| I remember well the night I first heard Nirvana. I | | | | what the rest of us will read this year - ambitious |
| was sunk in wretched and ugly despondency, not | | | | authors are exploring alternatives like self- or |
| wanting to talk to anyone and hating myself. I | | | | print-on-demand publishing. They seek greater |
| couldn't discern or articulate my inner state, even | | | | creative control (i.e., no editors or agents |
| to myself. There was no separating cause and | | | | demanding drastic alterations to authors' |
| effect. Then Kurt Cobain wove his uncanny spell. | | | | manuscripts based upon their knowledge of "what |
| Suddenly I experienced my apathy, my sense of | | | | sells"), higher royalties, and the means to skirt |
| loneliness and alienation - even my depression | | | | around the powers that have hitherto been acting |
| itself - all these emotions as EMPOWERING. | | | | as the gatekeepers of the publishing world. |
| Talk about waving your freak flag. | | | | Getting hip to underground music required not |
| Nirvana's success paved the road to recognition | | | | only soul-searching and discrimination but also a |
| for a lot of other great underground bands like | | | | fair amount of leg-work. The records were hard |
| the Screaming Trees, the Meat Puppets, the | | | | to find, and because they went largely ignored by |
| Melvins; bands that provided a welcome | | | | radio and MTV one often didn't know which ones |
| alternative to the bland and condescending music | | | | were worth laying down one's hard-earned money |
| that was being force-fed to the masses by the | | | | for. An independently-thinking fantasy enthusiast |
| industry. The "grunge" movement of the early | | | | faces a similar dilemma today when searching for |
| '90's was the closest my generation ever came | | | | something other than Harry Potter or recycled |
| to spiritual union. A community took root and | | | | Tolkien to read. |
| grew, gathering misfits from every far-flung | | | | Here the internet proves a valuable resource. |
| corner until it was massive enough to shake up | | | | Discussion groups, forums and chat-rooms have |
| the status-quo. This uprising snatched music from | | | | created cyber-tribes that congregate around |
| the hands of the corporate world and delivered it | | | | every conceivable subject and interest. Word of |
| back to the people. It was fueled not only by | | | | mouth travels fast these days - and between |
| hard work on the part of the bands, but also by | | | | millions of people who've never even met. has |
| word of mouth - and the invaluable support of | | | | turned readers into reviewers. Authors have their |
| independent labels, magazines and record stores. | | | | own websites where they post excerpts and |
| The media generally didn't know what to make of | | | | sample chapters from their works. The internet is |
| it. Record companies were rethinking their | | | | the ideal launching pad for the indie-book |
| strategies and scrambling to hop on the | | | | revolution, because it's taken tools previously |
| bandwagon. Oftentimes they latched onto the | | | | monopolized by corporate publishing and made |
| surface trappings - unkempt long hair, flannel | | | | them available to us common folks. Books that, |
| shirts and stage-diving - and missed the spirit of | | | | once upon a time, would've been rejected |
| the happening entirely. There was no Institute of | | | | because they didn't fit into any cookie-cutter |
| the Arts where one could go to learn how to | | | | genres can now find a community to embrace |
| translate the frustrations of the | | | | them. |
| twenty-somethings into timeless music. | | | | Ultimately, when we as authors take our creative |
| I miss the excitement of that time, the feeling | | | | destiny into our own hands we're giving ourselves |
| that the ball was in our hands and we were finally | | | | permission to BE OURSELVES - and allowing |
| going to see some movement and change. | | | | others a glimpse of our true nature. |
| There is an upheaval occuring now within the | | | | A cultural climate where new ideas proliferate - |
| publishing industry that will make it possible for a | | | | and are exchanged - is an environment wherein |
| similar grass-roots movement to flourish through | | | | the soul can expand and breathe. Art is meant to |
| the medium of books and literature. Frustrated by | | | | open the windows and air out the closets. It |
| the major publishing houses and their worship of | | | | should not be bound, like Prometheus, to the rock |
| the bottom line - and the elitist milieu wherein a | | | | of publisher shareholder interests, chain bookstore |
| handful of people in New York deign to decide | | | | monopolies and Oprah's selections of the month. |