VMs: The Friar...

[reedsj@xxxxxxxxxxx (James A. Reeds)]

I have been asked by Larry Goldstein to pass this message along:

---

1. Nancy and I HATE the subtitle!!!  We fought like hell to keep Doubleday 
from marketing Friar/Cipher as a code book--which it isn't--or primarily 
about the VMS--which it isn't.  Our book is primarily about Roger Bacon 
and the struggle to pursue science in a world of dogma.  Thomas Aquinas--who
our publisher doesn't mention--has a good deal more space in our book than
does the VMS.  (Our original title, before our editor changed it, was 
"Sacrament of Knowledge.")

2. Kirkus reviews is not exactly our best friend.  I suggest your colleagues
also read the Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and Booklist trade reviews
that are also available on Amazon or B&N.com.

3. For us, the main point of including the VMS is that, with Manly's debunking,
Bacon's reputation was tarred as well.  We read through the Opus Majus and for
it not to be included as one of the great documents in the history of science
is a crime.

4.Nancy and I have great respect for you and the others who have done such 
marvelous research on the VMS.  We would never presume to contradict any of 
the conclusions to which you have come.  But that only adds to the mystery.  
We live near Yale and have been through the manuscript a number of times.  One
cannot fully appreciate the intricacy, or the artistic merit of the manuscripts
from the web pages.

Anyway, please pass this along.  Authors don't usually get a say in marketing, 
or cover art (which we don't much like either) or even title.  Doubleday would
try to make a romance novel about codes if they could get away with it.  Think
of it as DaVinci-itis.

---

I have not read their book, nor followed the discussion in this list,
but am reliably informed by an ex-publisher that titles are often forced
on authors, sometimes (in retrospect, even the publisher admits) inappropriate
ones.

______________________________________________________________________
To unsubscribe, send mail to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxx with a body saying:
unsubscribe vms-list