July 16, 2014
Brooklyn Bridge
Source: Shutterstock
And if you read the fine print, Liberty Island discourages ax-grinding, content though they be with their niche. They prefer that an author’s ideas be a backdrop for the story rather than a theory he is trying to prove”the same way bourgeois realist assumptions underlie Iowa-school novels. The site welcomes work from writers with a variety of incorrect philosophies, from conservative Christians to atheist libertarians to contrarians and sensible liberals who have had enough of witch hunts.
You do get your heavy-handed satires on Liberty Island, some so clumsy I can”t see enjoying them unless Barack Obama personally came to your house and shot your dog. I”m sure they felt great to write, but the best-case scenario is that the propensity to blow off steam will taper once the thrill of not being censored or buried fades.
Already the majority of the ham-fisted bits are cloistered in the non-curated section of the site, under the “Free Range” tab, where readers can post their own stuff at will. “Free Range” is not a bad idea, however, as it also yields amusing rants about the state of the literary art and other goodies.
The more promising work in the curated section ranges from “he”ll probably write a decent novel in 10 years” level stuff to long-neglected authors like Roy M. Griffis, who makes me wonder: “If there is a God in Heaven, as this enviably talented bastard seems to at least hope is the case, then why in Hell couldn”t he find a publisher?” (Griffis, not God.)
In fact, Liberty Island is already moving closer to becoming a full-fledged book imprint: thanks to the modest success of the crowd-funding drive that winds down this Friday, they”ll be able to publish at least two contributors” novels in the fall, including The Big Bang, the first of Griffis” proposed Lonesome George Chronicles series.
Next: Liberty Island, Part II: The Long Slog of Roy M. Griffis
