Category: writing

Who Is John Edward Gill?

As of this morning, Mr. Gill has not responded to my message yesterday. My publisher still has not seen the lawsuit and doesn’t know how Mr. Gill has siezed her personal assets as well as those of Cantarabooks.

A couple of interesting things to note just from digging around. On his website, he claims that his book Sacred Hearts was nominated for a Hemingway/PEN award. But of course, anyone can nominate a book for that award; however, one requirement for eligibility is that the book NOT be self-published.

The publisher for Sacred Hearts is Steel Press Publishing, based in Pittsburgh. There’s very little information publicly available about this company, but it’s website and email address are always listed as Gill’s website and email address. I called the number I found for the company, and it was disconnected. Orders for the book are placed through Gill’s non-profit organization, Children’s Rights of New York (based in Stony Brook, NY, and not to be confused with the better known Children’s Rights organization based in NYC). Is this organization even legitimate? Is there really such a company as Steel Press Publishing? it may be that they went out of business since 2003 when Sacred Hearts was published.

I still have no idea what to think about all this yet.

More Thoughts on Cantarabooks’ Problems

Reposted from my Billy Wayne Carter blog.

Regrettably, my initial post about my publisher’s legal issues was very emotion-driven and one-sided. Of course, my relationship with Cantarabooks has been and remains cordial, but I decided today that I should try and contact John Edward Gill to see if I could get the other side of the story out of him. After all, his web site is that of a serious person and not one who should seem absurdly vindictive or frivolous. And it seems like it should be easy enough to get in touch with him.

So I sent him an email, and we’ll see what happens.

In the interest of full disclosure, this is the message I just sent him.

Mr. Gill,

I’ve come to understand that you are undergoing some legal complaint against Cantara Christopher and/or her publishing company Cantarabooks. I am also a Cantarabooks author, and although my interactions with the company have been professional and on the up and up, so far as I can tell, I wondered what the nature of your complaint is and if it is something other authors represented by their imprint might need to be concerned about.

Yours,

David Hornbuckle

My Publisher’s Assets Have Been Seized

[reposted from my Billy Wayne Carter blog]

Cantarabooks may be in some trouble. Hopefully, it will be worked out soon, but there is a complicated legal situation and the company’s assets have been seized, including the publisher and editor’s personal assets–literally every penny they have in the world. Their rent money. Their grocery money. They are a small family business, and they own no property. This is all they have.

I don’t even completely understand it, but it sounds essentially like they are being harassed by a person that they made the mistake of working for several years ago. And how it affects me is only that I might not get my piddling royalty check at the first of January, and, worst case, I might eventually have to look for another publisher to put out Billy Wayne Carter in paperback, or publish it myself. I hope it doesn’t come to that.

More to the point, I just want to say publicly that my interactions with Cantarabooks have always been professional and reasonable. Sure, it hasn’t been perfect, but the whole e-book experiment and their approach to publishing is relatively uncharted territory, and I feel that they’ve done the best they could. I’m still honored that they thought my book was good enough to publish it, even though they don’t have the resources to do much promotion, and the book hasn’t sold as well as I initially hoped it would.

Moreover, at this time when mainstream publishers are all in panic-mode, it’s more important than ever that small, independent publishing houses have the support of the literary community. It’s vital to their very survival and to the survival of literature as we know it.

Another thing. According to my publisher, Cantarabooks has not actually been served with any legal judgment or even a lawsuit. How this person has managed to freeze their assets is, at this point, a mystery. More on this story as it develops.

Below is excerpted from an email I received from the publisher, Cantara Christopher.

Dear [authors]:

There has been a recent development that may for the moment affect our ability to pay you your quarterly royalty or advance on time. A former Cantarabooks author, John Edward Gill (Japanese Love Song, 2006) apparently has seized the assets not only of my company, but the personal assets of both myself and of Michael, your editor. How he managed to accomplish this is still a mystery to me, as at no time was I ever served with a notice of a judgment or even of a lawsuit. I need to make this point absolutely clear: At no time was I ever served with any sort of court order. I get my mail, I’m not hard to find, and you don’t ignore things like this.

Also, at this moment I have no idea of the actual claim. If it’s against Cantarabooks, then how was Gill able to seize Michael’s personal assets and our joint account? Michael is in no way legally attached to Cantarabooks – I am the sole owner and officer.

Because the amount of the judgment was so high, it swallowed up entirely every single penny we have in the world. This is another point I need to make clear. We own absolutely no property, we don’t have a car. All our assets were in the bank. This was our rent money, our grocery money. I don’t think I’ve ever really understood the phrase “every single penny we have in the world” until now.

If you’re looking for a reason in the rational world for Gill’s actions, I don’t think you’re going to find it. Here’s the chronology of our relationship and I’ll try to keep it salient and brief:

Early in 2005 Gill, then a fellow member of the Small Press Center (now the New York Center for Independent Publishing), approached me to give him advice on how to get his second novel, Japanese Love Song, published. I suggested to him that the most economical and efficient way would be to publish it himself through Lulu. This advice, though, didn’t satisfy him, and he insisted on paying for a consultation. So, in a lengthy meeting, I gave him an overview of the publishing business, complete with new developments in technology, the new corporate editorial structure, target and niche marketing etc, and the strategies an author might employ to publish and market his own work.

He seemed impressed. He mentioned the fact that he was thinking of going in with someone to start a publishing company. I casually mentioned that that was also a daydream of mine, and I suggested that he contact a friendwho I knew was looking to start his own literary imprint.

The third point I need to make absolutely clear: At no time was Gill ever an investor in or officer of my company. What Gill did was to offer me the job of senior editor for his literary annual, The North Atlantic Review (not to be confused with the venerable North American Review). The pay was good – too good, I thought at first – until Gill explained that it was all coming out of his non-profit corporation.

You can find me on the masthead of no. 17. As luck would have it, it was in reading through the poetry submissions that we found Stephen Gyllenhaal’s work – you can find that story in the preface of his book, Claptrap.

With finally just enough, through the money I was earning as NAR’s senior editor, and stoked with what I thought was Gill’s genuine championing of my efforts, I started Cantarabooks.

At that point John submitted to me Japanese Love Song – but he submitted it to me as A BOOK ALREADY PRINTED, with the Cantarabooks imprint ALREADY in it. Let me make this point absolutely clear as well: There had been no contract of any kind whatsoever between us when he presented me with this version of his book.

To my chagrin, I discovered that the book, from cover to content, needed extensive revision. I told Gill that I would offer him a contract to publish the book, provided he would accept the condition of the contract that he turn in to Cantarabooks what we deemed to be a publishable manuscript and concede to Cantarabooks all final editorial decisions. He signed the contract – our usual boilerplate – in December 2005 and in May 2006 we published the book, sent out review copies, had it distributed through Authorsbookshop.com, and even put it up for a Ben Franklin Award, a major book industry award, for best redesign.

At the same time I was busy with publishing Stephen Gyllenhaal’s book and with editing and promoting the North Atlantic Review, representing Gill’s magazine at the spring 2006 CLMP Literary Fair. Then in July2006 John sent me a blunt email to “keep [my] hands off the NAR”. That was the last I heard from him. The story of this development can be read in my piece, “The Road to Cantaraville” (Cantaraville being the PDF-exclusive literary quarterly of Cantarabooks), in the first issue of that magazine.

There are other particulars but those I think are the most important points.

Now to the seizure of our assets: For a few days now I have been trying to get a hold of the only contact WAMU could give us, an attorney in Niverville, New York, with no success. What I’m beginning to suspect is that the timing of this seizure was deliberate: John Gill means to make me squirm through the holidays, without money and without information on which to act, until after the New Year. Our fourth quarter, however, ends on December 31, which is why I felt the need to contact you was urgent.

As I said, if you’re looking for a reason in the rational world for Gill’s actions, you’re not going to find it. I don’t think money is ultimately at the bottom of this. Gill’s not rich, but he’s not poor either, and by his own bragging he’s been using his non-profit corporation for years to hide a lot of sins.

Now, this would probably be inadmissible in court, but I think that the real reason he chose me – rather than, say, a much more experienced person – to urge to start up a business to publish his book in the first place is because he believed that, being a woman of the Asian race, I could easily be made to follow his orders, to be subservient to his every whim, whether or not his name was on the business. In fact this is the subplot of his very book, Japanese Love Song: An American military officer, stationed in Japan in the 60s, becomes the silent sole investor in a brothel run by an Okinawan woman (Okinawans are a people particularly despised by the Japanese) and exercises his financial power over her to use the brothel for his extortion and gambling operations, as well as to routinely bully and humiliate her.

Acquiring and editing this book are the two greatest shames of my life. It’s a cranky, mean book and was extremely unpleasant to edit. But even while I worked with the material, I still couldn’t believe the misogyny and racism of the book were completely deliberate, because every few pages there was some genuinely good writing, although exclusively in the scenes between the Caucasian officers and women. I did my best to clean up some of the characterizations (he insults the Asian women in the crudest sexual terms) and hoped Cantarabooks could somehow pull it off as a satire of the military mindset. I didn’t truly understand at the time how much deep-seated investment Gill had in this story, but I do now.

If you’re interested, here’s his website: http://johnedwardgill.com.

The cover displayed for Japanese Love Song is the old one, the one Gill submitted to me. When I showed this cover to my hero and mentor, the great publisher Barney Rosset, he yelped bloody murder, then gave me the greatest two hours of critique I’ve ever gotten. You can’t get in a school what I learned from Barney Rosset that day.

But to get back to the business at hand: I want to reassure authors that we are going ahead with the production schedule of both our ebooks and paperbacks. If there is a delay or change I’ll contact each of you individually to discuss the situation.

Lastly, I’d like a favor. There’s a possibility Gill might still be trying to ensnare other people into lawsuits. I do know that the basis for his non-profit foundation was his ruthless pursual, through the courts, of child custody, and that as recently as two years ago he brought a suit against the Long Island college which employed him as an English instructor. Also, the press which published his first novel, Sacred Hearts, apparently published just that one book. It is based in Pennsylvania, and Gill’s name is associated with the company. Could you please forward this complete email to anyone, anyone at all you know in the literary world? I don’t know how far Gill’s reach extends, but the prospect of anyone else getting caught by his tactics seriously concerns me.

Also, if anyone has any information at all about John Edward Gill that you think I should know, please contact me. Thanks.

– Cantara

Plans and Brainstorms

This is mainly a note for my own use, but I’m leaving it public because I welcome the feedback of my illustrious fans and friends. It’s a little early for New Year’s resolutions, but I’m trying to get all my various projects and ideas plotted out for 2009.

Writing: So essentially, all these projects are in progress already. And I just need to set aside a little time each day for each one, or at least plan to work on at least one of them every day. Lately, I’ve been slacking off..

  1. First order of business is to try and get my novel manuscript Zen, Mississippi published. If I can’t manage to get a deal by, say, early spring, I’m probably going to publish it myself just to get it off my desk and out into the world.
  2. Second is continued work on my as-yet-unnamed new novel.
  3. Then I have the a series of related short stories, tentatively titled Still Life with Infidels. Several stories from the collection are complete, and most of those have been published in various places (such as here and  here). I have a few more I still have to write.
  4. I’m also building a separate collection of unrelated short stories. No title yet. Some published. Others not yet published. Still more not yet written.

I have another idea for a book, but it’s going to have to wait. Four books is enough to work on at one time. And that’s not counting the stuff I’m working on with Jennifer Blowdryer, which may eventually turn into either a book or a documentary film.

Bands/Music:

  1. Dixieland Space Orchestra. That band has been on hiatus since, I think September. I want to write some new arrangements, maybe even write some new songs, and definitely refocus the direction and overall sound of the band. I haven’t really started on any of that except some brainstorms about the new sound. Essentially, I want it to be less rock and more Dixieland/avant garde. The rock element has been creeping up. I think I’d also like to do some actual traditional Dixieland songs with our own spin. I think that will help to establish the direction that I’m thinking about.
  2. Gutter & Spine, the indie rock band that I play guitar/drums for. That band should plan on recording a second album next year.
  3. Some friends and I have talked about starting a hardcore band, writing all new material. I’d like to do this. I think we probably should just get together and do it–see what we can get done in a rehearsal or two. Need to write or dig up some lyrics to bring in. I have a couple that we can start off with.
  4. Finally, an idea I had this morning–probably a very dumb idea, and it would only work if we planned to have very limited engagements. Just the Way You Aren’t — hardcore covers of Billy Joel songs. A little something like this cover of Big Shot that my old band Eurotoaster did.

Should I Self-Publish My Next Book?

You all know about my e-book novella, the Salvation of Billy Wayne Carter, which you can buy here. I have another finished novel titled, Zen, Mississippi, which I’ve been trying to get published for about the past year. Every agent that reads it basically says, “I like the writing. You’re a really good writer. I can’t sell this. But definitely send me your next book.”

Well, if they couldn’t sell it then, it seems damn unlikely that anyone could sell it now with the entire mainstream publishing industry essentially facing Armageddon. It was already a difficult business, but this week alone, there were layoffs at Houghton Miffllin and Simon & Schuster, a major shakeup at Random House, and a payment freeze at Penguin. There were also layoffs at Scholastic and Borders recently. So if everything is going to shit anyway, why not take some control and just publish the damn thing myself?

Thoughts?

Generally, self-publishing is looked down upon by the ivory tower elites who hold the reigns of power in that business. It’s harder to get reviews. It’s harder to get distribution. And there’s a general stigma that if you are publishing something yourself, you’ve already failed at the more traditional route. I’m not quite willing to concede failure, but it seems like it might be a while before the industry straightens itself out enough to take what I do seriously. By then, I’ll have another book ready for them. I really want to do something with this book RIGHT NOW. Or soon at least. I’m getting impatient, and I’m addicted to instant gratification (among other things).

Moreover, the hurdles of reviews and distribution are much more easily overcome than they used to be with the rise of Print-on-Demand publishing, Amazon, and other resources available on the web. And even if you get a book deal with a major house, there’s a good chance that you will still have to do most of your own publicity. So I don’t know. Anybody have any advice for me?

Good Reviews

I had a story in an erotica comp called Tasting Him, which came out earlier this year. I published it under a pseudonym, Robert Peregrine, because I considered this particular story to be pure erotica and not very literary. But when the good reviews come in, I’m happy to take credit.

Here’s the latest one. excerpt:

And then there’s Robert Peregrine’s “A Treatise on Human Nature.”  Robert is a fluid and competent writer, not leaving a single word in the final story that isn’t working hard.  Over five short pages Robert builds a delightful tension that culminates in a truly satisfying climax.

“Truly satisfying climax…” hardee har har.

Tractor Tie

In response to my plea for people to buy my book, Angie Lane has apparently read the short stories on my website. She reminded me that she was there when the incident on which “Pineapple Tie” was based occurred. It was the summer after we all graduated. I’d had a job interview earlier that day at the Book and Art shop, where I was to work the rest of that summer. Several of us went to Boomer’s, as we often did in those days. On the street outside, a couple of drunk rednecks tried to pick a fight with me because I was wearing a tie. According to Angie, it wasn’t the pineapple tie, which I think I bought later, but a tie with stitched tractors, which she claims she bought for me. I don’t have any memory of that particular tie.

Battery Park

It’s 9 am, and I’m walking against the grain, against the hordes of commuters going to work, passing west over the north side of Ground Zero. There aren’t as many suits as I might have expected. I glance over each row of faces as I pass. None of them are hers.

I cross down into Battery Park, following a group of tourists who are headed toward Clinton Castle. At the bay’s edge, I have a clear view of the Statue of Liberty, so gracious and majestic still, though she’s been having a hard time of late with so much of what she stands for being hypocritically challenged by ignorant or disingenuous fearmongers and warmongers.

It was twenty years ago to the month, if not to the date, when I last explored this area, on vacation with my family. Being in New York then was like living in a dream. It’s still that way for me sometimes, when I happen to pass through Times Square late at night or early in the morning, while the crowds are sleeping in nearby hotels. This is one of those moments. I’m thinking about taking the Staten Island Ferry, just for the hell of it, but I decide I’ll save that adventure for another day. I’ve already strayed far enough from home.

On Influences

I think I started wanting to be a writer when I was about 10. It wasn’t the influence of any particular writer. I just liked making up stories. I read things like Ray Bradbury, the Hardy Boys series, some other simple genre fiction of that ilk. I liked reading, but I had no literary heroes.

When I read As I Lay Dying in 11th grade, I started to feel much more strongly about a deeper purpose for literature, beyond story-telling, which is just a pretext—something about the nature of mankind, something philosophical. I very quickly absorbed more Faulkner, took a deeper interest in Shakespeare, some of which I’d already read. In 12th grade I was introduced to Beckett and Joyce, deepening my respect for art created through language. I knew then that this was what I wanted to do.

As much as I owe to Joyce and Faulkner (as well as Barth, Barthelme, Coover, and most recently, David Foster Wallace), it’s Pynchon who I think has the most direct influence on the writing I’m doing today, and not just because I’ve been immersed in his most recent novel for the past 4-6 weeks. It’s been that way since college when I first read Crying of Lot 49 and then Gravity’s Rainbow. It’s the particular way he blends reality and non-reality to make a philosophical point.

With Pynchon, it often has to do with entropy. For me, it’s something more epistemological. I don’t have time to work out a full essay on this. I just had a few thoughts about it and wanted to get it down.