Independent Writing and Invisible Man Books

Looking to Connect with People Who Support Freedom Without Apologies

I have changed the title of this post, and I have also changed the post itself, and I will explain why.

When I decided to publish independently through Invisible Man Books, it was after my second book had been published by a major Indian publisher in 1997, and I had run into censorship problems.

Since December 1997, Invisible Man Books has published six titles, including 5 original titles, in print, and every one of them is a daring book, daring in its own way. Kuldip Nayar, author and journalist, said of "The Killing of an Author": "An integrity that is rare." Others have described the books as "courageous" and "going where no Indian writer has gone before" (see http://www.richardcrasta.com/reviews.htm for details). Every one of these books would not have been in existence but for Invisible Man Books, and the very existence of Invisible Man Books, is a challenge to the Establishment. Many of these contain Prefaces that are manifestos of independence, of nonconformism, and resistance: yes, even the Preface to What We All Need,  which I have just published at my other blog: http://richardcrasta.blogspot.com

Maybe I was wrong to be so naive, but I have never regarded my writing or my publishing as a business (though I am aware of the need to survive so I can continue writing). I regard myself as a freedom fighter, as a fighter for justice and for democratic rights, someone in the service of a larger cause. Writing and publishing, to me, is part of my my commitment to freedom of expression--to equal freedom of expression for all human beings, including those of Indian origin.  At lulu.com, where The Killing of an Author was first published as a POD book, one reviewer calls it  "not a book, but an act of bravery."

I have regarded my work as a sacred calling, as a public service, as something I owe both to myself and society. I am flabbergasted when someone asks me "How is your business?" or "What is the breakeven point for your books"? And I realize these people don't know the first thing about me. I have invested about $50,000 of my time and money into these 6 books over 12 years from 1997 to 2009, and partly because I have been cheated by distributors, booksellers, and others, and the books repressed and treated as mere commodities, with far less respect than "Chicken Soup" and bathroom joke books, and I have earned back only around $10,000. In my blogs, especially at http://richardcrasta.blogspot.com ,  I have campaigned for public interest causes.

Freedom is never free. If you wish that Invisible Man Books should continue to be in existence, not to bow its head and slink away, not to have no premises even to store its books, feel free to follow up your wish with action by clicking on the "Tip Jar" at the top of this blog (slightly right of center) or by ordering books at http://www.richardcrasta.com/buybooks.htm  

Also, as a symbolic gesture of support, you can "like" the Invisible Man Books page on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Invisible-Man-Books/234258493292819

Thank you!

The Joy of Pure Laughter & I Will Not Go the F to Sleep

Partly from I Will Not Go the F to Sleep: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0053GBUYG

Consider these two limericks:

 

There was a young man of Calcutta

Who had a terrible sttttt-tutter

He is reported to have said

Please pass me some bbbbbb-bread

And also some bbbbbb-butter!

 

There was a young man of Ghent

Who had a penis so long it bent.

It was so much trouble.

That he kept it double.

And instead of coming, he went.

Almost no one these days will narrate these limericks in mixed company (and by mixed company, I don’t necessarily mean the two major sexes). Because both of these unfortunate young men are Persons with Disabilities—one has a speech impediment, and the second has a medical condition (Peyronies’ Disease? Acute Pathological Perverse Clintonitis?) that might result in—please pass the tissues—his not having babies or being able to lead a normal love life, the poor thing. He needs advanced and expensive plastic surgery, baby, so let’s not laugh at his expense, but pass the hat and take up a collection for the unfortunate soul.

And it’s also true that for the man with a bent pingpong or dingdong, or for the low-sexed bloke whose parents gave him the name Randy, the limerick about bent penises or Randy-themed jokes are not going to sound funny, especially after the fiftieth time that he has heard them.

The rest of us must admit that what makes us laugh makes us laugh, and laughter is not really an impulse that is under our control. Let’s admit also that these two limericks would appeal overwhelmingly to men—those that are being honest with themselves and not clenching their sphincters to stop themselves from laughing. And if so, what are the men laughing at? They are laughing at the absurdity of language, especially of the English language (which is why humor is often untranslatable, and also perhaps the language most susceptible to humor). They are not laughing at disabled people, but at the spectacular inventiveness of the limerick in the first instance—in which the word stutter is itself uttered in a stuttering manner by a teller who does not really have a stutter, and the way stutter rhymes with, and is therefore associated with, Calcutta and butter.

As for the second limerick, we are laughing at the ridiculousness of the English language—of how coming is a word with double meanings, one of them sexual, whereas no one thinks of “went” in the same sexual sense. This is why a child can find anything funny, especially a joke that relies on wordplay; its laughter is pure, uncensored by social rules and fashions or fear of offence.

Thanks to the concealed sexual element in humor, and men and women often finding different things funny, to insist on the universal acceptability of humor is to greatly shrink its sum, and to censor the pleasure of others simply because we’re incapable of it—it’s the kind of thing that the Puritans did in the old days.

The basic rule about humor ought to be this: this is an arena, a sanctuary, in which there are no rules. Yes, no rules, no political correctness, nationalistic sensitivities, patriotism, or any kind of ism, are permitted in a place or book of humor, so please check in your sensitivities at the door. The king’s jester had no sacred cows, and was the only one who could laugh at the king and not pay for it with his life—why?  Because, to prevent a society from going insane, it needs a band of men and women who have carte blanche, carte blanche to point out that the Emperor is not wearing any clothes, or even that black dots on his polka dot pants are not dots but holes. Had Nazi Germany preserved the freedom to laugh, Hitler would not have lasted as long as he did; he would have probably been laughed out of Berlin within the first two or three years or pretty much for certain after Charlie Chaplin released his satire, The Great Dictator.

It is an act of humility to break your own rules once in a while, and in this book, I have broken all of mine. All of my other books with comic elements also contain a few moments of seriousness, but in here, I am simply being a silly child—which is why, it would be completely missing the spirit of this book to use anything I have said anywhere else against it.

That one man's pain is another man's humor is a truth that was brought home to me with 2 different reviews of two of my most painful books: (Life is pain/sorrow, said the Buddha): THE KILLING OF AN AUTHOR, and THE CONFESSIONS OF A MODERN SLAVE (which is up with a different title, Psychiatrists, Their Drugs, and Their Spouses at Smashwords). The former, I agree; but the latter? Do you find it funny? I would love to hear your opinion.

Liberated by a Kindle

"Four ill-dressed rogues are coming to attack my house. Carrying my one-year-old son, Dev, in my arms, I run, hide him under the kitchen sink, then reach for the telephone and dial 0 for operator, straining to utter the words: "Please send the police!" But articulation is difficult, and my voice is still not loud enough for the operator, who, after saying "Hello? Hello?" a few times, disconnects the phone. (Dream, 1989) The next morning, I interpret my dream thus: I am unable to make my voice heard. I have things to say, but no one to hear me."
--excerpt from "The Killing of an Author" which is a publishing story and the story of a writer's torture (among other things)--by an independent writer who decided to write what he truly wished to write without succumbing to the pressure to produce "ethnic writing."

Thanks to amazon Kindle, all this may change. It is a liberating feeling not to have to be at the mercy of distributors, booksellers, and publishers, and to be able to reach my readers all over the world directly; this is a milestone--July 25, 2010--that I will remember, with the same power as the milestone, ten years back in March 2000, when Invisible Man Books published its first daring and totally fearless and free book, "Impressing the Whites". Amazon's success is also liberating for the reader, who need not make a trip to the bookstore, and is not just sold mass market books that form an ill-read bookstore owner's taste or prejudice (as often happens in India), but can choose and make an instant purchase with no delivery costs. Thanks to the revolution of Amazon Kindle (and now the Ipad), three of my books are already up on Kindle, with more coming up shortly. You don't need an actual Kindle to read them, you can download a free program called "Kindle for PC" ( http://www.amazon.com/gp/kindle/pc/download ) and read it on your computer.

This revolution also presents an opportunity for individuals to support independent and subversive authors who are often crushed or stifled by the System, their books prevented from reaching readers (My book What We All Need was a bestseller, sold 125 books in just one Bangalore bookstore, but was prevented from reaching anywhere else).

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003VYCARI (The Revised Kama Sutra, my best and most widely published book)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003WQAX4M (THE KILLING OF AN AUTHOR, The third book of the Freedom Trilogy; a book Kuldip Nayar said "must be read". Don't prejudge it, it may surprise you.)

Also see my books up on Lulu: These are e-books and one printed book.
http://stores.lulu.com/richardcrasta

You are also welcome to order physical books from http://www.richardcrasta.com I still love physical books, and most of all, the money that comes to my website comes to me in a couple of days, whereas from these two above sites, it takes 2 months, and with some other sites, it may never ever come to me. In the next few days, I will also be able to autograph them free, if so requested.