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Flaming Lips Frontman Digs My Book

Administrator — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:50:49 +0000

Wayne Coyne, lead singer of The Flaming Lips, wrote a blurb for my book, You Will Die: The Burden of Modern Taboos. I’m honored that an artist of his caliber was willing to help an extremely controversial book. In an era where commercial promotions account for a large portion of a prominent artist’s income, it was a courageous act.

Here it is in its entirety:

The Burden of Modern Taboos ……… America is, hopefully, coming to the conclusion that marijuana and gay people are not the feared, destroyers that the conservative propaganda wanted us to believe … having said that … I don’t know if America will ever be the radical “freak for all” that Mr. Arthur is pushing for … But heck ya gotta fight back against the Sarah Palin “idiot herd” with something ………… Wayne..2010

The Flaming Lips are an alternative rock band from Oklahoma City. They have been nominated for six Grammies and have won three. In 2002, Britain’s Q magazine named The Flaming Lips one of the “50 Bands to See Before You Die.”

To see more endorsements of You Will Die: The Burden of Modern Taboos go to its web page. You Will Die can also be found at Amazon.

Flaming Lips Links: Wikipedia, Official Site

Hiatus

Administrator — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 00:03:38 +0000

I am leaving for Guatemala on a one-way ticket. Narco Polo will likely be on hiatus until I return to the United States. This could be anywhere from several weeks to several months.

Thanks to everyone who has sent me kind words and all those who have bought You Will Die: The Burden of Modern Taboos for the gifting season. It can still be purchased from Suburra.com in my absence. Salud.

3rd Ed. of You Will Die Now Available

Administrator — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 00:37:33 +0000

The 3rd edition of You Will Die: The Burden of Modern Taboos is now available. Despite a momentary crisis in delivery coordination – my friend, whose house is the storage facility, had fallen off the wagon – everything worked and 2,100 copies are now in my possession.

Links: Purchase, Suburra Publishing Homepage

Status Report

Administrator — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 21:47:25 +0000

The Book

My book, You Will Die: The Burden of Modern Taboos, is temporarily out of stock. The current version (second) is hand-bound and the demand for the book has outstripped my patience for cobbling books together with cereal boxes and glue strips. I will bind the remaining printings (roughly fifteen) which will bring the final print-run for the current version to roughly 210. For those who have ordered my book, you can find your book’s print number on the inside back cover where I marked each one in pen.

I am working on wrapping up the third version which should be professionally printed in the next couple months. I will probably make the remaining second version books available towards the end of August. To be notified when the book is again on sale, e-mail service@suburra.com and put “notify” in the subject line.

The Blog

I spent the last several months being clobbered by “real” work (over 280 hours in June), and now am preoccupied with the third version of You Will Die. I will probably begin blogging again when the third version has been turned over to the printers, although I might be incited before that.

A Brave Best-Selling Writer Gets Me, He Really Gets Me

Administrator — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 17:17:57 +0000

In the late 1950s and early 1960s when both sex and race were fiercely off-limits Robert Gover courageously breached both topics. He wrote a novel, One Hundred Dollar Misunderstanding (1962), about a black prostitute and a rich white college boy. It was initially rejected by American publishers. Only after being successfully issued in Europe was it published in the States. The book then climbed to third on the New York Times best-seller list even though the newspaper refused to accept advertisements for it due to its controversial nature.

Gover’s work has not only enjoyed commercial success, but it has also earned the praise of such luminaries as Gore Vidale, Joseph Heller, and Bob Dylan. Another legend, Gover’s friend, Jim Morrison, wanted to direct and star in a movie adaption of Gover’s book, The Maniac Responsible (1963). Now in his late seventies Gover continues to eschew the commercial, the popular, and the mainstream by maintaining his own nuts-and-bolts website and writing about astrology.

I knew nothing about this man until he contacted me and offered to write a review of my book, You Will Die: The Burden of Modern Taboos. His wonderful review has recently been published in the literary magazine, Perigee. Although Gover writes that, “no major American publisher would touch [You Will Die] with a ten-foot pole,” he adds that, “given a decent promotional campaign, this book has what it takes to top the New York Times bestseller list for months.”

In favorably comparing my book to the amazing Alan Watts book, The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are (1966), Gover writes:

The main difference between the approaches of Watts and Arthur is that Watts aims at self-enlightenment while Arthur aims at societal enlightenment. This difference reflects the different tempers of these different times, the 1960s and the first decade of the 21st Century.

I am honored.

Sources

Robert Gover, “On The Way to a Fortunate Misunderstanding,” 2005. LINK
Robert Gover, “You Will Die: The Burden of Modern Taboos [review],” Perigee, Apr.-Jul. 2008. LINK
Thomas Kennedy, “A Conversation with Robert Gover,” Perigee, Aug.-Oct. 2007. LINK