• Blog
  • Welcome!
  • Reviews
  • Phriends and Fenomena
  • Contact
  • Readers’ Gallery
    • Readers’ Gallery 2
    • Readers’ Gallery 3

Jay Spencer Green

~ Novelist and Ne'er-Do-Well

Jay Spencer Green

Tag Archives: George Orwell

Flattery: The Sincerest Form of Imitation

08 Wednesday Jul 2015

Posted by jayspencergreen in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

A Clockwork Orange, Breakfast at Cannibal Joe's, Cannibal Joe, Christopher Moore, George Orwell, Katherine Dunne, Kurt Vonnegut, Mark Twain, Matt Ruff, T. C. Boyle, Tom Robbins

originaljoe

While HarperCollins was in the process of considering Breakfast at Cannibal Joe’s for publication, the editor in charge of my manuscript pressed ahead confidently with the edit. Here are the notes made on the front page when the book was returned to me for revision. You can see that besides the main themes of the book (Moral Apathy, Technology ≠ Civility, Social/Cultural Stratification, Violence), there are also titles of already-published works that the editor felt Cannibal Joe’s most resembled, justifying the genre “Social Satire/Black Humor.” I have to confess that of these works, I had only read A Clockwork Orange and that some of the authors were completely unknown to me. Naturally, I rushed off to the local library and devoured them greedily, eager to find out whether I’d been insulted or not.

Not, as it transpired. Tom Robbins even mentions the Mekons! Anyway, for the record:

T. C. Boyle: East Is East and A Friend of the Earth

Anthony Burgess: A Clockwork Orange and The Wanting Seed

Katherine Dunne: Geek Love

Matt Ruff: Sewer, Gas & Electric

Kurt Vonnegut: Mother Night

and of course everything by Christopher Moore, Mark Twain, and George Orwell (his humorous works, I guess, like Keep the Aspidistra Flying and 1984).

Interestingly, the editor also suggested removing genuine brand names and replacing them with fake ones, in order to avoid dating the story. Readers of the prologue can see for themselves how closely I followed that advice.

Buy My Books!

Follow Jay Spencer Green on WordPress.com
jayspencergreen

jayspencergreen

Novelist and Ne'er-do-well. Dry English wit a specialty.

View Full Profile →

Follow me on Twitter

My Tweets

Goodreads

Sites to See

Archives

  • February 2019
  • December 2018
  • September 2018
  • July 2018
  • April 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • September 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015

Follow me on

  • View Jayspencergreen’s profile on Facebook
  • View JaySpencerGreen’s profile on Twitter

Blog at WordPress.com.

Irish Broad Left

Irish left politics, economics & debate

Pointless Overthinking

Understanding ourselves and the world we live in.

honorarymancblog

Manchester - living, loving and blogging

memoirs of a laura

goodvibesgoodbooks

reviews, thoughts, my library take over.

colingarrowdotorg.wordpress.com/

The Clarity of Now

Travels, Reviews, and Assorted Musings

Welfare Imaginaries

constructing rhetoric, realities and resistance over time

Words

a collection by Genevieve Shifke Ali

Sandra Ruttan

official author website

Alternative-Read.com

📚Reviews, Promotions and ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Author Services! ☆✏🌞🌍🔥💥✔

Writing Follies

A place where you can find our latest book reviews, writing endeavors, and random thoughts.

Books and Beyond Reviews

A collection of book reviews, guest posts, interviews and features to do with all things bookish!

Bookworm

books and writing

Jenny in a Bottle

Afloat in a Multicultural Society

Footnotes to Plato

because all (Western) philosophy consists of a series of footnotes to Plato

(CALIATH)

A land of ineptitude.

KEVIN BERG

"Simply the best kept secret in US indie publishing." - Mark Wilson, bestselling author of On the Seventh Day and the dEaDINBURGH series.

Life of Chaz

Welcome to My Life

Novel Writing Festival

Monthly Festival : Turn your book into a movie and get it seen by 1000s of people. Or garner FULL FEEDBACK from publishers on your novel and help your next draft. Or get a transcript video of your novel performed by professional actors.

The Art of Blogging

For bloggers who aspire to inspire

irevuo

art. popular since 10,000 BC

Secret Library Book Blog

Books, Books, Books

The Bibliophagist

Reviewing young adult, new adult, and romance since 2013.

Bookaria

Book Reviews and Recommendations

#WritersWise Website

Helping writers reach as wide an audience as possible.

Sharon Thompson.

Emerging Irish Writer.

fuonlyknew

Laura's Ramblins and Reviews

Writing.ie

The complete online writing magazine

Bookmunch

Books reviews with the occasional interview thrown in for good measure

Cancel