Lineland as Pynchon Authority (redux)

[Jules Siegel]

At 05:58 PM 05/12/97 -0400, "still lookin 4 the face i had b4 the world was
made" <traveler at afn.org> wrote:

>On Sat, 10 May 1997, Jules Siegel wrote:

>> I have rarely, if ever, been caught in a significant error of fact. I
have an unchallenged reputation for absolute integrity and editorial honesty. 

>And actually, Siegel, you have been caught in significant errors of fact
just this month on this list!  Your hyperbolic statements about your book
being some sort of totally new kind of text have been thoroughly debunked by
many P-Listers who have presented other examples of "Internet books" like
_Lineland_.  Don't go whining that it was all a joke for the cover, that has
been misunderstood!  You explicitly and seriously claimed, here on this
list, that you were a publishing and literary genius because of _Lineland_. 

These were my opinions not facts. I didn't say I was a genius. Someone else
did. I corrected that person and said I was a gifted imbecile.

>If you have amnesia, I'll be happy to repost your mail on the subject.

Allow me to save you the trouble. I wrote:

"Lineland" is notable for the following:

[1] It may be the first book that has originated from e-mail correspondence.

[2] It was produced entirely online, except for publisher Dale L. Larson's
brief contract-signing visit to Cancun. I saw the final proofs online in
Acrobat 3.0 format. 

[3] I not only wrote the text, but I also set it in type and designed the
book in every aspect, from cover illustration to the back cover copy. Dale
gave me 100% creative control. Even Mark Twain never got that when he
self-published his books, as his wife censored everything.

[4] It is one of the first (maybe only) books about the Internet culture
that attempts to provide a kind of slice of Internet life, rather than
extended technical and philosophical discussions about cyberspace. It is
cyberspace set in type.

As you can see, each statement that might be factually disputed is qualified
-- "may be," "maybe," "one of." As far as having been "debunked," some
helpful folks did come up with a handful of titles -- under a dozen, I
believe -- some of which were in the ball park but not very close. Of the
ones that do apply, how many complete all four qualifications?

By way of reference, Amazon.com has 1.5 million titles in print and one
million used books for sale.

>Or, anyone who wishes can order an extract of selected P-List messages,
together with some slapdash commentary, printed on a high-quality dot-matrix
printer and hand-stapled by ME (Yes!  I will do it all myself!  I am a
pioneer, a wunderkind!), featuring a cover _I_ designed, and bearing my own
signature!  The title of this earthshattering tome?  _SCAMLAND: My Radical,
Virtual, Post-Modern Experiences in "Cyberspace," "Surfing" the "Net" and
Getting Into "Flame-Wars"  with Some Schmo Who Went to College with Thomas
Pynchon_.

Sounds like a great idea. Now see if you can actually get it done, much less
published. If you can get Amazon.com to carry it and give you a page, I'll
buy one. Meanwhile, try:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=1885876041/2706-4369093-781056 to see
mine.

--
Professional English-Language Editorial Services
Jules Siegel http://www.caribe.net.mx/siegel/jsiegel.htm
>From US: http://www.yucatanweb.com/siegel/jsiegel.htm
Apdo 1764 Cancun Q. Roo 77501 Tel 011-52-98 87-49-18 Fax 87-49-13