Le nouveau roman de Michael Moorcock a été refusé par son éditeur américain, car considéré comme trop choquant. Il se plaint aussi qu'aux USA, le premier volume de la tétralogie auquel il appartient a été censuré contre son avis (Byzantium Endures)...
"Outspoken British SF and fantasy writer Michael Moorcock told SCI FI Wire that his latest novel, The Vengeance of Rome, has no American publisher and probably won't until, he argues, "the current political climate changes." The book, which concludes the Pyat Quartet, follows Colonel Pyat, a trickster, self-deceiver, anti-Semitic and anti-Islamic Jew, bisexual and friend of fascism—not an easy character to sell.
Moorcock argued in an interview that Random House and one of its imprints, Alfred A. Knopf, refused to publish the book because "they are all afraid of a backlash from fundamentalists who will fail to see the irony of Pyat's anti-Semitism and anti-Islamism, which of course is part of his character. The American public and reviewers, I should say, have never failed to understand the books. The publishers, with what strikes me as a typical contempt for their readership, feel they know best. So the chances of the books being published in the U.S. are probably 50-50, if we can find a courageous publisher. The likelihood of that these days is pretty slim, unless it's an independent who doesn't have to answer to stockholders, another problem mainstream publishers visualize."
Moorcock also claimed that Random House censored the first book in the series, Byzantium Endures. Moorcock added that he believes that when he refused to allow the second book, The Laughter of Carthage, to be censored, Random House refused to publish the final two books, Jerusalem Commands and Rome. Asked to comment on the allegations, Random House did not return numerous e-mails.
Moorcock's agent offered Knopf the books, but Knopf editor Sonny Mehta also declined. Mehta said through a spokesman that he turned down Rome simply because he didn't feel the manuscript was appropriate for the Knopf list, not for the reasons Moorcock suggested. When pressed further, Nicholas Latimer, vice president and director of publicity for the imprint, declined to elaborate.
Rome has been released in Canada and the United Kingdom. Moorcock said readers should try to buy copies online.
Moorcock added that he is happy to be done with Pyat. "The set of books ... were written to examine how the Holocaust could have been permitted by Western culture," he said. "I'm glad it's over. Living with Nazis and making them 'charming' took a huge toll. I think I'm done with the old rogue." —Lee Barnathan"
Source scifi.com
The Vengeance of Rome - Michael Moorcock
Modérateurs : Karen, savoy1, DeVilDead Team
