Intro Letter

Welcome to my BIC newsletter. I am a BIC, Bronx Irish Catholic, too dumb to quit! I have been trying for a few years to become a literary lion, and my problem is the mazes that have been laid out to stop greatness in general and me in particular. I have read a great deal of bitching from other writers about being denied an opportunity to be published. A Latina author, whose name I don’t remember, wrote an op-ed piece in the Sunday New York Times. She complained about cultural appropriation when an Anglo wrote a novel about a Latina’s struggle in America. The Anglo had a significant monetary advance to write about another culture. The writer of the op-ed piece, her argument was simple, Latinas have great stories to tell, and their writings should be allowed to be published. Her complaint was the same as mine; every literary agent I contacted wanted every other group than mine! Of course, two prominent authors, White ones, argued that young White men could not get a tumble. Of course, the knees were jerked, and they were called racists! However, every agent I reviewed as possible matched based on the Query Tracker thingy had matched me with agents wanting every other group but mine. Every agent's virtue signal was to serve an underserved deserving group.

Then two famous White authors were attacked by people of many racial, sexual, ethnic, and religious cliques; they all claimed only White people were being published. A successful Black author, Colson Whitehead, wrote Harlem Shuffle. His best line hooked me. He described his protagonists; ‘He’s not crooked, just a little bent!’ I think his description fits the actual crisis in the publishing industry! They are not crooked, just a little bent! Kurt Anderson's book Evil Geniuses described our American economy as a Milton Friedman dream of steroid-driven Laissez-faire capitalism, where the rich get richer, and the wage slaves die younger.

So, if you’re a Marxist, not the Groucho type but Karl, the Bourgeoise, the publishing house owners have all the proletariat writers fighting amongst themselves for the few spots on the New York Times bestseller lists! On August 25, 2022, the NY Times wrote about a successful author, Jessamine Chan. She went from being a stay-at-home mom to the NYT bestseller list easy-peasy. If she can do it, why haven’t all the people complaining about the system do it? We always know who won the lottery prize because it is in all the papers, social media, and tv news. There is never a list of all the suckers with losing tickets. According to the NYT article, the publishing system works efficiently. It is because writers keep working harder and learn to be more grateful for a sip from the publishing septic tank because it is better than dying of thirst!

Andrew Sullivan, a staunch Republican Conservative who is very Catholic, a happily married gay man, got tired of the fighting with other proletariat groups to be heard. So, he started this Substack website to allow writers of all stripes to have a platform and a place to create an audience.

I am hoping to make you part of my audience. It is free! I will have no fee for reading my subscription. I hope to have three pieces a week to start, which may be a bit more than I can handle. I will have a book review on books assigned in high school, which I did not read until adulthood, and you may have glanced over the same titles. General information about things you never think of! Finally, my memoir will be one chapter per week. I believe in an absolute right to privacy. Therefore, I am using the name James McThomas; the people referred to in my memoir, or anything else I write will have different names. How I remember the past may not be the way you do! I can also combine people and events because it is a fictional memoir. Besides, the world is now crazier than I am! Yep, I am still crazy, if you are wondering. However, we live in a time where strangers invade our privacy, and it is essential to be safe! If you are interested, please follow the direction to Substack and me! If you like Substack or me, please tell your friends!

Thanks for your time.

Tom aka James McThomas

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