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You can read the fine print below later . . .
Literary theorist Edward Said claims that the ability to control access to discourse is the ability to form—or destroy—whole nations.
We at “Sea Of Ink” feel that the publishing industry in particular—never mind the omnipotent forces of market commodification and valuation—and the print consumer in general now exercise a regressive stranglehold on creativity by slamming the door on literary endeavor that doesn’t fit into the shallow, predictable retail-friendly formula that gluts the market.
Modern literature has been subdued by the “Outer Limits” syndrome: we control your picture—do not attempt to adjust your set. Novels—if they’re to be sold by fat old white men with big wallets and not a whit of literary sense—must have a TV drama structure: it’s ten past—dilemma set up. Quarter past, complications. Forty-five, high drama, then resolution; falling action and scenes from next week. Lather, rinse; repeat.
What a load of crap.
Our pages contain the fat men’s mismatched socks: can’t make a pair, nice as each lost sock is, without a formulaic match. Well, we wear unmatched socks every day—usually by accident, but that’s the point: we don’t care what matches the constraints of the fat cats dulling the imagination of the nation with pulpy publications of paltry pabulum.
On “Sea Of Ink” you’ll read what they won’t show you, because they don’t think it matches their notion of what you’ll pay for, what will make them a million bucks—not just a decent return, which would justify the seed money in new lit—but the blockbuster they all live for. Well, we don’t give a damn what you’ll pay for, because everything here you can read for free. So please do.
There’s a wide variety of works in our mismatched sock drawer, written by some talented—but by popular lit standards—oddball writers. You be the judge of what goes into your head. Claim citizenship in the nation of discourse unmortgaged by fat old men at the controls of the publishing industry.
Help us build head space for all of Said’s children and those with a yearning for more than just chewing gum for their mind. Think. Enjoy. Tell your friends . . . and come back often.
Christopher Sly
Editor
For reprint permission, submissions and comments, contact: Chris@SlyReader.com
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