What am I so angry about? Well, among other things, I have writtten a compelling story that connects to a vast audience. The novel is entitiled Hardball and the sex, violence and overall intensity will make the blood race through your body and sizzle your spine. The audience attracted is that classic 4-corner demographic. Men will stimulated by the unique and vivid blood throughout the story. Women will be inspired by description of the meaningful relationship, sexual and otherwise, between the two protagonisits. Young people will be provoked by the direct challenge to a powerful authority. Older folks will be comforted by the underlying baseball theme of the story.
I am mad because I have been actively trying to publish this 64,088 word novel for nearly ten years and have barely gotten a bite. No agent is interested and believe me, I've submitted to a lot of agents. There are, of course, a lot of possibilites as to why this has occurred.
First of all, the nature of the publishing business these days is that one could have written the greatest story of the century but if he doesn't have a literary industry connection, the story will never be looked at. With the rise of the personal computer, the internet and other digital communication devices, literally anyone can sit down and write a novel. What this means is that agents are swarmed with query letters everyday and there is not enough time in the day to look at them all. I either get no reposnse at all from agents or a form rejection.
The other reason could be fear. Hardball goes right to core of the US government, looks it right in the eye and says,"Fuck you", and it does so in a powerfully dramamtic and entertaining way. Is it possible the government is afraid that its credibility would be damaged by a story with a premise that the federal Drug Enforcement Admisistration director is in reality a drug lord. The story is, of course, just a piece of fiction, but I think this little figment of my imagination may have inadvertently hit the nail on the head of the truth and those in publishing know that a story like this will be most certainly frowned upon by those in power.
The other possibility is that I'm just a bipolar parnoid. The story sucks. My writing stinks and the 300 pages it takes up should go into the recycling bin. That is as viable a scenario as any. But how about you tell me? Through the miracles of blog digital technology, Hardball will finally be published. We'll start off slowly. Next week, Chapter One-Comrades will be published on this blog. Not only do I ask for your open and honest comments. I urge to tell me what you think. I look forward to hearing from all of you.
