Independent Books

When I made the switch from advertising account executive to poet it was intricate; the transition continues to be challenging, thought quite pleasant and rewarding. Brown's book was certainly helpful, and I especially appreciated its assessibility, as well as its creative approach to solving problems. Helpful too, was the profile of Alexs Pate, someone who left the corporate arena to pursue freelance creative writing. A wonderful, stimulating book.

Many books are inspiring, but this one goes beyond the dream stage. Brown not only tells how people really start up a home-based business, but he even gives the reader an occasional kick in the butt to get out there and do things right. Read this book before starting a business on your own, and then read portions of it again regularly to get back on track after the business has been started

All the time people ask me about going out on their own. This is the book I make them read before I spend my time talking to them. Tells the inside story of how to make your dream real, or whether to keep on dreaming

This travel book on Samoa is full of information to help one maximize a trip to Somoa. It has some great descriptions of Samoan history and places of interest. I am worried though. I am worried that if ever go to Samoa I will not know how to properly act. The author of this travelogue time and time again warns the reader about Samoan cultural mores which should be followed. But I am afraid I will forget some of them and be a shameful traveler.

This book is PACKED with information! It is also a really great size (smallish) to tuck in my travel bag and take along to be sure not to miss anything on my first trip to Samoa. :o)

This book has everything you need to know when travelling to Samoa. Nothing is missed and you should be able to plan a long or short stay in Samoa. Everything is as described in the book and nothing is really out of date. The only problem is that some of the maps lack detail to be useful, however quality maps are available in Apia.

The book has an excellent presentation, photos are really good and the text is superb. If you own any Super 7, Lotus or continuation models, you will be thrilled by the way many people all over the world took this excellent automobile as a model for their desire to own what Classisc Cars stated "Is this (the Super 7) the Best Sports Car EVER?" in their October 2007 cover, and I will say that this book is the best insight of that Best Car.

This book covers the history of virtually every commercial builder of Lotus Sevens and replicas. It focuses not only on their commercial histories though - it also highlights the technology that each builder (and, in some cases, parts suppliers) has brought to the forum. It is well written, easy to read, and well illustrated with tons of photographs. If you're building or buying a 7 or replica, read this book first. I'm building one, have been researching the build on and off for over 30 years, and I still learned a great deal from Dennis' book.

This is a wonderful book for anyone interested in the Lotus seven type cars. Dennis has done a great job in describing most (if not all) manufacturers of the seven copies. This is one of my favorite books with lots of great pictures. Highly recommended.

Mark Lombardi has been a huge influence in my creative practice, but my only exposure to his work was through images online, most of which are too small to be able to read the fine details in the work. These are excellent reproductions, although you still can't read the text on some of the larger and more complex works. Also, the insight into Lombardi's background is incredibly interesting and provides many resources that influenced Lombardi's work. In short, this is the only authoritative published source for information about and a catalog of work by this artist, so don't miss out.

What is so chilling about the front and back covers of MARK LOMBARDI: GLOBAL NETWORKS is not that "George W. Bush, Harken Energy, and Jackson Stephens, c. 1979-1990" (5th version, 1999) illustrates the nexus of big oil and terrorists, a notion we have become "used to," but that the direct nexus of Osama bin Laden and Big Oil is not found at Bush & Co. but at James R. Bath, whose political patronage flows not only from the Bushes but from Democrat and leading U.S. Senator (now retired) Lloyd Bentsen and his son Lan. The ability of big business to coöpt governance knows no party bounds.

The essay and annotations accompanying GLOBAL NETWORKS, by eminent art historian and critic Robert Hobbs, are a mating of the post-modernist perspective with a body of work whose subject matter happens to be the subject matter of post-modernist criticism - power structures.

Lombardi, who had been an abstract artist, became interested in the interrelationships of global players during the Savings and Loan scandal of the early nineties. At the time, he lived in Houston, so it's no surprise that he found a ripe field in the myriad, widespread and incestuous linkages of the oil industry.

Hobbs cites Herbert Marcuse as Lombardi's acknowledged aesthetical mentor. Marcuse was a "neo-Marxist" philosopher who asserted the sexual basis for class suppression in America and who became a darling of the New Left in the sixties. He has not fared well with the subsequent structuralist schools, who dismiss Marx and in turn Marcuse, and their respective dialectics, as obsolete. To me this dismissal seems wrongheaded, since it doesn't take rocket science to see, that through the mass media they control, global power networks use sex to render enervated and addled, and thus powerless, the majority they aim to subjugate and exploit. (Whether this constitutes coercion or bribery, as Hobbs asks, may be beside the point - perhaps sex is both.)

History also has come to the rescue of the New Left, since it is now generally accepted that the fall of the Soviet Union was the result of the strategic economic warfare waged by the United States in the Cold War, as predicted by New Left historians (such as Gabriel Kolko), not the inherent error of Marxism, as tory historians would have it.

As enlightening and ingenious as are Lombardi's illustrations, derived from scrupulously compiled index cards, the question occurs as to whether they rise to the level of art. The film critic Pauline Kael asserted that no matter how profound or truthful a movie, if it doesn't entertain it's no good. I believe the same applies to any work that aspires to art. Unless a picture has an aesthetic dimension, i.e. an element of beauty, it isn't art. It may be the brilliant and effective illustrations of a Norman Rockwell (who insisted he be called an illustrator) or Robert Maplethorpe, but its merits as art depend not on content but on form.

I think Lombardi was instinctively aware of this, for his Global Networks are more than just freeform flow charts but, when observed as wholes, organisms whose beauty depends not on what they mean but how they look. I'm reminded of the view of microbes through a microscope: a plague bacillus is just as beautiful as a penicillin bacillus. This dislocation between form and content, between "fictive" or "idealized" aesthetic and a given reality, between the "beautiful" aesthetic and the "ugly" reality, is at the heart of Marcuse's dialectic, upon which Lombardi has based his art.

And Lombardi's art has become painfully relevant in today's world. I say "has become," because Mark Lombardi died in 2000. I wonder if Lombardi's sense of vindication after 9/11, had he lived, would have been frustrated by his realization, that with the ascendancy of one of his "Global Networks," the Bush dynasty, the truth of art is trumped by the power of money. Perhaps, then, we must rely on faith in a future predicated on the belief, that such is not the case in the long run.

This volume, brilliantly conceived by Robert Hobbs, stands as a fitting memorial to an artist who demonstrates by his work, that the didactic can indeed be artistic, and that truth itself, whether pleasant or unpleasant, can be beautiful.

I recently saw Mark Lombardi's work at the Whitney (NYC) and was thunderstruck, not only be the content, but by the spiderweb of relationships that only great art can provide. Great art, like great comedy, shows us something, that we've been exposed to every day, in a new way that gives us insight into life. Words cannot describe the feeling, the impact, of the events listed, until you see it in his drawings. It's as though you've been allowed to crawl into the mind of a savant.

If you are thinking about going into this business, this is perfect!! I have been a notary for over 5 years and wish I had this when I started out!!!

I was fortunate enough to hear about Laura's book before I started in the notary business. The advice the author shares is honest, unbiased and valuable. This is no "get-rich-quick campaign". She provides step-by-step instructions on how to get listed in important directories, prepare press releases and more. What's best is that she responds to your email if you have a question about her book. I may have to buy another copy, I've marked up my first copy with underlining, arrows and other important notations. If you are serious about the notary business you will read this book over-and-over again because each time you do, you'll find some new information that you overlooked previously. Looking forward to her writing Part II of this excellent resource material.

I've been a notary for years and this book gave me lots of solid, useful, low-cost new ideas I could implement right away. It is direct and to the point: no fluff. The information can't be found anywhere else - I've looked. It's an excellent resource I know I will refer to many times in the future. Very helpful. Excellent resource.
- Kathy in TX

I had just finished reading "Save the Cat!", which is an entertaining how-to book aimed squarely at those looking to make money writing movies. It's not at all a bad book, but is so rigid and one-sided that it was frustrating to read some passages. While I think it is still worth a look, it was THIS book (Me and You and Memento and Fargo) that really set me straight. I think the two books make nice companions because they present two ends of the spectrum.

MAYAMAF dives into not just how independent screenplays work, but presents another argument for how the rigid rules of traditional screenwriting has actually evolved in creative ways, and shows specific cases where writers have created successful scripts without following the rules. These aren't exceptions, JJ Murphy argues, but a different and equally valid way to tell a story.

Highly recommended...

Me and You and Memento and Fargo does more to aid and abet the art of screenwriting than almost the entire output of the writing gurus from Syd Field (orig. pub. 1979) to date. On the way, it also provides a film-fest full of insights into 12 important independent movies (Stranger Than Paradise, Safe, Fargo, Trust, Gas Food Lodging, Me and You and Everyone We Know, Reservoir Dogs, Elephant, Memento, Mulholland Dr., Gummo, and Slacker) that anyone serious about screenwriting or just moviegoing should know. Unlike most of the writers recycling Aristotle's Poetics into lottery tickets for the movie-biz sweepstakes, J.J. Murphy has a long track record as both a filmmaker and a film scholar. His understanding of cinema as art allows him to see screenwriting not as a rigidly fixed path to the least scriptreader/suit resistance, but as a wonderfully flexible and variable calling with as many different possibilities as there are individual filmmakers.

In his introduction, Murphy does a long-overdue temple-sweeping on Field, McKee, and Co., exposing their myopic tendency to set the rules by the rules of the marketplace (which is actually clueless, as per William Goldman's summation, "Nobody knows anything"). The chapters devoted to Murphy's film selections provide a catalog of alternative strategies for writers whose voices can't or won't harmonize with traditional American film structure. Mainstream writing coaches would interject here that Murphy's movies are the work of writer/directors, who have the freedom (bought at the risk of personal loss and/or losses to producers without the cash cushions of major studios) to film whatever they write. But in a spec script market drowning in thousands of formula-baked, uninspired scripts, writers in search of others to direct their work should find the study of independent screenplays to be a competitive advantage, supporting the development of their individual voices, which are any artist's prime asset.

If your goal as a screenwriter is to cash in with a mainstream blockbuster, this book is not for you. It valorizes things that the gurus hold in (blinkered) contempt, and it's resolute in its resistance to any writing paradigms driven by greed and/or the fear of rejection. If you want to write movies because you love that work too much to care about the obstacles, then Me and You and Memento and Fargo will connect you with a set of artists with the same glorious problem. (Murphy mixes generous amount of commentary from directors and other first-hand participants into his own explications.) It will encourage you to make your work like they do: by any means necessary. The energy you'll derive from that is the energy that fuels the movies Murphy champions, and that energy can't be derived from mere recipe books.

This book is written as a college-level text, with the appropriate high standards and scholarly apparatus, but page by page it's also highly entertaining. Get it if you're taking a screenwriting course. Assign it if you're teaching one. Drink it in, for courage and companionship, if you're trying to write movies on your own.

I love this book. It gave me a totally new and fresh approach to writing independent films. After years of studying the "classic" three act structure (I have an MFA in screenwriting from UCLA, and learned all the classic Hollywood tricks and structure there), it was great to read a critical analysis of contemporary successful indie movies and have someone explain why they work so well (even if they don't make total sense or work logically, i.e., Memento.)

Who says you have to follow the "formula?". Certainly not JJ Murphy. But I'd highly advise an aspiring screenwriter to first learn the "formula" then read this book and learn how to break it.

This is a timely and fun read. I enjoyed it very much and will recommend it to my family.

I purchased The Midland Kid three days ago and instead of taking care of my long list of "Things To do" I started to read all about A.B. Konig and his wonderful relatives and tenant and his adventures with Brewster George!!! I finished it last night at midnight and I enjoyed it immensely.
I really liked Appel's take on the President. I have often read that as a person the President is quite likable and I found that the author captured that perfectly. The President is goofy and he is well meaning. I don't think I would have liked him in college when he was a frat boy but the stopping drinking and the embrace of a "Higher Power" really makes him quite a likeable fellow. It's just that he is weak and kind of dumb and allows himself to get into evil-doers hands and he has no real judgment or will to resist. Appel has written the first post Bush fictional analysis and although it will be popular and easy for historians and biographers and even novelists to portray him as the Great Satan, I believe this author's view will prevail - but maybe not for another 50 years. The book provided me with a lot of fun during the last few days as well as much food for thought

(From the back of the book:)

It is the end of the second disastrous term of conservative President Brewster George, and his shrewed political adviser Raymond Kove realizes the President's legacy needs a shoring up of mythical proportions, especially out West. To launch the presidential legacy (and library), Kove hatches a remarkable plan: While still in office, the President will write a popular western, subtly peppering the text with contemporary themes and references - such as the evil villain, Don Hussein - that will advance President George's legacy and improve his image as he prepares to leave office, or is driven from it . . .

Part Tom Sharpe, part Jonathan Swift, with a touch of Barbara Garson's MacBird!, The Midland Kid is a Bush send-up and more: It's also the story of a conflicted down on his luck liberal ghostwriter who oddly identifies with a president way over his head in trouble, and who needs the paycheck to keep his marriage (to an ambitious poet) together. With the help of his one-hundred-year-old great-aunt, the world's oldest living radical, and the inspiration provided by an extraordinary pet mouse named Norman, the ghostwriter finds a way to work through the toxic down-home charm of the Decider. The Midland Kid: Tales of the Presidential Ghostwriter is not only satire pulled from the headlines, but a full-fledged novel that makes a comic pre-emptive strike on the Bush legacy.


ALLAN APPEL's previous novels include Club Revelation, High Holiday Sutra, and The Rabbi of Casino Boulevard, a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award. He has been the recipient of two fellowships in fiction from the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism. He lives in New Haven, where he is a reporter for The New Haven Independent.

the other missiles of october: eisenhower, kennedy, and the jupiters, 1957-1963

In the wake of the Iraq invasion, it is wise to remember an international incident nearly 40 years ago that also involved a third world country with weapons on mass destruction. Professor White shows that both the Kennedy and the Khrushchev adminstrations, after fumbling at the start, were able to balance and sort out a very deadly game of nuclear chess. The recent film Thirteen Days shows the American side, but White expands to show the game being played in the Kremlin as well.

Professor White writes in a very lean manner and his conclusions are well grounded. There is no better introduction to the issues behind and the events unfurling during the missile crisis.

the other missiles of october: eisenhower, kennedy, and the jupiters, 1957-1963

In this richly-detailed, fascinating, inside look at the film industry, Jake Eberts (A River Runs Through It", "Dances- With- Wolves") emerges as the quintessential producer. It details the foundation for his future successes while providing the most detailed account available anywhere of the real machinations of film-financing and development through the eyes of one of the industry's best executive producers.

In this richly-detailed, fascinating, inside look at the film industry, Jake Eberts (A River Runs Through It", "Dances- With- Wolves") emerges as the quintessential producer. It details the foundation for his future successes while providing the most detailed account available anywhere of the real machinations of film-financing and development through the eyes of one of the industry's best executive producers.

This is an excellent and extremely detailed account of an intriguing episode in motion picture history. This is also a great book if you're in the motion picture business or getting into it and are interested in the politics of the industry.

Such a crucial, scary time..."on their own." You wonder if it can ever happen successfully. Very knowledgeable, ungarnished yet helpful and hopeful.

This is the book every parent of an adult child with LD should read, especially in those times when you feel so hopeless and that no one truly knows what you are going through. As the parent of an adult son with learning disabilities I can honestly say that On Their Own has changed the way I think about my son and his future. Most of all it has given me hope that he has a future at all! The book helped us see the whole person with all their strengths and weaknesses. Nothing is sugar-coated here, and parents of adults with LD will find many points where'll they'll nod in agreement and realize that yes, after all someone truly does understand what we are going through. I absolutely loved Anne Ford's previous book Laughing Allegra. In that book, I felt she spoke to me personally as we followed her step by step while raising a child with LD. On Their Own continues the story, but it is a much more hands-on approach and with a great deal of practical information. Even so, I found it as readable as Laughing Allegra, with many insights and anecdotes that separate it from so many other dry academic books in this field. Parents of adult children with any disability will benefit greatly from On Their Own

I was worried that I would be bored by all the language specific jargon so commonly used by professionals in books like these, but the insight and personal account of dealing with learning disabled adults kept me totally engrossed for the entire book. I wish more books about dealing with disabilities were written with such a human voice.