Long Live Print Media!!! So cool to see a shift and be a part of it. Much much more work to do...but I do believe there will always be interest in something as vital as the tactile exchange of ideas.
I think you're onto something. I am an author, editor, and audio narrator. I returned in August from a writers conference in Nashville puzzled about editing recommendations - editing reducing beautiful prose narrative to story telling mired in technical writing-style tone. It appalled me. The likes of H.P. Lovecraft would never be appreciated under modern editors under this approach.
I read the classical literary giants: Wordsworth, Keats, Milton, Greek myth. All of it is being dismantled by a brown boxification of our literary and artistic heritage. I want the literary equivalent of the great Greek architectural achievements that made us gasp in wonder. This manifesto is only part of what we need back in our culture. Thank you.
Oh I so agree with this take. Many of the great writers were barely edited, if at all. Now editing strips writing of its prose and commercializes it into something salable—often without even making it more salable!! Better to keep writing raw and quirky in my opinion. That's what I'm here for!
I have a fledgling editing company. Part of my manifesto in reviving our cultural heritage is to avoid stripping authors of their flavor in the process of helping them develop their stories. Do I want to help them with their diction? Absolutely. But I don't want to turn their work into bland cookie-cutter artifacts. I think we need a loose federation of authors, editors, and publishers to save beautiful writing.
Count me in. I will provide some contact details in private chat if you like. I don't know the etiquette of just blurting out a company plug here. My website is http://www.mdmmediallc.com
Are you in our Slack channel yet? You should share this there. There are a lot of writers/editors/artists in there interested in collabing on projects!
This past summer, with some new-found free time, I wrote a proposal for a printed anthology of stories ("A Graeberist Anthrology") set in lesser-known anthropological contexts that show the breadth and configurability of possible social, economic, and political structures, thereby empowering us all to remake our own. (Inspired by my reading The Dawn of Everything.)
The project kickoff is a weekend where invited anthropologists, sci-fi-writers, and illustrators "speed-date" to form teams that each tell a relatable human story against a setting that the anthropologist knows. Creator teams, funders, and project helpers share royalties and retain ownership of the IP of the anthology as a whole and of each story in a way that incentivizes everyone nicely (I think). Part of the crowdfunded budget goes to a booth at ComicCon San Diego, where Hollywood shops for story ideas.
I'd love to get your (or anyone else's) read on it-- please let me know and I'll invite you to the document.
I tracked down Nika Dubrovsky, David Graeber's widow and head of DGI, and talked about it with her. She seemed to really like the idea, and also knows Yancey and thought that he might be interested, but I haven't heard back from her in a while, need to bug her again.
Anyway, I think it could be a great project, LMK if you're interested -- the proposal is a Google Doc with a Google Sheets budget. The schedule as listed is impossible at this point, but it would work with the dates pushed forward a bit.
What a fun project—you should definitely share it with the community on Slack. I'm sure many here would love it, and would be happy to contribute thoughts! I hope you finish it and can share it with all of us (big Graeber fan here!)
I was reading a local newspaper the other day and loved the experience of it. I also read several print magazines from my local area. The high quality newspapers and magazines I love. The mediocre ad oriented ones still suck, but I think there is an opportunity to facilitate this sort of cooperative owned print media locally in certain locales.
I know, there's just something about the tangible reading experience! I've ordered so many pamphlets from Metalabel, and none of them are the glaring mediocre ones. It's a new world for print media!
Congrats on the grant! I would encourage you to reconsider your language. Dark Forest has a violent and isolationist/xenophobic connotation. It’s about dark space and an alien civilization finds you in the void and attacks. This is the original meaning. It’s about hiding, not creating harmony.
Then Cozy Web is nice for the word cozy, but web harkens to a spider and then I imagine bugs getting eaten.
Have you read Yancey's Dark Forest theory? He reframes the metaphor, saying that it is actually the over-lit, out-in-the-open, and over-surveilled internet that has become toxic. As a result, we retreat into the digital equivalent of a dark forest. “The dark forest is where we actually live now — in our group texts, our private Slacks, our small, safe spaces. The open web has become too dangerous.”
In his take, the forest is where we are safe, can build trust with community, and be more open with one another!
Long Live Print Media!!! So cool to see a shift and be a part of it. Much much more work to do...but I do believe there will always be interest in something as vital as the tactile exchange of ideas.
I so agree!!!!!
I think you're onto something. I am an author, editor, and audio narrator. I returned in August from a writers conference in Nashville puzzled about editing recommendations - editing reducing beautiful prose narrative to story telling mired in technical writing-style tone. It appalled me. The likes of H.P. Lovecraft would never be appreciated under modern editors under this approach.
I read the classical literary giants: Wordsworth, Keats, Milton, Greek myth. All of it is being dismantled by a brown boxification of our literary and artistic heritage. I want the literary equivalent of the great Greek architectural achievements that made us gasp in wonder. This manifesto is only part of what we need back in our culture. Thank you.
Oh I so agree with this take. Many of the great writers were barely edited, if at all. Now editing strips writing of its prose and commercializes it into something salable—often without even making it more salable!! Better to keep writing raw and quirky in my opinion. That's what I'm here for!
I have a fledgling editing company. Part of my manifesto in reviving our cultural heritage is to avoid stripping authors of their flavor in the process of helping them develop their stories. Do I want to help them with their diction? Absolutely. But I don't want to turn their work into bland cookie-cutter artifacts. I think we need a loose federation of authors, editors, and publishers to save beautiful writing.
Yes!! That loose federation is what I'm after!!!!!!
Count me in. I will provide some contact details in private chat if you like. I don't know the etiquette of just blurting out a company plug here. My website is http://www.mdmmediallc.com
Are you in our Slack channel yet? You should share this there. There are a lot of writers/editors/artists in there interested in collabing on projects!
Slack. I am going to have to pick that up. I use Discord currently and haven't installed Slack on my system. I will get an account and contact you.
This past summer, with some new-found free time, I wrote a proposal for a printed anthology of stories ("A Graeberist Anthrology") set in lesser-known anthropological contexts that show the breadth and configurability of possible social, economic, and political structures, thereby empowering us all to remake our own. (Inspired by my reading The Dawn of Everything.)
The project kickoff is a weekend where invited anthropologists, sci-fi-writers, and illustrators "speed-date" to form teams that each tell a relatable human story against a setting that the anthropologist knows. Creator teams, funders, and project helpers share royalties and retain ownership of the IP of the anthology as a whole and of each story in a way that incentivizes everyone nicely (I think). Part of the crowdfunded budget goes to a booth at ComicCon San Diego, where Hollywood shops for story ideas.
I'd love to get your (or anyone else's) read on it-- please let me know and I'll invite you to the document.
I tracked down Nika Dubrovsky, David Graeber's widow and head of DGI, and talked about it with her. She seemed to really like the idea, and also knows Yancey and thought that he might be interested, but I haven't heard back from her in a while, need to bug her again.
Anyway, I think it could be a great project, LMK if you're interested -- the proposal is a Google Doc with a Google Sheets budget. The schedule as listed is impossible at this point, but it would work with the dates pushed forward a bit.
What a fun project—you should definitely share it with the community on Slack. I'm sure many here would love it, and would be happy to contribute thoughts! I hope you finish it and can share it with all of us (big Graeber fan here!)
Just shared links in the #general channel -- thanks!
I was reading a local newspaper the other day and loved the experience of it. I also read several print magazines from my local area. The high quality newspapers and magazines I love. The mediocre ad oriented ones still suck, but I think there is an opportunity to facilitate this sort of cooperative owned print media locally in certain locales.
I know, there's just something about the tangible reading experience! I've ordered so many pamphlets from Metalabel, and none of them are the glaring mediocre ones. It's a new world for print media!
Congrats on the grant! I would encourage you to reconsider your language. Dark Forest has a violent and isolationist/xenophobic connotation. It’s about dark space and an alien civilization finds you in the void and attacks. This is the original meaning. It’s about hiding, not creating harmony.
Then Cozy Web is nice for the word cozy, but web harkens to a spider and then I imagine bugs getting eaten.
Maybe Cozy Gardens.
Have you read Yancey's Dark Forest theory? He reframes the metaphor, saying that it is actually the over-lit, out-in-the-open, and over-surveilled internet that has become toxic. As a result, we retreat into the digital equivalent of a dark forest. “The dark forest is where we actually live now — in our group texts, our private Slacks, our small, safe spaces. The open web has become too dangerous.”
In his take, the forest is where we are safe, can build trust with community, and be more open with one another!