Yes. THAT “N” word…

Yes. THAT whole brouhaha…

And, yes. I am now going to add my voice to the elebenty-bazillion others. Why? Because people keep asking my opinion. This way I can just say, “read my blog” and save myself a little time.

Now, just in case you don’t know the brouhaha I mean, I’m talking about the 21st century editing of Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn to remove the “N” word.

Now, you may notice that I just keep referring to it as the “N” word instead of going ahead and typing it out. Given my position on this – which I am about to relate to you – one may think I’m being a bit hypocritical by not just going ahead and letting it fly. But read on…

I’m not self-editing out of a need to be politically correct. If you know me at all, you are well aware that I despise political correctness with every fiber of my being. I am also not self-editing out of a fear of repercussions. The truth is, I don’t particularly care for the “N” word. Not a fan of it at all, in particular the universally accepted connotation it carries in this day and age., therefore I don’t use it. While its origin carried a somewhat different meaning, as words and language often do, it quickly devolved, and has taken on a much different definition as we all know. And here’s a news flash – truncating the hard “R” at the end and morphing it into a guttural vowel doesn’t alter anything other than the pronunciation. The vile and negative connotation is still there, and you aren’t going to change that by using it as a nickname, honorific, or putting it in a “song”.

Now, in the interest of complete honesty, I’ll admit something – In the boundless stupidity of my youth I am guilty of having used the “N” word on a few occasions. While never launched directly at an individual, I cannot deny having uttered it in descriptive narrative during a conversation about another person. However, it was to describe a negative behavior rather than as a racial slur, especially when you consider that at least once that I recall, the individual in question was Caucasian. Not that such makes it okay. It definitely does not.

However, in the heat of those moments I knew exactly what the connotation was, and intended it so, simply because it was the ugliest word I could think of to say . These incidents were many, many years ago.

Unfortunately, I was stupid enough to do this. However, fortunately, I recall my stupidity with vivid clarity, which is why I will not repeat it.

Am I sorry that I stooped to such vulgarity? Hell yes.

Am I ashamed of myself for having done so? More than you can imagine.

And that brings us back around to the paradox…

As much as I despise the word and the connotation of the age, its use within Mark Twain’s work is important. Why? Because in my way of thinking it is a reminder.

While I wasn’t afforded the opportunity to hear the NPR interview with the editor behind this change, I was told by someone who did listen to it, that the change apparently is not intended to rewrite history, nor to redact this vulgarity from every edition. The idea is to provide a sanitized version for teachers and readers who are offended by the “N” word.

Well… The prose is public domain at this point. You can do to it whatever you damn well please, and no amount of whining from me or any other author is going to change that.

But, I am going to offer my opinion anyway…

We need to remember that we learn from our mistakes, therefore erasing them teaches us nothing. In fact, it dooms us to repeat our stupidity.

Does the word offend? Yes. It offends plenty, me included. I’m relatively certain I have illustrated that here. But by the same token it evokes a response. One that provokes thought. Terrible as it may seem, sometimes it takes being offended to get your attention.

And, it’s not as if Twain was the only one to use the word… What about Sounder? To Kill A Mockingbird? And many other classics… And, dare I say it, the word has even been used effectively in literature of a more recent age. The argument is made that the prose is antiquated. Well, that’s true. But an antique desk is worth more than it was new, so there is definitely value to be found in antiquated prose.

In each case, it makes a point. It reminds us of a different time, and how far we have come. Removing it in favor of a more “politically correct” noun is no different than stabbing yourself with a spoon. You might bruise yourself a bit if you try really hard, but you aren’t going to make yourself bleed.

And sometimes, to truly understand, we have to bleed…

More to come…

Murv

CHECK!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Once is a coincidence. Twice, probably still a coincidence. I can even give you three. But when it keeps happening, uncanny doesn’t even come close.

What am I talking about? Castle.

Now, before anyone takes this the wrong way, I am a big fan of Castle. I’ve made no secret of that, and I even have a Castle T-shirt to prove it. I own the first season on DVD, will own the second, third, etc as each becomes available. I read the first “Nikki Heat” novel one afternoon just for kicks. I will more than likely read the second as well. Again, just for kicks.

However… Saw that coming, didn’t you?

When I first started watching the show I would sit back and marvel at how the character was portrayed. Granted, Nathan Fillion has a lot to do with that, but he also has a script to follow, so it’s not ALL him. What I was marveling at was how closely the character of Richard Castle seemed to mirror my own life in certain respects. Not that I’m ridiculously wealthy or on the NYT Best Seller list. And, while I’m a major flirt, I am not a womanizer. Still, the sarcasm and puns, the arcane knowledge spawned from researching a particular novel, the big kid mentality… Well, let’s just say I found it to be an amusing coincidence. After all, I hang out with a lot of authors – kind of a birds of a feather flock together thing – and while I’ve met a few who act that way to a small extent, never any who are as over the top as I am. Of course, maybe I just haven’t met the right authors.  Who knows?

But then things started getting more and more eerie, and I don’t mean the lake or Pennsylvania either.

Emails started showing up. Just a few at first, from friends and relatives who were watching the show. The occasional, “Did you watch Castle last night? I swear they are writing about you or something!”

I would joke about it and laugh it off, but found it interesting that I wasn’t the only person who noticed the similarities.

However, it wasn’t long before a few emails turned into several, and then several more, with not only friends and relatives writing to me, but fans as well.

“Did you see Castle last night? The writers must read your books or something!”

“Dude! Are you being followed by the writers for Castle?”

“I swear the writers for Castle have your house bugged!”

“Are you writing for Castle?”

“When did you start writing for Castle?”

And,  I could just keep going on and on…

In the back of my head, I had been wondering some of the same things…

After all, the story arcs were taking some interesting and familiar twists:

A killer dominatrix…

A vodoun priestess…

Wiccan and pagan references…

And plenty more…

But let’s face it, I don’t own the market on ideas. Just because I did them in my books long before Castle was ever conceived doesn’t mean a thing. And, I mean that seriously.

Then some of their marketing vids starting doing some weird things… Like Fillion as Castle stating the Fillion owed him 50 bucks. Okay… so I didn’t coin the “so and so owes me 50 bucks” quip, but I’d been saying  it (jokingly) about Fillion (and tweeting it) for literally more than a year, along with my also joking contention that he was secretly using me as his “model” for the character of Richard Castle.

Things that make you go “hmmm,” know what I mean?

Of course, it just doesn’t seem to end there.

Some time back I was chatting with some folks about the show. When asked what I thought of it, I prattled endlessly about the wonderfulness that is Castle. However, being an author I also pointed out that there were issues – as there were with any TV show. Things like their police procedure being off – not that I’m an expert, but I do research procedure for my books through my friends and contacts I’ve cultivated within various law enforcement agencies from local to national.

One of the things I mentioned was that Detective Kate Beckett generally pranced around each episode in heels. Now, don’t get me wrong, I have no issue with seeing Stana Katic in stilettos, although I’d much prefer it be E K and not Katic. We’ve already established that I’m a leg guy, and high heels are an exciting accoutrement to said proclivity. But let’s not digress or I’ll need some alone time. My point is, I mentioned that no cop in her right mind would be wearing stilettos on the job. So, what happens? Someone points out to Beckett during the most recent episode that her shoes are a bit impractical for police work.

Coincidence? Yeah… Most likely. I mean, it’s an obvious thing. But with everything else that’s been going on it’s… well… a thing that makes you go hmmmm…

Then there’s the fact that I have wondered aloud about the allure of the “Steampunk” genre… Now, an upcoming episode of Castle is featuring “Steampunk.” Again, most likely coincidence… After all, Steampunk seems to be a big thing these days.

So… In the grand scheme of things, just what is it I’m trying to say?

I don’t really know. All I can tell you is that too many coincidences add up to something pretty weird. So, here’s the thing…

If the writers of Castle happen across this blog – who knows, they might be subscribers – do me a favor and throw me a bone. I may be a best seller in the small press world, but in the overall authoring world I’m just a mid-lister. Since you’re paralleling my personna – and my story lines, and my characters, and my tweets, and my panels at cons, etc – even if it is probably utter, uncanny coincidence, have Rick Castle mention my name. Have him call me for advice or something on occasion. I don’t even have to be on the phone – you can easily write a one-sided conversation. Have a couple of my books laying on a desk. Something… I could use the publicity…

I’m NOT asking for a guest appearance – although I wouldn’t turn one down. Of course, I’m not “ruggedly handsome” so I’m sure that would be out of the question anyway. No biggie.

But come on guys… The Rick Castle personality has been MY schtick for better than a decade. HOWEVER, at the most recent convention appearance I did I was actually accused of trying to imitate him by someone who had not yet been introduced to my work.

And, you know, it’s kind of annoying to be accused of trying to imitate yourself. Especially when all of the coincidences point to it being the other way around…

More to come…

Murv

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