[Paul Lake]

Though it sounds immodest and somewhat mad to say this, I believe I have just published one of the best animal fables and political satires ever. I'll go on about it more for a few more days before shutting up, but for now, the link is below. The official publication date is this Sunday, June 1, when Cry Wolf will be in book stores throughtout the USA and available in other countries online (till we sell foreign rights). It's already available online at Amazon, so here's the link. You must click on the cover to enlarge the gorgeous cover painting.
http://www.amazon.com/Cry-Wolf-Polit.../dp/1933771429

[Paul Lake]

To show that I may be immodest but not utterly mad, here's some early reaction from reviewers and a blurber to Cry Wolf.



“From Aesop on, through Ovid, Chaucer, La Fontaine, and Dryden to George Orwell, the genre of the animal fable (whether in verse or prose) has been useful to moralists and critics of human behavior. Paul Lake’s satire belongs to this lineage. Identified as “A Political Fable,” it is, as the back cover asserts, a 21st-century Animal Farm.”

Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture, June 2008


“Lake writes vividly and characterizes shrewdly, producing [a] . . . fable more polished than Orwell’s anti-Communist satire.”

Booklist May 15, 2008


*

“. . . worthy to stand with the darkest parables of Aristophanes, Aesop, Swift, Kafka, and Orwell”

Frederick Turner, Founders Professor, University of Texas at Dallas


“Great satirists, from the ancients to Swift, Voltaire, and Anatole France, have favored broad strokes of the pen; satiric effectiveness comes from combining the ingenious with the obvious. The inner logic of Cry Wolf is just right. Cleverly devised and well developed, its animal equivalents of certain human institutions and behavior provide a pointed, often wry, but ultimately grim allegory of Western nations in recent decades.”

Catherine Savage Brosman, Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture
June 2008

[Anne Bryant-Hamon]

Paul,

From reading the product description, I got the impression that your book might lean toward an anti-immigrant sentiment or a bit to the American right. Would that be an accurate assumption?

Thanks -
Anne

[Paul Lake]

It would, Ann, but the novel is not about one thing, but a tangle of many inter-related things, some social, some political, some natural, some mythical, and some spiritual.

[Roger Slater]

[nevermind]

[This message has been edited by Roger Slater (edited May 27, 2008).]

[Paul Lake]

To prevent misunderstandings and misreadings, Alexander’s comment about the Emma Lazarus poem and Anne’s question and my response about whether Cry Wolf is “right wing” are all beside the point. Real world politics and categories, though they’re bound to intrude, don’t really apply to the world of Cry Wolf. The book is a thought experiment, a novel of ideas. The history of Green Pastures farm is different from that of the USA or any other country, as readers will see. It’s an ideal republic. There are parallels and divergences from our world. And so far, the published and verbal responses to the book have spanned a wide range of what it’s about. Les Murray’s response to the book was quite different from some others, for instance.

[Anne Bryant-Hamon]

Paul,

I was not trying to cast a shadow on your book. Just trying to get a feel for what to expect should I decide to order it.
It sounds very interesting. I read a lot of real life political books, and most of them are quite nightmarish. I think politics is by nature a type of beast with two polar opposite sides in the extreme. Quite honestly, I've just about over-dosed on the daily political assessment of what's happening to America. I listen, in hopes of finding solutions, but from the way both sides are talking, any solution to our problems are a long shot. We've become as much a cup of trembling to the world and ourselves as Israel ever was said to be in the scriptures.

Your book seems reasonably priced. I may order a copy.

Anne

[Jennifer Reeser]

Congratulations, Paul! Not immodest and mad at all, in my opinion -- given these reviews, I would say more like the ultimate in humility and reason. I hope there will be copies in plenty available at the conference next week.

Jennifer

[Paul Lake]

Thanks, Anne, and I too hope that things settle down in the US politically. Maybe after the election.

Thanks, Jennifer. Yes, copies have been ordered for the conference. But just in case they don't show up, modest me will have some.

By the way, some twit on Amazonuk has tried to sabotage my book there by writing some semi-literate crap about how "subpar" the English and writing are in my novel. The only subpar writing involved is in his comment. I wish someone could counter the wannabe critic with something like the quote from Les Murray. I don't have an account with Amazonuk to do it myself or I would.

[Roger Slater]

So why not spend about 45 seconds and open up an account?

Note as well that the publisher and the author have the right to post promotional material and descriptions on the Amazon link, just as has been done to a certain extent in the US Amazon, where the Les Murray quote is right up there at the top.