AND THAT SHITTER WITH A POUT WON'T BE PUTTING IT ABOUT NO MORE

I got a bit of bad news in my inbox this morning. Some of you may recall back in November that my work-list included an undisclosed proposal for a book in an ongoing prose series. Today I was informed that it wasn't going to go through.

The pitch was for Continuum's 33 1/3 series, where each book is an author writing about one album, ranging from scholarly studies to historical accounts to personal experiences and fiction. I was going to take the latter approach, put the thesis of my "(T For) True" story into action. My idea was to create a fictionalized memoir for myself in 1994, when Suede released Dog Man Star. In reality, the record came out at the end of a long-term relationship (more on such topics tomorrow), and I was going to spin myself off from there, create a fictional life where I toyed with identity and tried to live a life inspired by the darkness and decadence of the record, me trying to grow from a dog to a man to a star. There would be a chapter for each song, from the bizarre strains of "Introducing the Band" to the explosive symphony of "Still Life."

Alas, it is not to be. Competition was fierce, and for whatever reason, I didn't get in. Personally, I blame James Frey for making the world unsafe for false autobiographers everywhere.

In a fever, I wrote rough versions of the first three chapters of Dog Man Star, when the idea was dominating my brain, just to get it out. I have yet to decide what I want to do with this material, whether there is a way to pursue the book in another form, so I will refrain from posting them for now. But maybe someday...

I'm not being too hard on myself over this. It was my first such proposal in the prose world, so it would have perhaps been too much good fortune to hit right out of the box. Beyond that, there will be announcements very shortly about my other long-gestating projects, and it would be ridiculous of me not to look at all else I have accomplished because one thing didn't come off. (In fact, I was told a press release was happening this week. *cough cough*)

If you're interested in what they did pick for what may be the final round of this excellent series, go here. 21 books whittled down from this list.

Current Soundtrack: Suede, Sci-Fi Lullabies disc 1

Current Mood: crushed

golightly@confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication

[to leave comments, click on the time-stamp below, then scroll down on the new page] – All text (c) 2005 Jamie S. Rich