All the Gnus that Fits

The best part of taking a book on the road is learning the history of the bookstores that if you're lucky you get to visit. Last Friday Diane and I went to Auburn for a reading from Breathing Out the Ghost at a great used book shop called The Gnu's Room. It's located on Gay Street next to the Amsterdam Cafe. The event was part of the Sun Belt Reading Series, which is co-organized by one of our local fave poets, Emma Bolden, who also happens to be prolific as hell. The Gnu's Room was recently purchased by a group headed by a wonderful woman named Tina, who, in a quirk of circumstance, at one point years ago worked at River City. She, her partner Kelley, and three other investors took the store over this past fall and have done a great job building a new kids' reading room, a cultural studies section, and new furnishings. The more impersonal the big retailers become, the more intimate these mom 'n' pop bookstores feel. Folks like Tina do a great service not simply keeping books available; they also contribute to the community by offering a place to hang out and talk about the printed word. If you happen to be in Auburn, check it out: you can't lose at the Gnu's, I promise.

Black Magic

So, I was researching the next project this morning and part of that quest took me to the NPR site for a story they had on Morning Edition this past Thursday. And lo and behold, ESPN is advertising the documentary they're showing tomorrow night and Monday, "Black Magic," in which Ben Jobe is one of the featured coaches. Go here, http://espnblackmagic.secondthought.com/?ex_cid=2008_BNNR_BMGC_XXXX_AWRS_XXXX look at the clips, read the bios and interviews, and tell me you don't love this story. Go on, I dare you. Honestly. I double dare you.

Here's the thing:

Some of the comments we've been getting since Murder Creek came out have caused me to ponder a fundamental, albeit complex question: What is truth? When someone says, for instance (here: http://alabamaconfidential.blogspot.com/2008/02/shocking-non-fiction-book-about-brewton.html ) that only "5%" of what's in the book "may be true", I have to wonder, What in the world are they talking about? And, Why? I could answer (as I did) that I know of two errors in the book, insignificant errors, I would argue -- Mr. Caffey's education, which, plainly stated, just wasn't corroborated, and the precise location of Dr. Perry's office, the result of a misunderstanding, that's pretty easily explained -- but factual errors, nonetheless. Guilty. But I don't think the comment stemmed from a dispute over facts. I think it surfaced, instead, from a disagreement in belief systems. Here's what I mean: It seems to me there's very little legitimate argument about the facts of global warming, say, or the facts of evolution. There's considerable dispute, obviously, about the truth of either. The difference? Belief systems. What are the facts of Annie Jean's death? And what is the truth? In the system I prefer to operate in, truth can only be approached once you've accumulated all the available facts. That's all we tried to do with Murder Creek, and aside from those two previously noted, that's pretty much what we did. With enough facts, I think, the truth becomes obvious. Obvious truths are not always comfortable. Does that make them less true? I don't think so. All too often, uncomfortable truths -- like global warming and evolution -- are attacked rather than refuted. An alternate truth is proposed, and the necessary "facts" to support it are gathered together. But there's a name for that. It's called propaganda, at best. I'll discuss the facts of the book all day long, and will gladly retract any inaccuracies (although, with as many lawyers as there are out there, it's hard to imagine any writer getting away with a book that's 95% false). But if you don't like the truth those facts seem to suggest, I'm sorry, there isn't a thing I can (or would) do about that. That's the thing: Truth is, like it or not.