Dave Pollard – A Man of Fine Words

December 15, 2010 Leave a comment

Dave Pollard and I get on pretty well – we don’t agree on everything, for instance he is a big supporter of Transition, whereas I think the underlying concepts of Transition are sound but the execution is pants in most cases (actually, with Dave at the helm, his incarnation of Transition is highly unlikely to be pants). One of the many areas we do agree on, however, is the need for the destructive industrial system to be brought down, and having admired his work for some time – in particular his willingness to bare his soul in the most extraordinarily beautiful ways – it was a delight to receive the essay which I have included in Chapter 2 verbatim, and which he has published on his own blog.

Thank you, Dave.

Writing has been very slow in this side of the pond partly due to dealing with the weather, but also because I have been very much embroiled in a couple of projects, both of which are extremely pertinent to Underminers. The first is related to a high-profile NGO which thinks that its message is the only message; the other is akin to an organisation that has been very much in the news recently. I’m sort of making it a rule not to cross over between projects too much, so if you want to find the latter (the former is not ready yet) then you will need to go to another of my blogs. I have a feeling though, that I will have to find a few extra hours in the day to write if this takes off.

Filed under Writing

First Rejection

December 9, 2010 Leave a comment

I’m calling this post First Rejection because I expect a few more to come; Underminers is not exactly the most reader-friendly of books, and certainly on a par with the more radical publications to come out of even the anarchist press in the last few years. So, I won’t be going to Penguin or HarperCollins because I know what the outcome will be. But I suppose I thought I stood a slight chance with my current publisher, Green Books.

Alas, it was not to be. Green Books have been good to me, but even by their standards Underminers is a step too far in terms of radicalism. I won’t post their response here as we have a working relationship, a good one, but if and when you do see my second book published by another publisher then you will at least know we didn’t have a big falling out.

So, what’s next? I made a first offer to Green Books because they were the incumbent, but won’t be making another offer until real progress has been made: most publishers require the first three chapters of any draft, but in the case of Underminers the first three chapters don’t tell anything like the whole story – it will take at least 6 chapters to do that. Maybe I’ll get there before the snow melts away for the spring…

Filed under Publication

Structurally Speaking

December 1, 2010 Leave a comment

I knew it would change, but didn’t think it would change this quickly. What was once looking to be a three part tome has now been squeezed into a two-part less than tome. Actually, it will probably end up being the same length, but I was in severe danger of producing something verging on the anally-retentive; allow me to explain…

Part One is called “Groundwork” and provides the basic background behind the book: why it was written, the things that underlie its philosophy, a detailed description of the targets (Tools of Disconnection) and the people who would most likely be carrying out the things detailed in the book (Undermining, that is) plus the Rules of Undermining.

Part Two was going to be called, “The Principles of Undermining” which was to contain chapters detailing the four processes of Undermining (no clues yet, but they have been published elsewhere if you care to look), a section about risk, and a couple of chapters easing readers gently into the practice of Undermining.

Finally, Part Three was going to be called “The Practice of Undermining” which was to contain a batch of chapters giving details of the methodology across a wide range of targets. This was to be the “meat” of the book and the real reason for reading it.

Then I realised that I was writing far more about not doing Undermining than doing it. Like an interminable introduction to a movie that has a quick exciting battle scene at the end. What was I thinking of!?

So Part Two has gone – consigned to the dustbin of bad ideas (reminder to self: tell the publisher of the changes) with just one chapter moved over to Part One. Part Two is also renamed, simply “Undermining”, which I think has much more impact. That leaves a far more manageable (approximately) 40% theory and 60% practice, which I think might make a good book.

Watch this space (please).

Filed under Preparation