"Homeland" has been released
Today, October 10, is the official release date for "Homeland". It should be available in all bookstores soon.
Paul William Roberts
Writer, Scholar, and Producer, Dr. Roberts' new novel, entitled HOMELAND, will be issued in Canada in October. He published his second book on Iraq in 2005 -- A WAR AGAINST TRUTH: an Intimate Account of the Invasion of Iraq. Among his previous books are works on India, Egypt, and the Magi, as well as works of fiction.
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Previous Posts
- New novel, and Anonymous postings
- A Proposal by Colin Campbell Re: Oil Production (T...
- The Negative Return Economy: a Discourse on Americ...
- Stephen Harper and the Neo-Con
- Bread and Circuses
- THE FAKEOVER
- More Fascist Measures
- Write to Rumsfeld (or drop in if you are in Washin...
- Office of Special Plans
- Freedom of Information
7 Comments:
Good news! I presume you meant to say "Today, October 10th" instead of the 20th?
Searching for Homeland, I checked the local bookstores recently. I gingerly withdrew from the first due to repellent odors of stale carpet & cat urine and the absence of any evident discounts on new releases. I was also reluctant to distract the clerk from her protracted discussion with some garrulous old fart, i.e. a customer that's not me.
Later, in the mall, the Coles maiden had not yet heard of the book. After a bout of perplexed keyboard work, punctuated by occasional Hmmms and Wha?s she resignedly announced that it was only available by special Internet order, takes 3-6 weeks, terms remarkably similar to those currently offered by chapters.indigo.ca - I didn't know then that Coles was a mere tentacle of that mollusc.
It WAS and is in stock at amazon.ca and so I ordered a couple - expecting arrival soon.
A news search for reviews etc. still turns up nothing. Do you or your publisher even HAVE a publicist?
looking forward to checking out your new book!
I thought A War Against Truth was an excellent read.
“I believe I will dip my pink-and-white body in yon Roman tub. I feel a bit gritty after the affairs of the day.” W.C. Fields
In reading Paul Robert's "Homeland", I was reminded of Norman Spinrad's hard-to-find "Iron Dream" metanovel - authored by Adolf Hitler in an alternative timeline in which Hitler became a noted science fiction writer of bloody racial warfare fantasies (a la Tolkien) instead of the boring politician we are all familiar with. Spinrad afterwards reported prolonged aftereffects - feeling debilitated, almost poisoned by the imaginative effort of inhabiting this diseased psyche.
In Homeland, Roberts attempts to channel the consciousness of a American aristo who gets sucked
deeper and deeper into the neocon political network, works for several recognizable officials and finally ... resigns or something before the poo hits the fan. In between, he gets married, in a typically arranged manner but afterwards is seemingly asexual, most at home indoors debating finer points of political theory with other white men.
Which brings me to my major beef - whenever the narrative shows signs of impetus, Roberts drops in an impenetrable iceberg of dense prose - an essay on neocon guru Strauss & his Platonic fascism or a bewildered conservative mea culpa (been seeing a lot of those recently). My personal "fling it across the room" moment arrived when I found THREE precious tree pages devoted to reprinting Eisenhower's farewell address (Military Industial Complex anyone?) I guess for those few scattered troglodytes who haven't seen "Why We Fight" it might serve as a wake up call and useful reference, (just kidding here) but really...
Anyway - I love Paul Roberts' other work but this novel crashed and burned for me. I perversely hope that if he can overcome his disgust with the topic, we will see Homeland II - set in the future this time. It would be amusing (for didactic purposes) to see decent Republocrats abused by rabid Demopublicans using the powers seized by the Bush administration ...
"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. " - 1984
Enjoying it very much at the moment, if such things can be enjoyed. I read your book The Demonic Comedy a few years back, between 9/11 and the new war in Iraq and was glad to find a sane voice (and Canadian, hopefully no coincidence!).
Hi Paul - (feel free to post or edit or not post)
Sorry about my clumsy review parody but it seemed like a stupidly brilliant idea at the time. If I ever have a bunny, you are invited to brutally stomp it in recompense.
Amazingly enough, 6 copies of Homeland showed up at the local Coles before Xmas, right beside 4 corpulent codices of the new Pynchon.
Now there are 3 to 0 so you have had 3/6 local sales and Pynchon, however flabby and tired, remains a formidable competitor with 4/4 sales, though 2 were to me (1 purchased as gift for a Harry Potter addict in hopes of breaking his cruel spiral of pulp dependance - something to keep those eyes moving back and forth until the new episode arrives) And 1 for me. So far it all seems pretty hokey, but really well researched and executed hokey.
good discussion of hokey here:
http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/?date=19991223
Best wishes from me.
Congratulations on the release of your new book. THE DEMONIC COMEDY was my first exposure to your work and I have never encountered an observer who can combine trenchant journalism with the soul of Hunter Thompson. I know you will bring that same power and love of language to whatever field you work in , fiction or non. My thanks for your unwavering gaze and razor sharp pen.
Post a Comment
<< Home