Although I'm still investigating if the reply is as cut & dried as it sounded... that said: I have been informed by my local metropolitan library system that they won't carry my newest novel, Twilight of the Immortal, "because the publisher is a POD press."

Wowie-kazowie!! What a glorious, solid-steel, banging of an enormous door -- right, gang??

They don't care if the book might be a literary tour de force; they don't care that the story is beneficial to the GLBT community who might learn about the real gays & lesbians who helped shape early Hollywood history; they don't care that the book teaches the Average Joe a HECK OF A  LOT about the whole astounding Silent Film era; they don't care that the book is a really fun & scandalous romp through a real high point of American history: the Jazz Age (the late teens and 1920s); they don't care that I even offered to donate a free copy since it is an expensive book; they don't care that the book is readily available through the library's preferred distributor if they don't want a donated copy. All they care about is the fact that the publisher of the book is a POD press... so the answer is no.

Of course it did take a while for eBooks to be carried in libraries, so I'm guessing that eventually this policy will have to change. And I guess by "eventually" I mean when there are basically no publishers left that aren't POD in some way (and judging by the economy and the huge part of the population that was born Internet-ready and are coming into their purchasing power every day, this is going to happen in the somewhat foreseeable future) . As much as I love "the library"  and its democratizing virtues, it is so weird to think I might find that institution in some sort of metaphysical La Brea Tar Pits.

Well, it gave me a brand new soapbox upon which to stand and spout! Yay!! However, it doesn't help make Twilight of the Immortal any easier to promote. Not so "yay!" But onward, gang.



[Excerpt]

“Molly,” I gushed at her quietly. “I can’t believe you came.”

“I can’t, either,” she said. “But Alla insisted.”

I didn’t like the tone of that; I tried switching the subject instead. “That’s Mae Murray over there,” I said.

“I know that,” Molly snipped at me. “Who could miss that tart, even in this swell crowd?”

“You’re in a foul mood.”

“Why shouldn’t I be?”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that you’re going to be getting it up yours in every way imaginable and I’m supposed to sit here and congratulate you on it.”

“Molly.” Her words were horrid. “Why did you say that?”

“Because it’s true.”

“It’s just an engagement,” I whispered in alarm. “I don’t think it means very much; not to hear Mr. Hoffman talk. It’s just a way for me to get out at night.”

“It means more than you think it does. You’re still a babe in these woods, Rosemary. That man’s going to put a diamond on your finger that’s going to be such a whopper, it’ll entitle him to all the goods. I know him in ways you can’t even dream of yet. I’ve seen how he works. And your old man -- excuse me, your stepfather -- is just going to sit there and let it happen. And here I’d thought Jerome Manheim was a different sort, but it turns out they’re all the same.”

A glass of champagne had been poured at Molly’s place setting.  She lifted it now in my direction. “Cheers, old girl,” she said quietly, a pained look in her eye. “Here’s to your colossal screwing.”

“Molly, that’s not fair.”

“You rich girls are so stupid.” She looked now as if she might cry. “You’ve got the world on a silver platter and one piece at a time they take it away from you while you just stand there smiling politely and getting your soul robbed blind.”

“And Miss McClellan,” Felix cut in. “How are you this fine evening?”

Molly refused to answer him which made Mr. di Valentina look at Molly's reflection in the mirror and smile a peculiar smile...

Excerpt from Twilight of the Immortal, C - 2011 Marilyn Jaye Lewis; published by Anaphora Literary Press