Copyright Fudge-Ups and Breastfeeding
Michael Muhammad Knight is a great man. This was my conclusion after picking him up from the KALW studios in San Francisco—surprisingly located in a dank corner of the AV wing of a public high school. I gave him a ride back to his artist's colony paradise in Marin, where he's staying for a while, working on the forthcoming Journey to the End of Islam. While we stopped at a grocery store, I bothered him about Osama Van Halen final copyedits, and waxed poetic on the beauty of the fresh-from-the-printer copy of Blue-Eyed Devil I had sitting on my desk but inexplicably forgot to bring to him. (We're doing a lot of his books at the moment.) But I promised to bring it to his reading the next day, and I promised it was beautiful.
So it was, the following evening found me with said copy of Blue-Eyed Devil, excitedly/geekily showing Mike the various tiny changes we made since he last saw the book. And off Mike went to prepare for the reading/talk he was supposed to give. And then, no more than two minutes later, back Mike came, with the book open to a page. What did I do? What did I misspell? I was mortified before he said a thing. And sure enough, there it was, my nemesis, the copyright page. I left the "this is fiction" slug in the copyright page, when clearly, this book is nonfiction. Granted, anyone shopping for this book in the "Memoir" section will not be confused. And granted, everything on the back cover—hell, everything on the interior, including the lawsuit that was dropped, but which we printed in the Appendix—is nonfiction. But lo, a lame note on the copyright page stands there, waiting to confuse the average reader. Maybe this makes it a collector's item, who knows. Anyways, let it be known now and forever: NONFICTION! Sorry Mike.
In other, non-guilt-inducing news, Soft Skull has a book on breastfeeding called The Food of Love. It got its first US review last week, which is sort of like a baby getting its first tooth. This one's got bite! Hilarious drawings and a very logical, sane, and researched approach make it a must-have for all those new mothers out there who just can't bring themselves to read the back of a baby formula package (this book is way more entertaining). Kate Evans, the British author and cartoonist, worked with an American lactation consultant to make it relevant for the US audience, and I promise it will not disappoint. Take it from the book's 24-year-old male editor! Or take it from Roxy Aliaga, a Counterpoint senior editor, who had just had a kid when she proofread this book, and who said she'd buy it for a child-rearing friend in a heartbeat.
Well that's about it for now. Anne should be back around with some crazy news about a Soft Skull title from just a few years back being featured in an upcoming BBC documentary (no, not An Amputee's Guide to Sex), and possibly some insider news on what's to come a year from now. Peace ho!