumpy head and a profound longing for a home he has never known," writes Griggs. And Udall believes that in the end his novel is redemptive, "It sounds corny, but this book has some spiritual aspect to it. There's power in accepting who you are, in finding the place you belong instead of the place people tell you that you belong." Source: Udall Mints a Dickens of a Tale in 'Miracle Life' Salt Lake Tribune 17Jun01 A2 http://www.sltrib.com/06172001/arts/106266.htm By Brandon Griggs: Salt Lake Tribune >From Mormon-News: Mormon News and Events Forwarding is permitted as long as this footer is included Mormon News items may not be posted to the World Wide Web sites without permission. Please link to our pages instead. For more information see http://www.MormonsToday.com/ Send join and remove commands to: majordomo@MormonsToday.com Put appropriate commands in body of the message: To join: subscribe mormon-news To leave: unsubscribe mormon-news To join digest: subscribe mormon-news-digest - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 29 Jun 2001 02:23:49 -0600 From: "D. Michael Martindale" Subject: Re: [AML] Midstream Mormon Publisher Christopher Bigelow wrote: > > With print-on-demand (POD) technology, it wouldn't be too hard to start releasing some decently packaged novels and short story collections > we would also need volunteers to design effective book covers). Barnes & Nobles iUniverse: a ready-made print-on-demand operation. For $99 you can have virtually anything published as POD. They will design the four-color book cover and assist with marketing. They'll provide an ISBN number for the book (very expensive to get your own set of numbers set up). The books are as orderable as any other book through normal wholesale channels. Downsides to this: virtually anything can get published, therefore the whole industry does not respect books published through iUniverse (reviewers won't review them; bookstores won't carry them). The books are trade paperbacks and carry a higher price than mass market paperbacks (but that will be true no matter what POD route we go: mass market format isn't cost effective using POD). The only money available from sales would be the royalty Barnes & Nobles pays to the author--we'd have to divvy that up between author and Irreantum Books to see any revenue. Overcoming the downsides: whatever money is available is available--everyone will have to understand that, and be willing to take whatever cut is worked out. In return for sacrificing some of the royalty, the author will have a means to rise above the usual iUniverse publication, because it will have been selected and edited by editors, thereby assuring better quality. I'm wondering if an arrangement can be struck with iUniverse: they insist on having their imprint on the book, but I'm wondering if they'd share an imprint with us, so we can get our books to stand out from the iUniverse crowd. The $99 does not cover their costs of producing a book, so they have an interest in seeing books sold. Since this arrangement should help books get sold, they might go for it. And we'd need to arrange having the royalty paid to Irreantum, and have Irreantum pay the author. Why bother: The only reason I would even consider iUniverse as our POD source is because of the added value of book cover design and an ISBN number (I question how meaningful their "assistance in marketing" would be). Those two things are not trivial financially. Otherwise we could go directly through Ingram's POD service (that's what iUniverse uses) or some local company. - -- D. Michael Martindale dmichael@wwno.com ================================== Check out Worldsmiths, the new online LDS writers group, at http://www.wwno.com/worldsmiths Sponsored by Worlds Without Number http://www.wwno.com ================================== - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 29 Jun 2001 01:34:04 -0500 From: Ronn Blankenship Subject: Re: [AML] GAs in Church Pubs At 04:27 PM 6/27/01, you wrote: >Merlyn J Clarke wrote: > > > > What if a GA or two took to writing fiction? Think they'd get > published? > > After all, a few GAs have written hymns. > > > >My cynical opinion would be, yes, they would get published even if their >fiction was dreadful. Does anyone really think, for instance, that "I >Believe in Christ" would have ever seen the inside of the LDS hymnbook >if it hadn't been written by Bruce R. McConkie? > >Thom (waiting for people to respond by saying they love the hymn. That >isn't the point. It's still maudlin verse) Duncan Would anyone have bought Jake Garn's space novel if the name on the cover had been, oh, say "Thom Duncan"? - -- Ronn! :) - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 29 Jun 2001 02:54:55 -0600 From: "D. Michael Martindale" Subject: Re: [AML] Institutional Art Hot button alert! Mine have just been pushed. Jacob Proffitt wrote: > But > art is, well, art. It isn't worth the danger of offending somebody. We > are happy to offend people for the sake of the Gospel, but we *don't* > want to offend for the sake of anything less important. > > The thing is, when you talk about people and the gospel, you are dealing > with eternal consequences. > Which means that the Church actively softens things for the easily > offended as long as they don't compromise doctrine. > If just one person takes that advice and the effect is to irreparably > harm their eternal progression then there is all the damage you need to > justify squelching exactly that message. The worth of souls is great, > after all. The fallacy in this argument is assuming that softening things doesn't offend anybody. The church isn't decreasing offense--it's shifting it. The church is tacitly stating that easily offended members who don't like to think for themselves are more inportant than members who think. The church is telling artists and lovers of art that they are not important. And guess what! These kind of people are falling away in droves. So here's my summary in my usual crude, offensive way: "The worth of an ignorant soul is great in the sight of God. As for the rest of you--you're on you own." That's what the church's attitude as you postulate it says to me. > Personally, I hate the effect that this reality has on some members. > Melissa had a conversation recently where her Church superior (i.e. > Primary President) actually *said* that "there must be something wrong > with fiction if the brethren removed it from the Friend." > I think it would be much more useful to teach the principles of their > decisions while they implement them. > But then, explaining things is hard. And dangerous. I mean, it takes > time and work to craft an explanation in the first place. The risk is > that you give wiggle room when you explain your decisions--you risk > someone disbelieving in your calling and your message because they > disagree with your reasons An explanation gives wiggle room, but silence and a lack of information doesn't? Silence gives _maximum_ wiggle room. At least with an explanation, they have to wiggle within a well-bounded region. Silence gives free reign to roam anywhere. Explaining is hard? Let me try... "We've decided that the purpose of church magazines is to disseminate doctrine, not fiction. Therefore we are discontinuing fiction in church magazines. But this in no way suggests that we think something's wrong with fiction. We encourage our members to continue reading good fiction, and would like to see some independent sources for fiction move in to replace that which the church magazines used to carry." Didn't seem so hard. I don't think there's anything doctrinally problematic in the statement. I don't know where you'd find much wiggle room to get it wrong. Seems like a pretty benign statement to me. And wouldn't that be a great shot in the arm to LDS fiction! > Just > because it would make me feel better, doesn't mean it is worth taking > the time away from their official calling to preach the gospel to all > the world. Which brings me back to my first point that art isn't as > important as teaching the gospel--no matter how good or True it might > be. Why can't art be _equivalent_ to preaching the Gospel? Do we really think General Authority speeches are going to reach the hearts of every person on earth? - -- D. Michael Martindale dmichael@wwno.com ================================== Check out Worldsmiths, the new online LDS writers group, at http://www.wwno.com/worldsmiths Sponsored by Worlds Without Number http://www.wwno.com ================================== - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ End of aml-list-digest V1 #377 ******************************