P.B. Fonteece >> Press ReleaseFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:November 2004A challenge to the publishing elite:Champion the enlightening of mankind’s moral character by unmasking society’s most repugnant taboo or risk becoming nothing more than a conglomerate of street vendors hawking the wares of media idols.The publishing elite has committed so much of their limited time and resources to trumpeting the offering plates of celebrities (disguised as books) that P.B. Fonteece, author of The Spinner’s Nest, questions why thought-provoking literature is being put on the wayside by the industry’s gatekeepers – the agents.Is it that agents have imposed censorship on publishers by handpicking only “recommended” manuscripts for them to see, or is it that publishers have repressed agents by demanding absolute adherence to a pre-specified “current list”?If it is neither, could it be that the trash culture of celebrity idolization is cannibalizing ethical artistic expression?As John Champlin Gardner has stated, “Good fiction is moral. It reinforces our best impulses and undermines our temptation toward that which is unhealthy for individuals and society. It holds up visions of the possible, helps us to evaluate our acts, conserves-fair-mindedly and compassionately-all that is good in our culture, and seeks to expunge what is bad.”If good fiction is being cannibalized then the extinction of “fair-minded and compassionate visions for the possible” appears to be at hand.Perhaps society is being denied enlightenment because of the publishing elite’s fear of taking on our most repugnant taboo.Or perhaps a moralistic vision of society at the end of 2004 is so outdated that it cannot capture the true heart of civilization which has become so heavy and dark that it blindly grovels at the feet of the rich and famous.If it is unreasonable for society to expect the publishing elite to have a moral conscience, then we should expect nothing other than the spoon-feeding of idol diatribe during the last days of literature.# # #For further information contact:P.B. Fonteece(604) [email protected] 2004 by P.B. Fonteece. All Rights Reserved.
