'In my ugly, elitist opinion we are not all entitled to voice our opinions, we are entitled to pass along our informed opinions.'

Two-fisted, litigious writer Harlan Ellison speaks about speculative and science fiction writing.

Ocala Star-Banner Sept. 12, 1960

Myles and Brian and Flann

Dr, Gittfinger's Vinyl Vault offers the BBC Radio drama "Your Only Man", a fictionalized account of civil servant Brian O'Nolan's battle with his alter egos, Flann O'Brien and Myles na gCopaleen. Interesting for me not only for the imagined insights into the brain of one of my favorite writers, but for the reunion of Father Ted  alums Ardal O'Hanlon and Pauline McLynn.

In other Flann O'Brien news, is appears Ergo Phizmiz is writing an opera - or rather a "steam-punk-neuropera" (whatevah) based on O'Brien's masterpiece, "The Third Policeman". I will surely be interested in giving that a listen as well, though I think I will stop short of helping fund its production.

On the Road with Ernie Pyle

OK, maybe Kerouac met Slim Gaillard on his road travels, but my choice for a coast-to-coast travel buddy would have to be Ernie Pyle. I had always dismissed Ernie as that "There are no atheists in foxholes" WWII correspondent, until I read his travel dispatches that appeared in 24 newspapers across the country from the mid thirties until the early 40s. He wrote six days a week, a thousand words each, telling amazingly simple stories about American all over the country. His specialized in the misfits who lived life their own way. And I guess Ernie was one of them.

No links here, but if you're wanting to get a feel for the soul of America in the 1930s, get a copy of "Ernie's America: The Best of Ernie Pyle's 1930s Travel Dispatches".

The Billy Letters

"In the late '90s, pop-culture historian Bill Geerhart had a little too much time on his hands and a surfeit of stamps. So, for his own entertainment, the then-unemployed thirtysomething launched a letter-writing campaign to some of the most powerful and infamous figures in the country, posing as a curious 10-year-old named Billy. ..."

Little Billy's original letter.


Manson's first response.

Little Billy’s letters to Richard Ramirez, Charles Manson, and other killer pals.
His correspondence with Larry Flynt, Alan Greenspan and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
(All this featured today in Radar.)

Note: When not writing Charles Manson and Larry Flynt letters Bill Geerhart is one of the guys unveiling cold war and atomic-age culture over at Conelrad.

Where was Kerouac going?

"Jack Kerouac’s proposed design for the front cover of the paperback edition of On the Road (1952)."

"... And yet, if On the Road long ago ceased to be a revolutionary narrative, it did introduce a pair of legends that remain persistent—and, I’d argue, counterproductive—ideals. The first is that of spontaneous composition which Kerouac promoted throughout the ’50s, even banging out a short guide, “Essentials of Spontaneous Prose” ...

... Kerouac, however, had been trying to write On the Road for two and a half years before he started working on this version; he’d struggled through several drafts that lacked the necessary immediacy and voice. That’s one reason the book has so much power—it’s the expression of an artist wrestling with a problem, the problem of how to make language and experience explode off the page. ...

... Nonetheless, he understood that spontaneity is not always the best strategy, and when he worked on Buddhist-themed books like The Scripture of the Golden Eternity (1960), which he considered holy, he wrote “in pencil, carefully revised and everything, because it was a scripture. I had no right to be spontaneous. ...”

Fifty years after the publication of On the Road, the question remains: Where was Kerouac going?, article at bookforum.com. (via BoingBoing)